Hello all,

Just a query here. Holidays coming up, gifts going out etc...

I had 2 disasters with shippers recently, and would like to get a feel for what others have experienced. My brother painstakingly built me a nice cabinet for a guitar amp, that arrived on time to me, in several pieces...ie completely damaged. This was delivered by a company DHL. Fortunately, it was insured adequately, and he was told he would be compensated in short time. They just wanted some documentation and I took photos.....

Disaster 2. Same brother sent me a stereo power amp, he had refurbished (being an Electrical Engineer, and audiophile). He worked for 3 months on the thing, replacing this and that, upgrading capacitors, and doing point to point wiring. It was "delivered" by UPS, according to their trace records, but....I never got it. The driver's record stated that he left it "on the Front Porch". I don't have a Front Porch. My brother did not state he required signature on that one (why, oh why I do not know), so it leaves me to conclude that either the driver falsified the record and the stereo amp is now playing nicely in his living room, or that someone picked it up from my front door and kept it. My neighbors are not likely to do this, since I have had packages left at my door for the past 2 years without problems, and if there is something delivered to them by mistake, they have always rung my bell and have delivered the package to me (happened once in the past year). This 2nd disaster happened with UPS.

So...please chime in. UPS vs FedEx vs DHL etc... What has been your experience? Any sage advice will be more than appreciated.

Geno