USPS insurance-- claim process

[Black]

Let's say theoretically someone shipped a brass instrument with insurance, and that instrument arrived damaged.....
Let's say the instrument wasn't "totaled" but needed a few hundred $$ worth of work to make it mostly right again...
has anyone been through a claim process like this?

[SDGuy]

I've heard you've gotta be careful about your claims...

[Will Collier]

It sucks. My wife shipped a coffee maker to her mother a few years ago, insured. It arrived in pieces. Took months for her to finally get anything out of the Post Office.

Treat it like any other customer-no-service situation: document everything, keep notes, keep going over the heads of the drones, and don't take "no" for an answer. Good luck...

[Black]

Will Collier wrote:
It sucks. My wife shipped a coffee maker to her mother a few years ago, insured. It arrived in pieces. Took months for her to finally get anything out of the Post Office.

Treat it like any other customer-no-service situation: document everything, keep notes, keep going over the heads of the drones, and don't take "no" for an answer. Good luck...

Thanks, Will. FWIW I'm not the shipper here.... just trying to figure out what might be required of me if the person who shipped it does decided to try to make a claim.

[C(-)ris]

The problem is they want the goods back to hold and inspect. I had an LCD monitor get destroyed and they kept it for over a month before they paid out. It was a PITA, but they did pay eventually.

[Janit]

It will speed things along to file any claim online, as online claims will be reviewed more quickly. The online process provides for uploading photographs and documenting.pdf files. It also helps to have a copy of the original mailing receipt showing the insurance payment.

If the claim is sufficiently high or complicated, they may ask you to bring the item and documents to a local post office for inspection. Simpler claims may be processed without requiring a personal inspection.

I recently filed a claim for a broken dish that was a part of a larger shipment of dishes. I filed online, including a picture of the broken dish with its wrapping materials, a pdf of the purchase receipt, and a pdf of the postage/insurance receipt. The claim was accepted within a week and I received the check for $19.99 within two weeks.