{"id":6568,"date":"2010-08-14T18:07:08","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T01:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/?p=6568"},"modified":"2010-08-14T18:17:32","modified_gmt":"2010-08-15T01:17:32","slug":"read-ye-and-be-thee-not-so-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/14\/read-ye-and-be-thee-not-so-stupid\/","title":{"rendered":"Read, ye! And be thee not so stupid!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight days ago, I packed up my beloved full-frame SLR, my travel-worn and equally loved wide angle lens<\/a>, and the one lens I own that takes us beyond 50mm (a Christmas gift from Paul) — and packed them up for a long trip to Virginia, where Canon Camera’s Repair and Cleaning Division told me to send them for a tune-up.\u00c2\u00a0 The trip was pre-arranged with Canon, I’d filled out all the necessary paperwork, packed the lenses in their original boxes with the original padding (the camera was bought used and didn’t come with a box, so I packed it in special foam and bubble wrap) and everything was protected within a sea of foam peanuts.\u00c2\u00a0 Before closing the box, we had it inspected by the folks at FedEx, to get their stamp of approval that all was well-packed before I said goodbye.<\/p>\n

Canon said to wait a week after shipment; it might take them a day to get to the box, assess the situation, and call with a cleaning and repair estimate.\u00c2\u00a0 After a week, I checked.\u00c2\u00a0 The package never arrived.<\/p>\n

Because it never left Memphis.<\/p>\n

So I call Memphis.\u00c2\u00a0 Over several phone calls, I learn:<\/p>\n

— The box lost its routing slip.<\/p>\n

— They found the box and opened it to examine the contents.<\/p>\n

— They found “a Canon camera” and a box with “EF 17-40” on it.\u00c2\u00a0 Sounds promising, but more information is needed.\u00c2\u00a0 Except.<\/p>\n

— They won’t confirm the type of camera, won’t check that the one lens is still in the box (EF 17-40 is the wide-angle lens) and won’t confirm the existence of another box (the other lens).\u00c2\u00a0 “I just don’t know.”\u00c2\u00a0 They repeat.\u00c2\u00a0 “No, I can’t go down there.”\u00c2\u00a0 They explain with fake remorse.<\/p>\n

— No.\u00c2\u00a0 They can’t take a picture of the box or do more to discover what is there, or, at least, “it is very unlikely.”\u00c2\u00a0 Ultimately, all they can do is read the notes because “It’s not their department.”\u00c2\u00a0 I ask to speak to the department checking the box, the floor, whatever.\u00c2\u00a0 They say that they will “have to have them call me back.”\u00c2\u00a0 Okay.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, something positive.\u00c2\u00a0 “They’ll call later on tonight,” they tell me.<\/p>\n

— Except no one calls back.<\/p>\n

So, this morning, I call again.<\/p>\n

— Oops.\u00c2\u00a0 Their bad.\u00c2\u00a0 Yeah, well, that camera and lens from last night?\u00c2\u00a0 We sold it on ebay last night<\/span> can’t find it now.\u00c2\u00a0 Fill out a claim form.<\/p>\n

— No, we can’t help you fill out the form, with all those crazy questions and numbers.\u00c2\u00a0 “It’s not our department.”\u00c2\u00a0 And?\u00c2\u00a0 “No, no one from that department is in today.”<\/p>\n

FedEx decided to open up my shipment and keep what they liked.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

But here is the stupid part: I only insured the package for the value of the contents, NOT the replacement value.\u00c2\u00a0 And the replacement value?\u00c2\u00a0 Almost twice the insured value ($2000 versus $3800).\u00c2\u00a0 Also?\u00c2\u00a0 The camera is very hard to find now, as it’s an older model.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d waited several years for it to fall in price in the used market and finally found a price low enough about 16 months ago.\u00c2\u00a0 How will I replace it?<\/p>\n

I was crying hot tears of anger and regret as I wrote down the necessary tracing and control numbers from FedEx, numbers that are suppose to help me in this claim.\u00c2\u00a0 Why was I so stupid?<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

The lesson: INSURE THE HELL OUT OF ANYTHING YOU SEND.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

And also?\u00c2\u00a0 If driving through Memphis, please pull over a take a giant shit on the lawn of FedEx.\u00c2\u00a0 Just for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight days ago, I packed up my beloved full-frame SLR, my travel-worn and equally loved wide angle lens, and the one lens I own that takes us beyond 50mm (a Christmas gift from Paul) — and packed them up for a long trip to Virginia, where Canon Camera’s Repair and Cleaning Division told me to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[88],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6568"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6568"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6570,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6568\/revisions\/6570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}