When Building a PC for a friend Far away, remember UPS Kills Dreams

[Keyboardshinobi]

Update: UPS is worse than I thought, they have denied my claim, stating the type of box I used was an improper way to package it. I was never informed they required a certain type of box (we all know they only approve UPS boxes). So I will be talking with the store tomorrow because their Customer Service phone line is absolutely useless. Wish me luck this fight is not over.

 

 

A back ground...

I have a friend in Canada, he games on a potato, he really wanted to play games at higher frames, so we built him a PC, not cutting edge and a few hand me downs, but good hand me downs, we all keep our PCs updated with really good gear,

The specs

Intel i5 4670K

Pipe Cooling

GTX 980TI OC Zotec Amp Extreme

16 GB DDR3 2400HZ

2 TB WD Black

650 W PS

and a very nice Corsair case (Although inverted and kind of annoying)

 

Not to mention a friend had Upgraded to a 4k Monitor and decided to top this cake with a very nice Asus G-Sync 144HZ 2k Monitor.

 

Now the sad part

 

I wrapped this all carefully in bubbled wrap, got a nice big box packaged it snuggly as for this to not shift, taped up the box, added extra tape the, edges for support, wrote Handle with care and this side up. Took it to the store paid money got insurance for it went and had breakfast, thinking in a few days our friend would be gaming at high settings with high frames...that did not happen.

 

A few days pass, and I get curious about its progress, check the tracker to find it has not left the city, I get a little worried but think "Ok, its fine just a little slow, it will leave for Canada tomorrow." I check the next day, and I see Returning to sender. I get confused so I call UPS, they say there was a missing Customs form so they had to send it back to the store. So I am frustrated with the store, it finally arrives back at the store. I call and talk to the manager being ready to put on the frustrated customer act to get better shipping this time around. He informs me the custom slip is on the box, but would like me to come in and inspect it, because the box is very badly damaged.

My worry goes through the roof, I ask him can you send me pictures of the box, and he agrees. A few hours later I receive an email. What I opened on my phone made me want to vomit, I was witnessing not the carefully pack box that I had dropped off, no this was a background piece to independence day after the aliens blew up New York. I went past furious, to being surprisingly calm, even if my hands were trembling with rage and hatred.

 

Skip ahead, my Lead allows me to head out early so I can make it to the UPS store so I can work with the manager. I had informed him a screw might have come loose to the back leg of the case and if it falls off that isn't a problem. When I get there he rolls out the pc, in a new box with tons of new bubble wrap. Informs me when he pulled it out 2 feet came off, that had me worried, he also said the monitor has a large white spot on it again worried me. The white spot could just be dust and moisture, but, to be safe I asked if we could take a look...it wasn't moisture. Right in the middle of the screen was a large deep and wide scratch pushing up the Felt on the monitor. When we plugged it in and powered it up the scratch was surrounded by a white Halo of light indicating a broken light system, and I was pretty sure if we got color it would be Green showing a shattered panel. Told the Manager we need to start a claim for this that monitor is gone.

 

Well time to look at the pc hopefully it faired better, we got it out of the bubble wrap and the cloth cover I had it in was torn in many places, already I was worried, all that was left in the bottom front corner was jagged metal and plastic where a leg used to be. I laid it down and noticed the GPU willing up and down while being surrounded by cords that had been connect to the MB. Upon opening the case I had found the culprit, while the GPU was still seated in the MB, the PCI-E slot was no longer fully attached to the motherboard, this is also when my friend point out on the bottom of the case, that it had been bent inward. As I was looking at that I notice the CPU cooler was at an angle, so I look at that and notice there are parts of the cooler being forcefully pulled out of their holes in the MB and knowing that the CPU has probably be yanked from its socket. This computer had been murdered. This sweet innocent machine never got a chance to make it to its new owner to show off its stuff.

 

The claim process has started, hopefully vengeance is done, but now my bud will not be able to join us in Anthem or Division 2 for some time. No idea how long it will take UPS as I don't have the money or parts to build another PC.

Rest you marvelous machine, you deserved more.

[TetraSky]

Jesus H Christ, HOW the fuck does this even happen!?
Did they drop it out a running truck, multiple times, and then ran it over or what... Jeez.
I already knew UPS was complete garbage from past experience with them, but this hits a new record.

