Any UPS horror stories?

GREAT READING,hellohifi!! I dont really have a horror story although 3 years ago I bought my first "hi-end" turntable.A thorens TD-166.What I was most psyched about was it was coming with a Black Widow arm.Well U.P.S.dropped it on my porch on its side despite arrors pointing up and needless to say the Black Widow snapped in half.No big deal.My dealer probably just threw the table and all away when I sent it back to him.I have since purchaced a Rega-25 and that greeted me on its side also.Just about 100% of the time they leave the box on its side or upside down despite big red arrows.They either cant see or they just dont care.I still use them but not for anything fragile anymore.

I am not a UPS apologist, but I work at a company that probably receives 15,000 pieces of merchandise per year. In 6 years I have had exactly 1 damage claim (which they paid)

After getting jacked around and having my claim denied by UPS I found an ally in Office Depot. The UPS claims inpsector denied my claim due to "insufficient packaging" on a pair of speakers packed in the original boxes. When I tried to escalate my claim the nice folks at UPS insisted that their decision was final and refused to provide me the names of UPS higher ups. So I turned to Office Depot where I originally shipped the speakers at in store UPS kiosk. An hour after speaking with a regional manager at Office Depot my phone lit up with calls from UPS headquarters in Atlanta and the regional UPS manager in Denver. They explained it was unusual for shipping damage to occur because of their "high customer service record" and promised they would promptly look into the matter. I agreed to allow a senior UPS inspector to review my claim and he agreed to authorize payment because "we value our relationship with Office Depot and we dont want to have any problems with them". Four months later I finally get my money only after Office Depot got involved again when no one at UPS could find the paperwork. I did learn from the UPS senior claims manager some very usefull information about what they call the small parcel environment. All packages are handled by automation and must be able to withstand a 2 foot drop. This should rule out most audio equipment and of course they don't tell us that when they accept our packages and sell us their worthless insurance. I will never use them again and I will certainly try to find shippers who hand load boxes marked "fragile". Any one got good shipping company references should let us all know.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS DOUBLE BOX! A little known fact is that UPS almost always honors damage claims if the package was double boxed. (The damage claim personnel probably are sworn to secrecy on this one; I accidentally overheard a conversation between UPS personnel in a non customer area of local UPS warehouse)

I have had extremely bad luck with them. In the twenty or so times I have used them they have damaged four items, lost C.O.D. checks twice, forgot to get a C.O.D. check once, and were bastards about paying for two items they damaged and I had insurance for.