UPS Store 5885 UPS destroys packages and lies about "insurance". Suffolk, Virginia
I shipped a sculpture through this UPS store. When I went in to send it off, there was an employee in there making jokes that the fragile stickers he was putting on my box were like bulls eyes, I though he was kidding. He was not.
When the box arrived at the buyers house a few days later, there were holes in the top of it and it had obviously been mishandled. When the buyer opened it, surprise surprise! it was broken in half.
Luckily (or so I thought), I had insured it for the @2,000 that it sold for. Well it turned out that UPS doesn't actually insure anything. They just make you give them a value that they might pay back if it gets broken.
Needless to say, they would not pay my claim. The said it was my fault. That boxes inside boxes and three rolls of bubble wrap were not enough. I bought the sculpture from Spain, it was shipped to me with less secure packaging than what I put around it this time. Plus, not enough packaging does not explain how it got holes in the box during shipping.
The woman at the UPS store told me it was not the stores fault, because they turned the box over to a driver. The UPS 800# told me it was not their fault, because I shipped from a UPS store.
Every time I call the store the manager (Kim) tells me she will call me when she has more information. She has never called me once. When I asked for the store # on the phone, she tried to give me the store phone number. The number that I had just dialed to be talking to her.
I was never told what they were selling was not really insurance or I never would have used them in the first place.
So now I am out $2,000 and it seems like UPS does this all the time. Their customer service is horrible, not a single UPS employee has been nice during this ordeal and one even accused the person I sent the package to of breaking it. Needless to say, I will never use UPS again.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
seeworthy
Madison,Wisconsin,
USA
Verify packaging integrity.
#2Consumer Comment
Mon, August 06, 2012
If a carrier declined a damage claim, a reason why can be provided in writing. Ask that UPS Store for a copy of that letter from . The claim denial will have the same results as any carrier, as the packaging requirements are very similar. As a rule of thumb, each shipment must withstand a 30" inch drop. That height, by no coincidence, is the height of a conveyor or distance from a human's hands to the ground.
Not sure of your specifics, but if the 'sculpture' was heavy, as many are, care must be used to not use bubble wrap excessively. Those bubbles may pop under the weight, causing voids in the box with only a plastic sheet for padding. Packing peanuts or expandable foam should be used to pack the remainder of empty space withing the box(es). Holes are easily made into boxes when the cardboard is used is less than 200ECT and/or has movement within itself. The heavier the weight, the more this occurs if not packaged to guidelines. These guidelines are easily found in any carrier website.
Anyone can insure a package. Just as with car, house, appliance, etc., insurances, certain criteria must be met for claim approval. Loss will always be reimbursible with proof of value. Damage has to meet the guidelines easily found in all carrier sites. If you package yourse;f, you will be responsible if the packaging doesn't meet those guidelines. If a business packages it for you, they will have to pay if it doesn't meet those guidelines. Results would be the same with any carrier.
Ask for a copy of that claim form and take it from there.