Packing is the key to happiness.

[Stuart Budd]

Last year I bought an Elmo ST1200 and an ST800 from the same vendor on eBay. Unfortunately the ST1200 was lost, some error in addressing. The ST800 arrived ok. Both were spare/repair. The ST800 is a work in progress and coming along nicely. Belts mainly and a furred up lamp. So no issues to speak of. Oh, a missing control dial. I bought a £300 3D printer to sort that though!

The 1200 was sent via Hermes. Just this week past, a projector arrived at my house whilst I was in. I have a camera. And I must say, even though, no knock at the door. Every effort was taken to deliver safely. Hermes for me just have too many points of contact and often unsuitable vehicles to transport projectors in. So although this weeks projector arrived safely, I don't recommend Hermes.

Back to the ST1200. And not really Hermes fault and in some ways not the vendors either. The address was all correct bar the postcode. That was the vendors postcode. The vendor assured me once they had contacted Hermes and sorted the postcode issue, I would receive the package. Weeks went by and no ST1200. So I requested a refund from the vendor. Ebay. The reply was, once they had a refund from the courier, I would receive my refund.

I explained, that isn't how things work. I have mentioned I'm not a nice man. So I explained that my contract was with them and not the courier. The courier was their problem. Needless to say, I ruined their Christmas. I got my refund.

Now, as I knew that the error was postcode and that it was their postcode being used and not the pickup point. I decided, after weeks, to use that postcode to redirect. So I could redirect the deliver to a neighbour. remember, the address was to a pickup point, Argos, no where near the vendors home but they used their postcode. So I rearranged delivery to... Their home! I have a refund, the package is lost! But traceable. They've tried to sort it but can't. The package must be still at their post code hub. Hermes just can't find an Argos down their street!!!

The ST1200 has just arrived at their home!

They don't know who got it back to them but it's arrived broken. Even the meter glass is smashed!

After I bought this ST1200. I did mention packing and to take care. The reply was revealing. They mentioned that when they received it, the pick up guide (green retractable extension) had broken and they'd had to glue it. this wasn't in the description! It's like seeing screwdrivers in the pictures of adds. It's a Hay Up. What have they been doing with that screwdriver!

In many ways, I'm glad I didn't get the ST1200 as it looks like it wasn't packed well. The pictures they sent me look like it fell off a table! They weren't happy. I can't quite think what any of this has to do with me! I haven't replied to them as I think my reply would land on deaf ears. I certainly wouldn't have been happy with the ST1200 in the condition they received it back in, so glad of the refund back last year.

The moral. Pack well. Projectors are heavy and if they move inside their packing, they'll break. That ok, if they break and arrive at their destination. The seller can argue the toss. But if it ends up being returned as is, the seller only has themselves to blame.

Projectors break in the post due to packing more so than courier mishandling.

[Osi Osgood]

I would totally agree with that and sorry to hear of your misfortune. However, even with the best of packing, things can still go wrong. So far, I have had pretty good luck with projectors in the mail.

[Stuart Budd]

True Osi. Good packing gives them a fighting chance but even good packing can be pushed to the limits. I came out of the exchange ok but the vendor lost the ST1200 and didn't get compensation only the postage refunded and as a result, we all lost an ST1200. One has bitten the dust!

[Steve Klare]

The last two machines I shipped I sent via Fed-Ex and paid them do the packing. I figured since it was insured by them, they'd pack as if it was their dime (-which it was!).

About two years ago, we shipped a GS Xenon from New York to Florida, packed and shipped for about $130. When you consider what the dollar damages could have been had this thing suffered any kind of impact it was a bargain!

They asked me if I wanted it marked "Fragile". I told them only if they didn't have an "Extremely Delicate" sticker under the counter.

(Kudos to the guy behind the counter for not asking "Why don't you just get a flat screen TV?"!)

I had a very low-mileage ST-800 sent to me from an E-bay sale about 10 years ago. It was "packed" as if it was going to sit on a shelf for a while. The seller threw in a patch of bubble wrap (-apparently it has some kind of magic powers!). Somewhere along the line, UPS dropped the box and bent the frame over the rear foot. The internal linkages wouldn't work any more. Many hard to find parts inside (including all those green guides) were in basically new condition so I made it a parts donor and transplanted everything I could onto a worn-out machine with a nice, straight frame.

-It would have gone much easier if the seller had packed the thing right.

PS: UPS is probably not the best choice to ship something fragile, either. They are a reliable shipper in terms of getting it there, but they aren't very careful about package handling. A close friend had a summer job there when he was in college. In training, one of his tasks was to build a wall of parcels before loading a delivery van. His boss didn't like his wall: he kicked it over...twice. I asked the desk clerk at our UPS why they won't take packages with string around them. He said string encourages the package handlers to fling the boxes.

-so for anything unbreakable, UPS is just fine. Champagne glasses, antique china, movie projectors?...No!