I shipped three Technics keyboards to Walt Tenay downin North Carolina from San Jose, Carolina. I had them in the original shipping containers, but left them open and told UPS to add what ever packing they felt were needed if any. They filled all three boxes up with styrofoam peanusts and taped them up, charging me plenty for that. I insured them to value and away they go.
I got a report from Walt a week later that all three keyboards were damaged, one real bad, one not too bad and one just a little. The damage was over 2000.00 for the three.
Consequently I will not ship anything UPS ever again, and reccomend that you do not either.
This is documented thoroughly in case UPS would like to sue me. It would be just like the jerks. My lawyers are just as good and better then theres as they know.
To be forwarned is to be forarmed
Bebop

I totally agree. I have had several bad experiences with UPS in the past few years. I am totally happy with Fedex.
DonM

You're not going to believe this. UPS just came with two packages. One looked like it had been thrown off a cliff. It contained a chocolate fountain for my son's wedding Saturday.
Can't wait to plug it in.
I wouldn't ship a dog collar by UPS.
DonM

Fed Ex is also cheaper and friendlier with better customer service. After I shipped a package and complained that I paid for a signature request that wasn't listed, the home office called ME!! and fixed the problem.

[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 07-02-2007).]

Don, If you feel more comfortable shipping the G-70 Fed Ex instead of UPS, I'll certainly understand and reimburse you.

It's a little surprising when I hear this kind of stuff, because we are major users of UPS...over 15 years, with multiple shipments daily. Billing is thousands of dollars a month. We ship all over the world and have never lost a shipment or had one damaged. We have a separate shipping department and the manager prefers UPS over DSL, Fed Ex and other smaller suppliers.

On the other hand, the shipment before the last one from George was shipped Fed Ex and it looked like it had been through the war...major fork lift holes in factory packaging...whole sections of the box missing, etc.

Most of our shipments are printed materials and advertising givaways (Cross pens, knives, calculators, golf balls and clubs, etc.)..stuff that would be less likely to be damaged than a keyboard.

Ship the G-70 however you're most comfortable, Don. Just very grateful for the help.


Russ

Here's a link to one unfortunate lady's UPS horror story from over on the Irish Acts forum.
http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=10&sid=26e1e99f7ecd97ec20cde9d354632edf

Better yet don't ship anything UPS!

A few months ago they lost my shipment from Musicians Friend it took over a month to solve the problem.....I had to complain about MF and on their own Harmony Central forum to get things done faster...

------------------
www.tagworld.com/vicentelopez


HE'S COMING, MAKE MUSIC, GET READY!

Hello time for my 2 cents. I also had a damaged keyboard shipped to me last week and the final packing was done by a UPS store. I just finished taking photos for e-mailing to UPS showing the packing and the damage to the LCD screen. DonM and Hank I have sent you a BCC copy of the original e-mail from UPS as well as the photos they requested. BTW they wanted me to take the keyboard, case and packing box to a UPS depot to be left with them and inspected. I said that was not acceptable at that point they requested photos.

Here's the text of the e-mail they sent me:

Dear Stephen,

First, let me apologize for the damage to your package and thank you in advance for your help in resolving this matter.

In order to adequately assess the damage and provide a timely resolution, we will need approximately 6 pictures of the packaging material and the damaged item(s). Please provide digital pictures of the following:

o A picture of the packaging material used inside box (e.g. bubble wrap, Styrofoam peanuts, cardboard dividers, etc.)
o A close-in picture of the shipping label with tracking number (please zoom in enough to read the detail)
o A close-in picture of the box manufacturer’s certificate (BMC), if available. The BMC is a round stamp that details either the bursting strength of the box or the edge crush rating of the box. The BMC is generally found on a bottom flap on the outside of a corrugated cardboard box.
o A picture of the damaged item.
o Two pictures displaying all 6 sides of the package (1 photo should display the top and 2 sides, the 2nd photo should display the bottom and the opposite sides).

I shipped at least 50 guitars through fedex and ups from usa to europe and no problem at all. (knock wood)

In my opinion the damages on keyboards is mainly caused by the weight of the box.
As soon as a box goes beyond a certain weight they need to lift these boxes with two persons. And if there are no two persons they use a forklift with all riscs involved.
The reason I think this is the cause, I recently shipped some heavy boxes and immediately they arrived damaged.
(contained earthware so figure how that looked)
All boxes below 8kgs arrive in good condition, and I shipped approx 360 boxes last year only.

Fred
Re-reading my post, need to mention that the eartware shipments were local shipments so was not ups or fedex, but served as an example where it might go wrong.




[This message has been edited by freddynl (edited 07-04-2007).]

A couple more items.
first a reply to Russ's post above.
I shipped UPS exclusively for over 20 years, with a dailey pick up and delivery at my plant. Once in awhile they would loose something and that was ok because then I sold two somethings the first one to ups and the second one to the customer.
It was very seldom that I or my customer ever received a damaged shipment and most of my shipments were heavy machinery parts.
that was then. this is now. times have changed and so has ups. No more from this dude.
My latest exposure to ups. When I was upgrading to dsl in the studio Earthlink shipped me the modem and the Router. It seems UPS delivered it to a house two blocks away on another street with the same number as mine. It took a month to find this out. In th meantime Earthlink wanted paid their 200.00 prox. I refused to pay until I received the goods. UPS finally said they would go back to this house and ask for my goods to be returned to them.
HELLO? Are you kidding me.
To make a long story short we got to the courthouse steps when finally Ups decided it was actually their responsibility and settled it with Earthlink and I. So about 2 months past due I finally got my DSL network up and going.
Yes, UPS this as you know is also clearly documented.
I repeat to all DO NOT SHIP UPS EVER, with ANYTHING and especially anything of value.
BEbop

[This message has been edited by BEBOP (edited 07-02-2007).]

I have had nothing but bad luck with UPS. I haven't shipped any keyboards lately and my life is sure easier these days. I held my breath every time I'd ship something.

The UPS stores do guarantee your claim, if insured and THEY pack. But wow, they want an arm and a leg to do so.

Russ, it is totally up to you! I'll email you. I plan to pick up the keyboard tomorrow. I was going today, but it was pouring rain all day.
DonM

Bouncing back to the top and today's current posts in case anybody missed this over this holiday perios. I think these posts are extremely important to musicians here as we are shipping stuff to one another all the time.
Bebop

Steve - when you send UPS those pictures, send them a copy of this post and let them know this is being read by hundreds of musicians around the world.

I used to ship UPS exclusively, but now have been using FedEx mainly because of price. Can't speak of any complaints of either. Lucky I guess.

[This message has been edited by cassp (edited 07-04-2007).]