As you may recall I asked a while back for suggestions on a toolbox since my little Craftsman died at work. I settled on a Kennedy, and decided to buy it from MSC. I had to save up a little more money before I was comfortable buying it, so I put my existing box back together with a mess of rivets and some scrap sheet metal, and lots of prayers. A week before XMas I had enough cash gathered up to buy the box. Ordered it, and scheduled for delivery the Tuesday after Xmas. Tuesday arrives, no box. I call Wednesday morning and have a chat with Bobbi at MSC, who begins the search. She calls the freight idiots, they tell her it's lost, and they'll call me back. I have to leave for work before that happens. No call, no message, no box. Thursday I call Bobbi again, and go through roughly the same process, but now the box is narrowed down to somewhere in Dallas. Just before I have to leave for work I call MSC back and get Amanda, who tells me Bobbi is still on the phone with Southeastern. I tell her to tell Bobbi to tell Southeastern to leave a damn message if I'm not home. No call, no message, no box. Friday, I call, get someone other than Bobbi, she's out at the moment, so I ask for my tracking number, Southeaster's phone number, and a name to look for. She digs through Bobbi's notes and gives me the info. I call Southeastern, find out that my box is in Dallas, on Irving Boulevard, a mile from me, and has been there since ages ago. She tells me she's seen it, sitting on the warehouse floor, and has no idea why it wasn't sent. I schedule for a delivery Tuesday. (that's today now) I got a call from Bobbi a few minutes later and told her what Southeastern told me. She told me her own horror story about dealing with them. Apparently, they lie often. We had a lovely little chat about how stupid they are over at Southeastern, then I headed off to work, where my toolbox is quickly becoming a thing of legend. I like Bobbi. This morning I call Southeastern to find out if they're shipping it or decided to sit on their hands once again. Took a while, and lots of transfers to and from non-helpful people who don't five a shit, but I got a hold of the wench at the Irving shipping center. Surprise! Not shipping. It's lost. If she had known it was lost she wouldn't have scheduled another drop-off. This is the same woman who told me she saw the damn thing sitting in the warehouse friday. I asked if it had been stolen, and she sounded deeply confused for a moment before assuring me that it is simply "mislocated." There is a reason "mislocated" is not in my dictionary. It made me miss talking to Bobbi. Anyway, I call Bobbi back, and leave another message. I let her know that the box has gone from "We don't know where it is," to "In Dallas," to "In the Irving shipping center," to "Right in front of my eyeballs," to "Dunno where the f*ck it is!" Since I'm tired of this, can I just send that box back to wherever and have MSC ship a shiny (well, as shiny as brown crinkle coat paint gets) new box though someone not as grossly incompetent? Perhaps USPS? She calls back about ten minutes later and tells me that she called Southeastern, filed a claim, and will ship a new box out. She even wrote all over it "DON'T SHIP SOUTHEASTERN!!!" And then giggled. I like Bobbi. She told me it'll arrive either Friday or Monday at the latest. I asked if, seeing as it's two weeks late, I could get the shipping charges refunded. Without missing a beat she said Yes. Whoo hoo! I like Bobbi. Despite having about $1750 lost somewhere in the mail for a couple of weeks, and still having nothing to show for it aside from an utterly useless tracking number, I'd have to say my first encounter with MSC has been mostly pleasant. I called Southeastern to personally let the stupid bitch over there that they've failed miserably and we're filing a loss on that box, and don't bother shipping it here even if found. She told me that if a claim has been filed it'll be handled by OSC, then she hung up. Moral of the story: Southeastern Freight sucks. Avoid them if you can.
- posted
18 years ago