i send a board down to Hobart just recently and lo and behold it got there damaged carton was clearly marked Fragile handle with care and well packed in a sailboard carton was also labeled with their RED ALERT sticker on the carton the carton weighted 12kg would you believe thy used a forklift to move it arround and so we have forklift prongs marks in the board was a good board until then and guess what it was not covered by insurance no help from them so beware when sending goods with EGO se pics

Why do they say no insurance? That is crap

i wouldn't leave it at that. I would contact consumer affairs in your state. I think you might find you have a case.

Last 3 boards I have had sent by road freight in Australia have been damaged, 3 different companies. There is unfortunately a culture, not sure if it pressure to meet time constraints??? but they all treat your parcels like s..t.

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mr love said..
Last 3 boards I have had sent by road freight in Australia have been damaged, 3 different companies. There is unfortunately a culture, not sure if it pressure to meet time constraints??? but they all treat your parcels like s..t.

It's awesome isn't it... worlds highest wages with the worlds worst service.

Agree Mr Love and Stehsegler........ but I have had great service from e-go, and compared to many the price is good so many of us here recommend them when ppl ask which courier to use.
Of course "e-go" is just a mob that book and so on with subcontractors, so maybe it is not "e-go" at fault here

That is why I asked for more? Why did they say no insurance? Was it e-go or the actual courier company? etc

The insurance is an option you pay extra for.
I had always had good experiences with e-go, so the last board I sent I didn't worry about the insurance.
The board was in a good board bag, in a cardboard board box, had extra padding on nose, tail and rails, and was covered in "Fragile" stickers.
It arrived interstate with forklift holes in the box, and the board was slightly damaged (could of been worse if it wasn't well packaged)
Because the rough handling was so obvious, I threatened to take them to the small claims tribunal, just to recover the cost of the board repair.
I thought I had a good case, until they pointed out that the receiver had signed the document to say that they had received it, and in small print on that document it states that they had received the item in good condition.
Moral - make sure the receiver unpacks the item and checks it before signing for it. And take photos before you send it.

And yes it is not E-go, but the mobs they contract to do the actual cartage, that do the damage.

Even though there is no insurance cover and the receiver has signed the receipt docket, I believe you have a case.
This is clearly a case of negligence, insurance or not.
Get in touch with Fair trading. Many places will lie/try it on knowing that the majority of customers will not take it any further.

I had the same thing happen when I sent a board with Trans Direct a few years ago. Fork lift went straight through the box, board and was a right off. It was a second hand board and the guy only paid a few hundred for it. He paid extra for insurance. When he made the claim there was nothing straight forward. He had to get in contact with their insurance company. In the end it was going to take months for it to get sorted. I dont know if he ever got the money. That was the last time I used those guys. I have sent and recieved a lot of boards with Ego and they are normally pretty good. It pisses me off these guys are too lazy and ignore these warning labels by using a forklift. Even the board box that I had that board sent in had in big writing NO FORK LIFT.

If an item is damaged in transit, is it the responsibility of the seller or the buyer? Does it depend on who organised the freight?
In my case I paid for the board repair, because I felt it was my responsibility to get get the board to the buyer in the condition it was advertised, plus he was a mate.
But I can see it could be an issue of contention.

What makes you think it was a forklift, it would be be unlikely for them to be using a fork to move a board. It was probably dropped, had something dropped on it or most likely jammed against another sharp item of freight while Bouncing around in a truck for 12 hours. A forklift strike would totally mangle a board.

Having fragile written in a marker would probably not even be noticed. Even if it was well marked the average courier (in a low paid time pressured job) after handling a 100 parcels ( most of them mark fragile) probably wouldn't have a have a high care factor.
<div>Unfortunately it's the nature of the industry. Everyone wants dirt cheap freight and the industry is very price competitive. So companies use the cheapest labour and provide little or no staff training.

The key to safe shipping is really good packing, particularly if you are using budget services (then over pack).


<div>How was it packed? As a minimum a board should have 3-5 cm of bubble, double wall cardboard on all the edges and then in double wall cardboard carton. Even then accidents can happen, but that level of packing will get it there safely in most cases.



<div>I work in the freight industry and you would be amazed how badly freight can be packed. While you may have packed your item well, some other monkey may have packed a sharp hard object in a piece of newspaper, this ends up damaging other goods.
<div>There's a good reason why reputable product manufacturers spend a lot of time and money designing and making quality packing systems.

