Story time. Today I installed HID headlights in the car for the low beams. HID bulbs work very differently to standard halogen bulbs, and put out a much brighter and whiter light. In other words, they're awesome for driving at night which we'll likely be doing a lot of during the upcoming road trip. However, without going into detail, I'm leaving the high beams and fog lights as halogen bulbs, but I wanted to replace the standard yellow'ish bulbs with aftermarket bulbs that give out a whiter light that better matches the colour of the HID's (because I'm picky). After a lot of research, I decided on a couple pairs of these Philips bulbs from Amazon that claim to match the colour of the HID bulbs.
Now then, when you live in an apartment building without a doorman to take receipt of your mail and packages, having items delivered can be a hassle when you're out at work all day. Usually it requires having the courier or postal service hold the package at their depot and collecting it yourself which a) is a pain in the ass, and b) in some cases incurs an additional cost that I'm not interested in paying. So instead I've started having packages delivered to Kristina's office just down the street, where she or someone is always there during the day to receive them.
Anyway, I ordered these bulbs on Monday night, and Amazon had some deal going for next-day delivery that meant it was the same price as snail-mail. So what the hey - I'll take next-day thanks so they'll definitely be here in time to install this weekend along with the HID's (not an easy process in this particular car since access to the headlight housing internals requires dropping the bumper, so it's not something I want to do twice). Well my package didn't arrive until 8:30pm the next day (Tuesday), long after Kristina's shop had closed up for the day. Fair enough - the package had a long way to travel in a day so I was ok with that, and I assumed it would instead be delivered during business hours the following day (Wednesday). Wrong! The package never turned up, and its online tracking was updated at 8:15pm with another failed attempt. Fast forward to Thursday, the package hadn't arrived during business hours again, so I went and stood outside Kristina's office and waited for it. After an hour of standing around like a moron, I managed to get the courier company on the phone and was informed the courier driver had somehow left my package behind at their depot in New Jersey. Wow.
I returned home and did some Google'ing on this courier company. They're called
A-1 Courier Services and I'd never heard of them before, let alone ever received packages from them. Before long I found the worst possible record of reviews from online review sites such as
Yelp and
Google (click the links and see for yourself - it actually makes for entertaining reading). Even
Amazon has a forum thread about these clowns that has been active since 2008, and is filled with nothing but hate. "My package was ten days late!" "My package never arrived!" "My package was delivered to my neighbour half way down the street!" "My package was hurled on my porch and the driver just walked off!" "My package was left in the driveway and I nearly ran it over with my car!" "My package looked like it had been fucked by a train!" On and on and on it went. At this point I got Amazon on the phone and slammed them for continuing to utilise these cowboys despite seven years of piss-poor reviews on their own forum, especially for time-critical deliveries of all things! To their credit, they were very accommodating, refunded the entire order, added a $25 credit to my account, and told me to just keep the bulbs if they ever arrive. I then got these A-1 assholes back on the phone, slammed them, had them re-route the package to our apartment instead since delivery during business hours is apparently too difficult, and demanded they get their shit together.
Next day then - Friday (yesterday). I called the courier again in the morning to confirm they had my address and cell phone number recorded correctly, and to get an estimated delivery time. The address was correct, my number was correct, and the ETA was 5-9pm. Ok then. Well 9pm rolled around, I'd been in the apartment since before 5, and nothing had arrived. I called them again, and was given a new ETA of 10pm hahaha! At 9:50pm I looked outside (again) and noticed a white van double-parked out front that wasn't there five minutes earlier; I couldn't see a driver anywhere though. I wandered outside to find a guy wearing an A-1 shirt with a package in hand, trying to get into the bloody apartment building next door! The exchange that followed went like so:
"Hey, sunshine, what address are you looking for?"
"Umm, 486." (He was trying to get into 484).
"So why are you at this building?"
"Umm, because this is 486."
"Show me how you know that."
He took a step back, pointed up at the awning above the door, and then realised it said 484 hahaha!
"That package you're holding is actually for me, but what would have happened if I hadn't spotted you out here?"
"I would have left it in this building [484]."
"So, I wouldn't get my package - is that right?"
(No response.)
"And this would be yet another fine example of your company's utter incompetence and apparent inability to do its job properly - is that right?"
Again, no response, though I suspect there were a few too many 'big' words in that last sentence. I then noticed the updated address on the box, while correct, was missing the apartment number, so I have no idea how that would have worked out even if he did manage to find the right building. He did have my cell phone number on the packing slip, but admitted he didn't even notice it there.
Anyway, all's well that ends well, even if that end is three days late and almost ended up in the building next door. I miss having a mailbox - haven't had one since I left
Brisbane almost nine years ago.