insurance and shipping with UPS


I recently shipped a Levinson 432 amplifier with UPS.I brought it to UPS and requested that they box it. It was insured. During transit UPS dropped the amplifier and pretty much destroyed it. I offered to pay for repairs, however the buyer had no interest in purchasing the item. UPS inspected the damaged amplifier and denied my claim, insisting  the  amplifier was not properly packaged. Corporate denied responsibility and said the issue was between myself and the UPS franchise that shipped it. I've been dealing with the franchise for a month and they are fighting with corporate in an attempt to adjudicate the issue. Meanwhile, I've repaid the buyer and have had  no relief from UPS. The UPS website clearly states that if a franchise boxed the item they are responsible. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to resolve this issue, other than hiring an attorney? UPS seems to be somewhat of a scam operation. I did not realize that all UPS offices were franchises and am wondering why anyone would ship anything of value with them.
catsally1
In response to Builder3's post...I'm still not buying it... I paid you (USPS, FedEx etc.) to do your job which is simply to deliver a package. If you can't deliver it safely and in a timely fashion then you need to do something about it. That "Something About It" would not be to make billions of dollars by charging the customer in case you screw up. Very convenient arrangement wouldn't you say?
"KQVQ9", the retired postmaster said in an earlier post... "What do you expect for 50 cents"? I expect you to do your job regardless of what the package is presumed to be worth. What do you get when you multiply that 50 cents times billions, yes that's right, billions of packages? You get billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars! I think for those kind of numbers we should not have to worry about theft or damage.
They may not willingly accept responsibility but they should. Of course, they never will.  
Yep, that's what I thought. Somebody looking for something for nothing.


Now by your own admission, when you insure your business, you pay for it.You're proud of that. Do you expect your insurance company to accept indemnity for your belongings because you're a responsible individual?Nope. you pay your way. You said as much.

On the other hand, you expect the Post Office and by implication, all other carriers to assume liability for your items for basically nothing. It doesn't work that way. There's a cost involved. Insurance is available for the prudent buyer. That's a cost of doing business.


Quite a few years ago, during nuclear disarmament talks, Edward Shevardnadze, the representative of the Soviet Union said  "There's no free launch".




@spin4cards

How’s life treating you in that parallel universe that you’re living in? You should probably cancel your auto insurance while you’re at it. Total waste of money.
Post removed 
HiFi equipment needs double boxing. 
I had a Audio Research GS-Pre (expensive) shipped in from a dealer out of state, as I walked towards the Fedex guy he dropped the box from waist height as if it was an empty box. The preamp was double boxed and was fine.
Also, I had a pair of expensive speakers shipped via freight, one box shifted on the wooden pallet as the tethers had come loose. Someone used the blade of the forklift to push the box back on the pallet, the blade had punctured the cardboard box leaving the blade shape in a few places, luckily the speakers were fine.
These companies don't care, they know it costs around 5k to retain an attorney.