I did not ship them the fridge just wrapped in plastic. The fridge was wrapped in plastic, covered with cork, and wrapped in plastic again. The cork covered everything but the top of the fridge. The top of the fridge is a steel lid. I figured a steel lid was sufficient for shipping something UPS. But apparently UPS throws shit out of a truck at 65MPH sometimes.
I had no idea about any UPS required packaging, or recommended packing, when I shipped the fridge. I still don't because I really just don't care enough to look in to it. So the cork was not 1" or 2" thick. It was 1/4" thick. There was 1/4" thick padding wrapped around a steel box. In the Yeti thread people were talking about how a Styrofoam cooler survives a trip from Alaska to Florida and that a Yeti is overkill for anything the universe can throw at it, but a steel box is suddenly very fragile and needs 2" of padding inside a package. That sounds reasonable. Even if so, the fridge had a dent in it when it arrived from the factory or from Lucky 8 or whoever else may have handled the thing along the way. So apparently even packaging handled by Ironman themselves is still susceptible to damage.
In high-in-sight sure, I should have sent the fridge back when it was new. But I was in a time crunch and needed a fridge this large for a cooking demonstration for the Travel Channel. If I remember right Justin had told me this was the very first and only Ironman 74q stateside. So getting a replacement at that time could have taken weeks. The risk was not worth the award. The fridge worked fine. It had a dent in it. Who fucking cares?
Von C sent me a screenshot from Mark of Ironman offering to have a look, free of charge, and diagnose my problem after they denied my warranty claim and I posted on several websites. You can't make this shit up. First I'm told there is a $75hr fee for this service; then I'm told it's an outside repair shop that looks these things over and it's not even done in-house; then all the sudden Mark can have a look free of charge and tell me exactly what's up. But he doesn't even tell me this. Mark did not email me. He didn't call me. He posted this on some website and then had the thread removed by some 52 year old fat guy who lives with his sister but has $6,000 worth of LED light bars and Jerry Cans bolted to his 1986 Nissan Hard Body he takes to the dessert once every 3 years for the weekend.
The fridge was insured for $800 through UPS. UPS picked up the fridge, inspected it, and denied the claim. They then shipped the fridge back to me. With that said, UPS did credit the UPS account $800. So they denied the claim yet gave my buddy a credit to his account. It does me no good but at least UPS made some effort. The fridge was sent back to me wrapped in plastic.
I did not photograph the fridge before shipping. I don't normally make it a practice to photograph my mail before dropping it off. Apparently I'm weird, I don't know. I did however catch the fridge in a photo I was taking of something else. You can see in the photo, sort of, how the fridge was wrapped in cork. The fridge it located just behind my Series. Ironman claims there was no cork on the fridge when they received it. I don't know if this is true or not because I was not there. But what could this thing have gone through to get all these dents and a layer of protection peeled away? It's not like that plastic wrap tears easily.
The fridge is back with me now. I have not had time to look at it. I'm sure I can fix whatever is wrong with it for less than $75.
I had no idea about any UPS required packaging, or recommended packing, when I shipped the fridge. I still don't because I really just don't care enough to look in to it. So the cork was not 1" or 2" thick. It was 1/4" thick. There was 1/4" thick padding wrapped around a steel box. In the Yeti thread people were talking about how a Styrofoam cooler survives a trip from Alaska to Florida and that a Yeti is overkill for anything the universe can throw at it, but a steel box is suddenly very fragile and needs 2" of padding inside a package. That sounds reasonable. Even if so, the fridge had a dent in it when it arrived from the factory or from Lucky 8 or whoever else may have handled the thing along the way. So apparently even packaging handled by Ironman themselves is still susceptible to damage.
In high-in-sight sure, I should have sent the fridge back when it was new. But I was in a time crunch and needed a fridge this large for a cooking demonstration for the Travel Channel. If I remember right Justin had told me this was the very first and only Ironman 74q stateside. So getting a replacement at that time could have taken weeks. The risk was not worth the award. The fridge worked fine. It had a dent in it. Who fucking cares?
Von C sent me a screenshot from Mark of Ironman offering to have a look, free of charge, and diagnose my problem after they denied my warranty claim and I posted on several websites. You can't make this shit up. First I'm told there is a $75hr fee for this service; then I'm told it's an outside repair shop that looks these things over and it's not even done in-house; then all the sudden Mark can have a look free of charge and tell me exactly what's up. But he doesn't even tell me this. Mark did not email me. He didn't call me. He posted this on some website and then had the thread removed by some 52 year old fat guy who lives with his sister but has $6,000 worth of LED light bars and Jerry Cans bolted to his 1986 Nissan Hard Body he takes to the dessert once every 3 years for the weekend.
The fridge was insured for $800 through UPS. UPS picked up the fridge, inspected it, and denied the claim. They then shipped the fridge back to me. With that said, UPS did credit the UPS account $800. So they denied the claim yet gave my buddy a credit to his account. It does me no good but at least UPS made some effort. The fridge was sent back to me wrapped in plastic.
I did not photograph the fridge before shipping. I don't normally make it a practice to photograph my mail before dropping it off. Apparently I'm weird, I don't know. I did however catch the fridge in a photo I was taking of something else. You can see in the photo, sort of, how the fridge was wrapped in cork. The fridge it located just behind my Series. Ironman claims there was no cork on the fridge when they received it. I don't know if this is true or not because I was not there. But what could this thing have gone through to get all these dents and a layer of protection peeled away? It's not like that plastic wrap tears easily.
The fridge is back with me now. I have not had time to look at it. I'm sure I can fix whatever is wrong with it for less than $75.