UPS just destroyed my new BM-59

[trbon8r]

Yep, UPS wrecked my new BM-59. I've been wanting a Beretta BM-59 for years, finally saved up the cash and bought a brand new specimen a couple months ago. The bolt catch wasn't working properly and would not hold the bolt open, so I sent the rifle back to Springfield for a warranty repair. I didn't even get to shoot the rifle. The lady from Springfield left me a voicemail that the rifle was severely damaged during shipping. She said the op rod had punched through the box and the stock was broken. I shipped the rifle in the factory box, with an outer cardboard box. This is the same configuration the rifle was shipped in when it arrived at my FFL. Now the fun begins. Watch UPS try to pull some BS about how the rifle "wasn't packaged properly" or some other crap.

Thankfully I did insure the rifle for $2000. I just feel sick right now. If I had it to do over again I probably would have put the rifle in a hard case instead of the factory box. I'm sort of kicking myself over that, but I'm not sure it would have helped anyway. For them to have broken the stock, they must have really beaten the rifle up good. Well I'm off to call UPS and start the claim process right now. I think I need another drink first.........

 

[wcwhitey]

Sorry about your ordeal. Without getting on a UPS rant I would just say that there has to be someone that I beat up in High School who is very high up in that organization. Everytime I do an expensive item it gets ruined. Size of the package does not matter, I think they know the cost. A $1 light bulb in a paper bag arrives in perfect condition but your well packaged $2000 rifle gets ruined.
Anyway, I had a BM59 a few years ago and other than very, very expensive magazines you will be very happy when you get to shoot it. Bill

 

[trbon8r]

wcwhitey,

What was it like dealing with UPS with your claim for expensive items?

I just called them and started the claim process. You should have heard the lady on the phone when she finally asked the question of what was in the box. When I said "rifle", there was a pause and she said "oh that's different". She put me on hold and I guess she had to speak to the head of the Rifle Destruction Department or whatever. Damn this stinks.

I had to fight with Fed Ex once to get paid 400 bucks for a set of new in the wrap Buick Grand National wheel well moldings that they destroyed. Fed Ex kept asking me to provide proof of the value of the parts. How do you provide them with a valuation of hard to find discontinued parts for a car that hasn't been made in 20 years? I paid the extra money for the insurance, why argue over the value of what's inside? I paid in that case for 400 bucks worth of insurance, so just pay me my $400 when the package was destroyed. Seems pretty simple. They finally paid, but I really had to fight them. I don't even want to think about the kind of aggravation I'll have to go through for a $2000 claim.

 

[bensdad]

I was a truck loader/unloader with UPS for a while after college.

I won't get into the details, but trust me people... tie your valuable transportables to a migrating wildebeast before giving it to UPS.

 

[trbon8r]

Yeah, I did a couple months at UPS as an unloader and hated every minute of it. I saw what goes on there.

Their motto: "We run the tightest ship in the shipping business".

TRANSLATION:

"We work our people to death, want them to work faster than humanly possible, berate them if they don't, and if something gets broken along the way, well that's just the way it goes."

 

[lee n. field]

Thankfully I did insure the rifle for $2000.

Good luck getting it. Years back I shipped a new Compaq server, in the factory's shipping box (and they come pretty well packed from the factory) to a third party company for a software install. Insured for $7K. Arrived there pretty banged up.

UPS wouldn't pay.

<spit!>

I probably would have put the rifle in a hard case instead of the factory box.

Yup.

 

[trbon8r]

Oh, I'll get the money, one way or the other.

They either pay, or they can pay a company representative to show up in small claims court where I can and will file a claim if push comes to shove. There is no doubt in my mind I will win if it comes to that. It's their call.

 

[Drakejake]

I must differ with you guys. I have used UPS many times and never have had a problem. When their tracking system says it is going to arrive on Thursday, it arrives on Thursday, even if at 6:30 PM. I am looking forward to getting 120 pounds of 5.45 via UPS on Tuesday and picking up the AK-74 at my dealer's that day. Both UPS and FedEx do fabulous jobs, in my opinion, and put our socialist postal system to shame. Yes, when you are handling millions of boxes, some are lost, stolen, broken, or abused. Things happen and I do not fault someone who is furious because something valuable was destroyed. I hope your insurance will take out some of the sting. However, we need to recognize the wonderful job performed by many of our private corporations, including Wal-Mart, Microsoft, and Southwest Airlines.

Drakejake

 

[kcmarine]

Merv: "Hey, Wes, what does 'Fra- gil- e' mean?"

Wes: "Don't know, Merv. Isn it some kind a weird African swan ors somethins?"

 

[psyopspec]

Merv: "Hey, Wes, what does 'Fra- gil- e' mean?"

Bart: "Drop-kick this sucker against a wall then hurl it into that big pile in the back of the truck."

 

[Hazzard]

I have had many problems with UPS, but in their defense they have always made it right. The manager of our local UPS terminal actually calls me by my first name now. I've had lost shipments, damaged shipments, shipments delivered to the wrong address, and one perishable item that the driver saw fit to put in a corner of the back patio when we weren't home and apparently forgot all about delivering. Needless to say the perishable item, well... perished. As my UPS driver is also on the town coucil you can imagine the state of affairs in my town! As I said, they always worked with me and it worked out eventually. I hope they do the same for you.

 

[GooseGestapo]

I shipped an aircraft radio to a repair station for additional repairs within a warranty period. The radio, box, and inner box and bubble wrap that it was contained in were "destroyed" in the words of the techincian at the repair station. It appeared that it had been backed over by a truck as the technician said it had some suspicious "tire marks" on it!!!

