Delta Airlines, dead snake, and me

I couldnt quiet decide where this thread would be best so feel free to do with it as you will.

I have had a handful of problems in the past with delta, as well as quiet a few very pleasurable experiances. Today I recieved word that an animal I had shipped died in transit. This is the first animal we have lost during transit and I am very sad to hear of his death. Note, we have recieved dead snakes from delta before, as well as damaged equipment.

The specifics on this shipment:

Yesterday we delivered several packages to Delta for dash shipments to our customers. We used insulated boxes used for carrying tropical fish. The DOA was a previously very healthy 10' male burmese python , who had been a very well cared member of our collection. Another female burm was also shipped with him and arrived in good condition. Both animals were bagged and placed at the bottom of the insulated container. Another smaller animal (Chondro) made the trip packed ontop of the two burmese pythons, and newspaper was used to fill the space and as a damping material. I was givin a schedual of flights that the animals would be fallowing in route from SEA to PIT, (Seattle to Pittsburg) Heres where everything went wrong.

After contacting our customer with the flight info we spent a nice night with family in Tacoma, I was awoke by my cell phone at around 7:00 am and learned that our customer had went to the airport to recieve his package only the flight came in but the snakes did not. After doing some reserch and tracking the package online I had learned that for some reason it had been removed from the schedualed flight and was soon after reasigned. It was in transit to ATL (Atlanta). I advised the customer to ask for a updated flight schedual so he would know when the package would be arriving in PIT.

It wasnt untill we finaly arrived at home tonight that I was notified of the death. Apperantly delta had missed a total of 4 outgoing flights between yesterday and today delaying the package.

I am having quiet a bit of trouble sleeping on this so I thought I may come to you all for guidence. I am conflicted by the death of our animal and as a customer myself I feel that Delta was responcible, as well my customer feels they are in the wrong here after several trips to the airport to recieve his package. However being a hobbiest on the other side of the counter a few times myself and getting stuck with the corpse of a would be pet, I feel obligated to right the situation for my customer, but we still do not know how this animal died.

The package was insured for $750 wich is the max. allowed by delta. Our customer has reported the death to Delta, and filed the paperwork, my only question is wether we will be pulling teeth to recieve any reimbursment for the casualty???

I would like to see my customer reimbursed for the value of the animal either way. Im just currious what would you do if you were me?


My gaurantee was written to protect us incase somthing strange like this should happen, the fallowing is taken directly off of our website...

Guarantee:

Due to the nature of my bussiness, there are possibilities for problems to arise. However, I will stand behind my animals 100%, and will always do my best to make you a satisfied customer. I cannot be responcible for animals that are no longer in my care. (after 24 hrs) The gaurantee is simple-healthy live animal in your hands or else I'll replace or refund the value of said animal.

In other words, all animals are guaranteed to arrive alive and in good condition (as originally represented). If there are problems with your overnight shipment, you must contact me directly (within 24 hours). There is no gaurantee on animals shipped in weather below 40~F or above 85~F (Check your weather). We are not responsible for damages incured during shipping, due to carrier error or delays.

- Shaun DeBord

Shaun,

So tragic! And I will bet that no one will give a darn at Delta.

I do not know what Delta guarantees on their animals. I know that they willingly accept them, but are they going to pay you for the value? You said that it is insured for $750.00, but did they know that it was snake that you were insuring. Several years ago there was a story on airlines and animals. They are just considered property so if they killed your dog during the flight, the most that you would get is $50.00. I hope that has changed.

I read your terms where you clearly stated that you are not responsible for airline delays. Of couse you are not reponsible, and neither was the buyer, it was no ones fault but Delta's. But I do believe that your terms are unfair in the first place and the buyer only agreed to those terms because he badly wanted the snakes and was sure that it was just a slim chance that this would ever happen. If he thought that this was really a possiblity, he never would have agreed to this arrangement, in fact no one would and you would never have any shipping business. But unfortunately, these things do happen and it is in my opinion, that the loss should be divided 50/50 after you receive any reimbursement from Delta.

