Man says insured $6,000 shipment partially lost after one amplifier fails to arrive

puroagave said:
Still wondering if anyone filed a claim, be it amps speakers or whatever comes in twos and boxed separately. Did you insure each for the aggregate value and were you compensated for the entire amount as if both were lost? Knock on wood, I haven't had this problem (yet).

Somehow this devolved into, "you should have bought it from a dealer" sorta answer. I buy vintage gear dealers don't touch, so that's a completely moot point. The other day I acquired a famous 40-yr old amp in a factory sealed box, an absolute unicorn! I haven't been more thrilled than with any recent new purchase I can think of.
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I think it's fair to say no one on this forum seriously thought for a minute Mike was referring to decades old vintage gear. So you can feel safe with your recent purchase. :)
 
UPS and Fedex insurance will do everything in their power not to pay an insurance claim. There was a guy whose gear was delivered to the wrong house and it disappeared. Fedex tried to fight the claim until it went to small claims court and they lost of course. I know of several stories like this.
 
FedEx did similar to me. They lost my Mark Levinson 432 amp for 8 days in California, delivered it a week late, then refused any kind of refund for the shipping cost, which was over $250 to Eastern Iowa. About 3 weeks earlier the driver forged my signature and left my Mark Levinson 326S pre sitting on my front steps, asking to be stolen.
 
Brent71 said:
FedEx did similar to me. They lost my Mark Levinson 432 amp for 8 days in California, delivered it a week late, then refused any kind of refund for the shipping cost, which was over $250 to Eastern Iowa. About 3 weeks earlier the driver forged my signature and left my Mark Levinson 326S pre sitting on my front steps, asking to be stolen.
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I think the reason they didn't offer a refund is if you use their lower tier (time frame) services, they are very clear there is no promised delivery date. Just an estimate. So through that lens they did as they agreed.

I ship a lot by UPS and Fed is and they are always very clear there is no guarantee on the lower services.

Note: I agree with you they still should have offered you a partial refund as good business.
 
Brent71 said:
FedEx did similar to me. They lost my Mark Levinson 432 amp for 8 days in California, delivered it a week late, then refused any kind of refund for the shipping cost, which was over $250 to Eastern Iowa. About 3 weeks earlier the driver forged my signature and left my Mark Levinson 326S pre sitting on my front steps, asking to be stolen.
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My first reaction was "Why did you use the same shipper who screwed you 3 weeks earlier?"

Of course, once I thought about it I realized that you, the consumer, often has ZERO choice which shipper is used to deliver your equipment. I have countless horror stories of both Fedex and UPS screwups, and if I had my way neither of them would ever touch anything that I ordered. Sadly though, I don't know of any way to avoid it.

I read somewhere about alternative shipping services for sensitive equipment. Guessing that there are some local or regional companies that care about their customers and take care of their shipments. I just don't know who they are.

There has to be a better way.
 
JCS123 said:
My first reaction was "Why did you use the same shipper who screwed you 3 weeks earlier?"

Of course, once I thought about it I realized that you, the consumer, often has ZERO choice which shipper is used to deliver your equipment. I have countless horror stories of both Fedex and UPS screwups, and if I had my way neither of them would ever touch anything that I ordered. Sadly though, I don't know of any way to avoid it.

I read somewhere about alternative shipping services for sensitive equipment. Guessing that there are some local or regional companies that care about their customers and take care of their shipments. I just don't know who they are.

There has to be a better way.
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When I ship gear within Texas, I actually use a local same day courier. It's often less expensive than UPS or Fed Ex and it it literally picked up at my door and brought directly to the destination (or vice versa)
 
Michaels HiFi said:
When I ship gear within Texas, I actually use a local same day courier. It's often less expensive than UPS or Fed Ex and it it literally picked up at my door and brought directly to the destination (or vice versa)
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That is a great way to go. Definitely better to have a direct path without any handling from point A to B.
 
Michaels HiFi said:
When I ship gear within Texas, I actually use a local same day courier. It's often less expensive than UPS or Fed Ex and it it literally picked up at my door and brought directly to the destination (or vice versa)
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Great idea. The next time I need something shipped locally, I'll have to look into the courier route.

As for sellers shipping to me, I feel like I'm stuck - Fedex and UPS are so far entrenched that it seems like just about every business uses them. That's how their systems are set up and I understand that it's a hassle to change. And who is there to change to? But the amount of dissatisfaction out there with both companies tells me that there is a glaring need for a competent delivery service. I am surprised that nobody has stepped in to fill the void by now, because these two have been terrible for years.
 
JCS123 said:
Great idea. The next time I need something shipped locally, I'll have to look into the courier route.

As for sellers shipping to me, I feel like I'm stuck - Fedex and UPS are so far entrenched that it seems like just about every business uses them. That's how their systems are set up and I understand that it's a hassle to change. And who is there to change to? But the amount of dissatisfaction out there with both companies tells me that there is a glaring need for a competent delivery service. I am surprised that nobody has stepped in to fill the void by now, because these two have been terrible for years.
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I actually had done a paper on that topic in grad school.

The amount of government regulation, red tape, hurdles and requirements keeps that possibility from being doable and that was before some of the cites went full on bezerko like they have lately.

Look at what cities like NYC and LA have done to kill off Uber, Door Dash and AirBnB. No way they'd ever not do the same to a start up shipping company.

As an example NYC just raised the minimum wage to $24 per hour for door dash and such drivers and they announced they want it to go up to $35. Then when Door Dash and others in response added a $6 line item surcharge of "regulatory fee" to every delivery the idiots running NYC got mad and used their same mental-midget comment of blaming "corporate greed".

LA wanted to create a mandatory sealed bag for food deliveries to use in the name of "safety". The version the city council came up with? Each single-use bag was going to cost $30. Funny how they are ok with single-use bags for that cause. Thankfully they haven't yet moved forward on that. Imagine THAT delivery charge.

No way they wouldn't destroy an upstart shipping company with their needless taxes and regulation. They just can't help themselves.
 
You have to insure for the value of the contents itemized on the airwaybill. If two mono amps are on the AWB the total value must be declared for insurance. Or put them on separate AWB and insure one but not the other, and hope the one that goes missing is the insured one.
 
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