QTH.COM Swap Chat

Yesterday I received what was once a beautiful Ameritron amplifier. It arrived in a new but badly crumpled up box. The amp was wrapped in two layers of bubble wrap and nicely tossed in a box that was less than full of styrofoam peanuts. First the bad part, it was dropped numerous times. The top bezel, top, front was bent. Controls were pushed in and meters were blown into the inside center of the amp. I could go on and on but you get the picture. This thing is total JUNK and the process begins to try to work things out with the dreaded brown truck. Now the good part, I can find nothing good about it. This was more than an oops, it was an example of who cares. Shame on the bad brown truck.

Sounds like it may not have been packed well and UPS is not likely to pay a claim. But it also should not be your responsibility. You should send the amp back for a refund and the shipper should file the claim.

73 and GL
Greg
AB7R

Guess I didn't make my post clear. Seller delivered to UPS for the new "pack and ship promise" program... Result, they packed it, shipped it and they junked it. The brown truck lives for another day.

Now I understand....Wow! I sure hope it does not take long to get a claim processed. What a bunch of idiots!

Best of luck! I have two amps for sale but will not ship them for this very reason.

73
Greg
AB7R

Without giving gory details, will say that UPS, regardless of their promise to pack and ship safely is a farce. They do not stock the proper materials, such as triple wall boxes usually required for air cargo shipping. They do not stock boxes in concentric sizes (double boxed) and their employees have not been trained in proper packing procedures.

I have shipped many thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment both domestically and overseas. In 15 years I had only one claim with UPS. No longer is this possible. After the latest shipment, which was damaged, they refused to pay even for repair of the item, let alone replacement value, even though they had done the packing.

Fed Ex air has always been good, but their ground service is a franchise operation and they take the most expedient means to deliver a package regardless of the value. Their latest was delivery of a brand new computer, which stipulated a signature was required, to a neighbor because no one was at home at the designated address. Only because the neighbor knew the addressee, did she receive the computer. She said if the driver had picked the neighbor on the other side, she probably would never have received it.

The kicker was getting a telephone call from a company doing a survey of recent customers at UPS stores. They asked if I was pleased with their new pack and promise guartanee? When I started to relate my experience, they quickly hung up.

A friend of mine runs an electronics related business and ships a lot of expensive electronic test gear via UPS. Every now and then there's damage and sometimes UPS refuses to pay on the claim or drags their feet. In those cases, the friend files suit in Small Claims Court for the amount of the repair plus court costs. After their first court loss, UPS now settles very quickly out of court. This is all a pain in the rear, but this is a good example of what the Small Claims process is for. In NC, it means a trip to the court house and a $75 dollar filing fee. If you want to drill the point home, you pay the extra $15 for a uniformed sheriff's deputy to serve the court summons to the shipper in person. Those costs are recoverable through the suit. While this may seem to be overkill, it's not much different from what a company does to you when they claim you owe them money and won't pay.

Tips:

Pack the item fully suspended with at least 4" of "hard foam like" material around each and every corner of the item.

The objective is to fully "suspend" the item inside the packaging like a carton of eggs so it doesn't have any possible opportunity to move around inside during shipping. (The main cause of shipping damage)

Ensure the box you are using to ship the item has carry handles on it and you can reinforce them using tape. This has the psycological effect of preventing someone from the "pick and toss the box as far as possible" syndrome.

Another thing you might consider is shipping the item fully suspended inside a 5 gallon plastic pail. The irregular shape of the pail says, "Hey, that's a different kind of package - I better handle that one seperately so it doesn't break the lid and spill all over the place!" (They will think the pail has liquid contents inside.) For this reason, they don't like placing plastic pails on a conveyer belt with the rest of the packages because they have the potential to roll off.

One of the main advantages of using a 5 gallon plastic pail instead of a cardboard box to ship amplifiers (if they are can fit inside - Drake L4B probobly not) is in the fact that other square boxes in the brown truck don't cannot sit beside or on top of them very well. Because of this fact, Pails are often stacked on top and/or treated differently than the usual square boxes they are hauling around.

Besides, 5 gallon plastic pails don't puncture or crush as easily as cardboard and the carry handle is the "natural way" to carry or move them around. You have to admit, it's kind of hard for someone to grapple a round pail upside down or sideways in order to move them from one place to another.

