Why Shipping from UPS Stores Might Not Be a Good Idea

My son reported that UPS finally made it out to his house to perform the onsite inspection. While the gentlemen taking the pictures (and my son said he had to point out a dent on the top of the case to keep him honest) was not the adjuster, he said the adjuster would look at the pictures and send a report to the UPS Store I shipped it from. UPS considers the UPS Store I shipped it out as the shipper, not me. Has anyone had a UPS Store owner or employee explain that to them? Not me! I might have shipped it out from elsewhere had I known that. Of course, that might not be a bad thing since the local UPS Store owner might be a lot more reasonable than UPS itself appears to be.

The picture taker also started making noises, noises I expected them to make, that the PC was not “properly packed”. According to this guy, I was supposed to have “double-boxed” it and surrounded every inch of it with 2 inches of foam.

Now, that’s very interesting. I’ve received CPU’s this year via FedEx and UPS from a major computer company, and none of those CPU’s were double-boxed. They were surrounded by foam but not completely surrounded. So was the CPU I sent my son. It traveled to and from his place of residence in the original box the case had come in complete with molded foam inserts on the top and bottom. Those foam inserts were smashed to bits when my son got them. The PC case was dented, bent, and warped.

I’ll learn more in the next 7 to 10 days. While I am hoping that the local UPS Store will agree to reimburse me for the parts we’ve replaced (The package was insured for three times that value.), I am preparing a case for small claims court. I believe I can prove that the PC was packaged in a manner that would have protected it from anything but abuse. I also believe I can make a case for retrieving three times my losses under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices act. Not only will I file a claim in small claims court, but I will also begin discussing this with the Texas Attorney General’s Office. I’m not going to say about what, but I will share that you need to be very careful about shipping anything out of a UPS Store you packed; and you need to be sure to read the ENTIRE shipping form before you ship anything of value with them. The “Limitations on Liability” section is on the back of the form, not the front; and it traps you into signing away rights to damages by having you agree that a service was provided that may not be.

If the UPS Store here comes through for me, I might ship with them again. But, right now, based on what I’ve experienced so far with UPS corporate, I’m expecting to have to take this to court even though I'm only asking to be reimbursed for parts and the insurance was for three times that amount.