Ammo shipment missing - how to proceed?

[NAK]

I used to work out of my home for two weeks at time, then one week at the customer's site. I did a lot of custom firmware and hardware configurations for customers, so a lot of high dollar hardware came and went from my house.

My company once shipped eight large (maybe 30" x 38" X 12") boxes to me, each worth $10K +, by UPS 2nd day. They were a no-show, but UPS claimed they were delivered. Company filed a claim and UPS produced a scrawled signature, which clearly did not match other signatures for packages they had delivered to my house. The next week I am at a customers site, but luckily not the one that the missing packages were destined for.

Week goes by and the packages still have not been seen. I need the hardware the next week, so I can begin configuring and testing it for the next customer, so the company shipped me another $100,000 worth of hardware. These show up on schedule.

About a month later, I get a fax from the office telling me UPS has paid the claim on the missing hardware.

Some six - eight weeks later, when I call home one night, the now X gives me hell for having a bunch of big boxes delivered there while I was gone. I get home a few days later and all eight of the missing boxes are there, but looking pretty rough. Seven have never been opened, one had been re-taped. All look like they have been out in the rain. I tried asking the regular route driver about it, but he played dumb.

 

[Mike1234567]

^^^ What did your company do with the late-delivered merchandise? I'll bet it was a hassle dealing with UPS on that one after already having paid out a claim.

 

[TenDriver]

Uhhh...for all you prima donnas....Drivers have a large route and have to deliver every thing in their truck. If they don't get it delivered, they have that to do it the next day along with all the other stuff, so it snowballs.

If you're not home, how exactly are they supposed to deliver?? Sit on your porch until midnight when you decide to get home?? When you do get home he might be fifteen miles away on another part of his route. They have a truck load of stuff to deliver. You're not the only guy on their route.

I know my UPS driver quite well. He has a large ring of keys, and has a key to my garage. FedEx seems to change drivers, but the UPS guy seems to stick for years.

If you don't like that, find a local store to take delivery and pay them a few bucks for their help. Or person/neighbor in the area that is typically home and will accept it. I was getting a pair of binos from Leupold worth $450. Had them sent to a retail store that took delivery.

Our local hardware is a UPS shipping center. They'll accept delivery.

Quit whining and find a solution. Like this

I know delivery drivers have a large area, and it's not something I would want to do. However, at least at UPS the potential is there to earn some decent $$$.

We have allowed our expectations diminish when it comes to goods and services, and equally let our work ethic diminish. Only one of the many reasons why your packages are damaged or undelivered.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/FedEx-Ground-Delivery-Driver-Salaries-E16846_D_KO13,28.htm
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/UPS-Delivery-Driver-Salaries-E3012_D_KO4,19.htm

 

[Parallax]

Called Fedex again tonight. They were supposed to call me back tonight but never did. They said they would call me within 48 hours with the results of the "trace". I asked what a trace was and they said it's basically asking the driver where he dropped the package. I don't really see the point because he already said he dropped it by the front door :banghead:

Do I have any recourse if they never bring me my ammo? Should I try to get a refund from my credit card company?

 

[unlimited4x4]

What about notifying law enforcement? I would hope missing ammo in this quantity would spark their interest.

 

[stolivar]

we deliver

a lot in the flat rate for mo bullets



steve

 

[Bubbles]

Called Fedex again tonight. They were supposed to call me back tonight but never did. They said they would call me within 48 hours with the results of the "trace". I asked what a trace was and they said it's basically asking the driver where he dropped the package. I don't really see the point because he already said he dropped it by the front door

I'm surprised FedEx will even talk to you about it since their contract is with the shipper and not you. The vendor needs to be the one raising heck.

Was your ammo shipped with insurance and adult signature required? Were these options even offered to you when you placed the order?

Do I have any recourse if they never bring me my ammo? Should I try to get a refund from my credit card company?

I would wait for the vendor to make it right, first.

 

[brickeyee]

Contest the CC charge as not delivered.

That usually lights a fire under the shippers but to get them to complain.

Most of the time the shipper is non the hook if it is going from a company to an individual, and if you use a CC they are always on the hook.

