eBay-Laptop-USPS Horror Story of the Day

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At least this woman was persistent and refused to give up, even after the USPS denied her claim three times. :eek:

She tells CBS Sacramento’s Kurtis Ming that USPS denied her insurance claim because the package was delivered and signed for as requested, but when she asked to see the proof of signature, the box was blank. So either the recipient had signed in invisible ink or no one had signed at all because the package was lost or stolen in transit.
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Damn. That makes me question if purchasing insurance is worth it in the first place.
 
I love how if you make news reports all of a sudden things are within policy... I understand why, just think its funny.
 
If you're shipping an item the seller should pay all insurance. Its your risk. Under ebay policies if it doesn't make it to the address the buyer gets refunded.

But then again if you send a $1300 laptop via USPS. You must be on crack. Their tracking system is a joke. At least with UPS/FEDEX you have some updates to when they throw your laptop over a fence to call it a day.
 
andrewcw said:
If you're shipping an item the seller should pay all insurance. Its your risk. Under ebay policies if it doesn't make it to the address the buyer gets refunded.
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Which is what happened here, the story is written from seller's perspective. USPS claimed they have a signature, and then provided a blank form with no signature as a proof.
 
This is exactly why the USPS is so far in the hole. They continue to provide sub-par customer service and horrible tracking. I haven't used USPS to ship anything in years, but they used to not even consider a package 'missing' unless it's been 14 days since the shipping date. 14 days!

Why the hell anyone would use USPS over FedEx or UPS to ship a laptop in the first place is beyond my comprehension.
 
Biggrich76 said:
This is exactly why the USPS is so far in the hole. They continue to provide sub-par customer service and horrible tracking. I haven't used USPS to ship anything in years, but they used to not even consider a package 'missing' unless it's been 14 days since the shipping date. 14 days!

Why the hell anyone would use USPS over FedEx or UPS to ship a laptop in the first place is beyond my comprehension.
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/shrug, to each their own. USPS hasn't let me down yet, while the number of boxes/packages I've shipped FedEx or UPS that arrived in truly abused/damaged condition, or didn't arrive at all, is huge for me.
AND USPS is usually less expensive, as long as it doesn't have to be there tomorrow.



And as a aside, the only reason USPS is "in the hole" is Congress required them to have 75 years of pension fund set aside in less then 10 years, then refused any additional revenue/cost increases/budget cuts to pay for such a insane requirement. USPS is "in the hole" because the Republican congress wanted them to be.

USPS actually operates at a net profit, and if they had a more reasonable pension fund requirement, they would STILL be at a profit. But that clashes with Repub's views that there can be an efficient, competitive government program, so they made sure it was quashed via legislation.
 
raptorxrx said:
Damn. That makes me question if purchasing insurance is worth it in the first place.
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It is. I had shipped some sporting tickets a few years ago - I shipped overnight express with insurance. The event comes and goes and I figure all is well until I get a notice from the buyer who says the tickets didn't arrive and I ruined his father/son weekend. I felt bad, so I went to the USPS (since their tracking system is so defunct) and they pull it up. It shows the packet went from Las Vegas to Stockton, Ca, to Los Angeles, floated around LA for a few days and then was delivered 5 days later to San Francisco, CA.

They refunded, since they obviously didn't deliver in the 1 day window.

It's worth noting that many online companies offer alternative insurance through 3rd-party companies. It's usually cheaper, don't know how well the claims work.
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
/shrug, to each their own. USPS hasn't let me down yet, while the number of boxes/packages I've shipped FedEx or UPS that arrived in truly abused/damaged condition, or didn't arrive at all, is huge for me.
AND USPS is usually less expensive, as long as it doesn't have to be there tomorrow.



And as a aside, the only reason USPS is "in the hole" is Congress required them to have 75 years of pension fund set aside in less then 10 years, then refused any additional revenue/cost increases/budget cuts to pay for such a insane requirement. USPS is "in the hole" because the Democratic congress wanted them to be.

USPS actually operates at a net profit, and if they had a more reasonable pension fund requirement, they would STILL be at a profit. But that clashes with Repub's views that there can be an efficient, competitive government program, so they made sure it was quashed via legislation.
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Fixed that for you, it's actually the Democrats but *shrug*.

