FedEX Ground Shipments and insurance: Not!

Gordy · « **on:** 28 Dec 2004, 04:55 am »

I hope most of you were aware of this, but I just found out today... that FedEx Ground shipments are not insured, nor can they be insured, for anything over the $100.00 that is included with the shipping fee. This came as a shock to me, as I've been purchasing additional insurance for years now!

Thankfully, my agent had just been to a pre-holiday seminar where it was explained that electronics, glass and basically anything breakable is not insurable with Ground Shipping. Purchasing additional insurance, to quote The Borg, is futile. In order to insure your precious equipment, make sure you use Express Shipping, which is fully insurable and to quote my agent, treated much more kindly...

All the best
Gordy

doug s. · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 04:09 pm »

Quote from: Gordy

I hope most of you were aware of this, but I just found out today... that FedEx Ground shipments are not insured, nor can they be insured, for anything over the $100.00 that is included with the shipping fee. This came as a shock to me, as I've been purchasing additional insurance for years now!

Thankfully, my agent had just been to a pre-holiday seminar where it was explained that electronics, glass and basically anything breakable is not insurable with Ground Shipping. Purchasing additional insura ...

i sold a tandberg 3001a tuna, & shipped it fedex ground. they dropped it so hard, it was damaged from the inside, tho the outside looked perfect. the box also looked perfect, & it *WAS* well-packed. it was insured for $600. fedex initially denied the claim, then they agreed to honor 50% of the claim - $300. they said they couldn't pay any more, cuz it was well packed, had no wisible damage, & the box had no wisible damage. i mentioned that acording to their logic, i could shake a baby 'til i killed it & not be liable, cuz the damage was internal & not wisible from the outside... i had well-documented fotos' of the tuna in operational condition - all lites/meters working, etc. i was about to sue fedex for the remaider, & for punitive damages, cuz they *always* try to screw folks on claims, but they finally paid in full when they lost the unit & weren't able to send it back to me.

so, tho fedex (and all the shippers, imo) are extremely difficult to deal with re: claims, they *do* allow insurance for fedex ground. in fact, it is unlawful for them to sell you insurance & then tell you they aren't insurable afterwards...

doug s.

nathanm · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 04:23 pm »

That's the whole trick the shipping companies have come up with: breaking stuff by rapid deceleration rather than blunt force trauma. "No external damage? Well hey, I guess we did our jobs! No insurance for you, sucka!

" If your box doesn't 'look the part' then it doesn't garner any sympathy.

I'd like to see a new marketing plan\slogan for a shipping company: "We're Slow, We're Expensive, But We Don't Break Anything." I'd rather wait a month to get something than have it be sacrificed in the quest for speed.

Gordy · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 04:33 pm »

According to the FedEx manual, which I was shown, any and all electronics and some other items are excluded when using ground shipping, they are only liable to a max of $100.00. Perhaps you were lucky in that they lost your tuner?

The lady who showed me this had been unaware of this fact as well, until the recent seminar they had conducted. The next time I'm over there I'll dig deeper, but the only way she knew of to get insurance over $100.00 USING STANDARD GROUND is to use FedEx's testing lab's pre-approved cartons, you basically need to send your carton to them for testing!!! This was her interpretation as well...

Perhaps this is all fairly new, but the manual didn't exactly look mint...

HTH...
Gordy

Gordy · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 04:47 pm »

Quote from: nathanm

I'd rather wait a month to get something than have it be sacrificed in the quest for speed.

Hi Nathan,

The Express services are (supposedly) a seperate entity and are the way to go for both more gentle handling and speed, again, this according to my ground agent who admits to very rough treatment with her side of the company

It also cost me triple the $ to send an amp on a four hour (by car) trip

. Better safe than sorry...

doug s. · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 Dec 2004, 05:00 pm »

dhl may be worth a try. i recently used them to ship two tunas; i paid for ground shipment from east coast to west coast, & they shipped both packages overnite, w/o damage!

when i was at their counter, they said there was no extra charge for declared insurance.

this was a dhl/airborne center, not a pass-thru counter. my nearest fedex counter is in a kinko's copy center. i think a lot of service issues have to do w/the location you use. but, the shipping damage thing seems to be pretty universal. dhl, tho, sez their main claim to fame is better handling...

doug s.

mdogbucket · « **Reply #6 on:** 29 Dec 2004, 03:52 pm »

UPS ground shipments are covered. They usually have to be packed in an original factory carton to qualify. Also, the process can be long and tedious, but eventually they pay.

tex-amp · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Dec 2004, 04:07 am »

FedEx Ground is the old RPS. FedEx just slapped the FedEx name on it but changed nothing else.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Dec 2004, 05:30 am »

Gordy wrote:

Quote

It also cost me triple the $ to send an amp on a four hour (by car) trip . Better safe than sorry...

doug s. · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Dec 2004, 04:17 pm »

Quote from: lonewolfny42

Gordy wrote:
Quote
It also cost me triple the $ to send an amp on a four hour (by car) trip . Better safe than sorry...
Well it arrived safe and sound....so no problem , thanks !! [/list:u]

ups damaged a pair of (well packed) tube amps i purchased a while back from a guy in ohio. (i live in maryland.) they were sent back, the guy had them both repaired, then we met in pennsylvania to complete the transaction. ups has denied the claim; i think they would cough up some dough, but the shipper seems not to wanna bother. which is how the shipping companies can get away w/this stuff. oh well..

doug s.

Gordy · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Dec 2004, 11:02 pm »

Quote from: doug s.

which is how the shipping companies can get away w/this stuff. oh well..

doug s.

I'm guilty of this myself, I've a Marantz 2270 with a bent/shorted vol. pot due to shipping, poor packaging actually. It was an Ebay purchase and in otherwise great shape. Thought I could find a used pot out there, but so far I've come up empty

I'm going to try to get a copy of that FedEx reg. tomorrow and will send out a quote of the actual wording....

Happy New Year All

Gordy