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FEDEX keeps destroying my New CARY 805RS Monoblocks - What can I do to prevent Nightmare?
Hello members,
I really need your help to resolve this issue that has been going on since 12/14/2021. It is now 1/1/2022 and I still have only 1 amplifier that is working and hopefully NOT damaged.
I noticed that many of you are very fond of the Cary 805 monoblocks.
I have purchased a pair and have had 3 amplifiers destroyed by FEDEX Ground.
Any idea how I can get one without having the AMP DESTROYERS ruin them?
CARY ships them in WOODEN CRATES and they still are damaged.
FEDEX also totally ruined one of them by sending it via truck to MINNESOTA - 1280 MILES IN THE WRONG DIRECTION !!! I live in NEW JERSEY.
What would you suggest?
Can I force FEDEX to ship them by AIR to Newark airport? FEDEX CLAIMS/REVENUE SERVICES TOLD ME yesterday that the shipper can request this if FEDEX truck delivery keeps damaging my sensitive electronics.
Should I drive to North CAROLINA - 600 MILES IN ONE DIRECTION?
The FEDEX drivers are NOT able to left the 130 pound wooden crate off of the truck or into my house. Many of the trucks don't even have a hand truck and if they do, the drivers refuse to use them.
One delivery person actually tried to hoist the wooden crate from the driveway onto his shoulder. I stopped him before he fell over backwards!
CARY has been fantastic, but FEDEX is making this into a never ending nightmare!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Mike
46 responses Add your response
I'd put this on Cary, why are continuing to ship with company that can't deliver product safely and securely.
Fedex ground is not the way to ship valuable audio products. Fedex ground are contract workers, underpaid and overworked. I watch them deliver products to our family business on daily basis, these guys have to hustle big time! A new driver every couple months, can't handle the stress. Insist on Fedex Express if going Fedex, they are company guys. |
@rodagon part of my day job is logistics. We ship millions of dollars of product with FedEx and they are fubar’d. We ship tons of LTL (which is cheaper to ship at or more than 150lbs). If Cary is shipping groundi I’d get a refund a move on. That’s bush league stuff right there, crate or no crate.
As others have said, if Cary is having to repeatedly reship due to damage then they need to get that handled. They need to call their rep and take charge. |
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When I bought my McIntosh MC500, I had the shipper send it to the Ups store.I inspected it for damage. You can tell if it’s been dropped. Just a way to keep handling to a minimum.I also like to meet halfway if travel time is not to bad. I have made many friends this way. It’s whatever turns your crank. |
Before going into x-ray I was 14 years with Airborne Express. Today I have a friend who is a shipping manager at FedEx. I've also had my share of shipping problems, including crated speakers repeatedly damaged (Talon Khorus). My real-world perspective is, I hate to say it, blame the shipper. Cary has all this damage over and over again, yet rodagon thinks Cary has been fantastic. No. Wrong. Cary has been negligent. Fantastic would be to ship in a Pelican case like Decware. Say what you want, go round and round all day, nothing gonna change the fact there's two and only two ways to get something delivered with no damage. One is your packaging is capable of withstanding the worst any carrier can dish out. Because they will. Cary fails on this one. The other is to use a white glove treatment type carrier. Cary fails on this one too. Cary it would seem is a total fail. How does that make them "fantastic"? A:
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I buy stuff from a dealer. He gives me a demo unit to try. If I choose to buy it, he orders it, delivers it personally, and sets it up. If there is an issue, he always makes sure I always have an operating system, and he fixes the problem behind the scenes. ‘’if your spending thousands of dollars why it should be stressless.
