I`m fairly new to this site, and plan to be a member for life. I`ve got a problem and don`t quite know the best way to deal with it. There is much wisdom here on this site and I am interested in as much of it as I can get on this. Thank you all in advance for your opinions.
I bought a Big Block radiator from a member recently, it was described to me as being vatted, roded, cleaned, pressure checked, new petcock, and painted with the correct simi-gloss paint, for $275 shipped. I jumped on it, sent the money order off and received the radiator within a couple weeks. Here is a picture of the box and foam the radiator was wrapped up in.
The rear face of the radiator had the protection of the seat foam between it and the cardboard, however the front face only had the protection of the bare cardboard on the front face and edges. Here is a picture of the front face of the radiator after I unpacked it.
I`m sure at this point of my story I`m not the only person who is sick to his stomach, it gets worse. The box was obviously dropped on it`s corner, because here is a picture I took of the filler neck. Notice that it has been pushed down into the tank.
So I contact the seller, inform him of the damage, he tells me he insured the radiator through UPS for the sell price of $275, and the damage claim process is started. UPS picks the package up in its original packaging, and I wait. The seller informs me a week or so later that UPS declined the damage claim due to inadequate packaging. The seller tells me he is appealing the finding, and the UPS store that shipped the radiator is going to bat for us. I contact UPS a few days later and find out thier original finding stands, and there can be no further appeal. I contact the seller and ask if the appeal is declined, where I stand. He responds by telling me I`m out my $275 and he is out his refurbished radiator. I responded days ago to him letting him know my opinion of what should take place. First of all I would not do a piss poor job of packaging a $275 radiator, but if I did and it got damaged and if UPS declined my claim due to piss poor packaging, then My integrity would force me to refund the entire $275 to the buyer who had nothing to do with the packaging of the radiator. Is there any member of this site who would send a radiator via UPS packaged as described above? Any one who thinks the seller has integrity? Days have gone by and I have not heard a word from him.