Woot's Awesome 30-Day Shipping Policy

So after lurking on Woot.com, one of the most popular deal-a-day sites, for awhile, I decided to buy something. Well, what address to send it to? My PO Box, of course. I mean, I move so often, why keep updating my mailing address when I check it every few days. My only frustration is getting packages there, since it's not actually owned by me, but by the USPS. But alas, Woot sends to PO Boxes! They say so right in the address form!

That's when things went horribly wrong. First, they delayed shipping it out for a few weeks. I want my new TV tuner! The day finally comes for arrival. I'd been checking the tracking number every day. But hmm... they shipped it out using FedEx. FedEx doesn't deliver to PO Boxes. Why would Woot be so silly and do that? I called FedEx to change the address to my work one, but only the sender could do that. So I emailed Woot (absolutely NO phone support), but they didn't respond for a day. When they did, they said they'd redirect it.

Then I find a postcard from FedEx in my box a couple days later. They're holding it, so I can just pick it up! Yay! The only catch is that they close at six, I get off of work at five, and they're all the way out in downtown Tampa (rush hour!). My brother and I speed all the way out there, detour around an accident right before the final turn, and pull into the FedEx building (well, in front of and then walk in). "Uhh, yeah, you need to go to our other FedEx building with the warehouse full of trucks down the road." Well, we get there late, but they nice lady at the checkpoint station says they really stay open until eight.

"Umm, yeah... let my get my hands on your physical package (lol, shipment)." We wait, and wait, and wait, only to find out that they sent my package back to the shipper because the shipper didn't update the address. Maybe they did. Who knows. But they did give me that elusive Woot phone number to call! Too bad they whole thing is automated and hung up on me. So I went through their directory and got connected to who might have actually sent the package. "Oh, the support people already left for the day, but copy me on your next email and I'll make sure we get this straightened out."

Come to find out, Woot only uses FedEx. If the package has to, it gets handed handed off to the USPS location nearest to you for the last leg of the delivery. They call it SmartPost. Too bad they didn't use it. And apparently, Woot only uses SmartPost for certain orders, mostly smaller and lighter packages. So, why the hell don't they explain that on the address input page?!

My packages goes back to its home in TX. Bye bye! The outcome of another flurry of emails to Woot: they'll send it back out once they get it. A week goes by, and Rob is very sad. But a few days later, it arrives!

The whole experience kinda put me off to ordering things online. I won't even talk about the fiascoes with my textbooks for class, my replacement MP3 player, and a string of shitty, broken USB drives, plus problems not in recent memory. So, if you'd like a headache and would like to receive your packages a month after ordering, Woot is the place to go.