FedEx latent upcharges - Watch Out

Johnny_Law

AK Member
Subscriber
Perhaps a public service announcement. I just discovered that the charges for many recent FedEx shipments of mine have shown up on my credit card vastly higher than the quoted price from the online tool. One of them was $40 higher ($110 charge vs. $70 online quote when buying label)! And I verified that the weight on FedEx's scale matched the weight on my scale before leaving it with FedEx to ship.

I haven't yet figured out how to contest these charges, but will update if I figure it out ... the website seems engineered to not give you an easy avenue to do so.

Edit: Ok here's the page that summarizes your online activity: https://www.fedex.com/fedexbillingonline/pages/accountsummary/accountSummaryFBO.xhtml

If you ship FedEx and use the online tool to buy your shipping labels, I'd recommend checking your credit card bill to make sure the final charges match the online prices.
 
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I have had this happen to me more than once with FedEx; so often that I never use the online tool anymore, but provide my account number at the FedEx location.

They always try to tell me there is a discount for paying online; not in my experience..
 
Does the term "dimensional weight" show up anywhere in the paperwork? Because for a long time, like decades, they have charged more than weight would suggest for large but light packages. Some items that this kicks in for are light, nearly-empty electronics devices, surrounded by styrofoam, and boxed in another styrofoam-lined box.
 
Well they ask you for all the dimensions and the weight so they should be able to account for that.

I have had difficulty finding out what they actually charged after the pkg was shipped, from the website. I signed up for Insight which one would think should give you insight into your shipping activities. I had a heck of a time finding out the cost before my CC bill actually came. This seems completely out of step with all the ad copy that makes such a big deal about getting all the information on your shipments. Customer service was no help. I actually said to them, look, I know you guys know how much you are charging for this package I shipped a couple days ago. :dunno:

It would be interesting, as an experiment, to ship identical packages, one logged in online and the other at the counter, and compare the charges (when they finally come through).
 
I have shipped many Marantz units via FedEx using their online services with my account this year alone.
I get a detailed online quote and print out the shipping label along with their invoice.

I have found that for one reason or another 30% of the time my credit card statement is overcharged $25-40 than my quote.
I have to call and actually talk with a real person at FedEx and once I go over the quote vs credit card statement they refund/credit me the overcharge.
They claim "it's a computer glitch" but it regularly occurs.
It's a pia but I have never had a damaged shipment with FedEx so it's an acceptable pia.
I also get a discount shipping online vs going inside a FedEx store which are almost all franchises who mark up the price.

Bob
 
Does the term "dimensional weight" show up anywhere in the paperwork? <snip>

Dimensional weight gets my guess.

A couple of years ago they shrank down the size of box that that starts applying towards. You used to have to get to a pretty large size for it to affect a ground shipment.

A 12x12x12 box has a dimensional weight of 13 pounds. Something as small as 6x6x6 has a dimensional weight of 2 pounds.

Where I work we've had price adjustments as high as $700 when their fancy laser measuring system made an error and thought we shipped an 8' package.

They said it was because they were shipping too many large boxes that were light. But I'd say they (and UPS) were bending over for Amazon and had to make money somewhere so they came for the little guys. Because Amazon still tosses things into too large of a box while everyone else gets overcharged.. I've read a couple places that Amazon pays them something like $8 for ground packages.
 
Bait and switch. Fraud should be reported, some of us would be in a deep hole if this happened.

You know, if a few hundred customers got together and started comparing notes...

I'm going to have to watch this like a hawk, if you can get your money back by complaining. I don't ship that often anymore but prices are so high that each shipment is more important than it used to be.
 
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