FedEx "hold for pickup" question

[lapoolboy]

I ordered some corals from LiveAquaria and they shipped it FedEx standard overnight (delivery by 3pm). You'd think for $35 they could ship it with early morning delivery!!!

The heat index here tomorrow is going to be 105-110 and I'm concerned about it riding around all day in a hot truck.

I looked into the "hold for pickup" option so I can get it earlier in the day and keep it in my air conditioned office until I go home. When I start the process, I see this message:

"FedEx does not guarantee that the request can be fulfilled, but will attempt to have your shipment available for pickup the next business day after the estimated delivery date. "

The day AFTER the delivery date!?!?!?! What good does this do???

Can anyone that's used this service shed some light? Thanks a bunch!

[James77]

I would call them and talk to them personally. Anytime i have used it, they have been able to hold it the morning of, so long as it is caught before it goes out on the truck. That may be what they are refering to. I always chooe the option and get it myself, it saves time on the truck and in the weather.

Shipping is extradordinarily expensive. If you think $35 is alot.....try UPS or even FedEx for shipping private costs, they are up arounf $60-$70. LiveAquaria also covers the shippign over $225.

[Toddrtrex]

I have, personally, always gone for priority delivery -- never been later then 10:30, and usually way before that.

[scapes]

this was an experience I had with LA just a few weeks ago....might ease your mind a little.

I ordered 4 fish from the Non-divers den section on a Monday evening
At the same time I ordered four fish from the Divers Den section, which comes from CA.
I placed these two orders on a Monday evening, so shipment was leaving out Tues for Wed arrival.

The Divers Den stuff arrived by 10:30am and I swear it was bomb proof. No lie, 6 layers of bags.
The Non-divers den stuff was supposed to arrive at the same time, but I guess fedex didn't want to load my pkg when it made it's stop in TX, so my fishies spent a full 48 hours on some form of delivery truck. They were all VERY poorly wrapped, it was so badly wrapped that one fish was dead due to the bag not being securly tied so therefore all the water leaked out. These four fish were singly bagged.

Now keep in mind I'm in central AL. at this point in time, it was in the 99 degree range, but it felt like it was in the 110 range just like yourself now. So, what I'm trying to say, is that with similar conditions as yourself, I only had one casualty out of 8 and it was due to THEIR poor packaging and not the heat. A month later, all survivors are still alive. But, in fairness to LA, I sent them a pic of their poor packaging and i was reimbursed my money for the DOA fish.

I understand your concern, as was I, but if mine survived from LA I think yours has a good shot as well

[Sula]

Usually when I want "hold for pickup" I give that information to the seller - in fact I don't even give them my "real" address, just my name, hold for pickup, and the address of the FedEx office I wish to go to.
Just a thought for the next time....hope you get your shipment okay.

[tqpolo]

Originally Posted by scapes

this was an experience I had with LA just a few weeks ago....might ease your mind a little.

I ordered 4 fish from the Non-divers den section on a Monday evening
At the same time I ordered four fish from the Divers Den section, which comes from CA.
I placed these two orders on a Monday evening, so shipment was leaving out Tues for Wed arrival.

The Divers Den stuff arrived by 10:30am and I swear it was bomb proof. No lie, 6 layers of bags.
The Non-divers den stuff was supposed to arrive at the same time, but I guess fedex didn't want to load my pkg when it made it's stop in TX, so my fishies spent a full 48 hours on some form of delivery truck. They were all VERY poorly wrapped, it was so badly wrapped that one fish was dead due to the bag not being securly tied so therefore all the water leaked out. These four fish were singly bagged.

Now keep in mind I'm in central AL. at this point in time, it was in the 99 degree range, but it felt like it was in the 110 range just like yourself now. So, what I'm trying to say, is that with similar conditions as yourself, I only had one casualty out of 8 and it was due to THEIR poor packaging and not the heat. A month later, all survivors are still alive. But, in fairness to LA, I sent them a pic of their poor packaging and i was reimbursed my money for the DOA fish.

I understand your concern, as was I, but if mine survived from LA I think yours has a good shot as well

I'm a little confused here. Live Aquaria ships from CA. Diver's Den ships from Wisconsin. I ordered from both LA and DD before and they are both packaged similar with multiple bags.

[scapes]

@tqpolo...got the states reversed I guess, all other info was correct.

I guess I got a packager that was in a bad mood this particular morning? I had also ordered a large order back in Feb '11. The same thing happened. One of the bags had leaked out ALL the water. They were singly bagged, and had a flimsy silver thing wrapped around the top of the bag. Luckily, it was a tiger cowrie so the invert survived no water, whereas the fish obviously couldn't. I took pics both times and sent both to LA. In my experience, DD has been wonderfully packaged, but the other, not so good.

[blt]

Originally Posted by Sula

Usually when I want "hold for pickup" I give that information to the seller - in fact I don't even give them my "real" address, just my name, hold for pickup, and the address of the FedEx office I wish to go to.

Just an OT warning about this - buying from an online storefront and doing this can run the risk of the transaction being flagged as fraudulent. Depends on the payment processing software being used though, some software takes issue when the billing and shipping addresses don't match.

There wouldn't be any lasting implications for you if that happens (ie: there would be no credit rating hits, no police at your door, etc), but it could cause a short term hassle putting the order through, and anti-theft measures from your credit card company may kick in and disable your card until you confirm with them it was legitimate activity.

[Captainfester]

Originally Posted by Sula

Usually when I want "hold for pickup" I give that information to the seller - in fact I don't even give them my "real" address, just my name, hold for pickup, and the address of the FedEx office I wish to go to.
Just a thought for the next time....hope you get your shipment okay.

same way drugs are shipped,

[VGT]

Originally Posted by lapoolboy

I ordered some corals from LiveAquaria and they shipped it FedEx standard overnight (delivery by 3pm). You'd think for $35 they could ship it with early morning delivery!!!

You might want to look into how much priority overnight shipping actually costs, and next time, buck up and select it.

[geaux xman]

$35?? i've paid $100 for overnight Fed-EX shipping only to get the package the day after, taking 40+hrs.

They were a couple of angels(a 6-7" blueline angel). If they were butteflyfish, they would probably be dead.