UPS ??? Do they ever pay a claim???

All you need to do is go to the local small claims court and spend $10 to file a claim. Within days of getting served, the person who can pay you will call YOU. You won't need to call anyone or speak to uneducated reps who can do nothing for you. Once it hits legal, you have reached the department that can ACT and not BS. I even charge them the $10 for the court filing fee or make them show up in court. No chance that will happen, everything will be settled very quickly.

For the record, anytime I have a claim I file all of the paperwork and then go straight to small claims court. I don't waste a second. If they pay me quickly than I don't show up for the court date and it was the best 10 bucks I could have wasted. If they give me the runaround, I am already scheduled for court so one way or another I have a timeline for some action and I have never had to go before a Judge in the 4 times I filed, they always settle provided you had insurance and the package was packed properly, which I always do.

Has anyone tried one of the packaging/shipping services such as Pak Mail? I was told that if I pay the extra charge to have them package an item that I want to ship, that it would be covered under their insurance policy--thereby avoiding UPS or FEDEX hassles. I am curious if anyone has had better luck when filing a claim through one of these outfits...

Pretender, some of the worst packed items that i have ever received came courtesy of a "mailboxes, etc" or "Pak-n-ship" type of service. The episode that i mentioned previously with the amp hanging out of the box was packed and shipped courtesy of one of these types of services. Besides doing a horrible job ( my experience ), their prices are absolutely ridiculous.

I had a piece that i was going to purchase from someone in Nevada. I told them that it would run about $12 - $15 to ship it to me here in Chicago. While they thought i was crazy with the shipping price i mentioned, they went to get an estimate. They took it to their usual shipper ( one of these "3rd party" shippers ) whom they said that they had been using for over 4 years. They were quoted $42. Needless to say, i refused to pay that amount of shipping on a very small, lightweight box. I stressed that they should go directly to a UPS terminal and do some "comparison shopping". The UPS price was $13 for the same package with the same insurance. Needless to say, they were VERY upset with the "3rd party" shipping service that had been stabbing them for several years.

Ericbee: I've seen other people make mention of this tactic. Your approach seems very well thought out and i may put it to use if i run into problems in the future. I just hope that i ( or anyone else here ) has to resort to such tactics. Sean
>

Thanks Sean:

Yes, I am quite sure that I can do a better job packing my items myself. As a matter of fact, I have never had a problem yet with damages. However, I am now faced with the prospect of shipping some large speakers--and there is no way that I can double box them, or even add extra packing material. I will have to rely on the original boxes/packing. My line of thought was that if I had them actually put the speakers in the boxes, and if something were to happen, that I would have an easier time collecting from their insurance company than UPS/FEDEX...

UPS is usually very strict about electronic equipment being packed in its original containers for the insurance to cover it. They also told me that if an item has been shipped more than 2 times already go ahead and get new packing materials as it loses efficiency by a rate of 50% each time it is shipped.

I have had one claim against UPS and it was paid within a week. Only took one phone call by me. Sounds like that is an exception to the rule