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[writer245]

Another Day One donor here with the failed address translation / shipping issue.  Looking for just a little more confirmation if someone can offer it:

• Is "confirmation number" the same as "reference number" in all these discussions?
• When using the FedEx Alt Tracking site, do we use this number in the "Reference" area?

Though my order went through at 6:15 am on Day One, my Confirmation/Reference number is thousands higher than what you're reporting as shipped.  Mine is 7000016xxx. I'll report back to this thread once my Conf/Ref number finally appears in the FedEx Alt Tracker so we can have some measure of how long it takes to increment some 8,000 numbers.  I realize that they may or may not be going through the numbers in sequence, but it's another piece of info to throw into the collective.

Robert

[Ulsterman]

Confirmation # is the same as the reference number in these discussions and that is the number to put in the reference field in the FedEx alt tracking site.  Your confirmation number 7000016XXX is actually not thousands higher than already shipped if that is what you meant.  There are numbers in the high 40,000s already in donor hands.

[JSL]

My address got borked too.  They copied it directly from the CONFIRMED PAYPAL ADDRESS but somehow they truncated the unit number.  At least they shipped it anyway and eventually sent me the tracking number (after the first failed delivery attempt).  I called FedEx (twice) and got them to update the address and they delivered it two days later.

This would be the end of my woes were it not for the faulty display.  The laptop is DOA and now I'm waiting for a "supervisor" to call me back with an RMA number.

Why is it they the folks at their support hotline (800-201-7144) are not empowered to issue RMA numbers immediately?  The broken unit sits here collecting dust while my 7 year old son runs out of patience.

[zimitt]

Another Day One donor here with the failed address translation / shipping issue.  Looking for just a little more confirmation if someone can offer it:

• Is "confirmation number" the same as "reference number" in all these discussions?
• When using the FedEx Alt Tracking site, do we use this number in the "Reference" area?

Though my order went through at 6:15 am on Day One, my Confirmation/Reference number is thousands higher than what you're reporting as shipped.  Mine is 7000016xxx. I'll report back to this thread once my Conf/Ref number finally appears in the FedEx Alt Tracker so we can have some measure of how long it takes to increment some 8,000 numbers.  I realize that they may or may not be going through the numbers in sequence, but it's another piece of info to throw into the collective.

Robert

It seems they might not be in sequence. My pay pal confirmation is for 3:02 am (PST) on day one and my tracking # is 7000017XXX.

[tsdguy]

Seems right to me. I ordered early on 1st day and my confirmation order is 7000012xxx. I ordered by paypal (which they charged immediately) so perhaps payment receipt factors in?

[zimitt]

.

[BoBraxton]

The first day one OLPC XO shipped on December 11 and was delivered late afternoon to Fairfax, VA
Two other "day one" orders indicate that one is supposed to arrive (Burke, VA) "before January 15"

[xomaha]

Post mortem on the address verification problem:

I received my XO on Jan 2. D1H1M5 donor, wanted to send it to business address because I didn't want it delivered to my porch (and sitting outside as a target for theft during work hours). I ordered via the web and put business name on address line 1, and street info on address line 2. We all know what happened then.

The problem appears to be a programming error in retrieving the information from Paypal, where the import parsed street address and truncated the second line. The problem appears to be on the OLPC side (not Brightstar) as many people have reported that records in the OLPC donor database only had company name. If you did this common way of addressing (business name on line 1, street address on line 2), and haven't been notified by OLPC, ---CALL THEM--- you most probably are sitting with a bad address that shipping has rejected. Hopefully, this problem was corrected mid-stream in the G1G1 program, but who can tell, as no information/acknowlegement has been forthcoming about the two-line address programming snafu from OLPC.

On a future note -- I have noticied that when I ordered Christmas present shipping on Amazon, using the same shipping format (business name on line 1, street address on line 2), they "swapped" the address lines on the order. So the destination street address came first and the business name came second. Amazon does a fair amount of third-party interface, they will handle the billing and trade off the order to a third-party for processing/fullfilment. Thus, in OLPC's defense, this appears to be a common error in third-party interface programming. What we can walk away from this data-point is a practice that each and every one of us can do for the future -- address your shipping with street address on line 1 and organization on line 2 -- it doesn't seem to confuse FedEx, UPS, DHL or USPS -- and we can be assured of getting the package delivered instead of stuck in a third-party interface torture chamber

Regards and happy XO'ing!

XO fan in Omaha

[LesleyT]

If I enter my address on the Fed Ex page and Fed Ex corrects it, should I take that as a Bad Sign (tm) .  And if so, what do I do next?

[Ulsterman]

What fed ex page are you entering your address, can you provide a link?  And what do you mean it gets corrected? 

[LesleyT]

Arg -- I cannot find the page on fed ex.  It basically is a page where you enter an address and it pops up with a standardized version of it.  I think I got it from these boards somewhere.

It added the +4 to my zip.  I wonder if that would make a difference.

EDIT:  I followed a link from this post:  http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=225.msg1399#msg1399

[Ulsterman]

Oh, that's the Fed Ex address checker.  There have been some posts here claiming that Brightstar is using this site to validate addresses, although I find that difficult to fathom.  I have a valid address that does not validate through this site or through USPS's site, but have never had difficulty getting packages from Fed Ex or UPS.  Not all addresses are validated through the Fed Ex site, and Fed Ex doesn't claim that nor do they say an address has to be valid in that checker for it to be delivered.  I called Fed Ex and was told they don't use this site themselves, they use zip codes and rely on their local deliverers to know the local addresses.  In the Terms and Conditions screen of the OLPC site for the G1G1 initiative, term number 2 states that "XO laptops will be shipped only to G1G1 participants and only to the street addresses they provide for themselves in the fifty United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia and Canada."  I have called Laptopgiving Support and confirmed my address numerous times, even at the supervisor level, but no one there has been able to tell me anything concrete about whether it is acceptable in their system.  I suppose I will find out by Jan 15th one way or the other. 

[pgf]

It added the +4 to my zip.  I wonder if that would make a difference.

in fact, i was told that my shipment was delayed for exactly that reason (i.e., zip+4).  if you suspect that's the problem, and you don't know they haven't figured it out yet, i'd call.

paul

[Christobel]

Don't want to double post (check 'delayed again....') but I was told today that they WOULD ship to my PO Box.