October 11, 2011 | Posted in:Shipping
Pardon me while I don my bushy eyebrow toupee and channel Andy Rooney once again.
Earlier this year, we used FreightQuote.com when a customer purchased a C5 Corvette rear hatch. The rep I spoke with told me to bring the item to Cleveland, where it would be crated and shipped. I show up with this approximately 5’x5′ hatch in the back of my truck, only to be looked at like I had three heads when I described what I wanted. “Sorry, we don’t crate items here…”
So, after a 2-hour round trip, we figured something else out.
About a month ago, we had a customer in Canada purchase the complete front and rear suspension from a C4 Corvette. The suspension is wider than your standard 48×40 pallet, no matter how neatly it is laid out on the pallet. Enter Lee Ann Fadler from FreightQuote.com to save the day this time…
Or not.
She advised us that the “axle” (Axle? Try 4 of them, plus other stuff…) would be shipped if we just put it on a pallet and strapped it down, and said that the overhang was fine. Cue up another trip to Cleveland, where we were quickly told by the UPS terminal manager that he would not accept the package the way it is. Lee Ann’s response? “He’s just being a dick.” Yes, those exact words. Did I mention that we do NOT have a forklift or pallet jack? For anything that can’t be handled with my cherry picker, I have to get outside help for. I herded cats and played Superwoman to get this pallet together. Which is now sitting in the back of the now-parked pickup truck.
But don’t dare tell Ms. Fadler this. It’s doubtful she will even listen.
After my business partner had spoken to her numerous times about this shipment, I called her myself. The conversation went well…for the 2.5 seconds she thought she was going to say “JUMP” and I was going to ask “How high?” I was given a 6-hour window of time during which the shipment company would pick up the item. Her question: Can you push this pallet onto the truck? Well, considering that I’m one person, that wasn’t going to happen. I asked some questions about time-frame in case I could get some help together. She was all sorts of snippy at this point, telling me she did not know exactly when. Further questions to get a better idea of the day’s agenda and to come up with solutions (remember, no forklift or the like on my end) were met with terse answers, teenagerish attitude, and an absolute REFUSAL to accept ANY responsibility for her previous information. After 5 interruptions in short order, I finally let her have it:
“EXCUSE ME FOR TALKING WHILE YOU ARE INTERRUPTING!” *click* What can I say, even Mister Rogers would have been frazzled by now. Obviously their phone calls are NOT monitored for quality assurance and training purposes.
After a snide email from her decrying my treatment of her (really? Because constant interruptions and “being a dick” is just so prim and proper?) we emailed her, copying the customer AND her supervisors. Lee Ann Fadler backed out with her tail between her legs, suggesting we find another carrier who is more familiar with our kind of shipment. So we did!
fastwrecks
Welcome to Sports Car Salvage. We are a niche hobbyist sports car dismantler located in Northeast Ohio, selling parts for C4 & C5 Corvettes, Mazda Miatas, and other sports and performance cars. We also restore diamonds in the rough. Let us help you with your restoration project.
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