Beware FedEx

FedEx is up to no good. I got my corporate Amex bill and noticed that there were two shipments listed– one for $25 and one for $55. I’d used FedEx to ship my SPOT watch (< 1lb) back for repair and to seen a book to a friend in Long Beach. Sure enough, the shipment dates and tracking numbers matched. When I called FedEx to ask them WTF, the explanation was simple:

FedEx: We’ve been encouraging our customers to use our shipping materials. When you ship a package with nonstandard packaging, we automatically dim weight it.

Me: What does that mean?

FedEx: We take the package dimensions and calculate a standardized weight, then bill you for that.

Me: (incoherent spluttering) Why didn’t anyone tell me this?

FedEx: You should have noticed the change in your latest Service Guide.

Me:

(more spluttering) I didn’t GET a service guide this year!

They were kind enough to remove the overcharge for those two packages, but there are two more enroute right now that’ll have to be re-rated once I get the bill. In the meantime, FedEx’s perverse website has decided that two addresses which look the same to humans aren’t really the same, so it won’t let me log in to order some more of the Holy FedEx Boxes that I have to use in order to not be grossly overcharged. Grrrrr.

If you use FedEx for shipping, check your bills very, very carefully.