The post office won’t pay Alauna’s insurance claim for a damaged Hewlett-Packard laptop unless one of their employees admits to intentionally abusing her package.
Alauna paid $26 to insure the laptop on its cross-country visit to a virus-hunting friend. When the laptop arrived, a menacing broken hinge threatened to scratch the screen.
She writes:
The United States Postal Service is falling apart. About 7 months ago, my father gave me a brand new, HP Pavilion dv9700z series (Retailed at over a thousand bucks, but it was a gift, so I don’t know exactly how much it cost him). In the 7 months that I’ve owned it, I got a nasty bug (virus) on it, and it no longer allowed me to log onto the internet. Either way, my best friend is an expert with computers and lives in LA, so I decided to send it to him to take a look at it.
By this being such a high line item, I wrapped it in bubble wrap, placed in a laptop case, and wrapped it AGAIN in a ton of bubble wrap before placing it in a post office issue box that the clerk told me, “most people send their laptops in THIS box)”. I made sure to put at least $500.00 dollars worth of insurance on the shipment (just in case).
Silly me for believing this woman as approximately a week later, I got a call from my buddy in LA explaining that the hinge of the unit was broken and it was threatening to cause further damage to the computer. He explained that if I close the laptop, the screen may scratch and cause about 800 bucks worth of damage. So I’m irritated because this company screwed me over, and some idiot ignored the FRAGILE that was placed on the box, but I’m somewhat relieved that I got insurance on the purchase.
I send my LA buddy the insurance information along with the required receipt and figure the money would be distributed in a respectable amount of time. NOT! My buddy calls me later after he received the insurance information and explains that the post office clerk in LA tells him that “without a receipt, they probably won’t honor your insurance claim)”. Are you serious? They weren’t saying such nonsense when they sucked 26 bucks out of my pockets for the original shipment and insurance. Either way, I’m stuck with a brand new computer damaged by USPS, and the unfortunate truth that I may not receive any restitution for their mistakes. To all who read this, NEVER use the USPS to ship anything of importance. I live in a rural area (Cleveland, MS) so this was my only option, but I refuse to use this awful place again.
She later sent us an update:
So we file a claim with the Post office in April, and today I find out that they are denying my claim unless someone at the POST OFFICE admits to causing the damage! Are you serious?
I officially hate the USPS and this is what I get for using snail mail.
P.S. I don’t know whether to be mad at the post office for breaking the computer or HP for making crappy hardware as I have a Compaq X1000 that wont charge (crappy HP).
We always thought the point of insurance was to protect a package in the event something happens. It doesn’t need to be an abuse. If an employee admits to abusing an uninsured package, would the Post Office refuse to reimburse the owner?
(Photo: Getty)
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I was a window clerk and an insurance clerk for the PO for many (21) years. As an insurance clerk I saw many, many claims for packages which were insufficiently packed. Case in point, a full set of china dishes packed in a big box with newspaper between each dish and the cups wrapped in a half sheet of paper each. Needless to say the claim was denied. Many, many times packages I saw, the box was in great condition and packed super good, yet the article inside was somehow damaged leading you to believe it was damaged in begin with and insured so a person could collect and repurchase something new.
As a window clerk, I processed many items that were not sufficiently wrapped. When a person wanted to insure I told them I wouldn’t because the package wouldn’t make it out of the local PO wrapped the way it was. They could either re-wrap to specifications or not insure – their choice. Mind you, I was not allowed to tell people they couldn’t send a package, but I could disallow insurance. I always believed the PO was wrong in not making people wrap their packages to the same specifications we held businesses to, but then again I was just an employee with no say in how the place was run.
If you think USPS is bad domestically, its even worse shipping internationally.
I shipped a box with insurance which was damaged. The other country’s post office refused to pay for the item saying it was the US’s fault and the US said it was the other country’s fault. The higher-up post office where the package entered the other country kept pushing it back down to the local office who kept refusing to even deal with it. It was a huge mess of “pass the blame on someone else”.
In short, it was a hard lesson to learn and I will never ever buy shipping insurance again nor will I ever use the USPS to ship anything important again.
Now its UPS / FedEx or DHL and Next-Day Express only.
Putting “Fragile” on your package means nothing. It more or less means you probably packed your item bad and that you want us to take time out of our day to give your sweet tender little package some special care (ignoring the fact that most postal workers are moving thousands upon thousands of packages as fast as humanly possible). Pack your item well and you won’t have to worry about any abuse by postal employees. I don’t kick around or throw anything, but stuff shifts in the trucks and packages do get dropped into big containers and sometimes dropped by the carriers. It is your job to pack your item properly. Personally, I would never send anything of value through the Post Office, and I work there. Keep in mind that I, even as someone who does the smallest route in my hub, see a few thousand packages a day that I don’t have time to double check the address on (they come pre sorted) let alone check on how “Fragile” they are. You also have to keep in mind that the Post Office nickel and dimes everyone down to the smallest level, so my route has pretty much been cut down to so short that if I’m not running at 110% speed I’m not going to finish on time (in reality, its more like 150% speed because the rest of the Post Office is always late).
