Highly suspect behaviour

I was very surprised to receive very poor service from FedEx. As a company that prides themselves on fast, friendly, and reliable service, they did not tick any of those boxes. FedEx UK made errors when they sent the consignment, so the parcel was held at South African customs. FedEx South Africa was incredibly unhelpful in getting the parcel (a birthday gift of baby & children clothing) through customs. Only after numerous attempts was the parcel cleared. FedEx then proceeded to 'loose' the parcel. When they attempted to find it again, they wanted to know a detailed description of contents, it's weight (both already listed on the waybill completed in the UK), as well as its packaging. Apparently the waybill number is not reliable and they needed to know the content because packaged can get 'damaged' in transit.

So FedEx basically says that they 1) mishandle parcels, 2) waybill numbers don't uniquely identify parcels, 3) will open parcels to locate their owner, 4) don't access their database to access information captured by their UK counterparts.

I was told FedEx South Africa takes no responsibility (although the parcel was 'lost' having cleared customs with the parcel en route to Pretoria) and that I must now contact FedEx UK. Furthermore, when I complained to a more senior customer services official, all emails have been resolutely ignored.

The parcel remains 'lost', and FedEx South Africa blames everyone except themselves.