Long story short... I shipped a well packed box and the item was a cold cast resin statuette that weighed about 14 lbs. It really was very close to shipping a rock. I still did the bubble wrap thing with 8" of foam peanuts around it. I ship antique glass all the time and treated this package about the same. So, from the hole and the shape of the hole it looks like a fork truck tine went through the box and broke the contents. Happens I guess.
So I immediately refunded my very cooperative buyer. He sent me all the necessary photos without me even asking. Then I went to file a claim with UPS. Well first you have to have the tracking number, then you need a shipper number which happens to be the first part of the tracking number but nobody tells you that until you've exhausted yourself trying to discover what the number might be. Then you need a Claim number which is assigned by UPS but they never put that number in any of the correspondence so you have to call and try to get a number from people that barely speak intelligible English. Finally I said get me someone I can understand and a nice fellow gave me the number. So then I went to file the information and the system said "you cannot upload data at this time." Say what? More phone calls before some said they only take claim info during business hours. Really? It's a computer function, so I will never understand. Every phone call you have to recite the tracking number and be transferred to another clerk even though you eventually get the phone number to the claims department. Doesn't matter you get transferred and usually to someone who is hard to understand. Finally they said, well we will send you an email and you can respond with all the data we need and they ask for specific things. all fine and good. I complied and responded which takes some time because they have upload limits you want to make sure you comply with in terms of size. Finally I get it all done.. get it loaded up.. send it. and I'm feeling pretty good because I can move on to the work I need to do. But, that evening I get an email saying they don't have any of the data so can't process my claim. And they give me a addy to re-enter the data. So i go there and re-enter all the data.. when I hit the send key.. I get. "You cannot upload data at this time." At this point you can figure out what the email address of the claims department is, so I just sent them an email with all the data they require which is a total of 6 screen shots including photos of damage and proof of sale, etc. I was polite but obviously frustrated by what had grown into hours to make a simple claim application. So this morning I get another email appreciating that I had a legitimate claim as the cause of damage was obvious, but I would need to wait till Monday and call their office to get a new claims number so I could re-enter the data on the correct file.
They have a tutorial at the very front end of their claims process. IT is a video. I'm telling you that if you bought your shipping label via eBay, that video is not even close to the experience you are in for. USPS is hard to get a claim paid but NOTHING like UPS. The whole point to my note is eBay needs to have a set down with UPS and the other shipping people and make the claims process easier. All these shippers make it difficult as they can before they finally pay the claim. I've had 3 claims over 20 years of shipping with USPS and they always deny the claim on the first two levels, but on the third go round they pay. Or at least that has been my experience. But USPS provides easy access to filing the claim, UPS .. lol is a nightmare. IF you had it easy I'm happy for you. But that has not been my experience.