Life is too short for unnecessary stress and BS. |
In all honesty... though I can’t speak on DHL...Fed Ex, UPS, USPS are all pretty much similar. With millions of packages going through their system every week...these things happen. Your best bet is to see if you can get them shipped Next Day Air. Next Day packages are giving a lot more attention. (UPS no longer has freight) |
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Again ALL route deliveries from ground are delivered by ground crews. The delivery trucks at UPS don’t even have air ride. Fed Ex or UPS doesn’t have lift gates. The best you can hope for is a dolly. Freight on the other hand has air ride suspensions, liftgates, dollies, pallet jacks and a class A drivers. In other words. They aren’t bouncing all over town OFF route before they get your package to you. They have to stay on truck routes and only come off, for deliveries. No short cuts.. Overnight will cut the amount of handling and transportation time. The number of miles might actually be more, with some routes, like UPS. BUT the way it’s routed is the key. I like UPS better, if only of the way they drive, exit and deliver packages. Even if they do drop and run. They always park on the correct side of the road and exit on the safe side. The route has more right turns for speed and safety.. They are better at delivering packages on time than any other service. The most reasonable is USPS. Side note: When I worked at Detroit in the 70s, we worked on Greyhound Busses. They use to haul freight everywhere. We would load a pair of V8-71 heads in the cargo holds. 250-300lbs each. In a crate dripping oil everywhere. Poor suckers on the other end just like us, were trying to figure out HOW to get it back out. We just had to load it. They had to unload it and 2-300lb crank shafts too. The crap we use to do. WHY? They had air ride and freight companies, DID NOT. Now if you want to haul freight, not deliver it, you have to have air ride, just so the insurance will insure at a halfway reasonable rate.. Springs, suspension is for heavy HEAVY equipment only any more. The Cab though, is air ride.. Like a Cadillac most of them, with 2 or 3 sticks, for gear changes. Fruit for thought.. Regards |
As an engineer I have been designing product which is shipped worldwide since 1981. The case you describe is common among companies which do not follow basic shipping guidelines which are published and available for use to design packaging and product. These guidelines describe in detail, shock loads and g loads a product will encounter during shipping. It turns out shipping by Air Transportation is actually the roughest. See ATA, DOD, and trucking association shipping guidelines for more information. Apparently CAREY has chosen not to follow the packaging and product design guidelines. |
You have already received good suggestions, and I especially support freight shipping for heavy/expensive items and strapping them to a pallet. I have twice shipped a pair of Clayton M300 monos (almost 100# each) and a pair of Lamm M1.2 monos on pallets using FedEx Freight, which seemed organized and professional as already mentioned. They also seemed logistically superior to their ground/air brethren wrt both timing and locating...I doubt the freight arm of FecEx sends stuff to the wrong city very often. In cases where expensive electronics are shipped by commonly used shippers (i.e., UPS or FedEx) they should be boxed in the manufacturer's purpose-designed packing - dense closed cell foam specifically shaped to hold the item at least two inches away from the walls of the box is best. You can identify the level of care taken by a company by looking at their packing. Cardboard boxes should be double wall and even if these guidelines are followed, I recommend using a second, outer box that isolates the manufacturer's box by an additional one to two inches. Here are packaging guidelines posted by DHL. I just received a Hattor preamp that was packaged in its own foam-lined case that the shipper packed inside of a sacrificial outer cardboard box, and it arrived with no issues. It is Cary's job to deliver new, undamaged amps to you. Rather than taking an active role, you may want to ask Cary, "what are you going to do differently to get these amps delivered to me intact?" Good luck! |
It's Cary's fault. The amp is ONLY 85 lbs. My 4 McIntosh Products all came in specific CARDBOARD boxes, inside other specific CARDBOARD boxes. My MC2250 80 lb amp went hither and thither, originally, I got it used, then to the factory for pre-sale check, back to me, sold, off to .... McIntosh sells model specific boxes for you to use if you don't have one. USPS, FedEx, UPS, doesn't matter. Yes, a problem can occur, but not frequent, not repeatedly. |
Hi Mitch2 and all others who have offered excellent suggestions: Monday morning I will do exactly as you have stated. They have to MAKE SURE the amps arrive in perfect working condition! I will accept nothing less. I have wanted these amps for many years - since I first heard them in the late 1990s. Thanks to everyone for your support! Being an audiophile is supposed to bring great enjoyment in listening to beautiful music. This is all I ask for and hopefully I will be able to do this sometime this week. Best, Mike |
FEDEX next day air would cost a small fortune and in the end would get the same trucks used for delivery, but the driver would very likely be way more experienced. If Cary insists in using FEDEX, then you insist on using FEDEX Freight, which as previously stated are FEDEX emps not contractors. They have real skin in the game. Also, as an aside, I'm totally shocked that FEDEX Ground would accept a package that weighs 130#s. The UPS Limit is 70#s. I've had furniture delivered by FEDEX Freight that weighed hundreds of pounds, the truck had a lift-gate and the driver had a pallet jack as well. Good luck. Regards, |
There is no fail safe method of shipping audio equipment. I see UPS and Fedex on daily basis at work, various freight carriers as well. Fedex ground most rushed, next Fedex Express and UPS, least freight company drivers. If being rushed correlates to package damage, you want least rushed. Still, I see rough handling by all shipping companies, packaging needs to be right!