I am really sorry about this situation, you expect Delta Dash to be much safer than the other mail deliverers.

Originally posted by serpentinedreams
The gaurantee is simple-healthy live animal in your hands or else I'll replace or refund the value of said animal.


- Shaun DeBord

I once had a similar problem with Delta shipping. Luckily the animal did arrive alive and healthy but not before 4 trips to the airport. What Delta had told me was that there was probably some mail that got put on ahead of her. I responded with " mail is more important to you (Delta) than a live animal?" and the answer I got is what disturbed me most, a simple "Yes...yes it is". From that day forward I vowed to never use delta again for shipping. I think in your case due to the line in your gaurantee above you are responsiable for reinbursmient to your customer and then I would go after Delta for an insurance claim. This however I feel is secondary to the animal that had the unfortunate fate of being subjected to Deltas priorities or lack there of. Its just a shame that they are the best legal option for shipping live snakes.

Shaun,
we also have been dealing with Delta for a while now, and have had good shipments,,and bad..

See,, Atlanta is where all the animal shipments have to go.. For some reason, whether the animal is on the way to Atl.,, or in Atl, somehow the shipments always seem to get messed up in or going to Atl..
After they leave Atl.,, everything seems to be OK..
Delta is VERY UN-ORGANIZED..
As far as your animal goes,, you sent it Dash!!!
If it took LONGER THAN 24 HOURS to reach it's destination, then Delta is responsible..
Hell, we are still waiting to see if Delta will honor a 750.00 claim.. It took 3 days for a shipment to arrive to us, and the majority of the animals were DOA!!!
Delta says it takes 8-10 weeks after they recieve the claim to give you their decision.. Well, it has been about 13 weeks now, and all we have recieved is a fax stating that the investigation is taking longer than usual, and they will be in touch..
My advice,, file the claim.. They will most likely deny it, AND THEN,, YOU FILE AN APPEAL.. That appeal will usually get your claim,, AS LONG AS DELTA WAS IN THE WRONG,,(e.g;..longer than 24 hours on DASH shipments)..
That is their(Delta) rules.. If they are in the wrong,, they usually do make it right..
If that shipment reached it's destination within 24 hours, then you are pretty much screwed..If not,, you will most likely get your claim,, it will just take forever and a Day...
Sorry to hear about the loss..
I wonder what caused the 1 snake to die..
If something went wrong, you would expect the GTP to die first before a 10 foot Burm, or all 3 would be dead..
I wonder if he just freaked out, and that caused him to die..
Good Luck..
They can be a pain..
Jeff

Regardless of what your fine print is, I would refund the cost of the snake to the buyer if I were you. I've learned from my own experiences and from a lot of people here that taking a little hit now to ensure that the customer is taken care of when things go wrong will pay off in spades later on down the road. I know that would put you out a snake and the money, but the customer will realize this too, and will remember that if something does go wrong, you will do all you can to make sure they are satisfied.
Good luck with Delta.

The package was droped of at delta cargo in Seattle at around 2 pm, pasific time. It arrived at the final destination at around 7 pm eastern time. I belive even with the time diffrence that would just be slightly more than 24 hrs. I do hope that they will reimburse the cost of the animal to my customer. As he has filed a claim to them, I belive we may wait it out before offering a refund.

BTW I am a verrified shipper with delta and the packages were cleared as live harmless reptiles/pythons. I do also find it odd that the adult male died in transit, while the female and chondro arrived without incident and seem to be doing well at that....

We will review our terms however as you know animals can be hard to "replace" I wrote the stipulation to our terms to deny any responsibility for carrier problems. It seems to be a clear case of carrier problems but not exactly what I had in mind when we wrote the stipulation, and I will do whatever is needed in this case to resolve the issue. The way I see it my name is on the line whenever a problem occures wether it is my fault or not.

Anyhow any additional feedback or experiances with deltas insurance policy will be appreciated. As my customer filed a claim in his name.

Hopefuly Delta will resolve this problem, however if not I still stand behind my animal and will make sure the customer is satisfied with the final settlement. Thank you everyone for your imput.

