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Man says insured $6,000 shipment partially lost after one amplifier fails to arrive (NBC News Report)

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Ninjastar

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Man ships monoblock amplifiers with FedEx.

Edit: They appear to be Balanced Audio Technology VK-150SE amps (MSRP $17,000 per pair).

Balanced Audio Technology VK-150SE monoblock power amplifier | Stereophile.com

The VK-150SE stands tall at the top of Balanced Audio Technology's range. It and its smaller brother, the identical-looking VK-75SE stereo amplifier (or, sans the Special Edition mods, the plain VK-75, footnote 1), are related to BAT's first amplifier design, the VK-60. The company's partners...
www.stereophile.com www.stereophile.com

FexEx loses one of the monoblocks and refuses to reimburse him even though he insured the shipment.

For sure this Martin fella is not a member here because he has Tekton floorstanders :)

Have any of you guys run into similar difficulties before with a carrier (USPS, FedEx, UPS)?

I just shipped one of the most expensive items I've ever sold with full insurance through UPS, and hopefully I don't have to find out.
 
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I had my sister ship a Panasonic boom box that I had purchased in the early nineties, via USPS a real nice one. This was about 20 years ago. Some asshole stepped on top of it and broke cd player, the rest of the unit was still ok. I returned to the post office after I had checked it out and they retained the player after I filled out a complaint. The unit was not insured, naïve me thinking they would replace the damaged unit. A couple of days later I once again returned to the post office to speak with a representative. They refunded the shipping cost and refused to return my player. Case closed, because I accepted the shipping cost I lost the player. This was of course not explained to me before accepting the refunded shipping cost.
 
It's extremely difficult to get UPS or FedEx to pay for anything they lost or broke.

I bought two Bryston amplifiers from an auction of Frank Zappa's estate. They were shipped in manufacturer's packaging, which is robust. Both of the packages got crushed. The aluminum chassis of the amps were bent.

UPS declined to pay one cent of the insured value. The whole thing was an eye-opener. I realized insurance for shipping is a scam.

Bryston was great. They fixed the amps, replaced the buckled chassis panels, and even had new faceplates anodized to the original color. For a price that seemed charitable... In about 2 weeks. UPS drug out the claim-rejection over a 3 month period.
 
amirm said:
They universally try to get out if paying. FYI you have to prove value. They won't just pay the insured value.
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Sounds exactly like Glenn Fricker's FedEx experience (look up SpectreSoundStudios on YouTube. He's an ASR guy at heart but with extra swearing). The carriers also work various tariff/custom scams too, not always correct.
 
In the UK we have a carrier that we call Drop it, Hide it, Lose it.
 
Long ago a mate got a large mixer shipped, Tascam M-2524

17568.jpg


Nice big package of ~30kg. It arrived badly damaged, like it was dropped on the side... turned out, exactly that happend. Upon investigation the handler GLS stated it was obviously not packaged properly; goods of that size and weight would drop one meter (!) on their conveyor belts by standard. Iirc they were able to point towards shipping terms and conditions and relieve themselves of all reliability.

Eventually he got a smol refund from the seller that barely covered half the repair cost. Then for some reason he never used and finally bunkered it in my cellar. It's still sitting there, will have to check it some time. Nifty piece of kit I neither have a need nor the space for. Anyway, GLS for large goods: never again!
 
There's a guy on Audio asylum - Trader who is trying to locate his Technics SP 10, Mk3, together with an Audio Research EC-4 tube crossover. FedEx Atlanta GA. Rewards offered. Rough.
 
Fedex is in my experience consistently the worst of the couriers.

They managed to drop one of my KH420s so hard that it broke out of the box, shattered all of its packing materials, and broke a corner off the baffle - and then instead of going "hey, your package was damaged", they repackaged it as haphazardly as possible and tried to pass it off as if nothing had happened.


1777076164840.png
 
Ropeburn said:
Long ago a mate got a large mixer shipped, Tascam M-2524

View attachment 527626

Nice big package of ~30kg. It arrived badly damaged, like it was dropped on the side... turned out, exactly that happend. Upon investigation the handler GLS stated it was obviously not packaged properly; goods of that size and weight would drop one meter (!) on their conveyor belts by standard. Iirc they were able to point towards shipping terms and conditions and relieve themselves of all reliability.

Eventually he got a smol refund from the seller that barely covered half the repair cost. Then for some reason he never used and finally bunkered it in my cellar. It's still sitting there, will have to check it some time. Nifty piece of kit I neither have a need nor the space for. Anyway, GLS for large goods: never again!
Click to expand...
It seems to vary, either regionally, or it might be the diligence (or lack thereof) of individual workers. Where I lived in Germany (MV), GLS was more or less inevitable for large items. I've received many, including a TV, a dishwasher and a large fridge, no problems. Even got a 200+ kg gun safe delivered without a single scratch.
 
It's not totally up to the carriers, one must search around a little about conditions and specialties.

For example, a proper flight case will be treated as fragile, by intuition alone.

Pallet is also a good idea, some days ago I received four big pallets, carrying tiles, with nothing fancy to protect them other than their positioning.
Out of hundreds of tiles only two were broken which is way expectable as I was explained by my contractors.

(I suspect these don't go by air of course)

So, it's up to us as well to choose the right way.
Not that I give any excuse to the absurd case of the thread of course.
 
I was with FedEx for fifteen years. Standards were low right across the board. I spent a lot of my time personally sorting out customer issues (I was B2B only) because the people who should have been doing that didn't do it, and no-one was interested in making them.

