<<If you're still unsure, buy things COD. With that, you have the
right to open and inspect prior to paying (assuming the UPS guy will wait on
you - it's his job) But, the COD route normally cost about $5 more, I
believe.>>
I was just going through the hassle of shipping something from the States to
Canada, and talked to just about all of the shipping companies. I was
purchasing a piece of stereo gear that cost about the same as a rough but
derivable MGB, and wanted to be sure that I could verify that the package
contained the right stuff instead of just a couple of bricks before handing
over the loot!
The bad news - UPS and Fedex will not allow you to open the package until you
have paid for it. Worse news - neither of them do COD service to Canada. Maybe
in some cases you can talk the driver into letting you open it, but that was
the scoop from the people at the 1-800 number in regard to company policy.
What we ended up doing might be useful to someone having expensive parts
shipped - I had my associate in the office (we are both lawyers) fax a letter
confirming that I had given him a draft for the full price (and a fax of the
draft itself), and that he was instructed (by me) to return either the goods,
if they were not as represented, or the draft, to the shipper as soon as the
package arrived. So the box comes in, I check it out, and my friend has to
ship either the draft or return the box the next day.
It didn't cost me anything, but I suppose unless you have a friendly lawyer
that works for a case of beer (I'm a wine guy, myself) it might get too costly
to consider unless the parts were a Twincam engine or something _really_
valuable.
And finally, an unrelated question. I was wondering what the market for alloy
non-crossflow heads was. Up here we have lots of old heads - until we run out
of cast iron cores, I can't see why anyone would spend the money on a new one,
alloy or not. Is the situation different below the border, or are the buyers
the guys that just have to have something different, even if it isn't any
better? Just curious.
Bill Spohn
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