Need Advice with Shipment Gone Wrong
02-08-2009, 09:49 AM
#1
Need Advice with Shipment Gone Wrong
Guys,
I purchased a Elia Rear Skirt from another member here on my350z. This skirt is made of urethane and was advertised as in excellent condition. The price we agreed on was 400 USD. At the time of purchase I asked him to put the value on the Customs Declaration at 100.00 that way I didn't get hit with any duties - he agreed. Since I live in a condo I had the seller ship it to my parents house. The shipment arrived on Friday and when I went home yesterday to check out my rear skirt I was shocked to see it delivered damaged. As from the pics you can see that it is cracked into two pieces. As for the rear skirt it was not packed in a box. The seller packed it was two layers of bubble wrap and then placed it it in a heavy duty plastic bag - he did have it stamped a "fragile". Now the seller (who feels bad about the situation) is unwilling to take any responsibility for this and is basically not willing to help with the repair(hopefully it can be repaired). He is stating that because I asked him to reduce the value to 100.00 that I am now on the hook for the damage and it is up to me to call the shipping company. I'm very upset that he does not want to help and come up with a solution to this unfortunate situation . I mentioned that he also took a risk at putting a 100 value because technically the product is still his till it shows up to my door. I have asked him to cover half the repair costs and he is unwilling to even do that. Aside from calling Canada post on Monday it seems that I don't have many options. Does anyone have any advice moving forward?
I purchased a Elia Rear Skirt from another member here on my350z. This skirt is made of urethane and was advertised as in excellent condition. The price we agreed on was 400 USD. At the time of purchase I asked him to put the value on the Customs Declaration at 100.00 that way I didn't get hit with any duties - he agreed. Since I live in a condo I had the seller ship it to my parents house. The shipment arrived on Friday and when I went home yesterday to check out my rear skirt I was shocked to see it delivered damaged. As from the pics you can see that it is cracked into two pieces. As for the rear skirt it was not packed in a box. The seller packed it was two layers of bubble wrap and then placed it it in a heavy duty plastic bag - he did have it stamped a "fragile". Now the seller (who feels bad about the situation) is unwilling to take any responsibility for this and is basically not willing to help with the repair(hopefully it can be repaired). He is stating that because I asked him to reduce the value to 100.00 that I am now on the hook for the damage and it is up to me to call the shipping company. I'm very upset that he does not want to help and come up with a solution to this unfortunate situation . I mentioned that he also took a risk at putting a 100 value because technically the product is still his till it shows up to my door. I have asked him to cover half the repair costs and he is unwilling to even do that. Aside from calling Canada post on Monday it seems that I don't have many options. Does anyone have any advice moving forward?
02-08-2009, 10:45 AM
#4
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Unfortunatley you asked him to tag it at $100 and he did that for you as a favour. The damaging during shipping is the problem and Im willing to bet if insurance was purchased you'll end up with only $100 and the broken skirt.
02-08-2009, 10:47 AM
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If you asked him to price it at 100 you were taking responsibility for 300 worth and could at most only ask him to split you on the 100 you did state the value for. Insurance on the shipment would be limited to $100 because of your declared value.
If I was the seller I would pay for half of one quarter of the cost to repair it (or 1/8th of the cost) because of how you told him to ship it at 1/4 of the value.
Next time, ship with the real value, pay the 80 bux to get it over the border then if there is a problem you can claim the insurance for the damage and have UPS pay to repair it.
I have to side with the seller in this situation unfortunately because as soon as you told him to reduce the value, you took responsibility for everything over $100.
If I was the seller I would pay for half of one quarter of the cost to repair it (or 1/8th of the cost) because of how you told him to ship it at 1/4 of the value.
Next time, ship with the real value, pay the 80 bux to get it over the border then if there is a problem you can claim the insurance for the damage and have UPS pay to repair it.
I have to side with the seller in this situation unfortunately because as soon as you told him to reduce the value, you took responsibility for everything over $100.
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02-08-2009, 02:34 PM
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I feel bad for the buyer as it sounds as if the seller shipped it with horrible packaging. It would have been busted up regardless of what he declared the value as, which is unacceptable IMO. Who the hell ships something like this with a layer or two of bubble wrap, covered in a plastic bag and an idiotic sign saying "fragile"? Who is the seller, I would like to avoid them at all costs...
02-08-2009, 02:37 PM
#12
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I filed a report with UPS when I received a damaged part. I also got in touch with my credit card and told them about the problem. Ultimately, the CC company reversed the charges and went to collect from the vendor.
02-08-2009, 03:10 PM
#13
I feel bad for the buyer as it sounds as if the seller shipped it with horrible packaging. It would have been busted up regardless of what he declared the value as, which is unacceptable IMO. Who the hell ships something like this with a layer or two of bubble wrap, covered in a plastic bag and an idiotic sign saying "fragile"? Who is the seller, I would like to avoid them at all costs...
At this point that is what is bothering me the most - the packaging. I take responsibility for trying to save a bit of money on duties and I guess this is a tough lesson learned. Please note that the seller only spent 27.75 to ship from Ohio to Toronto. That is extremely cheap IMO for shipping a large item. My Nismo Lip cost over 125 to ship from the US and it came in a box and yes I paid the full customs charges.
So in fact I tried to save money by asking him to drop the value of the rear lip for customs charges but he also took cost saving matters to NOT ship the item in a box.
