No accurate. Not in my case.
We shipped to the wrong address (our fault) several blocks away from intended residential destination. Took us 15 days to discover the problem. Called FedEx. They had the driver call us. He went and got the package back from someone that was obviously trying to keep it and delievered it to where it should have gone.
I could not be more pleased with FedEx ground. They handle claims quickly and promptly. Consistantly excellent service. Yes, they are independent contractors/ that's as in small business people that care about their business by my estimation. A far better situation that dealing with a giant company when you have an issue.
That's my entire point. They're independent contractors, plural. Yours may be great, but the one I had to deal with was hell on earth, and their attitude was very much one of "Hey, we own the FedEx concession around here, so what are you gonna do about it if you don't like our service?" It's shipping by Russian Roulette.
At least with UPS, it's all one operation so that every employee has an obligation (on some level, anyway) to help you if you have a problem.