A Tale of Two Speakers & Fedex
reeltrouble1
Posts: 9,312
Over the past couple of months I have been dealing with Fedex on a speaker shipment. I apologize if the story gets a little long. There are some Lessons Learned.
Last October I pulled the trigger and bagged the Carver Amazings from Troy a move that has worked out very well. I had been using my 1C's in the Shed, they were very nice, great sound and were pristine as far as looks. In order to get the Amazings I had to let them go though and I sold them to Hoosier who promptly sent me the dough and said he intended to drive down in the future to pick them up. Well, he just could not get down my way, we talked a bit about shipping to him, decided not to. As I really did not want to let them go, I just returned his dough to him.
So there they sat. Two beautiful speakers nice to look at, but no sounds coming out of them. After a while I felt a bit guilty at my "sda" hoarding and let it be known I would let them go to another member. It wasn't long before I struck a deal with our member Roy Munson (Richard) Well, this is where the story really starts. When I had first got them from Acdds he included the original Polk shipping boxes and packing materials. He had also double boxed them, but during the shipping from Fedex to me, the outer boxes had been so badly damaged they were junk and had to be tossed. I did not want to ship with just the Polk boxes so I went on a hunt for some stout outer containers.
I came up with some wardrobe boxes I felt would work, they were a bit wider and deeper than what I needed so I lined the top and bottom 10" or so with rigid foam to form a tight fit around the Polk boxes. I spent about 50.00 in shipping materials which Richard paid me for. Everything was looking pretty good, I marked the boxes as to top and back, fragile, please do not drop and so on. I shipped them via Fedex on January 10th. they weighed out at 110 lb. per box. at a cost with insurance of 110.00 per box. I shipped them to my brother (starchaser) as his business is importing and someone would be there to sign for them, Fedex was to clearly instructed to ship the speakers on their back and to ship them to my brother at the "front office". So he could inspect them when they arrived.
They did neither. The speaker boxes were shipped standing upright and delivered to the warehouse, where a fellow signed for them and then called my bro. He immediately let me know one of the boxes had a "big" hole in it, they were badly creased, had numerous small holes and so on. I contacted Fedex and let them know, however, as you may know they tell you to open everything up and check for damage. My Bro delivered the speakers to Richard that day, they unboxed them and were relieved to find that the inner boxes were fine and the speakers had survived unmarked. They both let me know and I said well, "cool", Richard was pleased with condition of these 1C's.
Well, it turns out that fedex either dropped or drove a damm forklift into them. Since they shipped them standing up when they did so they knocked and inner brace loose, it tumbled down and struck the crossover, damaging it. So Richard lets me know and that the SDA drivers are not working. Christ!!
So I file the claim with Fedex, everyone is very nice, too nice, both me and Richard are getting "canned" responses, we proceed. Fedex picks them up for "inspection" says they will notify me 5-7 business days of the status of my claim. They do not, they simply return them to Richard very poorly repackaged. After 15 days I call them, asking them what is going on. I am verbally told my claim is denied for improper packaging, I say well, send me something in writing as I will appeal, the original shipping containers were used and the shipment not improperly packed. The nice lady says they will. After few weeks have passed with no response from Fedex, I call again, talk to several nice people, mostly ladies who sound really sweet they apologize and once again say something should be sent to me and if I am dissatified I can appeal within some "X" amount of days, I can't recall. So I wait another week and get nothing from Fedex. I call back again, I am nice but pissed at this point. I talk to four people before getting to my "claims representative handling my case".
This fellow is actually rather nice and tells me he owns Polk speakers (finally a break) so I tell him my tale, he says hmmmmm...........well, you have any pics, yes I do, I already sent them, hmmmmmm............he does not have them, well he gets his own set in under five minutes and Yippeeee!!! he says he will pay the claim for the speakers and cost of shipping. I say yes, when? He says, I will order a check for you tomorrow. He says the pictures prove I used the original shipping cartons which seemed to matter alot.
The next day I hear from him, no check can be sent????? Now they want to haggle on the "value" of the speakers. He says he is sorry, he should of told me yesterday. So I dig through all the Polk stuff, their is nothing about 1C on the site and the 1B have the incorrect specs for speaker size and I am not going there. I finally find something and FAX it to Fedex, I dont hear anything. Then in a couple of days I get a Thank You email from the Fedex claims guy, OK, thats it? So I call, cant get him, but am told by the nice sounding sweet lady that a check for my claim is being sent to me. So I sit back and wait, two more weeks or so go by and no check, the whole time I am staying in contact with Richard keeping him abreast, thank goodness he has the patience of Jobe and is not demanding things of me, (like his dough) we talk about getting the speakers fixed, he contacts F1nut so do I, Jesse lends some advice feeling the speaker crossover can be repaired.
