UPS - Damaged Shipments

UPS • Damaged goods, claims problems • Lost shipments • "Lost" computers • Phantom delivery attempts • Billing Problems • Small business nightmares • "Lost" or damaged artwork and jewelry --- News • Big Brown Goes Hybrid

Lisa of Fort Worth, TX May 9, 2006

Lisa of Fort Worth TX (05/09/06)
I shipped a Nagel double matted framed poster to a buyer of mine. I ship things all the time and half of my positive feedback on ebay mentions the great packing job. I wrapped it in 3-4 layers of bubble wrap and two layers of cardboard. I used half a roll of shipping tape and the price of shipping ended up 12 more than what my customer paid because the added shipping materal increased the weight so much. I followed the tracking on the UPS web site. It was delivered to her town, signed over to the driver, and then 5 hours later it is listed as damaged and shipper will be notified.

Six hours later it stated the buyer had refused the package and it was being returned. I contacted my buyer who was home all day with an injury, and she said it wasn't offered to her. Three hours after that it was listed again as damaged in transit , but they added that it had been discarded. I was never notified. When I saw it had been thrown away I called UPS and they said they wouldn't know anything until I was contacted by a claim agent. I emailed them the next day. I called again the following evening and was given a claim number.

While on the phone, I got an email stating that the delivery hadn't gone to claims yet. I received a fax shortly after stating the poster was insufficiently packaged and they denied the claim. I called them and asked for proof which they couldn't give because they didn't have the package anymore. They asked me to actually fill out a claim form and fax all documentation with it for a review. I got a charge on my paypal account the next day for the return of my item because it was denied by the buyer. I guess it didn't matter the package was thrown away.

I emailed them to take it off because I would fight it through my credit card company and was told they would in a week to ten days. A week after the item was damaged I got a second notice of denial. You would think this was over mega amounts of money they don't want to pay back, but it is over a matter of 100. I wrote paypal and told them they better think again about using them as a preferred shipper because I plan on getting them involved if this goes too much further. I am also going to put an account of this on my listings on ebay on why I refuse to send UPS.

Nancy of Alabaster, AL May 5, 2006

Nancy of Alabaster AL (05/05/06)
I have filed two claims for antiques that was packed and shipped by this UPS Store. I took out insurance and the owner keeps giving me the run-around. I found out today that she is selling the store in about two weeks and is stalling so the new owner will have to deal with it. This is the third damaged item since March that UPS. I didn't take insurance on the first one and lost about 200. That's my fault but I did with these claims and I want my money. Since UPS's name is one that takes the negative hit, I would hope they have some governance over the stores.

Dori of Coralville, IA April 26, 2006

Dori of Coralville IA (04/26/06)
I shipped a computer from the UPS Store in North Liberty, IA to my brother in Burnsville, MN on March 9, 2006. It was surrounded by packing peanuts on all sides. I admit it could have been packaged better initially, but somewhere along the way, UPS dropped the package hard enough to dent a metal case through cardboard and two inches of packing peanuts on all sides, and hard enough to knock a CPU fan out of place within that case and break off all the clips. There is considerable damage to the outside box. UPS paid 100 for this claim.

My problem really isn't in regard to this initial damage...it is in regard to damage that occurred DURING THE INSPECTION of this package. Originally, a UPS representative was supposed to go to my brother's home to inspect the package. But before that was scheduled, my brother decided to drive the damaged computer back down to me. He had taken the computer to a repair technician in the Twin Cities, and they had told him they would have to replace the broken CPU fan before they could tell whether there was any additional damage to the computer. My husband is in the computer industry and knows how to fix computers, so my brother wanted my husband to assess the damage. Since the inspection had no yet been scheduled, while my brother was here, we decided to take the package in to the UPS Store for inspection.

Sarah Schoon, owner of the UPS Store, informed us that she couldn’t do the inspection herself. Someone from UPS would come to the store and inspect the package, so we were to leave it with her. I was concerned about leaving the fan just lying loose in the bottom of the case. I was afraid there would be additional damage if the computer was jostled around too much. She assured me it would be “perfectly safe” and that it would not leave the store. She did not give us any kind of receipt. As the day went on, I felt uncomfortable about having left the package without a receipt, so I went back to the store and got my package back. The box had been taped up, but the computer was just lying on top of a bed of Styrofoam peanuts. Somebody had just folded the flaps of the box as best they could over the bulging computer and taped it up like that. They had also put several layers of tape over some of the damage on the outside box, so that damage was not as obvious. But you can still see considerable damage to the side of the box and in the bottom flap of the box.

The following day, Ms. Schoon called me on the phone and told me I needed to bring my computer back so that it could be inspected. Again, I asked whether the computer would remain IN THE STORE, because it was not packaged to be shipped anywhere. The computer was just lying loose in an already damaged box. Again, I expressed my concern about leaving the fan lying loose in the bottom of the case. But Ms. Schoon said it needed to be left as it was received so the inspector could see it. And once again, she assured me the package would not leave the store. I told Ms. Schoon that I would need a receipt this time. She hesitated, but then said she could give me a receipt. So I brought the computer back. Ms. Schoon was not in the store when I returned. I asked her employee for a receipt and she told me she couldn’t give me one. I told her I wouldn’t leave the package without a receipt. So she went to make a phone call. Then she came back and wrote out the details on a plain sheet of paper. That was my receipt.

We heard back from Ms. Schoon over the weekend of April 8-9. UPS would pay 100 and we were to come and pick up the computer. It was at this time that I learned the computer HAD indeed left the store. Ms. Schoon had shipped it to Des Moines. She shipped it without our knowledge, without proper packaging, and with the CPU fan rattling around loose in the bottom of the case. She also made the decision to ship the package to Des Moines, even though there is a UPS site right here in Coralville, and somebody could have inspected it right here.

My husband picked up the computer at the UPS Store on April 10. He asked Ms. Schoon why the computer had left the store when she had assured me it wouldn’t. She denied ever telling me that, then turned her back and walked away. When my husband got the box home, we opened it up and discovered additional damage to the computer. There were more dents on the case. The front panel of the case was now broken off. And when we looked inside, we discovered either somebody had pulled the CPU out of its slot or the fan rattling around inside had knocked it out. Pulling the CPU out destroys a computer. The CPU was just laying loose in the bottom of the case, along with the heavy CPU fan. 

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