Damaged pallet of pellets do you accept?

[fish__]

I received a partial delivery of pellets from Lowes on Monday. Why when I ordered 2 weeks ago they had stock but that another story. Its been raining the last few days. One of the Pallets looked as though the fork lift went through the bottom row of pellets. I was not home when they delivered. I wanted to return the whole pallet for a new one. The girl at Lowes seemed surprised that I would take this route.

Just curious as to what other people would do? Is it normal to have damage and its just accepted? I was pissed that the delivery driver would leave a damaged product in the first place.....

 

[Harvey Schneider]

When I had a delivery of pellets that was damaged by the fork lift, Lowes offered to give me replacement bags and allowed me to keep the torn ones.
I didn't even have to ask, the delivery driver offered that as soon as he saw the torn bags.

 

[rona]

Normally I set any damaged bags aside and return them as soon as possible or call the store stating what happened and you have X number of bags to return. I just went through this last week and the store was good about it. I evidently got the last bags that had been exposed to rain. I unload and restack by hand so I can tell if a bag has chunks or feels solid. A picture with cell phone will help if the fork lift driver dinged the pallet damaging the sacks. Normally I will look closely at the store and reject a pallet that has damaged sacks.

 

[fish__]

I could sort through and waste an hour but I guess I was a little upset with the store. They sold be pellets and they were in stock. I get a call a few hours before delivery and say they are short and will only get a partial shipment. When I talked with the delivery manager I get a snippy answer to why I got a partial (They oversold) and she can't control what happens over the weekend when she's not there. So they sold my pellets I paid for 2 weeks ago. Then when a pallet shows up damaged and pellets are all over the driveway. Wasn't very happy with the transaction.

 

[mik_kane]

Take pictures of the damaged bags and go to Lowes and tell them you want the damaged bags replaced

 

[killie11]

I could sort through and waste an hour but I guess I was a little upset with the store. They sold be pellets and they were in stock. I get a call a few hours before delivery and say they are short and will only get a partial shipment. When I talked with the delivery manager I get a snippy answer to why I got a partial (They oversold) and she can't control what happens over the weekend when she's not there. So they sold my pellets I paid for 2 weeks ago. Then when a pallet shows up damaged and pellets are all over the driveway. Wasn't very happy with the transaction.

You should make her and the delivery driver eat them. I wouldn't take that from anyone I cant believe the unprofessionalism of that driver.

 

[bill3rail]

They should replace them, or give a deeply discounted price on the broken bags.

They're usually good with this!

Bill

 

[briansol]

If they aren't wet, i'd be ok with it, but would expect to be reimbursed for the bags that are damaged. I wouldn't try to send back the whole pallet.

 

[oliveone]

I would not send the pallet back. find out how many bags are bad ( wet or broken open ) see how much you can save out of each bag. Total up your loss an ask Lowes to replace. Don't get greedy. If all members say they have more bad then is it will cause the price of pellet to increase. 2 wet bags & 4 ripped bags doesn't mean you get 6 new full bags. Just my 2 cents

 

[yrock87]

I would take a look at how much you lost and ask for that back in fresh bags. looks like you had 2 ripped bags, maybe as many as 5 if the tine also got the second row. if you get 5 bags out of the deal, and get to keep 180 of the 200 lbs in the damaged bags, it is still a win. unfortunate if you were going to leave the pallets outside, but now you know which pallet to stack first!

 

[fish__]

Lowes came through today. I got home to find the rest of my pellets in the driveway and they replaced the damaged pellets. I guess I'm old school to expect a perfect product to be delivered. I can understand if the damage isn't visable but pellets spilling out everywhere......

 

[Shawn S]

I check my bags as I'm restacking them from the driveway into the garage.
This is only my second year with the stove.
Last year I had four broken bags out of 2-tons so I took my receipt back to the store and got replacement bags.
This year I only had one bad bag out of four tons and the pellets inside were OK so I didn't even go back to the store.

 

[Markus38]

I always carry a roll of duct tape in the truck for Lowe's pellets. they are usually good but some stores are better than others. I think i had 5-7 bags out of 6 tons that were torn.

 

[drizler]

Sending back the whole pallet is asking a lot. After all it's not a work of art and you will be tearing into them soon enough. They should just give you some replacements. Take some pictures and go see the manager. Chances are he will just offer you up replacements and not even bother having you bring back the broken one's from home. I always try to use bags with a hole early on but it usually makes no real difference I ever saw

 

[Ctcarl]

Glad it wrked out.i love the green teams .burn hot and clean.

