UPS claims for damage

[Jeff Horton]

I found a used knife grinder. Got it today and admired how well it was packed. Got the ginder out and gave the wheel a spin and I was shocked! There was an a HUGE wobble! Like an 1/4" wobble!

After some inspection I found damage to the shipping box. The grinder.... a chipped wheel, the flange was bend and the bolt holding the wheel on was bent and the spindle is bent. In other words it is pretty much ruined.

My guess is it was dropped. Box weighted 55 lbs. Regardless it took a hard lick. Anyone have any experience with UPS damaging a shipment?

[Jake Helmboldt]

Jeff, I have never had to file a claim, but I worked for them for 5 years. People would soil themselves if they ever saw how stuff was handled.

Because it was used it makes things a little stickier. Call customer service ASAP and file a claim and contact the seller to receive confirmation of the condition when sent. I have heard horror stories of UPS trying to deny claims. In fact, my sister just had to fight with them over a pair of skis that were damaged. They were going to deny the claim until she pointed out the tire tracks on the box.

On a personal note, I hate "Brown". I use USPS or Fed Ex ground for everything these days. Good luck, and don't back down. Either UPS or the seller needs to make things right.

Jake

[Dick Parr]

Make sure you call UPS and have them come out and look at it and file a claim.

They lost a tool I sent to Travis and it only took about 4 weeks to get a check from them.

Also let the people know that sent it to you, I had to file the claim at my end even though Travis filed one when he got the empty carton.

Good luck.

[Brett Baldwin]

We have a saying about packages at my workplace. "It's almost UPS-proof if it is armor-plated and rubber insulated." Standard practice for them is to immediately deny a claim due to inadequate packaging. Be ready to be persistent and detail every aspect of your claim with photos and paperwork.

[Bill Fields]

I agree with all the above--UPS is a star at abusing packages.

BUT--some of my favorite shippers are total dunces when it comes to adequately packing unusual things.

HF is the champ of really stupid packaging, but I've received many from others who should know better.

BILL

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Yes, i have...bought dashboard for my 1986 Monte Carlo SS a few years back and it was damaged in shipping. The shipper had taken out $500 in insurance and filed a claim which was promplty paid and sent to me. It was up to him to get the paperwork done, so I have no idea what he went through. I hope you have no trouble getting your money back.

PS...I use DHL now exclusively....UPS charges wayyyy to much and is most careless with packages they can lift.

[Brian Parker]

Jake is right when he talks about how people would be dumbfounded if they actually saw how their packages were handled. From seeing it first hand my advise to you is make sure you have ~2” of padding on every side of what you are sending or even put what you want in a box and then put that box inside of another box with some padding in it. These boxes aren’t handled with kid gloves, some are tossed, some fall from the top row of boxes in the trucks, some also shift a lot in the trucks/planes. People ask me how to tell if they have packed something well and my response is always to ask if they think it would hold up if they dropped it from shoulder level, if the response is yes then its probably good, if they get that worried look its time for more padding.

As far as claims go with brown I hear that they are a bit of a pain. I know that some places work in the percent of claims paid into incentives. It makes them question some of the more frivolous and fraudulent claims from the actual ones that are legitimate claims. It sounds like you have a real claim there. Jake also makes mention of it being a used item vs a new one, I’m not that familiar with the claims rules to give some info on that one, but my thoughts are that if you insure an item for $X and you can prove that its replacement value is $X then there shouldn’t be a problem. BTW they probably will ask you to prove how much it costs to replace, usually a receipt, catalog page, website screenshot or something showing them a dollar sign will work.

I’ve filed a few claims against brown and its like a car accident, take pictures and send them to the sender of the package. It can only help the cause; be sure to get the package damage and to show the packing material and of course the damage to the tool. As Dick mentioned it usually takes about 30 days once the claim is accepted (not submitted) for you to get a refund. You might want to call in every so often in the beginning to check on the progress, they certainly aren’t going to call and update you even if the claim is accepted.

In regards to Kelly’s comment stick with green buddy. The yellow guys may have dirt-cheap prices but their on-time record is for the head. They have a great logistics dept but when it comes to small packages they have a lot of misleads resulting in delayed delivery. I’ve had some two-day packages with them get to me in four as a result. The only plus side is that if you call you can get a refund for the shipping since they didn’t deliver on their on-time guarantee. Brown has a great infrastructure but does have a fair price tag. Once nice thing is that FedEx Ground does save a day of transit to a lot of areas vs brown and its cheaper too.

[Jeff Horton]

Thanks for the info. I documented everything with photos last night. Even the packaging. Some of of the parts I have not even unwrapped. The shipper did an excellent job packing it. Boxed the larger peices and then put them in a large box with packing with expanding foam.

I filed a claim on-line and I think they have to contact the shipper apparently. Going to be interesting to see what happens.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I have had very good luck with DHL....everything has been delivered right on time and never a problem. It is different when you open an account with them. UPS has high prices compared to everyone else....FedEx is a good one too [are they Green?], but DHL's rates for account holders is 10% less than if you just use them sporadically....and that's a good 15-18% less than Brown. I will never use UPS again to ship my ebay stuff.

