For all you legal eagles out there...I'm in a bit of a pickle here. Curious if anyone has any pointers on this one. History: Last July I bought myself a new LCD TV. Originally I was going to relocate and mount the 37" Aquous in the bedroom, but after having it in there for a month the wife and I decided that TV in the bedroom was leading to more bad television and less quality time. So we asked around the family and my mom decided to upgrade from her 1987 Sony to the flatscreen world. I took the TV to Mailboxes Etc and shipped it to Houston via UPS. Cost of shipping was $300 and $2000 of insurance was $40. It arrived 2 days later, broken. The box was visibly damaged. The TV did not turn on. I told my mom to call UPS and they came out and examined the packaging, agreed that the TV was indeed broken, but needed to take the packaging back to the Hub for investigation. After a 3 week "investigation" they determined that UPS was not at fault and that the TV was broken bc Mailboxes Etc did not pack the TV with enough care. The manager of the MBE said this was total bs and he was taking it "up the corporate ladder" and that they "were there for me, but it could take awhile." It was about this time where I started to mistrust the manager of this franchise bc I could tell that he had no intention of taking responsibility for this claim if UPS refused the appeal. Things then got really weird. First of all, bc MBE shipped the package, THEY were the shipper of note. This meant when I called UPS Customer Service to ask for updates, they could only give me partial information (nothing with a dollar sign on it and no timetables) and asked me to use MBE as my point of contact. The manager of MBE, Jeff S, stopped returning my calls about 2 weeks into the process. So I was sorta in the dark on what was going on. Second, the TV started moving around the country on Oct 2. It went from Houston to Beaumont to Houston to NJ to NYC to Baltimore to Houston again where it was refused by multiple UPS hubs. Then, on Nov 10, it said "out for delivery" in Houston....and vanished. For two weeks the manager of the MBE refused to return my calls. I would go to his office on Saturdays but his assistant manager (a nice but powerless man) would just say "Jeff needs to file the claim, I cant do it". I finally went to MBE customer service and asked them to file for me. After going through several levels of escalation, someone at MBE forced Jeff to file the lost package claim. On Feb 17, a check was sent to MBE in Jeff's name. On Feb 25, he deposited it. On March 1, I called UPS to find out the status of the claim. It took 4 calls to find out that UPS had already sent the check to Jeff and it was for $2300. I called MBE to ask when I would get my check. He said meet me at the office on Monday the 9th. On the 9th I sat at the store for 3 hours after work. Jeff didnt show up. The next morning he made an appearance (according to his employees) but did not bring a check. Calls to Jeff were not answered. Back to MBE customer service. More and more escalation. Finally, 2 weeks ago, the head of MBE customer service tell me this: "We are working on trying to get your money. You should know that Jeff is a FRANCHISE of Maliboxes Etc so we cannot be held responsible for his actions. If you attempt any legal action against the firm, we will go into defensive mode and not help you." Last week, I asked for a copy of the paperwork for the claim. They refused. UPS also refuses to provide this to me because its MBE's shipper account. So I have no proof that UPS paid this guy my $2300. OK, long story. So, first of all, that franchise statement is BS right? I mean, if you break your neck in a McDonalds due to negligence, the corporation pays the bill, not the franchisee, right? Two, for $2400, a lawyer is cost-prohibitive, right? Three, how effective is small claims court for getting money from scumbags?
Honestly, the first thing I would do is call one of the Marvin Zindler wannabe's. This makes for a good enough story to put on air.
I cannot believe Jeff is doing this to you, he seemed like such a nice guy. Who's that judge that looks like a cowboy on t.v.? I think he's located in Houston.
I can tell you I had a similar story in that I had 3 corporations with potential fault, and none were admitting fault (Compaq, FedEx, and a big apartment complex corporation). I contacted a news station as Fatty suggested, and we were in talks about a story. (It never happened and they were pretty poor with the followup.. but that was an option I pursued) I talked to a lawyer, and he helped me out. He said he would send letters on my behalf for free and would only charge me if we had to take it to court. He thought my apartment complex was actually at fault. However, the next group at fault was Compaq. Since Compaq was the bigger corporation, he said they would be much more likely to resolve the issue when sent paperwork. So he sent a letter basically summarizing the situation, throwing the blame at Compaq's feet, and asking them to resolve it. Within a couple of weeks, I received a letter stating that they would take care of it, and I was sent full compensation.
First off, I think you will get your money back. If you don't want to wait, find a lawyer. Maybe a letter to warn them of potential legal action will do. It's not necessarily true you will have to cover the attorney's fee and filing cost. You might be able to recover those as part of the relief. Talk to a lawyer about it.
I would not bother. Just get a lawyer to write a letter. You would be amazed how quickly formerly assholeish companies react to avoid lawyer drama.
I agree with this. Just the appearance of official letterhead usually gets people to react. I'd also start ratting him out to the BBB. Sometimes, they will inquire and the business will react because they don't want a negative rating.
