I am the person who purchased the two cues from this OP. Thomas shipped the cues as instructed to my office as I have a number of people there to receive deliveries. Otherwise, ups would throw the package on the deck of my house. My receptionist leaned this 4 foot long x 4", maybe 5 inch tube against a file cabinet just outside my office door as my desk faces the doorway. I saw her lean it there, just as I finished a phone call, walked over and picked up the tube and said OH OH, damn it !!!
Four people were staring at me and I walked the tube to my receptionists counter top and immediately called Thomas. I explained the situation as I also held two people who work for me right there while I made the phone call to Thomas on speaker phone. I asked Thomas for his permission to open the tube and I described that the only thing in the tube was one balled up bubble wrapping. I had noticed that Thomas had taped the outer cap with two pieces of tape that crisscrossed over the end cap and with two pieces of tape, that leaves four ends going down the edge of the tube.
When removing the first end cap with Thomas's permission, the cap hung by two pieces of the tape. The tape that was on the sides were undisturbed and it was easy to see someone cut the tape running a knife, blade cutting the tape on the inside of the plastic cap. The tape that was cut was just pushed to the middle of the cap. The tape was not disturbed in any way shape or form, other than having a very clean cut. I then noticed the other side of the cap had the same thing done and I pulled back the cap and it hung by two pieces of tape, again, two sides across the end cap had a clean cue. I then balled up the bubble wrap and inserted it into on end of the tube to get an idea of where the cue was positioned in the center as that is how Thomas told me he packaged it.
Made sense, the cue was centered in the tube with bubble wrap balled up and stuffed to the end of the cue that was bubble wrapped it self. Someone cut the tape on two sides where it went over the end cap, pulled the cap out, removed the bubble wrap on one end, could not reach or get the cues out, done the same thing on the other end and used something to push the cues from the center of the tube out the other side, placed the caps back into position and pushed the cut pieces down on the center of the end caps and let the package move on. I finished my call with Thomas and called the ups shipping hub that's 25 miles away and since my company has shipped packages with ups for the last 40 years on a average of 25 per working day, they know us well.
I called up, told them our ups driver just left and I want to speak with her asap and explained to the ups supervisor what exactly happened, talked with the driver and she confirmed that she and my receptionist and another worker made a joke out of such a big tube to ship a poster in as that's all they thought of. To bad, she didn't look at the sticker which said 5 lbs. I recreated the weight using 1.8 lb for the tube, 1.4 lb for one cue 1.4 lb for the other and 4.0 oz for the extra shaft, six ounces for the bubble wrap and I am spot on with the actual shipping weight of that tube being 4.7 ounces rounded up to 5 lbs for Thomas. I had photo's into the ups hub that night of the package not being hurt, the tape being cut and the tape going down the sides of the tubes not having a blemish towards removal or damage. I sent the photo's to Thomas right away and the next day, the package was received by the ups department for damage inspection.
The ups security head for the midwest regional office was contacted and photo's sent there also. All this was done within 18 hours of myself receiving the tube as if the photo's were sent to the hubs and checked with ups employees who checked out the scanners, someone might give us a clue to when the cue was heavy and or when it was light. Thomas and I were on this pronto as I hate thief's and someone would have hopefully noticed why such a big tube had nothing in it. However, like Thomas said, we communicated very well with each other and had this situation rolling, only to find out, the midwest security head didn't do a damn thing and actually stated they were checking on the extra packages to be turned in at the hubs. DUH !!!! The package is here, we have no contents, LOOKING FOR A THIEF !!!!, Hellooooooooooooooo. Flippin Flippin Duh.
I want the cues !!!, Not my money back !!, I want to catch the thief !!!! We had a shot at it, I really believe we did. I am still checking craigslist, still trying to get people in area's to help. I even posted here in AZ Billiards for players to contact me if they lived in certain cities as I would then clue them in.
NO response though, lol.
So, all in all, the ups delivery driver easily confirmed that the package did not have any contents when she delivered the tube. I also ship cues in tubes, but, if anyone has received a shipment from me, they also know that the sealed tubes are put into a usps priority 5x5x5 triangle medium priority box, this makes it double tough for someone to gain easy access to a tube. Thomas and I know their is also a glitch in the manifest and that is what I am still barking up and down the midwest security heads ears as I have demanded an explanation for that. Does not make sense.
