I am very upset. Got a call this morning from the lovely sperm bank people. The very expensive shipping dewar has not been returned. The due date for it was 5/9. They are now charging me $10 per day for each day that it is late.
Called RE office. They got it on Friday 5/2. And after that, no one knows where it has gone. The RE says they don’t have it. The bank says they don’t have it. DHL has no record of ever picking it up from the RE. The RE does not keep track of things like tracking numbers and DHL pick-ups. The bank does. The dewer had a pre-paid-pre-addressed return label. If no one can find it, I will owe at least $800 to the bank. Even though I never touched the damn thing. Have now spent over 30 mins of my workday calling back and forth talking to all kinds of people in both places. Bank is very helpful and RE’s office is clueless. And I am very very upset. Must go start a conference call on online meeting and will have to hope that this sorts itself out before I can deal with it again tomorrow.
Oh, and the very helpful lady at the bank told me that in 15 years working in sperm banks she has NEVER seen this happen. Why me?
** EDIT: Further details/updates of this situation are included in the comments.
1 In Vermillion 
OOOOF!
Here’s hoping it’s found, and SOON.
Oh No! I hate DHL. But it sounds like your RE office is less than organized. That sucks. Hope that it gets there soon…
it shoulds like someone forgot to send it back and just doesn’t want to fess up to it! regardless, it needs to magically reappear and be returned. you don’t lose a dewar!
i’m not sure if the bank will ship to your home, but i almost feel like you would be better off handling the shipping yourself, especially when people don’t like to keep track of shipping numbers… you can have it shipped to you, drive it to RE’s office, let them transfer it, and then send it back yourself.
Well Giggle, you’ve hit the nail on the head. The competent one (I didn’t speak with her yesterday, lesson learned) in the lab at the RE office called me at 7:05 this morning to say that they have the dewar and it’s been sitting and waiting for DHL to pick it up for over a week. She personally called DHL for a pick-up today and gave me the confirmation number for said pick-up. It’s 10:10 am and the DHL website still doesn’t show it having been picked up, but I’m checking thruout the day.
The bank opens in 15 min and I’m going to be calling them with an update. Hopefully they will waive the $10 per day penalty since it wasn’t my fault, but if not you can bet I’m going to demand that the RE reimburse me.
Oh, and the bank will ship to our home, but it would be a huge hassle for us since someone would have to take the day off work to wait for delivery and then schlep into the city to deliver it to the RE’s lab. If I need to order another shipment you can bet I’ll be much more proactive with the lab at the RE’s office to get the thing shipped back in a timely manner.
Ummm, whoever handles DHL at that office is lying or doesn’t know how to use the DHL website. I have never, ever, in Virginia or any other state, known DHL to be more than a day late with anything, and I’ve been working with them for quite some time. Their website can run up to 3 or 4 hours late because a busy driver may not log in receipt/delivery of each individual package till s/he has done an entire section of his/her route, but 3 or 4 hours does not equal a week.
It could be worth it to call up your *local* DHL location (the 800 number folks aren’t as attentive) and ask for their take on what’s going on. Having DHL’s explanation available to tell the bank could save you some late fees, too, if you can prove it wasn’t your fault it wasn’t returned.
Mel, it’s 12:30 and the DHL site still doesn’t show that it’s been picked up. I left another message with the competent one at the RE’s lab and she called DHL and then called me back saying that DHL guarantees it will be picked up by 2pm. I called the bank and updated them and gave them the pick-up confirmation number. Once the damn thing is back where it belongs I’m going to raise hell about everything.
Good for you, N. I think you’ve covered all your bases (hellraising included).
i agree, the RE needs to reimburse the late fees. they have no excuse for allowing the tank to just sit there! our tank late fees are $25 a day, so at least they are learning a “cheaper” lesson.
at any rate, i’m happy you got it sorted out, without the need for too much hell raising.
btw, i’m all for hell raising. sometimes, that’s the only way you get things done! after all, it was going to $800 out of your pocket! that’s hell raising money right there…