I'm so frustrated. I have 2 bows that have vanished in the USPS postal system. I sent them Priority insured and they have vanished..
USPS is no help whatsoever... No one can locate anything or tell me why the bows are gone..
I sent one of them AUG 28th.. IT was to go 4 hours from my home / driving time..
It made it to within 35 miles of the destination and then was sent to 3 other states before landing in Memphis Tn. and then vanished.. No scans/ no nothing... Just delayed..
Memphis doesn't know why? they can't locate it.. nothing..
Fast forward 10 days.. Surely I"m thinking the first package will make it.. Right? No..
So stupid me sends another package to same guy with another bow in it and now guess what! Yep.. Vanished..
Something is wrong here..
I've been as nice as I can be/ takes to local post master/ called customer service and nothing... Nobody knows nothing..
I hope they pay the insurance but you know what... I'm betting I'm out....
THE USPS is horrible.. I'll never ship that way again.. I'll gladly pay the extra it cost for Fed Ex..
This is horrible
IF any you guys work for the USPS and can help I'd be so thankful...
I lost one that way about five years ago.
I have had a couple things come up missing......sooner or later they show up. What makes up think Fed ex or ups would be better, I think not, and they cost a lot more.
Are there any reliable shipping companies? I have heard complaints about all of them.
Yes,I don't have any faith in the USPS after they lost three bows (Schafer, Mariah, and Cook Mountain) last May being shipped from my brother in Alaska to me. The they were supposed to be signed for and USPS can't produce the signatures. Currently it been appealed up to the regional level without any results. They are still refusing to even pay the insurance they charged us extra for them.
They are a bunch of frigging government crooks.
Want to know how I really feel?
I feel your pain. I tried to send a registered letter to my mom in Indiana.It had a savings bond and a money order for a $1000.00 The post office lost it and every time I inquire I get this long song and dance about how USPS registered letters never get lost.But there is NO accountability at all.
When you deal with them its as if you were talking to a union rep.there is NO ONE looking out for the customer
Tim
Don't know if FED EX would be better but heck, I gotta try something.
Darn Steve I hate to hear this. It is so frustrating dealing with the government. The ordinary citizen is always wrong. Guess you have to be politically connected now days to be important. Sad.
Hate to hear that. Hope they turn up!
Walt's and Steve's experiences are real eye openers for me. I never imagined the USPS would lose something and then refuse to pay for it even when you pay extra for insurance. I mean, really, they're just employees, they don't own the place. Why should they care if the USPS pays out insurance or not?
I did have one good experience with the USPS recently. I ordered something from 3 Rivers or Lancaster and I got an email that it had been delivered. Well, I was home the whole time and it hadn't been delivered. I went to the PO and showed the email to the guy, and he fussed around on his computer for a while, and told me it had been delivered to the wrong house, and would be delivered to my house tomorrow (which it was). I wonder how he could figure that out on his computer?
I have shipped every bow I ever made via USPS Priority, and insured, and have had Zero problems in almost 15 yrs of full time bow making.
I've had a couple get lost in the woodwork for 2-3 weeks, but in the end they have always shown up. Lots of crazy stuff going on nationwide, fires, hurricanes, etc. Keep hammering their customer service, kill with kindness, and have them run traces on the packages. USPS is by far the best to work with, close behind is FedEx. I avoid UPS.
Last year I sent a 62" one piece recurve by USPS from MA to KS. The tracking never showed it going beyond Nashua NH and the USPS could not explain why or where it was so for the heck of it I contacted the buyer who had received it right on schedule. Could it be having a history of loosing track of shipments that actually do deliver is why they are reluctant or slow to settle a claim?
I use usps a lot and have done well although some seem to go in circles. I'm thinking Nines has a point with current conditions seems more likely to throw unrelated things out of whack. I wish your luck turns your way Steve......Tom.
QuoteOriginally posted by ron w:
I have had a couple things come up missing......sooner or later they show up. What makes up think Fed ex or ups would be better, I think not, and they cost a lot more.
Normally show up sometimes long boxes get set aside then gt thrown back in shipment have had two disappear for 2 weeks but they showed back up. We have had more issues with Fed EX than USPS in 9 years only 1 damaged and 1 lost bow with USPS. Damage was minor and I was able to do a quick fix. the lost youth bow they paid very quickly.
Sorry to hear that. I recently had a few packages come USPS that were lost and were 2 weeks past the delivery date. I had already been refunded for them. They showed up 2 days after I was refunded. So I had to contact the customer service so I could give them the money back since I received them. I live in the Mandeville area. 2 packages were coming from the northeast and one from the west. They showed dealayed forever via tracking and then just showed up. I hope everything works out.
The insurance response baffles me. I was a Postmaster for about 25 years. I can't think of a single case where they did not pay up.
I never got paid for a bow that was damaged in the mail and it was insured . They wanted the bow to inspect it or something and I never got the bow back either!
Hey Steve hope you get your bow back and I'm glad you got your slammer back . Only had two bows go missing in a lot of years and both were from Louisiana !
Email sent Dan.
I have shipped not only every bow I ever made but every bow I ever sold which is way over 500 bows over a period of 25 years using USPS priority , fully insured and never had one single problem.
