Ref 3s, sadly killed by UPS

[nhpm510]

Tonight, if you would, raise a glass to remember my dear friends who didn't make it on their transit to GA (one friggin' state over) from FL.

Beautiful Piano Black Ref 3s in the original packing, cartons and wood crate. :doh! 1:

Idiots handling these babies should be flogged in the town square. :boom::boom::boom:

Good thing they were insured, but it is little consellation.

[tthurman]

That sucks!

:mad:

[ben9732]

Oh the humanities ....... :doh! 1:

Got pics?

It's amazing what a little wood filler can do. :peeping:

[sbisheff]

Oh that REALLY sucks!! Those are such great speakers ...

[youra6]

Urge to kill... Rising... :tanks alot:

[tesseract]

On man, sorry to hear that, nhpm510. I lost a $500/single floorstanding AR to UPS years ago, it took me threats of litigation and 6 months to get a working pair in the house.

I wonder how many speakers these guys are responsible for damaging, it must be in the thousands. Hopefully yours can be saved.

[woofersus]

Wow, that sucks. Especially since they are discontinued and getting hard to find.

[rsa]

Oh, man. :mad: My heartfelt condolences. I'm a Rosewood owner, but a PB-luster. I wish you the best of luck dealing with UPS. Skiing Ninja lost a pair to UPS also—and the were shipped on a pallet!

I know it's too late, but maybe it will help someone else. FedEx, FedEx, FedEx, FedEx, FedEx... At least on cross-country missions, they have fewer handoffs at hubs and even make it in one less day. Less handling = less chance of damage. UPS was recommended by the company who packed mine, but remembering the Skiing Ninja fiasco, I looked for a reason to ignore their recommendation. One of CHT's competitors gave it to me. I remembered that Elemental Designs used FedEx (I saw pictures on their blog of a truck getting loaded at their dock). I called and spoke to ED. Their claims had dropped to almost nothing after switching from UPS to FedEx. He said claims favors FedEx, too. Of course, someone will read this and tell us their FedEx horror show. :)

When I'm shipping big, heavy, valuable stuff, I try to time the shipment to NOT be in the carrier's hands over a weekend. I figure—rightly or not—that there's less chance for them to get damaged in a truck on the road than in hub.

My Ref 3's were shipped from CA to NC, uninsured. :doh! 1: Waybill specified insurance, but it was missed. I even "insured" it for twice what I paid, figuring if they busted up one speaker, they'd only pay for one speaker. Long story short, they arrived with barely a mark on the packages! I didn't use av123 packaging, and that might have helped me. I can't say enough good thing about The Packaging Store, especially the location I used (Irvine). More pictures of my unpacking are here.



Again, my condolences and that a fair pair of Ref 3's turn up again. There was a BEM pair with Skiing Ninja crossovers on AG last month that didn't appear to sell. They were priced right ( $1750.00 obo) and the seller's AG member name was "Electronicwarfare".

Stewart

[tesseract]

RSA, I like the "delicate instruments" sticker.

I bought this at a B&M store, but thought it was pretty cool to see the warning the factory had put on.

[nhpm510]

Thanks for the kind words all. Yes, it does suck, still.

If I was the buyer, I'd be pretty distraught. "Thankfully," UPS damaged both, so we'll not have to worry about them paying for just one. Gotta love incompetence :doh! 1:

Hopefully, the claim process won't be terrible, as I photo'ed the pack up, marked any imperfections in the shipping cartons, and photo'ed them as well.

UPS is not winning any big points with me as they destroyed a NAD amp (although a crappy pack job by the seller) I had coming my way.

I guess they are consistent!

Wish I had some of those stickers before the Ref3s left.

[ben9732]

I used those stickers on all my audio equipment too. Not sure it makes a differance, but they are warned.

[Sandbagger]

A buddy of mine who builds BIG (30"+ Mirror) Dobsonian Telescopes was getting boxes from a supplier that stuck a bunch of fragile optical instrument stickers all over the boxes all beat to heck. He told them to ship the next one without the stickers.... Guess what, the next one didnt have a spot on it. :doh! 1:

[rsa]

More pictures of my unpacking are here.

Oops. Forgot the more pictures link. :doh! 1: Fixed. :cool:

[phipp01]

UPS = Ur Package Smashed

[etcarroll]

This is just too sad a thread.