Damage in Transit

Wholesale Direct

If there is (rare) damage in transit

!!! PROOF of in-transit damage is required by the carrier !!!

➤➤➤ Significant in-transit damage is extremely rare but be prepared just in case. These are the main steps, as part of protecting your investment, and be sure to read ALL details after this summary. A few minutes of your time now could be the difference in successfully claiming IF there is damage.

AT THE TIME OF DELIVERY: IF (again, "IF") there is MASSIVE damage (repeat, "massive damage") to a substantial quantity of the WOOD in your order, you MUST insist that damage notes be made on the driver's/ delivery clerk's paperwork, AND get and keep a copy of those notes. If the driver/ clerk doesn't hand you a copy, take a photo of the notes on his paperwork. Without this, no claim can be made for you - even if your whole order arrived smashed... which has never happened, but you get the idea how important that piece of documentation is - IF THERE IS MASSIVE DAMAGE to the wood (not the packaging), SUFFICIENT TO PREVENT COMPLETION OF YOUR PROJECT. If there is damage to only 4 or 5 boards, that will NOT qualify for a claim, let alone a claim for the value of the entire order. [Yes, someone really did try this.]
FYI, we also indicated this necessity on your delivery docket that we provide by email before your order arrives, PLUS we also provide a link to this web page in dispatch notifications emailed to you. We try every way we can to get you to be prepared just in case.

2. !!! ALSO AT THE TIME OF DELIVERY: You MUST take photos to VERIFY that a MASSIVE amount of wood was damaged, to support any claim based on the notes on the driver's paperwork. FYI, without the carrier's notation mentioned above, photos alone are insufficient to support a claim against any carrier.

➤➤➤ Be sensible about it. Clearly a few damaged boards won't prevent your project (unless you didn't allow for waste...) and no carrier will uphold a claim for a few dinged boards. More info about this is further down this page.

3. ASAP AFTER DELIVERY: Submit to us BOTH a copy of the driver's damage notes AND the photos. FYI: ONLY the value of the damaged portion of an order can be claimed, NOT the entire order.
4. DURING INSTALLATION: You MUST set aside any boards that you wish to claim about so that the carrier's insurance adjuster can inspect them (if they choose to).
5. THEN: Protect your investment by reading ALL details below.

If something does go horribly wrong in-transit and a MASSIVE amount of wood was damaged in transit, BUT you haven't taken ALL these steps at the time of delivery, there is absolutely NOTHING we can do to bring a claim against the carrier for you.

FULL DETAILS - read for the protection of your investment
➤➤➤ When your order arrives - IF THERE IS SUBSTANTIAL IN-TRANSIT DAMAGE TO THE WOOD IN YOUR ORDER... rare but we can't say "never": to be able to assist you by processing a claim on your behalf, we have to have evidence that any in-transit damage involves significant damage to the WOOD in your order.

IMPORTANT: FOLLOW THESE STEPS and keep in mind that there is a 30 DAY WINDOW within which any CLAIM MUST BE FILED with the freight carrier. Their rules, not ours. Miss that window and it's all over.

Don't panic and don't reject the damaged cartons: Scuffs and tears to packaging generally don't mean significant damage to the wood inside.
Is the damage to the wood in your order significant? Even if there appears to be damage to the ends or sides of a few boards, this has minimal effect on all the contents of a specific carton or bundle and will not hinder completion of your project.
Make a reasoned judgement as to whether the amount of damage is likely to affect completion of your project - our recommendation to purchase sufficient for 10% waste includes culling for appearance, off-cuts, lay-out, color/grain/length preferences, AND for minor damage to some boards, whether in-transit or by contractor during installation.
If the damage is sufficient to prevent completion of your project, then obviously we will assist you as best we can, provided the steps outlined here have been taken.
Document it so that a claim can be filed on your behalf within 30 days: If that time limit passes, no claim can be filed. SPECIFICALLY: Whomever takes receipt of and signs for the delivery must make notes of any SIGNIFICANT in-transit damage directly on the Freight Company's DRIVER'S OR freight terminal CLERK'S delivery paperwork page and keep a copy of those notes. If no copy is provided to you by the freight company, run a photocopy or take photos of the relevant page with your cell phone. If you are picking up at the freight terminal, make these notes on the service reps / clerk's paperwork when you sign for your order and keep a copy of that.

YOU MUST ALSO DO THE FOLLOWING IF THE DAMAGE IS LIKELY TO PREVENT COMPLETION OF YOUR PROJECT:
Set aside any un-useable boards, and tally and photograph these.
Don't dispose of damaged boards. The carrier's insurance adjustors may wish to inspect the damaged product. NOTE: If the boards are not tallied and set aside for inspection, the claim will be voided by the carrier.
If you/ your contractor chooses to trim and use damaged boards, these are EXCLUDED from the tally of damaged boards (a.k.a. "you nail it, you own it".)
If the amount of damage at time of delivery is significant enough to prevent completion of your project and a claim needs to be made with the shipping company on your behalf, you will need to forward all that documentation to us. We cannot process any claim on your behalf regarding damage to delivered goods without that proof of documentation.
Note in particular, store credit requested by you as a result of in-transit damage will not be provided without proof of documentation noted on the Freight Company's delivery paperwork and a documented tally of un-useable boards in sufficient quantities to prevent completion of your project.
Do contact us to let us know IF the damage to the wood in your delivery is likely to prevent completion of you project. Provided that the notations have been made on the delivery paperwork and damaged boards documented at the time of delivery, a claim on your behalf can be processed if a significant proportion of the wood in your order is damaged.
No store credit at our expense will be provided for damage that occurs during installation, and will also not be provided after installation of a floor has been completed.

Summary of dealing with "significant in-transit damage to the wood in your order": If yours is one of the rare cases where in-transit damage to the wood in your order has occurred, it is usually during fork-lift transfer from one truck to another at the freight company's terminal(s) on the way to the final destination. When you sign for your delivery and before you leave the pick-up terminal or the delivery driver leaves your delivery address: Make sure that you have inspected for any major damage to the wood in your order and if there is, it must be noted on the driver's / delivery person's page(s) of the delivery paperwork, and you retain a copy of that. The driver / delivery person is required to file that back at the terminal office. Without notes on his / her paperwork, the freight company can deny any knowledge of and liability for damage, and a claim cannot be made on your behalf if there is significant damage.

We cannot emphasize strongly enough that you must keep a copy of any notes made on the delivery paperwork. Freight companies will not accept anything made after the time of delivery - e.g. notes made after the fact on the "customer copy" or customers' photos made after the delivery driver has left. ➤➤➤Your copy of notes on the driver's / terminal operator's page could ultimately be the only way of verifying to the freight company that there was substantial damage.

HERE IS WHY: In past rare instances of in-transit damage to an order we have very quickly done the right thing by our customers by sending replacement product totally at our own expense both for product and shipping, only to find that the customer had not documented in-transit damage sufficiently - or at all, leaving us unable to recover any cost against the freight company. AND the day a customer demanded replacement product almost 2 years after their floor was installed, despite never providing a shred of evidence that there had been in-transit damage, was the day we realized we needed to provide these extensive guidelines for our customers.