KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — Problems that surfaced earlier this year at the FedEx Ground Transportation Station in Kernersville are still causing delivery delays for customers. The transport station has been overwhelmed with packages as more people are relying on e-commerce rather than going to stores.
More than a dozen people reached out to WFMY News 2 back in May complaining about delays with their delivery or lost packages. Some people were waiting for more than a month for their packages.
When reached by email a spokesperson with FedEx told WFMY News 2, the company was aware of the complaints and that a regional manager was heading to the facility to better understand the issues and work to correct it.
Three months have passed and yet it appears whatever problems were taking place are ongoing.
“It’s very frustrating to the point that I don’t want to use FedEx anymore,” Grace Cole said.
Cole has been waiting three weeks for a part to her car. The car is at a mechanic right now but can’t be fixed until the part arrives. Cole said she has called FedEx repeatedly during the past few weeks and yet no one has been able to locate the package.
“I’ve called so many times, I’ve become annoying to myself,” Cole said.
Susan Sykes is also waiting for FedEx to deliver a bumper for her car. FedEx did deliver a headlight that was ordered at the same time, but the bumper is now two weeks past its scheduled delivered date.
“When I talked to them, do you know what they asked me? Did I look behind the bushes, I said excuse me this is a bumper, this is not something I’m going to overlook,” Sykes said.
WFMY News 2 reached out to FedEx to better understand why the delays seem to be ongoing. A spokesperson for the company sent us this statement:
“FedEx Ground’s Kernersville operations, which employ 1,700 team members and contract with dozens of local service provider businesses that collectively employ hundreds of drivers and other staff, continue to make progress in addressing service delays caused by peak-like levels of package volume. Significant resources are being deployed to alleviate the remaining backlog, including additional FedEx Ground employees (package handlers) and service provider resources as well as equipment (vehicles, trailers, and other operational equipment used for sorting, scanning, and trailer yard management).
In addition to ensuring adequate staffing is maintained, we are flexing our network as necessary to reroute certain packages to nearby FedEx Ground stations for assistance, including a newly opened automated station in Whitsett that is now providing additional capacity to customers in the region.
With respect to your question about the impact of COVID-19 on FedEx Ground operations, our top priority remains the safety and well-being of our team members and we have a number of preventive measures in place in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other health authorities. While we can confirm that we have some confirmed cases across the FedEx enterprise, we are not providing details by location at this time.
We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused by these delays and appreciate our customers’ patience as contingency plans continue to take effect. As always, we encourage customers who may continue to have concerns about lost or damaged packages to contact the shipper to begin the claims process. Customers may also track their packages or contact customer service by visiting www.fedex.com.”
FedEx would not address several questions we asked regarding the number of complaints it has received or the number of employees that have called out sick because of COVID-19. The company also did not tell us if trucks that are full have been sitting at the hub because there are not enough people to sort the packages.
WFMY News 2 has sent complaints and information regarding lost or delayed packages from almost a dozen people to a corporate team member at FedEx. While it is unclear exactly what is being done, once we send the information including tracking numbers, contact information, and names we can tell you that a few of the customers have since received their packages.