I get the feeling Richard is not into fixing or putting any more dough into the speaks and I am correct and I dont blame him. So I call Fedex they still say they sent the check, I say, yea, well I dont have it, of course they want to see if it has been cashed and so on. Anyway, I say, Where did you send it to? The address they used was full of typos and the wrong zip. So I tell them, the other check is cancelled and a new check is issued. It does arrive after about 10 days. Yippee.
I pay Richard, Starchaser my brother wants to fix them so he gets the 1C's, I dont have to fret anymore and everything is all good now.
During this ordeal everytime I would see the Fedex Ground " Relax" commercial, I would stream a bunch of unintellegable cussing. If we had relaxed nobody would of got a dime out of them. It is their standard procedure to deny claims, make it an ordeal in the hope the customer will just give up, I bet it happens. A big Thank You to Richard (Roy Munson) for working with me to get this resolved, yea, he did not lose anything but he did not get the speaks he wanted either.
Its going to be very hard for me to ever ship large speakers again, I dont know, maybe if I crate them and use a shipper, but even then, I just have a bad feeling about it. As far as Fedex, well, this is most about the game they play, you have to play it with them, be careful, if you refuse to do anything they want, that is it, all you will have is the courts, I would have gone that route, but its a crapshoot.
Again my Thanks to Richard for his patience and help, this man waited over two months for a substantial sum of money to be returned to him without ever once placing blame on me. F1 has been most helpful and will attempt to get them going again through my bro. This is a fine set of SDA, they were my first and my babies, I really hope they sing again one day soon.
Effin Fedex.
RT1
Last October I pulled the trigger and bagged the Carver Amazings from Troy a move that has worked out very well. I had been using my 1C's in the Shed, they were very nice, great sound and were pristine as far as looks. In order to get the Amazings I had to let them go though and I sold them to Hoosier who promptly sent me the dough and said he intended to drive down in the future to pick them up. Well, he just could not get down my way, we talked a bit about shipping to him, decided not to. As I really did not want to let them go, I just returned his dough to him.
So there they sat. Two beautiful speakers nice to look at, but no sounds coming out of them. After a while I felt a bit guilty at my "sda" hoarding and let it be known I would let them go to another member. It wasn't long before I struck a deal with our member Roy Munson (Richard) Well, this is where the story really starts. When I had first got them from Acdds he included the original Polk shipping boxes and packing materials. He had also double boxed them, but during the shipping from Fedex to me, the outer boxes had been so badly damaged they were junk and had to be tossed. I did not want to ship with just the Polk boxes so I went on a hunt for some stout outer containers.
I came up with some wardrobe boxes I felt would work, they were a bit wider and deeper than what I needed so I lined the top and bottom 10" or so with rigid foam to form a tight fit around the Polk boxes. I spent about 50.00 in shipping materials which Richard paid me for. Everything was looking pretty good, I marked the boxes as to top and back, fragile, please do not drop and so on. I shipped them via Fedex on January 10th. they weighed out at 110 lb. per box. at a cost with insurance of 110.00 per box. I shipped them to my brother (starchaser) as his business is importing and someone would be there to sign for them, Fedex was to clearly instructed to ship the speakers on their back and to ship them to my brother at the "front office". So he could inspect them when they arrived.
They did neither. The speaker boxes were shipped standing upright and delivered to the warehouse, where a fellow signed for them and then called my bro. He immediately let me know one of the boxes had a "big" hole in it, they were badly creased, had numerous small holes and so on. I contacted Fedex and let them know, however, as you may know they tell you to open everything up and check for damage. My Bro delivered the speakers to Richard that day, they unboxed them and were relieved to find that the inner boxes were fine and the speakers had survived unmarked. They both let me know and I said well, "cool", Richard was pleased with condition of these 1C's.
Well, it turns out that fedex either dropped or drove a damm forklift into them. Since they shipped them standing up when they did so they knocked and inner brace loose, it tumbled down and struck the crossover, damaging it. So Richard lets me know and that the SDA drivers are not working. Christ!!
