What would you do?

Re: What would you do?

Martin S.

Box up the entire shipment and send it back. Then file a dispute with your credit card company, and get your money back.

Or just publicly shame them on as many forums as you can.

Re: What would you do?

Pete in Holland MI

Having things delivered to your house and you are not home poses a weather problem.

If you don't have a weather proof area at your home to have your packages delivered, and it is not clear where to leave them (sign "place package inside side porch"), and you are not home, then the problem is in the home owner. The delivery company has done what it was asked to do. They are not paid to return boxes the next day upon fair-er weather, assuming you will be home that day.

If he left it in the middle of the driveway in the middle of an existing puddle, well........that's another problem.

Many delivery companies photograph your package as they left it to prove it was left, and where it was left.

Re: What would you do?

Michael van pelt

It was delivered by the US Mail. I live less than three blocks from the post office. He should of left a pink slip and I would have picked it up at the post office the next day. According to the Post Master that I talked to, said that I what the postman should have done. Just lazy and.a poor work ethic. And the Post Master was sorry but there is nothing he could do about it. Wow!

Publicly shame who? The delivery service?

Dick Coers

The only thing that comes close to public shaming is suing someone. Why not suggest he contact a lawyer too? Sheez! Why not have someone at home when the delivery is expected? The USPS offers a free service to identify everything you will be getting in the mail each day. If I remember correctly, Van Pelt is retired now.

USPS Informed Delivery

David Yoho

I use this service and it's been quite handy. Because our mail doesn't arrive until after dark some days or even at all, it's been useful to know early each day what is supposed to be delivered. There's been several instances where some of what was scheduled didn't arrive. It's a simple matter to log on to the USPS page and report what wasn't delivered.

It is possible with this service to log on to track a package and request delivery instructions. Here's what they say:

If your package doesn’t fit in your mailbox and you won’t be home to receive it, you can provide USPS Delivery Instructions online and authorize your carrier to leave it in a specified location. Just track your package and select “Delivery Instructions.” You can request that your package be left with a neighbor or held at a Post Office for pickup.

Re: What would you do?

David Yoho

It's a shame the company isn't willing to send a replacement fitted box. Even though they are not at fault they lost a chance to build some customer goodwill. Sounds like something Lee Valley would do to satisfy a customer and what makes them stand apart.

Re: Publicly shame who? The delivery service?

Michael van pelt

Dick, although I am retired from CU I work everyday. My shop is located 4 miles from the house. Just completed 12 bookcases for a client. Now working on a bed, dresser, and two night stands I have been blessed with work. My addiction to tools keeps me working!

Re: What would you do?

Mark Nowicki

What I do is track the order:

- data is always on on my phone,

-my e-mail synch is on

-the delivery company has my phone # for text notifications.

I have yet to miss a delivery, or have it sit outside for more that 5 minutes.

What I would do:

- put a roof over the porch

- be proactive

- take responsibility for my own screwups.

Re: What would you do?

Yonak

Michael, you can file a claim with the Post Office. It would be outside the authority of your local postmaster.

Be sure to include all the pertinent information. Dates and pictures would help. Only claim the items that were actually damaged.

Another thought : The company who sold you the tools wouldn't have only the boxes. They would have to contact the manufacturer to get a box. You could contact the manufacturer yourself and maybe get one. You may have to pay shipping .. you may have to pay for the box.

Mark?

Michael van pelt

Dear Mark. A little inappropriate response? Build a porch? Be responsible for a package I had no idea when it was coming? Thanks! Wow! Never mind!

Re: Mark?

Mark Nowicki

Dear Michael.

Did you track the package?

Yonak

Michael van pelt

I purchased direct from the manufacture! UGH! Thanks for the suggestion! They seem to just not want to mess with it. Oh well. I will make my own nice little wooden box then. Lesson learned as they say!

Re: What would you do?

AZ in Colorado Springs

Since the package was damaged when it got wet after delivery, the vendor may be thinking ," what prevents that from happening again (and again and again ...)"

Interesting (to me) aside: while I'm reading this thread I get an email from UPS (not USPS) telling me the package I was expecting to arrive today will arrive tomorrow and asking if I have any delivery instructions.

Re: What would you do?

Dave Bair

I'd start ordering all my stuff from Lee Valley. I know they would have replaced that box in a heart beat.

Re: What would you do?

Barry Irby

I have a friend that has packages delivered to his house BECAUSE the Post Office Will drop them on his front porch, but they will not drop them at his office if he is not there and since he is in and out he would miss a lot of deliveries.

The trouble then is you have to hunt it down. If you go to the post office too soon they tell you it is still out on the truck or they sent it out to make a second try.

You could put something like a big plastic tub on your porch, maybe on it's side to keep the rain off with a note on it to place packages here.

I have a side door that opens into a storage area. I put a sign on it and they open the door and drop stuff inside. Sometimes it sits there for a while until I remember to look for it. They seem to like the side door and I have found a thing or two there seemingly at random. It's closer to the mail box than the front porch.

You could install a giant mailbox.

Re: What would you do?

Mark Nowicki

From the USPS website:

<

That depends on which Delivery Instruction service you choose:

No Cost Options

Delivery (redelivery) to a specific location at your address.

Delivery to a neighbor’s home. (MUST be on the same carrier route).

Hold for Pickup at your post office (your ZIP Code). >>

This entire thread could have been avoided with a click of a mouse.

Would this work for you?

