UPDATE: USPS Agrees To Pay Insurance Claim On Lost Laptops
After our story about USPS losing a reader's five insured computers then only valuing them at $74 generated a lot of response (and turned into a vowel-less debate on health care), a couple readers sent us the contact info for the insurance agent who denied our reader's request.
One tipster writes:
I don't want to bore you with all the details, but basically the USPS wanted to confiscate an iMac rather than pay for the repair I had bought off of eBay that arrived at my house with a cracked screen. I spent, literally, 30 hours dealing with the St. Louis office postal insurer's office trying to get someone to answer my questions about why they weren't abiding by the very regulations that they post on the web in regards to insurance claims. The good news, though, is that I actually won. I fought the MAN and actually won, despite all the shenanigans they pulled on me. The claims appeals supervisors never contacted me back, nor did the consumer advocate (locally or at the national level). What finally got a response, and what reminded me of all this nonsense, was that I managed to guess Autria Finley's email address which was never included on any of the form letter correspondence that I received from them. I emailed her and got an almost immediate judgment on the case. The underling claims adjuster had not forwarded any of my requests for review to her. I also never got a direct phone number until I reached her through email, and had to go through the voice mail hell each time I tried to reach the claims adjuster. The best part of the story was about two months after my check arrived for the repair, and post office had released the computer back to me, I received a call from the USPS California accounting department stating that I had been paid in error despite the letter stating otherwise from the claims department. I told the adjuster in no uncertain terms that he was wrong, and that I had the emails and letter from Ms. Finley detailing the claim. He asked me for her phone number, and it was at that point I realized that even if you work for USPS, you can't get these people's contact information.
We love that even employees of the post office don't have contact info for the higher-ups. Anyway, the email address for Autria Finley is afinley@email.usps.gov. We were about to send this along to Pedro when he emailed us to say:
I woke up just a short while ago to your mail and called my friend to let him know it was posted. He just got a from a Michelle Williams with the usps saying they would honor the claim in full. We're thrilled. Thanks again for all yours and the readers help! I will let you know once it's actually paid out. As you can imagine this is a huge weight off our shoulders.
Hooray for the power of the internet. If you've experienced similar problems with USPS and denied insurance claims (and judging from our emails, you have), try getting in touch with Ms. Finley to see if that can help your claim out.
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Comments:
If you fight The Wan and win, just know that either:
A) The Man let you win, or
B) They weren't really The Man.
Congrats on having the right thing happen to you regardless. :)
@Applekid: I spent way too much time trying to figure out what "the Wan" meant. *sigh* It's only 1:30 here!
I hope you saved up all the letters from the disemvoweling and are selling them Wheel of Fortune-style.
So, I guess we can continue our health care debate then now that the real issue has been resolved?
He asked me for her phone number, and it was at that point I realized that even if you work for USPS, you can't get these people's contact information.
well, i'm an asshole, so i would've just given him the phone numbers for the claims supervisors & advocates that never called you back.
overall, i'm pretty happy with the service i get at the post office - most of the "worker bees" seem to be pretty good at their jobs. it's when you have to deal with the managers that you really start to wonder how that institution doesn't collapse into a black hole. it's pretty sad when you, as the customer, get to play administrative assistant to a company desk jockey.
Every time someone's disemvoweled, a contraction gets its wings.
@Applekid:
"Breaking locks in the hot son
I fought the wan and the wan won
I fought the wan and the wan won
I needed some honey
Because I had none
I fought the wan and the wan won
I fought the wan and the wan won..."
(don't know where the hell that came from, but it seemed appropriate)
Hey, FedEx just puts a single sticker on my door saying that they have tried three times and aren't coming back. USPS throws my packages out of a moving truck into my driveway.
At least they deliver the damn things.
This still does not explain how the USPS driver can be back in his vehicle clear at the end of the driveway milliseconds after ringing my doorbell.
