Your Shipping/Packaging Horror Stories!

[Ironhide]

I want to hear your worst package shipping story. None of these I shipped my end of a deal, but never got anything. I want something like this:

I shipped my package to trader A on such an such date. I got a DC and insurance with the package. A week later I got a call from trader B saying it hadn't arrived. Funny, I looked at the tracking number and it shows it is still in BFE Idaho. Hmm. Called *insert shipping company* and they said that one of their buildings in that area caught fire yesterday....

Something along those lines. Sad, but funny. Maybe not at the time, but funny upon recollection.

[Erik M]

Once traded something for a Leman Russ; Sweden to Australia.
When the Russ hadn't arrived for a while I sort of asked the guy what was up. He had moved to Saudiarabia and mixed it up somehow and was terribly sorry. And he was, 'cause it arrived promptly after that. And then I didn't hear from him, so I thought the deal was done and done.
Six (6!) months later I get a package all un-announced. From Australia... ..it was my part of the deal.
I had missed something in the address and it was "returned to sender". By boat.
So it had taken a week there, and then about half a year to get back. One could say I was a bit embarrassed when I re-contacted the aussie chap.

[JohnHwangBT]

I got a box of minis packed in a shoe box. With a hole in the side. And fold-together construction. It wasn't glued or taped, and (of course) stuff fell out during transit. I was pretty annoyed over it, but the trader made good.

Otherwise, I've been pretty good.

Tho the current practice of depending on padded mailers is kinda disconcerting, as it really doesn't give very good protection unless you put a small box inside the mailer...

[Ironhide]

Ensign Johnson: Sir, we lost a few men in transport.
Dr. McCoy: Damn transporters! Mixing up your molecules!

[HarlequinZero]

I had an eBay seller send me a built Land Raider Crusader wrapped in two pieces of kitchen towel in a box with no other packing material sealed with a piece of scotch tape. Needless to say, I received the box stuffed in one of those plastic postal bags for use when the package has essentially disintegrated in transit. The Land Raider was busted to bits, several parts were missing, and the amusing part was that when wrapping the Land Raider with the kitchen towels he had taped the towel directly to the Land Raider. (Which is the only reason the paper towels arrived I guessed.) Luckily, Paypal came through for me on that one.

[Adunaphel]

Once, I got about 1000 points of tomb kings that were assembled and primed. The trader had put them "at the bottom" of a box that was about 18" X18" X 18". Nothing else, just laid them at the bottom of this huge box. There was virtually nothing left when they arrived. The body of one chariot was still intact. Luckily, the guy realized what he had done and the trade was off.

I had another where the USPS had put a LARGE hole in the side of the box and there were literally necron warriors leading from the street to my door. Lost about half of them in transit.

I did have UPS CRUSH a Fender guitar amp once, and MAN was it hard to get them to pay up on their insurance...

Karl

[Ironhide]

I had an eBay seller send me a built Land Raider Crusader wrapped in two pieces of kitchen towel in a box with no other packing material sealed with a piece of scotch tape. Needless to say, I received the box stuffed in one of those plastic postal bags for use when the package has essentially disintegrated in transit. The Land Raider was busted to bits, several parts were missing, and the amusing part was that when wrapping the Land Raider with the kitchen towels he had taped the towel directly to the Land Raider. (Which is the only reason the paper towels arrived I guessed.) Luckily, Paypal came through for me on that one.

Wow, just wow. At least you still had something to clean up the mess with!

I had another where the USPS had put a LARGE hole in the side of the box and there were literally necron warriors leading from the street to my door. Lost about half of them in transit.

Karl

Should have used their WBB roll!

[Norseman]

I received a 12x12x12 box FULL of dirty shredded paper. This wasn't the nice clean strips, this was dirty colored hard paper with tons of little bits of what looked like garbage. I'm saying... This was GROSS. No baggies!!! and there was lots of little chaos bits in the mix. I had to go out on my deck, sift though this stuff to find all the bits and broken pieces. I wasn't impressed...

I also have a little bit of the opposite... This was a almost horror story.

I traded for a large American FOW army. (Note: LOTS, and lots of little bits.)

I went to the post office and when the attendant drops the box down on the counter I notice a HUGE (5" x 2") hole in the box. I hang my head and think to myself, "Awe crap! All I need now is another hassle." So I look into the box from the outside and notice things are pretty well packed. However I resign myself to the fact that there is going to be a lot missing, well at least some. I get home take a bunch of pics of the box and how I received it, and start going though the contents. I must say that my trade partner did an amazing job of packing things, using baggies and bubble wrap, making things well organized and secure. I didn't lose a single mini.