Shaun.... I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but, I don't think that Delta will assume ANY responsibility here, for one reason.... two of the snakes made it there alive and in good health!!.... They will tell you that there must have been something wrong with the Burm BEFORE you shipped it.... had ALL THREE of the snakes died, that would be a different scenario, but not here....

Sorry, buddy....

Neil

Not trying to cause trouble, or even asserting an opinion about to whom responsibility should be assigned in this instance, but this scenario presents an interesting question to me, as a person who has purchased animals shipped delta and will probably have to do so again. The basic issue that seems missing in this equation is causality. The seller's terms explicitly deny responsibility for DOA from carrier delays, but I have yet to see an argument for how Delta managed to kill one big burmese and not the other or the chondro. So really, I guess my question is how those issues get hashed out in deciding about a refund. Undoubtedly Delta was in the wrong here, but I'm just not clear whether that wrong is sufficient to void the guarantee in the terms. Truly a tragic situation, and both parties have my sympathy.

Kris

As much as I hate hearing badnews I suppose if I had to I would choose you to tell me. Afterall wernt you the one who told me that the albino boa had died in transit? LOL you are just one sick b_____d, makes me wonder if you dont actualy prefer to be the one to confront people with "bad news"... I just hope that you will followup with, hahaha Just joking, they will send you a check tommarow, and reimburse you for mental stress... Please??? lol

Also as far as I know there is no sensible reason for the death of this animal except for stress.. If the animal had arrived on time would it be alive??? I belive it would but without a actual cause of death I will never know....Both burmese pythons were somewhere around 25lbs and 10' it dosnt seem logical to me that the weight of one could have killed the other. However I am open to suggestions on how this may have occured. The python was in perfect health to my knowledge and was a part of my personal collection, for some time. Infact he is/was excpected to be a father this year...

Well as I have stated before I have no problem replacing the value of the animal one way or another, but I feel it would be in our best intrests to wait for Deltas decision on the matter. After all , the buyer has filed a claim with them. So if delta does decide to refund a portion of the value of that animal to them, is it fair to expect me to cover the full amount? I am expecting that they will atleast refund the cargo charges as they did not live up to there own terms by having the package at destination within 24 hrs...

I personaly feel that there will likly be a dispute with delta for the bill, and will speak to my customer shortly to try to reach an agreement. Do you think that it is fair for both parties to wait for a decsion from delta or should I just make an offer for refund/ replacment immediatly???

Thanks for your comments,

Shaun.... your statement....

....As much as I hate hearing badnews I suppose if I had to I would choose you to tell me. Afterall wernt you the one who told me that the albino boa had died in transit? LOL you are just one sick b_____d, makes me wonder if you dont actualy prefer to be the one to confront people with "bad news"... I just hope that you will followup with, hahaha Just joking, they will send you a check tommarow, and reimburse you for mental stress... Please??? lol....

Is absolutely correct.... It WAS me who told you that....

Some background.... Sometimes, if I speak to a person about buying one of their expensive animals, and we "hit it off" on the phone (as Shaun and I DID).... when the expensive animal arrives at my house, I write them an email that says....

...."I just received the animal, and IT WAS DEAD!!.... Ya know, I would pay MONEY to see the look on your face right now!.... Take a Midol, relax.... it's FINE AND HEALTHY!!.... I'm such a sick puppy, huh??"....

You should see some of the return emails I get after those.... I laugh my XXX off!!.... Now, remember, it's only the people that I have very good conversations with.... nobody else....

Shaun.... As was HAMMERED into me a while ago because of one of the Upstate threads.... You should probably work something out with your customer NOW, and then when (and if) Delta comes through with a settlement, hopefully your customer will rebate those monies back to you.... he did nothing wrong.... YOU probably did nothing wrong, but your customer shouldn't have to pay for it in any way.... he was expecting a guaranteed LIVE and healthy animal and he didn't get it.... you should probably reimburse him NOW for that one animal and get it reimbursed to you on the back end.... just my opinion....

Neil