Shipping Horrors! Sunbeam Courier :(

[fantomfan57]

My Ebay purchase arrive today and it was a BIG disappointment. The Seller did us a large enough box BUT, relied on wadded paper to protect the rear back plastic wheels on my Sunbeam Courier 676. The shipping Company is not at fault here.

The wheels were left as shards. The wheels could have also been removed easily preventing them for being ruined.

I just sent a message and we shall see what the Seller says.

If anyone has replacement wheels, a replacement Hide-A-Cord or Crevice tool, please contact me.

Thanks.

 

[huskyvacs]

Oh god - reminds me of what happened to my Dyson. The seller just threw a whole newspaper in the box as it was, just folded and thrown in the bottom. That was it. The wheels and everything were broken off as well as one side of the front hood. And it only went about 50-60 miles in shipping.

If you can find a replacement wheel on eBay at the moment - tell the seller you would like a partial refund and tell them the cost of the part and link to it and they should cooperate. So long if the rest of the vacuum is OK.

When the top of my Z700 Hoover smashed apart - I asked for a half refund and the seller obliged.

I have no idea what these sellers think when they pack this stuff so poorly. I know vacuums are expensive now to ship and every little bit of weight saving counts, but that's not the way to do it.

 

[huskyvacs]

Also I am amazed at how many shards that wheel broke into, its like a pile of broken glass.

 

[fantomfan57]

Seller response.....

claims to have packed lots of vacuums this way with no problems. Is, blaming the carrier and is thinking of putting in a claim. Has not offer anything to me...yet.

The worst comment was that he is JUST GOING TO TRASH THE REST OF THE MACHINES!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did ask him to reconsider.

I promise, when this is all over, I WILL let you all know where to find these vacuums. At least someone will be able to save them.

I have recycled the box and packing, so no further pictures of that.

 

[human]

If the seller is unwilling to do the right thing, you should definitely open a case with eBay and put in a claim with the shipper. There's no reason to allow yourself to be a victim in this.

 

[fantomfan57]

I agree Ed,

but he is a fellow member. I am rethinking posting this post. I am going to give him time to think this over.

Seller/VL Member, if you are reading this, please reconsider your threat to trash the other machines....if you were serious. Please let other members save them.

 

[texaskirbyguy]

What a bummer. All it takes is a good drop and the weight of the vacuum breaks the wheel. Even for those parts units I sold, I either took off the wheels or wadded up corrugated cardboard to put under it to ask as a spacer and cushion. You never know how badly your box will be handled, and when.
Whenever I pack a box I always remember this movie scene:

Hope you can find a new wheel!

 

[fantomfan57]

Yeah,

I especially liked the scene after that where he switches the stuffed animal for the real dog. But it wasn't till the guy tells the dog to get away from the door that I laughed out loud!

 

[ohiovac]

terrible mess

I am the seller, I have shipped so many machines without issues. I have never shipped a sunbeam though so i did not know the wheels could be removed. I had many layers of crumpled paper around the machine and some cushion material as well. I have put a request in with the shipping company we will see what gets resolved. In the past I have received great feeback on packing items.

 

[caligula]

A Sunbeam Courier.

These are from the mid to late 1960's and are fragile, especially the wheels. I always bubble wrap a vacuum cleaner when shipping. Newspaper is certainly not enough protection. Another thing to consider. Did a person who handled the box during shipping drop it? Yes it can be tracked, but who knows what happens when in transit.

 

[lesinutah]

Seller

It doesn't matter if you never sold a Sunbeam before. You always bubble wrap wheels. Bubble wrap the whole thing.
When I ship I waste no expense. If you sale a high quality vacuums everything should reflect that. When I ship I ship it as if I'm receiving it.
I worked at American Express for 8 years. They won JD Power Award every year. Provide above and beyond on every situation. There the best credit card company. They are only credit card that owns it's bank that finances cards.
Les

 

[huskyvacs]

Ohio to Texas is a very long way, and there will be 100's of boxes thrown on top of it and around it in that distance, so you have to expect that to happen when you ship and plan to prevent it. It's all a matter of chance as well, what gets lumped in with the vacuum in the sorting hub. Maybe it could be a gasoline generator, maybe a computer, maybe a box of college books - who knows what could befall it and land on the box. It's also down to the age of the vacuum too along with the plastic - sometimes the plastic is so brittle one bump and it breaks apart. To throw the rest of the vacuums out because of one minor incident is not a good thing to do.

When I unbox vacuums I order, I always take photos of how the seller packed them in case it might help other viewers in shipping. Basically you want a lot of padding on the bottom edges and corners, and then a lot on top and then make sure there is no side to side shaking motion, center the vacuum in about the middle of the box. I know with FedEx, the more large and obnoxious the box is, the less likely it gets thrown around. I had two 90-100 year old vacuums make it safely from Florida to here in a triangular shaped box with only bubble wrap protecting it.

Here's how a junky Rainbow I bought was shipped. He just threw together whatever packing material was laying around his garage in there.

 

[madman]

The way the wheels shattered like glass probably means that they were very brittle to begin with. Also, packages are -always- dropped. That's how all carriers handle them, they get thrown and dropped. Packaging must take that into account.

As for the wheels... in a pinch, 3D printing, or have a machine shop actually turn some out for you.

 

[fantomfan57]

All,

I did not know the wheels could be removed until I tried.

But so all of us will know for the future, there are little metal hubcaps that come off, then you slip something behind and the wheel slides/pops off. In my case, the cap or caps came off when the wheels got destroyed.

Reminds me of the wheel on an Electrolux that was shipped from ShopGoodwill.

I am sure the Seller/Member and I will come of a fair resolution as long as we both communicate.

 

[rodknock95]

Same here

This is what happens when you dont know how to pack a kirby

 

[fantomfan57]

Luke,

I tried to email you at the email you have provided on here. they came back not deliverable.

So please contact me at my email on this site so I can let you know what I decided to do.

Thanks,
G.

 

[dysonman1]

I have had a good amount of trouble this Winter with items I purchase from suppliers arriving damaged. It's because plastic gets really brittle when freezing cold. I had a Mighty Mite in factory packaging shatter in the box. Bottles of Kirby suds split open due to the freezing weather in the UPS trucks and then rough handling. This year has been pretty bad compared to other years as far as cold weather shipping damage.

 

[fantomfan57]

I decided.....

to keep the vacuum as is. We worked it out.

Tom, sorry you have to deal with that. I am glad to be living in Texas. I am tropical, not arctic, so here is better.

Do you happen to have a Courier replacement wheels?

You are welcome to contact me off list/forum.

 

[crazykirbydude]

ohiovac...

What vacuums are you selling?