Can You Trust a Shipper? (UPS, Fed-Ex, etc)

1. UPS truck pulled into my driveway on July 15th to deliver the package, but driver could not find it on truck.  2. Received message from ebay that delivery had been rescheduled for Monday, July 17.  3. On that Monday morning, got another ebay message that package had been delivered . I was home, and it was not delivered, at least not here. 4. Informed the seller of both events as they happened, and he promised to refund my money. Never heard from him again. 5. Filed a claim with PayPal - they checked with the seller, who gave them the tracking info. I guess they checked the number and saw that it was delivered, and that was that. Claim denied. I found out around Labor Day where the package had been delivered to, and went to the address. It was a business (warehouse) that takes in hundreds of packages each week, but nothing from private individuals. Even talked to the guy who UPS said had signed for the package. He didn't remember it. Those are the facts.

I buy all my high value audio products from a dealer. I receive about two packages via Fed Ex or UPS, or USPS a day, for many years. Once every year or two a package gets delivered to the wrong address. Once every couple of years a package gets a bit mangled… only once or twice in the last ten years has that resulted in a refund.  

the problem is not how often things go wrong. It’s when they go wrong, the customer is screwed. To get through to UPS with a complaint requires an IQ of 160 and communications skills of a university professor and the patience of a turtle, then, maybe then you have a 10% chance. Otherwise, forget it, everyone at the other end of the line is a robot (not literally - yet) reading from a script with the purpose of causing so much stress to the customer that s/he will give up.

I get stuff shipped to me via various carriers. The key is packing and palletizing. 

Bespoke shipping- the guy with the Halliburton case handcuffed to his wrist tends to cost. I once inquired about shipping jewelry- not something that is easily dealt with as a citizen, but the dealers know how to do it. I rely on DHL Express for records outside of the US--I typically get them in 5 days. 

Ditto, Japanese post-priority. Fast.

But for gear, you have to take extra precautions. Part of it depends on the sender to do it right. When I had my old Quad Loudspeakers restored, Kent McCollum shipping me good packing, then arranged for UPS ground to pick them up-- the UPS guy palletized the packed boxes, and when Kent was done, they were shipped to my new location in Texas. Not a problem.

With Lamm, they use wooden shipping crates with custom foam. Require air freight. Thankfully, I have not had to do that- I used to be in NY metro and would drive them over to Vlad (RIP). 

It can be done without issues. I had a friend who used to ship multi-sk-zillion vintage racing cars all over the world. Same deal- palletized, shipped as air freight. Lord only knows what that costs now, used to be 5k one way. You don't need to spend like that to ship a piece of gear, but packing and palletizing is key in my estimation.

Bill Hart

Amen, grislybutter! UPS customer interface protocol is designed to confuse, confound, and perplex anyone with a complaint to the point that they just give up. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, and I was like a blind man in a maze when I tried to find an answer to what had happened.