We often use this section to educate our clients on issues we have came across over the year. We recognize the high level of importance for you to have your damage claims worked on thoroughly and with priority, as well as for you to get reimbursed accordingly and enjoy an overall satisfactory resolution with the carrier. For best results, we would ask you to work with us and consider our top 5 points when dealing with a damage claim:
1. This is probably the most important – any damaged freight that you receive must be inspected and signed for with any pertinent notations on the bill of lading. With concise and clear notations, make as many detailed notes about the damage as you can. Pictures of freight inside of a trailer (before being unloaded) and/or all angles of the freight as it sits is encouraged and may even make or break your claim in the end.2. In most scenarios, either you or your customer will request replacement freight while the carrier sorts out your claim. To ensure that the cost of this move is covered under your claim, you will want to ship it with the same carrier who originally caused the damage. Unfortunately, no carrier will pay for another carrier to move another carrier’s freight.
3. After the above has been completed, it is now time to figure out what to do with the damaged material. Is this something that can be returned to shipper, salvaged,or scrapped completely? Yes, you may claim some of your freight as salvageable and still use the rest to sell or repair. However, be sure to only claim the value of the freight that you do not plan on using and is meant for the trash.
4. In either case, whatever is considered to be damaged and not yet repaired, or cannot be resold, will still need to be kept in case the carrier chooses to inspect the freight. This is often the case for material that is of high value or an item that is unusually priced higher than you would be custom to seeing. This is a step a carrier may take to protect itself from fraudulent claims.
5. The last thing to do is to fill out the proper paperwork. You can use our paperwork and let us handle it or you can do it yourself and file it directly with the carrier. Please remember that if you file it directly, we will have no recourse or pull for a better resolution based on what they finalize it at with you.
Please note: if your customer is the one receiving the freight then it is up to you to educate your customer before the problem occurs. If just one of these steps is skipped, it can cause a loss of thousands of dollars and a lot of valuable time. We are here to assist you in any way that we can, so please give us a call and we’ll be happy to answer any further questions you may have. |
