o2 clean once bubbled...
I worked as a shipping clerk for a few years and this is my input to all of this:
If you securely packaged the item with newsprint, packing peanuts and bubble wrap, then taped up with proper packing tape you did everything right. Did you secure it enough to the point if you were to shake the box the item inside didn't move all around? Did you pack it in a box that was at least 1/2 size bigger all around so you can securely cushion the item? If so, you packed it correctly. If the item was damaged pursue them to cover it, or if you're just looking to get your money back, pursue it still. Speak to Customer Service and if they won't help ask for a Manager, then ask for his Manager, and so forth. Make a point to not be ignored.
02clean
well that tip for packing doesnt always work, case in point a year or so ago i shipped a custom bult computer valued at about 4k in a brand new pelican case with a custom dead foam liner so that it wouldnt move around at all.
The computer was shipped via fedex, an d fully insured, well once it got there i got a call from my friend who said that he though he had said that i shipped the computer in a new pelican case, well i had but when it arrived there were a ton of scratches in it and a spot were the case had been flattened on a corner (mind you pelican cases have a lifetime warrenty againist any kind of damage, because they are indestructable) and it was a small flat spot but one over 6 in across so that the impact must have been great to do that much damage to it.
well once my friend opened the case he made one look at it and told me the system was trashed, and i told him to knock it off and be serious and he was the system was trashed. well first thing i told him was to tell the driver to call his boss and to get him out to his house to begin the process of taking care of the claim. well since my friend was only about 4 hours away i told him i was on my way over to see this since this was going to be a bad one considering the claim was going to be over 4k. well later that day i showed up at his house just about the same time station manager did, well he took a look at it and said that it must have been a case of i didnt pack it right, well i told him that he was a complete idiot and must not know how to pack a brick. after that i explained to him that a pelican case was basically gaurented againest anything and that to cause this type of damage it must have been dropped out of the airplaine, well he continued to robot speak the company claim line of i didnt pack it right. well i told hime it was packed just right because the station manager in the other city said it should make it with out a scratch on it. well the manager refused to do anything about it.
so i asked him for his name, postion and badge number, and for his bosses name and number, and that this wasnt over with, his responce was yeah right. well after he left i pulled out my camera and laptop and took several (around 30 pics) of the case and computer and then printed them out for the report i was going to file. well after the prints were done i called rthe number i had for filing a claim and had my friend file the claim, since i wasnt able to do it. well he filed the claim and they said that they would have someone to come and fill out the paperwork, well low and behold it was the station manager that came out to do it and he said that it wasnt packed right and left, not even 5 minutes.
well after he left i was furious because there was no way i was going to lose a friendship and over 4k since that money for me is almost 6 months worth of money (im in college). well that night i wrote a letter to the president and several of the top fedex executives explaining the situation and that i expected them to fix the situation in a hurry before i hired a lawyer to sue for breach of contract (the insurance for the case) and also made the reference to them mentioned in my previous post of not using them again and further not recommending them to anyone else based on there procedures for handling claims that are obviously there fault. after that i overnighted the letters to the execs (via usps) and with in a week i had calls from fedex main office in memphis asking to settle the claim. well with in a week i had my money back and had the money to rebuild the system and a new pelican case, and reshipped it at fedex's expense using a private courier so that it wouldnt be damaged. well it cost fedex almost a grand to have it sent via a private courier instead of just deliever the case without damge in the first case, but thats there problem.
moral of the story even packing it to survive armegeddon wont insure it wont make it, so keep fighting with them because if they know that you will persue other options they will be more likely to fix the problem. I also wont use fedex again along with DHL, and several others
