UPS bent my chassis!?!

[Omar]

I sent a chassis to Jeff Swanson to have a custom cabinet made and look what UPS did!?! This really bums me out although it looks like it can be fixed. I've never had a problem with UPS before.

Omar

[rockstah]

well that sucks!

[mhuss]

I work from home a couple of days a week, and my office is by the front door.

When the UPS guy comes, he walks most of the way up the sidewalk and *chucks the package* onto the step, about 6 feet away, and runs.

When the FedEx ground guy comes, he puts the package down by the door and rings the doorbell.

Guess who I use from now on?

--mark h

[glasman]

I work from home a couple of days a week, and my office is by the front door.

When the UPS guy comes, he walks most of the way up the sidewalk and *chucks the package* onto the step, about 6 feet away, and runs.

When the FedEx ground guy comes, he puts the package down by the door and rings the doorbell.

Guess who I use from now on?

--mark h

When I was in college (many moons ago) I worked for UPS at the Phoenix facility. I worked in the area that unloaded the semi-trailers. It was like being in the army. A DI yelling at you to move more packages, no matter how many fell off the conveyor. I would never use them to ship one of my amps.

I strictly use FedEx Overnight Priority. Costs a little more but it gets there in one piece. I also pack everything in at least 2" of insulfoam. I have no relationship with Fedex other than a customer.

Gary

[UR12]

I also worked at UPS loading and unloading trucks during Christmas one year when I was in Electronic school in 1972. We were told by the drill sargent supervisor that if a package had "Fragile" on the box to "toss it underhanded".

I also shipped a 49 Fender Super to a guy back in the late 80s. I double boxed it and had 2" of foam in each box (4" total). The guy came out of his door when he heard the UPS truck, just in time to see his amp tossed out the back of the truck and hit the ground. Needless to say he was pissed and had the guy open the box right there on the spot. The amp had both speaker magnet covers dislodged and two broken power tubes. I can't even imagine what it would have looked like if I hadn't packed it the way I did. These guys are brutal. I honestly believe thay could destroy a bowling ball.

[glasman]

I also worked at UPS loading and unloading trucks during Christmas one year when I was in Electronic school in 1972. We were told by the drill sargent supervisor that if a package had "Fragile" on the box to "toss it underhanded".

I also shipped a 49 Fender Super to a guy back in the late 80s. I double boxed it and had 2" of foam in each box (4" total). The guy came out of his door when he heard the UPS truck, just in time to see his amp tossed out the back of the truck and hit the ground. Needless to say he was pissed and had the guy open the box right there on the spot. The amp had both speaker magnet covers dislodged and two broken power tubes. I can't even imagine what it would have looked like if I hadn't packed it the way I did. These guys are brutal. I honestly believe thay could destroy a bowling ball.

I agree, maybe even a wreckling ball

But I do remember that I used to off-load a lot of Musicman amps and I would always handle them with extreme care. Of course I was the only one.....

[908ssp]

Because we know that the shippers treat our stuff like gorillas we need to do a better job packing. My motto is pack like your life depended on it.

[Normster]

Maybe instead of a "Fragile" sticker we should say "Explosives."
(Nah, the bomb squad would just blow it up.)

I feel your pain, Omar. I got a Bassman head off ebay last year that was bounced so hard it nearly pulled the tranny bolts through the chassis.

[Allynmey]

That is why I always insure the package for $1000.00 more than the value when I ship a customer a computer. When they do destroy them I claim full cost and make 'em bleed a little. Omar, Claim that was a prototype chassis that cost $500.00 to make. They have a minimum free $300 insurance on packages. You then have UPS pay for your Beautiful Swanson Cab.

Make them bleed if they are careless I say! They really do it on purpose!

Allyn

[Omar]

Because of the size of the chassis, I had a hard time finding a box that was big enough. The box seemed to me to be sufficient with the exception of a major blow which it apparently took although Jeff said the box did not look damaged. Unfortunately, I only insured it for $100 so no free cab for me.

Do you guys think that FedEx really handles packages with more care? I will switch to them if that's the case.

Omar

[glasman]

Do you guys think that FedEx really handles packages with more care? I will switch to them if that's the case.

Omar

Omar I am not sure that they handle it differently, but I know that with overnight the internal routing is different within FedEx that might minimize the possibility.

Gary

[MarkB]

Randall Aiken says he doesn't deal with UPS - only Fedex or one of the freight haulers. Good enough for me. I've seen guys gripe about Fedex, but UPS seems to be a much bigger offender.

[DiademRoyale]

FWIW- The hubs all pretty much handle things the same way. Yeah UPS bends stuff and throws it at the steps and all- but your goods get there most of the time. I probably make 3,000 to 4,000 shipments per year and have since about mid-1996. I have had things delivered damaged badly by" Buster Brown", "Fled-Ex", "RPS", and just about every other shipper there is out there. The only shipper that has ever lost anything I had coming in, or going out has been "FledEx". Four times. All irreplaceable
items insured heavily, but money ain't everything. The last item was a guitar which had HEAVY inlay done by Bill Laskin. Plus the new fret job I had just finished for the owner. How does a company "lose" a one of a kind , hand-made instrument. Unless it got crushed or something like that, it will probably turn up on "flea-bay' some-time or another. Ya' reckun'? Like I said at the beginning "FWIW"-Just my 2p.

[galtjunk]

UPS is self insured and will do almost anything to avoid paying a claim.
I received an 18 watt chassis from GDS that was bent by UPS and he elected to just send me a new one rather than trying to file a claim with UPS.
I filed a claim with Fedex for a $65 computer case that was bent during shipping and they sent 2 inspectors out to see it. I had a new one in 2 days.
Every shipper breaks things. UPS just doesn't seem to care.

[s2]

This is what they did to an amp that was being returned to me by Guitar Center in Houston for repair (it turned out to be a bad preamp tube). I shipped them a flight case in which to return the amp and this is how I received it. It looks like it must have been dropped from 12 feet or more. Ummm... Nothing a huge vise and a ball peen hammer couldn't fix...

The next batch of chassis will have welded corners.