UPS smashed my new generator

[eljefino]

Bought from Home Depot online. Online Customer service is helpful and says I can return to store.

Out of stock online, and store stock of generators is pretty low too. (wonder why?

)

Still will swing my store. Maybe they'll give me a refund and let me throw it out for them.

First shot is the bottom of the engine block casting. Bolt immediately left of the crack is the oil drain!

 

[JTK]

Oh man that's too bad. That thing took a heck of a hit, or a drop??

Joel

 

[eljefino]

It got pig piled on! It has a roll bar frame all around it and there are numerous indentations. At 98 lbs the UPS drivers probably took out their aggravations on it. (Post office has a 70 lb limit?)

Manufacturer just threw the thing in a cardboard box with a small chunk of foam on top of the gas tank to protect the gas cap.

 

[JHZR2]

Ups is terrible with anything of size/heft.

You would think it was USPS, but far more expensive...

 

[scurvy]

United Package Smashers strikes again!

FWIW, I used to use UPS as a torture test of measuring equipment when I worked in the railroad industry. Box it up, ship it ground to a left coast location of the business, have them ship it back. If it survived that, it would survive anything we did to it in a boxcar.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
It got pig piled on! It has a roll bar frame all around it and there are numerous indentations. At 98 lbs the UPS drivers probably took out their aggravations on it. (Post office has a 70 lb limit?)

Manufacturer just threw the thing in a cardboard box with a small chunk of foam on top of the gas tank to protect the gas cap.


The last sentence says it all. This has less to do with UPS than with how poorly the item was packaged.

 

[Virtuoso]

The engine block broke! How much packaging do you need to survive that?

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: eljefino
It got pig piled on! It has a roll bar frame all around it and there are numerous indentations. At 98 lbs the UPS drivers probably took out their aggravations on it. (Post office has a 70 lb limit?)

Manufacturer just threw the thing in a cardboard box with a small chunk of foam on top of the gas tank to protect the gas cap.


The last sentence says it all. This has less to do with UPS than with how poorly the item was packaged.


Agreed. If the manufacturer just threw it into a cardboard box with a slab of foam on the top then it's their fault, not UPS.

Originally Posted By: Virtuoso
The engine block broke! How much packaging do you need to survive that?


More than a flimsy cardboard box. If it had been properly padded with cardboard and foam that would not have happened. I've purchased a couple different large items on line, including a DR trimmer. It was very well packaged when it arrived via UPS, but the cardboard box was beat up. The packaging saved the unit from any damage whatsoever.

 

[addyguy]

Ouch!

 

[bigmike]

Another 3 pointer!

 

[Donald]

They should have used a trucking company with a tailgate and put it on a pallet. Not to excuse them, but 98 lbs is pretty heavy to lift off the back of their truck.

 

[eljefino]

Well I stopped by the store and they were all sympathetic /apologetic but have to send it back to Bufallo tools. So I can't buy it back "as is".

Which gives me interesting cognitive dissonance. I could fix this easily by cutting the cross member and mounting it with adjacent undamaged motor mounting holes. This would of course void my warranty and chances of return, so it's (mostly) off the table. (I buy enough used/broken stuff I am used to making adjustments/ improvements.) When I return it, they might yank the generator head then junk the engine, and cobble together a "refurbished" genset for some poor shmuck to buy on ebay. I don't like seeing decent machinery wasted-- this is really bothering me unnaturally!

Not to mention, if this thing's been banged around seeing mega G forces, this could make micro-cracks in solder joints inside the generator head that don't appear as problems until later.

PS the "low oil" LED and a plastic trim piece behind the outlets were also loose but undamaged and snapped back together.

The way this thing is set up is a full perimeter tube frame with two square cross members, two rubberized mounts/feet meet the generator head, and the other two mounts attach to the engine block. The rubberized mounts double as shock protection in transit-- poorly, against tall odds.

I got this thing after a period of it being sold out, and it's sold out again. So I'll hold on to it for up to 30 days to see if I can get the same (or better

) deal.

 

[eljefino]

Well HD was all sold out of the model I got so I flirted my way through telephone customer service and got a similar model marked down to what I paid.

