I had a clock break insured and fed ex would not pay the claim. Saifd box was not damaged enough to cause the breakage.

I really hate it when one of the really nice ones get damaged like that! Compensation really does not make up for the loss!

Ever wonder why it's always the real nice minty ones that get damaged?

Shouldn't have put fragile on it. The read that as throw it and step on it.

I believe that..

Had a Tidewater sign that was beautiful in a wooden crate and sent it Fed ex ground, insured. The buyer got it and accused me of selling him a bent sign. It was sent back and they had broke open the crate, sign slide out and was bent. They would not pay the claim only $100.00 because they said it was a collectable. I explained that they sold me insurance. Manager pulled out a book and said read where it says they do not have to pay more than $100.00 for a collectable.
Tell me about how that is less than desirable.

Packages (cardboard ones) can be dropped from as high as twenty feet in sorting facilities....if its a sign you do not want damaged use luane (thin lightweight plywood) and 1x's....wood packages are sorted by hand...they do clip you an extra 7 or 8 bucks though ....

Looks like you used Foam Board to save shipping weight!

Yes it is sad ending. Quarter inch plywood and 1by2s,and it would of been happy ending.Would of shipped anywhere in 48 for 40 bucks. If sellers don't want to pay it they need to buy local.Just my thoughts.

Similar thing happened to my dad on a united motors neon. The lady he bought it from paid the UPS store good money to "professionally" pack the sign. Sounds good right. All of the neon was broken on arrival. Come to find out the store used the wrong crush weight of box and that was what did it in. It was insured but my dad went round and round with the UPS store get the money and they still would not refund the total shipping amount even though their store was the one that packed it.

Total Bummer on the delco sign. It almost feels like someone stabs you in the heart when something like that happens. Your pack job looked really great. Had to be a conveyor like you guys said. But there was video going around of the fed ex driver throughing the flat screen TV over a tall fence a while back....

UPS won't insure it if it can't be replaced either.
Some stations here will even refuse shipping it all together if it's a collectors item.
To me,that speaks volumes about the confidence in their own staff.

This is quite common, I packed rare items real well and have had several items that lasted 70 plus years be destroyed by these shipping companies

Bought a 4 ft Wood oil co. sign w/ lion head years ago. Super rare and in ex cond. Guy built a nice crate of plywood and put it on a pallet as it was heavy. Forklift driver ran the forks through the crate and creased the sign side to side. Like stated above even though it was insured. beings it was an " antique " or collectible all u get is $100 argue all u want, wont help! so if you are shipping valuables it is best to have your own ins providers like collectibles ins. co. or others.

To Bad that was a nice sign.

I insure my art seperately (%60 of selling cost as that's what I would get if it was sold in a high-end gallery) and do not remove the painting from my insurance until it is safely delivered. Don't know if you can do this with collectables for the price you sold it for, but it might be worth looking into.