Another USPS horror story

gregnice37

gregnice37

Bar Banger, Cue Collector
Silver Member
So i did a trade with someone for a cue. We both shipped the same day, this past Monday, both did 2 day priority w/signature confirmation. So he got my end on Wednesday like it should have been. Mine didnt show up in my state until 11pm Weds night. Got to my local PO the next morning at 730am. After that no updates that day. So i call & the guy tells me its definitely out for delivery and i will get it Thursday. No dice.

Friday comes & at 830am it says out for delivery. At 3pm im leaving for work, run into my regular delivery guy and ask if he has a package for me. Says no nothing today. I even go to look thru his van. So i call again & they tell me its definitely on my guys van & will get it today. I tell them i just left from my guys van & he definitely doesnt have it. They tell me call back at 5pm & they will check with him.

I call 5pm & they are stumped. Call today & they are still stumped as to where it is. They cant find it. So i proceed to give them details on how its a 3 foot tube & 3 pounds, its not like a small package not easily seen. Now they really cant believe they cant find it but can only tell me they will call me if its found.

Makes me sick that its probably gone from me forever now & im probably out of the cue, plus my cue i sent in the trade. Its one of the worst feelings in the world & its fraud if an employee stole it, but the feeling you get from USPS is "oh well."

Hopefully it magically appears before i make an appearance at my PO on Monday morning, because i fear i might be arrested after i make that visit to them.
 
TX Poolnut

TX Poolnut

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Somebody at the post office is using your nice cue. They probably don't even know who Earl Strickland is.

Did you hear that? They just dropped it on the floor and now it has a ding in it. The pawn shop is gonna offer them 20 bucks for it next Monday.
 
Fast Lenny

Fast Lenny

Faster Than You...
Silver Member
I just recently had USPS pay me off on a claim this month. They lost a possible Herman Rambow cue. I sold it on Ebay for around $250 as it was in poor condition and not confirmed as a Rambow.

I insured it for $500 and they lost it, tracking stopped right here in the Phoenix hub. I filed a claim after a few weeks and they would not honor the $500 even though that is what I insured it for. I even showed a value from an appraisal that was much more then that from a reputable billiard store. If I pay for insurance and you accept my payment you should have to pay off especially if you lose my item.

In the end they paid me for what it sold for on Ebay but I had to provide much documentation and get the run around. You can't take them to small claims either, you have to go to federal court. USPS sucks when they damage or lose an item but I use them often without much trouble.
 
P

poolguy4u

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
.


If you are dealing with pool cues and getting them in the mail, you need to have
USPS hold all your packages so you can go and pick them up.

Just fill out a form and you will be safe this way.



.
 
J

john coloccia

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
FWIW, I use USPS almos exclusively for my business. Occasionally a package disappears and shows up 2 weeks later (happens about once a year). To date, with may hundreds of packages shipped, they've never actually lost one.

The reason I use them is I've found them to be the most reliable out of all the carriers, even though they still screw something up here and there.
 
skins

skins

Likes to draw
Silver Member
tduncan said:
What is
The advantage ?
Click to expand...

It takes much longer but it's tracked at every step, driver, time, place etc... This is a common way precious goods like high end jewelry and watches are sent... The longest but the safest form of mail... Doesn't help you though in the claim value as stated above. That, you have to prove with hard evidence...

Someday someone will sue the government for insurance fraud..I'd be tough but I think any competent lawyer would have a good chance of winning that case though it may take 10 years to do so or at the minimum draw serious attention to it...
 
Cracktherack

Cracktherack

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
UPS is much better and I believe claims go through quickly. They don't hire those with a 6th grade education and a long record of criminal arrests.
 
gunzby

gunzby

My light saber is LD
Silver Member
gregnice37

gregnice37

Bar Banger, Cue Collector
Silver Member
gunzby said:
I recently had a Gilbert made. USPS left it on my neighbors porch. When he walked over to my house to give it to me I was just as grateful as I was in shock.
Click to expand...

Hopefully my story works out too, the missing cue is a Gilbert from 2007.
 
