Damaged Old Clock. Some advise please.

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 11:31 pm     Post subject: Damaged Old Clock. Some advise please.

Recently my grandmother shipped an old clock down to my mother. I am making this post for them because I would like to get some info as I am just as upset about this situation as they are. Sorry for such a long post.

My grandmother had an old Seth Thomas wall clock. We aren't too sure of the age but we know it belonged to my great grandfather. We believe it was appraised in the 60's for almost $1000.

With my grandmother being 82 years old she did not want to deal with packing and shipping this clock herself. She took the clock to the UPS Store for them to pack and ship it. She spent almost 4 hours there as they quoted her from the beginning as low as $65 for shipping. By the time she left, 4 hours later, she had spent a couple hundred dollars for packing and shipping. That does sound reasonable to me but I think the people there must have been idiots. The packing was very poor. A square piece of cardboard cut to the size of the glass was placed over the glass and then taped down. The clock was then bubble wrapped.

When the clock arrived the glass is completely smashed and the tape that was used ruined the wood finish. We are not sure if the clock still works as we are not doing anything with it until we get things straightened out with UPS. It was insured at the UPS Store for $1200. When we contact UPS about this we are told that UPS and UPS Store have separate insurance policies and that this needs to be taken up with the UPS Store and the shipper. We keep getting the run around from everyone. My grandmother says she doesn't want to deal with it as she has much going on and my mother and I are across the country so it is hard for us to deal with the actual store that did the packing and shipping. I am not sure myself about all the details as to what is covered under the insurance but it seems like something needs to be done by someone from UPS.

I know that this may be more of a shipping issue but we aren't really sure on what steps to take. UPS says they will work on getting an appraiser to look at the damage but we do not want to have to transport the clock to the appraiser and we will have to pay to get him to come out instead. We also plan to get value of the clock appraised as well.

Also, the keys and the weight were mailed separately and we did receive those without any problems.

What should we do in this situation? I remember this clock from my childhood and really like it and am hoping that someday it can be passed down to me.

Thanks for any advise you have on this situation.

Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 12:56 am     Post subject:

I would get a clock repair person or restorer to give you an estimate, you can then present it to the UPS Store with pictures of the damage.

The UPS Store I believe guarantees it will not break if they pack it. They are a franchise. Who ever packed it did a lousy job, as packages must survive a 3ft fall off the conveyer.

Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 8:52 am     Post subject:

Take pictures of how you received it and make a claim against UPS.
If you have to get a lawyer involved he should be able to get get all your money back plus compensation.