Not getting paid has a way of focusing them on the problem.

 

[JRH6856]

^^^^
+1

If the vendor gets their money and the shipper says it was delivered, the vendor doesn't really have a problem to solve. Since it is the vendor that contracts with the shipper, if the vendor does not have a problem, then the shipper does not have a problem. The recipient has the problem which is no money and no merchandise.

You need to make that the vendor's problem by stopping CC payment. The vendor will then make it the shipper's problem and something will get done.

 

[Strykervet]

I've had those schmucks leave packages by the front gate --just a few feet from the street! Anybody walking by can just grab it, it was basically thrown on the street like trash. I HATE use UPS or Fedex. They cost more than USPS for small packages, take longer and just don't care. When I leave the gate open and they drive their lazy tails right up to the front door, they throw the package on the porch and if it doesn't make it all the way, THEN they'll get out and slog over to it and drop it on the porch. Disgusting. Then when they leave, they ALWAYS back their truck into the trees. It doesn't matter which one, they are all the same.

At least with USPS I have a PO box and it doesn't thrown around or treated like trash. When I saw that video of the Fedex guy throwing the computer over the fence last Christmas, I thought, "hey, how'd my driver get down there?"

And forget leaving "special instructions". Even with explicit instructions, I still have to go comb through the woods by the street to look for the package. One I found by accident, laying in the rain, and I'm not kidding.

Consequently, I'm waiting on them now. Not by choice either. I can't trust them to actually deliver or to do it properly. I'd be willing to bet the driver stole it. Leaving packages on porches in this day and age without permission is just stupid.

 

[2000Yards]

Called Fedex again tonight. They were supposed to call me back tonight but never did.

You should not be talking with Fedex (more correctly, they don't need to talk to you - their contract, the agreement to ship from the vendor to you, is not with you but with the vendor. Fedex owes you nothing. I'm not being snippy, this is just a fact. If you can work it out with them, great, but that's been a dead end for me the few times I've tried). Goods ordered from the vendor were not delivered to you so your issue is with the vendor. For all you know they shipped you cotton candy.

Make sure you document everything and request a charge back or reversal from the credit card company. As others have pointed out, this may (sadly) be the only way to get a vendor with poor customer service to pay attention. When this kind of thing has happened to me the vendors with good customer service resend the package, NEXT DAY DELIVERY, no questions asked. Those vendors I go back to again and again. The others never get my business again.

Good luck.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Oh, one last detail
DON'T talk to some flacky, it's worth the while to go to the hub and actually talk to the manager for this tactic

after you contest the CC
you go to the hub and 'get details'
when they ask why, tell them that apparently they lost XXX many rounds (thousands etc.) of ammunition, and of course you are VERY concerned, and MUST report it to the police, since of course you NOR the police will want all this ammunition on the streets...

See the thing is, for this to work , you have to talk to someone who cares, and those can be hard to find. THIS is why I like freight, they hold it at their warehouse for me to pick up, it's cheaper AND they have customer service, OH, I've never had something chucked into the trees, AND when it says CALL on the delivery (If I don't pick it up from the warehouse), I've had them call before it goes on the truck, and when they are almost to my house.

So, if you want service, have it shipped freight.

 

[Mike1234567]

NAK... What did your company do with the late-delivered merchandise? I'll bet it was a hassle dealing with UPS on that one after already having paid out a claim. I ask because that happened to me once. It was a real pain so I ended up just shipping it back to the original seller... and I kept my receipt.

 

[Strykervet]

Well, I just got my package. It was Duracoat btw, so not anything crucial, but they didn't know that. Guess where it was? Thrown in the woods, on the side of the road, just like an easter egg hunt. This time they put it in a plastic bag. Thanks, but the crap in the box was already in a plastic bag and I didn't really care about the box, I paid for it to be delivered to the house. I even included instructions on this! The gate was left open just for them, but I still had to go out there with a flashlight and hunt for it. This is obviously not the first time, but it will be next to the last. The next time they do it I'll leave some roofing tacks for them the time after; I'm tired of playing this game.

