I'm so sorry about your bird!
I assume you have some kind of tracking? Even if customer service is closed, the mail is still moving, so keep an eye on the tracking. If the bird is still en route, the tracking may be updated before you can get a real person on the phone.
Yes, I do have tracking. Unfortunately, it doesn't do any good when the employees are too lazy to scan it. He hasn't been scanned since Thursday night in the next state over. He was SUPPOSED to be here Friday. They called me Thursday night and said they "missed" him, and therefore, he would not arrive until Saturday (today). They said they would try to give him an apple and water at that time, but I don't know if that happened. He is not there today, and there are no further updates to where he is. We tried calling the surrounding towns that the mail goes through, but that was one of the many lies I received from employees claiming they would call me back. The tracking number also doesn't help me GET the bird before he dies of dehydration, even if the employees weren't entirely incompetent and scanned it.
...not surprised -- i have a friend who had problems getting TOP quality chickens thru the usps this spring -- all 4 arrived late and dead... personally, they've butchered way too many well-packed eggs for me (both receiving and sending) .. i've never taken the time to file a claim, but they've lost my trust ...this year things seem to be a LOT worse %age wise.. i hope your bird makes it... when possible, i now use UPS... (seems to be the lesser of two evils) ....
They managed to get my chicks from the same gentleman to me a couple weeks ago, and somehow sent chicks to someone else from my state the same day as this peacock (from the same seller), and STILL managed to miss him. In total, he has been "missed" once, and lost once. How can one agency screw up one shipment that badly? I am so angry, and rest assured, if they kill him, they have bought him.
I have had issues with my most recent eggs too. I had two boxes of eggs shipped from a member here, and both developed well. Then I had two boxes shipped from two other breeders that are actually near the first person. Both have a TON of damage to the air cells, and I don't think ANY of those eggs are developing. The only difference is the origination post office. Now, is it possible that BOTH packages were treated vastly different along the way? Sure, but is it also possible that THOSE post offices employ little ***** that abused my packages. Yes. And you know what they say about something looking and walking like a duck.
Anyway, that is an entirely separate rant. It is sad because I won't purchase from those sellers anymore, probably not because of anything they have done, but because I can't trust that I will get anything viable from their post office.
On another note, does UPS ship live birds? I was under then impression that they didn't. Or are you just referring to egg shipments? I really like Fedex, but I don't think they ship live animals either.