The FedEx Problem (and the Solution)

Last week, there was a Woot-Off at Woot.com. For those of you not familiar with Woot, they normally sell one item a day until it sells out. At midnight CST, they put a new item up for sale. Items for sale range greatly, but usually are electronic in nature. During a Woot-Off, when an item sells out, a new item is put up for sale. Sometimes items sell out within a matter of seconds. It can be quite addicting.

Anyway, during the last Woot-Off, I purchased an iRobot Roomba 4296 Remote Scheduler Robotic Vacuum. Vacuuming is one of my least favourite tasks, so having a robot to do it for me is especially exciting. Unfortunately, Woot is currently shipping via FedEx. I didn't realize this until I received my order tracking information in my e-mail inbox yesterday. There is nowhere at my apartment for FedEx to leave this package, so I gave their customer service department a call.

I had researched on their website that they do have a "hold at location" option available so I asked if I could have this done. Unfortunately (again), since the item was shipped FedEx Ground, the closest pick-up location is an hour and a half away. Driving that far (3 hours round trip) is just not an option. I asked if there was any way that I could have the shipping address changed to my work address. Of course, I could not do this through FedEx, the original shipper was the only one who could do this.

Fortunately, Woot's customer service e-mail address must be checked by approximately 1,000 trained monkeys, because I received an e-mail saying that they had changed the address with FedEx within an hour of my original e-mail being sent! YAY!

Note to self: When ordering from Woot in the future, list my work address as the shipping address.