Use freight? Thanks, I may try that next time. My problem has been ordering things from places that don't use USPS for whatever reason and/or only list a few options --this was hazmat. I called and they are supposed to call back and unscrew this. I'm not asking for much, just what I paid for.

 

[Shadow 7D]

While it's is HAZMAT, it isn't, it's ORM-D
which means 'consumer quantities' hence the fact you can mail bullets (they won't just randomly explode) and take lighter fluid on airlines (checked) etc.

Freight companies wont (and neither should UPS/ex) cause other than the declaration, well that's it for ORM-D (and labeling).... Freight is only really going to save you a bunch if it's pallet sized, otherwise you run into minimum order (as in you'll pay the same for a single box as you would for a light pallet)

But on stuff like ammo (bulk) and large bunches of stuff, you save alot, or in my case, living in Alaska with 3 ways in, so if it can't fly, can't cross the boarder, you gotta barge it.

 

[GoWolfpack]

Have everything held at shipping warehouse for customer pickup. FedEx will hold at retail stores (FedEx Kinko's) anything but guns or ORM-D shipments. Last time I tried having a UPS store receive for me they charged a fee since I don't have a box there. Stores have much more work friendly hours than shipping warehouses.

 

[backphil]

I specifically request all deliveries "be left on front porch." I order a big shipment of ammo from Cabelas one time that showed up on tracking as delivered. I called Cabelas and they said they would send me a new shipment and would take care of the old one. I highly recommend Cabelas for ammo.

 

[wkumatt]

What's the latest? Has anyone come through for you yet?

 

[porchdog]

Some years ago I lived on a Lane off of a Road with the same name. I had a round with UPS. It would show where they delivered it which was to a house about a mile from me.
It had a road address which was nearest my lane address. Nearest is the key word there and the people who lived there did not have a name that even resembled mine. My Nikon camera was put on their screened in back porch. I retrieved it and no one ever knew I was there. Had to go back and get a lens later, this time people were home and I talked with them. They told me they had returned one package in the past not having a clue as to what was going on.

 

[armoredman]

I will have a big package delivered next month - I will sit at home that day and WAIT...I know at least one or two packages sent to me here went bye bye to the locals.

 

[NAK]

^^^ What did your company do with the late-delivered merchandise? I'll bet it was a hassle dealing with UPS on that one after already having paid out a claim.

Because of the value of the claim, they sent a supervisor out to 'appraise' the damage. The boxes were almost coming apart from being wet. She asked what was in them. When I told her "industrial computers", she turned pale and asked if they were completely destroyed? I honestly answered "No way of telling until the manufacture tests it out." I found out about a week later that they agreed to calling it a 50% loss, which was just netted from the companies monthly shipping bill.

The boxes contained industrial distributed controllers, in weather proof, explosion proof housings. If you ran over one with a truck, you would probably total the truck. Factory shipped me empty boxes to replace the wet ones and a couple of new labels. I ran diagnostics on them and used them on a customer site about a month later.

 

[Mike1234567]

^^^So you came out on top. Congrats. I hate being completely honest. I never come out on top.

 

[Freedom_fighter_in_IL]

So in other words Nak, your "honest" answer was a bold faced lie and you and your company basically pulled a fast one over on the shipping company. Ever wonder why costs are so high? Right there is one prime example.

 

[mgkdrgn]

While it's is HAZMAT, it isn't, it's ORM-D
which means 'consumer quantities' hence the fact you can mail bullets (they won't just randomly explode) and take lighter fluid on airlines (checked) etc.

If by "bullets" you mean "ready to fire cartridges" (not the metal bit that goes downrange) ... NO, you CAN NOT mail them.

341.21 Nonmailable Explosives
Small Arms Ammunition. Ammunition is classified as a Division 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, or 1.4 explosive, depending on the degree of hazard. Ammunition that is regulated as a Class 1 explosive and designed to be fired from a pistol, revolver, rifle, or shotgun, as well as associated primers and blank cartridges (including those designed for tools) and propellant powder for use in any firearm, is prohibited from mailing.

 

[HOOSIER70]

I have some items mailed to where I work to avoid this issue. The front office calls me and says that I have a box downstairs and I get it on the way out.