Mid April I ordered disc covers from Wheelbuilder. I was pretty excited so I kept tracking my shipment. Admittedly, It took a bit longer than expected to get them to Europe, but with Easter and everything I didn't think too much of it. At last the package arrived in Sweden and I was checking my phone like a 14year old who's just sent a risky text to his crush.
This is where my story gets weird. Being a Harry Potter fan, I have always wondered what happened to the invisibility cloak after Harrys period at Hogwarts. So when FedEx claimed they had been at my door, trying to deliver my package, I didn't treat this claim with enough scepticism. "Maybe I didn't pay enough attention to the door bell?" I Scheduled another delivery and decided to stay home all day to be ready. Phone fully charged, coffee prepared for 12 hours of direct and undivided attention. Day turns to evening and evening to night. Nothing. The following day I receive another email that says that they were unable to deliver my package. Unable?
At this point there are but 2 options:
1) My Harry Potter mystery has finally been solved
2) We have a delivery problem.
I call FedEx (I don't introduce the Harry Potter hypothesis. From my experience you always benefit from being polite) and ask if they can deliver the package to the local post office. This is ok with them and I expect to get a notification pretty soon.
It takes more than a week. In the meantime I get a bill from customs. Great. Extra expenses for the rich student.
When I finally get the notification, I literally run down to the post office. I show my ID and give the guy behind the counter my tracking number. He walks over to a box and picks up...........an envelope. Sure, I'm pretty dim, but even I understand that wheel covers won't fit in a small envelope. The shock I felt must have been pretty obvious, because counter guy asks me "Not what you were expecting"? I don't think I even replied, just take the package and turn around while my mind is exploding. Why? What? Watts? I walk out and find a bench, sit down and open the envelope. In it, there is a card on which it says "I truly am sorry".
Then it hits me.
I start to laugh. Uncontrollably and wholeheartedly. The guys behind wheelbuilders have scammed me big time. Not only that; they have taken the insult a step further; they have written a letter in which they mock me, just to make it sting a bit more. I start clapping like a retarded seal while I salute the effort. After a minute or so (the joke is still extremely funny) reality gets to me. I don't want to be in the wrong end of a scam. I need to do something, but what?
Hold on a second. The custom bill. That's hard to fake. Then I recall reading about people getting the wrong package and I start to investigate the card a bit more. It is not adressed to me. Yes! I call FedEx and they are really sorry. But the pressing matter seems to be to retrieve their package. This time it is a lot easier to find me and some guy up in the north is probably happy about it. Guy on the phone is friendly and assures me that everything is being done to locate my package.
Imagine that. Having all the resources at FedEX being used to find your package. I felt quite special.
The same guy calls me the following day, and a few times the week after, to give me updates. Eventually they find my package and everything will be sorted. We have to go through the whole story a few times, so at some point we end up on a first name basis and I start to like the guy. I sit back and wait. And wait.
And wait.
Today I wasn't having it any longer, so I call FedEx. Girl picks up and tells me that the package has been sent back to the US. It takes a second, then I burst into laughter again, I shit you not, the same type of laugh as before. I don't believe her. This just can't be true. I ask to talk to the dude I am on a first name basis with. Turns out he is on holidays and some stand in shipped my package back to the US. No jokes here.
It is true.
Sooooo, if you have followed all the way here, what TF do I do? Race season starts this Saturday (which is why I ordered the disc covers in the first place). I will have to fix something locally, but can I expect to get a full refund from Wheelbuilder? According to lady at Fedex they will cover the custom bill.
Oh, and best part. My power meter pedals are on their way from Italy.
With FedEx
This is where my story gets weird. Being a Harry Potter fan, I have always wondered what happened to the invisibility cloak after Harrys period at Hogwarts. So when FedEx claimed they had been at my door, trying to deliver my package, I didn't treat this claim with enough scepticism. "Maybe I didn't pay enough attention to the door bell?" I Scheduled another delivery and decided to stay home all day to be ready. Phone fully charged, coffee prepared for 12 hours of direct and undivided attention. Day turns to evening and evening to night. Nothing. The following day I receive another email that says that they were unable to deliver my package. Unable?
At this point there are but 2 options:
1) My Harry Potter mystery has finally been solved
2) We have a delivery problem.
I call FedEx (I don't introduce the Harry Potter hypothesis. From my experience you always benefit from being polite) and ask if they can deliver the package to the local post office. This is ok with them and I expect to get a notification pretty soon.
It takes more than a week. In the meantime I get a bill from customs. Great. Extra expenses for the rich student.
When I finally get the notification, I literally run down to the post office. I show my ID and give the guy behind the counter my tracking number. He walks over to a box and picks up...........an envelope. Sure, I'm pretty dim, but even I understand that wheel covers won't fit in a small envelope. The shock I felt must have been pretty obvious, because counter guy asks me "Not what you were expecting"? I don't think I even replied, just take the package and turn around while my mind is exploding. Why? What? Watts? I walk out and find a bench, sit down and open the envelope. In it, there is a card on which it says "I truly am sorry".
Then it hits me.
I start to laugh. Uncontrollably and wholeheartedly. The guys behind wheelbuilders have scammed me big time. Not only that; they have taken the insult a step further; they have written a letter in which they mock me, just to make it sting a bit more. I start clapping like a retarded seal while I salute the effort. After a minute or so (the joke is still extremely funny) reality gets to me. I don't want to be in the wrong end of a scam. I need to do something, but what?
Hold on a second. The custom bill. That's hard to fake. Then I recall reading about people getting the wrong package and I start to investigate the card a bit more. It is not adressed to me. Yes! I call FedEx and they are really sorry. But the pressing matter seems to be to retrieve their package. This time it is a lot easier to find me and some guy up in the north is probably happy about it. Guy on the phone is friendly and assures me that everything is being done to locate my package.
Imagine that. Having all the resources at FedEX being used to find your package. I felt quite special.
The same guy calls me the following day, and a few times the week after, to give me updates. Eventually they find my package and everything will be sorted. We have to go through the whole story a few times, so at some point we end up on a first name basis and I start to like the guy. I sit back and wait. And wait.
And wait.
Today I wasn't having it any longer, so I call FedEx. Girl picks up and tells me that the package has been sent back to the US. It takes a second, then I burst into laughter again, I shit you not, the same type of laugh as before. I don't believe her. This just can't be true. I ask to talk to the dude I am on a first name basis with. Turns out he is on holidays and some stand in shipped my package back to the US. No jokes here.
It is true.
Sooooo, if you have followed all the way here, what TF do I do? Race season starts this Saturday (which is why I ordered the disc covers in the first place). I will have to fix something locally, but can I expect to get a full refund from Wheelbuilder? According to lady at Fedex they will cover the custom bill.
Oh, and best part. My power meter pedals are on their way from Italy.
With FedEx
Last edited by:
Schnellinger: Jun 26, 19 10:22