after an anxious delay, they're in!

[brokensword]

so, usually when I get fished shipped to me, they get here via UPS by 10:30 a.m. Not this time. I have to schedule my work around being home to receive the package, so had 15 minutes to spare...then it got to 10:40 and I tracked the package only to first fine UPS did NOT have it as 'out for delivery' even though it still showed Friday. Tried to call UPS (ever do this? There is NO way to force the queue to get past itself and onto a human. I tried. Started to make up stuff just to see if I could do it. Somehow, I finally did but got someone in Mexico. I thought; great--what's HE going to do for me? Well, didn't have any faith in that direction despite him taking down the info and saying he'd get a hold of the dispatch nearest me (which btw, you cannot call and the ph number they say doesn't exist!). Called the koi vendor next (I've done this before so knew they at least were reachable) and they said they had a direct number and would follow up. I told him; I'll hang around for an hour and see if any updates were reached. See, when I re-tracked, now UPS was telling me MONDAY!!! Monday? The fish will be dead! And I would not have gone through all this aggravation for just a day delay of a package, except I knew my odds of keeping fish shipped in a bag (there's 5 of them!) that long were not good!

Anyway, went and cut my own grass, and in the intervening time, UPS dispatch DID call (I only have a landline, so didn't get instant notification; I only got the message off my machine when done cutting) and mentioned plane trouble, that they didn't even have the package yet, yada yada yada. So, he also left a phone number. Well, I mistakenly started to call the number on my machine and got a busy signal 4 times in a row. Frustrated, I figured I'd go finish out my day (only had one left, nearby) and then call again. Did all that, came home, tried calling the same number on my machine, got only busy signals and then started to think! Always a good thing to do...I listened to the message again and whaddya know! He left a DIFFERENT number, an actual human-gonna-answer number! Which I called. Got someone named Arlene, who was helpful. I explained these were LIVE Fish and no way would they survive a 3 day delay in a box! She said when they got the package, they'd make every attempt to deliver, up to 8:30 Friday night. So, things were looking up but I asked; so, can you at least tell me WHERE the package is now? Figuring I wasn't going to stay by the phone all day (yeah, yeah, yeah; mrsbrokensword keeps telling me I NEED a cellphone...phooey!). She looked it up and THOUGHT it was on it's way TO dispatch (which is about 25 minutes away from me). Good, at least a Friday delivery looked possible now. Then she asks do I want to place a hold on it, because I could get it faster if I came and got it.

I thought about it and figured why not; I was done for the day anyhow (re work). And that's what happened. Put the phone back, went outside and putz for 5 minutes tops, came back in, the phone rang, it was Arlene; the fish had arrived and she was in possession! Yay! And so after a 4 hour delay, all 5 new koi made it into the pond! Pics below; (didn't get a good one of Penny, the butterfly sanke, because she hung out too low in the pond and it was difficult. Will try again today).


Molly
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Candy
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Kit
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Moe
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[j.w]

Wowser @brokensword what a fiasco to say the least! Glad you got them alive and well! Nice looking fish.
Now you can relax and go do all your jobs knowing you saved the fishies

koi swimming2 small.gif

[WetWork]

Very nice! Glad they arrived safe and sound.

[brokensword]

so, got a better pic of Penny, the sanke koi; aaaaannnnnnnddddd, a red water lily is in bloom! Too, thought I'd show how well the impatiens are doing in the bog!

[rubyduby]

so, usually when I get fished shipped to me, they get here via UPS by 10:30 a.m. Not this time. I have to schedule my work around being home to receive the package, so had 15 minutes to spare...then it got to 10:40 and I tracked the package only to first fine UPS did NOT have it as 'out for delivery' even though it still showed Friday. Tried to call UPS (ever do this? There is NO way to force the queue to get past itself and onto a human. I tried. Started to make up stuff just to see if I could do it. Somehow, I finally did but got someone in Mexico. I thought; great--what's HE going to do for me? Well, didn't have any faith in that direction despite him taking down the info and saying he'd get a hold of the dispatch nearest me (which btw, you cannot call and the ph number they say doesn't exist!). Called the koi vendor next (I've done this before so knew they at least were reachable) and they said they had a direct number and would follow up. I told him; I'll hang around for an hour and see if any updates were reached. See, when I re-tracked, now UPS was telling me MONDAY!!! Monday? The fish will be dead! And I would not have gone through all this aggravation for just a day delay of a package, except I knew my odds of keeping fish shipped in a bag (there's 5 of them!) that long were not good!

Anyway, went and cut my own grass, and in the intervening time, UPS dispatch DID call (I only have a landline, so didn't get instant notification; I only got the message off my machine when done cutting) and mentioned plane trouble, that they didn't even have the package yet, yada yada yada. So, he also left a phone number. Well, I mistakenly started to call the number on my machine and got a busy signal 4 times in a row. Frustrated, I figured I'd go finish out my day (only had one left, nearby) and then call again. Did all that, came home, tried calling the same number on my machine, got only busy signals and then started to think! Always a good thing to do...I listened to the message again and whaddya know! He left a DIFFERENT number, an actual human-gonna-answer number! Which I called. Got someone named Arlene, who was helpful. I explained these were LIVE Fish and no way would they survive a 3 day delay in a box! She said when they got the package, they'd make every attempt to deliver, up to 8:30 Friday night. So, things were looking up but I asked; so, can you at least tell me WHERE the package is now? Figuring I wasn't going to stay by the phone all day (yeah, yeah, yeah; mrsbrokensword keeps telling me I NEED a cellphone...phooey!). She looked it up and THOUGHT it was on it's way TO dispatch (which is about 25 minutes away from me). Good, at least a Friday delivery looked possible now. Then she asks do I want to place a hold on it, because I could get it faster if I came and got it.

