MORGANTOWN – Social media has been flooded with many dozens of complaints about Morgantown-area FedEx service: shoddy deliveries, delivery delays of days and weeks, even outright failure to deliver.
The problems sparked the creation of a private Facebook group on Jan. 18: Complaints against Morgantown FedEx Terminal. On Thursday afternoon it had 208 members and 87 posts, with many of those posts featuring dozens of comments with similar complaints.
We spoke to group member Heather Gilbert, of Spraggs, Pa., who contacted The Dominion Post about the problem.
She’s waiting on a $20 manufacturer’s part for her pellet stove situated in her finished garage, where her dog kennels are and her water lines run through. Tracking shows it left Ohio on Jan. 15 and arrived at the Morgantown station on Pitman Road on Jan. 16. It’s been out for delivery several times but hadn’t arrived as of Thursday afternoon.
“I had to go spend $1,000 to go buy another pellet stove so I could take the part off of it to operate my pellet stove so my pipes don’t freeze,” she said. “Fortunately I’m in the position that I can afford that, but there’s a lot of people that have been dealing with this issue that cannot.”
Her daughter, she said, has had to go buy bags of dog food at a significantly higher price than what she paid for the bags she ordered online that are still sitting at the station. And her dog groomer has been awaiting supplies since Jan. 2. The groomer visited the station several times and finally received two of her four boxes; she still awaits the other two.
Gilbert’s FedEx problems actually began in mid-December, she said, with the delivery of Christmas presents she ordered. Her regular driver had moved to a new job and the new driver’s service was sub-par. “My Christmas gifts were in the middle of the road – not my driveway, the road.”
Gilbert said she’s complained to the state attorney general. The Better Business Bureau and even had a long talk with corporate, which yielded no results. “We don’t know what else to do at this point.”
The Dominion Post visited the Pitman Road station and spoke to station Senior Manager Patrick Lusk.
“We have been made aware of the complaints,” he said. “We are in the process of delivering everything as quickly as we can. We have established additional resources.”
Given the widespread complaints, he said, “The company at this time is preparing a statement to put out to the community to make sure everybody is on the same page.” He isn’t involved in the preparation and couldn’t say when the statement would be issued, but estimated in 24-72 hours.
Asked about the reasons for the delays, he waved to the snow surrounding the station, signifying the winter weather, and agreed when we said that.
Told about that, Gilbert said, “I could be completely acceptable to the weather, a day or two delay, but not when we’re talking weeks and weeks and weeks.”
FedEx corporate supplied this statement: “We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by delays as a result of winter weather in the Morgantown area and appreciate our customers’ patience as we implement contingencies, including securing additional delivery resources, extending operation hours and delivery times, and expanding package sorts to deliver these packages as quickly as possible. Customers with questions about their shipments can visit www.fedex.com for updates.”
Many of the posted comments complain about the enhanced security of the new station. The former Green Bag Road site had a customer entrance where one or two staffers were always on hand to serve customers. The new site is gated and requires customers to contact the office via a call box. Two people were waiting in Thursday’s cold when we arrived.
Corporate did not respond to a question about the enhanced security at the new station.
Here are some sample posts from the Facebook group.
“Why ain’t you delivering packages around the Pennsylvania area you have in route. This is crazy. People haven’t gotten their stuff in a month or so. … Many people has been waiting and calling the company to get refunds because they need their stuff.”
“Just stalking the FedEx guy because we are supposed to have 6 packages delivered! … We had problems LONG before the snow came.”
“If I had the opportunity to pay $20 extra per package just to make sure FedEx doesn’t lay hands on anything we order, I would. I understand the weather, but this issue started long before the snow came. I’ve NEVER had issues with my Chewy boxes not coming on time or not being delivered. I have SOO many packages SITTING at FedEx in Morgantown and have been there for over a week. I cannot stand FedEx. That is all.”
“I have medication for my dog sitting there for 10 days and it has to be refrigerated. So it’s probably no good anymore. I had to drive to Washington, Pa., to replace it. I opened a priority case with FedEx and never heard back from them. I know they’re on a big hill, but there’s a new invention called chains. UPS has them on their trucks and they aren’t weeks behind.”
Another Facebook Group, Fairmont Community Compliments Complaints Concerns, includes FedEx complaints. One says, “I would like to know if anyone else is having trouble getting FedEx deliveries that go thru Morgantown. Since before Christmas it seems our packages arrive in Morgantown and are never seen again. We have called FedEx customer service and they have no idea what is happening or where our packages are. … Two of the items were battery powered snow shovels. … Guess what, both were lost in Morgantown. Imagine that! The other boxes were perishable food items.”
Media reports indicate that the problem isn’t just local. FedEx customers in Charleston and Clarksburg have been affected. FedEx corporate supplied a response similar to the Morgantown statement about those problems.
