As a former US Service manager for two EU HiFi Brands, we American employees were astonished by the feedback from EU every time we requested heavier, better packing for our multi-thousand dollar amps. Our amps were constantly damaged in shipping in the US, and could never understand why they said "we never have damage claims inside Continental Europe using either UPS or FedEx".
Doing some digging we discovered that overseas, the actual DELIVERY DRIVERS ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ITEMS DELIVERED! Each driver may even be self-insured! No wonder they don't have damage claims there. Our UPS and FedEx drivers are obviously former airline baggage handlers, tossing 100lb amps off the backs of the trucks.
Most times the exteriors of our boxes were unscathed, so NO CLAIMS were ever allowed (if the exterior of the box is intact, the only explanation for damage is insufficient packing), although the amps had taken enough G's to dislodge the transformers off their bolts or the guts of the 845 tubes were rattling around inside the glass envelopes!
(I remember we had a brand new, heavy tube amp we needed to ship to a reviewer, and upon pickup, the petite FedEx driver proceeded to roll the box end over end to the truck since it was too big to fit on her hand truck).
ARCAM used to print USELESS IF DROPPED on their boxes in huge letters...
Doing some digging we discovered that overseas, the actual DELIVERY DRIVERS ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ITEMS DELIVERED! Each driver may even be self-insured! No wonder they don't have damage claims there. Our UPS and FedEx drivers are obviously former airline baggage handlers, tossing 100lb amps off the backs of the trucks.
Most times the exteriors of our boxes were unscathed, so NO CLAIMS were ever allowed (if the exterior of the box is intact, the only explanation for damage is insufficient packing), although the amps had taken enough G's to dislodge the transformers off their bolts or the guts of the 845 tubes were rattling around inside the glass envelopes!
(I remember we had a brand new, heavy tube amp we needed to ship to a reviewer, and upon pickup, the petite FedEx driver proceeded to roll the box end over end to the truck since it was too big to fit on her hand truck).
ARCAM used to print USELESS IF DROPPED on their boxes in huge letters...