Very much a company resting on laurels earned in the 1970s and 1980s when they did care about being the best.

They get away with it because the other carriers are just as bad and everyone competes on price and not service standards. I could write an essay, but I won't. :)
 
I sent a Pair of Silver Sevens to California from Florida. I had UPS pack and insure them.

They were destroyed in transit; since they packed the ( very well) they paid the insured cost!
 
I had a shipped appliance vanishing at DHL. They requested 2 weeks search time per their t&c at that time. Then paid what was on the invoice.
 
Dunno about other countries, but in the UK, it's very hard to get fired for not doing the job you are paid for, and about 80% of people at work do virtually nothing all day, while the 20% work extra hard just to carry the 80%. This applies to delivery firms too.

Almost nobody cares about anything anymore, and everyone shrugs because apparently nothing can be done about it, and politicians wring their hands over "productivity" while some of the fixes are obvious, at least to me....
 
I've shipped and received a lot of expensive things through the years. Some upwards of 2 million. The trick is to understand what and who you are dealing with. First, you don't EVER ship anything over 100 pounds or larger that you cannot carry with two hands. The exception might be something that is extremely large but very cheap.

An artificial Christmas tree that is under 3-400.00 but they comes in a massive box, or corrugated drainage hose (3-4") in bulk. basically something BIG and bulky but not expensive.

You ALWAYS use freight. Period. Those amps would have been at that person's door/driveway right now IF THEY had palletized the shipment and labeled it correctly.

1. You have to CRATE that type of gear.

Pre-wrap with a material to keep the moisture out and to protect the chrome/brass/silver. Fit the units' sharp edges with HD styrafoam and shrink wrap so nothing moves. Construct a double stack (much like a mini pallet) with at least 3-4" between the bottom and where the amps will be sitting. I use ripped 1/4-3/8 ply 3-6" wide, depending on the weight, I might use 1/2 or 3/4" ply and NOT rip the ply into planks/boards. Ex: a heavy brass gate valve or a CANN buss sheet metal box full of electronics and node bars inside (30-50K).

START taking pictures of the build and what is inside. Model/Serial numbers pics are a good idea.

I measure and construct an open top/bottom box made from the lats and usually 2X3" corners up to 4X4 post (depends on the weight. Under 3-400lbs or 100-200kg 2X3 over 400lbs 4X4 corners.

The corner posts are to hold the lats on the inside. USE SCREWS that will be pointing OUT. You just need enough to make sure the crate doesn't tweak.

Now use expanding foam packs to secure the units inside the box. 4-6 smaller foam packs will work with those amps. Make sure there is at least 3-4" between the top of the amps and the cover. Put one or two foam packs on top and secure the lid, making sure none of the screws are near the amp or protruding from the wood INSIDE. The reason is scratches from the screws when you take it apart.

Wrap the outside using the corner post to secure the lat you ripped. Only put screws into the corners and a couple to secure the bottom to the sides on the corners.

You have built a secure shipping crates. Take BOTH amps and secure them both to a pallet via metal or nylon strapping material. I'd use nylon strapping for that. Shrink wrap them to the pallet and don't spare on the shrink wrap. Water-tight for rain, not floating, requires a different approach.

Label the SHIT out of the pallet. "Do not stack," "Don't stand on," "Do not DROP," "FRAGIL", "GLASS." Believe it or not, proper LABELING is the best spent money along with any shipment, especially freight. Drivers, especially independents, pay attention to labeling. Usually, UPS/FedX/DHL delivery drivers will pay some attention to the labeling; the more RED they see, the better.

When you receive the pallet, take pictures no matter what, and inspect the pallet for drops or forklift fork holes. If it has either, either reject the load or tell the driver to wait for you to inspect the content. They will wait for a reasonable amount of time for an inspection. A cold drink usually goes a long way, and a good meal will buy you 2-3 hours. BTW I've shipped 140K chandeliers to and from Germany to and from the Bay area that were 200 years old.

I learned 45 years ago about shipping expensive heavy things, including a couple of 1.9 million dollar machines, and at least 12 600K machines, all via freight.

I wouldn't trust ANY shipper with my amps unless it was FREIGHT. I learned from Mcintosh and then had to insist with Cary about heavy amps. Mac is automatic over 100 pounds. Cary WAS shipping 100-130 lb boxes that were being ruined. Not mine!

I shipped a pair of VTL Wotan 750 to England in 1999. ZERO problems via freight. Well over 300 lbs with pallets and crates.

Out of well over 1000 shipments of parts/assemblies, I had one claim, and it was sent to the wrong country. They did find it, though.

Regards
 
Surely, isn't shipping the responsibility of the supplier, rather than the customer (victim)? Customers receiving goods they have ordered, usually over the internet, have no control over how they are packaged or which shipper get used.

I'm lucky - local delivery is good where I live (a few miles from Lands End). I know many of the drivers and we smile and joke and complain about the weather. Nevertheless, over the last few years I have had a couple of parcels not arrived, and a couple clearly damaged by mishandling. If you buy in the UK using a credit card, you do get good protection (is it Section 75? I forget) so when you make a claim to the supplier for loss or damage, it usually gets resolved quite easily. But - stuff still does get lost and damaged somewhere en-route.
 
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If he would have bought cheap efficient class D amps, the loss wouldn't be so great, and the sound would be better! Unfortunately this might not make the news, though.
 
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