Another post office fiasco

[Bamacues]

Back at the end of March, I bought a nice cue off another member. He packed the cue up as he should have, and shipped it to me via USPS Priority Mail, insured. Of course, the max amount a package can be insured for on-line is $500, and the cue had a value a little above that...around $650.

Well, I receive the cue, and the box is damaged. I open the box and remove a cue which has been broken in half. I contacted the seller and went to the post office. I worked with the seller to fill out the insurance papers to recover the $500. Everything required was submitted to the post office.

Today, I spoke with the USPS folks to determine the status of the claim, and they said it had been rejected because they did not feel that the cue was worth the amount that the claim was for. It took them 2 months to advise me of this, and they have had (and still have) the cue in their possession for that amount of time. They said I could appeal, which I most certainly will do.

I have contacted the cuemaker, and he sent me an email stating that the replacement value of the cue is $1500.

It is amazing to me that an uninformed postal insurance person would make a determination of lower value than the $500 valuation requested in the insurance. They were provided of proof of the value and cost of purchase with the original documents. I have no doubt at all that I will eventually get the money that I am due, but I have shipped hundreds of packages over the last couple of years Priority and Express mail, all insured, and I have one claim for damage/destruction of one item (which they BROKE IN HALF), and I hit the bureaucratic brick wall on this one.

Don't feel too badly for me yet. I was a government bureaucrat for 35 years, in Washington, DC, and I know how to play the game. With my appeal of this matter, a copy will also be forwarded to the Postmaster General, John Foster, which will include all of the original documentation and photos as well as all of the new, additional material.

I just wanted to vent.....

Thanks for listening.
Joe

 

[Cardinal_Syn]

wow broken in half? really makes you think on how they handle these packages.

 

[bigshooter]

wow broken in half? really makes you think on how they handle these packages.

I had 6 Fenwick fishing rods sent UPS one time in a heavy PVC tube that I could have driven my car over and not dented and UPS managed to snap it in half.

These packages are thrown on pallets and stacked on trucks, planes etc. if the end of your package happens to be sticking out from the edge of the pallet when the next pallet is dropped on it or next to it then its all over but the crying.

 

[cuesblues]

I had a similar situation with the USPS on an It's George case that got badly damaged in shipping. I had to deal with a certain person at a local post office, and she was really difficult. I was holding the case and asked her what was going to happen to it and she ripped it out of my hands and said "it's going to auction". The ordeal took several months, they put up all kinds of roadblocks, so I finally contacted the main office and got it handled in a couple of weeks. The problem could be with the local branch like mine was. The main group seems to be less emotional about these claims. The local branch people seem to take it personally.

The quote of 1500.00 to replace the cue from the cue builder could be the ticket to getting a full refund. I think that is the sort of thing that the main office looks at. I would definitely go over someones head on this deal, you would be surprised at how easy they were to deal with once I refused to deal with this local person anymore.

 

[shinobi]

It shouldn't even matter what the cue is worth. You paid extra to insure it for $500. They shouldn't be able to decide later that they don't want to pay out the insurance claim. That's very weak.

 

[mullyman]

I've got a Justis case on it's way to me right now. I would appreciate it if you guys would stop these horror stories of damages during shipping.
MULLY

 

[deadwhak]

wow broken in half? really makes you think on how they handle these packages.

not to knock the p.o...but i work there..and i have seen how some ppl handle them packages...they seperate them in different containers, some near them and some within throwin distance..and if they dont belong in the container close to them...it goes flyin in the containers further away..just the way it is..

 

[ericdraven]

wow broken in half? really makes you think on how they handle these packages.

damn . what the hell was someone doing with it , playing baseball that sucks. i have had problems before also but nothing like that. the biggest problems i have is with ups who would dleiver a package on my door and just leave grrrrrrrrr. and sometimes those packages are guns !!! pisses me off when they just leave soemthing that should be signed for . because anyone can walk up and take item and then im screwed

good luck

 

[gobrian77]

Sounds like they drove over it or something- you gotta try pretty hard to break a cue in half.

 

[miah g.]

you have to be a hounddog about these things. because if you arent, they fully expect you to just go away. probably works out for them more often than not.

 

[SCCues]

Joe,

One of my wife's friends asked me to buy a new pool cue for her son (who is in a wheel chair) for her to give to him as a Christmas present. I ordered the cue and it was shipped through the post office and when it arrived there was a good sized hole in the side of the box. The cue was destoyed since a huge chunk was knocked out of it. I'd ordered the cue from Hawley's Billiards and they sent me another cue, but I always thought what if it that had been a $2500 cue instead of a $150 S/P. It's a sick feeling when your package arrives and it's been mashed or punched in.

James

 

[SCCues]

not to knock the p.o...but i work there..and i have seen how some ppl handle them packages...they seperate them in different containers, some near them and some within throwin distance..and if they dont belong in the container close to them...it goes flyin in the containers further away..just the way it is..

Now what if the package has a $3000 custom cue in it? This gives me an uneasy feeling thinking about all of the cues i've shipped.....

James

 

[BHQ]

Back at the end of March, I bought a nice cue off another member. He packed the cue up as he should have, and shipped it to me via USPS Priority Mail, insured. Of course, the max amount a package can be insured for on-line is $500, and the cue had a value a little above that...around $650.

Well, I receive the cue, and the box is damaged. I open the box and remove a cue which has been broken in half. I contacted the seller and went to the post office. I worked with the seller to fill out the insurance papers to recover the $500. Everything required was submitted to the post office.