@Velifer: You too, huh? I freakin' HATE FEDEX for this reason. Thank god Amazon ships UPS, our UPS delivery guy is amazing. He'll even walk packages around to the back of the house when no one is home so they don't get stolen. FEDEX, not a chance.
Wormholes.
It's the same trick Santa uses to deliver gifts to my parent's place every year.
I can tell you this, as someone that works in the mail industry. The USPS is used to laying the smack down, not getting the smack layed down on them. They don't like to bow to anyone, and this was probably a giant bowl of crow for them to eat, to admit they were wrong.
@dakotad555: Our UPS guy bagged out packages, left a little note on the door, and hid them behind some plants. He couldn't go around back because we have a 60 pound land shark that keeps people at bay...
Good to see this story got somewhere. Now, about health care...
@Con Seannery '09: Illegal in 1 Giz: You cannot compare health care to shipping.
In Canada, Canada Post (equivalent of USPS), has a higher satisfaction ratings, than any other delivery company. And it is profitable.
It is a good example of a successful government-run business.
@doctor_cos: "This still does not explain how the USPS driver can be back in his vehicle clear at the end of the driveway milliseconds after ringing my doorbell."
You have it easy ... You just have to run after them and jump in front of the truck ... -
Today I got a "Sorry we missed you" slip in the mailbox without the letter carrier even ringing the doorbell. We were home all day and my wife was in the room next to the front door all afternoon.
[I have a second bell on the other side of the house so there is no place in the house that the doorbell is not audible. (Not a large house, just bad acoustics for the original bell.) I even checked to make sure the doorbell was still working.]
I'll file a complaint, but the previous complaints for problems with vacation holds never got a response until I politely raised a stink - then I got the formal insincere apology to get me stop.
Little-known fact: the Consumerist forums are still active (littler-known fact: we have Consumerist forums). [consumerist.proboards.com]
Go crazy about Hillarycare, mandatory abortions, and comparative effectiveness. I'm pretty sure no one will disemvowel you there. Also, last I checked (which was a while ago), dearly departed editor Jay was the moderator, so say hi.
My biggest gripe about the post office is that there are never enough people there. The little "shop" never has anybody working there and the stamp vending machines are always broken. It doesn't seem to matter which post office I go to in any state I've ever lived in.
@webreacher: I dunno, seems like they're only profitable because of how much they charge for package shipping. When it costs more for me to ship a package from one major canadian city to another major canadian city than it does to ship from a major canadian city to a major US city, or even another continent, something is wrong.
I can ship clear across the continent from my place to New York for $5. I want to send the same thing to say Toronto, it's already $10.
I admit that they deliver inside 5 days and you automatically get tracking numbers if you're shipping inside Canada, but there is no "cheap" shipping option for Canada Post. If you want to send a small package even within your own city by them it's already at least $7.
I just find it obscene that it costs more to ship a box inside the country by the cheapest option than it does to send that same box to an international destination by some of the more expensive options.
I'm a letter carrier, and I think I speak for most of my co-workers when I say WE want people to get paid the full amount. You pay for insurance, and you pay for service. On the ground floor, it IS that simple.
I have no idea what some of our higher-ups are doing (which is actually a sort of consensus, since they don't, either), but if I had a dollar for every story like this one that DOESN'T end well, I could reimburse the victims out of my own pocket. From my mansion. In the Bahamas. Twice.
Am I the only one who thinks this whole story sounds a bit fishy? Buy five $1000 laptops and only insure for $3000? Are electronics cheaper in Florida? Why, why, why would anyone send laptops via parcel post? Does the sender have receipts showing he purchased the laptops? C'mon I can't be the only one wondering!
I ship a lot with UPS. They are also terrible with their claims. Whenever I have a claim for damaged merchandise they send out an inspector. Their replay is always the same. CLAIM DENIED BECAUSE OF INSUFUSSIENT PACKAGING. It seems like, it does not matter how well you pack it, if UPS damages it in handling, the reason it was damaged is because YOU did not pack it correctly.
