Hello All

I do like to give us weird and wonderful things to read about on the forum - and here's my latest one... It's the 'Courier test'

We all know how moronic, careless, stupid and downright useless courier companies can be, don't we.....

Yesterday, we had a customer in Finland email us some pictures of some smashed up BeoLab 1's we had sent.  The grilles were dented beyond recognition, the aluminium cases are battered horrendously..

Why am i telling you this?  Well, these speakers were packed carefully in the OFFICIAL Bang & Olufsen transport packaging. Double walled cardboard, thick polystyrene foam, wrapping sheets etc.  They were then taped up securely and sent with the couriers. What the hell they had to do to get them in the state they arrived is completely beyond me, but we are currently claiming on the insurance.

So.. we sat here at LifeStyle AV and Matt quipped 'Jeez.. imagine if they had no packing at all'...  I said 'yeah, i bet they would arrive unscathed.. that would be ****** typical..'

Then we thought.. why not conduct an experiment...

We have an old MX4000 with a blown tube and failed power supply downstairs.. we were waiting for the refuse collection guys to come and take it.  It's externally really clean, almost mint. Let's send it to my father in Bradford, West Yorkshire (300 miles away) and see how it turns up.  I'm not even going to put 'FRAGILE' all over it, i'm just going to stick an address label to the screen and send...

Here's the TV, all ready to leave.  By past performance, this should be a large pile of dust by tomorrow. Let's wait and see... this should be interesting..

9 LEE:

Why am i telling you this?  Well, these speakers were packed carefully in the OFFICIAL Bang & Olufsen transport packaging. Double walled cardboard, thick polystyrene foam, wrapping sheets etc.  They were then taped up securely and sent with the couriers. What the hell they had to do to get them in the state they arrived is completely beyond me, but we are currently claiming on the insurance.

We had a rather pricey synthetic air gun stock travel from Sweden to Finland. Now these things are rather robust and it was well packed, so you can throw the package around and it pretty much needs to be driven over to break the contents. Well, guess what?

I'm sure your MX4000 will magically fix itself during transport! 

I've had good and bad experiences:

Bad: MMC2 sent with a Beogram 8002 in original B&O packaging box from Leeds to Nottingham. Result = MMC2 was toast.

Good: Immacualte Beovox Pentas sent in original B&O packaging box from Sweden to Sheffield. Result = not a mark on them, though strangely they arrived a day apart from each other!

So, the courier has picked it up just now and 'Martin the MX' has started his arduous journey on the back of a BusinessPost Mercedes Sprinter to the 'hub'..  I imagine the 'hub' to be something like 'Mordor' on Lord of the Rings..

Goodbye Martin.  See you in Bradford !!

Can't wait to see how this goes.

Craig

Jandyt:

Good luck Martin!
Your days may be numbered, but at least you'll be famous!

I'm sure i heard a scream as he left... 

A tenner (in monopoly money) says the top-plastic casing above the screen will be gone...

This idea made me laught a lot today! Great idea, maybe you have TV show as well where they test different services....

How about shipping a burning candle and see if arrives...

If the TV arrives in good shape, the marketing dept. of the courier might want to make a "success story" from this.... TV spot showing lifestyle av and beoworld is what pops into my mind...

Ralf

Lee, one question. Did you get any strange looks when the courier collected it?

Craig

Excellent test. Laughing quite a bit now.

BTW, did you use DHL? (Drop, Hide and Loose it...)

Craig:

Lee, one question. Did you get any strange looks when the courier collected it?

 

Craig

He actually refused to be photographed with the TV !!!!  

That's why there is just a picture of it alone in the back of the van...  guilty conscience?

Lee 

Hi All

I have sent numerous items abroad including lots of turntables without any problems

I work in logistics and have a couple of observations.............

The packaging B&O use is designed to ship items neatly stacked and shrinkwrapped on pallets.Those pallets are then moved with forklift trucks.Once the pallets arrive at a distribution depot, single items will probably be shipped to retail outlets by either B&O themselves or a third part logistics company employed by B&O and therefore will have a vested interest in taking good care of the packages. It's a whole different ball-game shipping items individually through a DHL/UPS/Fed Ex network. At the very least the standard B&O box need to be put in another box with lots of foam/poly chips between the 2 boxes. The items need to be packed to withstand falling off a conveyor belt / falling off a back of a van......cos this is what occasionally happens.

