Fed Ex broke my humidor.

[Bill Wyko]

The Bubinga Humidor I posted in woodworking projects has been severly damaged by my friends at Fed Ex. The box was damaged and the humidors hinges are destroyed. Other than that, I can fix it after another trip across the country. Who knows what'll be left by the time it gets here. Sorry I just had to vent. I'm really upset.:cool:

[Tony De Masi]

And I suspect a different carrier next time? Not that the results would be any different.:eek:

Tony

[Bill Wyko]

The client is going to a UPS store and letting them pack it to get it back to me. They are responsible if they pack it. Other than that he was very happy.:o

[J. Z. Guest]

Good thing you insured it for $1000 when you shipped it...

Last time UPS smashed up something for me, (vintage silver service set) I made a claim. They asked if it was repairable or replacable, and I said no. They went out to examine the original packaging and paid up.

Make sure whoever you shipped it to keeps the original packaging, because the first thing they will try to do is blame you for lack of proper packaging and padding.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Have you talked to the shipper? They generally have a very specific claims policy. The receiver is supposed to refuse shipment for damaged goods. Otherwise they may not pay up. You should probably talk to their claims adjustor before having the buyer do anything. The sender is usually responsible for filing claims.

[Dewey Torres]

Bill,
Ken Fitzgerald and I just went through this with the bomb... you might ask him for a few tips on the claims end!

[Bill Wyko]

I've got the ball rolling we'll see what happens.:cool:

[glenn bradley]

Bill, that is a truly beautiful piece. I'm sorry to hear what happened and hope it can be saved.

[David DeCristoforo]

Ya can't trust those guys. I once shipped six chessboards to a guy in Alabama. I made a crate out of 3/4" plywood put together with a million cabinet streakers and strapped with metal strapping. It was lined inside with 1" thick styrofoam panels and there were also 1" thick styrofoam panels between the boards. Shipped it UPS. About a week later the guy called me and he was totally furious because all of the boards were damaged and he wanted to know why I had packaged them so carelessly. I was "flabbergasted" but he sent me pictures of my boards, all broken at the corners, in a ripped up cardboard box, no styrofoam panels to be seen! No one knows how they got out of the crate and into that cardboard box. But when we filed a claim against UPS for the damage they denied it because the items were not properly packaged!?!?!?!?!?

Now, I document everything with pictures using a digital camera with a time and date stamp. I even get shots of the driver loading the package into his truck. But even so, when they trash a one of a kind piece, even getting the insurance money cannot compensate for the loss.

[Brent Smith]

Bill, I'm really sorry to hear this. I've had more damage due to Fedex and UPS than I care to list. At least you can take a very minor amount of consolation in the fact that they didn't charge you an $80 brokerage fee to mishandle your package!

Brent....who is pulling out his Fedex/UPS Voodoo Doll as we speak.

[Ben Cadotte]

Ya can't trust those guys. I once shipped six chessboards to a guy in Alabama. I made a crate out of 3/4" plywood put together with a million cabinet streakers and strapped with metal strapping. It was lined inside with 1" thick styrofoam panels and there were also 1" thick styrofoam panels between the boards. Shipped it UPS. About a week later the guy called me and he was totally furious because all of the boards were damaged and he wanted to know why I had packaged them so carelessly. I was "flabbergasted" but he sent me pictures of my boards, all broken at the corners, in a ripped up cardboard box, no styrofoam panels to be seen! No one knows how they got out of the crate and into that cardboard box. But when we filed a claim against UPS for the damage they denied it because the items were not properly packaged!?!?!?!?!?

Now, I document everything with pictures using a digital camera with a time and date stamp. I even get shots of the driver loading the package into his truck. But even so, when they trash a one of a kind piece, even getting the insurance money cannot compensate for the loss.

I had something very similar happen with fedex. I packed 30 things in one box. And sent it to my parents. They sent me a message they got my suprise. So, I thought all was well. After a month or so, I asked them how they liked the different ones. And they said you only sent us the one kind. I answered very confused. You only got 1 kind? They said yes. I said was the box damaged / retaped. They said no it was in a nice new looking fedex box. The problem is I didn't ship anything in a fedex box. I sent them in a large brown cardboard box. Someone at Fedex opened it and took what they wanted and reboxed the rest, and sent in on.

