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USPS claims
Relaxn
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Anyone have a claim resolved recently? I opened an online claim on March 23 Rd. Did everything we were supposed to do. The receiver (a member) took the empty packaging to the postal supervisor and he photographed and turned in his form....
I have spent 15+ hours on hold trying to get an update or a resolution with no movement... NONE
Every call I get the same phrase... Things are a little delayed due to this Pandemic.
Ideas?
I shipped $7500 worth of silver insured and receiver got an empty box that had been cut open. Only packing material left.
TIA
Jason
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A $7500 claim sounds like something the the Postal Inspectors should be contacted about, not local employee that blame the Covid19 situation for everything.
Bullion? I didn't think that bullion can be insured by the USPS. Isn't there a 10% above premium for it to be insurable? Or is that old info.
bob
2 months is not a long wait....they will respond with a denial and then you will get a way to challenge. You will then be able to talk to a real person and be able to upload whatever they require...That part goes fairly quickly, as in less than a month.
That's a big claim. It would take a couple months even pre-Covid
Unless you shipped by registered mail, I think you're going to have trouble collecting on a claim. From the Domestic Mail Manual:
4.0 Claims
4.1 Payable Claim
Insurance for loss or damage to insured, COD, or Registered Mail within the amount covered by the fee paid, or the indemnity limits for Priority Mail, or Priority Mail Express (under 4.2), is payable for the following:
m. Except for Registered Mail, the maximum indemnity for negotiable items (defined as instruments that can be converted to cash without resort to forgery), currency, or bullion, is $15.00.
USPS will pay insurance claims on bullion only if sent registered insured (actually the cheapest way to send insured at that dollar value). Not sure what their definition of bullion is but the US Mint's defines bullion from them as only those coins sold to authorized purchasers. Mint does not consider any collector coin it sells directly to the public to be bullion.
If you did ship bullion, hope you used registered mail.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
Excuses. We are full of them.
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Good luck!
Have you tried filing online?
To others, I think the max insurance on non registered mail is $5,000 so it must have been a registered shipment.
I had several silver halves "disappear" when I mailed them several years ago. A couple of envelopes arrived with coins missing. I foolishly failed to adequately disguise that the envelopes contained coins.
I believe the coins must have been stolen by a PO employee. I filed a report and never heard anything back.
I hope you have better luck.
This is an aside to what you have written, but did the recipient receive the package with the standard plastic bag and disclaimer that the USPS puts on and around damaged boxes? The outer wrapper states something like "We apologize..." and is clear. If they received it that way, they should have refused delivery and the USPS would not have ground to delay or deny the insurance. However, if they took the package and then photographed it and returned with it then the USPS might put up a fight.
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Normally I would say you are 100% correct. However, I recall reading a thread or two here that the USPS (and other shippers) are having the carriers "sign" for packages instead of the actual recipient due to C19. If that is still happening the recipient may not have had the option to refuse the package.
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Absolutely call the Postal Inspectors. Don't expect anyone at the counter to care.
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They won't pay the claim. Have to either have private insurance or "self-insure". Only thing I think you could do is have postal inspectors involved, they catch who did it, and you sue them (but that's a VERY VERY long process).
The claim was filed online. I am aware of the policy for shipping buillon. I made sure the claim reflected the collectables in the package.
The package was delivered to recipients PO box damaged and empty.. There was no notice from the USPS stating the package was damaged.
We had a very henky situation in the very beginning when I delivered the box to the Post office on 3-18-20 but it did not get scanned until 3-19-20... It was very weird and not a situation we had ever had before. We ship 5 to10 packages a day through our business.
I am not dealing with counter people. I have been calling various 800 or 888 numbers...
I read online that claims are usually resolved within 2 weeks... You guys are saying that is no where near true?
The last time I made a claim it took 3 refusals on a cut and dry case on a registered package.
My only experience filing a claim was about 4 years ago ($1300). The item was shipped Registered mail (gold coin).
The process took about 2 weeks and we had our check by the third week. We must have shipped 100's of coins over the years so the PO is way ahead if they self insure. We pay about $25-$35 to ship a coin so for that sum we would hope claims would be paid promptly.
Today with c19..... I haven't clue how long it will take?
Postal inspector and attorney now. Stop talking about it online and let the big boys handle this. It's say above any regular customer service rep's paygrade. In my local post office, the workers talk about them like they're a secret police.
The people who steal like this will remember your address or take pictures with their phone so be careful.
May be hard to prove, but I would not be surprised if the virus has become a catch all excuse for all the ineptness that exists today. What happened to: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
The fact that it was delivered without the normal USPS "we're sorry your package got damaged" wrapper suggests the damage occurred very late in the delivery process most likely at the last receiving PO. Damage would have been noted and documented somewhere along the line if damage occurred somewhere earlier in the travels.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
even if you write collectibles on the claim form, wouldn't they still deny it since junk silver is typically thought of as bullion based?
Have usps show you, in writing, their definition of bullion. I can't find it and I have looked. Note that they say "bullion" and not "precious metals." If they don't have a bullion definition I would suggest a claimant push the US Mint's definition - bullion coins sold strictly to authorized purchasers. All else are collector coins.
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
Interesting. I guess everyone defines it differently. For instance, I would call 90% silver bullion but I would not call a bunch of pre-1921 Morgan Dollars bullion
Any coin worth only melt value or very close to melt value can be considered bullion. A 1995-W ASE is not bullion. A well circulated common date Morgan or Peace Dollar is bullion.
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Tough back in the day maybe, but not now a days!
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No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
If you do any business with a major dealer (esp. bullion dealer) they know the ins and outs of this (ie Heritage, Rarcoa, etc.). Maybe even your local dealer if they ship out a lot of stuff. Feel free to try and use their expertise and experiences. Has worked for me in the past when no one else was helping. Most of the PNG bullion guys I've dealt with carry their own insurance and ship FedEx ($500 limit). It's hard to hide a heavy box of silver when insured for $7500. There really should be no issue as the USPS readily took your money to pay for insuring that amount. In 45 yrs of shipping coins and bullion via USPS Reg and Insured mail....never has a shipment lost or misplaced with hundreds of packages. If they have you doing the "on line" filing of your claim I wouldn't expect too much. Once it goes on line....it's like "no one" is specifically in charge of pushing your claim forward. And your local Postal Inspector will tell you it's out of their hands.
LOL! My online claim for less money on my lost registered package had a postal inspector involved pretty quick. That could also be because I contacted The numismatic crime investigator Doug! What's even better is it did result in a prosecution because the coins were found thanks to an honest dealer who remains unknown to me. I recently received a letter telling me the criminal was released on probation.
That's terrible news, hope it gets resolved to your satisfaction !!!
Not saying this happened in this case at all but - In other cases how could it be proven that the coins were removed prior to delivery?