[Brian Parker]

Jeff,
I do belive that they have to contact the shipper. Hopefully the shipper gets the situation wraped up pretty quickly and can get you a replacement or your money back soon. It never hurts if it is a smaller shipper to call them or e-mail them and give them a heads up.

Kelly,
you bet ya green is for FedEx Ground. I'm aware that I am a little biased but even before I worked in the business I never liked the brown guys much. If DHL works for you then I bring up the old addage of if it aint broke don't fix it.

Too bad that eBay is in cahoots with USPS and UPS. I don't like the inflated UPS rates and I'm scared to use USPS after some packages got mutulated. I guess that goes to show you that if you send something with USPS parcel post that it will certainly get some bumps, on a side note I've had good luck with the USPS priority mail. I like the priority mail for smaller light packages and then after about 6-7 lbs I found it cheaper to use the pros to send packages.

[Garry Smith]

Good Luck!
UPS is the worse comapany to collect from. I have had several business' that had to use UPS for shipping and receiving with many frieght damaged shipments. I have never been able to collect a payment for damage from them. I suppose if you threatend lawsuit or small claims court, they may pay sometime in the not so distant future.
I have a very negative opinion of UPS, I have been in their depots while they load and unload trucks and one of my partners son's works for UPS in a depot and belive me it is not a pretty picture to see. You would wonder how anything got to your door in one piece.

[Rob Russell]

I had some expensive speakers shipped to me via Fedex Ground and they were damaged. Fedex dropped them enough times on both their tops and bottoms so the factory moulded styrofoam packing was broken on both ends, both speakers.

I've been able to collect for the damages, but it helped to have a LOT of digital pictures that I took to document the damage. They wanted to pickup the speakers for inspection, but I refused that. I didn't want any further damage based on the speakers being repacked using damaged packing, unpacked at their terminal, repacked to return to me.

Rob

[Ken Garlock]

Some time ago, I bought a grinder and stand from the Grizzly folks. When the grinder arrived, I plugged it in and boy did one of the wheels shimmy. As it turned out, the shaft of the motor was bent. So I called the Grizz people and they sent me out a new grinder.

After about 2 months of the broken unit sitting under the bench, I put it in the garbage. Wouldn't you know, several weeks later a UPS guy knocks on the door with an order to pickup a return package. I told him that I had thrown it out after couple months. His answer was that he would just turn it in as "lost."

I agree that UPS is not what it used to be. I wish more vendors would use FedX ground.

[Ken Garlock]

I've been able to collect for the damages, but it helped to have a LOT of digital pictures that I took to document the damage. They wanted to pickup the speakers for inspection, but I refused that. I didn't want any further damage based on the speakers being repacked using damaged packing, unpacked at their terminal, repacked to return to me.
Rob

I would have been interesting to have put some identifying mark on the damaged goods like an indelible pen on the bottom, or beside the terminals on the speaker box, and then see if you got the damaged goods back.

I sympathize with you, you just wanted the things you ordered delivered in good shape.

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Unless the seller purchased additional insurance on the package, it will be covered for only $100. Many do not know that UPS quietly raised the insurance rate from $.25 per $100. to $.75 per hundred recently. I am now self insured for product that I ship out from my place.

As mentioned, notify UPS right away...not sure what they will do since it was not noted upon delivery...unless maybe it was left at the door and no one received it directly...

Doug

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Kelly, I find your information on prices to be interesting.

I ship a fair amount out via ups and have compared costs between the big 3 (Fed Ex Ground, DHL, and UPS) and when all charges are considered, UPS is still the least expensive.

For an example, UPS will deliver pretty much anywhere you want to send it. With DHL you can be charged for "out of area" deliveries if the location is any bit remote....and they can't/won't tell you what that charge is until delivery is done...could be a couple of dollars to as much as $15. Also, DHL's rate for a daily pickup was higher than UPS.

FedEx ground will not send you an invoice if you don't have a "charge" account with them. They take the money directly out of your bank account with no accounting at all...and I've found errors in their billing as well as UPS's over the years.

One also needs to pay close attention to what the different companies are charging for insurance.

As I mentioned earlier, I have gone self insured. I still charge my customers the insurance fees (along with the shipping) but this way there is no arguing with UPS on getting a refund. I refund or replace the product immediately upon notice from my customer. Since my average box is valued at $300 with a replacement cost to me of considerably less...and I've not had UPS damage a box in the last two years...it has become a small profit center for me...this way I don't feel I need to charge a "handling" fee.

Doug

[Rob Russell]

I would have been interesting to have put some identifying mark on the damaged goods like an indelible pen on the bottom, or beside the terminals on the speaker box, and then see if you got the damaged goods back.


All I needed to have done was written down the serial numbers of the speakers. Trust me, FedEx didn't want to buy a new pair of these.

[Dave Lehnert]

Standard for UPS to say “Item was not packaged well enough” You say it was packaged well? No way could it have been. It got damaged. See what you are up against?