[Yaesu] UPS abuse, FT990 Problems...

[Bry Carling]

Thanks - I agree on a lot of tyhis from my own experiences too.

I will relay this information to the seller and see where we go from 
here when the claim is denied on appeal.

Brian

> Hello Brian,
>     I toot this horn whenever I get the chance...
> The truth is that you, or anyone you care about, should never ship
> *anything* by UPS these days.  Some time ago UPS changed their business
> practices in two major ways.
> 1; Promote the use of insurance then refuse to honor just about every
> claim.
>      They have a whole department that does nothing but convince the
> customer that the claim is not worthy.  An extensive list of reasons
> is available for their use.
> 2;   There was a day, many years ago now, when UPS employes could be
> fired
> for throwing and mis-handling packages.  Back in the 70s & 80s a UPS
> package would travel across the country and arrive on your porch looking
> as though it had just been packed... pristine.   Believe me, those days
> are  L O N G  gone.
>     I'm speaking from first-hand knowldege.  I'm a pilot, been flying
> private jets in charter service for some time.  Back when I flew the
> Learjets and Citations UPS would call when they'd have a plane down or
> needed extra capacity.  I'd go to their sort centers and wait for a
> load.  What I saw there was almost beyond description.  Total chaos...
> organized chaos.  Packages would come down these conveyor belts..
> going up and down, around corners, often falling off them dropping 10
> feet to the floor.  I once saw about a 2' x 2' box fly off the thing
> and hit the cement floor and bust open.  Peanuts and parts went
> everywhere.  Some big bruiser of a guy ran up to it, shoveled it all
> back in to the split-open box, wrap about 20 feet of tape around it
> and put it right back on the belt.  Thats only the beginning.  These
> conveyors go to a waiting row of containers that either go in
> wide-body jets, semi-truck containers, or rail cars.  At each portal
> there is one guy standing at the conveyor end, and another inside the
> container.  The guy at the end of the belt is about 10 feet from the
> container, or about 20 feet from the back of the container.  Bubba #1
> takes the boxes off the belt and *throws* each and every one of them
> to Bubba #2 inside the container.  #2's job is simply to stack them in
> such a way to use every cubic inch of space.  They are not sorted by
> weight or size.   Your Christmas ornament ordered from Hallmark.com
> could be holding up a 40 inch big screen TV.  The rate of throw is
> such that they never pause to read anything on the box.   Stickers
> such as "THIS SIDE UP", "DELICATE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT", or "FRAGILE"
> are ignored simply because they never stop to look.  Packages that are
> too big to throw are rolled and shoved, they don't join up and both
> carry a heavy box.
>    Calling their "claims" office is almost futile.  I was involved in
> two
> cases, one my own, and another for a friend.  In the first battle after
> a few near-shouting matches (but civil) I guess I had sufficient
> command of the language that the guy finally ran out of reasons and
> felt sorry for me.  He admitted, "I'm paid to deny claims."  I don't
> think he was even empowered by the company to approve the claim.  In
> both instances it took a letter from an attorney, promising legal
> action, to approve the claims.  In my friend's case, the box must have
> fallen 20 feet to do the damage that was evident.  It was a vintage
> stereo receiver with a strong heavy chassis that was bent so bad it was
> tweaked out of square.  I have seen horrific damage in several
> instances.
>     It's too late for you, but I would inform vendors to ship another
> method than UPS.  All are better.  Even pay extra for it if you have
> to.  Fedex ground service is far better.  I've shipped about 1,500
> items with them and never had a damaged item.  Postal Service's
> Priority Mail is even pretty good.
>    Sorry you've had this issue with a nice radio.  I would threaten them
> and be very convinced of your position as though you're fighting for
> the principle of the issue and not just the value of the item.  It
> might work.  If you have an attorney friend, have him fire off a
> letter.
> Tough lesson,
> 73,
> Dennis
> N0SP