UPS and USPS - WAS: Re: UPS abuse, FT990 Problems..

[Bry Carling]

Well this is actually USPS we are dealing with here.

They are just totally stonewalling on the claim!

I am hoping the seller will honor my payment to him and take 
this back if his insurance agreement with USPS doesn't 
pan out.  I have had to do all the work on the claim, present 
the radio and boxes etc,. so far, with no success.

We are likely going to have to appeal, contact attorneys etc.

    Posted by: "Ed Senior" eseniors at earthlink.net ewseniors
    Date: Sun Dec 9, 2007 12:31 pm ((PST))

A couple of footnotes to your thorough discussion: 

The last time that I shipped something by UPS (quite recent), 
they pointedly refused to say they were selling "insurance;" 
they insisted on calling it a "valuation fee."  This seemed 
rather baffling to me, until I thought it through.  Then the 
connotation occurred to me.  If they were selling "insurance," 
then they could legally be expected to honor legitimate claims, 
like an honest insurance company.  (Please forgive that last 
oxymoron.)  But by calling it a "valuation fee," all they are 
selling you is the privilege of putting a value on a claim 
that they will deny.  I expect they lost a few court cases 
based on the "insurance" semantics; and so they decided to 
change the semantics--but not their practices, of course.  

BTW, a fellow antique radio buff I used to know had my favorite 
UPS story:  He received a large, 1930's cathedral radio, very 
thoroughly double-boxed.  One problem:  UPS had somehow managed 
to pierce it through with a 5 or 6 foot length of cast iron 
water pipe.  They dutifully delivered it with the pipe in place, 
protruding from both sides like a spear!  

My personal worst UPS was a pristine and rare "teledial" cathedral, 
also very well packed and double-boxed.  There was no packaging 
damage.  But they had dropped it on its back with such violence 
that the metal chassis twisted itself into a parallelogram shape, 
and was protruding out the back of the cabinet.  In order to do 
that, it had to rip all the control shafts through the front 
panel, thus shattering the rare teledial mechanism beyond repair. 

This was a non-replaceable item.  So those who "only" lose readily 
replaceable, modern merchandise to the ravages of UPS are actually 
the lucky ones.  I was so traumatized by the fate of this item 
that I don't really remember the outcome of the insurance claim. 
But I think they denied it on the basis that there was no damage 
to the packaging.   

Moral: Do NOT ship antiques via UPS, if you expect a reasonable 
chance of survival.  

73, 

Ed, W6LOL

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