To,
The concerned grievances redressal board FedEx
Hello,
This is Soham Erande. I am writing to you about an international shipment AWB No.[protected]/60 from the US to Pune India which I shipped on Feb 20th. It was supposed to be received by Feb 28th. I started receiving multiple calls from several FedEx representatives each day since Feb 23rd providing ample (mis)guidance and instructions. Everyday, something new comes up. Below is the synopsis.
Day 1 (Feb 23rd) - Over call, I was asked to tamper the original invoice to include 'Baggage shipment" in it and involve the CHA to get the package cleared and delivered to my place. The representative was appraised of the fact that the concepts of CHA and baggage shipment are new to me and never indicated during shipping. Only thing mentioned during shipping was "Consignee will need to pay for customs and taxes". The representative shed off the responsibility saying "We don't do this" and asked me to Google search for CHAs and if I am not able to arrange one, I should not allow the shipment (informed as already in air) to land. Any delays and customer has to bear the costs.
Day 2 (Feb 24th) - An email asking to provide KYC documents and updated invoice was asked for, from the same representative, mentioning the costs for delays highlighted.
Day 3 (Feb 25th) - Another email asking to upload some documents to KYC portal was sent (from different email ID). A declaration was also requested for consignee's name. I complied. The declaration was rejected. I called customer care to enquire about CHA, I was told that CHA is not needed in this case.
Day 4 (Feb 26th) - Another call was received, this time a different representative, mentioning that the declaration should also include the 2 addresses - delivery address and billing address. I enquired about CHA to this representative and I was told that CHA is not needed and FedEx will take care of everything. Once declaration is uploaded, the shipment will be cleared. I complied. The declaration was rejected. I called the customer care to enquire and I was asked to contact US FedEx team for changing the invoice to have different delivery and shipping address. After a couple of calls to the US from India from my side, I was asked to drop an email to the paperwork team for changing invoice. I dropped an email to the FedEx team keeping India FedEx team in cc. No response on this till date after followup. Another email was received with some content (greek and latin to me) around costs (and warnings for more costs to be payed from my side) from the same Day 1 representative, looping another representative. Let's refer her as Day 4 representative ahead.
Day 5 (Feb 27th) - The email chain was appraised of the situation and the chaos causing the delays. Also, requested to the FedEx representatives for assistance, only to get out-of-office replies. So far, it's the customer who is following up and chasing multiple teams internal to FedEx (KYC, Customer Care, Clearance, Paperwork, India and US).
Day 6 (Feb 28th) - Another couple of declarations were requested and rejected for some petty reasons, including "addressee is on separate line", "paper has lines", etc. I followed up with KYC team every time to understand the reason for rejections and lastly, the 3rd declaration of the day was neither rejected nor approved.
Day 7 (Mar 1st) - I followed up with customer care for the progress and was informed that the revised invoice needs to be procured. The representative was appraised that the response is pending from the US FedEx team. I was again asked to connect with Day 4 representative (who also is OOO) for next steps.
Currently, the situation is deadlock with no updates over invoice change, no proper directions on next steps adding delays coupled with some key representatives OOO and customer mandated to pay all the charges owing to the chaos and follow-ups with multiple FedEx team. As a customer, I have to run behind FedEx representatives who only warn about delay charges. So far, it has been a frustrating experience to interact with FedEx departments, who seem to have no internal coordination amongst themselves, with no hope of package being received without further delays. The delay would also come at consumer's cost.
The representatives emailing seem to be on an extortion job.
Customer chooses FedEx, gives business, has to follow-up with multiple departments, to receive inadequate assistance and to get charged heavily for delays thanks to FedEx's internal mismanagement.
Pathetic handling and sorry state of affairs with zero customer satisfaction.
Thanks,
Soham Erande
FedEx customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.
