Careful with your deliveries ! Get insurance ! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: uski
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 01:42:03 pm
content: Hi,I ordered a scope from Tequipment. Package was sent with UPS.Supposedly delivered, signed for by someone.. the signature is a straight line, and the name of the person who signed is totally unknown to me.I have a security camera that shows no UPS delivery person anywhere near my door at the time the package was supposedly delivered.The package is of course nowhere to be found.By pure luck I checked the "$3.99 signature required that protects you if the package is marked as delivered and is not" when checking out. I have no memory of checking that box, but I'm super glad I did.I assume that with the christmas holidays coming, UPS hired a bunch of seasonal workers and not all of them are honest or do their job properly. The driver either outright stole the package, or dumped it to the first random person they have seen (not me).So...PSA : get insurance for your packages ! Or if you can, defer the shipment until well after christmas...If you look on social media such as reddit, you will see it is full of stories like these in the past few days, so it is unfortunately not an isolated incident

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 04:27:12 pm
content: Oh, UPS? Did you actually get an insurance payout from them?I paid for loss or damage insurance on a large, heavy, expensive item, shipping from LA to Sydney via UPS. They dropped it. Possibly during the offloading, warehousing and reloading that tracking shows happened in Hawaii. I hate it when carriers do that, rather than a direct flight.Despite good packing it was dinged on the corners, cosmetic but not repairable.UPS have stonewalled and it doesn't appear they want to pay anything.Details here:http://everist.org/pics/HP4145B/damaged.htmhttp://everist.org/pics/HP4145B/damaged.pdf6.8MBIf you're reading this UPS, you suck. I've been distracted lately due to a family member in hospital, but youwillbe paying. The only thing you can vary is how much bad publicity you'll get before you do.

author: tonyh88
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 04:41:21 pm
content: Also had bad experience with UPS especially.... but where I live all the courier's do this. I'm working from home at the moment and they will not even ring the doorbell to see if someone is there and just drop the package on your porch visible to everyone.Even when the package is requiring a signature they will just fake it and show a weird unreadable squiggly line with your name as the recipient.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 04:50:11 pm
content: Oh UPS? Last month I have ordered a package from MakerBeam, was supposed to be here in 3 days from Netherlands.It took over a week and two phone calls after the tracking system indicated some "problem". At first to be told that "the package has arrived late and will be delivered tomorrow" (complete BS, the tracking was showing the package has actually left for delivery and was returned to the depot) and the day later when nobody has turned up I got a claim that the sender "has put an incorrect address in" - despite the address being correct both on the invoice and the UPS tracking system."But what you see online is not the same we have in the system!"For some reason they have tried to deliver it to a totally different address that had nothing in common with mine and that was not on the package neither. Fortunately nobody was present because I would have likely had the same issue as the OP.Finally a courier (a subcontractor, not an UPS employee) turned up a week later and when I have asked what the heck, he told me with a straight face: "Oh, that was a colleague, he is new and doesn't know the city yet so he has delivered it to the wrong place."And don't get me started on how useless their website is - I have even signed up for "My Choice" that supposedly allows you to see whether there is a package coming for you and schedule its delivery. Well, what you know - the system had never any clue about the package above and when I have entered the tracking number - "Change of delivery is not available for this package."UPS is a complete (and expensive) joke.

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 05:57:26 pm
content: UPS Insurance? Good luck.https://youtu.be/77beMI-_Rec?t=253(skip to 4:13 if the link doesnt take you there)"Lost" a crate with $10k+ of engine components in it, sold it to someone, played dumb, got caught, still tried to play dumb, even after they were caught with their dick in the cookie jar, told him to pound sand for the insurance claim.

