A shipping company does the right thing

[RandyShields]

It is nice to see a company do the right thing.  On my fall ride from Oregon back to North Carolina, I used Federal to ship my bike to my starting location in Bandon Dunes.  They relied on CRST to actually haul the bike out there for me.

 

It took almost a week for me to notice the thin scrape of the paint off the side panier, because it was under the ridge on the side of the bag.  Clearly caused by rubbing against another bike or the side of something in the trailer.

 

When I returned home, I took photos, filed a claim and also began the process of getting it repaired.  I did not have high hopes.  A well-noted local custom paint shop quoted $500+ to fix it.  Thinking that was a bit out of line, I went with the suggestion of my local dealer, who relied on a guy who did paint work on the side from his auto collision shop.  His quote: $125.  The final product: perfect.  He did a fantastic job. 

 

I relayed all this to CRST, which Federal transferred me to, and they considered the claim for several months.  Maybe because they thought I did the right thing with getting a more reasonable repair estimate, they then did the right thing and reimbursed me for my $125 expense!  I am very satisfied with this result.  A friend also had some damage to his bike following shipping and Federal made it right.

[Scott9999]

Good company.  I think the Federal rep told me that they use CRST exclusively for all of their shipping.   Aside: I had an unexpected bump/scrap on my front fender, which I suspected occurred during shipping simply because it wasn't the type of location that would  be impacted by road debris during normal riding, nor in storage.  However, since I had not viewed the bike in person before I bought it, and couldn't prove the damage was caused by CRST one way or the other, I declined to file a claim.   

 

In fact, I would have felt kind of bad if they had written a check on a claim; doing the right thing is more important than the cash.  However, I think you got it right, and I'm glad that CRST did the right thing.  Both Federal and their shipper, seem to be good companies to do business with.  I'd ship with Federal again in a second.  (In fact, I've been thinking about shipping my bike to the Southeast, and riding it back home to Idaho in the Spring after doing some SE touring, but not this year. Not quite yet.)

[RandyShields]

5 minutes ago, Scott9999 said:

(In fact, I've been thinking about shipping my bike to the Southeast, and riding it back home to Idaho in the Spring after doing some SE touring,

Let us know when you are here so we can recommend some roads and ride with you!

[MichiganBob]

Duly noted for the future. Thanks.

[RTinNC]

I have used Federal once to ship a bike from Texas to Charlotte with no issues at all.  Very professional.  That being said the damage Randy had is very similar to what another local rider had on his RT.  As a result I would probably opt to fly and rent as there are a few companies now that seem to have some decent BMW Rentals.   

[CruisinCruzan]

Federal has shipped 2 bikes for me over the past two years. Arrival as stated, no surprises, would use again.

 

[beemerboy]

In early '08 I used Federal to ship a pristine K1200S "bumblebee" from Florida to Colorado. I had a Florida-based member of this forum check out the bike in advance and he confirmed the bike's condition with the only negative observation being that the Two Brothers can was very loud.

 

Fast forward a few weeks and the bike shows up damaged. Scratches to the headlight lens and nacelle, and on the front wheel. I spoke with the delivery crew who acknowledged that something in the transport truck fell against my bike while in transit. I contacted Federal who turned my claim over to an insurance subrogater who requested photos then instructed me to take the bike to the nearest BMW dealer for a repair estimate. I did and then sent them the repair estimate. A few weeks later I received a check for almost $2500.

 

In all, I've used Federal three times for getting a bike to me and once for sending a bike to its buyer. The only time I didn't use them was when a buyer used his own contact that showed up on a truck & trailer. His price was about the same as Federal (the buyer paid for transportation) but it took over three weeks for him to get the bike.