FedEx charges $700 to ship an irreplaceable Father’s Day gift for Virginia author. Then she was told it was destroyed and given no proof

Getting a package delivered should be simple, but for Virginia author Audrey Burges, it turned into an expensive disaster. Audrey recently purchased a unique ‘irreplaceable’ batik painting by artist Marlene McGoffin as a Father’s Day gift for her 82-year-old father. On Instagram, she explained that since the painting was a rare find from a Goodwill in New Jersey, she hired a TaskRabbit tasker named Marcia to pick it up. Marcia then shipped the artwork through FedEx. 

She claimed that, luckily, “FedEx had a fine art box that fit the painting. The box alone was almost $300, and the shipping another $400.” Then, during shipping, things went wrong. Audrey claimed, “The painting was supposed to get here on Tuesday, and when it didn’t, I put the tracking number in, and I saw this. A shipping exception due to damage.” The package made it into a truck for her house and then allegedly “was damaged and taken back to the warehouse.” 

According to Audrey, she immediately called FedEx, but they insisted they could only talk to the shipper. So Audrey brought Marcia back in. She claimed that Marcia “called FedEx and then she got this  response that it couldn’t be returned to her or delivered to me because it was damaged and that  she should follow her process for undelivered shipments.” She was a tasker, not a company, so then things got complicated when they tried to get proof or details. 

There is no clarity on what the point of failure was either

Audrey continued to give her perspective, saying that Marcia created a business account. After many calls, she claimed, “A manager called the warehouse in Virginia to see if I could come pick up the painting even though it was damaged, and they told her no because it was destroyed.” Since the Batik was a piece of cloth, Audrey stated that something should be left behind, especially since it was in the special box. 

In a different case, a FedEx employee recently opened a regular box, only to find a reptilian surprise. Audrey alleged that FedEx gave her “No package, no photos, no explanation, no apology, just gone.” Since she had no clarity, she took to the platform for advice. The response was overwhelming, with the first video reaching over 500K views. 

The comments section quickly filled with people sharing their own horror stories about lost or stolen items. One user asked, “So is “damaged” the word @fedex uses for items their employees have stolen??” Another user echoed that sentiment, noting, “No damage, that art was stolen.” 

Others shared similar experiences, with one person explaining, “FedEx lost about 10,000 dollars worth of my ceramics shipping them back from a show I had in London. They refused to give me a refund or give me any Information about what happened then they just refused to respond.” Recently, a person paid $2000 for watches, only to get empty boxes through Amazon.

After her video gained traction, she shared in an update that she received responses from several different people who claimed to be FedEx. However, the similar language used led her to suspect she was talking to bots. Despite following their instructions and providing all the requested history, she was repeatedly told to wait for updates that never came. 

Now, we have no information from FedEx, and this is just Audrey’s perspective, so this article should not be treated as verified fact. Audrey claimed that after the lack of response, she eventually filed a police report. She noted that if FedEx couldn’t provide evidence of the painting’s destruction, she had to conclude it was stolen. Not long after, she came back onto the platform to tell her viewers that FedEx closed the support claim without explanation.

In another update, she claimed that the process for filing an insurance claim with FedEx was just as frustrating, despite having paid for it. Even after Audrey and Marcia jumped through all the hoops and instructions, Audrey alleged that the company eventually denied her claim. 

In the video, Audrey couldn’t stop laughing in frustration as she said that the reason provided was a lack of proof of damage. She noted that it was ironic considering they were the ones who refused to provide any proof of the destruction to begin with.

Audrey has been remarkably persistent, turning this ordeal into a 13-part series on Instagram. She has used humor and pop culture references to keep her audience engaged while highlighting the systemic issues she claimed she encountered. Pulling from the comments, she shared advice and advice in between updates. Thankfully, she was able to recover her money after disputing the charge with her credit card company.