Step right up, son!

I've been very happy with Casino Supply's product, but the ordering process leaves a little to be desired. I've never gotten an invoice or order number, and there's no online order tracking until it's shipped.

When I placed the order, I was told that they would probably ship on or around January 14th. When the 17th rolled around without any chips, I called to check the status and see if there was some delay.

The person I spoke to in the shipping department looked up my name, gave me a tracking number, and that was that. Except it wasn't. I looked up the tracking number, and found that my chips were apparently in Bristol, Connecticut.

I immediately called back and spoke to the same person, at which time I was told that my order had no tracking number associated with it. He transferred me to another employee, who informed me that he'd look into the situation and call me once it was sorted out.

About fifteen minutes later he called to say that I had no tracking number because my chips were still being printed and would ship Monday. Given that all I originally wanted was the order status, I thanked him for the information and got back to work.

After I got home on Friday, I received an email from FedEx with a tracking number for my delivery. I thought it was odd that the shipment got fast-tracked, but was happy because it meant I would have them by Saturday.

I spent a good part of Saturday refreshing the FedEx tracking page and looking out the front door. I knew that the package had made it into Austin at 6:24 in the morning, so everything was looking good. 6 p.m. arrived, Mary Alice and I left for dinner and got back just after midnight. No package awaiting me on the doorstep.

On Sunday, I checked the tracking page again and saw that the package was marked "Delivered" on Saturday, with no time of delivery or "signed for" information. Relading the page caused the status to alternate between "Scanned at FedEx sort facility" and "Delivered". Nice and conclusive.

On Monday I emailed FedEx to try to determine what happened. I only received automated responses, so on Tuesday morning around 10:00 I called in an attempt to speak to a person. They initiated a trace and promised to call me when it was completed. About five minutes after we got off the phone Carol at FedEx emailed me in response to Monday's inquiry and said I should call FedEx in order to initiate a trace. Why she couldn't do it directly I don't know.

At 6 p.m., with the online status still showing "Delivered 1/17" and no phone call from FedEx, I decided to check back one more time. The FedEx rep told me what the first one should have - that traces take 24 hours to complete. I resigned myself to waiting and headed home.

When I pulled into the driveway, I thought I saw a box on the front step, but figured it was wishful thinking. If so, I should make more wishes because sitting on the doormat was a rather large box that stood almost hip high. After seeing the box, I was fairly certain it did not contain poker chips. As it turned out, I was the proud recipient of:

Suddenly, the 17 pound package weight reported by FedEx made a little more sense. I unpacked the wheel and dug out the invoice to figure out what exactly the snafu was. As it turns out, the package was supposed to go to...wait for it....

Bristol, Connecticut

I have no clue what kind of system is in place that first associated the incorrect tracking number with my account, then proceeded to cause a second order going to CT to be shipped to me. When you combine it with FedEx's tracking difficulties (their system now reports that the prize wheel was delivered to Mr F. Rontdoor on 1/20 instead of 1/17), you get a fiasco of epic proportions.

While I was talking to Casino Supply's answering machine, letting them know that I had their prize wheel, a new email message from FedEx arrived. My chips shipped out Tuesday night and should be waiting for me when I get home today.

I'm not holding my breath.