Not sure where to put this so starting in the GR Research Circle as there's a tenuous link - feel free to move it Danny if it fits better elsewhere.
Danny introduced me to Charlie in the Boston area who carries out electrical repairs (tenuous link), Charlie is a straight up guy and does a great job. I needed to send an old Musical Fidelity amp to him after I blew one of the channels, the amp weighs about 75 lbs and the PSU 50 lbs. I used a Kubox (reusable heavy duty cardboard box) for the amp and a Fedex box for the PSU, lots of packaging, insured it and had the local Fedex/Kinko's check it over before sealing everything up and shipping. So far, so good - shipped Monday and tracking confirmed it arrived Wednesday. as it was insured it had to be signed for. Called Charlie on the Friday and he's not received it, pulled off the tracking details and delivery confirmation, and they'd delivered to the wrong address (printed off the confirmations before they 'disappeared'). Initially Fedex claimed they'd delivered to the address I wrote down, after insisting that even Ray Charles could read the address I'd written on the order form they actioned a pick up and re-delivery to the correct address and gave me a new tracking number. After a week there's a delivery exception and they admit they've been unable to retrieve the 2 boxes (recipient allegedly no longer at the address) and they emailed a claim form.
It sounds like a 'no brainer' - I've got the Fedex Order Form (correct address), tracking print offs, Proof of delivery (with the wrong address and name), I can get a copy of the original invoice from the store, I insured for the used value I found on a live Audiogon sale of the same amp (I increased this for the added value of mods I had done on the PSU and can document this).
I believe I'm in a strong position but you never know - anyone who's been down this path and has advice on how to navigate the process please jump in.
Thanks