It is possible. It depends on how much you value your time. It is not easy. In the case of a damaged bike, they want you to ship it back to them! I did not but I had to bring it to a wharehouse after about 5 calls. Long waits, hangups, incompetents... So you go to the wharehouse with estimates etc. Then they arbitrarily cut the estimate by 40%, send you a check and say take it or leave it without explanation. It is not insurance and you do things on their terms. One more trick. They only want to deal with the shipper who "paid" for the insurance, not the recipient. Their first position is send it back to us and we will deal with the sender only.
Joe
> This thread on FEDEX shipping was of interest to me, as I ship
\r?\n> bikes via FEDEX exclusively these days, and I have been for at
\r?\n> least six years, after UPS damaged a very valuable bike in
\r?\n> shipping, and nearly destroyed another.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I've been aware that FEDEX would be a nightmare to deal with in
\r?\n> the event of damage, since you cannot really *insure* anything
\r?\n> when shipping with them.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> However, I've always shipped with the mindset that if the thing
\r?\n> was lost, I was willing to take the full financial hit. I'd try
\r?\n> to get what I could, but if I couldn't, s'est-la-vie.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> That said, I pack bikes as well as I can, I always used two
\r?\n> boxes, I always brace and pad and wrap everything thoroughly.
\r?\n> They'd have to drop the box off a 5 story building on one corner
\r?\n> to really mess it up...or, run a forklift over it (something
\r?\n> that's probably more common than we'd like to think).
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I've had five tandems, and innumerable bikes, shipped to me, and
\r?\n> away from me, via FEDEX, with not one, single problem.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Doesn't mean I couldn't have a problem the next time, but, so
\r?\n> far, so good.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I do know it's possible to get UPS to pay up, but you have to be
\r?\n> persistent, and have your ducks carefully lined up. With FEDEX,
\r?\n> who knows? I'm guessing if you could avoid the whole
\r?\n> "collectible" trap, you might get your money back, but it's just
\r?\n> a guess. I always tell buyers, that in the event of damage, or
\r?\n> loss, to NEVER tell FEDEX the bike is collectible (something
\r?\n> that's somewhat arbitrary anyway)...just tell them it's a bike,
\r?\n> get an appraisal from a reputable dealer or restorer, and follow
\r?\n> the process.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Unlike another poster, I don't find that unethical. I find
\r?\n> FEDEX's rules themselves unethical (in the manner of health
\r?\n> insurers who want only healthy people on their insurance list)
\r?\n> and inconsistent. So, I'd just play by their rules and hope for
\r?\n> the best.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> But, in the end, I'm ready to take the loss. The alternative is
\r?\n> to find an insured carrier for a LOT more money. So far, my
\r?\n> gambles have paid off, but there's no guarantee they will tomorrow.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Charles Andrews
\r?\n> SoCal