UPS lost my Bikeflights shipment
 

On July 27th I shipped 2 bikes from Dublin, OH to Norwich, CT via bikeflights. I took the boxes to the UPS store and had both shipping labels printed in the store. One box was 28 pounds and the other 36, so I ensured each label was on the correct box. The worker had difficulty scanning the labels; she repeatedly attempted to scan them with no success, then stated "it's fine, I can put them in manually."

Several days later there had been no update from Bikeflights, nor had I received my bikes. Something seemed off, so I consulted my receipt and entered the tracking numbers. The tracking numbers I received were obviously grossly incorrect; they stated that the items had been shipped July 25th and delivered at 10 A.M in Illinois on the 27th (roughly the same time I shipped my bike.) I called the UPS store and they stated they remembered me, but they weren't responsible for any error in shipment and I'd have to call UPS customer service. I called bikeflights and they've opened an investigation, but, as of yet, no strong leads. They suspect that the bikes may have been shipped to an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, because the erroneous tracking numbers now show they were delivered there July 28th. However, they've been unable to reach anyone there to confirm whether the packages are my bikes.

Here's the kicker: The bikes are worth roughly $1,700 combined, but I was cheap and didn't pay for additional coverage, so each box has only the standard $200 insurance. I inquired about the insurance, and Bikeflights stated they typically need proof the bikes were taken into UPS custody or a police report of missing/stolen items.




Any ideas? Did I just learn a tough lesson in regards to underinsuring packages? FWIW, I've patronized Bikeflights numerous times with no issues, which is why I felt comfortable not paying for additional coverage.

If you used BikeFlights, aren’t they supposed to handle the issue? They’re their shipping labels; did you file a claim with them?

As I said, they're currently investigating.

Seems pretty cut & dry for your outcome. IF it turns out any better, keep us informed!

I'd like to learn of others experiences.

I have had problems with UPS in the past and those "stores" are not owned by UPS. I am not comfortable dropping a bike off there but an officially USP office is 30 minutes away. I have understood these franchise stores have no liability for my bike and my fear is the $10K bike walks and I am SOL.

BF previously used FEDEX and I would have the truck pick the bike up at the house for an extra 5 bucks. I was happy with the old BF

This doesn't sound like a UPS store issue. It seems the problem is that the shipper was provided address labels that used previously used tracking numbers from other random completed shipments. Odd

That seems to be what Bikeflights believes as well. If that's the case, who's responsible?

A hard lesson. I would file a police report now, you have a limited amount of time to do it. It could be someone at your UPS “store” is stealing things and tampering with the labels and tracking numbers to try and hide what they are doing. Always pay for insurance when shipping anything anywhere, nowadays when we see doorbell videos showing package thefts every day, your odds of getting your packages stolen are high. I have shipped thousands of items by UPS, and tend to over-insure packages due to the headache and delays when I have to file a claim. It usually takes around 8 months for UPS to pay me when I have a claim, which is at least a few times per year.

How do you file a police report? I'm assuming with the jurisdiction I shipped the bikes with?

Should I posted photos of the bikes somewhere in the hope they're recovered?


BTW, while have $400 in coverage with Bikeflights, is it possible I have additional coverage with UPS?

Experience is a hard school, etc.

You're basically self-insured above the $200/box basic. Perhaps the bright side is you'll shortly have $400 to go bike shopping with!

Yes, a paltry $400 as opposed to the nearly 2K I could have sold the bikes for.

I doubt it, you can contact them.

I sold something once and the buyer did not want to pay for insurance. UPS drove a forklift over the thing and broke the stock.

They would not pay. I would try anyway. They seem to have lost it, could be a different story in your case.

It's very easy to ship the bikes without Bikeflights involvement. It damn sure isn't cheaper.

That's like saying you drove a month with no accidents, therefore you don't need car insurance.

UPS insurance is $1.05 for every $100 over $100. So it would have cost you about $15 bucks to insure your bikes for their true value. And you cheaped out anyway. The cost of a couple six-packs.

An expensive lesson indeed.

Chances are he is already feeling bad about it. Oh, look, he even said so (in the part you edited out).

I'm hoping it will turn up. Did you have a second shipping label with full ID inside the box?

Why in the world would you file a police report for something that has been misplaced by the shipper?

Sorry--didn't realize I needed to quote his entire post and address every single point in it. I'll remember that for next time. :rolleyes:

It is more like $1.60 per thousand to insure. Two directions on an expensive with shipping would be over $500, not exactly chump change.

What I have done in the past and am now reconsidering, is to pay insurance on the frame. Say it is a $4,000 frame, I pay the 64 bucks each direction when going on vacation or to a race. I doubted that the components would be damaged or in other words, the frame is what gets ruined and possibly some replaceable spokes.

I usually assume the box will not be put vertically, it will be on its side with a 1000 pounds on top. So, structural support is needed to keep the weight off the frame. Wood, cardboard, PVC pipe etc can be used.

But lost? I never consider that. Stolen? yes. I call and ask what time the driver picks up from Fedex dropoff and go about that time to minimize a bike laying around a drop store that has no liability

Bad math.

I investigated using BikeFlights to ship my bike from the US to Ireland for a vacation. For that trip at least, the process was for for me to take the bike to a local participating bike shop, where it would be broken down, packed and shipped either to a participating shop in Dublin, where it would be reassembled for me to pick up, or to my "home address" in Dublin. The actual shipping would be, UPS, FedEx, whoever - the choice of which would affect the overall price. Using BikeFlights meant that there was one payment - they would pay the shops for their work, and the shipping. It's more of a convenience (supposedly) than a cheap alternative to packing and shipping the bike yourself. As it turned out, it would have cost ~$900 for the round trip to Ireland, with 7-10 days transit each direction. It would have almost been cheaper to buy a bike in Dublin and leave it there for the next time. In the end, I found a local bike rental for 200 Euro for 2 wk - a low-end Giant with 8sp Claris, but adequate to the task.

Bikeflights is convenient in some situations. I've used them when buying things out of state. I will have the seller take the bike to a bikeflights listed LBS, pay the shop to pack it and arrange with bikeflights to have UPS collect it from the LBS. You can also have them pick it up from the sellers house if the seller can package it. The shipping isn't very expensive with them and the insurance is cheap. Only once did UPS say a bike was lost then it turned out it was on a truck and not scanned into the system. I hope the OP gets his bikes back.

...basically, they started out as a middleman service, shopping your package around to various shipping services and getting bids, to get the lowest rate.
It was quite useful, because they usually came in at about half the UPS rate if I took the package in the door at my local UPS service cold.

They have expanded significantly since I used them, and now offer both packing services and well made boxes, which are not cheap but seem to have a good reputation. I've not used them in a few years.

That's some good news. My hope is they weren't delivered to an incorrect address and are on a truck or in a storage facility as they weren't scanned.

How long did it take to find the bike?