Wait for ‘pending’ FedEx tracking continues in SWLA

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Southwest Louisiana residents have had problems picking up their FedEx deliveries before, over a week ago.

Crowds still formed at the Lake Charles location on Clarence Street on Wednesday, where some have waited since early morning.

Residents came with a “pending,” status on their FedEx tracking, giving their name, address, tracking and phone number in hopes they’ll be called.

Among the crowd were elderly residents who haven’t left the line to eat food or take a restroom break because they’re worried of being called while they’re gone and missing their chance.

“This is a national delivery service," Errol Forelman of Welsh said. "Surely this ain’t their first disaster. They ought to have protocols in place to handle this kind of stuff.”

Forelman, who waited for four hours, is one of many who’s had no direction upon arrival.

“You’re gonna put your name on the paper, three or four hours later they’re gonna pop out and they might call your name to see if you’re still here," Lindsey Janies said. "Then if you are and you raise your hand, then they try to look for your package.”

Janies came to pick up an insurance check so her parents can repair their house. But like previous residents who waited for their package before, she’s tired of the same thing happening again.

With limited services, Janies compared the situation to Suddenlink outages in the area and said the neglect from bigger companies is making things worse.

“When you’re talking about vital medication and money that is required in order to get repairs done before the next storm," Janes said. "As a resident, when you finally have a construction company that’s saying we’re ready to show up tomorrow, but our check has sat here in lake Charles for a week and we can’t pay them to get started, we’ve now lost that too.”

A FedEx worker said on Monday they’re doing the best they can and a FedEx representative released the following statement:

“Our thoughts are with those impacted by Hurricane Laura, and the safety of all team members continues to be the top priority as FedEx express operates in the aftermath of the storm.Across our enterprise, contingency plans are in place to lessen the impact on service.Customers can go to fedex.com for the latest service information, and to check the status of their shipments.”

For Forelman, he’ll have to come back if his name is not called. His request buried in thousands of others.

“Why ship a package here if y’all already sitting on ten thousand packages you cannot move," Forelman said. “I guess I’ll have to come back tomorrow and stand here again.”

Copyright 2020 KPLC. All rights reserved.