FedEx and their wonderful people lost two Remington 540XR target rifles somewhere in Houston Texas. They were shipped to me to handle a transfer for a friend that bought them off of Gun Broker. They were slightly damaged in transit so FedEx picked them up to inspect them. They were supposed to return them to me and handle the damage claim at my end, but the person running the hub here in Montana apparently doesn't understand simple English and sent them back to Houston. I called the FedEx tracing dept. to have the shipment stopped and they delivered it anyway. I called them the morning I saw the tracking number had been scanned for delivery and they said they were unable to contact the Houston hub because the power was down and they were loading trucks in the dark. I asked how they were able to scan it on the loading dock if they had no power and their customer service rep told me the scanners were battery operated. I asked him what battery operated device FedEx had that was connected to their website which allowed me to see that it had been scanned that morning and his reply was something along the lines of "Duh, good question." They scanned the package onto the delivery truck three days in a row, because they apparently didn't get it delivered and everyday i called and asked why they hadn't stopped the shipment. After literally a dozen phone calls one of the management people at FedEx finally told me they delivered them to the wrong address. They have been back to the wrong address (only two houses away from the person that shipped them) and they deny knowing anything about any guns. The electronic record on FedEx's website says they were delivered to the shippers address but no signature was recorded. I have now made well over a dozen phone calls, have been told 5 different times someone would call me back and only one person has called back. Unfortunatelty that was after the guns were lost, but in her defense she has done everything she can to find out what happened and she has called me several additonal times to see if anything has turned up. The kicker is, Friday I got a letter from FedEx saying they were denying the damage claim because the rifles weren't properly packaged. I called them back to file a loss claim, and of course no one has called me back.

If you are ever at a gun show or pawn shop in Houston and see them please call the Great Falls PD Sgt. Cameron (406)771-1180. The serial numbers are 1238491 & 1238691.

Thanks, Steve "Buster" Baumbach

were they insured?

Ummm, if FedEx delivered them to the wrong address, shouldn't the Houston Police have been involved in trying to locate them? Since their were no background checks or yellow forms filled out, doesn't this make FedEx guilty of an illegal firearms transfer? When the FedEx lackey asked the persons at the address they were delivered to, the resident(s) denied knowledge of the rifles. Would they have changed their tune if the cops were asking them the same question in person?

I called the Houston PD once FedEx finally told me what happened and they didn't want to talk to me. They said I had to file a report at my end and let the PD here contact them.

I did contact the ATF and fill out their form 3310 which oddly enough was written to specifically deal with firearms that were lost by interstate freight carriers. It seems to me that if the ATF has a form specifically to deal with this type of situation it has to be a frequent problem.

One thing I did make very clear to the people at FedEx is, if anything or anyone ever gets hurt or killed by either of those rifles and I hear about it I will make every effort to contact the victim's family and provide them with every bit of information I have concerning the mis-shipment of the rifles and the disinterest in general on the part of the people at FedEx.

What is the address of that wrong house?

SSD

Unfortunately, welcome to the club.

FedEx SUCKS.I had an item comming from a seller on this board paid to have 3 day delivery.Well 5 days later and no package.I call FedEx they say they attempted to deliver the package twice.Funny thing was I was home that entire week and watched the truck go right by and out of the neighborhood.They said they could attempt another delivery.I wasnt even going that route.I went to the hub and picked it up myself.It took 45 minutes just to locate the package and surprise surprise it wasnt even loaded up on a truck.I expressed my thoughts of their efforts on delivery of the item and was told a manager would contact me over this.Of course that never happened.I avoid FedEx at all costs now.

Yeah, that Houston hub SUCKS! I had a laptop stolen out of there this past December.
FedEx has gone right down the toilet hole.

I can't stop harping on them. That same month,
2 other laptops were stolen here at the GA FedEx Ground center. They SUCK!!!!!

Parking lot sale.

I have heard a bunch of bad things about FedEx lately.

Good luck

"round up the usual suspects"  hence i will keep an eye out.  but at pawn shops the police keep a tight lid (so i hear but dont trust).  i will make the usual rounds. hope you get them. seek a lawyers advice to sue fedex!

Maybe be of some help in the future for some people. Once you place an order to be shipped by FedEx or UPS, call the business that is shipping the package and get the shipping number. Once you get that you can go to the FedEx or UPS site, enter the number in and you can find out where in transit you package is and when you can expect to receive it. Same applies if you're shipping instead of receiving.

Jason,

That is a good idea, but I have had several packages delivered by FedEx ground lately and they don't update their webiste often enough. I bought some stuff from Brownell's and they shipped it FedEx ground. I checked the tracking number three mornings in a row and their website said the package was in Illinois, but it was delivered to me on the third day. The tracking information for the lost guns indicates it was delivered to the shippers address on 5/23, but one of the managers at FedEx told me it was delivered two houses away on 5/28.

FedEx update;

Naturally I did not get a call back from the FedEx claims handler so I called again. Now they are telling me because the rifles are missing they have to conduct an internal investigation before the claim can be settled and that will take at least two weeks.

Looks like they're having a difficult time integrating RPS (FedEx Ground) into the FedEx family! Makes you want to puke.

I buy and sell about 100+ guitars and wrist watches a year, used to always use FedEx (except on big items such as amps which I ship UPS), but after the lost or misdelivered several items I gave up. I use Airborne now and I am very happy.

FYI: All USPS 'priority' shipments are subcontracted with FedEx now. Beware.

I'm in Houston, so if FEDEX sux should I just go with Airborne Express & avoid UPS ???

btt

any more ideas...

I guess I should count my blessings. I probably
receive at most 6-7 parcel deliveries per year.
The ex GF was a mail order catalog queen and used to receive at least 12-15 orders per year and in that time I can't recall an order being lost or stolen. Oddly, about 95% of the shipments we get here are by UPS or the USPS, only a few deliveries by FedEx.

Not to say that there haven't been any problems or complaints. My number one beef is drivers who leave a package without a signature or don't even bother ringing the bell. The other complaint is the ones who get a neighbors signature and leave the package with them (I guess I really shouldn't complain about that if I want to get my orders in a timely manner).
I just don't like the idea of my neighbors seeing packages addressed from "Five Finger Freddies Assault Rifle Emporium" or 25 lbs packages from "We'R'Bulk Ammunition".
[:D]

I do tech support for an home electronics company that also sells computers. I recently took a call from someone who's laptop hadn't been delivered after being shipped from the service center. If I remember correctly it was also lost in houston, by fedex.
I know it was fedex, just not 100% sure it got 'misdelivered' in houston

woops, quoted instead of edited

What really sucks about FedEx is their apparent attempts to avoid contact with their customers when a problem arises. They refuse to give you the phone number to their claim operation and have a mutli-level phone system they use to screen calls. You can't just call the claims people or tracing people or even the hub you want to talk to. They make you call their 800 number and then give them a tracking number before they decide whether or not to transfer the call to a MAG (Managers Assistance Group), who then will decide whether or not to transfer you on. In the process of trying to settle this problem I have been transfered to the MAG in Memphis, Phoenix, Cincinnati, and two that would not tell me where they were. I have been lied to by the tracing dept., customer service dept. and one of the people at a MAG desk. Once this is all said and done I am going to spend a weekend and write and nice long letter telling them how much I appreciate their service and send them a copy of everything I have concerning the loss of the guns and send it to their home office via some other overnight carrier.