Shady Shipping Scam

[mukiman]

California: I hope I'm posting this in the right legal category.
I bought a new 600.00 chair from a private business owner in georgia (via the internet) I paid 150.00 just for the shipping and the seller used a company called Overnight Freight.
When the chair arrived it came in a LARGE box the size of 2 refigerator boxes on top of a palette and bound with sealed straps. The delivery man offloaded this crate with a dolly type thing and positioned it off to the side against one side of my garage and slapped a paper down said sign here pointing to the X and handing me his pen. He never even turned off the truck. From the time he knocked on my door to the time he left, was only 7 minutes !! My neighbor witnessed the whole thing.
The problem is that the side of the box the delivery man conveiently shoved up against the wall was all smashed in and as a result the chair had some damage.
This man KNEW there was no way I (at 5'3" & 103lbs.) was going to be able to move that box until he was long gone. Further, he NEVER mentioned read this and sign it or sign here stating it is in tact etc...
Also the way the box is bound ( with sealed straps )took me 20 minutes to finally get off with the help of my husband (after he got home from work) AND bolt cutters. Now how the hell was I realistically supposed to verify the condition of contents this package? This man KNEW it was damaged and hid the damaged on purpose hoping I would not notice until he was gone. He could have said the box is bashed in maybe you should check to see if it's damaged? Or at least tell me what I'm signing since he allowed me no time to read the paper first.
I reported this all to theFreight co. immediately and filed a claim including photos of the box BEFORE the straps were even cut. By the way , it took my 200lb. husband and a neighbor to move the box out far enough for us to finally see the damaged side of the box.
The claim co. sent me a letter today (30 days later) saying that I should have checked out the chair before I signed the paper !!! I had no idea what I was signing, the man was gone before I even had a chance to read the paper. Plus there was no way I would have been able to access the package without help, which the driver was not obviously going to provide.
I truly believe the driver knew there was potential damage and this is probably a tactic that is used all the time. Do I have any legal grounds for action.... or am I just out of luck?
If this was a cheap piece of furniture, I would have let it go.... but a 600.00 upholstered rocking chair ... I think not.

Help PLEASE... Debbie (Mukis wife)

 

[seniorjudge]

California: I hope I'm posting this in the right legal category.
I bought a new 600.00 chair from a private business owner in georgia (via the internet) I paid 150.00 just for the shipping and the seller used a company called Overnight Freight.
When the chair arrived it came in a LARGE box the size of 2 refigerator boxes on top of a palette and bound with sealed straps. The delivery man offloaded this crate with a dolly type thing and positioned it off to the side against one side of my garage and slapped a paper down said sign here pointing to the X and handing me his pen. He never even turned off the truck. From the time he knocked on my door to the time he left, was only 7 minutes !! My neighbor witnessed the whole thing.
The problem is that the side of the box the delivery man conveiently shoved up against the wall was all smashed in and as a result the chair had some damage.
This man KNEW there was no way I (at 5'3" & 103lbs.) was going to be able to move that box until he was long gone. Further, he NEVER mentioned read this and sign it or sign here stating it is in tact etc...
Also the way the box is bound ( with sealed straps )took me 20 minutes to finally get off with the help of my husband (after he got home from work) AND bolt cutters. Now how the hell was I realistically supposed to verify the condition of contents this package? This man KNEW it was damaged and hid the damaged on purpose hoping I would not notice until he was gone. He could have said the box is bashed in maybe you should check to see if it's damaged? Or at least tell me what I'm signing since he allowed me no time to read the paper first.
I reported this all to theFreight co. immediately and filed a claim including photos of the box BEFORE the straps were even cut. By the way , it took my 200lb. husband and a neighbor to move the box out far enough for us to finally see the damaged side of the box.
The claim co. sent me a letter today (30 days later) saying that I should have checked out the chair before I signed the paper !!! I had no idea what I was signing, the man was gone before I even had a chance to read the paper. Plus there was no way I would have been able to access the package without help, which the driver was not obviously going to provide.
I truly believe the driver knew there was potential damage and this is probably a tactic that is used all the time. Do I have any legal grounds for action.... or am I just out of luck?
If this was a cheap piece of furniture, I would have let it go.... but a 600.00 upholstered rocking chair ... I think not.

Help PLEASE... Debbie (Mukis wife)

Does your contract say you have to inspect it upon delivery?

 

[mukiman]

Does your contract say you have to inspect it upon delivery?

Yes... but I never was given an oppurtunity or shown the contractual part. He just presented the signiture space and ran. (it was folded up).
Im out of luck .... huh?

Thanks debbie

 

[Ohreallynow?]

I am sorry Debbie, but you never sign on the dotted line unless you read what you are signing for, especially if you are buying something you have not inspected.

 

[divgradcurl]

Sue the shipping company in small claims court for the damage. Let the court decide if your signature, given all of the facts, really binds you or not.

 

[mukiman]

Thanks...

Thanks for all the input.... I hate to take up valuable court time with such trivial issues. It's just frustrating.... a lesson learned the hard way for me.
debbie
By the way... how do I do spell check when posting here?

 

[divgradcurl]

Thanks for all the input.... I hate to take up valuable court time with such trivial issues. It's just frustrating.... a lesson learned the hard way for me.
debbie
By the way... how do I do spell check when posting here?

It's hardly a trivial issue -- besides, that's the whole point of small claims court.

Try typing your post into Word or some other program that does have a spell checker, then cut-and-paste. I think there is (or used to be) a plugin for internet explorer that could spell-check form boxes, you could try Google to find it. There's probably something similar for other browsers, although I haven't found a good one for Firefox yet.

 

[mukiman]

Check This Out

For once in my life a happy ending to a legal issue. I pushed the freight company involved and spoke to a supervisor via telephone and after citing all the negligent things the driver did and the circumstances..... they sending me a FULL refund ! Yeah !!! A special thank you to all my legal staff !! Mukis wife (Debbie)

 

[seniorjudge]

For once in my life a happy ending to a legal issue. I pushed the freight company involved and spoke to a supervisor via telephone and after citing all the negligent things the driver did and the circumstances..... they sending me a FULL refund ! Yeah !!! A special thank you to all my legal staff !! Mukis wife (Debbie)

Debbie, congratulations.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1934394,00.asp