In around March 2005 I "was given" two baby box turtles from a pet breeder in Flordia if I paid the shipping. The shipping was $80 shipped next day or over night. Not sure what it was but the package was supposed to be there the next day. They can't sell the turtles since they are native to both Flordia and West Virginia when I lived back home in WV. Well they claimed they had a special contract to ship live animals through DHL.
Needless to say the pakage didn't arive the next day but a day after that. Basically two day shipping when I paid for over night. If the package was at the hub about 40 min away I was going to drive and pick them up. Nope it went to a town 2 hours away to that hub. It was March and a little chilly. Those two turtlse spent a night in a cold warehouse.
One baby turtle bit the dust, the other lived. If they were both alive, I would have just said ok, I got them. I filed a claim with DHL but it was denied because the "sender" must file the claim. The pet shop/breeder claimed they had a $100 clause payout with DHL if an animal died. Well I couldn't get DHL or the pet shop to give me any cash back. The pet shop claimed they would give me an $80 credit. WTF good would that do when the last pet died in transit? I filed a claim with my credit card and got the money back. I figured they should stick it to DHL and get $100 back, and also the $80 too. I did get one live turtle. I think DHL would just give teh pet shop "credit" and they didn't want to give me any cash because they must not ship a lot to get the credit back.
Brwon isn't much btter in my book. The one near me is disorganized and slow when I ship. I have had packages damaged by them. Lately their prices seem too high. Only good thing about brown is they insure up to $100 for no extra cost. (It is probably figured in there somewhere!)
Anymore for the last 5 years, I have used the US Post Office. Priority Mail is a greta deal for small to medium stuff. Never had a package lost yet.. knock on wood... Also I have shipped all international orders through them. Only had one person complain about the customs fees.
One thing you need to do to save money shipping is to buddy up with the people working at the shippers. If you get an A$$ hole who measures all the boxes, it will screw you! They will charge you a heavier "billable" weight since the package is oversized.
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