What is Short Delivery?
Do you have "missing items", is something "delivered short", or other shipping problems?
Many of our items come in multiple boxes. Gyms, for example, can come in 6 boxes, all with different sizes and weights.
At the same time, couriers like Toll IPEC and Australia Post, are dealing with millions of boxes a week, with different senders/receivers, so this gets pretty hectic, even at the best of times.
What does "Split" Mean?
what often happens, is that the boxes in your consignment can be "split". It's very common. All this means is that some of the boxes are in a different part of the courier's network.
A classic example is where the boxes are travelling, say, from Brisbane to Sydney. The truck fills up in Brisbane with only half the boxes on it, and the rest of the boxes have to wait for the next truck the following day.
The issue arises when your local depot gets the first lot of boxes and decides to deliver them to you without waiting for the rest of the boxes!
Sometimes you know this is happening because you get an email from the courier saying something like "ON FOR DELIVERY (SHORT)". Other times, the courier just turns up to the door, hands you some of the boxes, and then leaves, and you have no idea until you can't get your item assembled!
Your Boxes are not "Lost"
Sometimes, ill-trained call-center staff at the courier companies will tell you your items are "lost". OMG, we wish they would not use that word!
Your boxes are not "lost". They are just "split".
The courier may not know exactly where your missing boxes are - this is perfectly normal, and yes, it honestly happens all the time. We know it's not ideal, and it causes you to be concerned, but you needn't be.
In 99.9% of cases, the "missing" boxes just turn up at your door 2 or 3 days later. Occasionally it can take a week or two (see below)!
Yes, we totally understand how frustrating this is, but please don't shout at our staff and get all upset at Fitonline. This is a very, very common thing that is endemic in the courier industry and happens to every company and every courier. It happens to Apple. It happens to JB Hifi. It happens to hospitals!
"Can you please hurry them up?!"
You will be tempted to ask us to give them a hurry-along, and we know that sounds like a logical idea, but in reality, companies like Toll and Aus Post are massive conglomerates. That's really not something that we can do, not because we don't want to, but because we can't.
If they don't currently know where your missing boxes are, then they just don't know.
Honestly, the best thing to do is simply to wait. We understand this is counter-intuitive, and you just want your boxes to be delivered, but in our experience, things will just sort themselves out.
You can, of course, contact the courier company yourself - the contact details and tracking number are on the "dispatch" email we sent you. They will lodge an "inquiry" and give you a reference number, but again, please don't do this straight way. Lodging an inquiry can actually slow down your delivery!
Should you worry?
No! Please don't worry.
- This is common, and honestly, will sort itself out in time.
- All your boxes are labeled, and may be misplaced, but are not lost.
- If absolute worst comes to worst, we will ship you out a replacement. The risk is ours, not yours, but we do need to let the process run its course before shipping out a replacement.
How long should I wait?
You won't believe the answer to this one - "a surprisingly long time" in the post-COVID-19 world. We know it seems logical to think that a group of boxes sent together can't be too far apart, but sometimes it can take the courier up to 2 weeks to finally deliver the missing culprit.
Here are a couple of real-world examples, just to show we're not making this up (extracts from the Toll IPEC system)...
You'll hear someone in their call center say "we lost it" and you'll be tempted to say "I want my money back", but honestly, we have done this for 15 years - the boxes always turn up and that is the quickest (albeit painful) way to get the gym equipment you wanted, eventually.