Another UPS Horror Story

Don't know that FedEx is wonderful, Ebm, but I've never had an issue with them.

I had UPS damage an amp, and the claim went down a black hole.

As Grannyring notes, a dock to dock shipper like Pilot or BAX may be the way for larger items -- I did this once with a #300 pair of speakers and it worked great, for surprisingly cheap.

So while the samples are small, my experience convinces me to live without UPS in my audio life.

JOhn

Yes, often times less expensive than ups or fedex. I hope folks are reading this and benefit from what is being said here regarding the use of trucking companies instead of FedEx etc....

Actually, I do think that the seller sent me a working amplifier. Before I bought the amp I contacted Sunil at Care Audio, where the amp was originally bought and asked about the seller:

"I cannot tell you what to do but Steve has come to my place a couple of times and I have gone to his place once."

Also, the damage to the amp is indicative of a long drop onto one corner of the box, which given it's 60 pound weight, would not be something done by the owner, just the shipper.

This ups story goes back a few years but I sold through eBay a beautiful pair of Focal Electras to a guy in Maine. He refused the shipment because of damage to the boxes (original factory). I was sitting in my living room and heard this loud thump outside of the garage and saw one of the boxes laying on its side with the ups driver wheeling the other from the truck. They were so badly damaged that only a portion of the cardboard and no internal packing remained on one. The corner of the other was crushed so badly that one of the drivers was bent. One of the woofers was completely smashed in and it's frame was even bent, etc, etc, etc. Ups inspected them and verified that, indeed, a claim was warranted but, because it was considered a "freight" shipment I was entitled to only half of the declared value and I wasn't even allowed to keep what remained of the speakers or any of the un damaged parts. They were impossible to deal with and the process took over 2 months to resolve. They also destroyed an underwater camera housing about a year later and claimed that it was damaged before packaging. They finally paid but only after another battle. I will no longer use them myself and request those from whom I'm buying not to use them.

When I sold my TRL Samsons, I use YRC Freight. Both amps ship in one wooden crate. I arranged pickup from my home and the price was very reasonable.

I got quotes from Pilot, FedEx Freight, Craters & Freighters ... and YRC had the best package deal. Excellent service, online tracking and arrived on time. Will definitely use them again if necessary.