This is nothing new to those that have lived here for a while, but it's amazing that even some of the best and most efficient organizations on the planet can have issues in the DR
May 6: I had a package shipped to me International Priority and it landed in the DR, May 9.
No problem, shouldn't take long to arrive, after all, it's only a hard drive, so customs shouldn't be an issue. I waited a few days and nothing happened, watched it online, no movement, still flagged as "Clearance Delay".
May 13: Decided to call FedEx locally. Phone lines busy, problems, nobody picking up, I gave up.
I left it another day, still no change, flagged as "Clearance Delay".
May 14: I called FedEx in the USA. Within 2 mins they emailed me a form and told me I needed to fax it to the local office in Santo Domingo. No problem. Actually it was a problem, fax number is always busy!
May 16: Still no movement. Phoned local office, phone lines busy, problems, nobody picking up, I gave up.
May 17: FedEx locally called me. Told me they have located my package in customs and I need to pay to get it out. They gave me two options.
1) Go to the airport and do it yourself, pick up your package.
2) FedEx can take care of it and deliver it to you, 7-10 day wait.
At this point I reminded the girl that they have been paid to deliver it International Priority to my door.
It's been 10 days and I still haven't seen my package.
I asked why it takes 7-10 days? We are very busy, sorry, what would you like us to do, option 1 or 2?
At this point, I realized it was time to raise my voice, tell her what a piece of crap FedEx are and basically keep talking over the top of her Dominican style. After about a minute of this she finally broke down.
I'll talk to my boss, please hold on... 2 mins later. We will deliver it tomorrow!
Let's see if it comes true