How was it packed? Very unlikely the speaker panel got scratched in the center while shipping.

Thought STI normally ships wrapped on legs?

Wow, thats too bad. You'll have to file a claim with them and they may send a repair person to your house to fix the cabinet damage, just depends on your location....
I've personally be through this same situation with them years back. That was the last time I would ever ship a game through STI, it's just not worth the hassle and they SUCK!!

Good luck and I hope they come through for you in one way or another.

John

There goes the value. Ouch. Insurance?

Who told you they would palletize it? STI?

Palletizing a game takes a lot of prep work to do it right.

When it’s wrapped like that, they use the forklift. With STI, it’s better shipping with legs on. No forklift, which almost always is causes the damage

Yeah I never palletize with STI. Wouldn't trust them to do it themselves out of my sight. At least when shipping on legs it requires humans to move it, hopefully more carefully than the forklift driver coming off an all night bender. Sucks and sorry it happened... hopefully they can make you whole in some regard.

Yikes, hope it was signed for damaged and insured. Either way be prepared for easily a 6 month fight.
Carriers count on the customer giving up and taking the loss.
I've filed many freight claims, usually for $10,000 to $ 25,000 electric motors. Often from them just going missing.
How do you misplace a 10000 lb item!?

Good luck to you.

So sorry to see the damage caused during shipping. Damn. You have enough pic’s to support your case. Ask for a claim form from your shipping agent & make your case ASAP. Be strong!

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Did you have the driver fill out a o.s.d (overage shortage, damage) form or some kind of damage form and sign it when it was delivered so when you file a claim they can't deny it was damaged good luck on getting this straightened out

Excellent point. Receiving such damaged goods should be supported by the recipient & the driver on delivery - and the appropriate signed paperwork at it’s destination. Good luck @elcolonel.

Honestly the front corner cabinet split was occurring on factory Stern Ghostbusters from that vintage without any help from shipper.....

The rest, well yeah, that's definitely on the shipper but fixable.....

Yup, always ship with legs on, they cannot use a fork lift to move it that way.

Who paid for and made the shipping arrangements?
Was it shipped fob destination or origin?
Those can affect whom must file freight claims.

Agreed. Always ship legs on with no issues. Obviously nothing is guaranteed but I always recommend legs on

Good luck OP. I’m sure they will take care of you.

I operate a folk lift at work, one can still negotiate pins with a forklift with the legs on.
The only way they can't would be to basically crate the legs so the fork can't "easily" and viability pierce the crate. Then one would hope they only use a hand truck.

The safest way to ship a pin can be seen in the HEP thread. He has documented it a couple of times.
Truth is these things are moved by people, it's a matter of time until an accident happens.

Just like car insurance, we hope we never need it.

Oversized Solid pallet,strong anchors and plenty of instruction labels.
Any damage?
No excuses!!!!

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I was at the local Beltman/ STI terminal (lowell Ma) last Thursday to pick up a pin. The game had its legs on with its head folded and wrapped up . They went in to get the game and slide the fork lift tines right in between the front legs and picked up the pin

I was a little surprised that they just "grabbed it" that way

The wood ripped from the lower cabinet could have easily been caused when they put it on a pallet. Unless the end of the cabinet is wrapped/protected, the exposed wood is vulnerable.

They are usually just warehouse workers that need to move freight around as quickly and easily as possible caring little about the contents or outcomes. It’s a fantasy that any commercial shipper isn’t using a forklift.
This is why the labeling is so important.
If they do and it causes damage you can easily file and support your claim.
Labels are the cheapest insurance you can buy. If you don’t ship enough to have or need them make your own.
Forklift damage on a package labeled DO NOT FORKLIFT?.
Case closed.

I was just going to say they can and do unfortunately :-/

Uh oh. Sounds like this will be an uphill fight.

Of course the delivery crew is gonna deliver, get their signing and not say anything. They’ll deliver a box that went off a loading dock without even flinching.

Are you the seller? Who arranged the shipping?

Yeah that stinks.
I always ask the seller to make sure the game is shipped with the legs on. Forklifts are risky with pinball machines.
I’ve been to some of these place to pick up a machine and those forklift drivers fly all over the place.
Hope the insurance covers you.

How does this keep them from lifting the game up with the forks?

John

Doesn't surprise me a bit. People are lazy. Did you really expect them to pick it up by hand? People don't care, it's not there item getting damaged.

John

Exactly it's all general freight to them put it the fuck on the truck and grab the next skid to get the truck rolling so the next one can back in and get loaded

With legs on it's just a high pallet.

Completely agree. A few years back I shipped an HUO Simpsons Pinball Party from DC to Seattle...this machine was perfect. It was shipped legs on and I was told that they wouldn't use a forklift. Well...it arrives with a huge hash in the side of the cab, clearly from a forklift, and the buyer was devastated. He apparently fought with STI for several months and the full insurance didn't get him much

in those cases could they substitute a pallet jack maybe? that would be a safe option than a forklift.

As a heavy equipment Owner/Operator, any forklift operator that puts a set forks through the side of any piece of freight should be fired on the spot! That guy is an incompetent idiot who needs to be shown the door before he kills somebody! In the same breath, the freight company should take full responsibility for that individual and pay the claim. There should be no need for any sign on the freight item. I could pick up a game with a fork lift and drive down the freeway without damaging it one bit!

Man Im lucky, I have had nothing but good experience with STI, something like this would make me so sad. Im sure they will take care of it, they are pretty approachable people . Good luck man!
A GB too! such a shame!

Look how filed down those white plastic buttons on the rear of the machine are, looks like this was moved around on it's ass like a hockey puck. We all know Sterns top deck plate under the head is just air nailed in and lifts or tears up very easily and that's what it looks like what happened as they kept sliding on it's ass from one spot to the next.

They might have seen the flaking of the wood, unwrapped it to look and caused some head damage in doing so at that point and re wrapped it. Dock worker's who didn't want to get jammed up.

Hope you have a lot of pre shipped photos of these area's.

For those that peruse this thread. A word of warning on using STI. Your experience may be different but mine was terrible. Fair compensation for several thousand dollars in damage and many hours of chasing claim forms and repair estimates ended with me getting a check for a few hundred dollars (freight weight compensation)

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/collector-quality-to-needs-some-work-after-pilot-freight-delivert-#post-5631671

My opinion of STI went down several notches when they sent a local sub-contractor to pickup a pin.

The same sub-contractor made a delivery to our medical facility and they managed to break two hospital beds and it was all downhill from there.

Worst "I don't give a f*ck" service ever.

STI did a great job packing a game I shipped. Legs were stowed inside the cabinet. Machine made the 1200 mile trip with no problems.

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And was probably moved with a forklift…

How to tell the difference between a great heavy equipment operator and the rest…

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How did you secure the legs inside the cabinet so they couldn't move around and wreck havoc

I would not consider that a great job

I would never trust any shipper to palletize and strap down a game, but that’s just me. I made a pallet for the last game I shipped (to Canada), since I couldn’t find one. I appreciate this thread, now I will never agree to ship with STI. What’s the best alternative?

Did You go through Michele at STI. If You did She will make it right from my past experiences.

That Skateball isn’t even strapped to the pallet, and it’s vulnerable to damage from adjacent items in the truck. The way @HEP showed in his picture is the only way to prevent incidental damage.