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Sorry, but no amount of money saved is worth the stress and aggravation of this happening. I would buy larger items like a generator in the store and personally load it onto my car and drive it home. Heavy items leave too much to chance to the shipping carries and their methods.

 

[Donald]

If you bought a heavy generator or anything heavy for that matter at Lowes, they can load a pallet onto your pickup or trailer with a "reach truck". Its basically a forklift where the forks can also extend forward, thus "reach".

And then there was the one lady who wanted her cast iron boiler loaded into her minivan with the reach truck.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Well I stopped by the store and they were all sympathetic /apologetic but have to send it back to Bufallo tools. So I can't buy it back "as is".

Which gives me interesting cognitive dissonance. I could fix this easily by cutting the cross member and mounting it with adjacent undamaged motor mounting holes. This would of course void my warranty and chances of return, so it's (mostly) off the table. (I buy enough used/broken stuff I am used to making adjustments/ improvements.) When I return it, they might yank the generator head then junk the engine, and cobble together a "refurbished" genset for some poor shmuck to buy on ebay. I don't like seeing decent machinery wasted-- this is really bothering me unnaturally!



Was it drop shipped from Buffalo Tools, or was it shipped from Home Depot? If it was shipped directly from Buffalo Tools I could see them sending it back to them. However if Home Depot already had it before it was damaged, they probably sent it out for repair. If the damage to it was over about half of its value it probably got junked. If not, it may have been repaired and re-sold at a discount as reconditioned. Buffalo Tools is difficult/impossible to get original replacement parts from though. It may have been junked for that reason too.

As for UPS, they smash stuff all the time. I get stuff from UPS and FedEx daily at work. UPS tries to destroy everything, is unpredictable, and generally doesn't give a ****. FedEx is far better.
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/inde...;xrs=share_copy

 

[Warstud]

I wouldn't blame UPS for the damage. You don't know how many times it's been handled since it left the factory.

 

[eljefino]

I figure it was in a container from the factory then sat in a warehouse then individually was shipped by UPS. The whole container could have been mishandled too, I guess.

I begged, pleaded with the customer service rep to have my replacement put on an 18 wheeler and delivered with a store. It, too, is coming UPS to my house. Operator promised someone in the ware house would unpack the thing, check the packaging, then seal it back up "even better".

It is a different brand, so I hope it has more styrofoam.

My issue was with the reasonable price, lack of replacement, and UPS busting something I thought for a while was irreplaceable (at the price.) It would have been easier if my exact model number was still in stock. HD made right on all counts.

Does UPS have a holiday bonus related to how much stuff they don't drop?

 

[SteveSRT8]

As for UPS, they smash stuff all the time. I get stuff from UPS and FedEx daily at work. UPS tries to destroy everything, is unpredictable, and generally doesn't give a ****. FedEx is far better.


Totally dependent on area. Too broad of a brush!

Around here Fedex is so bad many have quit using them. UPS offers FAR better customer service and has drivers who are almost peculiarly motivated to do right.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
As for UPS, they smash stuff all the time. I get stuff from UPS and FedEx daily at work. UPS tries to destroy everything, is unpredictable, and generally doesn't give a ****. FedEx is far better.


Totally dependent on area. Too broad of a brush!

Around here Fedex is so bad many have quit using them. UPS offers FAR better customer service and has drivers who are almost peculiarly motivated to do right.


I have had one UPS driver I would say was motivated to do right. He was predictable, would take outgoing packages, and didn't break anything. I had no issues with their service back then. Now I never know who the UPS guy will be, when he's going to show up, or what condition the packages will be in. Because I don't know when the packages will show up, I can't always be there to sign for them myself. Also, they will put things they tear up in a new box and ship it anyway! They ruined two Subaru Robin carbs I ordered then just threw them in a new box like nothing happened. Luckily the seller is taking care of it, but it's still causing a delay for me. They complain if you ask them to take anything, so we end up having anywhere from 1-3 UPS trucks come everyday. Even then, I often end up driving packages to the distribution center myself. The FedEx guy is always the same, always there at the same time, and the packages are in better condition.

Replacement gen heads get damaged in shipment more than any other part, regardless of the shipper. Without the generator frame and isolators to take the hits, and extremely poor packaging from "country of origin," they get damaged very easily.