I agree with the rest of the post... USPS Priority "for the win" as the teens say.
 
Last time USPS lost an item being shipped to me, I had the tracking information, arrived at the local USPS the tracking information stated the package was at and they basically told me "it's lost, contact the seller". Really didn't give two shits and kept blaming on some driver losing it who was never there.


My UPS guy on the contrary is OUTSTANDING. I get a couple of packages a week from Amazon and they are ALWAYS on time and intact. He even goes as far most days to try and put the box under a rug if its raining or hide it behind my front porch pillars if Im not home.
 
m33pm33p said:
My UPS guy on the contrary is OUTSTANDING. I get a couple of packages a week from Amazon and they are ALWAYS on time and intact. He even goes as far most days to try and put the box under a rug if its raining or hide it behind my front porch pillars if Im not home.
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QFT. In fact, I've moved several times in the past few years and every UPS guy who has delivered to me has been awesome.
 
Maybe they gave her the run around because USPS doesn't have any money to give her :D

That said, the story had an annoying error, it states she was out $1300 and a laptop... no she was out either $1300 or a laptop, if she keeps the $1300 then she doesn't have a laptop, if she keeps the laptop she never had the $1300. Sorry just the math aspect of that alone made me not like whomever wrote it :D
 
GoldenTiger said:
Fixed that for you, it's actually the Democrats but *shrug*.

I agree with the rest of the post... USPS Priority "for the win" as the teens say.
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actually you are wrong. It was the republicans that pushed for the legislation and democrats are now trying to repeal it but to no avail and no repubs are interested... google it.
 
In going through same issue. Shipped $300 head phones may 18. USPS claim delivered 28th. Buyer says never got them. USPS will not refund me for insured amount...
 
This happens all to often. Same thing happened to me with UPS. Sold a laptop via ebay using paypal for the transfer of funds. Ship the laptop to seller using UPS and insuring it along with paying extra for direct signature with photo ID. Buyer transfers funds. 3 weeks later buyer claims laptop never arrived. I have already spent the funds from the sale on a new laptop. Buyer claims fraud. Paypal debits my account back for money (making a negative 988.00 balance) I dispute fraud claim. Tracking UPS package shows it was signed by someone other than the buyer. Package was tracked that it was delivered to the wrong house down the street. UPS contacts person down the street that delivery guy claims he delivered to. Name matches the signature on the UPS form (mind you I paid extra for insurance and Photo ID signature required) Guy at house claims he did sign but when he realized it was not for him, he hand delivered it to correct address and buyer down street. That guy denies ever seeing it. Long story short. UPS denied my claim 4 times because they said that SOMEONE did sign for it regardless if it was the correct address because they trust that the person at the wrong address redelivered it for them. Paypal sided with the Ebay policy and UPS. After the 4th denial for insurance from UPS I threatened to go viral with the story and file a small claims case. Finally they agreed to honor the insurance BUT FOR ONLY THE AMOUNT OF THE LAPTOP. NOT the 98.00 shipping cost that the buyer agreed to cover and that I paid. Essentially after all that effort I was out a hundred bucks and had to pay back paypal for the negative balance.
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
/shrug, t

And as a aside, the only reason USPS is "in the hole" is Congress required them to have 75 years of pension fund set aside in less then 10 years, then refused any additional revenue/cost increases/budget cuts to pay for such a insane requirement. USPS is "in the hole" because the Republican congress wanted them to be.

USPS actually operates at a net profit, and if they had a more reasonable pension fund requirement, they would STILL be at a profit. But that clashes with Repub's views that there can be an efficient, competitive government program, so they made sure it was quashed via legislation.
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Please note the ease with which this guy passes off lies as truth (or is incredibly stupid and ill informed).

HR 6407 - the "Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act" was co-sponsored by 2 Democrats and 1 Republican:

Cosponsors:
Danny Davis [D-IL7]
John McHugh [R-NY23]
Henry Waxman [D-CA30]

Henry Waxman is certainly not someone who agreed with President Bush on much but Bush did sign this Waxman-Sponsored bill into law.

It passed the House by voice vote (no recorded votes) and passed the Senate by UNANIMOUS CONSENT (Democrats and Republicans alike)

See http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-6407 for details
 
TMCM said:
actually you are wrong. It was the republicans that pushed for the legislation and democrats are now trying to repeal it but to no avail and no repubs are interested... google it.
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I did, did you?

