Airborne Express

These reports make things sound pretty bad at Airborne. A report from an Airborne employee make it sound even worse.

Allen, DDS, of Sunrise FL writes (4/24/03):
I am a Dentist in Florida who uses a lab in California for certain denture cases. In this particular case, a denture was sent on 12/3/02 to the lab to repair. After 1 week I called the lab and asked them about this case. They said they never received it. I called Airborne up and they said they would trace it. Another week goes by and we call Airborne up and they said the case was traced to Miramar, Florida but they have no clue where it went from there. We gave them another week and they still couldn't find it. They told me I needed to make a claim now.

Since I had to redo the case at my own expense, I told Airborne that the denture that they lost cost $550. They said no problem. They told me to wait about a month and the claim would be investigated. A month goes by and we called them up again. Now they tell me they have no record that I even called them and they want to start from scratch. We waited a few more weeks and then we called them up again. Not once did they ever call me. This time they tell me that they forget to send me a specific claim form, so they sent me the form to fill out. I sent it to them and waited another 2 weeks.

When we called them up this time, they said they never received the claim form. Now they tell me to fax everything to them. I faxed the claim to them and waited a day. We called and they said they never received the fax. We faxed it again and again and finally after the third time they said they got the claim. We waited another week and we called them up again. Now they tell me they are denying the claim because we sent it to them too late. We have documented every call we made to them and the people we spoke to. We have reference numbers that they gave us each time we call. Now they are saying there is no proof that we made any calls to them. When we told them we would sue them for the money, Kim, one of their supervisors, said who cares.

Because I had to redo the denture at my own time and expense, the cost that I put in a claim for was $550. But the extra time I needed to remake this cost me a lot more than that. My patient was without his teeth for almost a month because of Airborne.

Well, since Kim obviously doesn't plan to do anything, we'd say the good doctor should head down to Small Claims Court.

Susan of Bakersfield CA (3/9/03):
In December 2002, my sister sent me an Omega Constellation watch via Airborne Express as a Christmas gift. The watch was insured for $1,500.00. To make a long story short, Airborne left the package at my front door on December 31, 2002 while I was out of town for the New Year. When I returned home after the holiday, there was no package to be found. Therefore, a claim was filed. Unfortunately, it turns out they will not cover watches valued at more than $100.00. (They will obviously sell you the additional insurance without hesitation, though!) Watches valued at more than $100.00 are actually on the same list of prohibited items as drugs and firearms. Anyhow, I received a check for $100.00 that I have no intention of cashing. I'm drafting my response letter now.

I have experienced numerous problems with Airborne leaving packages at wrong addresses or leaving insured items without bothing to obtain a signature. It's funny that they charge at least $1.25 extra for delivery to residential addresses, yet they don't provide nearly the same level of service as they do for delivery to offices (i.e. actually bother to obtain a signature).

Susan should also deliver herself to Small Claims Court. Airborne may argue it's not responsible for expensive watches but it is still liable for losses due to negligence.

Irene of Forest Heights MD (6/6/02):
I waited three weeks for W2-type income tax forms from my agent in Canada. The day after I was notified by the sender that he had mailed an envelope on May 7th from Canada to Maryland by Airborne Express, I checked Airborne Web page under the tracking number my agent gave me. The Web page said the package was delivered on May 9th.

I never received the envelope. I called the customer service in Seattle, WA. They just said that the driver's report showed he left the envelope on my porch. I have a large mail box on my porch, The envelope was never delivered to me. That is all customer service did and closed my complaint file. The driver either left the envelope at another address or never delivered it at all.

Airborne delivery personel in Oxon Hill MD are incompetent. Further, Andre of Airborne called me and said the driver would call me about the package. The driver never called me and Andre did not give me his phone number. The next day I called customer service and they said the driver was no longer working at Airborne so they could not ask him about the envelope.

If as a result of this my taxes are filed late, I will not be able to take deductions and stand to pay an extra $4,000 in taxes.

Ryan of Raleigh NC (1/22/03):
I had ordered a surround sound system from someone on ebay, whose courier happened to be Airborne Express, which had me in doubts. I have already had mishaps with Airborne, so I was sketchy of their services, but this time, I was really surprised that they are allowed to operate in such a sloppy manner. The package did indeed arrive on time, but the next thing that happened was really shocking.

