Fedex let me down !

[Pop Chevy]

You guy's know I really wanted to build my own engine. So, I sent the crank out to be repaired, prepped the block, got it cleaned and magged, lined up a set of rods and pistons. Then decided to send the head out to be freshened by a pro. Put the head in a heavy plastic crate packed it in real nice and shipped it off. Got a call Tuesday from Fedex. They LOST my head. They say the bottom fell out of the crate !!!!! crate and head got separated and now the head with the cams and valve cover are missing. Needless to say I am sick and pissed at the same time. I think someone on the shipping dock got sticky fingers. Please be on the lookout for a FA head for sale. Loynings sn 04-444. I filed a claim with Fedex, but don't have much hope. They sent the crate back to me today and it was simply crushed till the bottom failed. Looks like I am in the market for a whole engine now. Grrrrr.
I think I learned 3 lessons here. Don't put the race shops name on the label (just a contact ), build a crate that will withstand a nuclear blast, and the most painful lesson insure for the full replacement amount. But I will see if they honor the ins I did put on it.

[quartzracer]

I am sorry for your experience, we all fear that situation happening when shipping anything of value. Before you give up hope try contacting Billy Edmonds he posts here and has a line on all of Hasselgrens Toyota stuff. billyedmonds@hotmail.com He seems fair and reasonable.

Best,

Eric

[Purple Frog]

Now that the horse is out of the barn...
I ship my heads in heavy duty wood boxes (glued and screwed) with handles. And tied on one of the valve springs is a tag with shipping info. I almost always have the shipping info duplicated on the item being shipped inside the box. Same thing with all my luggage going on airplanes. If somebody is going to steal something from me in shipping, they darn sure are going to know who they stole it from.

Ask DaveW sometime how it took a month for a cell phone charging cable to get from Panacea to Bath Ohio via USPS priority mail.

[kea]

I'm with Mike, build a box from wood, or steel or something best suited for the task at hand. Then I buy their insurance. If they lose it or break it, then they have to cough up the money for a replacement (they hate doing that, but they will).

[Daryl DeArman]

FedEx Freight, Express or Ground?

IF Freight PM me a tracking number and I'll see what I can do to help.

I say the chance it has been stolen is about 1 in a 1,000,000. The chance that it sitting an OS&D area and the clerk has no idea what he/she's looking at much less where it belongs is about 1 in 1.001.

Once the OS&D clerk has been tripping over it for a month with no luck in finding it's rightful owner they send it to their salvage store/dealer to be sold to generate as much revenue as possible to offset claims. Sounds like it shipped recently enough, you still have time.

What was it's value in condition as shipped?

[Pop Chevy]

I shipped it ground and I had a note inside it with all my contact info. What is OS&D and can I contact them direct ?
Shipped it 5 days ago (monday).
Value as shipped? I called around , replacement cost going to be close 5k.
Thanks for all the help and it WON"T happen again.

[Daryl DeArman]

Their Freight division and just about every LTL carrier has an Over, Short and Damaged department. FedEx ground calls them "Quality Assurance"

Basically, they're freight detectives tasked with finding rightful homes for their extra (over) freight, locate their missing (short) freight through coordinated efforts with other facilities. Lastly, obtaining disposition on all the freight that has been damaged and refused.

Larger facilities have a much larger case load than they can effectively work. Their files end up getting prioritized. Rude/Angry customers almost always can count on going to the bottom of the stack, right below the calls that came from their corporate office.

Top of that list are the odd, challenging ones, or a problem they take a personal interest in. If you are fortnuate, this is where you'll fall.

They funnel all their calls through corporate, but you need to speak to somebody in the trenches that can physically walk their facility looking for your cylinder head.

I'll shoot you a PM because these are numbers they don't advertise.

[Daryl DeArman]

On the outside chance that you have a OS&D/QA guy with some initiative they will likely call LOYNINGS and ask him if he's missing it or if they've shipped one lately.

Call Loynings and tell them you are missing a head with their name on it. If they get a call they can alert you as to who called them and put you in touch!

Even if your shipment was not going to the Portland area, call the Portland,OR FedEx Ground facility (get the number from Pittsburgh) and ask them if they have it. Could have ended up on the dock of a lazy OS&D/QA guy that didn't want to exert much effort. Despite policy he just tossed it on the next trailer headed for Portland so that it would become someone elses' mystery freight.

If no luck, repeat all steps every few days for the next month. It could be on it's way to Portland right now. If it doesn't show up by then, it's not going to.

These problems, procedures aren't unique to FedEx, by the way.

[Pop Chevy]

I was shipping it to Quicksilver and I've already talked to Sandy about it.
Yes, I have a polished kiss-up routine and it is in order. I tried the ph number you sent me and have been transferd form location to location 3 times. I think I am getting close, I talked to a very nice lady and she is going to check the cage herself. Fingers crossed ! Prayers sent ! Thank you !

