Another EBay disaster!

[launderess]

Damage Claims

UPS, USPS and FedEx among others often are loathe to pay claims for damage if they determine things were not properly packed. They may pay the minimum but depending upon how much the thing cost that may not cover.

Find with UPS at least it is best to take out lots of insurance. Above a certain amount everyone that touches that box from the time UPS accepts until delivery must sign off.

Local NYC news program showed the other night how contracted UPS workers were unloading holiday shipments from a rented van. Boxes where being flung off the truck and onto the snow covered/wet ground. Workers looked like recent releases from JUVEE or similar sorts of places and none seemed to care one bit about what they were doing. When the reported inquired about their treatment of the parcels their on camera response pretty much was "things are what they are and you mind your business".

 

[whirlaway]

How old is that Mixer?

Ive seen one and I still have it,it says Hotpoint on it.I never researched it.I received a Crosley 14 inch bakelite table top TV one time,I was upstairs when I heard it hit the front porch floor. It had maybe 2 or so newspapers rolled up in the box what a mess bottom totally destroyed and sides split and cracked,I still have it out in the garage hoping one day to use it for parts, So sad for you!

 

[travis]

Shipping is terrible, which is why I buy more and sell less.  I sure don't want to be responsible for stuff being broken.  I think mixers should be shipped separate than the bowls.  The bowls don't  stand a chance against the mixer.

 

Bobby,

 

I rarely even consider buying bakelite anything.  Regardless of packing, a chassis so much as wiggles and the case is broken.  I recently bought a 1950's clock radio and requested extra packing.  The seller did a wonderful job, but the case is still cracked at the bottom.  The box must have been dropped once of twice and the chassis hit the case. 

 

[supersuds]

If Bakelite is bad, can you imagine shipping one of those $2000 Catalin plastic radios? They break if you sneeze on them anyway.

The hints for dealing with UPS are very helpful, whirlpool and Launderess, thanks.

 

[d-jones]

I once ordered what had been a really nice AE50 jukebox wall phone from a seller in Canada. They wrapped the handset in Saran Wrap(don't ask me why) and then put the whole affair in a box with some shipping peanuts. While in transit the handset beat the tar out of the receivers Bakelite body. Then more recently I had a group of ten Maytag timers tossed into a box together and shipped. All had some damage, but three were a total loss. What can I say really, beyond I'm sorry to here about the loss of this veteran survivor(though survivor no longer) and some people really don't seem to have a clue when it comes to shipping.

 

[cfz2882]

shipping mishaps

I have had 3 shipping mishaps(2 were ebay):
-Russian HiFi came shipped from Ukraine in a canvas bag-arrived a wreck only good for spare parts...
-lost one of 3 Porsche blaupunkt radios sent me from ebay seller;repurposed box came apart and 1 radio went missing-post office was no help at all...
-some neodymium magnets got loose out of a badly battered box-wonder what mayhem those might have caused LOL
Also once had a box that had a couple specially dyed"medical maggots"on it from a box of those that broke open in the UPS truck.
Seems many sellers do not realize the battering items sent through mail receive.

 

[arbilab]

FWIW, USPS agent told me "parcel post" is subject to 30# objects falling on them from 15 feet overhead. While "priority" is not. I have shipped a few items (working model helicopters) but in their original styrofoam packing that made it all the way from China, never a problem. Not the same thing as glass/ceramic in packing improvised by an idiot.

 

[sudslock1]

Bowl repair

If it helps there is a company that specializes in repair of broken ceramics and glassware. I have an Imperial Amphora vase that was knocked off a table and broken worse then your mixer bowls. I sent the pieces to them and a month later I had a like new vase returned to me. You can't even see where it was put back together. If you like I can send you their info and you can see what they can do for you?

 

[d-jones]

<a name="start_50050.723081">"I sent the pieces to them and a month later I had a like new vase returned to me."</a>

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd love to hear more about this.

 

[sudslock1]

Vase repair

The companies website is www.lakesidepottery.com.
Look and see their before and after pictures. Very nice to deal with.

 

[whirlcool]

A UPS claims rep that came to my house with my check explained packing to me. She said:

You have to double box everything to be considered "properly packed"

If you have a small box to ship and once shipped it's on a UPS conveyor belt and the item next to it on the belt is a full sized refrigerator your box has to be able to withstand the force of the refrigerator falling on it. In other words, UPS' expectations are outrageous, that's why they pay off on so little claims.

I use FedEx. Never a problem there. But then again "great packing" usually does appear in my feedback on Ebay. I even have "Best Pack Job EVER!" in my feedback too.

I also had a seller ship me my SAE A301 amp. He just dropped it without ANY wrapping or packing at all in an old worn out McIntosh computer box and shipped it. By some grace of God it arrived totally undamaged. I don't know how UPS managed that one.

Someone at UPS told me NEVER to use "Fragile" or "This Side Up" stickers on packages to be shipped. He told me people who work in the distribution centers like to manhandle & mistreat those the most.

 

[tolivac]

Interesting--UPS and USPS pretty much admit that they have the "Baggage smashing gorilla" package handling systems--Time these outdated" drop-o-matic"be replaced with more gentle systems-some airline baggage systems use-less damage.But it still boils down to shippers have to pack the items for no matter what-almost to withstand a nuclear blast!

 

[ken]

Wow

Checked out Lakeside Pottery site. They do some amazing repairs. Im going to inquire with them to repair a pitcher of my grandmothers that came to our house when she came to live with us. My neice pulled it off the dresser when little and broke it. My grandmother said to throw it away but I always liked it so much I kept it. It is a very unique piece with the face of a goat? in black, yellow, red and white. Trust me it looks better than it sounds. Saw the exact one show cased on Antiques Roadshow many years ago. IIRC it was appraised at $500.00.

