I done been forked! Need a recomendation for repair work.

[EastWaViking]

When you get them fixed I'd love to see pictures of all of those mounts! 

good luck.

[BLKBEARKLR]

GOOD LUCK getting reimbursed from UPS, they just destroyed a Northern Pike I shipped, put a claim in and said it was inadaquate packing even though it was in plywood boxes and screwed down they said there was nothing around it to cushion it.

[huntnphool]

That just sucks

[Rob]

I'll post photos for sure.  I am re-painting the room so it will be a couple of days.  Still need to do the trim.

These did not go UPS.  crates were too large.  8 feet long, 4 feet wide, 4 feet tall each.  I had the reciever write that the boxes were damaged and forked so I am hoping that will be all that is needed. 

It will be hard for them to say these were not packed well enough to survive a pair of forklift tines through the side wall!

I'll be filing the claim today if I can get time to do it.

[Tom Reichner]

I'll go by the book for the estimate and break it down timewise and material wise. I'll work on it tonight and tommorow.

I would think that making the habitat / bases exactly the way they were before the damage would add quite a large sum to the total estimate.  If there are stress cracks I would assume that you would have to do patching and reinforcement from the underside before any of the cosmetic work is done on the visible surface. 

Of course, this is probably not necessary, and probably will not be done, but it really needs to be included on the estimate because the shipper is responsible to pay whatever it would cost to completely restore the work the the exact condition it was in prior to the damage. 

To bring the estimate up to what it should be, you should also add transportation costs for you to go Rob's location in Bothell and pick up the pieces.  That might require the rental of a U-Haul, which can be expensive.  Add that to the estimate.  And then you need to add $ to cover the costs of bringing the pieces back to Bothell when they are finished.  This should be added even if Rob is bringing the pieces to you.  Again, the estimate is not about actual costs - it's about what it would cost if every single nit-pickin thing was being done to restore the pieces to exactly the way they were.

[Rob]

Agreed.  The base was 750 to create from scratch.  I think the patching estimate Charlie provided is good and covers what is needed to restore it back to original condition.

I did add in 40 cents a mile to cover driving, and 20 an hour for my time to drive them down.  I should probably add another 70 on to cover 2 days of UHAUL rental... 

I plan on getting the claim filed by end of week.  I think I have all the paperwork needed to file now.  After adding in the UHaul costs the claim will be for a little over 1,200.00

I'll post back from time to time with progress.  It will be interesting to see how Estes Freight handles this.  This is where customer loyalty is made or broken.  It's easy to keep a customer when things go well, but when they go haywire, that is when you see who you are really dealing with.  Accidents will happen, but when they do they need to be made right.  I am hoping Estes does the right thing.

[Rob]

Quick update.  They closed my claim stating that they would re-open it upon clarifying why it is that the invoice proving the value of the goods being shipped was dated 7/2/08 for a shipment that was not delivered until 6/1/09.  The graciously (sarcasm) offered to re-open my claim upon clarification...

Sigh.  Why would that matter anyway?  They ran a forklift through my shipment!!

I called and proviced the following timeline to them.  have not heard if they have re-opened it or not.  It has been a week so I emailed back in today.

Here is the explanation I provided to them:

Per our conversation, here is the reason the invoice date proving original value was dated 7/2/08 for the shipment I received in June of 2009.

The goods in this shipment that were damaged were taxidermy mounts from an African Safari I went on.  The moment I received the shipment indicated in this claim was the first time the finished product was in my possession.  The process to receive finished mounts from the field in Africa can take between 1 and 2 years.   Here is a timeline of the steps and events involved receiving the mounts in this shipment.  

9/07:  I went on a hunting safari in Namibia Africa
4/08:  After being treated and prepared for shipment, the mounts were shipped from Windhoek, Namibia to Houston, Tx.  
5/08:  Skins and horns arrived in Texas.  
6/08:  Skins were shipped to a tannery in Texas
6/08:  Last half of June, had detailed discussions with Huffaker Taxidermy on how mounts were to be done
7/08:  Huffaker Taxidermy prepared invoice for work that was to be done
1/09 to 3/09:   Sometime in early 2009 tanned hides were received by Huffaker Taxidermy
5/09:  Mounts were completed and Huffaker Taxidermy engaged Estes Freight to pick up completer mounts and send to me.  
6/09.  Shipment was received by me.  Damage was done to both crates by what appears to have been a forklift.  

Let me know if this explains the timeline.  

More to come as this saga continues.

[Rob]

Good news!  I received notice today that they are going to pay the full amount I requested for damages.  I'm quite pleased!  Check should be here in a couple weeks.

All in all the claims department was easy to work with (other than closing my claim while waiting for info from me - and they opened it again when requested.)

[dreamingbig]

Glad it worked out for you.