Passing on a good experience with a shipper.

[twintubdexter]

I've never had any experience having a big item shipped from a private seller to me so I thought I'd pass on my recent experience. I purchased a 1959 Magnavox console stereo from a lady in Eugene Oregon. I originally intended to make the nearly 2,000 mile round-trip myself in my pickup. After calculating the gas expense and the time involved I decided to put out a bid on U-Ship. After getting a few bids, mostly in the $800/$900 range, I accepted one from HomedirectUSA for $320 plus a $25 fee for U-Ship...a bargain compared to doing it myself.

Everything promised to me by the Homedirect people was delivered, first class all the way. I received a call from a representitive right away. He told me he was my contact person and I should call him if I had questions at anytime during the shipment. They had a professional 2-man team pick-up the heavy stereo, blanket wrap it and carefully secure it in their van. They even wore gloves! The seller took photos of the pick-up crew for me. They then took the stereo to their local warehouse, foam-wrapped it and then made a carton for it. Because of logistics, the stereo went from Eugene to Portland, then to Salt Lake City, to Santa Fe Springs near Los Angeles and then on to me here in Palm Springs...1,700 miles in all. I was told it traveled in an air-ride van and I was kept informed of it's location along the entire route. A date and time was set up a few days prior to delivery and the drivers called me 30 minutes before they arrived. The delivery crew was courteous. Everything was handled professionally all the way.

With this type of shipping arrangement, you pay U-Ship and they give you a payment code. You only release the code to the actual shipper after your delivery has been made and you're satisfied. I like that. I would not hesitate to use U-Ship and HomedirectUSA again. I'm sure there might be some individuals who had a less-than-great experience with these companies but I'm a happy camper.

I was very impressed with the packing job

 

[twintubdexter]

The stereo arrived in the same condition as it left Eugene...like brand new. It is very heavy.

 

[twintubdexter]

For those interested, this the inside of a 1959 Magnavox Concert Grand. 40 vacuum tubes! Dual bi-amplification, actually 4 seperate amplifiers. That unit at the center at the bottom is all for the radio-controlled remote. This is not the kind of stereo you leave on all day...it's definitely a power-hungry beast.

 

[tolivac]

That is just like the one my Mom Had-from the back-the electronics-The "Bi-Amp" power amps to the tuner chassis in the middle.and the unit was made of SOLID WOOD-not plastic and particleboard.Explains the weight.Sealed speaker enclosures!That series has to have been the best Hi-fi's Magnavox built-glad it arrived safely.Good to keep the shipping company in mind in case I run into a Hi-fi that is long distance away.Wished I could have shipped my Moms to me that way.

 

[moparguy]

I have used UShip and had very good experiences... but my experience with HomeDirect was the one bad experience that I have had with UShip. I should have known that something was wrong when they picked up the fridge from the seller on time... but it was mysteriously 'in transit' or in an 'interim' warehouse stop for several weeks. When it finally arrived, it had a large dent in the front, which luckily I had proof was not there when they picked it up... the lucky proof was that the seller was so careful and concerned, that he took a photo of the fridge as they loaded it on his end. So the delivery people got "headquarters" on the phone, and I was told to sign and pay (with the code) and fill out a damage claim form. Once the claim was underway, they tried to worm out of it many ways over many weeks. First they claimed that it was damaged before pick up (wow was I lucky to have those photos). Then they were stuck. So they claimed that I had not bought insurance... which insurance they had said (in writing) was included in the shipping quote. Then they said that the insurance was based on weight, and they were going to assume the fridge (a very large early 1950s Philco) was 100 pounds (way way under actual weight) even though when they quoted the bid, it was (again in writing) based on 250 pounds. So bottom line, they finally agreed to pay at the standard insurance rate per pound times the estimated weight in the shipping quote. And I waited... and waited... and waited... and finally after several calls and negotiations with the credit card company dispute center, they finally paid the claim. Mind you, the amount of the claim was still significantly less than I paid to have the fridge shipped, and less than the cost to repair the fridge, but I only asked for this amount based on the insurance coverage included in the shipping quote.

Bottom line, I would not use them again. I am glad that you had a good experience, and I don't assume that they damage a lot of goods. But in those cases where an item is damaged, which is always possible when being moved, you need a company that will live up to its commitments in order to repair the damage. I fully expect that if I had not taken the time to be persistent, they were hoping that I would go away and they would never pay the claim.

 

[thomasortega]

It's good to know that good companies are still on the market.

Do you know if they deliver in foreign countries too? If I find any machine in excellent conditions, i'll buy it and bring it to Brazil.

By the way, your console is fabulous! i'm not into consoles but i must confess this one took my breath away.

