Funny Story In A Letter
The following is a letter from my sister, who works at a major university in the potal department. She is their secretary, and in charge of their deliveries from all major shipping companies. All company names and individual’s names have been changed. So, you’ll have to use your imagination, but not by much. Here is a long cautionary tale about why you should never try to send something insured through SPU. Let me also add that I stopped a guy from shipping six boxes that could have resulted in a $150,000 fine to the University. It probably wouldn’t have been caught but if it had, this could have happened. Granted it’s part of my job, but I still think I deserve a bonus. So in December Ohio State University shipped us their Tyvek something something Infered Inrateck Grain Anylizer to be fixed and we sent it back. It was heavy, weighing 89 lbs but it was in a sturdy box with lots of foam around it. This is a $25,000 piece of machinery so that’s what we insured it for. Please realize that it cost us $150 to insure it for that much but there we go. So it gets there and piece of it is broken. I call SPU to put a claim on it and they say they’re sending someone out to look at it (so they can say we didn’t pack it right and deny us no doubt). So 3 weeks go by and I hear nothing so I call SPU again to ask if they’ve looked at the thing. Now I have the stupidest person in the world on the phone. She says no, I never put a claim in on it. So I say I want to and tell her we have $25,000 insurance on the thing but we just want the cost to fix it and she asks so how much will that be. I say I won’t know until it’s fixed so she says take pictures of it and fix it and get back to them when I know how much. That’s not what’s supposed to happen but it’s January and I’ve been working here one month so what do I know? Seems odd but there’s someone on the phone telling me to do this so I’ll do it. So I talk to the guy at OSU who is fixing it a lot. The machine isn’t being made any more but he’ll see if he can find the part. then he can find the part for $700 but thinks he can fix it for less. So he spends 6 months gluing and drying and testing and he’s satisfied it’s good now and he wants $247.50 for glue and labor on it, which sounds good to me. We payed $150 to insure the thing so I figure I’m only asking for another $100 on a $25,000 machine. Seems like a good deal. So I call SPU back in June and say okay, I have pictures, I have invoices, I want to put this claim through. They don’t know anything about it. I didn’t file a claim and it’s been more than 3 months so I can’t do it now. So I explain no, I’ve filed two claims now. SO they’re putting it through as a courtesy now and they’ll send someone out to inspect the box. Well it’s been 6 months, I don’t figure the box is still there so I say no, I have pictures. Well someone needs to inspect the box. And I tell them a lot more nicely than I want to that someone should have done that 6 months ago when they said they were going to. I ask several times do they want me to fax/email them the pictures. No, they’re sending someone to inspect the pictures. …okay. Sounds like a waste of time but if you really want to go for it. So I ask for a claim number this time because with my luck they’ll say they don’t have anything on it next time. She gives me a number and I write it down and away I go. While I’m at lunch someone calls back and gets Jenny. Someone is coming out to inspect the box. Jenny says no, we don’t have the box, we have pictures. The SPU chick spends half an hour explaining to Jenny that someone should have inspected the box and Jenny says she knows that but it’s too late and we have pictures. So again, someone is coming to inspect the pictures. Next day I get a phone call. Now this is good. Are you ready for this? Someone from SPU has inspected the box and is denying our claim. Funny because I KNOW no one has looked at the box. Now I’m pissed. The one thing you don’t do is lie to me. I know the chick is just looking at the computer but someone purposely put down that they looked at it and denied it. So I’m up in arms. No, no one looked at the box. They haven’t even seen pictures. Okay, so she asks what the crush rating is on the box. How the hell should I know? Looks like a sturdy box. There was 2-4” of foam on all sides of the thing. It was well packed. I ask her if I have a new claim number on this or if the old one will work. She asks me what claim number and when I tell her she doesn’t have record of that claim number. All I need is the tracking number. So I guess they’re making up numbers for me too now. Then she tries to shuffle off the phone and I’m like all right, what’s my next step. She says no, there is no next step. They need to know the crush rating on the box or they can’t go forward. And I tell her, in a tone that makes Jenny chuckle, that if someone had gone out and inspected the box 6 months ago they would probably know the crush rate of the cardboard and lying and saying they did inspect it wasn’t going to cut it. Okay, as a courtesy she’ll put in that we want to fight them turning us down. As a courtesy since they just lied to me and all. And oh by the way my name is spelled wrong in their system (big surprise) so I should call this other 1800 number to get them to fix it. No. I just spent hours trying to straighten this out, you’re being a pain in my ass, I’m not calling another number to waste time arguing with someone there. Screw you. So now I email the guy at OSU. Do you happen to still have this box? Why yes, and all the packing. And UPS is welcome to come look at it. They should ask for him. He’ll gladly beat them over the head with the box. I like this guy. So Erik, the SPU rep for my university comes in. And I give him the whole story. He’s pushing it up the ladder to someone else that handles claims and meanwhile I’ve sent the pictures to another claims guy at SPU. I don’t care. I’ll send the pictures to everyone at SPU if they want me to. I’ve offered them to five people on the phone in the last week anyway. So it’s still not resolved but you have to laugh. And it’s a good lesson. If you’re going to insure something, send it FedEx. They’ll fight you on it a little but at some point they take pity on you and give in, assuming you made a good effort to pack it correctly.
