Against my better judgement, I ordered the new Google Pixelbuds Pro from the Google Store and once again I have evidence that delivery of products from the Google Store is at best cursed if not flat out incompetent.
To my surprise I found that Google shipped the Pixelbuds via UPS, which I thought was good because UPS seems to know what they are doing, but then I saw the indicator that it is really via Mail Innovations. I think this is the service in which UPS and the USPS partner in delivery with UPS doing the cross country transport and USPS doing the last mile, and it means more moving parts to fail.
The Pixelbuds shipped out of Bensenville, IL on July 26 and arrived in a UPS sorting facility in Urbancrest, OH, which is a suburb of Columbus. According to the UPS tracker, the package then was delivered to USPS in West Bloomfield, MI, which is where I live, on July 29 but rather than being delivered to me on August 1 as originally expected the next update on that date was another “sorted” at UPS facility in Urbancrest, OH.
To date the package has yet to arrive. I know there is no guarantee date and that I did not pay extra for shipping, but I am wondering why it appears stuck in Ohio as if nobody knows what to do with it. I can’t remember whether I even had the option to pay for delivery.
Worse, despite the fact that when I click the “Track Package” link in the notification of shipment email that Google sends goes to a ups.com site, when I manually enter the tracking number via my UPS.com account it indicates as not a UPS shipment. I go to usps.com and it indicates it “departed shipping partner facility” on July 28 in Grove City, OH, which is probably the same location indicated by UPS, but there is no other update on the USPS site.
None of these shippers provide me, a user, to click a link on these tracking pages to send to the shipper and ask them what is up with my shipment, even when I have an account set up with their site. I use Informed Delivery with USPS and normally as soon as a USPS shipping label is printed I get a text notification, but not this time. I can only conclude that “Main Innovations” is a very cheap and thus low quality shipping serivce. The bottom line to me is that Google Store compromises on customer service for the sake of cutting costs. It all adds up to a once again poor experience with Google Store.
Prior three orders of phones and the Pixelbook, which are more expensive items, where delivered to the wrong address. I get packages from Amazon and other online stores via UPS and Fedex with no problem, but every dang one from Google Store is messed up.
Update: Just got a text from USPS that the package arrived in West Bloomfield and will be delivered tomorrow.