HR 6407 - the "Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act" was co-sponsored by 2 Democrats and 1 Republican:

Cosponsors:
Danny Davis [D-IL7]
John McHugh [R-NY23]
Henry Waxman [D-CA30]

I usually lurk, but the level of dumbassery and deception by these two leftists on an issue whose facts are so easily discovered motivated me to register and respond.
 
Biggrich76 said:
This is exactly why the USPS is so far in the hole. They continue to provide sub-par customer service and horrible tracking. I haven't used USPS to ship anything in years, but they used to not even consider a package 'missing' unless it's been 14 days since the shipping date. 14 days!

Why the hell anyone would use USPS over FedEx or UPS to ship a laptop in the first place is beyond my comprehension.
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Not even close to why they are in the whole. Do some research on their forced pension funding changes. No company in the world could probably operate this way successfully. All imposed by Congress for what many believe was lobbied to cripple the USPS and allow for an argument later to do away with it entirely.
 
bacon said:
Not even close to why they are in the whole. Do some research on their forced pension funding changes. No company in the world could probably operate this way successfully. All imposed by Congress for what many believe was lobbied to cripple the USPS and allow for an argument later to do away with it entirely.
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They are not in the hole because of the prefunding requirement. When the legislation was enacted, the USPS had an estimated $45 billion in unfunded liabilities for retiree healthcare. Since it started to make payments, that amount is down to $33 billion. If they stop making payments now, that debt would grow to $100 billion by the end of decade, and grow exponentially from there. There's no way the post office would become profitable enough to cover that, meaning that taxpayers would have had to eat it.

That's the difference between the USPS and a private company. A company could simply decide to stop paying for retiree health care if they didn't have the money, since USPS workers are federal employees, you and I would have to pay if the post office couldn't.

Please, educate yourself and stop swallowing everything HuffingtonPost/MoveOn/John Stewart and the rest of their ilk feed you.
 
I've had pretty good luck with USPS, although a recent delivery unleashed some cockroaches when I opened the box. Who knows where it was parked along the way from its origin.

OTOH, I had a UPS package with signature required just left on my porch. When I checked the tracking, it said I had signed for it. Wrong, they never even rang the doorbell because I was home at the time and would have heard it.
 
GlowingGhoul said:
They are not in the hole because of the prefunding requirement. When the legislation was enacted, the USPS had an estimated $45 billion in unfunded liabilities for retiree healthcare. Since it started to make payments, that amount is down to $33 billion. If they stop making payments now, that debt would grow to $100 billion by the end of decade, and grow exponentially from there. There's no way the post office would become profitable enough to cover that, meaning that taxpayers would have had to eat it.

That's the difference between the USPS and a private company. A company could simply decide to stop paying for retiree health care if they didn't have the money, since USPS workers are federal employees, you and I would have to pay if the post office couldn't.

Please, educate yourself and stop swallowing everything HuffingtonPost/MoveOn/John Stewart and the rest of their ilk feed you.
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OPM which is the very ones who came up with the original numbers in the 80s that they were underfunded reported over funding of 100 billion. This was before the 2003 pension reform act when so much stupidity and utter mistruths were spread.

No one seems to be able to accurately calculate the pension liabilities they have. Its in this shape because of partisan politics.

Fun fact for mr informed first poster I summoned from the interwebs. Did you know that the 2003 reform act shifted the obligations of veterans pensions who were employed by the USPS from the treasury to the post office. Just a 27 billion dollar obligation, I seriously doubt any private company could successfully do business like this.
 
This is 100% standard operating procedure for the USPS. I shipped a rare coin to a coin grading agency certified mail, return receipt requested and insured it for $1500. They promptly lost it and gave precisely 0 shits about the fact that they lost it. When I filed my claim, they promptly offered me $7.86, which was, if I recall correctly, about what I had paid for the postage. When I pressed the issue, they invited me to appeal it to ... their appeals department, which is also within the USPS. I continued to complain, and when I asked what the point of buying the insurance was, I was finally told - I kid you not - "Sir, if we paid full value on all items we lost, we would go out of business."

