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What's the process for dealing with freight damage?

aeroaddict

aeroaddict

Well Known Member
As the title states; you receive a damaged crate and the part(s) are in-fact damaged. I know you call Van's and send a email to Freight@Vans.

Van's said to file a claim with the freight company which was done.

Will Van's work with the freight carrier or do I have to get involved with the freight carrier? It's obvious the crate did not leave Van's in the condition it was received.

Going forward, if a crate is damaged and you do not accept it, what happens next?
 
I wouldn’t call this wisdom, but I have had a couple freight claims in the last year, not Vans related. The company filed the claims but in both cases they told me to not hold my breath. They were never resolved and I just had to move on….
Just keep bugging Vans and hopefully they have the pull to help.
If you purchased with a cc, you can dispute as you did not receive the goods promised. This will put the heat on Vans, fairly or not, to get the carrier to step up….
 
I should have added, if you refuse a shipment, the driver will take it back to the terminal and there it will sit until a representative of the company inspects it and comes up with a resolve. That’s a tough one if the company has already been paid for the goods.
Normally, customers don’t want to refuse a shipment. It’s easier to repair or replace than to dispute, wait for a resolve, and reorder.
Also, in my business, we , the manufacturer, always filed the claims for our customers. The manufacturer picked the freight company or broker. End users have very little pull.
Sounds like Vans does things differently.
 
Thank you. Interesting about refusing a shipment.

This has all just happened so I will give Van's some time.
 
aeroaddict said:
As the title states; you receive a damaged crate and the part(s) are in-fact damaged. I know you call Van's and send a email to Freight@Vans.

Van's said to file a claim with the freight company which was done.

Will Van's work with the freight carrier or do I have to get involved with the freight carrier? It's obvious the crate did not leave Van's in the condition it was received.
Click to expand...

My RV-12 wing kit was delivered by the freight company with a mangled spar crate. They apparently broke the crate, several of the long parts slid out and were bent/broken, and they shoved it all back in the crate and delivered it like that! I wasn’t there for the delivery, and the person on site accepted it as is. I was told by Van’s to file my claim with the freight company (ABF), which I did. They initially were only going to cover 1/3 of the claim since they called it “internal damage”. I sent them lots of pictures, and ultimately escalated the claim to a manager, and they agreed to pay the full replacement cost including shipping from OR to NC. Bottom line, I paid out of pocket to reorder the damaged parts, and ABF reimbursed me. Which freight company was involved with your shipment?
 
Yes it was ABF and the spar crate. I took delivery of a wing kit.

ABF has since requested more information (pics) and also said they would cover, like yours, about 1/3 the cost: $1.25 per pound.

I will respond to ABF and keep escalating.

In defense of Van's, since I haven't read positive things lately on VAF (IMO), there was some other damaged parts (large parts) in the second undamaged crate. Van's has addressed my claim and is sending new replacement parts.
 
When I have a high-value LTL load coming I always request “terminal pickup”, sometimes called terminal hold. This does three things.

First it eliminates the local delivery route truck from the equation. We have found that the majority of damage our stuff gets is after it leaves the destination terminal for local delivery. The local delivery truck hits sometimes a half dozen other customers before they get to us and it is not unusual to have our crate moved around and shuffled at every stop with the truck’s own pallet jack or a recipient customer’s fork lift. And so like hangar rash stuff happens.

Second, with terminal pickup I can take my utility trailer to the terminal with my pickup truck and then do a full inspection of the crate(s) inside the terminal prior to signing any type of paperwork including bills of lading. The transport company employees love sticking a delivery form in your face with a pen to sign right up front. I say I don’t sign anything until we go take a look at the crate still in their possession. That also signals to the employee I know what I am doing. If the shipment looks good externally without any signs of damage then I am good to go. If there is slight damage or crate repairs I mgiht insist on taking the lid off the crate for a more detailed inspection. Taking photos all the way. And maybe calling the shipper (Vans) along the way. If there is too much damage to deal with I might refuse shipment. And naturally if the shipment is badly damaged I will refuse shipment. You as an end customer who never accepted the shipment keeps you out of the claims process and allows for easy disputes for any charges if needed later. So don’t ever put a family member or employee on the spot to accept or sign for a local delivery at your home or place of business. Maybe if your business involves freight shipping/recieving like a factory. But not for a typical small business. I had some expensive laser equipment delivered by a LTL to a remote shop location that wasn’t supposed to be the end address and the truck drove up and dumped the crates out of the back busting them up during the 4 foot fall. And my employee shrugged it off and signed the delivery receipt. He didn’t know any better. That was a long row to hoe with the claims process.

Third, and not nearly as important, the local freight terminal usually likes to hear I will do terminal pickup. It frees up their route planning because you are doing the final part of their job for them. Most terminals have ramps so forklifts can bring the shipment down into the truck court and load it on your flatbed utility trailer.

On side note realize that it is Vans who has hired and paid the freight carrier to deliver a product to you. So Vans is the true customer of the freight carrier, not you as the end recipient. You paid Vans so you are Vans’ customer. But Van paid the trucking company so Vans is the carrier’s customer. Whoever hires a carrier and pays the invoice is the carrier’s customer. Many freight carriers (alohg with UPS and FecEx) will tell the end recipient that they want the shipper to file the claim since the shippier is their customer. So if Vans reqests you file a claim on their behalf it is probably a way to fully document the problem since you are there in person to see it and take photos. But it really should be the problem of Vans and the trucking company exclusively. Which it unambiguously is if you don’t accept delivery.
 
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aeroaddict said:
Yes it was ABF and the spar crate. I took delivery of a wing kit.

ABF has since requested more information (pics) and also said they would cover, like yours, about 1/3 the cost: $1.25 per pound.

I will respond to ABF and keep escalating.

In defense of Van's, since I haven't read positive things lately on VAF (IMO), there was some other damaged parts (large parts) in the second undamaged crate. Van's has addressed my claim and is sending new replacement parts.
Click to expand...
I had a damaged bottom fuselage skin (it's a big skin) in my crate, it hadn't been secured properly and the front seat fuselage cross brace had scratched it very badly. I emailed Vans with pictures, and they sent a new skin. The skin was about $150, the shipping was nearer $1000 to the UK.
Vans sorted it all and a new skin was at my door within 2 weeks. IMG_2887.jpeg
 
I received a replacement horizontal stabilizer spar for my 3b (SB 00036) in a nice new little cardboard box. Inside the little box was another crushed and mangled cardboard box that contained the remains of the spar Van's had shipped out. The spar and box looked like it had been run over by a forklift several times. I couldn't believe someone repackaged it and then charged me shipping, taxes and import duties
Vans was awesome... I called them up and as was requested, sent them pictures. They were pretty impressed with how crushed my delivery was. If there were awards for the most damaged package delivered, would likely have made the podium.
Vans sent a new spar (inside a stout cardboard tube) free of charge and covered the shipping as well.
 
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