> Have you ever had an insured loss with UPS? How is the amount of the
> loss determined?
> Bill Roberts
Regarding the value of a lost/damaged package, I would assume you
specify the value when buying the insurance. More insurance would
(logically) cost more money -- I guess. But I do not know for sure if
that is the way UPS works. The Post Office does it that way.
Regarding a loss with UPS, I have never personally had a loss, but both
Jesse Bennett and a non-S friend have both had losses with UPS. In
both cases, they were stonewalled by UPS and payment was either refused
or took seemingly forever. It was a long time ago, but I think Jesse
enlisted the help of Larry Sokol to write a threatening letter to UPS
which finally got them to pay up. The next time Jesse took a loco to
the UPS place to ship it, they refused to take it. They said
that "custom built articulateds" were no longer being accepted because
of the high risk. So Jesse changed the item to "toy train" and they
accepted it without question. I do remember Jesse felt greatly wronged
by the way UPS treated him.
The other UPS incident involved a fellow who built me a structure. He
lives in Pennsylvania and shipped it out here to California. When it
arrived, the box had obviously been crushed by something large and
heavy. I called him to report the bad news. He said, "take photos"
which I did and sent them to him. He contacted UPS in Pennsy-land and
he then told me to hold the box and my local UPS driver would come for
it. The UPS driver arrives a couple of days later and I show him the
box. Everything was back to it's original state of toothpick-sized
strips of wood. He says he needs to take it with him. I told him it
was totally broken and of no use to anyone. Why not just leave it with
me and maybe I could fix it up a bit. The reply was, "If UPS pays for
the damage, then we own it and we will keep it." So I gave him the
box. Then I called the fellow in Pennsy-land to ask if he'd be willing
to build another one. He was most cheerful, but declined to do so
again. "The first one is fun, but the following are not", he
explained. After we talked a bit, I remarked how cheerful he seemed
about the whole thing. Turns out he had shipped another structure to
someone else just the month before and that structure was destroyed
while in transit with UPS. It was nothing but struggle after struggle
to finally to file the insurance claim and never get paid. Ultimately,
UPS declared that it was not their fault because the box showed no
obvious external damage. Therefore, UPS stated, it was a packaging
problem and packaging is the responsibility of the shipper. Thus, he
received no money from UPS. Man was he angry. So with my shipment, he
insured it for $1,000 and because the box was crushed, he received the
full $1,000. All this for an item worth maybe $50 or so. But he felt
UPS deserved what it got for terrible way it treated him in the first
instance.
Right or wrong? Who's to blame? I dunno, but two folks at least are
very unhappy with UPS's way of handling insurance claims. Personally,
I prefer the USPost Office. Never had any damage. Never pay for
insurance except for brass locos. Never a problem. Maybe I am just
dumb, but I really like the Postal Service. Wish I could say the same
about the Social Security Administration.
But that story will be saved for another email at another time.
Cheers...Ed L.
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