I think Sonos must use many different couriers as I’m sure our last Sonos delivery came here by UPS. At this time of year I think all the courier services do their level-best to get parcels to their destination on time, but clearly they all may have difficulties around Christmas, notwithstanding there is a global pandemic with staff unexpectedly taking time off on sick-leave .

I’d just be grateful the parcel order got to its destination and the fact that shipping is often ‘free’ and included.

Some may argue we pay for delivery, but I got two Sonos One’s delivered for the same price as picking them up from a local store, so I have no complaints here, all things considered.

Patience is a virtue.

I checked my orders and they come via FedEx, and never really had an issue..  The courier used probably depends on the country or location of the delivery.  Also most likely that the particular FedEx branch or delivery driver for your location is just bad, not the entire delivery system. 

So while Sonos might be able to let FedEx know of the poor performance, it might be too localized for them to switch delivery partner for your area, possibly even a breach in contract.  it may be more effective for you to let FedEx know about your frustration, although they should have the data to know already.

Still, don’t blame you for wanting to avoid FedEx and not buy Sonos, or buy from other retailers who don’t use FedEx because of this issue.

I do understand the current issues but I have had no delivery issues with UPS and Fed Ex has failed on every package they have delivered this year, including two perishable food packages that arrived a week late and were spoiled. Another one ended up “lost” and I had to get it refunded.  Those were not during the Christmas season.   Also if the issue is staffing then why did they list my package as local and out for delivery one day and then the next day its pending in a state 600 miles away?   Staff issues are one thing.  Lying to customers on their updates?  That's just crappy business.  Unless you believe that they took my local package and instead of delivering it sent it back to Missouri because weather?   Right.  I am willing to be patient and I have been but when they start lying to me I draw the line.  Patience is a virtue but accepting bad business practice is not. If you do not call out this kind of thing, it only enables them to continue with crappy service. As far as that “accept the issues because of free delivery”.  No it is not free.  It is factored in the price of the product.  Whether you pick it up or not is moot.  When you pick it up you still subsidize that shipping cost.  And my cost of delivery has nothing to do with accepting bad business practices.  I like Sono and their products.  I do not like dealing with Fed Ex and their lies and its to the point that I will find another speaker company if dealing with Sonos means dealing with Fed Ex.  I think its important to let Sonos know that Fed Ex’s failures is costing them business.  Lose enough business and perhaps they make a change. 

Moderation edit: removed bad language

I think it must be down to the local FedEx in the region where you are. It’s difficult to know the overall delivery situation with FedEx across all countries and regions, but (as mentioned) I assume Sonos use many different couriers. As you mention, if there are enough complaints, then Sonos will likely choose to use another courier instead.

You could always perhaps try phoning your order through to Sonos and see if you can ask for another local courier and if not, then cancel your order and/or choose to collect or accept delivery from a local store/supplier instead. 

 It may end up with me having to reorder and I will only do that if Sonos is willing to ship through a different carrier.   I did in fact contact Fed Ex and they were completely useless.  They couldn't even confirm the whereabouts of my package and their solution was to either give it a week and hope it shows up or cancel and reorder.  They did initialize a search for my package and will alert me when they have located it but at this point I have little faith that the package will actually be delivered and I fear ordering another one because I don't feel like an end result of actually receiving the package is even a 50/50 proposition at this point.   I think I will give Fed Ex until tomorrow morning to get their act together and if they cant then I will contact Sonos by phone and try to work something out with them.  

I don’t recall which service it was, but I do recall having a patch tracked at local distribution center once, then appear in another city a day or two later, delivered the next day.  These tracking systems are not perfect, and packages can get lost.  It shouldn’t be a consistent problem though.

I think the most common problem I have seen is that delivery drivers will record a delivery as completed, even though it’s still on the truck, in order to meet their KPIs.  They can then go home and deliver it first thing in the morning before meeting the next days delivery quotas.  They can just claim it was already there or something.  Seen this happen with USPS many times.  I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case for other delivery related issues either.

But yea, the point is that the tracking system only works as long as the employees haven’t figured out how to gain the system.  In some ways, Amazons system of having drivers take a picture of the delivered item isn’t just nice for customers, but keeps delivery drivers from lying about deliveries made.

I’m with rshetts. My FedEx deliveries are on time less than half the time. This goes back to before the pandemic so it’s not that. I had two packages that were out for delivery, didn’t make it, got rerouted, then one showed up a day later and the other took an additional two days. How is this possible?

In my area when comparing UPS, FedEx, and USPS, the USPS is clearly the worst and UPS is the best overall. UPS tracking is the most accurate.

There is a difference in the last mile. At a previous location we were on a first name basis with the UPS driver and he provided excellent service. If we urgently needed a package we could call his cell number, ask where he was located and drive by to pick up our package or if he saw us on the street he would simply hand out a small package. Although we did not have his cell number we could expect similar service from the next day FedEx driver. The regular afternoon FedEx drivers were hopeless. 

Then we moved a few blocks and are now assigned a new set of drivers who are not responsive.

Currently I’m waiting for a FedEx delivery that was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but the tracking screen indicates that the package will be delivered today and it’s current location is 600 miles from here. Unfortunately, this is fairly typical for FedEx. In one case a next day air package went missing and finally showed up four days late, delivered to a different address than what customer service and I agreed on.

In yet another location I was sitting on the front steps, waiting for a UPS package at the same time the package was logged as “no one home”. I think that the driver must have had a hot date that evening.

I think that the delivery drivers are under a lot of pressure because it is relatively easy to measure the number of deliveries per minute and tie bonuses to improving this score. There have been a few recent news reports of discovering hundreds of packages apparently dumped from a delivery truck. I suspect that the driver received a good score those days and hundreds of customers reported a stolen package.

Finally, I received notice early this morning that the package will be delivered between 8:30am and 2:05pm today (Sunday). Then I received notice that the package was delivered at 8:06am. (have package in hand)

Ah this explains everything …

Yes, Christmas packages finally arriving in July.