UPS lost cooler with $1000 of my gear inside

[CBreeze]

Had this happen with a vintage guitar. Had a guy ship me a 1964 SG in a box from a very popular boutique guitar brand. Shipped it from UPS store, dropped it 2 hours before there pickup. Guitar showed it went nowhere for 4 days- so Friday my seller went to the UPS store and rattled the cage. Following Monday morning the guiTR started moving, when it arrived some of the items that had been in the case were missing. Nothing meaningful- but it was obvious the guitar got janked by an employee who recognized it as a guiTR. Was probably bummed it was “old” and had only 6 strings.

 

[Rich M]

I sold an orvis fly rod and let the UPS store folks pack it, left with insurance for value of sale. Seems like employee thought it was a lance or rapier as it arrived broken just above the grip, thickest part of rod. Filed insurance, paid buyer his $ back and I think he turned it into a wall ornament (glued wooden dowel in break).

If the package never left store, should be good for a police report and formal complaint against store in addition to whatever you can badger out of them. If your buddy shipped the goods by paying with credit card, there might be some recourse besides your homeowner or rental policy.

 

[FLAK]

Straight up theft. I'd ask the Police to show up with me @ the UPS store.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Earlier this year I shipped a rifle stock to Bell & Carlson via my local UPS store.......no tracking ever showed up until the day it was out for delivery.....my neighbor who used to be a UPS driver, explained that what likely happened was that the driver who picked it up from the store didn't scan it, the person at the distribution center didn't scan it either.....only down the line did someone finally scan it. So had my stock gone missing before the person down the line scanned it, UPS could have said they never received it, like they are telling you now about your cooler. My neighbor said ever since covid and shipping business spiked, it is very common for drivers and others along the way to forget to scan.

 

[wytx]

UPS has at least 2 facilities for lost packages, one in KC and one in Salt Lake City. Call the regional hub in Colorado and ask for the manager, get the phone number for the lost package hubs and call them directly.

I had a bow go from shipped to lost from one town to the next, no help at all from UPS so I googled and found the regional hub number online, called the manager and thankfully she is a bow hunter too. She gave me the number at the Salt Lake facility for a specific person, she even emailed or called that gal in Salt Lake. I made a call and talked directly with Salt Lake, while on the phone she went down to the room where they take lost packages and found my bow. I had it on the way within 15 minutes of my call and got it the next day.

The label had slipped off in route or on the sorting machine not even 50 miles from the UPS store. Tape over any labels on your box or cooler from now on.

 

[sndmn11]

@Brendan and @Salmonchaser are spot on.

Typically the UPS driver would run an end of day that accounts for all packages, and that would be a "scan" for all I'm the tracking. So if the lost shipment was not cancelled, but is showing no departure while the other is, it means the driver scanned pickups individually...or at least intended to.

I currently have two lost packages from FedEX; one is a rifle stock sent by someone from Rokslide that was never delivered, and the other is some clothes presents for my wife. Both times I was doing office work in the front room facing the driveway and the porch. With the rifle stock there was no FedEX truck, the other most recent time, the drive dropped stuff off at the neighbors, but none was my package. I do think that a lot of times drivers miss a package scan at pick up or leave it in the truck accidentally at a multi package stop, then it gets cleared out before the next load and misplaced.

 

[coppermushroom]

Friend is more than willing to pay and feels terrible - I just don't want to go that route. Also not going to waste time or effort with a lawyer. The most infuriating part is the cavalier attitude I have received thus far from UPS.

At the end of the day if this is the worst to ever happen to me I have done alright; given what is happening with folks health these days I'm not going to get too worked up.

Still going to fully pursue it because I can't stand thieves.

Any of you have relatives that work at UPS that could share a number for someone who might actually try and help a customer?

 

[sneaky]

Hello all - looking to see if you have any ideas that I have not done yet...

Third season rifle I shipped my sons gear as well as my own to a friend in CO via UPS. Gear was packed and sealed in two big coolers (much cheaper than airline baggage fees). They got as they were supposed to so all we took was our binos, GPS, and rifles with the airlines.

After the hunt we flew home and he shipped the two coolers back...however only one arrived. What's worse is that my buddy inadvertently forgot to insure them. I have filed a claim and talked with my local UPS hub. My friend has met with the UPS store manager in CO who remembers helping him get them shipped. Tracking numbers do not show the missing cooler ever leaving the UPS store in CO.

I had well over $1000 in that cooler with my pack, sleeping bag, clothes, etc and right now UPS is offering me $100 plus the cost to ship for a total of $210. Since the insurance was missed what other curse of action might I have to recover close to the value? I have provided a detailed list of what was in the cooler, called every number I can find, and my buddy is stopping almost daily at store in CO to put pressure on them. He feels terrible and it's maddening the response that we are getting. This is a massive package that I have trouble believing was just 'lost'.

