Yes, it does beggar belief…
Once, we had a phone call from the Delivery Co… Madame… I am here, where are you…I cannot see any houses…
Turns out whatever app he was using had our village in the middle of a wood…
. (OK my name is Wood…
) … turned out he was only 2km away… and he WAS in the commune… and… at least he phoned to ask…
Many of the Fedex / DHL / UPS deliveries in my area are subcontracted to ‘local’ delivery companies. Over time I’ve got to know (
) most of the delivery guys and they nearly always call me before dropping by. They are also happy to leave packages without signature on my say-so - large ones go in the rubbish bin outside the house - I just have to make sure it’s not a collection day! 
I know they’re probably not supposed to do that - but we have an understanding
Same here Simon, never have a problem with the local couriers, just DHL and of course Chronopost, they like to dump packages at the Post Office, even if you’ve paid for home delivery.
Chronopost - no problems here and as for Colissimo - bloody brilliant. I love how you can now leave a letter / package you’re sending in your own letter box and the postie collects it the following morning and leaves you a receipt - brilliant service.
Local couriers, I agree… they are no problem… we know then well… “almost” on kissing terms (some are hunky… am I allowed to say that?)
But for a package coming all the way from Bordeaux… well, it seems that is just too much to ask… obviously… common sense goes out the window… (if you note, they have been unable to even find the village/mairie in the past…)
We are not Brigadoon… the village which only appears every hundred years…. yet to some folk… we are definitely lost in the mist.
Oh dear… it is misty today… wonder if the package will ever arrive…
Our postal service is brilliant too… if unable to put into the letterbox… and we are not at home… our stuff will be left at the Mairie… just up the road …yeah 
LOL of course you are Stella - you should tell them 
I’m feeling good about your package today! 
(woops - don’t tell them that though !! 
)
…hmmmm…its a puzzle to know …why/how anyone searching any address…cant get at least close enough …to say “I’m at xyz…quite closeish…can you meet me there?” Or similar…a few have done so…
I’m no teckie wizard…but the second cheapest hire car from leclerc, came with a wonderfully efficient satnav…that was easy enough for a six year old to follow…plus…any of the map/ direction sites, give metre by metre directions to anywhere. I’m amazed to see my house on their satellite map…Perhaps its a good idea to refuse to pay for any deliveries from any company that employs drivers who can’t cope with internet or satnav instructions…
Like the idea of not paying… sadly… when buying from some specialist companies there is no possibility of choosing a method… they use the transport company they prefer… 
I see that FedEx does have a bad reputation worldwide… so many quoting similar circumstances to ours… grrrrr
The chap yesterday did ask what the “calling card” said… and I explained the Driver had not left a “calling card” as he never came here… 
…OK…not paying…not possible!..however, before using any delivery service, for future refs. I’m going to ask if they use satnav, or if they can find My House on Mappy or Google Maps…or anywhere.
Trying to locate one house in French countryside, can’t be impossible. But that’s the weedy excuse I’ve got occasionally…
Haha! Can feel uncontrollable rage rising again! What the ffffffff??? are they thinking of? OK …so deliveries might begin somewhere central …a huge city…named streets…no probs…
… BUT…can there be one child at school in Europe/on the planet…that doesn’t know a lot of France is FIELDS. AND many people DONT live on the equiv of Oxford street, so won’t be trackable without a bit of modern tech. Jeez…what can we do?
I’m going to ask, politely, then swear/blaspheme/and tell them where to take their delivery service if tracking EN ROUTE…is impossible for their operatives.
One little tip about Amazon deliveries. If, by chance, you ever order from Amazon UK / Spain / Germany - for delivery to France - watch out for them charging you international delivery! Make sure you look at the package when it arrives as, chances are, it’s come from Orleans in France. Each time this has happened to me I’ve successfully obtained a refund for the international delivery on my order.
Mmm… no sign of anyone yet… one of us is sitting by the window at all times… 
Yippee… FedEx arrived… with package…
The delivery man told me he does not work on Mondays… so whatever happened yesterday is nothing to do with him.
I asked him how easy it was to find us… he pointed at the large church directly opposite our house and said… .impossible to miss that… and you…
Mmm…
I bought a painting in Santa Monica a couple of years ago and had them ship it back to France at my expense. They used Fedex who repeatedly screwed up the delivery and eventually I had to drive to their regional distribution centre to pick it up. There they forgot to charge me the duty and VAT but later wrote to me asking for payment. I agreed to pay same if they reimbursed me the shipping charges. Never heard from them again. They must be used to complaints.
It’s a crazy situation… and there seems little or no redress… except that time for you, eventually.
Dreadful service Stella. I’ve found DHL, UPS and even Chrono post much more reliable. Though I only use them rarely these days.
We would never choose FedEx… we got lumbered… but will interrogate suppliers in future… before placing urgent orders.
Stella how late was the delivery in the end?
It was out on FedEx lorry 8.30am for delivery due by 6pm Monday… and finally arrived 6pm Tuesday…
Monday = a complete day wasted… when we had so much to do elsewhere… and had specifically moved appointments etc to Tuesday… which we subsequently had to cancel… grrrr
= so, in practical terms 2 days “wasted” …
Trouble is… very little redress against the “lies” of the deliveryman…
Chronopost told me that they’d delivered a suitcase I bought online … and to check my letterbox (eventually found some miles away at a collection centre who told me they’d been waiting ages for me to claim it, despite me never having received any kind of notice! I now take the view that, with a forthcoming delivery such as that, I should take a map of France and blindfold myself, throw a dart and the package is likely to be within a 100-mile radius!