2. analog
  3. 191210-63554

Can You Trust a Shipper? (UPS, Fed-Ex, etc)

No you cannot, and here's why: In July, I bought a Rotel tuner from an ebay seller with a rating of 99.8% on hundreds of transactions. He shipped the tuner via UPS, who delivered the tuner to a business a few miles from my house. Someone from that business signed for my package (it is a warehouse that takes in merchandise from retailers that is being returned to the wholesaler from whence it came). It took several weeks to find this out, and I went to the business back around Labor Day to see what they had to say. I was allowed into the warehouse to do a cursory search for the package, but there must have been 4,000 - 5,000 boxes. PayPal denied a claim I had filed, because the tracking info the seller shared with them showed the package had been delivered. I went to the local UPS store today and was told that a claim had been filed by the seller with UPS and they would have reimbursed him. Moral of the story: Always have your signature required when you have anything shipped, unless you want to fall into this same black hole. Better yet, avoid having anything shipped unless it is from an actual retailer or other reputable company.

 

discnik

Showing 1 response by whart

whart's avatar
whart
3,128 posts
 

I get stuff shipped to me via various carriers. The key is packing and palletizing. 

Bespoke shipping- the guy with the Halliburton case handcuffed to his wrist tends to cost. I once inquired about shipping jewelry- not something that is easily dealt with as a citizen, but the dealers know how to do it. I rely on DHL Express for records outside of the US--I typically get them in 5 days. 

Ditto, Japanese post-priority. Fast.

But for gear, you have to take extra precautions. Part of it depends on the sender to do it right. When I had my old Quad Loudspeakers restored, Kent McCollum shipping me good packing, then arranged for UPS ground to pick them up-- the UPS guy palletized the packed boxes, and when Kent was done, they were shipped to my new location in Texas. Not a problem.

With Lamm, they use wooden shipping crates with custom foam. Require air freight. Thankfully, I have not had to do that- I used to be in NY metro and would drive them over to Vlad (RIP). 

It can be done without issues. I had a friend who used to ship multi-sk-zillion vintage racing cars all over the world. Same deal- palletized, shipped as air freight. Lord only knows what that costs now, used to be 5k one way. You don't need to spend like that to ship a piece of gear, but packing and palletizing is key in my estimation.

Bill Hart

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