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Disk Drive Repair Service Recommendation Needed

C

clh333

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2015
Messages
1,443
Location
Cleveland, OH, USA
Need to provide a quote from a disk drive repair service to satisfy a requirement for damage claim to UPS on a recent shipment. Would appreciate any referrals, thanks.

-CH-
 
While they'll pay the price you paid for the drive I doubt they'll pay the repair cost which is likely to be substantially higher.
 
Unless the drive is utilized in some urgent or necessary way.. I will agree with them.
Anyway I lost a claim to UPS recently. I ship all over the world.. I mean that. One package didn't travel far, just down the eastern coast to Maryland. It arrived horribly damaged. Only abuse by the handlers could have caused this. UPS fought with me tooth and nail and in the end stated my brand new card board box wasn't suitable.. End of story.. done. They are not in the business of paying out claims.. Apparently their handlers could do no harm.

Good luck,, I mean it.
 
Distance travelled is completely a non issue.

FWIW, brand new does not automatically equal suitable. :)

Common sense is always applicable.
 
Stone said:
While they'll pay the price you paid for the drive I doubt they'll pay the repair cost which is likely to be substantially higher.
Click to expand...

Thanks all for your responses. There were six 8-inch SSDD Shugart drives and 60 8-inch disks to be shipped, and the shipping was at my expense. Seller merely dropped them off at a UPS store who packed them and shipped them UPS. So UPS is going to have a hard time arguing that the packing was insubstantial.

I had specified that the disks be boxed separately and that two boxes be used for the drives to keep the size and weight down. I had measured my Shugart 850 at apprx. 5x9x15" and 12#, so I figured a 10x16x30 box weighing about 40 pounds would be the container. I mentioned this to the store. Instead they used a considerably larger box stuffed lightly with brown wrapping paper and instead of laying the drives in side-by-side they packed them on their sides, top-to-top or top-to-bottom. In a couple of instances the frame of one caught the faceplate of another and bent it to the degree that the door won't open / gate won't lift.

I sent pictures of the damage promptly after receipt but UPS wants proof of value and an estimate of the cost of repair, according to the UPS store that did the packing and shipping. I have the stub of the certified check issued for payment for the drives but now I need to find a quote for the cost of repair. I'm sure UPS knows this will be difficult and hopes I will fail.

All in all, if I could have done it some other way I would have, but the seller had lost his lease and was moving out of his residence and into a trailer. The next week. He was preparing to give away his furniture and throw away the drives.

So we'll see if we can make lemonade.

Thanks again,

-CH-
 
Last edited:
Stone said:
Distance travelled is completely a non issue.

FWIW, brand new does not automatically equal suitable. :)

Common sense is always applicable.
Click to expand...

It was packed extremely well Stone. It was the only time it happened and I know it was a handling problem. The equipment I send to the middle east, Korea, and Japan always get there in perfect shape... Because it was handled well. And I use the same boxes. Again. Common sense.

You have seen the videos posted online of carriers completely abusing deliveries right?? Human beings will continue being human until we get robots to start doing these tasks.
 
If you're looking for a quote on repairs, you might give these guys a call. They will be expensive, if they'll even give a quote. If you're dealing with physically broken components (e.g. bezels, PCBs, castings, etc.), don't expect much. UPS may offer you a pittance based on the "salvage value" of the drives.

Having dealt with these idiots myself (UPS stores are franchises, so you're probably best off dealing with the franchise owner), I wouldn't hold my breath. Be prepared for a ton of finger-pointing and buck-passing.

FWIW, the manufacturer's way of packing these drives was between two form-fitting polystyrene foam blocks. You could probably kick one of those packages for a field goal and not do any damage.
 
If it's the bezel being out of whack, that's not so hard to fix--just unscrew the retaining clip, straighten it, and then re-install.

At least that's what I see from your photos (my eyes aren't that great).
 
VERAULT said:
Unless the drive is utilized in some urgent or necessary way.. I will agree with them.
Anyway I lost a claim to UPS recently. I ship all over the world.. I mean that. One package didn't travel far, just down the eastern coast to Maryland. It arrived horribly damaged. Only abuse by the handlers could have caused this. UPS fought with me tooth and nail and in the end stated my brand new card board box wasn't suitable.. End of story.. done. They are not in the business of paying out claims.. Apparently their handlers could do no harm.

Good luck,, I mean it.
Click to expand...

Ahh, the UPS monkeys. They like drop kicking packages off the back of trucks going down the freeway and letting them be run over a few times before the next UPS truck comes by to pick it up before delivery.

I stopped using them years ago after they crushed and destroyed an iMac G3 snow I shipped to a customer and refused to pay the claim on it. When the driver brought it back to me, he kicked it out the back of the truck on to the asphalt road, which was a six foot drop, only to pick it up again and drop it four feet onto my concrete porch, WHILE I was watching the whole time. He was very lucky I didn't kick him off of my porch and drop him on his head before unceremoniously tossing him back in his truck.

UPS promotes this behavior by treating their employees like garbage. They do everything possible to stiff them out of money, including their whole fiasco back in 2010 where they tried to claim employees were independent contractors to avoid having to pay proper wages to them and normal payroll tax. This is an ongoing problem with them in several states. It's no wonder they get the bottom of the barrel employees and why they don't really care.

I've been using USPS and Fedex since with zero issues. I've actually been to several USPS locations around the country to ship stuff and have had no issues to date.
 
I actually posted a review on the better business bureau website about a 5140 I shipped and it got destroyed and I never got a refund. Within a couple days I got a call from someone at UPS. I wouldn't settle for letting them off- post some reviews and make some noise, light a fire under them
 
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