A Union teen who has successfully shipped thousands of dollars in goods said he was puzzled when UPS denied a recent insurance claim due to insufficient packaging.
William Cross said he and his father have successfully sold, packaged and shipped almost $20,000 in tech supplies from their Amazon store.
The 17-year-old entrepreneur, who also has a web and graphic design business, said he has left nearly two thousand packages for UPS to pick up from a box at their family home instead of taking them to a UPS store location.
William said he had difficulty believing a recent customer complaint that said their printer arrived damaged and smeared in a blue toner, so he requested pictures. After viewing photos his customer sent of the $450 printer, he commented, “You could tell. Unless they severely dropped it, it was damaged by UPS.”
He issued the customer a full refund and filed an insurance claim with UPS. William said he tried to appeal when UPS denied his claim, citing "deficiencies in the packaging," but customer service representatives were unable to help.
Frustrated with their response and unable to get the printer from the warehouse in Kentucky where it was being held, William contacted our Consumer Investigative Center. After our team reached out, UPS explained they stand by their assessment that the printer packaging did not meet their guidelines, however, they reached out to William and approved his claim as a gesture of goodwill.
Local
UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service have detailed packaging guidelines available online and in stores. Bringing items to a store location to check if materials meet their standards is a good way to avoid trouble when processing an insurance claim for damage sustained during shipping.
William received a check for the full $450 from UPS as well as the damaged printer. The busy high school senior said he may try to repair its broken scanner bed when he has downtime between his two summer jobs.