@Gizmosmonster:
The Seinfeld episode I’m thinking of showed Kramer and Jerry shipping a broken stereo and then trying to claim that it was damaged by the post office. Perhaps not the best example to support your story.
I don’t know if writing fragile on the package does any good or not. But I get the feeling some people would write it if they were mailing a brick.
Not blaming OP here, but what’s to stop people from packing up damaged goods, shipping them insured, and then claiming damages? How is USPS supposed to protect themselves from this, apart from actually inspecting the goods and packing them themselves? (which of course they do not do and have no intention of doing)?
I treat insurance as primarily against losing the package.
@Marshfield:
re: hatrack’s post above. That’ll teach me to post before refreshing the screen.
Tell the clerk at the post office that you don’t care what they think and to file the claim. The clerk is too lazy to file the claim and wants you to go away.
Guess what – the USPS has been running this scam for decades.
Wait until she finds out that if she does succeed in her claim, they’ll pay for parts only – they will not pay for labor. Jerks.
They pulled that scam on me back in 1981 – I haven’t shipped any packages via USPS since.
“Fragile” to the USPS means to bounce it off the floor a few times.
I am a city letter carrier. I have delivered packages that were damaged in processing, and it’s possible to notate “visible damage” when delivering, either with a delivery notice, or, if the item is insured with a blue or black label (the blue requires a signature), you can enter into the IMD scanner “visible damage.” I would recommend shipping with the blue label, which is for higher amounts, because it requires a delivery signature. You can have it notated at delivery that the package is damaged, even it is as simple as writing “visable damage” on the package and have the carrier or clerk sign the notation. I delivered a TV set shipped from PR from a lady’s son that he had just put in a box with little or no padding. The screen had shattered along the way, it was so obvious from the sound of broken glass. But, because it had been accepted by the clerk in PR and blue labeled, I notated the damage when the customer signed for it. She opened it and it was the worst, dirty piece of shit TV you could imagine, but it was definited damaged. The USPS paid the claim and she got a brand new TV the same maker and screen size. BTE clerks “throw” parcels into bins, both at the bulk mail facility, local processing plants, and stations. Only the ones who care take time to handle fragile parcels with care, and oftentimes even though they may place a fragile parcel in a parcel bin carefully, that doesn’t stop another clerk from throwing a heavy, larger box on top of it when sorting parcels.
Seinfeld “The Package” (full episode)
[www.livevideo.com]
Kramer packages and mails a damaged stereo so Jerry can claim it as damaged & receive compensation.
These fools are the worst. I had a laptop stolen in transit between the US and Colombia. Now I just spent three months trying to get an international claim paid to finally be told by these morons that the claim needed to be processed by the receiver. Problem is the receiver lives in Colombia. Ended with them telling me they could not pay the claim…. so I drilled them a new one and basically told them they did everything possible to not pay the claim. Common, that’s how the whole insurance industry works. Make you pay for insurance and then deny your claim if you file. The Post Master at my local post office even told me he could not help me that I needed to deal with the claims department… he said, I wonder how many hoops they’re going to make you jump through to get that paid. So if you’re thinking of shipping USPS, think again…. you’re better off going the more expensive route of FEDEX or another professional carrier. USPS is a rip-off…. That’s why they’re going out of business. USPS…. YOU SUCK!
USPS SUCKS! They don’t pay claims. I shipped a Laptop and a Magic Jack to Colombia from Arizona and the only thing that got delivered was the Magic Jack. Even with a report from the Colombian Post office stating that they confirmed there was a change in shipping weight between Miami and Bogota admitting to the theft of the merchandise in writting, I still couldn’t get USPS to pay my international claim. USPS rips you off. USPS did not pay my claim.
I know that the insurance industry makes money by denying claims, but when you pay for insurance to insure your package makes it to it’s destination you expect to be treated with respect. My advice is to recognize that USPS is going out of business for a reason – horrible customer service. Ship your packages via FEDEX or some other professional carrier.
I spent three months trying to get this claim paid and just got the run around. Even the Post Master at my local post office stated “I wonder how many hoops they’re going to make you jump through to get that claim paid.”….. Well, I got tired of jumping and basically said screw the $300 claim.
USPS – YOU SUCK… YOU SUCK… YOU SUCK.
I understand your frustration. I insured a phone and accessories. My claim was denied because the package was “delivered.” I asked for a signed receipt. It was signed (with address listed) by someone in a different business two blocks away in Chicago. I had proof it was not delivered to the correct address. So far claim denied twice. They just said they delivered it. Apparently they can deliver anywhere they want to. Tried to talk to the person who denied the claim but “Nobody gets to see the wizard. Not nobody, not nohow.”