UPS....I hate brown!!

[Kim&Chris]

I am so ticked right now. I'll try to give you the short version:

I bought a David Doss Disney print off a seller on ebay back in January. His feedback was relatively good - not great, but good. I figured I'd take a chance. The print was only $14.00. With shipping, it was about $23.00.

About 3 days after the auction ended I sent a check that covered the cost of the print PLUS shipping via UPS (the only carrier he uses to ship). It took 3 months for the item to arrive. It was delivered in some sort of cardboard cylinder, crushed. When I opened it up, the print was badly creased.

Clearly it was UPS's fault, so I called them to make a claim. They sent a driver out to pick up the cylinder WITH the print inside. They picked it up while I was at work, and never left me a ticket, note, etc. That was back in the beginning of April.

Now, it's over a month later and I'm wondering where my reimbursement is. So I call UPS and they tell me that they sent the seller some sort of questionaire back in April for him to complete. He apparently never responded, so my claim is in limbo. So, I sent the seller an email begging him to respond to the questionaire promptly so I can get my $$ back. No reply to 3 emails.

I called UPS again and explained that the seller clearly has no intention of responding to either UPS or me, so I asked what the next step could be. Here's what they said:

There is no next step. If the seller does not complete the questionaire, then there is no reimbursement. If he DOES complete the questionaire, the reimbursement is sent to HIM....not me!!! Why? Because, according to their records, he paid for shipping. Actually, they are not entirely wrong; he did pay for shipping....with my money! I was told that, if I wished to, I could take legal action. Geez, thanks.

I asked to have the damaged print sent back to me immediately. Know what they said? They'll try to locate it, but it's unlikely. I am not kidding.

Essentially, I'm screwed out of $23.00. It could be worse, I know, but $23 is $23.

So, the moral of the story is.....when you buy off of ebay, beware if the seller wants to ship via UPS. If there's a problem, you could potentially be out the entire purchase price.

Buyer beware!

 

[troy mcclure]

At work I have 2 open claims with UPS, both for several hundred dollars. One is for a lost shipment and the other is for damage to a shipping case. UPS has dragged their feet for over 2 years on the lost shipment and for months on the shipping case. We end up doing all their leg work to get a small reimbursement. Grr!

 

[Kim&Chris]

At work I have 2 open claims with UPS, both for several hundred dollars. One is for a lost shipment and the other is for damage to a shipping case. UPS has dragged their feet for over 2 years on the lost shipment and for months on the shipping case. We end up doing all their leg work to get a small reimbursement. Grr!

Rediculous. How do they get away with this?

 

[Kae]

Oh don't even get me started. They over charge me(at Work) 100 to 225 dollars every bill(twice a month) Now they know it is a "computer" thing so I call ask for a report to be sent to internal billing & they call me back with my credit amount. Now they have told me that I can not go though internal billing I have to use a regular agent which is about 20 to 30 min on the phone- Why should i have to sit on the phone. I can not get a billing manager to call me back. But I have now decided the next time I talk to someone I am going to tell them I am turning everything over to my Lawyer, I am sure I am not the one one with this problem. And I still have not gone thru last years bills. I figure they owe me at least 2000.

Kae

 

[troy mcclure]

Rediculous. How do they get away with this?

By doing what they do best -- stall. First, they need a statement from the place the item(s) were shipped from (in our case a hotel). Then the place must complete a form, then another form and another... Then we have to file an inventory for the claim. After filing the inventory, THEN they tell us they need original receipts, not photocopies and not reprints, but original dated receipts for all the items. Then they need an assessment of the damages (in the claim for our shipping case) from an independent adjuster (at our expense). Then they have to track the shipment and trace the shipment and interview the drivers and talk to the handlers and... well by now nearly 2 years has gone by.

In our lost shipment, a lot of the items didn't have receipts so we are arguing with UPS about how to "prove" values. For the shipping case, we are being required to show "real damages" since I stupidly admitted that we can still use the case, even though UPS bashed in one of the sides (but not bad enough to completely ruin the case).

I guess I should be thankful. The case contained our LCD projector and computer equipment. We could have lost that.

 

[eclectics]

I'm a ebay seller and have been for 7 years. I only use USPS. I don't see the advantage of UPS at all. I recieve all my boxes and labels free from the USPS website. They are basically the same with regards to shipping prices (UPS might be slightly less), and for a nominal insurance fee your item is fully covered with payment going to the buyer if the item is damaged.

 

[drgnfly30]

USPS isn't much different as far as an insurance claim goes... I shipped a digital camera to an ebay buyer last year ($500 value), it got lost... I, not the buyer, had to file a claim since I shipped it & I, not the buyer, received the check when it was settled... then I in turn had to refund the buyer for the merchandise he never received. It was a very lengthy process, about 2 months, thankfully the buyer was very understanding but on the other hand I kept him in constant communication with him...

 

[caitycaity]

I'm a ebay seller and have been for 7 years. I only use USPS. I don't see the advantage of UPS at all. I recieve all my boxes and labels free from the USPS website. They are basically the same with regards to shipping prices (UPS might be slightly less), and for a nominal insurance fee your item is fully covered with payment going to the buyer if the item is damaged.

ITA - I recently started selling on ebay and I have only used USPS. I tried to use UPS once and it was such a hassle even getting the label printed out. Printing the labels out for USPS directly from paypal is easy and as mentioned, you can get free priority boxes.

 

[eclectics]

USPS isn't much different as far as an insurance claim goes... I shipped a digital camera to an ebay buyer last year ($500 value), it got lost... I, not the buyer, had to file a claim since I shipped it & I, not the buyer, received the check when it was settled... then I in turn had to refund the buyer for the merchandise he never received. It was a very lengthy process, about 2 months, thankfully the buyer was very understanding but on the other hand I kept him in constant communication with him...

I've had very few damaged items that arrived at my buyers, but the few times it happened, I sent the buyer the proof of insurance receipt and they took it from there. I have never had the experience of an item not showing up, however. Maybe a lost item is a different procedure, as you mention.