 

Hopefully insurances comes through, because that's just BAD.

As a side note, when shipping a PC, I wouldn't recommend leaving a heavy heatsink and GPU just hanging like that for shipping. Either use that filling thing or remove them to ship outside of the case in their retail boxes.
Also, really should've added some extra hard edge supports.

[Keyboardshinobi]

9 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Jesus H Christ, HOW the fuck does this even happen!?
Did they drop it out a running truck, multiple times, and then ran it over or what... Jeez.
I already knew UPS was complete garbage from past experience with them, but this hits a new record.

 

Hopefully insurances comes through, because that's just BAD.

As a side note, when shipping a PC, I wouldn't recommend leaving a heavy heatsink and GPU just hanging like that. Either use that filling thing or remove them to ship outside of the case.
Also, really should've added some extra hard edge supports.

That's the thing I Actually did, which makes this even worse, we had that box with plenty of impact protection and the parts were snug and protected. My bud doesn't know much about the inner workings of a pc so the less unhooked the better, so I had some protective insulators in it to fend off this kind of thing. That is why I am so floored they managed to destroy this thing so badly.

[spiralfuzion]

What?! How is this even supposed to happen? I've seen horror stories but this is just making me angry. Please update us on the claim my man because this is just disgusting. Hopefully this all works out! Thats still a very nice machine as well! 

[Eastman51]

It looks like they fired a very large metal object out of a freakin' impact cannon directly at the edge of the box. They better give you more than what that PC is worth. Maybe the GPU and some fans are salvageable?

 

I remember Linus had one of the ROG rig reboot machines sent back because a similar thing had happened to it. They showed it on a recent stream where they unboxed a Digital Storm PC.

[Keyboardshinobi]

3 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

It looks like they fired a very large metal object out of a freakin' impact cannon directly at the edge of the box. They better give you more than what that PC is worth. Maybe the GPU and some fans are salvageable?

 

I remember Linus had one of the ROG rig reboot machines sent back because a similar thing had happened to it. They showed it on a recent stream where they unboxed a Digital Storm PC.

Yeah I remember seeing that.

 

5 minutes ago, spiralfuzion said:

What?! How is this even supposed to happen? I've seen horror stories but this is just making me angry. Please update us on the claim my man because this is just disgusting. Hopefully this all works out! Thats still a very nice machine as well! 

I will, hopefully it doesn't take to long, he was really looking forward to this. 

[TempestCatto]

The problem is, when my dad used to work with UPS on an industrial/commercial level, they were great. They handled everything so damn gently, it's what made me like them so much. But the consumers seem to get their buttholes plowed with shit like this. I'm gonna handsome a guess and say part of the reason this happened is I don't see "fragile" in letters so big it covers every side of the box, I don't see huge arrows pointing up that cover a whole side each, and because the box is so bulky and heavy. You got unlucky with a handler who was either having a bad day, or someone who hopefully is already fired. They should hopefully be able to scrub through security footage to see someone shoving a dragon dildo up that poor machine's rectum. In all seriousness though, why did they lie to you at first about customs papers? Was the person who you contacted/contacted you associated to the person who caused this and is trying to cover it up? Either way, good luck, hope it works out for everyone in the end.

[Drak3]

12 minutes ago, spiralfuzion said:

What?! How is this even supposed to happen?

26 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

HOW the fuck does this even happen!?

Standard level of service quality at UPS.

 

 

In all honesty, this doesn't read as a horror story to me, it's just another day in the neighborhood.

[Keyboardshinobi]

6 minutes ago, TempestCatto said:

The problem is, when my dad used to work with UPS on an industrial/commercial level, they were great. They handled everything so damn gently, it's what made me like them so much. But the consumers seem to get their buttholes plowed with shit like this. I'm gonna handsome a guess and say part of the reason this happened is I don't see "fragile" in letters so big it covers every side of the box, I don't see huge arrows pointing up that cover a whole side each, and because the box is so bulky and heavy. You got unlucky with a handler who was either having a bad day, or someone who hopefully is already fired. They should hopefully be able to scrub through security footage to see someone shoving a dragon dildo up that poor machine's rectum. In all seriousness though, why did they lie to you at first about customs papers? Was the person who you contacted/contacted you associated to the person who caused this and is trying to cover it up? Either way, good luck, hope it works out for everyone in the end.

