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Author Topic: WTF is the deal with Deluxe and FedEx? Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-28-2014 03:41 PM                        Up to now we've always gotten UPS "RS" labels with our Deluxe hard drives. Slap the label on, give to the UPS driver and off it goes. Our hard drive of "Son of God" came with a Fed Ex label. For FedEx, you have to go on their website and schedule a pickup, because if you call in, the first thing it asks for is your FedEx account number which we don't have. Besides, I hate spending time on hold because I *AM* supposed to be working here. So I entered the info on the website, and kept getting repeated "We are unable to process your request at this time." After two days of this I tried using a different browser, which said that I had an invalid tracking number. It was then that I noticed the label was for "2 day" service, not ground -- and there isn't a link on the website for scheduling a 2-day pickup. (I'm still not sure if that's why the number was invalid, but it's all I can think of.) I thought maybe if I created a Fed Ex "account" I would have more luck. We don't deal with Fed Ex normally but I figured, if this is the way Deluxe is going, I might as well. So I went in and created an account, put in the credit card number, and... "We are unable to process your request at this time." Got the same result on both browsers. So I called Deluxe to tell them if they want their frickin' hard drive back they can send me a UPS label. After waiting a couple minutes on hold, I got "All agents are busy, please leave a message and your call will be returned." So I left a message -- four hours ago, and haven't heard back. OK rant over, I'm going to lunch now (that'll make'em call).  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 03-28-2014 04:33 PM                        I have spent six hours(!) on hold with FedEx on a few occasions in the past trying to schedule a pick up. When I first got my digital installation I had to return some of the drives via FedEx. Now I return almost everything on the bus, which means that I can haul the stuff the the bus depot at my leisure and wave bye bye. Guess which method I prefer?  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 03-28-2014 07:58 PM                     Hold on to the drive until Deluxe calls or emails asking for it back. Then tell them "It's here and ready to go, send someone to come get it!"  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-28-2014 08:23 PM                        That's interesting. NONE of my drives have been picked up by Fedex... ever. They deliver about 25% of the drives I get... maybe. All of my drives have been returned through UPS, regardless who delivered them. UPS frequently arrives with pickup tickets and shipping labels for Deluxe drives, which had already come with their own enclosed labels. I slap 'em on when I open the boxes and let UPS figure out what to do with the extras. Hasn't seemed to cause any problems for me. About the only thing I have to deal with is them trying to pick up drives for shows I'm currently playing. Even though I ingest them on all of my 3 servers, I still hang on to them until I finish the run. The companies don't seem to have a problem with it, but I have to call sometimes, when they start threatening missed-pickup charges.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 03-30-2014 01:36 PM                     Fed Ex delivers the Technicolor drives, but UPS is sent with return labels on said drives. Technicolor seems to be indeed a very special creature... I did have a drive with a Fed Ex Ground label, which like the deluxe drives I would leave for the driver to pick up. Discovered UPS and Fed Ex Express showed up more than Fed Ex Ground. I ended up taking the drive to the Fed Ex Office, formally known as Kinkos.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-30-2014 06:07 PM                     Problem for Mike is I assume the nearest FedEx Office location would be in Billings, something like 1.5 hours away one-way from him. So, he'd have to have a bunch of drives to make that worthwhile.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-30-2014 08:17 PM                        Right, and although we see the drivers frequently, you can't just hand a driver a package like you can with UPS. And, if it's a ground package you can't ship it via an Air driver and vice versa. UPS just has the whole thing dialed in a lot better (it's because they've always been one company, where FedEx is two companies combined).  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-31-2014 08:29 PM                        Update: I got an email from Deluxe today saying they are "in the middle" of switching over from UPS to Fed Ex. So, my shipping hassles just got increased several-fold. Thanks, Deluxe.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-01-2014 06:27 AM                        quote: Mike Blakesley you can't just hand a driver a package like you can with UPS I am pretty sure that you actually _can_ do this, but, as mentioned above, ground and express are handled differently, so a ground driver would not be able to take an express package and vice versa. Fedex has always been good to me, but I generally just drop stuff off at Kinkos (as mentioned above), which only works if there is such a store nearby.  |  IP: Logged Tony Ratcliff Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Madison, IN, USA Registered: Mar 2002 posted 04-01-2014 10:07 AM                     Sounds like another good reason to check out satellite delivery.  |  IP: Logged Jarod Reddig Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 513 From: Hays, Ks Registered: Jun 2011 posted 04-01-2014 02:51 PM                     +1  |  IP: Logged Steven J Hart Master Film Handler Posts: 282 From: WALES, ND, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 04-02-2014 04:00 PM                        quote: Mike Blakesley Update: I got an email from Deluxe today saying they are "in the middle" of switching over from UPS to Fed Ex. So, my shipping hassles just got increased several-fold. Thanks, Deluxe. Same thing here with Son of God. We also have no drop off for fed-ex within 2 hours from my theater. This is gonna suck! I've asked Technicolor several times about Satellite delivery, but their "specialists" never return my call. I don't imagine they feel a single screen theater is worthy of having the system installed…….  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-02-2014 05:15 PM                        I got a call back in response to a couple of emails to Deluxe. They said that Fed Ex drivers CAN pick up outgoing shipments -- the only thing is to make sure the air drivers get air packages and ground drivers get ground packages. They said to just have the drives handy when receiving deliveries and the same driver should be able to take the outgoing drives. THey also said that at the moment, trailer drives are still being returned via UPS. We'll see if it works, but I have had drivers previously tell me they CAN'T pick up a package unless their magic little machine tells them to do it.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-04-2014 02:09 PM                        I always take the Deluxe drives over to the local "Pack and Ship" Stores. All the theatres I deal with have one within a reasonable distance. I noticed that some of the labels are Fed Ex now. Glad the Pack and Ship store deals with both Fed Ex and UPS. If they get the USPS involved - then that's a whole different story.  |  IP: Logged Teresa McQuisten Film Handler Posts: 2 From: Baker City, Oregon Registered: Jun 2012 posted 04-10-2014 02:54 PM                        I've been reading film-tech daily for 7 years, and today I'm logging in for the first time to say how annoyed I am by this. FedEx has a key to our building just like UPS, except the drivers never seem to have it. And our local shipping store charges a $2 handling fee if I want to leave a prepaid FedEx shipment there to be picked up. Plus, I have to drive there and I don't want to.  |  IP: Logged

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