I have heard about others like Steve having a problem but man, two in a row. Thats got to be either a scam of some kind by the receiving end or all time bad luck. Hope it works out for you but its not normal in any way.
God bless, Steve
I just got one of the bows that Steve sent me. It looked as if they played hockey with the box, it had fragile written on it. I still haven't got the other bow that was mailed on the 28th day of August.
I was talking to Herb Meland with Pronghorn bows yesterday. He told me that he quit putting Pronghorn bows and fragile on the boxes that he mailed. He has had several broke and damaged lately. He mailed one bow to a customer and the riser was missing but the limbs were in the box.
Glad it made it Matt. Sorry it took so long.. Hopeing the other one makes it someday..
Me too. Maybe it will show up before long. Hopefully undamaged.
I guess I'm lucky, I've had the opposite experience with the USPS. Never had a problem with something I shipped getting to its intended address (and its way cheaper than UPS and FedEx)
Just sent out a 66" Jack Howard Gamemaster Jet last Thursday from Illinois to New York, my post lady said it would arrive on Monday (today). Got an email Saturday morning saying it had arrived already in great shape and he was very happy.
Only negative I have had is paying for Priority shipping which should get the item there in 2 days, but it took 3-4.
This is the second time USPS refused to pay the insurance. Eight-ten years back, I sent a 72" English Longbow to one of my other brothers in a thin walled pvc tube. The 60" bow was on his porch when he got home from work with the broken tip stuffed in the top of the pvc tube. I filed the claim and decided it wasn't worth my time dealing with them nine months later, after I had spent more time trying to get them to pay the $500 insurance than I had spent building the bow.
Can't say the other two shipping company's are any better.
QuoteOriginally posted by Walt Francis:
This is the second time USPS refused to pay the insurance. Eight-ten years back, I sent a 72" English Longbow to one of my other brothers in a thin walled pvc tube. The 60" bow was on his porch when he got home from work with the broken tip stuffed in the top of the pvc tube. I filed the claim and decided it wasn't worth my time dealing with them nine months later, after I had spent more time trying to get them to pay the $500 insurance than I had spent building the bow.
Walt, was some of the problem proving the value of it? I wonder if it would have been any different if someone had just paid you $500 for the bow. I've never shipped a bow I made myself, but I have shipped a few bows as gifts where I might have bought the bow many years ago and still feel like it should be worth whatever I decide to insure it for. I would guess that would be difficult to prove, although there are bows being sold used that might be comparable. Harder, I would imagine, with a bow you make yourself, unless you are in the business and can show comparable sales.
I've shipped and received a number of bows USPS. I had one bow that was delivered damaged, but they paid ins out right away. No qualms about it. Lucky I guess?
I recently bought a bow from the folks over at Nocking Point and the Whip ended up disappearing from any sort of updates for a couple weeks before finally showing back up as of yesterday afternoon saying its in transit.
They are blaming it on customs which I'd imagine could be the case, but both USPS and CanadaPost were equally useless...
Could be an address problem. If you have even one number wrong, USPS will not deliver the package, and it will get sent somewhere else.
Print your labels on the USPS website, and they will not get lost. If you type in a wrong number or zip, they will not accept the address. You have to use a legitimate address to print the label. It will have a scan bar on the label that helps it to get to the addressee.
I have shipped several thousand packages by USPS in the past 12 years by using the USPS click and ship, and they have never lost a single one.
From what I'm reading, and a lot of people are posting they've never lost anything, is the fact that if you do lose something the customer service follow-up is absolutely worthless ....is that correct?
Because anyone can lose a package sooner or later but it's how you handle it afterwards that counts.
BTW,
The cost of the insurance is not going to be reimbursed on a lost item.
Also, generally if the item can't be repaired and insurance is paid in full for the total value, the USPS keeps the merchandise.
At least that is the way it was 10 years ago.
Terry,
I've been on both ends: USPS lost or stole three bows and have not paid the insurance (which was less half of what I could hve sold them here on the classifieds for.
They broke a bow I built and then never paid even though is was insured.
dp
My local postmaster suggested that I not waste money with buying insurance. He said if I have a claim and I do finally collect that I would be too tired to enjoy it.
James
Well, the 2 bows I posted about in the original message of this thread finally showed up. On the day I went in to file a claim, they started tracking again later that day... Who knows?? Makes no sense.. But I'm thankful they got to the destination unharmed.. I do think someone opened the box and took the bow out and repacked it... But... Maybe someone just wanted to test it out for a spell..
Good to hear.
We'll guys I have heard these stories from about all carriers I know a fellow who shipped a item with ups they damaged it in shipping he had it insured and they refused to pay said he did not pack it properly. Had to hire an attorney to get then to pay. Also the post office USPS is independent not a government branch. And FedEx ground are independent contractors.
Terry we have have been fortunate to have had only one damaged bow claim never paid and from what I always here they say inadequate packaging.
The one lost Package we had They paid within in a week of the claim.
I believe the reason we have been so forunate on Damage is we only use a reinforced Triangle box. it won't roll off things like a round tube, and they can't stack on it
I believe Fedex and UPS is worse than USPS that is just me
Steve, tracking on the Thunderhorn said delivery Monday. It came today but they didn't leave it because I wasn't home to sign for it. Hope to pick it up Monday morning. At least you can rest certain that one of them made it. Hope the other two show up soon buddy.