We watched someone throw a package over an 8foot fence last week. Unless it was full of clothes or a pillow ,i'd be pissed.

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mr love said...
Last 3 boards I have had sent by road freight in Australia have been damaged, 3 different companies. There is unfortunately a culture, not sure if it pressure to meet time constraints??? but they all treat your parcels like s..t.

Just pathetic freight in this county. It's not hard to find out which link in the chain caused the damage. It's just the poor culture of the industry. Consumers should demand better and never accept damaged goods.

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Waiting4wind said..

Having fragile written in a marker would probably not even be noticed. Even if it was well marked the average courier (in a low paid time pressured job) after handling a 100 parcels ( most of them mark fragile) probably wouldn't have a have a high care factor.

Well it looks pretty damn obvious, it had the red alert label they provide to the sender, and fragile, and top load please, all over it.

A hit that pierces the cardboard to that degree, on a parcel marked fragile, should automatically result in a payout for damages, whether one paid for insurance or not.

But OTOH how was it packed....... not just a board in a box I hope...

Anyway to avoid such probs, I tell the buyer that there is insurance, I over insure so if it is a total writeoff we both get out money back and then some. Easy.
It is like $100 freight instead of $50 so really for a $1K item surely it is worth it.

Contracts and fine print are one thing, I'd still be pushing this if it were me.

I just put the numbers in for board from NSW to WA with E-GO and it came back at $692.47 !!! I might as well buy new!

Now to see if im doing something wrong...??

Now its $591.90! what did i do differently? I dont know.

The on line quoting system is in centimeters and then Cubed which is why you get ridiculous prices. I had a sail sent from Central Coast NSW. The online quote was over $100 but when actual sail was taken into depot it only cost $39.00 to send. Also had a Board sent from Qld, cost around $100 from memory. Arrived in perfect condition but was extremely well packed in a board carton with lots of bubble wrap on nose and tail. Both with E Go. So, do Depot to Depot and have sender take board into Depot for quote before sending.

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Steve Charles said..
I had the same thing happen when I sent a board with Trans Direct a few years ago. Fork lift went straight through the box, board and was a right off. It was a second hand board and the guy only paid a few hundred for it. He paid extra for insurance. When he made the claim there was nothing straight forward. He had to get in contact with their insurance company. In the end it was going to take months for it to get sorted. I dont know if he ever got the money. That was the last time I used those guys. I have sent and recieved a lot of boards with Ego and they are normally pretty good. It pisses me off these guys are too lazy and ignore these warning labels by using a forklift. Even the board box that I had that board sent in had in big writing NO FORK LIFT.

Not excusing the bad handling but I know as a posty that with the large amount of mail going through stuff like fragile stickers are easy to miss..supoose it's similar with contractors but still no excuse.

Its just lucky dip with the couriors i think they just dont care in the slightest . I have seen a bonnet snapped clean in half before of course its never there problem I sont really understand how they get away with it as in any other business your liable for things like that .
There is a guy that transports surf skis and other water sports stuff around in a huge truck and trailer and id be pretty confient he never damages anything he took a surf ski i sold and the price was good. What are the ods of ego getting a 21 ft surf ski some where in one peice haha

Any details on this guy is like to get a quote.

Nothing to do with that case but I always try to pack in a way that it is not completely flat like with a towel folded in the middle This way the box has a bit of curve and they don't stack something on top of it because of the awkward shape.

I often freight paintings around Australia with Fastways and they have always arrived in great shape.
I'm about to start sending paintings with glass..These also really need to be sent face up/top loaded to avoid pastel particles coming loose and getting between the mat and glass..mm will ring Fastways for advice.
I used to tell the collecting driver to topload them face up in the crate and then the new driver/ forklift guy tells me that's where the forklift prongs go to lift the crate..
I always sweat while waiting for them to arrive ( non glass ones) but they have always arrived A1. It can takes me weeks/ even months to create a custom painting so it's not like I can whack another out to replace it..( I would if I had to but )

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BSN101 said..
Any details on this guy is like to get a quote.

totally forget his details but you should beable to find him on google i guess , He will be dearer than ego but you get that

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Simon100 said..

BSN101 said..
Any details on this guy is like to get a quote.

totally forget his details but you should beable to find him on google i guess , He will be dearer than ego but you get that

Are you talking about Peter - Surf Cargo?

I dont remember much except that i was impressed by the size of the truck and trailer to just haul around water sports stuff i was expecting a ute with a trailer