[Amps] [BULK] - Re: Shipping Damage

[Colin Lamb]

-----Original Message-----
From: Japerlick at aol.com
Sent: Feb 25, 2005 9:49 AM
To: lncarman at swbell.net, amps at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] [BULK] - Re:  Shipping Damage

I can share my own UPS horror story...we bought an HP 8568B Spectrum Analyzer 
from an east coast dealer.  He left it up to a local Mail Boxes Etc to pack 
and ship the unit. That was our first mistake....MBE is run by local 
franchisees who are usually shipping cookies from Grandma and often don't have knowledge 
of necessary packaging requirements for sensitive electronics.  The box 
arrived. It was an 8568B, in many little pieces, bashed in in many places, inside a 
double-wall box.  The little foam that was used was all crushed.  I 
immediately called the shipper, MBE, UPS and everyone....I was incredulously angry and 
devastated.  But, since MBE had forgotten to add the insurance, there was 
nothing anybody could do....except I could send the instrument off for expensive 
repairs. 

I asked UPS what their response would have been if the unit had been insured. 
 THey said "Same thing....we would not cover it because it was poorly 
packaged."   In reality, they are right...their job is to move the package not pack 
it.  So, the first rule is you have to find someone that can pack well.  Once 
it is in the "system" there is little anyone can do to recover from damage if 
you have not packaged it well.
_______________________________________________

A few years ago, I purchased an SX-88 receiver.  I asked the owner to pack it, but he insisted he did not have the ability and took it to MBE, who charged him $50 to pack it.  However, it was insured.  I received it very damaged.  Although it was double boxed, it was clear that the jerk who packed it simply put some bubble wrap around it then put it face down and dropped it onto the control shafts, to get it into the first box.  That is when the damage occurred.  So, double boxing it would not help.  I was required to file a claim with UPS, which I did.  I told them it was packed improperly by MBE and that MBE should pay for it.  Despite my protest that UPS should not pay, they did, for the full claim.  That was a few months before MBE was acquired by UPS. 

Now that they are married, it should be easier to recover on a claim, since it was all in the hands of one party.  Take photos of what it looks like before the damage, though.  

Colin  K7FM