I hope this is the right place to post.
Short story, I shipped a computer to a friend, bought the postal insurance, someone dropped the box causing damage and they have the gall to send me a 25.00 check. I get to appeal. Some advice on the best wording and what do I do if they turn it down is why I'm posting here.
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I'm in MI, my friend is in CA. I have an old imac and my friend is on a fixed income and his computer is dying. Nothing wrong with mine. I've just upgraded. But this old computer is fine. It's been upgraded a few times and everything works like a clock on it. Certainly good enough to check email, send pictures and listen to music which is all he wants to do.
So... I packed it up. Wanted to GIVE it to him. Still had the original box, just not the styrofoam it came with. But heck. I ship and pack things all the time. I know how to pack.
I wrapped it in oh, not bubble wrap, thinner. Some plastic that came around some other electronic stuff we bought. Then had styrofoam on the bottom. The box itself has a plywood base. I filled every space around this thing with bits of foam, and I took old cardboard boxes and cut them up, made sort of triangle shape tubes out of those. Stuffed them into every possible space. That computer was in the box TIGHT!
It was more than secure in the box and should have handled the trip just fine. For damage to occur on the bottom corner like it did, that box had to have been dropped. And from a fair hight too.
I got 300.00 worth of insurance. I've SEEN this exact computer in the paper for about that price so it was a good guess.
Well.... somewhere along the way, someone had to have dropped this heavy box.
The computer arrived with a huge hole in the plastic casing in the corner. Cracked all the way up. And bits of plastic have been falling out. All look like casing parts though, nothing that looks like a computer chip.
One speaker buzzes now probably because the mount was broken.
And.... at first my friend said the computer wasn't working right. But he's never used a mac so hard to tell. Well... my son walked him through how to check the insides and we found one of the memory chips was knocked loose. He fixed that and the computer itself seems to run just fine. Only the case is ruined.
So.... I filed a claim.
Now how to figure a price. The computer still works. BUT it's NOT in the condition it was when I paid over 50.00 to ship it!
I got pictures of the damage from him, found a very similar case on ebay for between 50 and 60 bucks.
Post office on my end said get an estimate from a repair shop. He went to a few in CA and ALL want between 75 and 100.00 just to LOOK at it! Just to walk in the door!
I also found prices of the same model computer and ALL were WAY above the 300.00 I put in the insurance. And.... since mine had a bigger HD and more memory added, all of those were not as good. I printed that out. Printed out the price of the case. Included the 100.00 just to find someone to look and added that this is just to get an estimate. I have no idea what they would charge to actually change the case. That should be done by someone who knows what they are doing since all of the important parts are attached to the case.
So... (rounding this all off now.) figure 100.00 to walk into a shop. 60.00 for the part. Guessing at least an hour to put it together, probably at 75.00 an hour. Again can't get a written estimate without shelling out that initial fee. Not to mention all the hassle of him hauling this thing around in CA.
And I'm not sure if the speaker is shot or if it's buzzing just because of the mount being broken.
I made the claim of my 300.00 and said adjust it as you see fit.
Well... they sent me a check for a whopping 25.00! I probably should have left out the part about "adjust as you see fit." I didn't think they would insult me with this!
So yes, I plan to appeal. And I'm guessing I only have one shot.
Any help with proper wording, and what happens when they deny it?
Has anyone ever dragged the Post office to small claims court? Is that even possible?
Short story, I shipped a computer to a friend, bought the postal insurance, someone dropped the box causing damage and they have the gall to send me a 25.00 check. I get to appeal. Some advice on the best wording and what do I do if they turn it down is why I'm posting here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm in MI, my friend is in CA. I have an old imac and my friend is on a fixed income and his computer is dying. Nothing wrong with mine. I've just upgraded. But this old computer is fine. It's been upgraded a few times and everything works like a clock on it. Certainly good enough to check email, send pictures and listen to music which is all he wants to do.
So... I packed it up. Wanted to GIVE it to him. Still had the original box, just not the styrofoam it came with. But heck. I ship and pack things all the time. I know how to pack.
I wrapped it in oh, not bubble wrap, thinner. Some plastic that came around some other electronic stuff we bought. Then had styrofoam on the bottom. The box itself has a plywood base. I filled every space around this thing with bits of foam, and I took old cardboard boxes and cut them up, made sort of triangle shape tubes out of those. Stuffed them into every possible space. That computer was in the box TIGHT!
It was more than secure in the box and should have handled the trip just fine. For damage to occur on the bottom corner like it did, that box had to have been dropped. And from a fair hight too.
I got 300.00 worth of insurance. I've SEEN this exact computer in the paper for about that price so it was a good guess.
Well.... somewhere along the way, someone had to have dropped this heavy box.
The computer arrived with a huge hole in the plastic casing in the corner. Cracked all the way up. And bits of plastic have been falling out. All look like casing parts though, nothing that looks like a computer chip.
One speaker buzzes now probably because the mount was broken.
And.... at first my friend said the computer wasn't working right. But he's never used a mac so hard to tell. Well... my son walked him through how to check the insides and we found one of the memory chips was knocked loose. He fixed that and the computer itself seems to run just fine. Only the case is ruined.
So.... I filed a claim.
Now how to figure a price. The computer still works. BUT it's NOT in the condition it was when I paid over 50.00 to ship it!
I got pictures of the damage from him, found a very similar case on ebay for between 50 and 60 bucks.
Post office on my end said get an estimate from a repair shop. He went to a few in CA and ALL want between 75 and 100.00 just to LOOK at it! Just to walk in the door!
I also found prices of the same model computer and ALL were WAY above the 300.00 I put in the insurance. And.... since mine had a bigger HD and more memory added, all of those were not as good. I printed that out. Printed out the price of the case. Included the 100.00 just to find someone to look and added that this is just to get an estimate. I have no idea what they would charge to actually change the case. That should be done by someone who knows what they are doing since all of the important parts are attached to the case.
So... (rounding this all off now.) figure 100.00 to walk into a shop. 60.00 for the part. Guessing at least an hour to put it together, probably at 75.00 an hour. Again can't get a written estimate without shelling out that initial fee. Not to mention all the hassle of him hauling this thing around in CA.
And I'm not sure if the speaker is shot or if it's buzzing just because of the mount being broken.
I made the claim of my 300.00 and said adjust it as you see fit.
Well... they sent me a check for a whopping 25.00! I probably should have left out the part about "adjust as you see fit." I didn't think they would insult me with this!
So yes, I plan to appeal. And I'm guessing I only have one shot.
Any help with proper wording, and what happens when they deny it?
Has anyone ever dragged the Post office to small claims court? Is that even possible?
