OAK PARK (WXYZ) — Since the pandemic began the shipping industry has experienced a surge leading to delays. While it's an issue across the board, some viewers have reached out frustrated by what they say are extreme delays at the Oak Park FedEx. Some saying their package has been "held hostage" for weeks or even more than a month.
"I ordered a shelf from Walmart, a shelf for the laundry room," says Nadalie Sciantarelli.
That was back in April. Putting her tracking number into the FedEx website, it shows that her package arrived at the Oak Park FedEx facility on April 24th.
"And then every day I got a notification that said 'on the truck', the next day, 'on the truck', and then since April 29th it hasn’t said anything since then," says Sciantarelli.
Currently her tracking number reveals her package is at the Oak Park FedEx center but offers no further information.
"Originally it was two day shipping so this is April," she said. She says she has called FedEx multiple times.
"They told me I should just call Walmart and place a claim and have Walmart place the claim with them, but I was explaining it wasn’t actually Walmart's fault," says Sciantarelli.
She says they couldn't tell her when her package would be delivered or available for pick up.
In a statement FedEx said:
“FedEx Ground is experiencing a surge of package volume due to e-commerce growth during the current pandemic that has resulted in temporary service delays typically lasting a few days for some packages in the Oak Park area.”
Asking for patience and suggesting that customers track their packages.
Sciantarelli says tracking the package is easy, receiving them is hard.
"I also have another package there too. I mean, that’s only been there since May 7th, which is still," says Sciantarelli.
Hundreds on comments on Facebook reveal that many others have packages stuck at the Oak Park facility too.
Some showed up to the facility in person hoping to retrieve their package after waiting a week or more for a package that was supposed to arrive but never did. Some still walked away empty handed.
One woman saying the workers in the package pick up area didn't offer much hope.
"My package is on a trailer with 4000 packages and that trailer has not been unpacked yet, she doesn’t know when it’s going to be unpacked, it won’t be until one day next week," says a customer leaving the facility more frustrated than when she arrived.
The company hasn’t provided clear answers on why these excessive delays are happening, only offered apologies, saying delivery will continue through the weekend.
Some customers say they aren’t holding their breath.
"I’ve been actually using Amazon now! All my amazon packages have made it to me, knock on wood," says Sciantarelli.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
Read our daily Coronavirus Live Blog for the latest updates and news on coronavirus.
Click here for a page with resources including a COVID-19 overview from the CDC, details on cases in Michigan, a timeline of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's orders since the outbreak, coronavirus' impact on Southeast Michigan, and links to more information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC and the WHO.
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
Find out how you can help metro Detroit restaurants struggling during the pandemic.
See all of our Helping Each Other stories.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.