When it goes wrong

Corrections: dispute the evidence, not the outcome

When a reweigh or reclass lands, ask for the evidence — the W&I certificate, the dimensioner reading, the photographs. Carriers keep it and will produce it.

Then compare it against what you were told at origin. If the carrier measured 62 inches tall and your shipper swears it was 48, someone is wrong and it is worth ten minutes to find out who. Sometimes the carrier measured a different pallet. Sometimes the shipper stacked an extra layer without telling anyone.

If the evidence supports the correction, pay it and go fix the description at the source so it stops recurring. Disputing corrections you will lose burns goodwill you will want later for the ones you can win.

Damage and shortage: the delivery receipt decides it

Claims are won or lost in the thirty seconds at delivery. Freight signed for clear — no notation — is very hard to claim against, because the receiver has stated it arrived intact.

The receiver must note damage or missing pieces on the delivery receipt, specifically: "carton 3 crushed", "2 of 6 cartons short". "Subject to inspection" is nearly worthless.

Concealed damage — found after a clear signature — is claimable but much weaker, and time-limited. Most carriers require notice within five days.

Tell your customers this before they need it. A receiver trained to inspect and annotate is worth more than any claims process.

How a claim actually goes

File promptly with the BOL, the annotated delivery receipt, a commercial invoice showing value, photographs and a repair or replacement figure. Carriers have a statutory window to acknowledge and resolve, but expect it to take weeks.

Understand what you are actually covered for. Standard LTL liability is limited by class and commodity — often a few dollars per pound, not the value of the goods. A pallet of electronics worth $40,000 may be covered for a small fraction of that. If the customer needs full value, that is a conversation about additional insurance before the shipment, not after.

The recovery conversation

Customers do not leave because a shipment went wrong. They leave because of how it was handled afterwards.

Call rather than email. Say what happened, what you know, what you do not yet know, and when you will next update them — then actually update them at that time, even if there is nothing new. Do not blame the carrier; from where your customer sits, you chose the carrier.

Then tell them what changes so it does not repeat. A failure handled well is one of the few things that reliably deepens an account, because it is the only time they get to see how you behave under pressure.