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I set up an appointment to have Central freight pick up merchandise from our business. We have the item on a pallet and then we place another oversized pallet underneath the first pallet to provide for more strength and to protect against damage. Well Central driver shows up and inspects product, signs bill of lading and proceeds to load our merchandise into the back of the trailer with his pallet jack. Here is where it gets interesting.
This merchandise headed to California from texas. On arrival the product is missing the pallets that we shipped product on. The consignee is told to sign the bill even though he hadn't inspected the item. Driver knows that item is damaged. Consignee call us and we tell them to inspect merchandise and make a not of anything wrong with product. Well consignee send photos of range and we tell them that it was not shipped out without the two pallets. They find that product has been dropped and now may be un-repairable. We proceed to help consignee file claim with carrier. Carrier begins to blame us the shipper for not having the appropriate packaging on item. We state to carrier that packaging has no effect on item being dropped and missing the pallets that is what shipped on.
Make a long story short we have had to sue Central Freight Lines just to take care of damage that they caused. They have tariffs that they supposedly follow to not pay claims by stating the product we shipped somehow they were considering it used even though it had no use. They stated that anything that is left out in the open is considered used and they do not have pay new replacement cost but used which is substantially less. The item we shipped was worth $7500. They wanted to pay out $300 as salvage value on item even though it came with full manufacturer warranty and manufacturer stated product was new.
before you ship with these guys make sure it is insured or they will try to screw you to. Note we are aiming to have a trial date set in the next two months.
