It is not only FEDEX who does not want to pay, but I have an exceptional case when UPS refused to honor an insured item that was damaged when I received. A Dragon Tape Deck. I bought the item from an EBAY auction, and it went for $750, but when it arrived, the tape door was damaged. I did this transation on October 2000 and it was not until about March 2001, when I was able to get the item paid for. The problem was that being such a vintage piece, there were no receipts in what it was really worth, and on top of that, UPS had inspected and tried to fix it, but it was not doable. The one thing I have learned from the experience is that one needs to fight them each step of the way, because once the money is sent and the other side ships, most likely you are at the risk of losing, if something goes wrong with it. UPS and maybe the other carriers do not want to pay, and they keep demanding things that are difficult to obtain....the best is to keep a good working relationship with the shipper, until the problem is solved. Never give up answering back to UPS or FEDEX and eventually you will succeed.
Fedex Weekly Damage Report
I posted last week how the Fedex Overnight people managed to deliver me a Jadis amp 85% in the shipping box. Well, just one week later a pair of Apogee Stages were delivered, and the driver buzzes me and says "you might want to come down here cause you might not want to accept this COD". These speakers were packed in custom wooden crates and the 2 days they had them, Fedex managed to knock the corner of the crate and peeking though was the old speaker. It didnt appear the speaker had cosmetic damage. I hooked them up and lo and behold, the woofer panel does not work and the side panels are coming off the main speaker frame. To quote one of NY Finest, Fedex can kiss my Royal Irish (Chinese) ASS.