[Daryl DeArman]

I suggested calling Loyning because if that's the only identifying mark on your head/valve cover that's who the QA/OS&D clerk is likely to call.

Glad you got ahold of a nice lady.

The number I gave you is the facility that services Sarver, PA. If they transfered you to another facility that's an indication they think it made it to those points intact.

Good luck!

[Pop Chevy]

This is interesting. The terminal at Md. says they received it empty. So that points me back to Pitts. I am tempted to just drive down and talk to them. Would they even let me on the grounds ?

[Daryl DeArman]

This is interesting. The terminal at Md. says they received it empty. So that points me back to Pitts. I am tempted to just drive down and talk to them. Would they even let me on the grounds ?

Carriers do it all the time, though they don't offer or encourage it. Some service center managers frown on it so clear it with whoever you are talking to in Pittsburgh. Their Corporate offices for Ground Division are in Pittsburgh so make sure you don't drive to the wrong facility.

Before you make the trip find out how it was routed. Did they ship it direct from Pittsburgh to the delivering service center in MD or did it go through a large hub, such as Baltimore, MD first?

If FedEx Ground in Pittsburgh has their own fleet maintenance facility check to see if your parts made it out to the shop as a "I don't know what this is for, must be yours".

[Charles Warner]

To find out how oit was routed just track it.

[Daryl DeArman]

To find out how oit was routed just track it.

They don't disclose all trailer movements...nor do they disclose if someone scans it as "damaged" or "short". That's on intercompany screen shots only and they aren't supposed to share that info.

[Pop Chevy]

OH Good Lord ! Now they tell me it MAY be in Utah !!!!!

[Daryl DeArman]

Fingers crossed.

[tjcezar]

better in Utah than nowhere at all! I hoping it turns up for ya pops!

[Rick Iverson]

Pop, any word?

[Pop Chevy]

No joy yet !

[TerryBiner]

Hey guys, I,m here in Salt Lake City if I can be of any assistance. 801-440-8118

[Daryl DeArman]

No joy yet !

PM me a scanned copy of the bill of lading and I'll see if I can get anywhere for you.

[Northwind]

Daryl,

If you and I ever get to meet at the same race track, I'm going to buy you a beer for all the help that you have offered in this thread.

[Daryl DeArman]

Thank you...

It's not often I can offer much more than an opinion here on this site. Although I am not a FedEx employee, this is in my wheelhouse.

Just trying to help him find this thing.

[Earley Motorsports]

Yea Daryl. You have gone above and beyond on this. People like you are what makes this site so good.
Graham.

[Pop Chevy]

Latest word is the cyl head has been located and is being shipped back to me ! At this stage of the game I am a skeptic and will believe it when I see it. If it does show up I won't owe Daryl a beer, I will owe him a CASE of beer !

[BURKY]

[Rick Iverson]

If you and I ever get to meet at the same race track, I'm going to buy you a beer for all the help that you have offered in this thread

Same here!

You have gone above and beyond on this. People like you are what makes this site so good

Yep!

Latest word is the cyl head has been located and is being shipped back to me!

Life is good, Pally!

[TimH]

http://www.kpho.com/story/21945339/f...at_pco=cfd-1.0

[Daryl DeArman]

^^^ no bad mojo ^^^

$100 in claims paid for every 3250 shipments handled is a pretty darn good ratio.

Problem is they are handling 3.9 Million shipments per day through 33 hubs.

[wmunsey]

There are some really good people that contribute greatly to this forum...

[racerdad2]

Apex members rock ! Good luck Pops !

[Pop Chevy]

Happy happy joy joy ! (who remembers that movie ?) After a tour around the US the Fedex guy brought my head back today !!!!! Woo Hoo ! and get this they put it in a CARDBOARD box . Huh ? Oh well . Thanks for all the help guys and Daryl send me your paypal addy I will send you enough to buy a good case of beer (or whatever). THANK YOU !

[BURKY]

That's great Pop's, good to hear..

[Rick Iverson]

Good for you, Pop!

[Daryl DeArman]

Happy happy joy joy ! (who remembers that movie ?) After a tour around the US the Fedex guy brought my head back today !!!!! Woo Hoo ! and get this they put it in a CARDBOARD box . Huh ? Oh well . Thanks for all the help guys and Daryl send me your paypal addy I will send you enough to buy a good case of beer (or whatever). THANK YOU !

Glad you got it back!!!! WooHoo.

No need to send me anything. A thank you is fine.

[Daryl DeArman]

If you feel like you MUST do something, you could make a donation to apexspeed, if it weren't for the forum I wouldn't have been able to offer whatever help I did.

[racerdad2]

We all enjoy happy endings !

[Pop Chevy]

Done ! Now Doug can enjoy a case of beer(or something) .

[Rick Iverson]

Was it in the same condition as when you boxed it up?

[Pop Chevy]

No, it was beat up just a little. I'm just glad to have it back. I didn't realize the replacement cost till I started calling around. Yikes !