UPS Strikes again...with Stealth!

[Jonnyozero3]

Let me tell you a story...

So today, the UPS truck pulled up. The nice men dropped off two boxes of goods just for me. I was happy.

I was even happier when I noticed that the boxes were in very good condition, especially for UPS. I didn't see any grievous box damage, so I accepted my new toys with glee.

I took the boxes downstairs, and proceeded to open them. I am being completely honest when this is what happened... I thought to myself, "Wow, these boxes are looking really clean, usually UPS beats on them more. This is great!"

Then I pulled a speaker out....

(((THUNK))) (((Clack)))

WTF WAS THAT! I screamed in my head.

Well...this is what it was....

http://family.webshots.com/album/556219663QyWRzm

Anyhow, both the woofers are separated from their mounts to the cabinet, and the cone, of course, and are bouncing around inside the enclosure with reckless abandon. UPS must have done some serious box tossing to cause this. I'm surprised that something like this could have been caused with so little box damage. Luckily, pair #2 looks fine (look new to me, actually). And I'm calling Dave as I type

[ebh]

oh man that hurts. speaker abuse like that cannot be condoned. i like my ups man, but if he brought me speakers like that.... i hope you can get this resolved, and that ups pays up to dave for their crimes!

[Jonnyozero3]

I spoke with James, and they're going to put a claim into UPS for it. I just have to box them up and put them out my front door and the right time. They're sending me out a replacement pair stat. So, no big harm done - I have one pair to play with in the meantime. Got to love quick and effective customer service.

[jamesg]

OK, everyone sing along with me: "'Tis the season to be jolly...."

Well, it's the Christmas season -- what more can we say? At Ascend, this is a joyous time of year when sales go up and satisfied customers treat themselves to Ascend speakers for their home theaters. We do count on UPS to complete the chain, and unfortunately they are not perfect.

To be fair to UPS, they do a heck of a job (hat tip to GWB) most of the time, especially considering the volume they move. However, at this time of the year, when workloads triple, they have to hire temporary help who do not necessarily share the work ethic of their regular staff. In other words, stuff happens. We're all human after all.

This is status quo for Ascend. We note this uptick in damage claims every December. To any of our customers who were among the unfortunate few to receive damaged Ascend speakers, I sincerely apologize. We will handle all claims with UPS and we will ship a replacement pair of speakers within 48 hours of notifications. It's the best we can do.

We are also re-evaluating our packaging, and subsequent shipments will have extra cardboard reinforcement in each box.

Thanks again for all of your loyal patronage of Ascend Acoustics and we wish you luck and joy during this holiday season!

[bikeman]

I spoke with James, and they're going to put a claim into UPS for it. I just have to box them up and put them out my front door and the right time. They're sending me out a replacement pair stat. So, no big harm done - I have one pair to play with in the meantime. Got to love quick and effective customer service.

Welcome to the club, Jon. UPS did the same to me with my 340 Classics two years ago. No damage outside, toasted inside. The packaging on the 340SE's has been improved but no packaging is exempt from the UPS gorilla. Ascend handled my claim in a timely and somewhat painless fashion and it looks like things haven't changed in the customer service dept.
After I received my damaged speaker, I emailed Ascend and said I'd attempt to fix it myself. Got a call from Dave F. a few minutes later (midnight EST) "requesting" I not attempt it. That's how I first got to know Dave F. At that moment, I knew I had chosen the right speaker company.

David

[GirgleMirt]

http://family.webshots.com/album/556219663QyWRzm

Wow... Are these really how the b-stocks are supposed to look? I can understand miner cosmetic blemishes, or things that you can't see with the grills on, but thats pushing it a little!

[curtis]

When I was in college...many moons ago, I was on the tennis team. During this time of year, UPS would actively recruit student athletes for part time temporary jobs for the very reason James mentioned. I never took a UPS job, but many of my friends did,.....some of the stories they told just made me shake my head.

The tennis players that took the jobs handled the boxes very carefully......they guys that I would be afraid of were the ones on the swim team.

[muzz]

Mine are coming tommorrow, I sure hope they are not like those!!

I tried to pick them up myself today when I was out..
They wouldn't let me, excuses etc...

The less times a gorilla has to handle something, the better in my book.

[daman]

I've tried to pick up packages a few times. They always tell me we have to make at least one attempt to deliver. Mine were already delayed one day because of bad weather.They were to be here today BUT oh well. I think I'd start crying like a baby if mine were delivered looking like that!

Later, Daman

[davef]

Hi guys,

Not quite sure what happened in the last few days. We have received at least 5 damage reports. Granted, we are shipping a LOT of loudspeakers right now -and- UPS has loads of temp workers but nothing upsets me more than damage like this.

Just for my own curiosity, I went out back and dropped a set of loudspeakers (fully packaged) from various heights. They survived drops up to 4 feet, even when landing on a corner. At 6 feet, there was damage. BTW, PLEASE Don't try this at home

What are these guys doing to my loudspeakers ( I probably don't want to know)

We shipped a huge order to Puerto Rico -- perfect, another to Canada -- perfect and one only about 100 miles away and there was some damage.

We are going to add some additional cushioning and protection to everything we ship, at least until the "season" is over. Hopefully, this will help.

The good news is that UPS has been paying these claims without problem.