Tewligan
First Post
Oh, those bastards. So, this past weekend I flew up to San Francisco to visit a friend. While there, the good fellow gave me a computer - he's a game programmer, and goes through computers like fat kids go through Twinkies. Rather than mess around with checking it at the airport, I decided to just take it to a UPS center and ship it to myself. We got there, and I packed the hell out of it - properly sized box, bubble wrap, that thick cardboard honeycomb sheeting, etc. A work of art. Anyway, I take it to the counter, pay about $70 in materials and shipping, and hand it over. We turn to leave, and before we're even out the damn door, an enormous thud echoes throughout the store, causing us and other patrons of the store to turn. Ah, good - it's just a dumbass employee who, judging from the sound, must have just dropped the box in a corner from literally more than a foot from the ground rather than set it down with any sort of care. Y'know, despite the "Fragile" stickers they had just put on it for me. Ugh. That was Monday. Yesterday, the package arrives at my office. The delivery guy has totally ignored the "This End Up" and arrows drawn all around the box. Yay! I'm distracted all day by the thought of setting it up and playing modern games. I get home, take it out of the box, and am sickened by the horrible sound of something heavy thumping around freely inside when I move it. I open up the case, and see that the heat sink and fan have broken off of the processor, and presumably have been merrily rattling around inside its prison, bashing into whatever hardware gets in its path. I balance the heat sink carefully back where it belongs, hoping against hope that the computer will work. Oh, heavens no. I power it up, enjoy the sound of the horribly rattling fan, and watch as absolutely nothing comes up on the monitor. No sound of activity from the hard drives, either. Hurrah!
How much abuse must the box have taken for that to break loose?! The tabs that the clips attach to had completely broken off, the glue or soldering or whatever had broken between the processor and the heat sink/fan, and various plastic and metal pieces had been bashed all to hell by the free-ranging debris. The computer wasn't sliding around loose in the box - it was tight when I packed it, and still tight when I opened it. It must have been slammed around pretty significantly for things INSIDE to break free like that, right? Oh, I am so pissed. I'm calling them tonight - I was far too angry to make it worthwhile last night. Has anyone had anything like this happen with UPS, and come out of it with a happy ending?
Oh, and I'm told that insurance isn't automatically assumed on the shipping. Shouldn't they have maybe mentioned something about insurance when they saw the estimated value? Or the fragile stickers? Or the fact that I asked them if there should be any problem shipping a computer? Ohhh, I hate them so freaking much...
How much abuse must the box have taken for that to break loose?! The tabs that the clips attach to had completely broken off, the glue or soldering or whatever had broken between the processor and the heat sink/fan, and various plastic and metal pieces had been bashed all to hell by the free-ranging debris. The computer wasn't sliding around loose in the box - it was tight when I packed it, and still tight when I opened it. It must have been slammed around pretty significantly for things INSIDE to break free like that, right? Oh, I am so pissed. I'm calling them tonight - I was far too angry to make it worthwhile last night. Has anyone had anything like this happen with UPS, and come out of it with a happy ending?
Oh, and I'm told that insurance isn't automatically assumed on the shipping. Shouldn't they have maybe mentioned something about insurance when they saw the estimated value? Or the fragile stickers? Or the fact that I asked them if there should be any problem shipping a computer? Ohhh, I hate them so freaking much...
