My gun safe was full, so I decided to order another. The one that I selected was a Winchester Big Daddy. I looked around, and my LGS had them for $2000, plus delivery and taxes. I found one on Amazon for $1735 with free delivery, plus sales tax. I ordered it on May 6.
At the time of ordering, I had to select the delivery date. Of the available times and dates, the one that worked best with my schedule was May 17 from 3-6 pm. The shipping company was listed as Pilot freight. They got it as far as Tampa, and turned it over to a subcontractor for final delivery. That was where things went sideways.
I got a call on May 15, telling me that they would not have a delivery crew available on the 17th, and offered to deliver it at noon on the 16th. I explained that I had a job, had scheduled this delivery 2 weeks in advance, and couldn't do it on the 16th. We finally wound up rescheduling the delivery for the 20th, between 3-6. They showed up at 12:30. My wife hurried home and things got worse.
As they were delivering the safe, you can see on my security video where the dial for the lock came off. The delivery guy picked up the dial and stuck it back on. My wife, not realizing that the safe was broken, signed for the delivery. The safe is useless and will not lock. It is still on the skids.
I wound up buying the one from the LGS and paying $250 for the delivery. I called Amazon (they have a 30 day guarantee) on May 21 and arranged to have the broken safe picked up. We made an appointment for May 27th from 12-6. You guessed it- they didn't show and stated that when they made the reservation, they didn't realize it was a holiday. Now we have another reservation for June 1 (today) from 12-2.
If this one is a no-show, I am going to dispute the charge on my credit card. This wreck of an experience has been a month in the making.
4 comments:
When crap starts rolling, it never stops or so it seems. Some things seem cursed...
@divemedic, Sorry to hear about Pilot's handoff to locals. That is the way the whole industry works, but here in Houston, Pilot IS the local handoff. I've used them for between 50 and 100 shipments and always had good experiences. Try calling pilot and at least get on the record that their local forwarder f'd up the delivery.
The worst part is that if something is damaged in shipping, so many hands have touched it that "no one can be blamed for this accident."
Needing more storage is always a good thing. It's worth keeping that in mind when your spirit is feeling raw...
zuk
And now you've found out why sometimes buying local is far better than Amazon.
Especially with Amazon's jerking around their delivery protocols lately. I don't know when my wife has actually gotten a Prime shipment in less than 5 days, yet she insists on continuing to use them and not calling them on it.
Next time, just add a reinforced room to your house and get one of those gun-safe doors. Everyone needs a weapons bunker, right? :)
I've had problems with deliveries like this one - they don't care when you, the customer, want it delivered; they want to deliver it when it works for them.
Oh, and of course they may not deliver what you actually paid for either!
Beans has a good point - building a strong room/ vault/ bunker, if you do it yourself, will run about the cost of 2 large gun safes. I have seen a 10x10 room, with lights, electrical, HVAC, etc. done for $3400. Of course, that was using a used vault door from Craigslist; a new one will increase the cost.
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