The Crusty Cuda: Whole lotta Shakin' (N96) Goin' on!

[njsteve]

Looks like Fedex has lost my new 1970 Cuda Grill. I ordered it on 4/10/20 from Rockauto and it arrived at my local Fedex depot on 4/12/20. It has been loaded "on Fedex vehicle for delivery" for over six days now with no sign of movement. I have filed claims with Fedex, Rockauto, and my credit card company. We're talking $450 here.

And yes, of course I realize there are issues with the CootieVirus out there delaying shipments but this is a bit more involved I think. The last time something like this happened to me several years ago was when the package was so badly damaged, (forklift tire treads all over the box) they wouldn't even attempt delivering the remnants of it.

Rockauto says I have to wait two weeks from the time of the scheduled delivery before they will allow me to attempt to file for a refund. They won't issue a return on the missing grill while it is still missing. They have no humans in customer service you can speak with - only by email.

Fedex has actual humans and says they have issued a "trace" for the package at the local depot where it was last logged in. I have called them every day since 4/14/20 to talk to a new human (most of whom appear to be located in another country and don't have access to any internal tracking databases). They indicate that they cannot unilaterally issue a recall for the package and that the shipper (Rockauto) has to do it once the package is located. So, if I understand this, the missing package has to be un-missing before they can do anything about it???? The have no estimated delivery date now, though I have gotten a "delivery update" text every evening during the week, telling me my package will not be delivered tomorrow, and how I "can prepare for (non) delivery." I assume they mean, drinking heavily to deaden the pain of being without my precious grill.

Bank of America, when I initiated the dispute process, IMMEDIATELY issued me a full refund credit to my account! They will now contact Rockauto and hopefully this will get their robotic attention.

Here's a snippit of the latest tracking result. Keep in mind that today is 4/19/20 and the Fedex website has stopped updating the package since Thursday 4/16/20. Looks like they have given up on even trying to fake the location now.

[njsteve]

Looks like I predicted it pretty accurately. They lost it and tried to cover it up.

Today I get a FedexGround update email saying the grill was delivered at 1:11 PM. So I drive down to my UPS store and go inside. I know all the workers there and they have been participating in this miniseries for the past week, so they knew to be on the lookout for FedexGround. Guess what? They say there has been no FedexGround drivers there yet today. And the tracking result says "Left outside front door." And mind you, this UPS store is in a business district with a slew of surveillance cameras all over the place. No Fedex trucks anywhere to be seen...

Really?

At least now that the Fedex interface alerted Rockauto that the grill was allegedly delivered, the Rockauto order page finally had a button to click for a return/refund for "lost by shipper". I couldn't click it fast enough. So hopefully the Rockauto to Paypal to my Mastercard refund process goes through. I am done with these guys.

Jegs has a price match option so I think I'll go with them now.

[njsteve]

That was fast! I put the claim in with Paypal describing what happened and included the tracking info printout. Paypal indicated that the claim then gets forwarded to rockauto. They said wait 2-3 days for a response from rockauto. Rockauto responded in 10 minutes and immediately authorized the refund to my paypal account/credit card.

I just ordered the same grille from Jegs...but guess who they use to ship. UGH!

Stay tuned for Season 2


UPDATE:
I called Jegs and they are switching the shipping to UPS. :-)

New Updated Update:
Jegs emailed back today and said they can't match the rockauto price despite their "guaranteed price match policy"...

I called SummitRacing and they did agree to match the price and it's shipping out via UPS.