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18Dec04

i bought a digital camera to replace the tiny U20 that had been stolen. since the camera is newly released model, i had to do some sneaky shopping in order no to get ripped off. dell came to the rescue by offering 10% off all digital cameras and free shipping for the holidays. dell was great about my order, however they ship through DHL (nee airborne express), and that is where the problem began.

my package got into san francisco 5 days ago. 3 days later it actually made it onto a truck, bound for my house. at least according to dhl’s tracking website. however i never got the package, or a delivery notice. the next day the package’s status was never updated on the website, so finally i called last night to find out the the package was probably just sitting somewhere. i put in a request to have the package pulled so i could go pick it up today.

today i go down and its not lookin good. right when i get there the lady workin the counter tries to slide a huge package across it to the couple in front of me and delaminates the formica from it. this despite the fact the man offered to come around and pick it up for her. i gave her my name and address and she started looking for my package. i could tell she wasn’t getting far. so i quickly looked up my tracking number to help her. she went away. 2 more guys came in to pick up packages and she didn’t offer to help them. i kindly pointed out to her as she passed by to shout “we’re still trying to locate your package,” that more people were waiting. she didn’t come to help. after 4 people were waiting behind me, she took all their tracking numbers and went away. i had given her my tracking number about 15 minutes ago, this was not looking good.

about 5-10 min later she comes out with a package that isn’t meant for any of the 5 people waiting for one. we all laugh. 40 minutes after i gave the lady my tracking number, she comes out and says “we can’t locate your package.” i’m all “ever?” she says that they’re doing a full scan of tthe facility at 4am monday and they’ll try to “hot deliver” the package to me then. she tells the guy in line after me, who supposedly has had his package at the desk for 4 days, the same thing. i’m frustrated but it’s obvious this woman isn’t going to help at all, so instead of continuing to berate her til i get violent. i go outside. the guy after continues to berate the hapless woman and gets nowhere. i’m happy i left.

i ride around the corner to get some lunch, and figuring they were so helpful yesterday, i call the dhl service center. after the worlds shortest hold period (like 2.5 minutes TOPS), i get on the phone and calmly explain my situation. the woman at the other end is very nice and checks everything with me. i’m shocked to find that the sf office logged that they had my package at the desk and even claimed to have called me this morning to confirm it was waiting for me. they didn’t call, didn’t talk to me, didn’t even leave a message. i asked the woman 3 separate times if they had a tracking system that should show them what truck my package was on or where it should be at the facility. she swears they do.

after doing everything she can to no avail, she offers to have the supervisor from the sf office call me. i take her up on the offer and not five minutes later the supervisor gives me a call. it turns out the supervisor is the same guy who said he called me this morning, so i’m not exactly happy to hear from him. he tells me they found my package “after i left” and that i can come pick it up. i ask if he’s sure, he swears he’s looking at the package right then. i ask if he understands why i’m having a hard time believing him. he tries not to say yes.

i go back to DHL office and wait. two other people who were there with me the first time around have also returned. They decided to try again after gathering more details or making other arrangements. i explained what i did and told them if i was successful, they should follow suit. without anyone ever coming to the counter to help me, a man comes out and says “are you eric?” yep. he hands me the most beat up box you have ever seen. it is smashed and dented everywhere. one of the dudes who’s also waiting says “maybe they couldn’t find it because some guys were out back playing football with it.”

there’s no way i’m leaving that office without checking my camera first. thankfully dell packed the teeny camera box inside a medium sized box filled with styrofoam peanuts. the real box was undamaged. after popping in the battery and checking all the displays and lens, i was happy to finally have a new working digital camera. too bad it came with a horribly skimpy 16 mb memory card.

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