UPS Damage

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Rant aside, I truly wish you the best of luck resolving this with UPS.

Do you people have Liberty on Ignore or something? It's been resolved!!!

Just an update. I received a check from the UPS store for the auction price of the instrument plus the shipping and packaging costs. It was relatively painless, I provided a few copies of invoices, UPS sent a rep to view the damage and that was that.

I also was able to purchase the horn back at a very good "salvage price."

I think the key factor was that the UPS store did the packaging in this case, regardless it was handled rather well.

Pay attention, class!!!!

[pgym]

I am a little curious about one thing, though, Liberty:

Since you were the seller, and presumably were paid by the buyer before you shipped this...

Why did you get the check from the UPS store?

Because:

A) per EBAY policy, insurance is for the benefit of the seller, not the buyer;

Information for Sellers:

Information for sellers
Problem: The item you sold was lost or damaged in shipping.

Next Steps: If you insured the package, contact the shipping company or insurance company to file a claim.

Note: Even if the item was not insured, you're still responsible for the item until the buyer receives it.

Contact your buyer to work out a solution. If you file an insurance claim, the shipping company or the insurance company may need to contact the buyer to verify the claim and inspect the item and its packaging before resolving your claim.

so, upon acknowledgement of the damage by Liberty, Ebay will have credited the buyer for the amount of the sale and debited Liberty accordingly;

B) the UPS Store's contractual obligation is with their customer, i.e., the person shipping the package, not the package recipient.

[Liberty Mo]

I am a little curious about one thing, though, Liberty:

Since you were the seller, and presumably were paid by the buyer before you shipped this...

Why did you get the check from the UPS store?

Buyer paid the auction price via paypal. We discussed what BUYER wanted to do for shipping. BUYER wanted packaged and shipped via UPS store, so I did what he wanted. I took it to UPS and the processed it and I paid UPS Store and BUYER paid me for UPS costs. This is where my mistake was, I should have had BUYER pay UPS store over the phone and my hands would have been clean. Because I was the one that paid for the shipping, UPS would only deal with me...hence I had to file the claim and was paid by UPS.

[Liberty Mo]

Because it was packaged by a UPS store the claim is being handled directly by the UPS store.

!@#$%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What?!?!?!

I don't mean to offend you, but that was a terrible move on your part. Shipping with UPS....that part is fine. Trusting a packaging place that knows nothing about the amount of packaging truly needed to ship a tuba.......BAD move. There are some things in life that you MUST do yourself. Packing a tuba for shipment is one of them. You pretty much have to package it like you are shipping a Ming vase.

Rant aside, I truly wish you the best of luck resolving this with UPS.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but in this case, BUYER directed the shipping method. If buyer is footing the bill and wants UPS, then so be it. This was the 7th instrument (3rd Tuba) that I had shipped via this specific UPS store, and each one was packaged safely and arrived in fine condition. Again, buyer specifically directed this mode, and I accommodated him.

My mistake in this transaction was paying UPS for the costs and having him reimburse me. Had he paid them via his credit card, I would have nothing to do with the transaction. Going forward, I know better.

In the end, had I packaged the tuba myself, I would likely still be in a long fight with UPS who would probably blame the damage on my packaging and not their shipping. Because it was UPS' packaging, they really had no argument.

I'm not sure if anyone is reading the update I posted but to summarize, "UPS PAID UP."

[bort]

I think this was the best possible outcome.

Still sucks that it got busted up, but hopefully you can get it fixed to some degree.

[TubaTodd]

I don't mean to offend you, but that was a terrible move on your part...

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but in this case, BUYER directed the shipping method.

Ok, I will have to give you that. I have to disagree with the buyer, but I completely understand your decision to comply with their wishes. Good luck getting it resolved. Oh wait.....