That game was not packed correctly.

Always make sure your games are crated in plywood on the pallet.

A blanket or bubble wrap will not protect your game from other pallets and forklifts.

Remember your game is not shipped in a vacuum. It is packed and unpacked many times along with many other pallets of heavy equipment.

Unforunately that is not always possible when buying from a private seller. They may not have the ability or desire to create up their machine like that. I have had three pins shipped from US to Canada, two through STI/NAVL and haven't had an issue.

Back to the OP: I suppose you could always email Treasure Cove or one of the other restorers and ask for a written estimate on how much to do a total cabinet repaint which is probably how they would handle it just to make sure all color matching, etc. is spot on. However it looks relatively minor in that it didn't hit any artwork, maybe have some standard wood repair guy in the area come and give you an estimate? I would be tempted to just write up one myself, base it off of five hours of repair time, $50 bucks in materials but that is just me speaking out my a**.

I would get that estimate,submit it and repair myself. It didn't hit the artwork so you lucked out there. Put that money towards the next pin! There's always a Positive

My guess is that after many weeks of phone calls, the shipper does nothing about the damage.

Yea that is the risk of getting a pin shipped. Do your best to get an estimate from someone and submit it to the shipper. Many times the shipper won't cover the total damages or any but it may be worth your time to give it a shot. As pinsrus mentioned it is on an area that has no art just do your best sand it down a bit to smooth it out and color match the best you can. That is a pretty affordable fix.

Yes, inspect for damage and DO NOT SIGN FOR IT if it is damaged

There is a US company called Craters and Freighters that KNOWS how to pack and ship Pinballs.

I've used them, very courteous, very professional, very reasonably priced. They will even carry the game from the basement for $55 when the seller can't. How cool is that?

http://www.cratersandfreighters.com/

NAVL and whoever they sub contracted my pin to did the same thing. It wasn't nearly that bad and luckily was on a solid black cabinet for JP, but they were 6 hours late, rude, refused to bring into my house past my garage door because they were late for another stop, and when I asked about the rubs and damaged places on the cabinet said it was like that when they got it. They showed me where they had noted damage on the paperwork, but I later found out that they were the ones that wrapped it up so any damage was their fault anyway. Now I know better, but like you all said, there's not a ton of options if you live on the other side of the country and have to have them shipped.

I wish you a ton of luck that they work with you and get it fixed. Nothing worse than being excited about a pin then getting it and having damage. (And rude delivery people.)

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!
This is what will happen.

Good to know!

Vulture, best of luck to you! Luckily, it wasn't something TOO major. I thought for a second that the picture was of the playfield...

Here is how I prep a game for NAVL, their "blanket wrap service" is a joke.
This is a blanket and 4 layers if cardboard.
I really don't like shipping games but if someone wants it shipped they make the arrangements that way it is their shipper that destroyed the game, not mine.

DWW_001.jpg

Usually pins packed like this the shipper the will put customer packed and cover no damage that happens to the outside of the cab. This because they cannot document any damage to start with. The other thing they like to do it be very generic on documenting pickup damage so it will cover other damage along the way.

What happened: teenage forklift driver was listening to Justin Bieber on his iPod and accidentally slammed into a convienently pointy object. "Oops LOL!" Just wait, that will be their excuse.

Do you use them all the time? If not, in what case would you not use them? Can you compare prices to NAVL ? It's ~400-500 to ship NAVL/STI from CA to AR, and of course that is not crated. I mean I can get less for multiples and under the right circumstances but use that for a comparison. Very interested in this service .

Sorry, but this is not true.

I have had 100s of pinballs shipped in the past. The number of times one has been damaged while fully crated and on a pallet vs blanket wrapped is at least 3 to 1, respectively. If on a pallet, they will almost always use a forklift and that is where most accidents happen. Leave the legs on, fold the head down (cardboard to protect rails), let NAVL/STI wrap it. It will be moved around by hand more that way, and IF it gets damaged, they WILL pay out on the claim.

OP, sucks that your game was damaged, but they will pay as long as it was properly insured. It can be fixed, and it looks like an easy fix.

Unfortunately even crating a game for shipment does not guarantee that it will not sustain some damage, there is always a risk when shipping regardless of how its prepared for shipment. Only sure way of guaranteeing anything is to go and pick it up and haul it yourself.

ship_game.jpg

I am so sorry this happened, I am the one that sold Dylan this game, it was beautiful when it left here, I shipped my Medieval madness the same way cardboard all corners even cardboarded the fan assy on this and shrink wrap, then the movers came put blankets on and shrink wrapped it again, I feel sick to my stomach seeing this as this was the first pin I ever bought and it was in very nice condition, let me know what I can do Dylan!

Chris

anything I can do Dylan you just let me know!

Chris

Vulture, do you have any pics of what the game looked like fully prepped?