Today, I spoke with the USPS folks to determine the status of the claim, and they said it had been rejected because they did not feel that the cue was worth the amount that the claim was for. It took them 2 months to advise me of this, and they have had (and still have) the cue in their possession for that amount of time. They said I could appeal, which I most certainly will do.

I have contacted the cuemaker, and he sent me an email stating that the replacement value of the cue is $1500.

It is amazing to me that an uninformed postal insurance person would make a determination of lower value than the $500 valuation requested in the insurance. They were provided of proof of the value and cost of purchase with the original documents. I have no doubt at all that I will eventually get the money that I am due, but I have shipped hundreds of packages over the last couple of years Priority and Express mail, all insured, and I have one claim for damage/destruction of one item (which they BROKE IN HALF), and I hit the bureaucratic brick wall on this one.

Don't feel too badly for me yet. I was a government bureaucrat for 35 years, in Washington, DC, and I know how to play the game. With my appeal of this matter, a copy will also be forwarded to the Postmaster General, John Foster, which will include all of the original documentation and photos as well as all of the new, additional material.

I just wanted to vent.....

Thanks for listening.
Joe

hate to hear this joe
that french word "FRAGILE" , pronounced FRA GEE LAY, a la the movie, "the christmas story" means nothing to them
recently i asked one of our illustrious postal employees to give me some of the fragile stickers they have there
i slapped about a half dozen on the box, and then the silly son of a ***** takes the box and tosses/throws it on the conveyor belt behind him
you think i went off on him?????
and then they look at you, like who the hell are YOU pal to question me

 

[bigshooter]

I would suggest that anyone shipping a cue should go the hardware store and buy a piece of heavy walled PVC pipe and cut it to size, a 10 foot section will cost you around $7.00 or less and cut in two will ship two cues and you can literally run over it with your car and not damage the contents.

For the ends you can buy plastic caps that slide over but they are a little costly, about as much as the pipe section for each end, what I used to do was cut very heavy cardboard in a circle to fit on the end and just duct tape it in place, works great.

Wrap the butt and shaft section separately in bubble wrap and snug them into the pipe then put the pipe in a box.

I shipped tons of very expensive fishing rods this way up to 9 feet long and never had one broken using this method.

 

[desi2960]

also broke in half

last year i had a cue broken in half that i had shipped in one of the triangle priority mail boxes the post office supplies. they payed off on that one. they lost a cue i had insured for $400.00 about 8 months ago, i went trough all the, prove what is was worth bs, and i am still waiting 8 months later.

 

[Cardinal_Syn]

hate to hear this joe
that french word "FRAGILE" , pronounced FRA GEE LAY, a la the movie, "the christmas story" means nothing to them
recently i asked one of our illustrious postal employees to give me some of the fragile stickers they have there
i slapped about a half dozen on the box, and then the silly son of a ***** takes the box and tosses/throws it on the conveyor belt behind him
you think i went off on him?????
and then they look at you, like who the hell are YOU pal to question me

i don't even think those stickers makes any difference, if anything it'll probably be worse, it might be a target mark for them.

 

[cuesblues]

8-months

last year i had a cue broken in half that i had shipped in one of the triangle priority mail boxes the post office supplies. they payed off on that one. they lost a cue i had insured for $400.00 about 8 months ago, i went trough all the, prove what is was worth bs, and i am still waiting 8 months later.

They sure don't like to take care of claims. I still think that the problem in at the local level dealing with people that want you to just go away. There's no question that the person I dealt with took the problem personally, and they made it virtually impossible to collect on the claim. I don't think they expected me to go over their heads, and most people probably just let it slide thinking that they can't collect because of the lack of documentation. How can you get a proof of value from Mike Roberts on a 20-year old case? I ended up having a well known cue dealer write an "opinion" of the value of the case, and that finally did it for me, but through their administration office, forget the local people.

 

[Bamacues]

not to knock the p.o...but i work there..and i have seen how some ppl handle them packages...they seperate them in different containers, some near them and some within throwin distance..and if they dont belong in the container close to them...it goes flyin in the containers further away..just the way it is..

I agree that that could be a concern. This particular box was a post office triangular box, the cue was wrapped in double bubble wrap with peanuts, too. The box looked like a fork lift had hit it. It had a sharp crease and hole in it almost like you would have if you had hit it hard with a big machette.

 

[bigshooter]

i don't even think those stickers makes any difference, if anything it'll probably be worse, it might be a target mark for them.

I read a how to guide on shipping by a former UPS employee and he said straight out that putting 'fragile' stickers on a box pretty much guarantees that someone having a bad day will play hockey with it, he suggested that you NEVER put fragile or handle with care stickers on a package.

 

[Bamacues]

I would suggest that anyone shipping a cue should go the hardware store and buy a piece of heavy walled PVC pipe and cut it to size, a 10 foot section will cost you around $7.00 or less and cut in two will ship two cues and you can literally run over it with your car and not damage the contents.

For the ends you can buy plastic caps that slide over but they are a little costly, about as much as the pipe section for each end, what I used to do was cut very heavy cardboard in a circle to fit on the end and just duct tape it in place, works great.

Wrap the butt and shaft section separately in bubble wrap and snug them into the pipe then put the pipe in a box.

I shipped tons of very expensive fishing rods this way up to 9 feet long and never had one broken using this method.

That is good advice, but it can be expensive. I have shipped around 200 cues over the last year. Add another $1400 plus the additional weight, and it gets REAL expensive.