It goes to show you that if you go the extra mile and pack things well. Especially using baggies, to keep things clean and together. You can save yourself loss and hassle.

[Ironhide]

How did that hole get in the box? Did the army try and perform a breakout or end run?

[Norseman]

I think it was massed tank fire by the looks of it...

Really though, it looked like it got dropped on a sharp corner. It was kind of triangular.

[montaa]

My favorite story involves goblins, wolves and the USPS. The USPS delivered a box that looks like it might have held baseball cards at one point in its life. The outside was pristine. Well taped, address clearly printed and no damage of any kind from the USPS.

I knew I was in trouble the second I picked it up however. I was lying flat on the ground and I grabbed it as some what of an angle. I heard the sliding and soft plinking of plastic falling through plastic.

Upon opening all of my wolf riders were inside. Now I had never put much though into how many pieces each of those models has, but let me tell you, its A LOT. And every single one of them was now dislodged.

The biggest shame was how much work I had to do to recreate the AMAZINGLY good paint job I ruined with all the re-gluing.

Sender made good but I can't figure out why they were packed that way to begin with.

[kturock]

I gather you don't want me to tell what I've seen working at USPS.

I got 4 quick stories; 3 regarding GW minis, 1 for a TV antenna.

1st. A couple years ago I bought some BA SM death company. The unit of 8-10 minis were shoved in a box about 3x3x5. Everything was broken or unglued. I filed a claim with ebay, they found in his favor saying, there was nothing wrong.

2nd. I just bought an army from ebay. The box was pretty big, 17x12x8, a copy paper box. 1/3rd of it was empty. There was some type of paper, crumpled and shredded and a few packing peanuts in it, but not enough to fill the box. I had to sift through the fuzz to find the broken bits. I've filed with ebay, still waiting for a response.

3rd. I just bought 2 rhinos and 2 preds from a trader here. There were all put in a 7x6.5x6.5 box, with 2 sheets of paper. Barrels, spikey bits and guns were broken. His answer, sorry I thought packing it tight would help.

4th. I just got an antenna shipped via UPS. The box had a slight bend in it. Upon opening, i found that the antenna itself was bent. It is only aluminum, so not much weight or force were needed. The seller is sending out a replacement and UPS is supposed to pick up the damaged one.

[Ironhide]

1st. A couple years ago I bought some BA SM death company. The unit of 8-10 minis were shoved in a box about 3x3x5. Everything was broken or unglued. I filed a claim with ebay, they found in his favor saying, there was nothing wrong.

Guess you could say they were DOA.

2nd. I just bought an army from ebay. The box was pretty big, 17x12x8, a copy paper box. 1/3rd of it was empty. There was some type of paper, crumpled and shredded and a few packing peanuts in it, but not enough to fill the box. I had to sift through the fuzz to find the broken bits. I've filed with ebay, still waiting for a response.

Must have thought the army needed room to breath.

3rd. I just bought 2 rhinos and 2 preds from a trader here. There were all put in a 7x6.5x6.5 box, with 2 sheets of paper. Barrels, spikey bits and guns were broken. His answer, sorry I thought packing it tight would help.

I believe this is why I now try to get still on sprue.

4th. I just got an antenna shipped via UPS. The box had a slight bend in it. Upon opening, i found that the antenna itself was bent. It is only aluminum, so not much weight or force were needed. The seller is sending out a replacement and UPS is supposed to pick up the damaged one.

A TV antenna?? Really??? I thought all of those were buried somewhere out in Utah?

[osloco]

I have only had a couple rough things received.

The first was a package, I signed for it at the post office, and they brought my box out inside a clear plastic sealed bag. The box itself was soaked, so I had to go home and sort through a mushy mess.

The other really bad one was a big trade where I went to pick up the box, the woman at the PO handed it to me and all I could hear was plastic bits sliding over plastic. When I opened the box a few of the units were is ziplocks, and everything else was floating loosely. That was a fun hour just sorting smashed bits into piles

[Ironhide]

I recently purchased some textbooks through half.com. Most people send books through media mail. I received one package in a plastic bag, just like osloco; however, all I got was an empty package and a note from the PO saying this was found on the warehouse floor in this condition. Had to contact the seller and explain what happened. Upon hearing the story and seeing a pic of the note, he refunded my money. Luckily, the book was only $17.

TIP: For all you college students, use half.com and Amazon to get your textbooks. They are much cheaper!