J

jayburger

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have had some items shipped where usps never updated tracking info and just showed label created still waiting to receive actual package from shipper.( had this happen again this week with a 425$ golf club) it showed up safe and secure,but i was worried the club was never actually shipped. Many items shipped including multiple 4 figure cues and they always find their way here. i prefer usps to ups or fedex
 
fastone371

fastone371

Certifiable
Silver Member
Fast Lenny said:
I just recently had USPS pay me off on a claim this month. They lost a possible Herman Rambow cue. I sold it on Ebay for around $250 as it was in poor condition and not confirmed as a Rambow.

I insured it for $500 and they lost it, tracking stopped right here in the Phoenix hub. I filed a claim after a few weeks and they would not honor the $500 even though that is what I insured it for. I even showed a value from an appraisal that was much more then that from a reputable billiard store. If I pay for insurance and you accept my payment you should have to pay off especially if you lose my item.

In the end they paid me for what it sold for on Ebay but I had to provide much documentation and get the run around. You can't take them to small claims either, you have to go to federal court. USPS sucks when they damage or lose an item but I use them often without much trouble.
Click to expand...

I do not understand how you can pay for a certain amount of insurance coverage value then when USPS drops the ball they decide how much restitution they will make regardless of the insured value. I can understand USPS not paying a $10,000 claim on a happy meal toy because thats what you had it insured for and they lost it but your claim does not sound unreasonable. I know that UPS is pretty good about this, if they damaged something in transit they will pay out the claimed value on the damaged goods, at least with legitimate claims and values. What USPS is doing is akin to an insurance company giving you a used Ford Focus because someone stole your brand new AMG Mercedes Benz.
 
ShootingArts

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
round tube?

I suspect the #1 reason for pool cues disappearing in shipment is somebody shipping it in a round tube. I usually ship in round tubes myself, heavy wall pvc with the ends securely plugged. However I then put the tubes in a triangular or square box.

The reason is simple, round tubes roll. They roll on conveyer belts and fall under and behind things in difficult to access places and places the shipper can't see well. They roll out the truck or off the dolly and roll under another vehicle or under the delivery truck itself. Sometimes the driver never knew it rolled away, sometimes it rolled into a tough place to retrieve it from and the driver said, "What the hell!" and went on his or her merry way.

Don't ship in something that can roll! Don't bother insuring for more value than you can prove either, you won't get it except after a long and bitter fight and if you are lucky. My shipping preferences these days are the post office, fed ex, and UPS in that order.

Hu
 
alstl

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
tduncan said:
What is
The advantage ?
Click to expand...

Someone has to sign for it and is personally responsible for it. Every time it changes hands from clerk at the post office to truck driver to clerk at another post office to letter carrier it is personally handed to that person and is signed for.

It doesn't get tossed into a large container with a bunch of other parcels like other mail and it doesn't get left on your doorstep. A lot of truck drivers carry registered mail in the cab of the truck with them so nothing happens to it. Large post offices and air mail facilities have a separate caged area for registered mail.

Have you ever seen a thread on here with someone complaining they used registered mail and xyz happened to their cue?
 
Nuts4Tascarellas

Nuts4Tascarellas

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
shipping

I had this happen to me with round tubes. The package rolled off a belt somewhere in east bumfrig - then ends up tossed into a bin marked, "undeliverable." Tracking wasn't working either. Apparently the tube was on the belt rolling back and forth from side to side of the belt. The laser readers couldn't read it. So at 2 weeks of sweating - both my buddy and I started calling about once an hour demanding to speak to each person's supervisor. Went up the chain as far as we could. Apparently they have a specialist that is used in these situations. (They won't tell you that) We broke them down over a 3 day period. That's who they said was going to handle it. No tracking still. It ended up at my house 2 days later! The part where it went into an undeliverable tote was explained to both of us. Now I ship a tube inside a triangle, or square box. Lesson learned. I hope this helps someone else not have to go through what I did. BTW - it was a 3 thousand dollar cue! :p
 
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