If you are a business and you ship products I would like to hear how you handle these situations. If a customer receives a package and the package is undamaged from all outside appearances so the customer signs to accept it and once opened finds the product to be damaged, what do you as the company who sold, packaged and shipped the product do? This is not a drop ship, this was packaged by the selling company.
Vendors / Business persons who ship products, please chime in
- Thread starter CSG
- Start date
Usually gotta eat it..
I've had this happen with a coated part. Box was fine. Customer opened part and claimed that it was damaged. The part look like it had been removed from all packing material and straight up dropped. I know I didn't do it. Don't want to accuse the customer of doing it since he's claiming he didn't, so I ate it. What are you gonna do?? Reputation is everything. I always try to go above and beyond. Usually you can work out an amicable resolution, but not always. Some customers are inconsolable.
What's the part in your case? Is it something that's going to cost you money, or will you just not make any?
I've had this happen with a coated part. Box was fine. Customer opened part and claimed that it was damaged. The part look like it had been removed from all packing material and straight up dropped. I know I didn't do it. Don't want to accuse the customer of doing it since he's claiming he didn't, so I ate it. What are you gonna do?? Reputation is everything. I always try to go above and beyond. Usually you can work out an amicable resolution, but not always. Some customers are inconsolable.
What's the part in your case? Is it something that's going to cost you money, or will you just not make any?
It depends.
If the item is of very high value, we will contact UPS and see what they have to say, or how they can help. Technically, if UPS ships the part - the packaging is "sufficient" and should not be damaged. If UPS tries to claim the packaging was not sufficient, the shipper's response should be "well you accepted it to be shipped". It's weird, I know.
So anyways - I treat this situation differently, based on the customer, the part, etc.
If the part is still good, but just has some appearance damage - sometimes I will offer to refund them a select amount. Customers love getting money back. If they don't want that, then I will start a claim through UPS - and act upon the situation, immediately.
If the part is not able to be used, then I will go through UPS - and either way, we will get the customer a new part.
At the end of the day, if the customer does not want the part...or it is "broken" - the customer has to get a new part, as it is not the customers fault. That's what we are responsible for taking care of (any lost items, money, etc)
If the item is of very high value, we will contact UPS and see what they have to say, or how they can help. Technically, if UPS ships the part - the packaging is "sufficient" and should not be damaged. If UPS tries to claim the packaging was not sufficient, the shipper's response should be "well you accepted it to be shipped". It's weird, I know.
So anyways - I treat this situation differently, based on the customer, the part, etc.
If the part is still good, but just has some appearance damage - sometimes I will offer to refund them a select amount. Customers love getting money back. If they don't want that, then I will start a claim through UPS - and act upon the situation, immediately.
If the part is not able to be used, then I will go through UPS - and either way, we will get the customer a new part.
At the end of the day, if the customer does not want the part...or it is "broken" - the customer has to get a new part, as it is not the customers fault. That's what we are responsible for taking care of (any lost items, money, etc)
I am the customer in this case and want to make sure that I am correct when I say that I should not be the one left holding the bag here.
If the box is completely undamaged, no dents, no tears, no scratches, then that's usually a tell-tale sign that the item was boxed damaged to begin with. Of course that's not always necessarily true, but the business can still file a claim with the shipping company (aka UPS/FedEx etc...), to get credited back the amount of insurance on the package.
I've been in sales for 7 years, if this happened to my customer, I'd immediately ship a new part out to you, and inside the box I'd have a return label enclosed in the new product I shipped out so you can return the damaged one back to me, so I can file my claim and just collect on the credit I get back from the shipping company. Easy stuff.
Anyway you can take a picture of the box and then the product with whatever wrapping was on it? Is the damage such that it could happen in the shipping without the box being hurt or is it enough that it had to be damaged prior to packaging?
The packaging was completely undamaged but there is a severely broken cast aluminum part inside. As the customer I feel that who damaged it should not be my concern.
I ship parts all day and every day.
If the packaging was in perfect shape but the cast part inside was broken, than the cast part wasn't wrapped and secured properly which is entirely the shippers fault. They can try to make a UPS claim but they will not get a dime. The shipper needs to eat it with no hassle.
I've been down this road a million times.
If the packaging was in perfect shape but the cast part inside was broken, than the cast part wasn't wrapped and secured properly which is entirely the shippers fault. They can try to make a UPS claim but they will not get a dime. The shipper needs to eat it with no hassle.
I've been down this road a million times.
Just had this happen to me with WELD wheels. Waited 6 weeks for them, check boxes as the came off the truck. Everything looked good(this is 8pm Friday evening). Open first box to test fit and wheel is bent on the lip. Straight flat spot, of course nothing I can do at the time. All the other wheels are good, took pics of everything. Sent emails out Saturday of everything, the box showed no damage to indicate the issue and no impact marks on the wheel. Needless to say I'm pissed, weld had the wheel picked up Tuesday by ups. The informed me they would build me a new one as quick as possible (it better not be weeks or I am going to come unglued). So I have 3 of my wheels currently, waiting on the 4th. It looked repairable but at speeds I plan to run these and what I paid for them.... I'm not using a repaired wheel unless it's been x ray'd for cracks any what not.
This is a big issue with Ford Racing and the CJ Intake. My first one was broken at the end of a runner. Tasca just sent a new one with a return label as the packaging was from Ford.
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