UPS + Fractal Design = bummer

Here's a new system I shipped to a customer in AZ. First UPS said they could not deliver it on schedule because my customer was not home. They made a delivery attempt at 3pm AZ time and I was on the phone with the customer at that time and he was home. He checked the front door and there was a UPS sticker on it. He checked his door bell and it worked perfect. WTF.

The next day when UPS showed up, he opened the box here is what he found.

The lock clip for the Video card is also popped off the motherboard. Nice.

Holy crap! Those !! I hope UPS makes it right, that's some serious BS!

Was the package insured?

The outside of the case is completely solid still aside from that one spot. That thing took a really really hard fall, and it must have paper for a hard drive rail system because it looks like they dropped it on the back of the case and the momentum of the drives falling with the case beat the hard drive mounting cage.

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For starters please don't take this the wrong way cause I know this is a bad situation. I've been there I sympathize with that.

What I was wondering is how you had the system package. What is just the same packaging as the came originally came in. Or was it double boxed with some float room? Or even more than that.

Just wondering hoping to pickup some wisdom from your unforunate problem with shipping.

Just so people know that just because the inside HDD rack is bent and not the front panel still means it was damaged during shipping.

The weight of the HDDs probably made it bend like that when it took the hit to the corner.

That really sucks and hope you get it insured. At least the customer knows it wasn't your fault.

I think I would ship those drives in a separate box and walk the customer through sliding them in next time (if the customer can handle this)

That does suck. That's why all the big OEMs take care in packing their systems and really use thick walled durable boxes.

madhatter256 said:

Just so people know that just because the inside HDD rack is bent and not the front panel still means it was damaged during shipping.

The weight of the HDDs probably made it bend like that when it took the hit to the corner.

That really sucks and hope you get it insured. At least the customer knows it wasn't your fault.

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That is exactly what I implied.

This is the third time I have shipped this case. 2 to new york and one to Atlanta. All with at least 4 drives. Never had a problem before. Yes it was insured and yes UPS wanted to pick it up and inspect it and start a claim.

I use a local UPS store here and the packaging has to be approved by them for the insurance. They were very concerned about the damage when I contacted them. Good folks.

The customer did not want to give the system up so I talked him through the repair and it works fine. He doesn't care about the ding in the rear. First it booted ok but didn't show the 2 raid 1 drives. Found a broken sata power cable on one. Since it has a Corsair PSU, there was spare power cables.

After fixing that the system would not boot because the he pulled off one of the raid 0 drive power cord. He fixed that and the system works fine. Believe it or not, he is very happy with it.

In hind site, I don't think I will use this case again if I'm shipping the system. The spacing in the hard drive rack is too long and I think the drives are too heavy to Get enough support. Plus the drives just slide in with no side mounting to tie the rack together for support. But the strange thing is, both rails bent which I don't think could happen from dropping on its back. The inside rail would just bend with the same results Since nothing holds the drive the front rail. Strange.

But UPS needs to stop playing kick ball with packages like this. This system even has grab handles for lifting.

On edit:
I just looked at my Fractal case and there IS a cross-brace half way up so the theory about the cage bending from dropping on its back I believe is true.

I had a similar experience with UPS however it was a multiple system shipment. They apparently placed something very heavy on top of my shipments because when they arrived, all of the cases were about 6 inches shorter.

It was about $10k worth of equipment, but UPS sent me a check and that was even without insurance.

I almost cried for the components to have endured such treatment.

Freakin UPS. I use Fedex at work since they're a block away, the main guy there takes care of me and I've had no issues these past 3 years. Even if it costs us a few bucks more.

"UPS" is pronounced "oops."

Honestly, FedEx and USPS aren't any safer. I have yet to have a problem with USPS for small Priority Mail packages (better than UPS/FedEx), but I've had problems with larger packages, the worst probably being a long tube-type box that was folded 90°.

I don't know how you packed that unit, but at this point I wouldn't ship anything important without double boxing and at least four inches of high grade foam. (Not "peanuts" or styrene, which can crush. You have to expect that it may be dropped more than once!) I would also consider crating, though I fear that might cause someone to conclude it is unbreakable, and load it under a shipment of tractor tires.

If you feel bad about a little PC, consider that I recently learned that this kind of mishandling has been happening with multi-million dollar scientific instruments in international freight at a rate of about two a month.

Ugh that sucks...
I havent used UPS since a friend of mine recieved a wheel for his car that resembled a taco after UPS handled it...
I dont use USPS either after they lost a $500 package and didnt send me a check untill 4-5 months later and alot of phone calls to their IG...

FedEx for just about everything now.