Anyone ever file an international freight claim?

[maytag]

Hey all!

I recently purchased some goods internationally which were damaged in transit (from Australia).

I paid the seller to purchase insurance, and he has provided proof that he did. Here's where the questions start though:

USPS tells me that the post office of origin (where the insurance was purchased) must initiate the claim. Apparently they should send me a notice with a refernce number to take with me to USPS for inspection of goods. USPS then makes a report to the insuring postal agency and a determination of claim is made by them.

Now, the seller says that his local postal shop (where he shipped from, and bought the insurance) says that they can't do this, and that I must do it all from my end.

In an effort to be conciliatory, I've contacted MULTIPLE people at the USPS, including several different levels of management. Each one of them has outlined the exact same process to me. No variance. So for the last 60 days, The seller keeps telling me that he "will" go talk to the lady at his post office, and that he "will" follow-up with them again. In the meantime, he hasn't. And he has occassionally gone as much as 3 weeks without responding to my inquiries of status.

I'm reasonably confident I'm being "blown-off". The seller has his $1500, so he's not out anything. Has anyone ever been through an international freight claim of this sort? Can you lend any help as to the process you went through, and if you can suggest any course of action I might take?

[So Cal Mark]

I've only been involved from the senders end and it has always taken at least 6 months to resolve. The person buying the insurance has to initiate the claim. If you used Paypal or a cc, you can pursue it with them to get a refund

[azygoustoyou]

Paypal is good. they got me my money back when I had issues. I would go straight to them. They'll get you your money.

[manoa matt]

Why would you ever pay that much for those parts? They are available locally for around $400. And I still don't believe with the modifications made to the parts, they would still yield the figures he calculated.

On another forum I asked if anyone had information for a specific carburator, "the man in question" replied saying he had the factory manual. I said name your price, and I would buy it. After repeated emails inquiring about the manual, he replied with a short: "I'm too busy to go out and find it in my garage."

There are whole threads on another fourm regarding his constant friction with a certain Fiat expert in the UK. They each claim to be experts, but only the Brit can back it up with dyno sheets, publications, and a spotless reputation.

I hope you can resolve this issue.

[maytag]

well I "thought" what I was buying was not just the parts, but also a 'coach' through the build. I see now I was mistaken.
As for the parts themselves, I don't know where you'd find that head locally. I'm not aware of it ever being installed on a US model. The pistons were similarly priced to what I would've paid for comparables here, and had the potential to yield a little better cylinder pressure because of the squish. New pins, rings, valves, guides, gaskets, etc etc. Not as far out as it sounds at first glance. Yes, I overpaid. I knew I was, but as I say, I thought I was getting somebody on my side who would coach me through the build. The "other guy" hasn't been as vocal on here, and I wanted to support the supporters, so to speak.
Additionally: I wanted to put the whole "these parts arent available to us here in the states" myth to rest.... I guess I decided the question thouroughly enough.....


SO now I'm lookin at a decent head, but not great, with pretty new valves & guides for $1500. piss-poor expenditure. hence my frustration.

Unless somebody has a better suggestion, I'll be sending some $$ to Csaba for a set of his 4mm domed pistons and start again from there.

I'll chalk-it-up to "dumb-things-i'vedone" and write abut it in that thread someone started earlier.

But hey Manoa: thanks for cheering me up and making me feel better!

[lanciahf]

Not any worse than listening to an "expert" and finding a rare 1592 head to drop on a 2000 block and listening to the pistons tap the valves on startup. yea yea I know.

The combustion chamber on a 1592 head are tiny and I was after a cheap compression boost.

[manoa matt]

Sorry about that Maytag, I did not know a cylinder head was involved, I thought it was just pistons. I see your thinking, and in that case yes, head, pistons, and advice would have been a good deal.

A 1592 and 1800 head should have the same combustion chamber volume (49cc) the only difference, the 1592 is "cleaner" as it does not have the air injection ports.