02-08-2009, 03:26 PM
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UPS has an automatic coverage on the first $100 so he should be able to put together a claim for $100 on that part pretty easily. If he does that it could cover at least part of what it will cost to have it fixed and not cost him any money from his pocket.
If the packaging was crap he is partially responsible as well because you simply can't ship a fragile part with "fragile" written on it and expect not to be held responsible at all either.
If the packaging was crap he is partially responsible as well because you simply can't ship a fragile part with "fragile" written on it and expect not to be held responsible at all either.
02-08-2009, 06:04 PM
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Sorry to hear about your sad story. It it was shippes USPS, if l am not mistaken, there is technically nothing that can be claimed from USPS. Besides from the point that the seller packaged it so shitty, always ask for either Fedex of UPS. Hope u can find a good body shop to fix it.
02-08-2009, 07:09 PM
#17
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you are totally on the hook for that, no question. Insurance likely wont even cover it because it wasnt packed up properly (in a box).
it CAN be repaired but not with urethane, it will have to be done with fibreglass and other bonding agents.
buy in Canada.
it CAN be repaired but not with urethane, it will have to be done with fibreglass and other bonding agents.
buy in Canada.
02-08-2009, 07:45 PM
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I have to agree with most of the replies here... You asked to mark the value of the shipment at $100 dollars; and that's unfortunately all you're entitled to...
Yes, the seller is an *** for poorly packaging the kit - but that's what shipping insurance is for and why you should typically declare an item with its actual/true value. The situation sucks and I feel your pain though. On the bright side, the break looks fairly clean and shouldn't present a problem to a reputable shop. The repair may even cost less than the $100 you'll get from your insurance claim.
Good luck.
Yes, the seller is an *** for poorly packaging the kit - but that's what shipping insurance is for and why you should typically declare an item with its actual/true value. The situation sucks and I feel your pain though. On the bright side, the break looks fairly clean and shouldn't present a problem to a reputable shop. The repair may even cost less than the $100 you'll get from your insurance claim.
Good luck.
Last edited by Strife350z; 02-08-2009 at 07:50 PM.
02-08-2009, 09:09 PM
#19
Ok some of you are way off base here.
Let's start at the obvious. If you file a claim on an item, you don't get the full value of the item and keep it too. Why are they going to pay for your item and let you keep it. The item goes back to the seller along with the money from the claim. The seller then turns around and issues you a refund with the money.
Why is seller going to take back a broken item and $100 when it's worth $400? So you can turn around and reverse the charges because you don't have an item? Because now he only has $100 to give you because you wanted to lie for tax purposes? Now he's left with a broken item and a $100 because YOU wanted to commit fraud and claim it at $100 to save yourself some money.
The seller wants nothing to do with you because he doesn't want to be left without $300 because of your mistake. He did exactly what I would have done, tell you to go to Canada Post and let you deal with it. Why should he fix the problem because you wanted to avoid paying your taxes? Why do I have to pay for my taxes while you get a free ride?
I feel your pain. There are plenty of people who do the same thing you do. Unfortunately, it's fraud. You can't have your cake and eat it too should anything go wrong. Its a chance you take and unfortunately you lost.
Anyways, can you fit the two pieces together clean like a jigsaw? If so, just move on. It shouldn't be hard to repair and will cost you whatever you saved in taxes either way. As long as the body guy doesn't have to guess how it fits together, he'll fix it.
Let's start at the obvious. If you file a claim on an item, you don't get the full value of the item and keep it too. Why are they going to pay for your item and let you keep it. The item goes back to the seller along with the money from the claim. The seller then turns around and issues you a refund with the money.
Why is seller going to take back a broken item and $100 when it's worth $400? So you can turn around and reverse the charges because you don't have an item? Because now he only has $100 to give you because you wanted to lie for tax purposes? Now he's left with a broken item and a $100 because YOU wanted to commit fraud and claim it at $100 to save yourself some money.
The seller wants nothing to do with you because he doesn't want to be left without $300 because of your mistake. He did exactly what I would have done, tell you to go to Canada Post and let you deal with it. Why should he fix the problem because you wanted to avoid paying your taxes? Why do I have to pay for my taxes while you get a free ride?
I feel your pain. There are plenty of people who do the same thing you do. Unfortunately, it's fraud. You can't have your cake and eat it too should anything go wrong. Its a chance you take and unfortunately you lost.
Anyways, can you fit the two pieces together clean like a jigsaw? If so, just move on. It shouldn't be hard to repair and will cost you whatever you saved in taxes either way. As long as the body guy doesn't have to guess how it fits together, he'll fix it.
Last edited by bender; 02-08-2009 at 11:34 PM.
02-09-2009, 03:53 AM
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The seller is partially responsible however because he packaged it really poorly which is what lead to it breaking. If you bought some eggs from me, I marked them below the value, then took 12 eggs put them in a plastic shopping beg all together and mailed them who would be responsible?
If they went missing totally you would be insured for the value we stated and if they arrived broken I would be responsible for at least part of the damage. You can't just ship eggs in a plastic beg they will be all broken. Thats pretty negligent so I am at least partially responsible for the damage.
If they went missing totally you would be insured for the value we stated and if they arrived broken I would be responsible for at least part of the damage. You can't just ship eggs in a plastic beg they will be all broken. Thats pretty negligent so I am at least partially responsible for the damage.