Either way, it was insured for $500, the "core" cost of the radio. Repair/overhaul and "yellow tagging" (FCC and FAA requirements for placing it back into service) not included (another $700). Replacement of the radio cost me $1,100 (this does NOT include the additonal amount I had already paid to have the radio overhauled previously, for which it was still under warranty.

UPS said the radio wasn't packaged properly and refused to honor the insurance. It was packaged better than the new radio I purchased to replace it with, but then, it wasn't sent to me by UPS but rather through their VERY successful competitor.


That was 2yrs ago. I haven't used UPS since, and never will again.

 

[DMK]

Yep, UPS wrecked my new BM-59. I've been wanting a Beretta BM-59 for years, finally saved up the cash and bought a brand new specimen a couple months ago. The bolt catch wasn't working properly and would not hold the bolt open, so I sent the rifle back to Springfield for a warranty repair.

Wait a minute, hold the phone... Springfield makes new BM-59s? [DMK goes looking for his credit card]

Sorry about your rifle. That really sucks. I assume that it's fixable?

 

[Gordon]

I think Preacherman actually SAW UPS drive over a 20 ga 1100.

 

[heron]

I occasionally spent time on the loading dock at a place I worked for once, and I personally saw a package delivered, crushed, with tire tracks on it. The driver himself said that as long as they can read the label, it goes. UPS makes their reputation with on-time delivery, not intact delivery.
Also, I was making a phone order once for some optical gear, and when it got to choice of shippers, the operator made specific mention that they did not use UPS. I asked why, out of curiosity, and was told, "Too much breakage. They pay the damage claims without a hassle, but we just don't like our customers being upset over their expensive telescopes arriving broken."
I've never heard of anyone having a problem with damage claims from UPS.

 

[Avenger29]

Wait a minute, hold the phone... Springfield makes new BM-59s? [DMK goes looking for his credit card]

Yeah, can we get some info on this?

The only problem I had with UPS was a jackhammer. I think they beat it up on purpose cause it weighed 90 lbs.

 

[Eightball]

From what I've heard, when they see "fragile" on a package, they just throw it underhand

Good luck with that--maybe you can get them to find you a BETTER one than the one they destroyed; you DID take pictures before you sent it, right?

And, ARE there new ones being made?

 

[jame]

I have recieved, ordered, and shipped literally hundreds, if not thousands of items via UPS for a viriety of maintenance and industrial items. The problems I've seen have been .005% or less. When there has been an issue, pay up has been quick.

One tip: If you want special handling, ship ups Red or Blue. They seem to know it's a high priority item that way.

 

[Phaetos]

UPS makes their reputation with on-time delivery,

Apparently no one informed my local UPS offices around here about that one. Granted I get packages, and as yet, they ave not been destroyed. But I'll be damned to hell if one ever showed up on time. I have had them not even attempt to deliver to my address and then update their wi-fi system to say they attempted delivery to my address, when I was sitting there all day waiting for it. I have gotten several drivers into some deep doo-doo with that nonsense they pulled on me.

 

[Bigfoot]

Don't entrust the condition of a valuable rifle with a shipping company that has a reputation for being gunhaters.

The stories are numerous but I distinctively remember recieving my Daewoo one afternoon. The UPS guy said "It's a gun isn't it?" with an expresion that dripped with disgust bordering on hate. Never again. Ever.

 

[redneckdan]

I had my Del-ton .300 fireball upper shipped via UPS. I had listed my address and also asked for them to hold it at the distribution center. Well left hand didn;t know what the right was doin and it ended up on the truck anyway. The truck that services my neighborhood also services copper harbor, 50 miles away. Copper harbor gets first deleivery, thereby my packages usually arrive some time after dinner time. Seeing as I was going out of town I wanted to pick up the package at the dist. center. When I drove down there the mix up was discovered. The center manager jumped in a spare truck and drove all the way up into the keeweenaw to track down the package for me. thats service.


other story, they managed to flatten the mothersday present I sent to my mom. solid oak picture fram flattend to about 1/4" thick, my guess is a palet fell on it.

 

[wcwhitey]

The claim goes alot easier if you are the sender of the package. If it was shipped via a UPS Store your claim will go through them. They will pay part of the agreement as well as the UPS Company. The UPS Store is the one with the insurance policy not UPS itself. But, there is also regional claims managers that you can call and harass to get the job done, you will need to seek them out, their numbers are not given out easily. You will need documentation of course, try to get a notarized letter from Springfield as to the condition of the rifle upon arrival and a letter from the dealer that your purchased it from stating the condition. Also your reciept for purchase, etc. The more documentation the better as there will be a claim process. I faxed all I had to them and after about 12 weeks the claim was processed, they are not in any hurry and they have more than a few. If you try to claim damage as the receiver and not the shipper it is much more difficult, I go paid on that one but it was a really big hassle.

 

[Tomac]

Years ago I sent a computer to a friend of mine. UPS threw it over the backyard fence onto the concrete patio. They paid that claim (but had to jump through all sorts of hoops first).
A few years ago I sent a Mini-14 to Ruger for warranty work and when it came back UPS left it leaning against my garage door near the sidewalk (so much for "signature required").
My local FFL's all send their guns through USPS now.
Aside from that, all the smaller stuff seems to arrive safely.
Tomac

 

[Quintin Likely]

I've had so-so results with UPS in all matters of shipping. The packages get where they're going, but they look like someone's been gnawing on them in transit.

I try to primarily stick to USPS now, and they've been great.

 

[the naked prophet]

A friend of mine ordered a new Dell gaming computer his senior year of college. Delivery confirmation, signature required, insured, the works. He never got it, they said "we delivered it, here's your signature." It wasn't his name, it was some guy who was walking down the road at the time and walked off with a brand new Dell gaming computer. Dell prosecuted the insurance claim with UPS.

I have never had a problem with USPS.