Here's a story for a man named Brady,
and his fellow towertalkinans
on line.....
I recommend you print this Frank, and wrap a copy of it
around the money
order or check you are about to
overnight.
As with any LTL freight shipment,
When the load is picked up from the original supplier/owner
it is signed for
as being received by the truckline's driver in good condition. SHOULD THERE
BE ANY PROBLEM WHATSOEVER at time of delivery by the truckline you MUST
protect yourself by having done the
following:
DON'T SIGN ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ARE SURE IT IS IN A NUMBER 1
SHAPE! DO NOT LET
IT COME OFF THE TRUCK IF POSSIBLE.....the driver always
loves to see it off
his truck in that well its already
on the ground - the unspoken implication
being "its yours".... afterall, he is just doing his part of the job and the
sooner he leaves you the sooner he
can do the next stop.
A) After doing the following steps, sign the bill as being
subject to
inspection for damage which you
fear may have been incurred during
transit....it did happen during
transit since it was picked up in good condx
by the truckline!
B) Have the truck driver use your telephone to call his
dispatcher and
explain the situation before you
sign the weighbill....frequently the driver
will be given a number to put on
the bill as an exception to a smooth
delivery.
C) Be sure the driver both signs
his name along side your statement that
there is a problem, and then have
him PRINT HIS NAME so that later on when
you have to transact the business
of settlement of the claim you will know
his name, RATHER THAN GUESS AT THE
SIGNATURE.
D)Get the telephone number to the
terminal that dispatched your
driver. HE
USES IT ALL DAY LONG, JUST WRITE IT DOWN ON YOUR COPY....
When a freight carrier picks up an order they are saying it
was received by
them in good order and it is
capable of being handled by them in shipping to
the stated destination in such a
way that it gets there in the same condx as
when they picked it up......the
carrier can always refuse to pick up a load
which they feel may not make the
trip due to insufficient effort in its
crating, etc. When they sign for it when that bill of
lading leaves.....they
have signed for it intact.......if
you receive it in an otherwise condx you
will be protected as far as filing
claim later on. Remember the
freight is
no longer in the seller's
inventory, per se...it is in essence the
truckline's
inventory during its shipment...and it is the truckline
you have
to go up against if there is a
problem.....not the seller, the fault for it
being broken should rest with the
one who broke it. If a problem
later
arises the seller can aid your
claim's processing by advising that he has not
received payment for the shipment
due to the freight line's poor handling of
the freight.
As far as claiming the value of the shipment, when your
shipper sends it - as
far as you know it was the only
tower of that type in existence and when
asked the value of the shipment he
should say its value is the suggested
list/new value.....you know you
will not be able to find another used one of
these! HAVE YOUR SELLER SEND YOU A COPY OF THE
RECEIPT WHEN HE BOUGHT IT,
SHOWING ITS VALUE THEN, or, CONTACT THE MANUFACTURER OF THE
TOWER AND HAVE
THEM SEND YOU A FAXED QUOTATION AS
TO THE VALUE OF THAT ITEM. You will
be
asked to prove the value of your
loss...a copy of the invoice stating that it
is a true and verifiable, along
with your signature, representation of the
shipments value in the form of an
original invoice is perfect.
If the driver balks at doing any of the above at the time of
delivery, refuse
the shipment, PERIOD! The driver is taught, although never
directly told, to
do this.....when he senses you are
for real, and will indeed leave it on his
truck (REMEMBER, YOU HAVE NOT
SIGNED FOR IT YET...IT IS THEIR PROPERTY,
STILL!) to
bring back to the terminal, not to mention work around for the
rest of the day....he will call his
dispatcher and probably get an exception
number that he will write on the
weigh bill. The majority of trucklines use
this type of system - should there
be a claim later on, references this
number will expedite your claim
immensely. It is a way of internal record
keeping...some of the smaller lines
do not give numbers per se....if he gets
an exception number he will write
it in the face of the weigh bill.
These are NOT a big deal paperwork
wise at the time of delivery....and just
take a few moments then..... Filing a freight claim on the
other hand is a
royal pain in the *SS. Unless you work for the government you
will not
believe the amount of paperwork you
will have to fill out to get
satisfaction....not to mention the
time delay for them to settle it by
cutting you a check which is weeks
if not months later.
There is a possibility the dispatcher will ask you to
receive it, although
damaged, and he will send an
inspector to see it....only accept this bandaid
solution if you see that what is
bent or broken is a minor piece of the
assembly which you know will be
easily replaced and not require you to have a
welder put it on at your QTH,
etc...if it is a major problem, REFUSE IT, and
DO NOT feel sorry for the driver...it is your money that
paid for it! When
you are talking with the
dispatcher, use your testosterone
boost NFL goal
line defense button and stand tall
(sorry gals) - Ask him when the inspector
will be coming....what is his
name...and what telephone number can you reach
him at...of course GET THE
DISPATCHER'S NAME, and his telephone number should
you require subsequent contact with
him. Later on when they tell you
that
you simply should have refused the
shipment you can say "DISPATCHER's NAME"
told me to do this! If you tell them that "a guy"
told you to refuse it your
claim is about to become dead in
the water....put on the bottom of a claim
purchaser's stack.
Inspect the shipment immediately upon arrival for any damage
that may have
been hidden due to cartoning, etc.
IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, call them
immediately and state there was
CONCEALED DAMAGE which you could not see due
to the packaging.....this situation
mandates that an inspector verify the
damage, before he gets there try
and have an estimate prepared for the repair
of the damage (this is assuming of
course it is a fixable thing like a welder
coming to your home to re-weld a
cross brace). The more information
you have
prepared ahead of time the
better....if you can get that written estimate and
slip a copy of it in the inspectors
hand at time of inspection he can finish
his report and pass it to the next
person....one less delay for you.
If you have to dispute things later on, and you followed OJ's Safe-Freight
program, you will feel like
sending me your firstborn )please
don't I am up
to six grandchildren and there are
TOO many birthdays to remember), better
yet, just make sure you get on in
the CW Sweepstakes and work me, this is my
consulting fee!
One last thing you can do is to have the shipper call or fax
you to give you
the Pro Number (identifier for the
shipment) and carrier of the freight, this
is the language the truckline speaks - your tower/beam/whatever is a pro
number to them. With that info you can track it across
country by calling
your local terminal of that freight
line and asking them to track "Pro number
#". They
will be able to pull it up on their computer and tell you its
anticipated delivery date and where
it is currently during the trip...they
can also help customize your
delivery by adding comments like, "notify Frank
24 hours prior to delivery at tel. number xxx-yyyy" - or - "delivery must be
made to driveway on West side of
property".
I have to file freight claims as a part of my job, do what I
try to tell my
warehouse people to do (above)....
and you won't have to file one - trust me
(and work me in November)!
Jim,
K4OJ
(your favorite ARRL South Florida Multiplier)