3g Day

I've been waiting, not so patiently, since March 12, for delivery of my 3g iPad.

I dutifully saved my Christmas and birthday money, and figured that along with some money I'd make off tax season I'd have enough to afford the Cadillac 64 GB 3g model. (Color me naive about what tax season brought...) So the first day I could, I ordered it, along with a case and a power adapter.

Apple taunted me. They released the wifi version. They shipped the case to me. They shipped the power adapter. They billed my card for the Apple Care.

I started haunting the message boards on apple.com to figure out when it would be shipped. Consensus was that the prize would be in my hands on April 30, and indeed, I got email from Apple saying it had been shipped, and I'd have to be home to sign for it. (Lest you think I'm really nuts, rest assured I was one of many people anxiously awaiting the release. I didn't comment on the boards. Some of the people on there were thisclose to storming Apple headquarters with torches and pitchforks when they thought their shipment might be delayed till May 1.)

I planned the day. Up shortly after 7; showered and ready before 7:30, just in case it came early. And I waited... and waited... and waited. Email said it should be at my house before 3. I tracked it on FedEx.com and discovered it was on a truck headed toward me.

Around 2:30, I started getting nervous about the whole thing, especially given that my friend Cliff had taken delivery of his a couple of hours before. At 3:00, I checked the FedEx site again, to discover the dreaded "Delivery Exception" next to the tracking number.

The explanation was "Customer not home."

What?????

Oh hell no.

I fear at that point, I sort of lost my temper. "Sort of" defined like the volcano in Iceland "sort of" spewed ash that stopped air traffic for awhile. I dialed up FedEx and had a chat with the person who answered to explain that I took offense at such a bald-faced lie being used as an excuse for the delivery person not doing his job. You see, this was the second FedEx package within 3 days that hadn't reached my home on time.

They had rescheduled delivery for Monday. This was unacceptable in ways you can only begin to imagine. They said they wouldn't make the delivery guy come back since it wasn't medical equipment. So I'd have to go to their hub.

After another tirade on me getting out in Friday afternoon Atlanta traffic, the person gave me the address. I asked for the phone number for the hub, and the rep said they didn't have one. "Bull" was my response. Every place has a phone number; they just didn't want me to have it. So they patched me through to the hub so they could give me directions.

I asked when I could expect the driver to be back there... the person said "Oh, that's Mark... he should be here about 5:30" -- yeah, like he was supposed to be at my house about 3. I was in mid tirade again about their poor service when the doorbell rang.

It was Mark. With my iPad.

I can only guess that someone from FedEx called him and told him there was one po'ed little woman there and he best get over there with my package.

His explanation was that there were multiple streets in my neighborhood with similar names. Ya think? And that FedEx was supposed to get them GPS units but hadn't. Dude, have ya heard of a map? Why not call me if you couldn't find the house -- you had my phone number? Would have been better than lying about it.

I'm still appalled at the lack of customer service. Needless to say I won't be shipping FedEx anytime soon.

But at least I have my toy.It's soooooo kewl.