Percy and Hollis got married on Saturday night in New York. They were really excited to have our Flip cameras in the hands of their friends and family to capture all of the special moments from their day. But if not for the extraordinary efforts of a few strangers all of those memories would have been lost forever.
The Back Story
We shipped the 5 cameras on May 27th through FedEx, which should have been plenty of time to arrive at Percy’s apartment before the wedding. FedEx estimated the delivery date as June 1st. Normally, that would be the last we’d have to do until we received the cameras back. Not for this wedding. We checked the tracking status on Tuesday May 31st and the estimated delivery was pushed back to June 2nd. Still no problem. When we checked on June 2nd the new delivery date was Friday. Not ideal, but still a day before the wedding and it had arrived in New Jersey so it was close.
The recovery begins
We were alerted by FedEx at 2pm (3pm in NY) on Friday June 3rd that the shipment had not been delivered because nobody was home when the driver arrived and they would not leave it at the door of an apartment. Our customer service specialist immediately sprang into action to get the cameras to Percy in time for his wedding.
The first attempt was to contact FedEx. After several conversations over the course of an hour with various levels of management we were told that there was no way to contact the driver (hello this is 2011 not 1973) and since it was shipped ground the next attempt would be on Monday morning. We asked if the driver could leave it at a FedEx Office store for pickup. Could it be left at the FedEx facility for pickup in the morning? Could the driver try a second time and we’d make sure someone was home? No, no, and no. We even asked one supervisor what she would advise her daughter if she was in the situation. When she replied, “I’d tell her she’d get the cameras on Tuesday.” we knew any more efforts with FedEx would only be wasted.
Best Buy fails, saves, fails, and saves
The next effort was to purchase five new cameras from a Best Buy close to Percy and have them ready for pickup. After a quick search we contacted the nearest store and talked with a sales rep. The first question was to find out if they actually had 5 cameras in the store as this was a concern since Cisco stopped making them about a month ago. Yes they had them. Yes they could have Geek Squad charge them. And they could even deliver them. Yes! Of course all of this took quite a bit of time and explanation and was happening in the car as by this time our customer service specialist was on her way to the airport! Everything seemed to be in order. We contacted Percy, explained the situation, apologized for the late delivery, and thought the problem was solved. Then we got a call from the Best Buy agent saying that our corporate credit card had been denied for fraudulent activity. What? We found out that they taken the card info incorrectly. Then, without explanation, the sales rep refused to take the correct numbers or a new credit card. Every time we called back we got the same rep who refused to connect us with a supervisor. By now it was 5pm (6pm NY) and time was running out.
Shemeeka and Kevin to the rescue
Now I was in charge and decided to call another Best Buy. This time we connected with Shemeeka and explained to her the entire story in as condensed a version as possible. Shemeeka was very sympathetic and took real ownership of the situation. She personally went and got 5 cameras and gave them to Geek Squad to start charging even before taking the order info. After about 45 minutes going through the necessary steps (it required two separate orders, one for the charging and delivery) everything finally seemed set. She even promised to have the delivery driver call me after dropping the cameras off at Percy’s.
About 15 minutes later, Shemeeka called us to say that the delivery company informed them that there was a 50/50 chance they’d be able to pick up the cameras because it was so late. Shemeeka said she was saying a prayer for us and wished she could make the delivery herself but she does not have a car. As you can guess, we heard from the delivery company about 30 minutes later. Kevin called and said that no driver was close enough to get to the BestBuy before the store closed.
What now we thought? After all the effort would Percy and Hollis be left without cameras? I quickly explained the story to Kevin and asked if there were any ‘extraordinary’ means that could be employed. He paused for a moment and asked if I could be placed on hold. He came back and said that no drivers were available but he was driving near Percy’s apartment and would personally make the delivery. Wow! He explained that he had been the best man for his best friend and there had been a lot of things that went wrong during the wedding and wanted to help someone else avoid problems. So, he said he’d call the Best Buy and tell them he would be picking up the cameras.
Still not easy
10 minutes later Kevin called back and said Best Buy corporate policy would not allow them to release the order to him because he was not actually a driver for the delivery company. Oh man. Thinking quickly I told him I was going to call Shemeeka and get back to him. I called her and asked if we could simply cancel the delivery and designate Kevin as the person to pickup the order. ”Sure”, she said, ” but the store will be closed by time he gets here. Hold on.” After a few minutes she came back and told me she convinced the security guard to hand the cameras to Kevin when he arrived. Alleluia!
A happy ending
Finally, everything was set. Kevin even called after he had the cameras in his hand. Percy and Hollis passed the cameras out on the wedding day and here is what he sent us the next day.
“Thanks man. We had a blast last night and I am pretty sure we got tons of cool stuff on the cameras. I know there was drama with the original order delivery, but I am incredibly pleased with the way you handled it. I can’t wait to see the finished product.”
We can’t wait to see the videos either. In appreciation for his understanding of the situation we are going to include the footage they capture during their honeymoon to Barbados.
Thanks
We are very grateful to Shameeka, Kevin, Percy, and Hollis for working with us to get the Flip cameras for the wedding. It certainly makes one feel good to know how kind people can be even when they don’t know you and just want to help another person.