Maybe I've been lucky, but I've only experienced a single episode of equipment damage, and this from ridiculously poor packaging of amp. Foam, foam and more foam surrounding entirety of equipment has always worked for me. |
Cary is far smaller company than FedEx and much easier to pressure. It's common hunter's rule of thumb to hunt for easier prey if possible. FedEx requires to use shipping box safe enough if dropped from the roof of the tractor trailer to the solid concrete ground or stronger. Otherwise, they will deny claims. Ask always to send via cargo airlines and pick-up from the airport personally your air cargo. Check cargo airlines available at your nearest hub airport. |
By the end of the thread, you could have drove there and back. LOL Get the guy that designs air drops. Parachute it in. 3K amp, 30K delivery charge. Then there is the fuel sur charge on the C130, 250K.. Wear and tear, another 30K Yea that will work 313,000.00 usd 200% inflation, ok I got the number, I forgot the tax, NJ right, so there is state tax on top of that, fed 10% mandatory withholding. It will be under 900k but over 800k. Just a ball park. Start driving.. :-) |
+1 for Old Dominion Trucking They delivered 130lbs speakers for me without issue Used a lift to lower from the truck and a powered pallet jack from the truck to my garage Outside of the boxes had a couple of crushed areas and compressed corners, though no punctures Someone 18 or older must be home to accept the delivery and they're not allowed to bring the package into your house, trust me I tried $$ Driver also allowed me to enter notes on his handheld device indicating the condition of the packages |
I've no longer ship FedEx and wish companies that I buy from would stop using them. I've had two bad experiences: (1) I sold and shipped a NAD M12 pre/DAC, FedEx lost the package. It was found and finally delivered two days late; (2) I sent a BHK preamp to PS Audio for repair. On the return trip, I received a FedEx "delivery conformation" email, but the preamp was not delivered to me. Instead, it was delivered to a house in my development. Luckily, the homeowner drove to my house and gave it to me. I've had several other instances where I'd received a "delivery conformation" email, but no delivery. I complained to FedEx about it. The answer I received was (paraphrasing), "some drivers will do that if they can't get it delivered on time, but plan to deliver it the next day." |
i live in northern california, not far from san fran and oakland city centers, so i suspect fedex facilities and personnel here is better funded, better managed, better modernized, more to scale than many places around the country where there are greater distances, lower volumes, lower population densities, less wealth etc i have so far had excellent luck with fedex, and ups too... some packages have had some signs of rough handling, but no damage on speakers and electronics for quite a few years - and i have alot alot of gear coming in and out of my location all this said, i only buy insisting gear is shipped in original factory packaging, and for especially large items like big heavy speakers, i opt for ltl freight using pallets |
I try to avoid receiving stuff from FedEx. I try not to be overly opinionated on companies. But I hate FedEx. I keep getting into the darn “signature required loop” , they offer no way out (like UPS does), and frequently they just loose stuff… there technology falls further behind every month. Years ago they were the envy of the fast delivery service. I integrated our shipping systems (semiconductor manufacturing) with their shipment software to ship worldwide… but they have lost it. |
didn't read the entire thread so sorry if this has been mentioned- get a fedex account online and when cary ships re-route the package to a fedex full service location near you. then drive there and pick it up. the extra handling after it arrives may be fouling the amp. also it it's damaged at the facility you can make them deal with it on the spot and you don't have to. |
Mission accomplished!!! I met the President of Cary Audio halfway between North Carolina and New Jersey. The location was Fredericksburg, Virginia. I had to keep ahead of a snowstorm on the way home and I almost made it back until I reached the NJ Turnpike. The roads had not been salted and I did NOT get home until 1:45 AM. I unpacked the amp with my son and allowed the amp to warm up for 1 hour. This was the only safe way to receive the amplifier without it being ruined again by the FEDEX drivers.. FEDEX picked-up the last amplifier they damaged at my house on Monday afternoon 1/10/2022. As I expected, the driver came by himself and did NOT have a hand truck or a dolly. I fully expect that the amp was further damaged on the return trip to Raleigh, North Carolina. Their appalling amp destruction record was 4 amplifiers to my location! I will never use FEDEX again for shipping of audio equipment (Buy or Sell). I should note that Cary has now learned their (Hard) lesson, and they will be shipping CAD805 amplifiers on pallets via freight companies. I thank all of the members for their kind advice and I am now enjoying music again! Now I have to find some NOS 6SN7 tubes that are not noisy. My next SE amp will be a Type 45 and I will definitely pick it up in person! Happy listening! Mike |
Cary shipping Ground?! Pathetic!
I always use freight for heavy items for business, palletized of course. Insurance is very cheap at 0.5-1.0% of value.
Also, if you notice the slightest damage on the box/crate ALWAYS mark the driver's document "damaged". Even if you notice the driver plopping down the pallet harshly, mark it damaged.
UPS's new insurance program charges 1% and pays any claim, no questions asked. They don't inspect for improper packaging or anything - that's where all the carriers get you, on the packaging! This applies to all UPS shipments, not just freight. It's for commercial accounts only.
My worst case was shipping a $135k microscope in a huge crate. It arrived with one side completely gone! The side wasn't on the driver's trailer, who knows where it ended up. Fortunately, no damage to my piece nor anything spilled out. Geez! |