As the driver was coming up to my door, he had his arms wrapped around my FRAGILE package, when he saw my two dogs at the door, panicked, and dropped my package about three feet onto my brick doorstep and ran back to his van. The dogs were behind a tightly shut storm door, and were not even angrily barking at the man. I don't understand why he couldn't have left the package at the bottom of the front doorstep, having such a fear of dogs.

After this event, I attempted to hook up my surround sound system, only to find out the receiver would not work at all. I then called the ebay seller I bought it from, and he notified me of how the box was in perfect condition when it left his doorstep. Upon further inspection, I noticed a hole in the box, as if a hard object puntured it, right where the receiver happened to be placed in the box. Now I have to have it fixed (fortunately under warranty) and must wait 2 to 4 weeks for repair. Also, I had the package insured, and the claim will take "approximately 30 to 60 days to process." All of this waiting, due to the irresponsible acts of the driver.

I saw the countless horror stories posted on this site and others, and I wonder, does Airborne EVER seem to care about it's customers? I don't see how you can completely disrespect your customers and expect to hold up a good name. I have never had any problems with UPS, USPS, or Fed-Ex. They are "Class A" in my book, While Airborne Express is "Class D". they would have got an F, but they happened to get the package on the time, the ONLY good factor.

Bonnie of Hayward CA writes (9/23/01):
It is our wedding anniversary trip that turned into a package of frustration and anger. We planned a trip and the plane departs at 8am on 9/23/2001. We ordered the travel package through an agent and the plane tickets were arranged to be shipped from Southwest airline vacations directly to us via Airborne Express 'Overnight' delivery. It didn't show up on Thursday as it was supposed to, we called our travel agent, and she arranged it to be sent to us on Friday.

My husband and I stayed home all day Friday and nothing showed up. We called SW airline directly on Friday and they said that the package had been sent out, they tracked it down and said that Airborne had now rescheduled it for Saturday (9/22/2001) delivery. We called early Saturday and SW airlines reassured us that the tickets were scheduled for delivery between 9-5, so we stayed at home. Nothing showed up by 3pm, we called the airline but the customer service was closed. And we didn't see our delivery at all.

We called SW early sunday and they said that Airborne 'attempted' to deliver the package 10:15am on Saturday. SW apologised but said that there is nothing that can be done because their ticketing will not open until 7am Monday. We called Airborne directly afterwards and they told us that they attempted to deliver the package 10:15am Saturday but no one answered the door. Our immediate reaction was: What? When we did not even leave the house for 3 days in a row just waiting for that package to show up? And then they said that there is nothing that they can do because it is Sunday and that we should have called earlier on.

We were so angry at the excuse that they gave out for not delivering the package and this is the 3rd time that we had problems with Airborne Express either. The first time we used their service, an overnight delivery did not show up for over a week and when we called, we got their standard excuse, 'we attempted delivey three times but nobody was there'. After I had a talk with their supervisor, the package miraculously appeared within an hour.

Second time round, we ordered some computer equipment through an online vendor. The packages did not show up because they delivered the equipment to some address that was half a city across where I live, and better yet, they just left the package on the doorstep without having anyone sign for it. Luckily, the people that received the package called us and we picked up the equipment ourselves. Unfortunately, the vendor made a wrong delivery and we had to return one of the packages, we talked to their supervisor and they promised free return of the package. They made us drop off the package at their local service center that is an hour's drive away, and they forgot about the promise of free delivery and keep on sending us an invoice.

So, we were stuck at home for 3 days in a row waiting for a delivery that never showed up. Not to mention the financial loss we suffered because we cancelled clients to wait for the delivery and for the vacation that we will now never have, and a totally ruined wedding anniversary. We have never had so much troubles with other delivery services and will stay away from using Airborne Express in the future.

Bob of Las Vegas (7/24/01):
After my grandfather passed away in Canada, my cousin, the executor of the estate, sent a certified check to me via Purolator Courier. Airborne Express handles delivery for Purolator in my area. When Airborne delivered the envelope to the house, it was dropped on the porch and left. No one rang the bell, as there was someone home for most of the day.

When my wife came home from work, she found the envelope blowing around the front lawn. Inside was a check for over $30,000 for my share of the estate. When I called Airborne to complain about the lack of attention in this delivery, I was told that it was "company policy" to leave deliveries on the porch "if it seems safe". Despite the fact that there were flower pots and other objects on the porch that could have prevented the envelope from blowing around the neighborhood, no effort was made to secure it (this is an area that often experiences high winds).

A second call to Airborne garnered a promise to have the office supervisor "look into it and call (me)". Of course, that never happened.

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