Anyways, I am the receiver, sadly, received a empty tube.
Sorry members, paragraph breaks entered, I just type, lol.
Four people were staring at me and I walked the tube to my receptionists counter top and immediately called Thomas. I explained the situation as I also held two people who work for me right there while I made the phone call to Thomas on speaker phone. I asked Thomas for his permission to open the tube and I described that the only thing in the tube was one balled up bubble wrapping. I had noticed that Thomas had taped the outer cap with two pieces of tape that crisscrossed over the end cap and with two pieces of tape, that leaves four ends going down the edge of the tube.
When removing the first end cap with Thomas's permission, the cap hung by two pieces of the tape. The tape that was on the sides were undisturbed and it was easy to see someone cut the tape running a knife, blade cutting the tape on the inside of the plastic cap. The tape that was cut was just pushed to the middle of the cap. The tape was not disturbed in any way shape or form, other than having a very clean cut. I then noticed the other side of the cap had the same thing done and I pulled back the cap and it hung by two pieces of tape, again, two sides across the end cap had a clean cue. I then balled up the bubble wrap and inserted it into on end of the tube to get an idea of where the cue was positioned in the center as that is how Thomas told me he packaged it.
Made sense, the cue was centered in the tube with bubble wrap balled up and stuffed to the end of the cue that was bubble wrapped it self. Someone cut the tape on two sides where it went over the end cap, pulled the cap out, removed the bubble wrap on one end, could not reach or get the cues out, done the same thing on the other end and used something to push the cues from the center of the tube out the other side, placed the caps back into position and pushed the cut pieces down on the center of the end caps and let the package move on. I finished my call with Thomas and called the ups shipping hub that's 25 miles away and since my company has shipped packages with ups for the last 40 years on a average of 25 per working day, they know us well.
I called up, told them our ups driver just left and I want to speak with her asap and explained to the ups supervisor what exactly happened, talked with the driver and she confirmed that she and my receptionist and another worker made a joke out of such a big tube to ship a poster in as that's all they thought of. To bad, she didn't look at the sticker which said 5 lbs. I recreated the weight using 1.8 lb for the tube, 1.4 lb for one cue 1.4 lb for the other and 4.0 oz for the extra shaft, six ounces for the bubble wrap and I am spot on with the actual shipping weight of that tube being 4.7 ounces rounded up to 5 lbs for Thomas. I had photo's into the ups hub that night of the package not being hurt, the tape being cut and the tape going down the sides of the tubes not having a blemish towards removal or damage. I sent the photo's to Thomas right away and the next day, the package was received by the ups department for damage inspection.
The ups security head for the midwest regional office was contacted and photo's sent there also. All this was done within 18 hours of myself receiving the tube as if the photo's were sent to the hubs and checked with ups employees who checked out the scanners, someone might give us a clue to when the cue was heavy and or when it was light. Thomas and I were on this pronto as I hate thief's and someone would have hopefully noticed why such a big tube had nothing in it. However, like Thomas said, we communicated very well with each other and had this situation rolling, only to find out, the midwest security head didn't do a damn thing and actually stated they were checking on the extra packages to be turned in at the hubs. DUH !!!! The package is here, we have no contents, LOOKING FOR A THIEF !!!!, Hellooooooooooooooo. Flippin Flippin Duh.
I want the cues !!!, Not my money back !!, I want to catch the thief !!!! We had a shot at it, I really believe we did. I am still checking craigslist, still trying to get people in area's to help. I even posted here in AZ Billiards for players to contact me if they lived in certain cities as I would then clue them in.
NO response though, lol.
So, all in all, the ups delivery driver easily confirmed that the package did not have any contents when she delivered the tube. I also ship cues in tubes, but, if anyone has received a shipment from me, they also know that the sealed tubes are put into a usps priority 5x5x5 triangle medium priority box, this makes it double tough for someone to gain easy access to a tube. Thomas and I know their is also a glitch in the manifest and that is what I am still barking up and down the midwest security heads ears as I have demanded an explanation for that. Does not make sense.
Anyways, I am the receiver, sadly, received a empty tube.
Sorry members, paragraph breaks entered, I just type, lol.
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