 

[twintubdexter]

Jeff,

Before I committed to use Homedirect I did a search on their performance. Apparently they're pretty big so there were well over a thousand reports. The larger percentage of them were very good but there were some real horror stories. I was fortunate since the stereo, once boxed, was not too vulnerable. I wondered, had it arrived damaged, how difficult it would be to file a claim. I sort of assumed it would not be easy. There are many large, heavy items I would not attempt to have shipped. For almost 3 months I watched an item go on and off ebay (no bids)... an old Victor Electrola. I really wanted that thing and the price was right. Unfortunately it was located in Atlanta and the cabinet sat on very high legs. I knew if I had it shipped it would arrive broken so I let it pass.

Sorry to hear about your Philco fridge. Had it been wrapped and protected and properly signed then it probably would have arrived undamaged. I do remember as a kid the many 50's Philcos I cleaned up for resale and they all weighed a ton. I fear that in order to maximize profit shippers try to use every inch of space. In addition, Homedirect uses hundreds of individual truckers, some careful, some not so careful. Maybe I was just lucky.

Similar to this, the Electrola would have never made the trip. The top section is very heavy.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

Just once for seller fault....the rest shippers fault....

Just once I got through ebay a microwave that was destroyed shipped by an a$$***e that dropped it in a box that was double the microwave size with no even a lay of bubbles of course it cam here destroyed and not working and of course I opened and won the cause with ebay for that getting a refund, since then if I go out ebay I always require insurance for fragile stuff...... everything okay with the rest of experiences though, I would have to say something (and would be just deep insults already provided to them at it's time) about Italian Postal service crooks and beast that were able to bend and bump my VTG Sunbeam Mixmaster bowls and beaters about 1 year ago( spare ones were provided by Kelly- Nick name: Mixfinder)Thanks Kelly again! Fortunately mixer motor was intact and I managed to correct the bowls, not the beaters though, kneaders were okay.... I also got some Original ceramic Sunbeam bowls that do not know why were dropped in the package even if actually they would not have fit my Mixmaster Powerplus..... Here is a pic of the package that BTW I found unattended out of my door:

[this post was last edited: 9/4/2012-15:47]

 

[kenmoreguy89]

others

 

[kenmoreguy89]

 

[kenmoreguy89]

To Note: Ceramic bowls were packed with newspapers and bubbles inside stainless ones!!!!! They got destroyed by the pressure! Guess  that just the weight of  3 men that step on would  reduce it this way!

 

[launderess]

Thanks For The Heads Up.

Will file this for future use.

Regarding damages during shipping, as the man says on "The Sopranos", "it happens".

UPS, FedEx, UShip, etc all have had claims and will continue to do so in future. Sometimes things just happen, what matters is how the company handles the claims, IMHO.

Having learned the hard way (an expensive mangle poorly packed and shipped from Germany that arrived damaged),proper packing/crating is 99.9% of the job. Just like that old television commercial for luggage showing a gorilla abusing the thing, one has to assume the worst that can be done during shipping and work to prevent.

Companies like Craters and Freighters go the extra mile and their prices often reflect this, but often you reaps what you sows.

It is always a good idea to have recent pictures (lots of them) showing the condition of a item before shipping. I also like to unpack things promptly (the same day of arrival if possible), and save all materials until am sure the item has arrived undamaged and is in good working order.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

I find the FedEx is the best around! Actually if I ship from Italy they are even cheaper and of course quicker than Italian Postal Service (for heavy weights), just go with the economy shipping that goes at filling....1 week expectation of delivery to and from USA...

Does U ship offer intl. shipping? If it is going costing less than FedEx would be good, even if FedEx has already nice prices......

 

[dishwashercrazy]

Another thread about Shipping has been started in Imperial, Thread # 42331.

In Reply #17, I discuss my experience recently with a company called "Home Direct USA".

Mike

Shipping

Not sure if I am posting this in the correct thread... can anyone point me in the right direction to have a wringer crated and shipped to Maryland from Florida? I have never had anything like this shipped and have seen posts on here where you guys have had things crated and shipped. Any help...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[moparguy]

I'm glad that you had a good experience with Home Direct... as I noted in my earlier post, my experience with Home Direct was not good. Although I understand that damage can occur, Home Direct was overall very slow and difficult to deal with on resolving the damage claim. That, to me, is the test of a service provider, ie. how and what they do in those cases when they unfortunately damage an item, which inevitably will occur sometimes when you transport a lot of items. It took about five months and MANY MANY calls and letters to resolve a very obvious claim for damage (which they ultimately did pay). So again, I am happy that you have not had any damage or bad experience, but note that if you do, the insurance that they provide is $.60 per pound. Keep good records of the weight of your item and the weight that they agreed when they booked the bid. And if you do have a claim, be persistent and be prepared to wait...

 

[dishwashercrazy]

Jeff, Thanks for your comments. I did have a plastic piece that got broken on the Hotpoint Electric Sink, but I have been successful in gluing it back together. In this case, I accepted the damage, knowing that new, replacement parts are forever long gone.

Mike