It seems that they refuse to insure "currency". When I told them that the "currency" in question was a $1 rare coin insured for its collector value, I was told I needed to present a purchase receipt. When I explained that I had not purchased it, but had instead inherited it, they said I would need to have it appraised. I lost them when I tried to explain that I was shipping it TO the appraising agency. At that point, I was told that without a receipt, I couldn't prove the value of what was in the package. When I offered to produce a receipt for $1500 for ... just something, I was told that was fraud, and I could be prosecuted if the item was ever found. I then advised that I would gladly refund the payment because I would rather have the package... you see where this is going.

This is government folks. They totally need to be running healthcare.
 
Oh, I was also told that I should have shipped the item REGISTERED mail if I expected it to be tracked. A point that was omitted when, you know, I bought the postage.
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
/shrug, to each their own. USPS hasn't let me down yet, while the number of boxes/packages I've shipped FedEx or UPS that arrived in truly abused/damaged condition, or didn't arrive at all, is huge for me.
AND USPS is usually less expensive, as long as it doesn't have to be there tomorrow.

.
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Certainly to each his own, and you are correct that no service is perfect. I have had some crazy problems pop up with UPS and FedEx as well.

The difference is in the follow-up. If FedEx or UPS messes up, they will fix the problem. Or, rather, they are 100% more likely to try. USPS absolutely will not because they don't have to, they don't care, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Everything is fine as long is nothing goes wrong. You pay a little more for FedEx or UPS, but the added cost goes into quality of service. There is no comparison. USPS is a joke, and they are the only ones laughing.
 
FedEx to this day never gets my address correct.

I purchased a 40" touch panel from member on here only to have it never arrive. There's just 10 houses on my street with most being there.
FedEx said it was refused as not needed. wtf. The shipper called and then all of a sudden was told it got damaged.
Seller said to ship back to him. It never arrived and was told it was delivered.
 
Been there, done that, tracked down thieving driver, confirmed theft, crafted concrete shoes, done world favour..
 
bacon said:
OPM which is the very ones who came up with the original numbers in the 80s that they were underfunded reported over funding of 100 billion. This was before the 2003 pension reform act when so much stupidity and utter mistruths were spread.

No one seems to be able to accurately calculate the pension liabilities they have. Its in this shape because of partisan politics.

Fun fact for mr informed first poster I summoned from the interwebs. Did you know that the 2003 reform act shifted the obligations of veterans pensions who were employed by the USPS from the treasury to the post office. Just a 27 billion dollar obligation, I seriously doubt any private company could successfully do business like this.
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The entire country has lost the mathematical skills necessary to perform a Net Present Value calculation? Every company in the world can do this but the Post Office can't?
 
I ordered an item from an Ebay seller. It was sent via USPS insured. The padded envelope arrived empty and it had been cut open and re-taped so obviously stolen. I filed an online claim at usps.com and got payment in 10 days.
 
Vorret said:
concrete shoes?
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Cement-Shoes-onebyo.jpg


http://onebyo.blogspot.com/2013/02/10-most-horrible-death-penalties.html said:
Cement shoes is a slang term adopted by the American Mafia crime world for a method of execution that involves weighting down a victim and throwing him or her into the water to drown. It has become adopted in the US as a humorous term representing any exotic threat from criminals. This gives rise to the term of someone who "sleeps with the fishes", a euphemism for the deceased. It was frequently used by the Gambino crime family in the prohibition era.

Cement shoes traditionally involve binding or incapacitating the victim and placing each foot into the two spaces of a cinderblock, which is then filled with wet cement. Sometimes a plain bucket or box is used. When the cement hardens, the victim is thrown into a river, lake or the ocean. It is unclear how often such a cumbersome and time-consuming method of execution was actually used, outside of Hollywood movies. It could also be used for aiding in the disposal of a corpse already dispatched by other means so that the victim is never found if deposited in deep water.
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I guess I should feel pretty fortunate that I never had something get lost in transit to and from the USPS..

Tho most of the stuff past $20, I refuse to send through USPS, Would much rather pay an arm and a leg to ship things back via UPS... Just because their tracking system is much better than USPS.
 
I have had great success dealing with problems with companies recently.

if they decided to just "say no!" for reasons of laziness or just obstructions I now say...

"You can deal with it professionally and sensibly or this shit goes viral!"

Then I explain for those still living in the 20th century and amazingly it gets sorted pretty quickly.
 
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