Even taking into account the above, bits of old equipment can become diss-logged in transit, especially bits held together by sticky-tape/glue (Beocenters / Beograms for eg) these bits need to be wedged/held in place with foam/polystyrene.

Wether the Beovision makes the trip in one piece will be totally dependent on which side of the bed the people who handle it got out of...... 

Cheers

Nigel

Take heart Martin, our prayers are with you!

Russ 

I have shipped numerous things all over the world.

Once, I shipped a BV1 by DHL to Indonesia as part of my air fright relocation allowance. They dropped it. Smashed the contrast screen and scuffed up the cabinet. The company paid out the full £2,100 on insurance. I simply bought a replacement cabinet and a new contrast screen from my dealer for £300 and it was as good as new.

I have shipped a BV7-32 and a BC2 to the same place with DHL with no issues. The pallet definitely slows down those wanting to throw boxes about.

I have used Parcel Force to move a Beogram 8002 and RX2 (sold as a job-lot) from Canada. The RX2 arrived but sadly the 8002 did not. The insurance company did not want to see that the RX was worth two-fifths of f**k-all and only paid for 50% of the value.

Overall, a mixed bag of experiences but the key is to get the goods well insured.

How much is the TV insured for Lee? £1200? Hopefully this could be an ingenious way to raise funds for Beoworld. Ship equipment fit for the breakers and claim on their intrinsic value as working models? A grand easy bagged on a breaker.

10%

Something is telling me the TV will arrive in good nick... not! I can imagine it will be rolling around the back of that van!

I'm shocked reading what has happened to these BL1's i can't believe it, what the f*^& does fragile mean?? Maybe because they are so heavy is why they were knocked about. 

Mr10Percent:

I have shipped numerous things all over the world.

Once, I shipped a BV1 by DHL to Indonesia as part of my air fright relocation allowance. They dropped it. Smashed the contrast screen and scuffed up the cabinet. The company paid out the full £2,100 on insurance. I simply bought a replacement cabinet and a new contrast screen from my dealer for £300 and it was as good as new.

I have shipped a BV7-32 and a BC2 to the same place with DHL with no issues. The pallet definitely slows down those wanting to throw boxes about.

I have used Parcel Force to move a Beogram 8002 and RX2 (sold as a job-lot) from Canada. The RX2 arrived but sadly the 8002 did not. The insurance company did not want to see that the RX was worth two-fifths of f**k-all and only paid for 50% of the value.

Overall, a mixed bag of experiences but the key is to get the goods well insured.

How much is the TV insured for Lee? £1200? Hopefully this could be an ingenious way to raise funds for Beoworld. Ship equipment fit for the breakers and claim on their intrinsic value as working models? A grand easy bagged on a breaker.

10%

Most courier companies in the UK do not insure anything with glass in it. This applies to Businesspost, DHL and Parcel Force so they obviously got wise at some point. Those items with glass in can be insured for loss only.

If he survives are you going to send him back wrapped up?, my guess is when they cant see his sweet little face they will start thowing him around , Our thoughts are with you martin

jay

Iconic-AV:

If he survives are you going to send him back wrapped up?, my guess is when they cant see his sweet little face they will start thowing him around , Our thoughts are with you martin

jay

I agree - smashing up a nice little tv will take deliberate bad will (or a near miss of a traffic accident in the delivery van). But once it's wrapped up, it becomes just another god d*mn heavy son of a b*tch that's about to break my back once again...

Good luck, Martin - I fear the worst but hope for the best.

Lee

youve had us in bits this morning (no pun intended) naming the little fellow 'martin'

jay

Mr10Percent:

Not sure about that.

If you send your mum's best cut-glass crystal, insurance may be a problem. If you sent a TV (especially a CRT), it is a TV and it does contain glass but you are insuring a TV.

10%

I've asked them all and they will not cover any thing with glass in it or on it. This applies to TV's of any type, items such as Ouvertures and it's derivatives, BC9000 and it's derivatives and BS4. These items are insured for loss only.

If you can get them to declare that they will cover these types then I will use that courier company for Beo4life!