Stolen Knives!

You can never get back the sale price, it has to be your purchase price...and that makes sense. Why would UPS refund your sale price? Is there something we don't realize about your claim? I feel bad about your loss, but your comments on the insurance claim do not make any sense on the face of it.
 
I don't understand. if you take out ins. for the full amount you get your money back. If you didn't then you messed up and you paid for it. The bottom line, when sending valuables always have them insured.
 
UPS automatically covers shipments you place up to $100 anything over that you have to pay for added insurance. When something is lost they will require proof of what you paid for such an item such as the receipts for it etc. Then they will pay you back eventually but only for the amount paid for it not the amount it's worth or the amount it might might sell for.

Sorry to hear about this Neil, hopefully things will work out with UPS for you, Nice talking to you (e-mail) last week.
 
What if the item lost was not purchased - i.e. what if it was a custom knife that the sender made, how are they going to put a price on that ? IMHO if one pays insurance for X amount and the item gets lost/stolen due to curier service's negligence it is up to them (actually their insurance company) to cover the entire loss of X dollars, regardless of whether the package contained 1 pakistani $1 knockoff or $1000 custom knife.
 
First, thanks to all who took the time to respond in the GB&U and in the Blade Discussion forum. This one reply will cover the responses in both areas.

I do appreciate your concern and kind words.

Insurance is a tricky issue - especially when you are working with UPS who are notorious for trying to weasel out of paying claims no matter the circumstances.

However, I have to take it up the gazebo and I have refunded my customer in full- now I will hammer it out with UPS and their underwriter. (Also with the help of my Uncle Oscar….the lawyer)

To quickly respond to just a few points.

LARRY B.- you ask a very good question- if I bought and paid for $3525.00 of insurance and UPS didn’t honour the signature requirement, then why don’t I simply get a cheque from them for $3525.00?
Here is the answer- (as Tom from NGK said) they will only refund me what I "paid" for the items and I need to prove that. Fortunately, as I am a formal business, I do have receipts from all the suppliers/Knifemakers so I can prove my cost. Nevertheless, the cerebral question is, WHY DOES UPS TAKE INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR $$$$ THAT THEY HAVE NO INTENTION OF RESPECTING. My answer to that" "Why do you think they call it "BROWN"?.... Therefore, taking out full insurance with UPS is nothing more than a fraud in my opinion. Larry B- thanks for your input here- I appreciate it.

FARAMIR- In another “BROWN” moment- I had a previous loss with them on a $375.00 William Henry knife- that package completely vanished at their Louisville hub. In one of my conversations with their insurance adjuster, he told me that they saw a similar knife at Wal-mart for $20.00 so that was all they were giving me. However, after a quick phone call to my UPS account representative telling her to come to my office, take back her “UPS LP2844” thermal label printer, and close my account, my case was resolved and I received my $375.00.

TIM8557- My UPS driver here is a wonderful guy- we have an understanding and he NEVER leaves any packages without a signature. I am in no way making any accusatory comments towards the UPS drivers etc. They have their policies and that is that. I ship with whichever carrier my customer designates.

COSMO- Absolutely correct- but although that system may be a pain in your ass, at least you get your merchandise.

Not all couriers only honour the wholesale price- actually, although I do not use them, the Post Office is the best (from what I hear) at claims. Whatever insurance you purchase is recovered. May take some time- anyway, this is only what I have been told.

FedEx one lost a package of mine- within 2 weeks I had a cheque for the entire invoice/insured amount - not merely my cost- and I got a nice fruit basket.

UPS drivers have the authority to override and leave packages without a signature if they deem the neighborhood safe. According to UPS, they would rather pay insurance claims than have to redeliver (This is an actual quote from them). Makes sense as long as they continue to take the premium for $3525.00 and only have the intention to pay back the cost. That is a business within a business.

In general, if you consider the millions of packages that are soaring all over North America daily, the loss percentage is miniscule- just hurts when one has to take a hit in the wallet. Nevertheless, this is business, as I have to take the good with the bad.

Thanks very much to all of you who have offered to watch out for these knives- they are all quite unique and should they turn up in a pawn shop or on eBay etc, I would really appreciate knowing about it.

Money aside, let’s catch the thieves.

Take care, Neil
 
Neil; That realy is a sad story. I do hope you can find the culprits and settle your claim with UPS. It was you who once cautioned me to "always ship Fedex.
 
That sucks Neil...needless to say. BTTT!

I had DHL try to deliver an empty box to my customer...that means it was opened by an employee...they paid the insurance, but there are two Korth balisongs MIA, so I know how you feel.
 
Neil, I handed out the pictures of your knives (in Omaha) to all of the SOL's jewelry and loan stores and to AM Military surplus. If your knives show up there, they'll contact the authorities. I'll try to get to some more "knife" places this weekend. When I went to SOL's, they told me that you should contact the Omaha Police. They have a "Pawn" unit that covers the local pawn shops looking for stolen goods. If you haven't all ready contacted them, their # is (402) 444-5600.
 
Good luck to you in getting your loss covered. Sounds like you're right about the UPS insurance being a fraud, who's going to cover your lost profit on the knives? What crap.

I can only say good things about the German Post. The only time I ever had an problem – whether ingoing or out going – the Customs people opened a package coming to me containing a Mad Dog knife and the lost the extra slip sheath. I'm sure it was lost, because who steals the extra sheath to a knife and leaves the knife in the box? Anyway, the promptly paid for the lost sheath, no queastions asked. I did have a receipt which showed the knife with two sheaths.

Anyway. Best of luck to you!
 
Kevin, as a good friend and long-time client of Mad Dog I know how hard it is to get him to make another sheath. Perhaps the thief in question simply had a similar knife, and knowing it will last him a lifetime simply wanted the sheath rather than wait it out? ;) Sorry, bad joke, but it is the only thing that makes sense, ya know?

As far as UPS versus Fed Ex, I will not ship UPS if I can avoid it - Fed Ex tells you off the bat they need a receipt for the value if they are to insure, and they have repeatedly tried to not sell me the insurance - this is an easily resolved issue in my view, but Fed Ex has excellent delivery and will not leave a package if signature is required.

On the other side of this, I recently had an HK p7M8 shipped to my FFL via UPS and the driver left a damned gun outside the gunshop - it's one of those part time places, but I was astounded by the idiocy. The gent I bought the piece from told me he wishes he was surprised by the UPS driver leaving a handgun-sized package requiring adult signature at the the doorstep.

These knives will turn up at some point, unless the guy who has them is using them for gardening tools. When they do, the thief gets stapled to the wall.
 
Holy Crap Neil! That seriously sucks!

I will keep an eye out on the forums and ebay for sure.

If anyone is able to get resolution with an expediting company I know it is you.

Good luck.

Sean
 
Not to hijack this thread but how do they determine who to pay and what criteria they require to pay out.

I bought a Longbow Micra and a Streamlight Twintask 2L a few months back (november 2004 i think) from newgraham and used USPS global priority insured. When it arrived some dude had ripped up the packaging and taken the Longbow. It's been 4 months now and the USPS hasn't paid up. What's the point of me getting it insured if they don't want to pay up? It's just been too long and i've somehow lost hope on getting anything back.

Fedex on the other hand have been good. They mistakenly sent some stuff of my dad's around the world to the wrong places so they offered to refund everything since it took too long to arrive.

By the way, am i correct in assuming that the package was left at your doorstep and someone stole it from there? Was there a receipt in there that indicates how much those knives cost? It just makes me feel a bit sick to think that they might not know the true value of those knives and destroy it.
 
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