At the end of my patience..
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Hello,
I've noticed the squeaky wheel doesn't get the grease internally at PG, so I'm going to take a deep breath and really try to keep this civil.
I ordered my Spark on April 17th. Last Chance Special pre- order plus bag.
I was one of a large group of people on Facebook agitating for more transparency from PG, which yielded results around the beginning of July, with (what seemed to be) a commitment from the CEO of PG to communicate better what had gone wrong with regards to Spark production and what your company was doing to correct the issues and get the Spark backlog cleared.
When a notice came out on your site, and in emails, declaring that "95% of all Spark pre - orders will be shipped by the end of July, and the remaining will be shipped by mid - August", I knew I was in the 5% and anticipated this. My luck is notoriously terrible, and I was not disappointed, as I received an email around the 2nd of August stating that my Spark would ship soon. I signed up for FedEx text updates. I began to receive updates as to when my Spark would arrive a little over a week ago from FedEx. On Sunday the 16th of August, I received a text that my package would be delivered the next day, 8/17 (yesterday). No Spark. Went back to my local post office today (since you guys predictably used the cheapest method of shipping fulfillment). No Spark.
When I arrived home and checked the FedEx tracking page for my order, the date of delivery had disappeared, in favor of "No arrival date is currently available", and shipping listed as "pending". The USPS is terrible at tracking packages, and almost as bad as PG about customer service (they DO have an 800 number, but it takes an hour to talk to a human).
From the tracking details, it appears the Spark has bounced around Sacramento, CA, between FedEx and USPS facilities over the course of 6 days - never a good sign. I'd bet money the package is now lost.
A company which was hyper - focused on customer satisfaction would fix this by shipping a Spark via FedEx Next Day Air. I know I can't expect that from Positive Grid. I've now filled out your support form twice with no reply.
I don't really expect any good will come from this post; honestly I'm curious if any readers or Spark users are employees of either FedEx or the USPS who can help explain this to me.
Thanks ahead of time. -
@gabelipman The only thing I can tell is you will love it when it gets to you, I waited 6 months being in the group that was bypassed.
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Gabe,
Man I feel for you and my heart just kept sinking the more I read...I have to ask did you call FedEx and ask them for help? Document the call. Time, date, Politely ask the name of the person assisting you and explain that you likely will have to use the conversation to convince the vendor to open a shipping claim. “Maybe slip in “Or by any chance can you open a claim for me from your end?” It’s amazing what a polite presence on the phone can accomplish. None the less, it’s no guarantee but it’s the one thing I didn’t see in your post. Best wishes, really. Keoki.
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@gabelipman Dude I feel your pain. I got an email on Aug 5 saying my order had shipped with a UPS tracking number. I get the tracking number only to find out it really shipped on July 24, then delivered and being returned to PG because of an address issue. Mike from this forum told my last week they updated my address. That's after me sending email after email with no reply! Now, who knows when or if I will ever get one. By the way I ordered mine May 22.
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@keoki Hey Keoki thanks for the encouragement. I did call FedEx, and got the name of the person on the other end; I also chatted online with an understanding but powerless FedEx rep who claimed that because PG used SmartPost as the shipping method, it was up to USPS to do final tracking and fulfillment. When I talked to a rep at USPS, they suggested I call FedEx - in other words, a subcontracting relationship in which customer satisfaction and data throughput where never discussed or agreed upon. When you're dealing with two companies, and each says to contact the other, you know you're screwed...
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@gabelipman I've always called that problem "tech support ping-pong" -- the tech support teams keep score as they bounce you back and forth between the two companies. The company who made the last contact with the user before they gave up and stopped calling tech support gets the point. At the end of the year the companies' tech support groups get together and the loser team (the ones who were not the last to speak with the customer most of the time) buys the winning team a couple rounds of drinks.