Claiming Insurance

[jjb5985]

I recently shipped a guitar through UPS and got insurance for it. It arrived with a piece broken off and now I’m wondering whether I should make a claim for shipping damage. I packed it well and wrote fragile on the box.

My only hesitation is that the box dropped while in my handling and I’m wondering if it broke while it was in my possession. The damage looks beyond what I would expect to happen from anything I did as I packed it well, but I’m wondering if I get my money back and it was in actuality my fault (I have no way of knowing), whether I’m to blame. Should I only make the claim if I know it was the shippers fault, or if I believe it could have been my doing (althoug I doubt it, its possible) should I just let it slide? I could just trust that God will take care of it and not worry about getting the insurance money. (not that getting my money back is a sure thing anyways)

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[BobP123]

Only you can really make that determination. However, one suggestion for the future: Don’t mark any package as fragile, especially if it’s going through the post office.

 

[1ke]

You are being overly scrupulous, IMHO. You are not trying to defraud UPS, only to make a legitimate claim for damage to your insured package. It is unlikely that you caused the damage.

I disagree with Bob about marking packages. It is necessary to properly declare your goods and insure them.

 

[BobP123]

I disagree with Bob about marking packages. It is necessary to properly declare your goods and insure them.

I’m just speaking from experience. You ever work at the post office?

All kidding aside, as a legal issue, it is wise to do as you say.

 

[DVM_Love]

I recently shipped a guitar through UPS and got insurance for it. It arrived with a piece broken off and now I’m wondering whether I should make a claim for shipping damage. I packed it well and wrote fragile on the box.

My only hesitation is that the box dropped while in my handling and I’m wondering if it broke while it was in my possession. The damage looks beyond what I would expect to happen from anything I did as I packed it well, but I’m wondering if I get my money back and it was in actuality my fault (I have no way of knowing), whether I’m to blame. Should I only make the claim if I know it was the shippers fault, or if I believe it could have been my doing (althoug I doubt it, its possible) should I just let it slide? I could just trust that God will take care of it and not worry about getting the insurance money. (not that getting my money back is a sure thing anyways)

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Just make the claim. You had not opened it before you discovered the damage…and so it is a legit claim. Your dropping it was probably the least thing that happened to it in shipping. I more than seriously doubt your small drop had a thing to do with the damage. At any rate…it’s claimable since it was up to that point un-opened.

 

[Dan_Grelinger]

The law has a concept called the “preponderance of the evidence” that I think applies here. The concept is applied in civil disputes, and is just a fancy way of saying what most probably is true. The law is not always a good indicator of true good (morals), but in this case, I think it is. If the probability is greater (using your most unbiased judgement), that the guitar was damaged during actual shipment, make the claim.

Sincerely,

Dan Grelinger

 

[m134e5]

I recently shipped a guitar through UPS and got insurance for it. It arrived with a piece broken off and now I’m wondering whether I should make a claim for shipping damage. I packed it well and wrote fragile on the box.

Since you say it looks like it was damaged beyond what your dropping it would do, you should make a claim. I also recommend that you drive the instrument where you need it to go yourself, or you pay a friend to drive it to you. The safest way to ship an instrument is to drive it yourself.

My only hesitation is that the box dropped while in my handling and I’m wondering if it broke while it was in my possession. The damage looks beyond what I would expect to happen from anything I did as I packed it well, but I’m wondering if I get my money back and it was in actuality my fault (I have no way of knowing), whether I’m to blame. Should I only make the claim if I know it was the shippers fault, or if I believe it could have been my doing (althoug I doubt it, its possible) should I just let it slide? I could just trust that God will take care of it and not worry about getting the insurance money. (not that getting my money back is a sure thing anyways)

Go ahead and make the claim. I suggest you not ship musical instruments in anything other than the back of your car again.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Do not ship musical instruments unless you absolutely have to. If you absolutely have to ship them, don’t use USPS (not even if your life depends on it), or UPS (pretty much the same thing). Federal Express is OK…but the back of your own car is the safest way to get instruments from one place to another.