I live in OH, so there are plenty of buyers around so I don't have to ship all the time.

When I do use C&F to pick up a game I want, they have charged me $550 to $579 to crate in plywood and ship.

If someone is driving a forklift fast enough, I'm sure they could spear the crate, BUT I know I can get credit for a speared crate. In fact the only time I've got credit on a claim was a speared crate.

Whenever I've shipped wrapped in cardboard and stretch wrap, any damage is just called "insufficient packaging" and you never get your claim approved. Ever.

Your game is going to be rubbing and bouncing against other pallets for 1000s of miles. You game is going to be bumped against other very heavy crates many times while being loaded on and off many different trucks.

Coast to Coast, you game may be loaded and unloaded 7 times. Every time is another chance for one shipment to be scraped against another.

The shipper does not charge enough to be careful, they have 100,000 other properly crated packages to worry about that day.

If you don't want your crate rubbing against any other crates, door to door van service is about $1300-2600.

Don't live in a fantasy world, YOU are responsible for the game. The shipping company does not care about your game at all.

I wouldn't even bother with a claim. It will take you less time to touch it up. Stick it in the corner and you won't even notice it. Good thing it's not on the front. Still sucks. Always sign after inspection. Based on the title, I was expecting to see major damage. It's really not that bad, since it's on the side. Should of been shipped vertical on a large pallet. Never trust anyone. Need to idiot proof it.

Sorry about the damage. Did it really take three weeks to have it shipped from california to oregon?

I sent pics to Vulture after I prepped it and the shippers also put on moving blankets and more stretch wrap, it looked great the way it was wrapped when they got done

I am curious to see them, can you post them?

That would be nice if that was the case, but its not.

If you insure it, and they lose it, you are covered.

If it gets scraped up by other items in transit, you did not pack it sufficiently, and they simply don't cover it.

If it gets squashed and you did not pay extra for "Top Freight Only", they simply don't cover it

This is industrial shipping folks. Not door to door van service.

Your goods are going to be rubbing against pallets of tires, diesel motors, Bridgeports, steel racking; hard, heavy and sharp objects.

If you did not pack it for industrial shipping, it's YOUR fault, not theirs (read the fine print).

Also, if you did not buy extra insurance and they lose your game, the federal limit on their liability is $2 a pound, LOL.

Every NAVL quote includes packing. Let them pack it, pay for insurance (cheap), and if they damage it, they cover it. It's that easy.

Good idea. Let them pack it.

Since we see one of these damaged pins every week, they will soon learn how to do it right!

The pin is insured against damage, as that is included in the delivery price. Work with Michelle Bianchi, and your claim will be paid. She has a good reputation to maintain.

There was another thread here a few months ago about NAVL damages, and I recall the OP was reimbursed, but weeks down the road.

My neighbor never got any money from them on his CFBL after many weeks of nonsense.

I'd like to see a step by step post of trying to make the claim, who they trust as an estimator to assess the damage, what percentage will they ask you to settle at, will they pay to ship it to a reputable restorer...just like a car, damage repair can often easily exceed the replacement price.

I have received and shipped many games with NAVL and even on HUO titles like MM. Never had any issues and sometimes no prep work was done on the machines since they were from non-collectors. People use NAVL all the time and these few instances are not the norm. If it was people would be constantly bitching and nobody would use them. Just like most reviews people only tend to complain when something bad happens. My worst shipping experience was when I trusted a collector to transport a machine for me and looking back I wish I would have just used NAVL instead, go figure.

Vulture, sorry to hear this happened to you and mistakes do happen. What's important is how the mistakes are handled by the shipping company and I would really like to see how your issue is resolved. HEP will not get involved with quotes for claims so don't waste your time asking him. Matt at Backalley Creations does airbrushing and has restored cabs in the past, so maybe he would be able to give you a repair quote.

I have never dealt with NAVL claims department but typically all shipping companies try to fight you until you give up and go away. Just my experience.

You should just sell to me for a loss

And package it with your pin-bot.

Semi kidding best of luck with your claims hope all else is good with your WW.

Use Doug Huses pricing cost for a restored lower cab w/decals installed.

http://www.letsplaypinball.com/cabinets.html

lower cabinet. Make them do the whole thing in new decals to match. I would not piece this together if it is not at your expense.

That really sucks Vulture. If you need a hand with that let me know. Or if you decide it's a total loss it would look great next to my Earthshaker. Your collection is growing fast. Want a Back to the Future? I need to make room for the WOZ and your here in town, so no shipping damage.

Just realized I live like 10 minutes from him

Good to know you got something. I guess it's a super secret amount? I'll be blunt, How much? $100-$200 for repairs? Reimbursed for shipping? I'd like to know what we can expect from a NAVL claim if things go bad. Pointless update without an amount imo but, still glad you got it worked out.