Jim:
Bummer. I guess I've been lucky in that I've never had any significant damage to an incoming bike (I'm very compulsive/thorough with packing and protecting any I ship out). The most trashed/damaged boxes that I receive come from UPS. They will dump a bike box on its end on my driveway!! IMO UPS quality has really slipped in the last 5 years.
All I've heard from others in recent years is that UPS "always" says "Improper Packing" and denies bike-related claims. Anyone had a successful bike shipping damage claim with Brown recently?
My advice (easy for me to say now) would be NEVER ship a complete bike via UPS ground. It's just too risky IMO. Try 2nd-day air or USPS or Fed-X (Fed-X ground can be cost effective I've been told; my local office is flaky though - very inconsistent regarding pricing for shipping a bike. Also, Fed-X Ground boxes are the second-most beat-up ones I receive in my experience). I try to insist on getting my bikes via one of my "preferred" methods whenever possible. I'm a big fan of Priority Mail, but they have the 108" girth + length limit. Most frames can go that way, but not complete bikes....
Sorry if I haven't directly helped you with your current problem. Rant over.
Thanks,
Greg Parker A2 MI USA
Jim C. wrote:
> Message: 6
> Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 15:55:17 -0500
> From: Jim Cole <jcole@memphis.edu>
> To: "Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org" <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: [CR]Bent Fork Help/UPS Claim
>
> Well, it finally happened. I just got a bike in via UPS and the front
> fork is bent. I'm going to take a close look at it tonight and hope it
> is salvageable. Any suggestions on who to send it to for a possible
> straightening? It's a Mercian and I could send it to them or buy a
> replacement through them, but would like to see if I could get it
> straightened stateside first.
>
> Anyone ever have a good experience making a claim through UPS?!? I've
> only heard they are VERY slow to pay claims. I'm not out a whole lot of
> money one way or the other, but not real happy about this. Any
> suggestions on dealing with the UPS claims process would be greatly
> appreciated. THANKS!!!
>
> Jim Cole
> Memphis, TN