So I file the claim with Fedex, everyone is very nice, too nice, both me and Richard are getting "canned" responses, we proceed. Fedex picks them up for "inspection" says they will notify me 5-7 business days of the status of my claim. They do not, they simply return them to Richard very poorly repackaged. After 15 days I call them, asking them what is going on. I am verbally told my claim is denied for improper packaging, I say well, send me something in writing as I will appeal, the original shipping containers were used and the shipment not improperly packed. The nice lady says they will. After few weeks have passed with no response from Fedex, I call again, talk to several nice people, mostly ladies who sound really sweet they apologize and once again say something should be sent to me and if I am dissatified I can appeal within some "X" amount of days, I can't recall. So I wait another week and get nothing from Fedex. I call back again, I am nice but pissed at this point. I talk to four people before getting to my "claims representative handling my case".
This fellow is actually rather nice and tells me he owns Polk speakers (finally a break) so I tell him my tale, he says hmmmmm...........well, you have any pics, yes I do, I already sent them, hmmmmmm............he does not have them, well he gets his own set in under five minutes and Yippeeee!!! he says he will pay the claim for the speakers and cost of shipping. I say yes, when? He says, I will order a check for you tomorrow. He says the pictures prove I used the original shipping cartons which seemed to matter alot.
The next day I hear from him, no check can be sent????? Now they want to haggle on the "value" of the speakers. He says he is sorry, he should of told me yesterday. So I dig through all the Polk stuff, their is nothing about 1C on the site and the 1B have the incorrect specs for speaker size and I am not going there. I finally find something and FAX it to Fedex, I dont hear anything. Then in a couple of days I get a Thank You email from the Fedex claims guy, OK, thats it? So I call, cant get him, but am told by the nice sounding sweet lady that a check for my claim is being sent to me. So I sit back and wait, two more weeks or so go by and no check, the whole time I am staying in contact with Richard keeping him abreast, thank goodness he has the patience of Jobe and is not demanding things of me, (like his dough) we talk about getting the speakers fixed, he contacts F1nut so do I, Jesse lends some advice feeling the speaker crossover can be repaired.
I get the feeling Richard is not into fixing or putting any more dough into the speaks and I am correct and I dont blame him. So I call Fedex they still say they sent the check, I say, yea, well I dont have it, of course they want to see if it has been cashed and so on. Anyway, I say, Where did you send it to? The address they used was full of typos and the wrong zip. So I tell them, the other check is cancelled and a new check is issued. It does arrive after about 10 days. Yippee.
I pay Richard, Starchaser my brother wants to fix them so he gets the 1C's, I dont have to fret anymore and everything is all good now.
During this ordeal everytime I would see the Fedex Ground " Relax" commercial, I would stream a bunch of unintellegable cussing. If we had relaxed nobody would of got a dime out of them. It is their standard procedure to deny claims, make it an ordeal in the hope the customer will just give up, I bet it happens. A big Thank You to Richard (Roy Munson) for working with me to get this resolved, yea, he did not lose anything but he did not get the speaks he wanted either.
Its going to be very hard for me to ever ship large speakers again, I dont know, maybe if I crate them and use a shipper, but even then, I just have a bad feeling about it. As far as Fedex, well, this is most about the game they play, you have to play it with them, be careful, if you refuse to do anything they want, that is it, all you will have is the courts, I would have gone that route, but its a crapshoot.
Again my Thanks to Richard for his patience and help, this man waited over two months for a substantial sum of money to be returned to him without ever once placing blame on me. F1 has been most helpful and will attempt to get them going again through my bro. This is a fine set of SDA, they were my first and my babies, I really hope they sing again one day soon.
Effin Fedex.
RT1
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on
Comments
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Well I"SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE" -
Yeah...I know that feeling...once I also_________________________________________________
***\\\\\........................... My Audio Journey ............................./////***
2008 & 2010 Football Pool WINNER
SOPAThank God for different opinions. Imagine the world if we all wanted the same woman -
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For me to do that I.......Michael
In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
NORTH of 60° -
Can you believe the nerve of"SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE" -
I was thinking exactly the same thing._________________________________________________
***\\\\\........................... My Audio Journey ............................./////***
2008 & 2010 Football Pool WINNER
SOPAThank God for different opinions. Imagine the world if we all wanted the same woman -
It's a good possibility that heSource: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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I understand...But if he"Just because youre offended doesnt mean youre right." - Ricky Gervais
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase
"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson -
I understand...But if he didnt drop the lighter fluid
Speakers
Carver Amazing Fronts
CS400i Center
RT800i's Rears
Sub Paradigm Servo 15
Electronics
Conrad Johnson PV-5 pre-amp
Parasound Halo A23
Pioneer 84TXSi AVR
Pioneer 79Avi DVD
Sony CX400 CD changer
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as I went to light myMatthew
Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason
HT
Yamaha RX-V2500
CS400-Center
SDA 1A-Mains
RT20-Surround
None right now-Rears
SVS 20-39PCi
Infocus IN72 -
cigar, IIf...