I thought about it and figured why not; I was done for the day anyhow (re work). And that's what happened. Put the phone back, went outside and putz for 5 minutes tops, came back in, the phone rang, it was Arlene; the fish had arrived and she was in possession! Yay! And so after a 4 hour delay, all 5 new koi made it into the pond! Pics below; (didn't get a good one of Penny, the butterfly sanke, because she hung out too low in the pond and it was difficult. Will try again today).


Molly
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Candy
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Kit
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Moe
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Wow BS, I was totally stressed out reading about your "fiasco"....It probably would have put me in the hospital (Monday!!! OMG!!!)...I cannot take stress like that anymore...So happy that Arlene was able to help you. The fish are beautiful! (So is the lily:)

[brokensword]

Wow BS, I was totally stressed out reading about your "fiasco"....It probably would have put me in the hospital (Monday!!! OMG!!!)...I cannot take stress like that anymore...So happy that Arlene was able to help you. The fish are beautiful! (So is the lily:)

I probably over reacted, but since I wasn't in control of this situation, and was working my schedule around others, the stress was there. Didn't want to lose the fish (I know, they'd have been replaced, but still, not if I could help it would they perish) and didn't want to just sit around waiting, so I guess a 4 hour delay wasn't all bad. The fish were probably in the bag only 24 hours. I was just worried with all the corporate red tape, that the Monday update was going to be hard to get changed. Don't have as much faith in businesses anymore, esp when I tried several different ways to JUST TALK TO A HUMAN! This, more than anything else, illustrates how our society has fallen.

All in all, everything worked out, even if it took more effort from me than it should. I mean, I paid $50 to get them over nighted, ya know? Still, planes do break down, I can understand this. I just didn't like an auto update to skip the weekend when the package had LIVE animals. That just is wrong.

Hopefully they all survive the winter and I won't be buying any more koi anytime soon. That's the plan, at least! (yeah, famous last words, I know!)

[Gemma]

so, got a better pic of Penny, the sanke koi; aaaaannnnnnnddddd, a red water lily is in bloom! Too, thought I'd show how well the impatiens are doing in the bog!

Love your new fish!
It's cute that you named your fish, I do too! ...I have a Penny, but it's not a fish, it's a chicken

[j.w]

@Gemma Hah, Henny Penny..............the sky is falling

scared chicken.gif

[j.w]

@brokensword wonder why my gifs won't move as they are supposed to?

[brokensword]

@brokensword wonder why my gifs won't move as they are supposed to?

the motorcycle one was set on 'repeat 3 times' and I just changed it, saved it differently, and posted. I just checked your chicken and it shows repeat 11 times. Do you want that one fixed too (to forever repeat)? It's where you're getting/stealing these from. That is, the creator is setting the repeat level. When I analyze, I can see this and can change it. Let me know re the chicken. 11 times seems like more than enough, but well, you ARE royalty and all...

[brokensword]

so, got a better pic of Penny, the sanke koi; aaaaannnnnnnddddd, a red water lily is in bloom! Too, thought I'd show how well the impatiens are doing in the bog!

Love your new fish!
It's cute that you named your fish, I do too! ...I have a Penny, but it's not a fish, it's a chicken

uh, well, didn't know if I should admit this, and in MY defense, it was named BEFORE I knew ye, but we have a 'Gemma' in the pond. Gonna leave it to you to guess which/what has your moniker over here!! heh heh

[brokensword]

so, got a better pic of Penny, the sanke koi; aaaaannnnnnnddddd, a red water lily is in bloom! Too, thought I'd show how well the impatiens are doing in the bog!

Love your new fish!
It's cute that you named your fish, I do too! ...I have a Penny, but it's not a fish, it's a chicken

...annnnnndddd, when I only had goldfish, just one was named (Moby) because it was the largest by far. I know the axiom; don't name your fish as that is the one that gets picked off by predators, but well, figured I was safe with them being enclosed and all! The turtles and frogs already had names when the koi came along, so felt natural to name them too. That said, it started with ONLY 4 koi and I didn't know I'd be going 40+ in the near future! I used to name them with some sort of hint at their variety (oiche is for Ochiba, Matty is for Matsuba, etc) in an effort to help my wife learn, but she wasn't that interested and so I moved on to 'cute/pattern' names. Now, it's sort of whatever strikes my fancy when I first look/purchase them. I mean, I WAS going to name Moe, Max, but it didn't stick and Moe kept coming to mind, so I kept it as Moe. Ya gotta start thinking all this is ordained, ya know? Like, it ain't ME picking names out of the sky but the Pond Gods!!!