 

[tomturbomatic]

"Someone at UPS told me NEVER to use "Fragile" or "This Side Up" stickers on packages to be shipped. He told me people who work in the distribution centers like to manhandle & mistreat those the most."

This is a situation where there is a crying need for cameras watching the work or a boss who needs to be more involved. Anybody willfully damaging merchandise entrusted to the company needs to have something entered on an employment record that will doom the perpetrator to work shoveling s, I mean moving manure, or working on a road crew exposed to all of the elements under an armed supervisor. Oh, and he or she should be preemptorily sterilized for the betterment of society.

 

[whirlcool]

It's like UPS really cares. That's why they don't pay on many claims. Their default excuse it "improper packing" no matter how well you pack things. I have also been told by UPS that they were not paying on my first claim mentioned above because "You didn't attend a UPS approved packing training session.". Well, I later found out that there is no such thing. They will lie to you to give you the run around in the hopes that you will go away.

Another thing, when the woman came by with the check from UPS for my claim I had two dogs at the time that were just sitting in our living room. They never even went near the UPS woman. She then told me "Your attempts to intimidate me with your dog's isn't going to work. I know how to handle dogs!"

Time these outdated" drop-o-matic"be replaced with more gentle systems-some airline baggage systems use-less damage.

You've never seen what happens to luggage in the baggage holds of an airplane!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

To date, while for the most I've received parcels handled by flawless shipping, the USPS has recently done the "typical statistical errors", though likely by the seller/shipper's negligent packaging...

To wit:

My Pat Boone CHRISTMAS IS A'COMIN', had a carboard wrapped around the cover, w/o any bubble wrap or additional padding & when pulling the record out of the cover, what I thought might have been a Dot Records Mini Catalog (which I'd received before) was the other half of the vinyl that split! The record sadly despite trying to play the two halves bound w/ glue went directly into the wastebasket... And complaining to the seller only brought me an offer to send him back the record for a refund (in which case I was NOT inclined to send something which may have all along been broken (it was only $2.00) better & more protected than how I'd gotten it... Luckily I managed to snag a better one, in that it was at least more protectively packaged, though still wonder how that 1st copy would have PLAYED; an awful lot of plopping on the turntable bet. Thansgiving & New Years produced a lot of popping...!

It was not like Amazon to send me a CD loosly thrown in a plastic bag instead of bound tightly in a cardboard box, but they did! This was a CD in a digipak, & had a booklet between the cardboard covers of the CD packaging w/ a mark along the sides of the pages & cover likely to have a hard-start in premature wear & tear w/ the handling from the playing I would give it, to catch up w/ a couple similar items that were a mere few years older, yet gotten more properly shipped...

Do NOT order from MOVIE MARS! A tip-off of their product fraud is having several copies of "New" items, yet the caviat is simply their practice of burning CD's, duplicating original covers & native packaging via. "Xerox copying machine processing" and nothing ticked me off more than the booklet (actually a single-folded in-lay card) having unevenly cut edges! That and the "new" shrink wrap is very loosly put on! (I subsequently just bought a good, used copy of the same thing, hence getting a more reasonable copy of "the real deal" in still ideal condition, though am a bit wary of a couple Christmas CD's that I have coming that are only a mere $1; used but hopefully not counterfeit...!)

And how DID my daughter get a Thomas The Tank Engine Pajamas in the size she just grew out of when her aunt in Arizona, specifically sent her a Minnie Mouse dress?! (Wonder how some BOY must feel receiving that?)

OK, one GOOD THING: a very rare Pat Boone '45' on Capitol that I'd ordered, came w/ a "free Merle Haggard '45' on MCA", which I'd noticed first, just to find what I DID order in the package next... Someone out there get an EMPTY BOX?!

-- Dave

-- Dave

 

[dustin92]

I once bought a vintage GE fan off of ebay- not particularly valuable or extremely fragile, and was slightly damaged before shipping. It has a bakelite motor housing which had a small chip out of it, no big deal. It arrived jammed in a coffeemaker box with one layer of bubblewrap around it, and a couple loose pieces of cardboard (?!) in the box. Needless to say, it arrived with more damage than it originally had. There was about a 2"x2" area of th motor housing that housed the on/off switch just hanging on by the switch wires. I was rather unhappy, but I didn't report it- just superglued the pieces in place and it continues to work just fine, now a couple years down the road. Luckily the fan was mostly stamped steel and rather lightweight, or more damage would have been done.

 

[alr2903]

I purchased a little corded electric Sunbeam Mantle Clock as a gift on the bay. Packed well but DOA. This was not discovered until opened Christmas. I am Not up for the hassle of emailing, repacking, shipping. I am done, done, done.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Oh, and then there's my COMPLETE FIFTIES box set by Pat Boone which I was lucky to have found at a store near me & bought it for myself for Christmas last year... I bought it new & it had a few nicks here & there...

But I recently ordered a "new" COMPLETE SIXTIES box set by Boone that I finally opened & played this Christmas, just to find the box was a little warped here & there...

The discs all played well, but I still saved the cardboard it came in & unfortunately it wasn't bubble-wrapped or anything... I reasoned that if I were to see this in person, I would have just bought it anyway, despite the flaws... I got it at a good price and just wasn't as lucky to have found a copy of it near me, or looked at the time it came out (2006) just 'cause I wasn't really into Pat til a couple years ago...

-- Dave

 

[norgeway]

Well..

After this I may never buy anything on ebay again!, the mixer is on its way back, the seller said to send it back just like it came so I did!