I once had a problem with a truck rental company. They rented out my truck to someone else. But, a delay was going to cause me all sorts of grief. So, my girlfriend called them and said she was with Pembroke & Associates and I got a truck in no time. lol
I own a The UPS Store. In 2002 UPS bought Mailboxes Etc and 90% of the stores changed there name from Mailboxes Etc to The UPS Store. There are only a few Mailboxes Etc stores still around (and none in Houston anymore IICR) but we're the same franchise, just two different names. What that owner did was unacceptable. What you are saying about the store being responsible for filing the claim is correct. If the store packed your item, then UPS cannot deny your claim. UPS assumes we are experts at packing. I don't ship flat screen TV's unless I can double box them. They break all the time in transit. They're just not a good item to ship; too fragile.
So I received a check from UPS around Thanksgiving for $2500. I took Fatty's advice and called up the local NYC Marvin Zindler type, and oddly they called back and said that I was the fifth person to call about a MBE in the Tri-state area. I went over the MBE guy's head and worked my way up the channel of UPS Store managers, saying that the local TV channel was working on a story about this. I found an extremely reasonable person who said "We'll settle this" They gave me the full $2000 for the insurance, plus $330 in cost of shipping, and I guess a little extra for my time and trouble. Anyway....yesterday I received this in my email (its where my TV went): Tracking Detail Tracking Number: 1Z 903 5X5 42 6447 702 4 Type: Package Status: In Transit Return To: NEW YORK, NY, US Shipped/Billed On: 08/25/2008 Service: GROUND Special Instructions: SIGNATURE REQUIRED Weight: 47.80 Lbs Package Progress Location Date Local Time Description HOUSTON, TX, US 10/29/2009 9:03 A.M. ITEM DECLARED MISSING HOUSTON, TX, US 12/10/2008 8:47 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY NEW YORK, NY, US 12/05/2008 1:14 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN HORSHAM, PA, US 12/04/2008 10:39 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN HOUSTON, TX, US 12/02/2008 9:41 P.M. THE RECEIVER DID NOT WANT THE ORDER AND REFUSED THIS DELIVERY / RETURNED TO SHIPPER 12/02/2008 6:15 P.M. THE RECEIVER REFUSED, THE PACKAGE APPEARED TO BE DAMAGED. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH THE DETAILS 12/02/2008 7:05 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY NEW YORK, NY, US 11/24/2008 9:27 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN BRONX, NY, US 11/24/2008 8:30 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 11/24/2008 12:55 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN PARSIPPANY, NJ, US 11/24/2008 12:06 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN SECAUCUS, NJ, US 11/18/2008 11:08 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN NEW YORK, NY, US 11/18/2008 10:19 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 11/18/2008 8:58 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN BRONX, NY, US 11/18/2008 8:20 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN BRONX, NY, US 11/14/2008 3:40 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN PARSIPPANY, NJ, US 11/14/2008 2:52 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN NEW YORK, NY, US 11/07/2008 9:03 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN BRONX, NY, US 11/07/2008 8:30 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN SECAUCUS, NJ, US 11/04/2008 4:27 A.M. INCORRECT ROUTING AT UPS FACILITY / THE PACKAGE WAS MISSORTED AT THE HUB. IT HAS BEEN REROUTED TO THE CORRECT DESTINATION SITE NEW YORK, NY, US 11/03/2008 9:09 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN BRONX, NY, US 11/03/2008 8:32 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 11/03/2008 1:33 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN PARSIPPANY, NJ, US 11/03/2008 12:44 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN MESQUITE, TX, US 10/29/2008 6:45 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN SECAUCUS, NJ, US 10/28/2008 5:20 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 10/28/2008 1:03 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN NEW YORK, NY, US 10/28/2008 12:37 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN NEW YORK, NY, US 10/27/2008 9:17 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN BRONX, NY, US 10/27/2008 8:40 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 10/27/2008 2:00 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN PARSIPPANY, NJ, US 10/27/2008 1:05 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN PARSIPPANY, NJ, US 10/26/2008 12:24 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN MESQUITE, TX, US 10/23/2008 3:33 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN HOUSTON, TX, US 10/23/2008 3:17 P.M. UNAVAILABLE FOR PICKUP ON THE 2ND ATTEMPT. A 3RD PICKUP ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE MESQUITE, TX, US 10/23/2008 7:57 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN HOUSTON, TX, US 10/23/2008 2:51 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN HOUSTON, TX, US 10/22/2008 10:14 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN 10/22/2008 10:10 P.M. AFTER THE DELIVERY WAS MADE, THE RECEIVER REPORTED THE PACKAGE WAS DAMAGED / ALL MERCHANDISE IS BEING RETURNED. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE 10/22/2008 9:42 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN 10/22/2008 3:00 P.M. NOT READY FOR PICKUP ON THE 1ST ATTEMPT. A 2ND PICKUP ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE
