Well, I sent in an engine for repairs and it has been 3.5 weeks since the manufacturer claims it was sent back. I am sure that they did drop it in the mail but they didn't get a tracking number for it! I'm in Canada and the engine was sent to the U.S. to get fixed. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal but this engine is worth about US$400 new. Any suggestions as to what my recourse would be? I can understand the manufacturer thinking that I am pretending like I didn't receive it in hopes I get a new replacement or something. But I really haven't! Unfortunately, without them getting a tracking number, there is no way to prove I didn't get it. I did, on the other hand, receive separately the bill of repairs in an envelope less than a week after the engine was supposedly dropped in the mail.

I called them last week to inquire about its status and they said to give it a couple more days. Before I contact them again, I was wondering what the best approach to this is?

Thanks,

Syd

Syd-

It wouldn't, by any chance, be Horizon Hobby that you sent your engine to? I recently had a very difficult time getting a part from them. They said they were mailing it out, but it never arrived. This happened twice. Then they sent the wrong part twice. Finally, two months later, I got the right part.

-Scott

Change the way you are thinking about this. Instead of you having to prove you didn't receive it, which is basically impossible, tell them to prove you did receive it. If they didn't have a tracking number, and didn't ship it asking for a delivery receipt, they can't prove you got it. You have proof they had control of the engine, the repair invoice. They need to be able to prove they took reasonable care to get it back to you. Personally, I think it's sloppy on their part to ship things without being able track and confirm delivery. Without this proof, they're probably going to have so suck it up and send you a replacement. Be sure to send written notice to the shipper they used, to your credit card company, if you paid for the repairs by CC, and to the manufacturer stating that you never received the engine. You'll need to be able to prove that you notified them and tried to resolve this.

One thing to remember: The US is being very cautious with packages these days. Letters move much faster than packages over the border. I've purchased Items on **** and waited four weeks for them to arrive from Canada even though they are less than 200 miles away. I know it seems like too much of an inconvenience. I don't like it either.
I agree with piper chuck its their place to have insured and tracked the package to you. If they took the chance of losing it without insurance it was their gamble. They may have lost.

Yep I agree. If they didn't insure it and lost it, their fault not yours. I insure anything more than $100 when I ship it.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Scott, no it wasn't Horizon.

I understand what you're saying as far as how to look at the situation. And I haven't specifically mentioned the manufacturer's name simply because in all fairness, I haven't given them a chance to respond since calling them last week and this may all be moot. However, just wanted to get things straight before I call them again. But in all reality the power is in their hands...they could say we shipped it and that is that (BTW they shipped it via the US Postal service). Being up here in lil' ol' Canada, there really is not much recourse.

Mike, I can understand on how long it might take for a package to make its way into the U.S. from Canada (for the record, it took 8 days if memory serves). But on the way back, I think it shouldn't take any longer than on its way in since us Canucks are a bit more lax on our border procedures...except when it comes to bringing back cigarettes and booze...lol.

Anyhow, I'll give 'em a call in a bit to see what they have to say. The only thing is that this engine is out of production...in fact the whole class size is out of production so finding an exact replacement would be difficult.

I am still not sure why the didn't get a tracking number since I was charged for the shipping anyway?

Thanks!

Syd

You have to use a special type of delivery to get a tracking number. Also the insurance is extra.

Preaching to the converted Joe

I would have gladly paid for those options and assumed that they would have done so. But like they say... when you "assume" it makes an *** out of U and ME! Hehe.

Cheers,

Syd

Well this story has a happy ending and it figures the **** engine would show up the day after I started this thread! Too bad I missed most of October and the last few good days of flying weather waiting for it

Thanks for the replies!

Syd

Well, what kind of engine was it and who was the company?

max

Heh, guess no harm in mentioning that it was a YS 120 NC. The postmark on it was the same day as the invoice...not that I ever had any doubts. All in all, I'm just very pleased to have it back in my grubby mitts!

Syd

It's good that everything worked out well and we can blame the USPS rather than the manufacturer.

May not of even been USPS...looks like Canada Customs may have inspected it and took their sweet time to do so. Sorry Hobbsy, didn't know the "d-word" was bad ettiquette

Syd

IN case you didn't hear, Canada Customs closed 2 border points and now there are only 2 or 3 places for mail to cross the border. The backlog for processing because they didn't staff the points properly was up to 6 weeks. I received a package one week after it was mailed and another package 4 weeks (opened by USPS and Canada Customs, no less) after it was mailed. Looks like we Canadians have to be patient. Now if we could only figure out how to actually get that beef and softwood going the other way!

Hobbys must be german.

No soup for you!

Our instructions are to keep this a family oriented site, the filters catch most of the vulgarity, what they miss we are to catch. I'm not German at all, Hobbs, originally Hobbes, is English, my GrandMothers maiden names were Kerr and Quigley, Irish and Welsh respectively.So, as Pierce Brosnan said of himself, "I'm just a hammer headed Brit".

I have sent three items in the last year. All USPS. All took over 3 months to get there.
Canada was really bad. Had to refund money, then engine showed up.

But to my relief, they all did finally get back to me. Just discouraging.

My problem was the opposite..I sent a Muffler to Canada and they didn't get it for 26 days![:@]
Im 958 miles from where it was to be delivered...I could of jump on my bicycle and beat it there![sm=lol.gif]