I wouldn't be able to say why they lied, I talked to corporate not the warehouse, so my guess is the guy/gal that destroyed it, used the customs slip thing as a way to just send it back and try to absolve themselves.

[Worstcaster]

This could be LTTs new secret shopper video.  Send out a bunch of stuff with different shipping companies and see how much of it makes it.

[spiralfuzion]

3 hours ago, Drak3 said:

Standard level of service quality at UPS.

 

 

In all honesty, this doesn't read as a horror story to me, it's just another day in the neighborhood.

never have had this happen although i don't have anything large shipped to me. 

[Keyboardshinobi]

13 hours ago, Worstcaster said:

This could be LTTs new secret shopper video.  Send out a bunch of stuff with different shipping companies and see how much of it makes it.

It could, but I am guessing LTT wouldn't want to risk sending a pillow through ups tho.

 

Also an Update, upon further investigation, there was a boot print on the crushed side of the box, someone ether stepped on it or used their foot the beat it to death.

[Keyboardshinobi]

Update: UPS is worse than I thought, they have denied my claim, stating the type of box I used was an improper way to package it. I was never informed they required a certain type of box (we all know they only approve UPS boxes). So I will be talking with the store tomorrow because their Customer Service phone line is absolutely useless. Wish me luck this fight is not over.

[TetraSky]

Worst case, sue them in small claim.
Even if the box isn't "proper" according to them, the fact it was this badly damaged, any other box wouldn't have helped. They are obviously trying to weasel themselves out of this when it's clearly their fault this whole thing happened

[Keyboardshinobi]

1 minute ago, TetraSky said:

Worst case, sue them in small claim.
Even if the box isn't "proper" according to them, the fact it was this badly damaged, any other box wouldn't have helped. They are obviously trying to weasel themselves out of this when it's clearly their fault this whole thing happened

yeah that is exactly what i plan on doing, but I will talk to the store and see what other avenues to take. But I feel this is going to end up in court so I will need to do some research.

[Donut417]

9 minutes ago, Keyboardshinobi said:

yeah that is exactly what i plan on doing, but I will talk to the store and see what other avenues to take. But I feel this is going to end up in court so I will need to do some research.

What can brown do for you? LOL..... I had to. 

 

Firstly this is why you dont use UPS or FedEx for that matter. While they might be slow and maybe expensive, USPS tends to not fuck shit up. At least Ive never had a fuck up with USPS. TBH it will probably cost you more to go to court than what you spend on parts, after to take in to account court fees and a potential fee for a lawyer. This is exactly why you package items to survive nuclear war. Not sure if you used the case box with in the Home Depot box, but thats what I would have done. I also would have packed that expanding packing material in the physically computer and then I would have put more protection material in the Home Depot box surrounding the Case box. 

 

Im not 100% how UPS moves packages at large scale, I mean you said it the package had to travel a distance, but from what I have seen coming off the Truck at Sams Club, sometimes Hi Lo drivers smash in to shit. Ive seen TV's where it looked like Hi Lo forks when in to the box. So it could have been carelessness of an employee, or just bad judgement. Either way UPS should fix this, and if they dont I would make sure you blast them on Twitter and Facebook, make them look bad publicly and they might change their tune. 

[Keyboardshinobi]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

What can brown do for you? LOL..... I had to. 

 

Firstly this is why you dont use UPS or FedEx for that matter. While they might be slow and maybe expensive, USPS tends to not fuck shit up. At least Ive never had a fuck up with USPS. TBH it will probably cost you more to go to court than what you spend on parts, after to take in to account court fees and a potential fee for a lawyer. This is exactly why you package items to survive nuclear war. Not sure if you used the case box with in the Home Depot box, but thats what I would have done. I also would have packed that expanding packing material in the physically computer and then I would have put more protection material in the Home Depot box surrounding the Case box. 