 

[CladMaster]

I had a delivery yesterday from Lowes, had a pallet with 4 bags damaged, I took stock of the pallet. Called into Lowes this morning with pictures on my phone to show them, they did not even blink an eye and gave me 4 bags and said I could keep the damaged ones as well.

Now that's customer service.

 

[lagger]

wish I had known .. bought 2 pallets of timber heat from lowes in August, came home and discovered a trail from the driveway head to the garage doors where I asked they be left, turned out the lift sent a tine though a bag, I have a pellet cleaner and so I used it on that bag as a lot of the pellets were crushed, probably cleaned out 10-15ibs of dust and crushed pellets from that one bag. So.. at 535 for 2 tons delivered I wasnt really hurt by it all... have not yet used the Timber Heats in my stove, but have two bags precleaned including the damaged one remnants, that are due to go into my stove later this week when the NEWPS in it from last spring are burned up.

 

[STANG32]

4 years of pellets being delivered & usually 10-15 bags damaged out of 4-6 tons per year. each time, HD has made good on each damaged bag, most times , gave me more than I reported as bad,
this year, 6 tons, 1 broken bag & 4 ripped but no leakage.
so, I guess they are getting better
I moved & re-stacked all 6 tons in under 2.5 hrs, not bad for an out of shape 46 y/o

.

 

[fish__]

So it seems very typical to have damaged pellets Im new to this still think if the they see damage should let the customer know or even better have some extra bags ready to replace the damaged ones.

 

[Markus38]

If you buy pellets from HD or Lowe's always have duck tape handy,
Just today I picked up a ton of pellets, a young energetic know-it-all kid loaded the pellets. When he pulls out his forks, pellets just start pouring out. He must have poked a hole when he picked up the pallet. He was a bit peeved when I pointed out his mistake. Look under the pallet when you pickup, you will see two piles of pellets.
I think I had 5 out of 10 this season. Twice the just gave me extra bags, twice got home before i noticed, and then today he just gave me a new pallet (a bit upset about it). Since I got them for $203 or $220 a ton, I will not cry over a few pellets.
Buyer beware.

 

[Pete Zahria]

I think it really depends on how bad the damage is.
Take one pound of pellets and pour them on the floor.
How many of those small piles do you think you got.
1? 2? 3? A pound is a pretty good amount.
Now figure each pile is worth 15 cents.
I would never think about asking for another bag for 50 cents worth of pellets.
Out of say a $1000 order..If you lost half a bag, 20 pounds.. that's a different story.
I'm pretty skeptical of claims that there was 40 pounds of waste in a pallet.
To say you deserve a new bag, for each damaged bag, I think, is a little much.
Especially if you keep the 38 pounds in the damaged ones.
I think if a place gives you a bag, for losing a couple of pounds, that is more than fair.
What we noticed years ago, was that on the last row of bags on the pallet
that you take off, you have to pick them straight up. If you drag them even a little,
MANY times there is a nail sticking up even an 1/8" on the pallet, that will rip that baby open.
and when you see some pellets fall, you automatically think it's a damaged bag
from the dealer.....

Dan

 

[Arti]

I usually rip 2 or 3 bags per pallet just moving them 3 feet from the pallet to re-stack them.
I use the handy mans secret weapon to fix them.

 

[KD0AXS]

As a truck driver for a local delivery company, I can tell you that product like this gets damaged all the time. A lot more than you guys probably realize. I pick up damaged freight all the time, and I'm forced to deliver it that way. I always take pictures and make notes on the paperwork just to cover my own @$$. Even though it was nothing I did, it's still my fault because I'm the only person the customer sees face to face. Makes me look like an idiot, when I'm just doing my job.

We do a lot of local deliveries for a major national freight company, and just about everything we get from them is damaged somehow. They've tried to give me stuff that was damaged so bad that I refused to let them load it on my truck. On their trucks it goes out no matter what, but it's not going on my truck that way.

Just an example, this is a pallet of prunes. Some of the boxes were busted open and leaking all over. I told them it can't go on my truck that way, and after a half hour of arguing and 5 different managers coming down to look at it, they finally agreed to re-stack the stuff so it at least looked halfway presentable. On their trucks, it would have been loaded just like this and their driver would be forced to bring it to the customer that way.

I've never delivered pellets, but things shipped in bags like that are some of the worst things for getting damaged. We get pallets of flour in 50 pound bags, there are almost always 1 or 2 bags ripped open. I have to take it and deliver it that way, then clean up the mess it left in my truck.