Fuckin’ IBM. You order a part on Sunday with two day shipping. They warn that the part might take up to 72 hours to ship, so at the very latest, I’m thinking Friday before I get my replacement WiFi card if I order two day shipping, so I did. And when I checked it on Monday: it shipped that day. The tracking number is posted shortly there after: UPS, FedEx, DHL, and USPS have no record of it, but by all accounts, it should be here for Wednesday. I back up my data Wednesday morning and prep the machine (pull the battery, remove the HD, keyboard and lower bezel) and wait. At home. All day.

For nothing. I call into customer support at 5pm; “what gives?” ‘Oh, well did you add the 1Z before the tracking number for UPS?’ Er… I’m supposed to figure that out on my own. The tracking screen says “Tracking number: xxx – carrier may vary” but I’m supposed to know a) it’s UPS and b) I need a 1Z… OK.

Meanwhile, I type that in and see that it’s been shipped to Louisville, KY. “Well, that’s a problem – I don’t live in Kentucky.” ‘Oh, well, that’s where all shipments go for international orders.’ Er… “I’m not placing an international order.” ‘Oh. Hold on a second, please… I just talked to UPS and it seems there was a delay in customs but if it gets sorted tonight, then it will be there tomorrow morning.’ !! “My machine is in pieces because it was supposed to be delivered today. Two day shipping means two days after it ships, does it not? Now you’re telling me if it gets sorted tonight, it should be here tomorrow morning. If it doesn’t I’m looking at Friday, or maybe next Monday?” *silence* “Why did I pay for two day shipping if it’s going to be five days?” ‘Well, we can’t foresee custom problems… but-‘ “And where does it mention ‘custom issues’ when I was ordering? Possible delays with ‘international orders’ even thought I ordered from a domestically based company?” ‘Um, erm, if you call back after you get the package, we should be able to process a credit…’

I hung up shortly after. Why the package needs to be delivered first, I don’t know; maybe they’ll credit me back all the shipping if it’s more than three days. What I do know is that I shifted around all sorts of things to keep my ass in my house today and now I have to do that again tomorrow and/or Friday and I can’t do that for both days. God forbid if UPS needs a signature for a package and you aren’t home… that could take an extra week to have delivered (although they aren’t as bad as FedEx Ground – regular FedEx is fine but the Ground service gets snotty that you weren’t home the first time!)

Alls I know is that this is a rare online post – sans SharpMT – to say that I don’t know how long it will be before a new post gets posted. I could reassemble the notebook but that seems silly if it’s just for the next twelve hours…

Yet, why do I get the feeling that I’ll be without this part for days on end?