Where do I go from here?

You go buy everything you're missing because A) airline baggage fees are cheaper than UPS B) Your buddy didn't insure it so you are SOL. UPS insurance is a scam anyway, do a Google search on getting reimbursed from UPS.. it'll tell you everything you need to know.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[sndmn11]

Any of you have relatives that work at UPS that could share a number for someone who might actually try and help a customer?

I think that is where you are spinning your wheels; you are not a UPS customer. You are a customer of the independent shipping store, they are the UPS customer. Pursue the shipping store because you paid them, they had possession, and however they choose to handle things with UPS (who they hired to ship) is their own thing.

 

[Stid2677]

Look into fling a claim against your homeowners policy if you have one.

 

[Michael54]

Id be going to my friends house for a check to re buy my gear. Who sends something like that uninsured? Also find smarter friends in the future...

 

[Gznokes]

Id be going to my friends house for a check to re buy my gear. Who sends something like that uninsured? Also find smarter friends in the future...

I'm bothered by all the people calling out your friend to pay for it or even suspecting he stole it.

 

[TheBootBowhunting]

Hate hearing stuff like this. People work hard to buy the gear they need to hunt, and its expensive. That said, You arent going to win with UPS. Theyll just say, well if it was worth over 100, why didnt you insure it for that amount? How are we to know what was in there and how much it was worth? No doubt its not right that they lost something that big, but theres just no way they are going to pay you for those contents without it being insured.

The only real way to do it and have some level of confidence is to have a UPS store pack and ship it, and then insure it for the actual value. If its insured for the full value and they lost it, you would have been ok there. But if its not insured, and they lose it, I think they pay $100. If its damaged, theyll jump through every hoop imaginable to pin it on your packaging. But if the UPS Store packs it and ships it, they dont ask questions if it is damaged. It costs considerably more to do that, but its the only way you can have some peace of mind about the entire process.

Id agree with the people who are saying file a police report and maybe look into homeowners insurance coverage.

One of the many reasons it worth it to me to drive out west. I cant bring whatever I want, and take home everything with me. Hopefully something happens and it turns up, or they find it. Good luck with it.

 

[Eddyzima]

Went through a similar situation with UPS. Without added insurance they just don’t give a sh$t.

 

[Michael54]

I'm bothered by all the people calling out your friend to pay for it or even suspecting he stole it.

His friend mailed it uninsured. It's his fault. Nobody sends something that valuable without insurance. So yes if the guy can't recover his gear it is 100% his friends responsibility to replace it.

 

[DJB]

Some people need to read what the OP has writen. He said his friend is more then willing to pay for it but he doesn't want to go that route.

 

[Michael54]

Thats

Some people need to read what the OP has writen. He said his friend is more then willing to pay for it but he doesn't want to go that route.

Outside him buying the stuff himself its the only route he has. Most homeowners companies are going to tell him to go fly a kite. The shipping company is going to tell him sorry about your luck.

 

[GotDraw?]

I used to work for UPS in college...

1) UPS will not pay you back w/o insurance, just forget it. If they were to pay you, then they potentially open the door to paying every other person who "forgot" to get insurance. Big ol' NOPE on that one.

2) Shipping labels and tape absolutely do not stick very well directly to plastic coolers- coolers make shitty packing boxes if you expect the UPS label to stick to it. Very high odds a label could roll off due to friction on a belt at any of the hubs. If you just slapped a label on it and perhaps a piece of shitty plastic tape over the top of it, then it probably came off and your cooler is sitting somewhere w/o a label.

Did you think to put a label and instructions INSIDE the cooler as well?

You MUST be extremely diligent when attaching any labelling to a cooler or plastic box of any kind. Best to write directly on the cooler with a sharpie as mentioned by a prior poster. Another option is creating a label that wraps around and attaches directly to a handle.

3) You must also be extremely diligent wrapping nylon reinforced "strapping" tape around the cooler. Multiple layers.

4) It is possible that someone at the UPS local "store" took it, but low odds. The real odds are that both coolers got picked up and only one (of the two) was scanned, then the label came off the other somewhere en route. If you didn't put some sort of label inside, you're screwed.

You and your buddy will probably end up owning this lesson. Sucks, but at least you got your hunt done. Coulda been worse if you were waiting for gear to hunt.

JL

 

[highcj5]

When the driver picked it up from the store. It should have shown a scan. They usually have an end of day print out or the driver would scan the label. Which can be missed sometimes. But would have received a scan when it was unloaded at the building and loaded on a trailer. Sounds like you need to check those cams. Sounds like it wasn’t picked up from the ups store. Without insurance, I believe you aren’t going to get your declared value.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Leave them shitty reviews on FB, Google, and anywhere else. These places only care about their bottom line. It might not be measurable but bad reviews cost businesses money.