Hope that helps.

73 de Charles - KC8VWM

ab7r:

If you pack it like I suggest in my packing instruction, available from www.k4icl.com and ship it using FedEx. It will get there without damage.

KC8VWM wrote:Tips:

Pack the item fully suspended with at least 4" of "hard foam like" material around each and every corner of the item.

The objective is to fully "suspend" the item inside the packaging like a carton of eggs so it doesn't have any possible opportunity to move around inside during shipping. (The main cause of shipping damage)

Ensure the box you are using to ship the item has carry handles on it and you can reinforce them using tape. This has the psycological effect of preventing someone from the "pick and toss the box as far as possible" syndrome.

Another thing you might consider is shipping the item fully suspended inside a 5 gallon plastic pail. The irregular shape of the pail says, "Hey, that's a different kind of package - I better handle that one seperately so it doesn't break the lid and spill all over the place!" (They will think the pail has liquid contents inside.) For this reason, they don't like placing plastic pails on a conveyer belt with the rest of the packages because they have the potential to roll off.

One of the main advantages of using a 5 gallon plastic pail instead of a cardboard box to ship amplifiers (if they are can fit inside - Drake L4B probobly not) is in the fact that other square boxes in the brown truck don't cannot sit beside or on top of them very well. Because of this fact, Pails are often stacked on top and/or treated differently than the usual square boxes they are hauling around.

Besides, 5 gallon plastic pails don't puncture or crush as easily as cardboard and the carry handle is the "natural way" to carry or move them around. You have to admit, it's kind of hard for someone to grapple a round pail upside down or sideways in order to move them from one place to another.

Hope that helps.

73 de Charles - KC8VWM

hmmm wondering WHAT amp would fit in a 5 gal pail-- ? an SB200 but any others?

Bored at work and going through old posts- forgive me
Joe N2GB

UPS has yet to me once again! I have NEVER collected on ANY damaged amplifier EVER shipped with them that was damaged. ALl were packed well enough to sustain ANY "reasonable handling oop's". The level of damaged sustained by the latest wreck would have damaged ANYTHING packed twice as well. Doubled boxed, rigid foam between both and amp bubble wrapped inside. The amp was dropped so hard that the impact stripped the nuts right of the screws. It was unbelievable. They now have a "photograph" program. I submitted many photos of the packaging and damage with explanations on each photo. Took me an hour of more to prepare the photo presentation. Claim denied, shipper shrugged shoulders and said "I had it insured, it was packed well" SO I am F--Ked. If ever GD UPS truck blew up tomorrow (less drivers) I would throw a party. I have shipped over 100 amps via Fed EX with not one problem at all.

1) Question:

Took me an hour of more to prepare the photo presentation. Claim denied, shipper shrugged shoulders and said "I had it insured, it was packed well" SO I am ...

This sounds like you were processing a claim for the shipper instead of having the shipper file his own claim (an UPS requirement.) Please explain.

2) Fair Warning:

We don't use the "F" word on this site, in any form. Should this continue to do so,you may be banned from using this site in the future.

K4ICL

because I received the damaged goods I had to get involved by photographing the packing and damage because they don't seem to send anyone out anymore. Why send someone out? They never pay anyway.

I'd take 'em to small claims court.

- Scott

Always use your credit card to pay for packing and shipping services.

If the packing and shipping service screws up and your goods are damaged, you can dispute the charge with your credit card company, alleging that you didn't get what you paid for. If your claim is upheld, you recover the disputed charge from your credit card.

It's not necessarily easy. You have to follow procedures; explain the basis for your dispute in a logical and rational manner; and document it!

N9LCD

I seen an article on shipping amps by the amp lady she says to use spray foam I have been using this on the last 5 radios I shipped it works great, cover your item in a trash bag sealed well, to keep any stray foam from sticking to the radio spray about a 3 inches of foam on bottom, cover radio in bubble wrap, and set it in wet foam so it form fits' spray the sides a:::nd set aside and let it swell up. Find a box that it will fit in about an inch or two bigger and set the first box inside then fill in gap between boxes leave about an inch for swelling, finish filling radio box and seal tightly.when everything dries it is solid no movement and lots of padding.hope this helps it worked excellent on a kenwood ts 950 sd that weighed 62 pounds.