John K Jordan

>>>What would you do?

Some companies don't realize how a small gesture can secure customer loyalty but how a negative report can have a wide influence on potential future customers. Reminds me of buying a Trend Airshield which came with a very nice plastic protective storage bag. Unfortunately the bag had been sliced before packing, probably with a box knife. I called Trend, reached the fellow who said he was the owner or president. I asked nicely for a replacement storage bag. The guy became angry, and hung up on me. Last Trend product I'll ever buy. Same with Rubber Chucky - I am no longer a customer due to the owner's refusal to make good on a defective product.

For your case what I would do wouldn't fix this but perhaps help in the future, assuming if it would work for your situation. I live on a farm with a security gate 1/4 mile from the house. For deliveries I installed a lock box near the mailbox. There are instructions at the mailbox and a sign for delivery carriers to put packages in the lock box. I also have a motion detecting device that sounds an alert in both the house and the shop when a delivery person is near the box.

I bought a steel job box at Tractor Supply and fastened it securely to the ground. I welded legs from 2x4 steel tubing with "T"s top and bottom, welded cross supports for strength and attachment, embedded the bottom Ts into concrete in the ground, and fastened the box to the top. It sits perhaps 8" above the ground. I secured a clasp for a padlock on the top. Keep a combination padlock hanging inside with instructions. Tied some bright streamers to the padlock so I can see from a distance if the box is locked. I have instructions about the lock box on file with the major carriers.

This has worked very well for many years. The FedEx guy told me he wished everyone had one.

I have written instructions for the carriers to call my cell phone if the box was locked by another carrier or package is too big for the box which is rare.

This box has solved several problems, protected packages from the weather and from possible theft, although I've never heard of such theft in this area. (We live on a dead end lane and many are always home and watch who comes and goes.)

JKJ

Great idea John - thanks

Thank you John J

Michael van pelt

Thank you. Great idea. I have decided to build a “firewood box design” around a Rubbermaid weather proof container. Copper roof and all. Two compartments. Each independent with two different pad locks in case of multiple deliveries. Makes the wife happy because she wanted something that would look nice as well. Thanks!

Re: What would you do?

al morgan

Well if the tools worked and weren't damaged I'd not do a thing...I throw more of the special box's that tools come in than I keep...most box's simply delay me using the tools.

Basically what my daughter did years ago.

Sounds like something..

David Weaver

...the postmaster would say to placate you. Imagine the next person got a slip instead of the package left (how would the carrier have a clue who was out and how long?). The postmaster would be fielding a complaint about a package that wasn't left and how it was an inconvenience.

I think (just my opinion) that if you have a spot that the postman can leave a package that isn't out of their way, and there's an inch of water there (before or after), then it's your responsibility to do one of two things:

1) make it so that the area near or under the mailbox can be expected to be dry

2) get a PO box

AT some point, we have to take some responsibility on our own. I think this is a good chance to make an improvement rather than file complaints.

It may not be what you want to hear, but thinking of the various things that could happen from other peoples' point of view (e.g., angry customers who didn't get something they've been watching, or even stuff like medications, etc) - the letter carrier brings the package and drops it off. The shipper isn't responsible, apparently, and neither is the seller.

What you *can* do, though, is check with the credit card company. One of my cards has a guarantee, no exceptions, that something will arrive undamaged. I have never had to use it but disputed something from an unscrupulous proxy service in japan that packed a guitar for me with the ends of the guitar touching the ends of the box - no case, etc (that was "protective packaging" that I paid extra for). When I looked further, I found that the credit card company has a no questions asked replacement policy for anything damaged in shipment, with no requirement to buy insurance. Who actually pays for that, who knows. It may get stuck to the vendor, but that's between the vendor and the payment system.

this is why...

David Weaver

...it's unreasonable for michael to decide that the postman should've used discretion - the package would've been tied up on his truck and it wouldn't have been guaranteed available at the PO at least after the next day's truck was loaded and the package offloaded.

I wouldn't want to deal with people complaining that the letter carrier *should have* dropped the package off. In this case, anywhere the postman drops packages, I'd either figure out how to not have standing water in those places, or I'd get a post office box.

goes back to the above - the credit card company may have some kind of arrival guarantee for a package, but I can't imagine why anyone else would be responsible for it, and I'd have felt a bit presumptuous asking the retailer or manufacturer to send me something on their dime when they had nothing to do with the damage.

It sounds harsh, but that's the case. UPS left a box for me in the rain at the neighbor's house - he's disabled, so he couldn't get the package, and thus I didn't know it was there. They left one another time at a house 100 off in house number from me. It was full of clothes that my mother sent for my daughter. a few hundred dollars' worth. UPS just said "oops...sorry, so sad". The lady who got the package was going on vacation the next day, and left it outside her garage door - it got rained on and all of the clothes got moldy.

what did I do about it? Nothing. It's unfortunate. Unfortunate things happen - in both cases I mentioned, I had no idea where the package was, just information that it was delivered and no reasonable way to guess. Since then, I know to go the next street over if something is "delivered". handheld devices for delivery people have lowered the issue by a whole lot . Don't know if they're told already that they're in the wrong place, but I'd guess it's something GPS based when they scan a box, that the scanner says "wrong address, jack, try again".

Re: this is why...

Joseph Bradshaw

I spent 21 years as a rural mail carrier. I knew everyone on my route. I knew who would be home and who would not. I always left parcels in plastic bags if the customers where not at home.