fedex - no!

I have only had two dealings with Fedex, but both were unpleasant experiences.


Episode 1

Cycling across a Cambridge green, I came across a very upset and flustered delivery man - a Fedex delivery man. He claimed that someone had just taken one of his parcels and had cycled of with it, and since he was dressed in the standard Fedex uniform, I assumed he was genuine. However, he wanted to borrow my bike to take chase, and that didn't appeal to me, so I said I would ring the local office later to at least confirm his story.
When I rang the Bar Hill office, I was told the manager was not available, so I asked for an email address, and to be fair, I was given one (the general Bar Hill address). Doing my 'civic duty', I spent half an hour so emailing the Bar Hill centre.

I never received a confirmation, let alone a thank you, so I was a little dissapointed. No, I was actually  pissed of.

Episode 2

About six months later, I bought an SDR-14 receiver from the 'states via ebay. There was VAT to pay, I knew that, but the delivery man (yes, another Fedex bod) didn't ask for anything.
A week later, I received a very threatening letter from some Heavies, telling me that unless I payed x amount within three days, I would be taken to court. This turned to be Fedex's heavies, and the amount was the VAT that was due at UK customs. The letter said that several phone calls had been made to me (untrue - there had been no unknown numbers registered on my 'phone tag) and several letters (there had been non) sent to me - all unanswered.

I was pissed off again.

The outstanding VAT was payed, and I followed that up with an email to Fedex detailing the situation as above, and asking if this was how they usually treated their customers. They did reply, but it was simply to state that there was now no fees outstanding. Nothing more.

So neither I or my company will ever use Fedex.

I don't suppose they will care or notice the slightest difference, but that's not really the point.