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 ****, 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 **** 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.

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B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net