[Bill Wyko]

Because they want to have some driver pick it up and hand it off to God knows who, and then keep it for a few weeks before I can fix it. I just decided to have my client send it back to me and I'll fix it. I don't want some guy that just finished a meatball sandwich putting their grubby hands on my finish I spent a week on. :D

[Scott Coffelt]

This reminds me of something kind of funny, has nothing to do with Fedex though. My BIL was in the army and stationed in Germany. When he got out, the amry packed his stuff and shipped via sea home, then truck to KC. My BIL lived with us for 6 months, and one day is stuff arrived. Now the funny thing, some bozo packed the TV real nice with lots of cloths and other linens as padding. He proceeded with packing a bowling ball on top of the TV. The TV was absolutely demolished. Still worked though... well after I soldered a few splices across broken circuit boards. He got his claim money, but what person doesn't think twice about placing a boaling ball in a box with a TV and what it might do travelling via truck to boat to truck. Guy must now work for Fed-ex.

[Chris Padilla]

Maybe some of you will give Grizzly and/or Minimax a break when they delivered several "shipper enhanced" packages to Mr. Lemkin.

;)

[Don Bullock]

Bill, what a bummer! Hopefully just the hinges were damaged and you'll be able to salvage the rest of your work.

[Jon Grider]

I'm truly sorry that happened, Bill. That was such a beautiful box. I think our package delivery systems here in the good old US is one more reason we'll all have to learn Chinese someday.

[Mike Null]

That's bad news but if you insured it FedEx has been pretty good about paying claims as far as I'm concerned. Just don't throw the carton away.

[Brian Effinger]

Bill, I am truly sorry for your loss. And your client's too. My heart really did sink when I read the title and then saw your name below it.

[Pat Germain]

Even in this lousy economy, it seems there's a strong market for a careful shipping company. DHL should take notice.

[Gary Herrmann]

Sorry to hear that Bill. It was beautifully made. Hope it works out in your favor.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bill,

I'm sorry to hear about your humidor!

The lathe that I sent to Dewey was screwed to reinforced plywood. The reinforcements were screwed and glued to the plywood base. The reinforcements were broken...the glue joints held....the plywood broke. The screws were sheared off. Somebody dropped that lathe and it and the bed extension were broken free from there restraints. I just file an 8 page document with Fedex yesterday morning.

Good luck with your humidor!

[Rye Crane]

Bill,

Next time check out Registered Mail. The diamond merchants use it as their standard method of transporting small, expensive items. They have
a hand to hand signature trace record and this type of mail service moves via the best possible service available.

I don't know if it's possible for your small boxes but I would check with the Post Office to see if it qualifies.

Good Luck,
Rye Crane

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I have a friend who does art sculpture in Glass.

He always buys the extra insurance when he ships and when they smash his work he gets paid twice.

[Carlos Alden]

I'm truly sorry that happened, Bill. That was such a beautiful box. I think our package delivery systems here in the good old US is one more reason we'll all have to learn Chinese someday.



A great language, by the way. Full of historical and literary allegories that pop up in daily speech. Imagine if ancient Greek or Egyptian had been allowed to continue their relatively pure development.

Carlos

[Bill Wyko]

Well I just had Mike ship it back to me to fix. The last thing I want is some fool that just had a meatball sandwich touching the finish I spent a week on. They are wooden hinges so I'll rout out the old ones and put in new ones. He was so patient waiting a month for me to make it, I don't want to put him through this mess. It's just good business.

[Dan Gill]

This reminds me of something kind of funny, has nothing to do with Fedex though. My BIL was in the army and stationed in Germany. When he got out, the amry packed his stuff and shipped via sea home, then truck to KC. My BIL lived with us for 6 months, and one day is stuff arrived. Now the funny thing, some bozo packed the TV real nice with lots of cloths and other linens as padding. He proceeded with packing a bowling ball on top of the TV. The TV was absolutely demolished. Still worked though... well after I soldered a few splices across broken circuit boards. He got his claim money, but what person doesn't think twice about placing a boaling ball in a box with a TV and what it might do travelling via truck to boat to truck. Guy must now work for Fed-ex.

When my sister moved back to the States from Guam, their stuff was in storage for about 6 months. The movers (hired by the Navy) packed a bag of garbage in with their stuff. It was up against their dining table and ruined the table, not to mention a lot of other belongings.

[David Keller NC]

Bill - One comment about this. I've traded a fairly large number of antique tools over the last 4 or 5 years. As with your piece, these are not replaceable, and also represent a piece of history. What I've found is that I cannot trust either UPS or FedEx to not toss a package off of a 40 foot high warehouse rack, and they've damaged several irreplaceable wooden planes, despite extreme care in packaging.

As odd as this may seem, I've had near 100% good luck with the Post Office. I can't imagine that they're perfect, but based on my limited sampling and the condition that boxes arrive in, they seem to take considerably more care with packages than the commercial services.

That said, I now double-box most everything (the exceptions being large objects and tough-to-mess-up things). It's the best insurance there is - no damage, no denied claims.