@Velifer: USPS is the only one who will deliver things to me on saturdays at a normal rate and if I need to have it picked up then it will be about a mile from me. FEDEX will come on saturdays if I pay for 2 day but no thanks. If I don't do that and have something sent fed ex or ups I have to take off work and go get the packages since UPS and FEDEX's pick up points here are downtown where you have to pay to park and its about 20 miles from where I live which also happened to be the busiest part of town.
@YuWolf: No kidding man, Even if you go to the UPS store and have THEM pack it and have a receipt showing you had them pack it. UPS will just say "You need to take your claim up with the UPS store."
That's the reason I always ship outbound with FedEx. It seems as though UPS tries to avoid interacting with their customers at all costs. FedEx actually seems to give a crap (at least locally at both Kinko's and the FedEx depot)
I liked DHL's service too before they pulled out of North America.
@doctor_cos: My uncle works for UPS and he got an earfull about this.
Get a package delivered to my house. I know its coming that day. I sit in the living room, front door open, screen door closed, glass down on the screen door. I get a knock on the door, I stand up from the couch, and the guy is already at the end of the walkpath. I open the door and get "Oh, i didn't think anyone was home." Thats why you left a $300 exhaust sitting on my front porch, because OBVIOUSLY, with the TV on and the door open, no-ones home.
Agree with Saboth, and Macp. I am a 27 year worker bee in the PO. What we employees have to do when we have a problem with management, we have to run it through our congressman. The PO won't eat itself until it drowns. Which is in the process now. We have had like a 4000% increase in grievances in the last 3 years. The two upper level managers above mine don't even bat an eye. So, we went to the congressman to get some attention.
@jayphat: I worked at a place that sold (among other auto parts) exhaust parts. My favorite was the UPS driver (or Robo-Brown, as we called him) somehow BENDING the pipe leading to a catalytic converter. Not run over, not dropped... bent.
Cnsrship! cll cnsrship! Dmn y, cnsmrst! Dmn y ll t hll!
This still smells fishy. I don't believe they "resolved it" this fast, and the alleged post by the "victim" quotes a Michelle Williams. Sorry, all the Michelle Williams' that work for the USPS have absolutely nothing to do with claims. They are Mail Handlers, Carrier Techs, Rural Carriers, SSAs. I'm still not buying this story.
@bbb111: Failure to honor vacation holds puts you at risk for identity theft and you're probably not the only one who was missed. USPS needs to contact the media and warn customers when vacation holds are missed.
@dakotad555: +1...That and find out ways to protect yourself and prevent it from happening in the first place.
@edrebber: Yes, USPS would pay if evidence of value wasn't submitted. USPS would pay to avoid a media black-eye and public complaints like those on this site. Do you think every lawsuit that is settled is indication that the plaintiff was in the wrong? No, somtimes they settle cases to make them go away.
I think this man scammed the USPS out of $3k. There are too many questionable aspects. If there was evidence of value, why didn;t the original story mention it?
I'm still surprised the USPS doesn't actually leave bags of flaming poop (He called the shit poop!) along with my mail on my doorstep... at least they would actually be delivering something reliably.
@bitplayer: Poor neighborhoods have bad post offices, rich neighborhoods have nice post offices. That has been my consistent California observation.
I recently have had a letter from Autria Finley regarding a lost package. I submitted an insurance claim for the $300.00 monitor that was lost. I got back a claim approval for $56.00 with no other details. I have tried to speak to someone regarding this issue but have not beable to get a number or contact to call. I noticed your email link for Afinley@email.usps.gov. When I sent the email it was delivered to Finley II, Albert P - San Antonio, TX [albert.p.finley@usps.gov]. Any ideas on how to contact Autria Finley - Thanks for the help
This is awesome and the reason I read Consumerist; not to whine about companies (which can be fun) but to read stories about people getting their issues resolved reasonably.