author: uski
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2020, 09:46:45 am
content: Quote from: tonyh88 on December 13, 2020, 04:41:21 pmIn my case, they did not even come. I have a doorbell camera. They did not come at all.I'm sure they will pretend the package has been stolen in front of my door, but nope, they did not come at all, I have proof.My suspicion is that the driver assumed there was no camera (since I am the only person in the entire buidling with a doorbell camera, apparently) and probably assumed it was safe to steal it.At the end of the day... I am going to get my money back one way or another. The worst case will be a credit card chargeback against Tequipment, which would really suck.I really wish Tequipment finds a way to make UPS pay because they are the ones who f*** up here.I would bet $100 the driver stole it.It would be nice is companies could STOP putting their names on the outside of the boxes. Drivers and passerby really don't need to know my package is full of brand new test and measurement gear, it's an invitation for opportunistic theft.

author: uski
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2020, 09:57:05 am
content: Quote from: ConKbot on December 13, 2020, 05:57:26 pmIncredible story. Thanks for sharing.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2020, 07:53:53 pm
content: Quote from: uski on December 14, 2020, 09:46:45 amDoesn't need to be outright theft.I have had on multiple occasions my package delivered to a completely random person, no questions asked or I was picking up a package for someone else - as long as there is some sort of signature which nobody checks.The only time someone has ever been asking me for an ID when signing for a package was a postman - many years ago. With Covid they don't do that anymore, even when signature is explicitly required. They just drop the package in the mailbox.The system is extremely sloppy and the delivery companies know that you have little to no recourse as long as someone has signed for the package. It is not their job to check the signature and they can always claim they don't have the right to demand IDs. I had exactly that happen few months ago when someone else has signed for my package at work and the package was nowhere to be found. For the Post the matter was closed because someone has signed for it - and I was screwed. Fortunately after a month the person who took it woke up, noticed that the package on their desk is actually not theirs and returned it to me but that is rare.The fact that in the US packages are just dropped at the door is something totally incomprehensible for me. That doesn't exist in Europe, at least not in any place I have been to. If there is nobody to pick the package up (or, if it is Post, it doesn't fit into a mailbox), they take it back and come next day again. And (usually) leave a note - then you could either go pick the package up at the post office (if it was the Post) or at the depot/have it re-delivered (UPS, etc.).

author: VK3DRB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 15, 2020, 11:21:38 am
content: Looks like a nice piece of gear you got for a good price. You could cosmetically improve it, or even 3D print some "corner protection covers" that also hide the damage. Sanding and spray painting the 3D prints can turn out like injection molded plastic. Very nice.I have never had issues with UPS, Fedex or DHL as far as sending or receiving goods with any damage. Never had problems with Digikey, Mouser, Element 14, or RS with damaged goods.In comparison, Australia Post (government owned) is awful. I wont bother you with Aust Post causing me to lose $300K, or Aust Post sending $2K worth of rare academic books to the wrong country and losing them. On a smaller scale recently, Australia Post damaged an item I ordered from Perth worth $25. It was well packaged but Aust Post had crushed the item by bending the box with considerable undue force. They told me to sort it out with the seller, who had insurance; but they refused to honour his insurance. In the end it cost me about three hours sorting the mess out. I had to front up to Aust Post with the damaged item and it took one hour to process the claim - they work very slow using badly designed software - your time is not important to them. Then after a week, they rejected the claim, unfairly saying the sender did not package it correctly. I avoid Australia Post where I can. I simply do not trust them.I am not alone...https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/australia-postDespite the 10,000 colourful reviews, they do not care, least of all the CEO, with a multi-million dollar salary plus bonuses irrespective of performance. The recent one resigned after being caught misusing taxpayers money to shower her execs with Cartier watches.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2020, 05:14:46 am
content: QuoteWhat am I missing here? It is not you that has the contract with UPS to ship the kit, so UPS doesn't need to pay you anything. Tequipment made the contract, so it's them that has to enforce it, and it's them who UPS should reimburse.The exception is if you personally set up shipping with UPS to go and pick up on your behalf (which I doubt you did), or if the US has some weirdo buck-passing law that's applicable only to shipping.For the same reason, the 'tick here to pay loads for insurance' is a scam. The shipper is responsible for the stuff until you've received it. If you don't receive it, or it's broken, that's their problem. Sure, they can charge you for the insurance they should pay, but if they give you a choice and you elect not to play, tough shit.