Well, my VA76 sent out got destroyed by UPS. My packing was excellent. The pictures suggest actual breakage, which means they threw it around in an aggresive manner.

It's not the first time. I asked the clerk to put on more fragile stickers and she said that just draws attention and makes it more prone to damage by disgruntled UPS employes. So another claim filed and knowledge that getting money from them is like pulling teeth.

I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do business with UPS again.

Had to get it off my chest.

zuki

I do a lot of shipments thru UPS and I was told that it is difficult to get claims. They will try their best to prove that it is not their fault.

Hopefully things will change with UPS. I had bad experience with keyboard shipment thru UPS although I have to admit that the shipper did not do a good job in packing the keyboard.

I took three keyboards to the local UPS store and had them inspected and even though they were in the original boxes and packing, I told them to add any more cushioning they deemed necessary. They were then shipped to the East Coast and I understand one was almost totaled, the second badly damaged and the third minor damage.
DO NOT USE UPS is my advise.
Bebop

Anyone have any recommendations as to who to use?

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Bill
SmallGig.com

DHL, FedEX are both better than UPS....IMHO
TR

I've been using fed ex, I tried dhl and the shipping was OK but even when I took it to their terminal, after I paid, a week later they would add some kind of surcharge that no one knew anything about and no one could help me with. Maybe the problem was because I had an acct. I should've just paid cash.

Folks:

I don't have a lot of experience w/the others, I just know that UPS is scary. Two years ago I ordered a pair of the "Quiet Comfort" headphones for listening to movies on airplanes. I received a tracking number and tracked the package through delivery. The problem was it never showed up. UPS said it was delivered and there was no package. When I talked about a claim, they said I had to wait 90 days to see if it "shows up". Two weeks later I was walking around the neighborhood and (on a whim), I walked out of my way to go to a house with a similar number than mine (off by 100). Guess what? There was my box sitting outside the door of this house (vacant). It had been rained on and sitting there for 2 weeks!

This week I received a 250 GB USB hard drive and some software (2 separate packages) via DHL. They required signatures for both and left them with the neighbors.

I don't like it when I come home from work and find stuff that has been sitting in front of my door for 6 hours or so.... If I am given a preference, I am going to opt for DHL over UPS.

They pretty much all suck when it comes to filing a claim. I've been shipping high end merchandise all over the world for many years and no matter what shipper I use I always overpack everything (this is a must). If you haven't packaged it well enough to survive Armageddon, you may want to think twice before using any shipper. I package things so well I've yet to ever have an item I sent damaged. I've had some that were stolen, but never damaged. I can't say the same for items I've received from others... Some people simply don't know how to pack expensive or fragile items well.

UPS is the most known for damaging goods, but with either carriers, if you use the 3 days [or less] delivery (which usually means via AIR), damages are minimal ... it's worked for me, but it means shipping charges are slightly higher!

Thanks,

AJ

What about the good 'ol US Mail Service?