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Damage discovered after delivery

Steve Crewdog

Well Known Member
Patron
After reading this gents thread https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?p=1642706#post1642706 I thought my hard earned lesson should be put in a separate thread so others can learn from it.

After unloading my SeaRey kit I opened it up and discovered damage to the hull. It appears a forklift had impacted the bottom corner end, pushing into a box of tires, then the hull, breaking the top lip. I filed a claim and the shipping company denied it, saying it could have happened during unloading by us. Hired a lawyer who wrote a letter, they sent a letter back from theirs reiterating their previous letter. At that point my lawyer told me he'd be happy to continue taking my money, but I was going to lose. Luckily I knew fiberglass repair and IAW AC43... I was able to fix it, a local IA gave me a wonderful compliment on my work and approved it.

Moral of the story: from the minute a truck pulls up, take photos. Lots of photos. Even video if you have time. And I don't care what names the trucker calls me, if there's any doubt the package gets opened up before it comes off the truck, or delivery gets denied. I was also told by both the shipping company and my lawyer to write "Delivery accepted pending unpacking and full inspection of contents." on the delivery bill, no matter what.


Be cautious. https://seareybuild.blogspot.com/2010/08/d-day.html
 

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Dock delivery

One of many reasons why I always take dock delivery.
The boss is usually standing right there and there's no doubt who did what because I haven't touched it. They are always very careful how they load my truck, trailer, U-haul, etc.
Any damage after is my fault.
I've only refused one shipment. It looked like they dragged it behind a truck from the factory. Boss was kinda embarrassed when he saw it. It wasn't an airplane part.
 
Dock Delivery

I took dock delivery....and this is what I witnessed. Yes, the boss was driving the forklift and yes, those are my wings. Notice which way the forklift came down the ramp...! (sorry about the orientation, but you get the idea!)
 

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Dock delivery

I took dock delivery....and this is what I witnessed. Yes, the boss was driving the forklift and yes, those are my wings. Notice which way the forklift came down the ramp...! (sorry about the orientation, but you get the idea!)

Can't blame you though.
You would think the boss would know.
Did they say anything?
 
Old Dominion is terrible

Old Dominion left one of the boxes for my wing kit on the dock at vans. I refused delivery of the spar box that did make it when they demanded payment in full for the box they left behind.

When they finally did make it to my house with both crates, fresh damage was present on the spar box. They put a fork right through the middle of the 2x12 crate, splitting it end to end.

Back it went again. Unforgivable...
 
Prop Damage

On one of my RV-6A builds I received a prop drop shipped from Sensenich that had just a little hole in the box. Before the delivery guy left I opened the box and discovered that a hook had been used on the box, and left a 1/4" nick in the trailing edge of the O-320 prop. I went back!
 
The first time they tried to deliver my engine they sent a truck without a liftgate, despite my instructions.

Driver: "It says it's only 180#, you and I could probably muscle it. What's in the box?"
Me: "A $34,000 airplane engine."
Driver: "I'll be back next week with a liftgate."



Then they lost it at the warehouse, but that's another story.... Not his fault.
 

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Battery

I just ordered a new PC680 battery. The box came an hour ago. The battery is in an Amazon package handler. I wonder if it broke the case.

Amazon is sending me a replacement battery. Hope it is packaged better.

View attachment Package.pdf
 
When my engine was delivered, there were two holes in the cardboard, low on one side. Obviously from a forklift. I made the delivery guy stand right there while I opened up the crate to inspect the engine itself. Fortunately, the forks had only gone an inch or two into the foam blocks surrounding the engine, and not penetrated further, so no damage.

Makes ya wonder, doesn't it? How much might the overall economy improve if so much stuff wasn't damaged by shippers? :)
 
Several years ago, the company I work for was sent two sets of 747 flaps from tear down airplanes in the desert. Ordinarily, they are shipped in individual crates and very well packaged. These, not so much.

They were loaded on a flat bed trailer with old tires and 4X4s between the flaps with cargo straps thrown over the whole thing. During the trip, the load had shifted and was leaning at a precarious angle to one side. The cargo straps had dug into the trailing edge wedges and the 4X4s had dug grooves into the bottom skins. Needless to say, these were now scrap.

I ran around trying to convince the receiving folks to refuse the shipment and not to let the driver unload them. The driver was working furiously to get them unloaded before anyone could tell him not to. He left skid marks getting out of there.

We had those things sitting around for the next several years as no one wanted to pay for them and they were not in a condition to be economically repairable. After about three years we ended up cutting them up and throwing them away.

Sometimes refusing a delivery is the right thing to do.
 
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