Ron dislikes a film = go out and buy it.
Ron loves a film = don't even rent. -
hit the enter key waaaaaaaaaaa
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viewing the **** site
Speakers
Carver Amazing Fronts
CS400i Center
RT800i's Rears
Sub Paradigm Servo 15
Electronics
Conrad Johnson PV-5 pre-amp
Parasound Halo A23
Pioneer 84TXSi AVR
Pioneer 79Avi DVD
Sony CX400 CD changer
Panasonic 42-PX60U Plasma
WMC Win7 32bit HD DVR -
Well, it started out as a more "serious" post but what the hell!!!! This place is a million laughs.
carry on. It was actually a good "neverending" story beginning. Somebody start another one.
RT1 -
just when I was considering shipping my LS90's, thanx to this story, heeeeeeeelllllllllllll Nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!Living Room 2 Channel -
Schiit SYS Passive Pre. Jolida CD player. Songbird streamer. California Audio Labs Sigma II DAC, DIY 300as1/a1 Ice modules Class D amp. LSi15 with MM842 woofer upgrade, Nordost Blue Heaven and Unity interconnects.
Upstairs 2 Channel Rig -
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Studio Rig - Scarlett 18i20(Gen3) DAW, Mac Mini, Aiyma A07 Max (BridgedX2), Totem Mites -
There is a reason Doro wont ship speaks, live and learn.
RT1 -
I've received speakers twice via truck (my Pinnacle CGT's and my Energy C-9's), that is some serious stress right there. Though both sets made it fine. The Pinnacles came Fedex, the C-9's, UPS.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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I just moved into my first home about two months ago. Since that time I've had UPS and FedEx both make deliveries and its the same story each time. Its clearly visible that someone is home (car in driveway, lights on etc.) and in every case the damn delivery guy throws the package on the front door and leaves. No knock. No ringing the door bell. Nothing. Just set it on the porch and run.
Makes me very nervous about ordering anything of value. At least my neighborhood seems pretty safe. -
Now you know why I don't mind being a "Road Warrior" and drive to Ohio, Maine, and Ontario to pick up my SDA's.Amplifiers: 1-SAE Mark IV, 4-SAE 2400, 1-SAE 2500, 2-SAE 2600, 1-Buttkicker BKA 1000N w/2-tactile transducers. Sources: Sony BDP CX7000es, Sony CX300/CX400/CX450/CX455, SAE 8000 tuner, Akai 4000D R2R, Technics 1100A TT, Epson 8500UB with Carada 100". Speakers:Polk SDA SRS, 3.1TL, FXi5, FXi3, 2-SVS 20-29, Yamaha, SVS center sub. Power:2-Monster HTS3500, Furman M-8D & RR16 Plus. 2-SAE 4000 X-overs, SAE 5000a noise reduction, MSB Link DAC III, MSB Powerbase, Behringer 2496, Monarchy DIP 24/96.
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Lou dont ship the speakers no matter what after reading that story
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Anything that can't be carried easily should be palletized and held at the shipping station for pick up at the destination city. Any carrier that I have had experience with shipping telecom gear gives it the stress test!
The pallet forces them to handle it in a way that prevents damage.
If it doesn't fit on a pallet, then go pick it up!
I have passed on may deals that aren't local because of this.
My worst story is the one where FEDEX drops two pallets off in the driveway of my house behind the wife's car without even ringing the doorbell!
I now have my home office where i can see the front of the house."The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson -
Well, yea, but afterall, its Suckstobe well you I guess.:D j/k.
RT1 -
This ordeal was a real bummer for everyone involved and was also a big disappointment for me because I had been looking for a pair of 1C's for along time! Anyway, I have to send out a huge thank you to Reeltrouble [Ted] for literally going above and beyond the call of duty on this! I know it was a real hassle for him but he hung in there and did me a real favor by getting FEDEX to pay-up! I also want to think F1nut [Jesse] for his assistance in guiding me as to how I might go about repairing the speakers! I got to talk to Jesse and Ted on the phone and I have to tell anyone here that doesn't already know that these two guys are real stand up type of men and great Club Polk brothers! And finally thanks have to go out to Ted's brother Terry who I have meet with a couple of times. He's a real nice guy that has a new passion for audio!