 

Im not 100% how UPS moves packages at large scale, I mean you said it the package had to travel a distance, but from what I have seen coming off the Truck at Sams Club, sometimes Hi Lo drivers smash in to shit. Ive seen TV's where it looked like Hi Lo forks when in to the box. So it could have been carelessness of an employee, or just bad judgement. Either way UPS should fix this, and if they dont I would make sure you blast them on Twitter and Facebook, make them look bad publicly and they might change their tune. 

All of that is stuff I did, The case was an older case so its box was missing, as for court fees, small claims usually doesn't cost anything and if it does I will be pushing UPS to cover those. Its a matter a Lawyer wont really be needed, and if it does escalate to that, then I wont be suing for just the cost of the lost hardware. Also it never went anywhere, there was no shipping done. The Driver picked it up end of day and drove it 3 miles where it was then destroyed in warehouse.

[TetraSky]

6 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

TBH it will probably cost you more to go to court than what you spend on parts, after to take in to account court fees and a potential fee for a lawyer.

Last I checked, small claim cost almost nothing, exactly because it's a "small claim". You pay a small fee depending on where you live to open your case, like 30$ or 50$ but that's it.
That is if you represent yourself. If you want a lawyer, you'll end certainly be paying more, but in those cases, you can often get your lawyer fees back when you win.

[D13H4RD]

As someone who has dealt with UPS before, this level of service is honestly unsurprising.

 

Does really feel that their ground staff are totally unwilling to work and do the best job they can, preferring to just throw stuff around to get the job done (even if it’s a shitty attempt). 

[AngryBeaver]

This is only adding insult to injury, but I had a similar issue with UPS and I had to packaged and insured at one of their stores. So long story short I had about $1200 of merchandise damaged and then they tried to deny my claim saying I wasn't the "shipper" that only the UPS store I shipped from could make a claim... So I went to the store and got them to finally make the claim... that was probably 8 months ago and I am still waiting for the check they keep telling me they are sending me.

 

Hell maybe it got mangled too for all I know. This actually reminded me to follow up with them again.

 

The bottom-line is they are going to try and refuse every insurance claim they can because that is how they make more money upselling the insurance. I mean how would it even be legal to sell me insurance on a box you wouldn't cover anyways? If you take my money for the insurance and then it gets damaged it shouldn't matter as we already have a binding contract and when the insurance was being sold was when they could have told me I needed a new box for that service. For the record the item I had that was damaged literally appears to have had a fork (from a forklift) run all the way through the box and also through my item. 

 

If I was you OP I would take your nice pictures and hit up their facebook page. The more noise you can make the higher the chance someone will step in to handle things.

[aezakmi]

I'm not in the US but this is very common with my country post system, that's why no one uses it anymore except the government 

 

A friend once sent a graphics card and it got replaced with THREE BANANAS not without tearing apart the box first of course, whoever did it not even tried to hide the bananas.

 

The only international purchase I've ever made was a DDR3 memory kit from new egg, contacted the seller and everything and asked my item to be shipped by FEDEX who indeed tried in vain to deliver it to my address. national PS intercepts any and all packages sent from the outside and decides if it's worth to ship it with a year of delay or to steal it, my memory kit was expensive so someone decided to steal it and then fill a fake "in transit" form, that was 5 years ago, to this day the package still shows as "in transit" between the office and my house.

 

looks like every fucking post system in the world is a piece of fucking rotten shit managed by greedy fucks and careless monkeys, tho I find surprising that something like that happened in the US and not in my banana republic

 

F

[Fasauceome]

Not that I feel UPS is particularly in the right here, although you should definitely take a different approach. I sent a PC to a potato gamer myself, 4790k rig with my 1060 in it. Precautions I took:

Took the graphics card out and packaged it separately.

Bought a low profile cooler, Silverstone AR-06. No jiggle in shipping compared to a tower.

Packaged the monitor stand separate from the monitor.

One thing I missed, the hard drive should also have been separate (wrapped with the GPU probs) but it survived despite busting a SATA cable in transit.

 

These components are pretty easy for a tech noob to plug in, so I sent some instructions and explained what was needed. 

 

 

There's no justification for the shape of the box you got back, whatsoever, but you gotta make it hard for these fools to wreck your stuff.

[D13H4RD]

And people ask me why I preferred to spend a little extra getting my new camera from a store rather than get it online...

 

For such an expensive purchase, I'd rather not risk it.