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UPS. Friend Or Foe?

Recently shipped two speakers and the stands all in very good (8/10) condition to a buyer in another state. One speaker and the stands were in the factory boxes. The other speaker was boxed by UPS. The buyer sent pictures and stated they arrived damaged. One of the speakers had a rattle but no visible damage, the other speaker, (the one UPS boxed), had visible damage. Not surprisingly, the stands arrived unscathed.

All items were picked up by UPS in that city and taken for inspection.

And the results were...UPS is not at fault because they have a policy, buried in very fine print, that it is the shippers' (sellers') responsibility to ensure proper packaging.

My wife and I also found out the local UPS stores are legally not affiliated with UPS!!!

We are currently attempting to discuss this with the owner of the local store.

Sad but true...

tomcarr
tomcarr OP
1,499 posts
 

Supposed to meet with local owner tonight.

lwin's avatar
lwin
570 posts
 

Where they packaged one of the speakers they should at least be responsible for the damage on that one. About 10 years ago I purchased a Parasound amp on Audiogon . UPS packaged it using those cheap air filled plastic pillows . Half of them were deflated. I contacted the seller to inform him the amp was damaged and I sent pictures. He contacted UPS who had a driver visit me. After inspecting it he couldn’t believe the packing. UPS honored the claim.

Fedex is no better. Where I live most of their drivers are independents. I have had packages that were supposed to be signed for just left on the porch and some packages were left in the rain.

tomcarr OP
1,499 posts
 

@lwin Yes! Same here. Anything large, heavy or expensive is almost guaranteed to be damaged or destroyed by UPS or Fedex.

tomcarr OP
1,499 posts
 

The speakers I sold were Vandersteens. My wife spoke with Richard Vandersteen and he told her they had so many problems with UPS and Fedex they went to shipping their speakers on pallets.

jwei
143 posts
 

I had Audio Classics refurb my MR 78 a while back.

First I bought their dedicated shipping box, then I packed it properly and left it with local UPS to ship insured.

Audio Classics said it arrived with a broken glass faceplate.  But insurance covered it and they replaced it.  I got it back in perfect condition.

Glad the insurance worked.

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