Geez, what a mess this whole thing was but I have learned a valuable lesson that the rest of us could take from this...and that is, it just isn't worth it to ship these speakers! Some other members refuse to ship and now I know why. Even with the original boxes and packing along with double boxing with extra Styrofoam it wasn't enough to keep the FEDEX people from damaging them! Ted did what I thought was a very good job packing the 1C's but they were handled poorly at best as it must have taken a pretty good blow to knock the cross brace completely loose in one of the cabinets!
Again, a big thanks to Ted, Jesse, and Terry!!!!!!!!!!!!!2 Channel:
Amp/Parasound Halo A23
Pre/Carver C-1
Tuner/Carver TX-11a
CDP/Jolida JD 100A
Turntable/AR XB-Shure V15 III -
Speakers
Carver Amazing Fronts
CS400i Center
RT800i's Rears
Sub Paradigm Servo 15
Electronics
Conrad Johnson PV-5 pre-amp
Parasound Halo A23
Pioneer 84TXSi AVR
Pioneer 79Avi DVD
Sony CX400 CD changer
Panasonic 42-PX60U Plasma
WMC Win7 32bit HD DVR -
That really sucks but I'm glad to hear things got resolved.
On my way home today I watched a postal delivery guy hop out of his truck and just accidently have this package shoot out of his hands and land on the concrete. He then decided to kick it along with his foot a bit so he wouldn't have to stop and pick it up. I just had to shake my head and pray I never have to ship anything breakable :rolleyes: -
Ted,
Glad it worked out, but obviously one's patience should not be put to that kind of test.
Why not copy/ paste your story into a little letter to FedEx? Often times they'll do something to apease a dissatisfied customer.More later,
Tour...
Vox Copuli
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. - Old English Proverb
"Death doesn't come with a Uhaul." - Dennis Gardner
"It's easy to get lost in price vs performance vs ego vs illusion." - doro
"There is a certain entertainment value in ripping the occaisonal (sic) buttmunch..." - TroyD -
↑Good point. Maybe if they start to notice the bad publicity they are getting here they'll try to bribe you into keeping your mouth shut Slightly doubtful, though, since this does seem to happen quite often...
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I had a similar experience with Fedex last year - I was receiving a preamp and they delivered it to a wrong address in the next town over (the sender had correctly addressed the package)
I immediately called and inquired about the status of the package, they confirmed that whoops, it was delivered to the wrong address and they'd retrieve the package tomorrow and redeliver promptly. Very polite and helpful sounding - BUT a couple days went by and no package, no updates to tracking. I had to call back several times over the next few days - each time it was like the people I'd previously talked to had dropped of the face of the earth. Each time it was like the first time anyone in the fedex organization had heard of my problem. Each time I was assured that everything was now taken care of :rolleyes:
Finally someone put me in contact with the director of a local shipping branch (of something whatsit - forget the exact title). Finally, this was a person that actually DID SOMETHING about my problem rather that just giving me lipservice. Finally I got the package and all was well.
I guess you just have to call Fedex like a dozen times to get anything done :rolleyes:Tannoy Dimension TD10, SOTA Star Sapphire, Heathkit W4A's, McIntosh MC2100, Eddie-Current Zana Deux, Singlepower SDS, Sennheiser HD650, Audio-Technica L3000, Sony Qualia 010 -
disneyjoe7 wrote:Correction......
"While looking at my 9mm hand gun"
Either I completely suck at this or this whole thing was derailed....
Maybe a little of both. :eek:
Speakers
Carver Amazing Fronts
CS400i Center
RT800i's Rears
Sub Paradigm Servo 15
Electronics
Conrad Johnson PV-5 pre-amp
Parasound Halo A23
Pioneer 84TXSi AVR
Pioneer 79Avi DVD
Sony CX400 CD changer
Panasonic 42-PX60U Plasma
WMC Win7 32bit HD DVR -
DJ7---No man, I hit the enter key buy mistake after typing the title and about three words. So the guys thought I was doing another of my little stories where you pass the story on. While I was typing the tale the guys made with the funnies which were funny. Its all good my man.
Richard--Thank you for your kind words, they do matter and show when members work together things can turn out right. Its a club not e-bay not craig list, eff those that dont think so. I only did what I should do.
Tour--Not a bad idea, individuals are just little guys to them worth a try.
Well at least the story is out here, nobody is going to stop using them, heck, they are all about the same in my eyes. Just try to use the manufacture's packaging at all times, take bunches of pics of each packing step and never give up, in the case only the squeaky wheel gets greased.
RT1
