Unfortunately, I recently had a bike that incurred damage when I shipped it with BikeFlights. Luckily it was insured, and they paid out, but I wanted to provide a review of my experience in case it happens to anyone else-when I was looking for their insurance reviews, I wasn't able to find much.
The bike was shipped <300 miles from OR to NorCal from a race to another race. The person packaging it did not do an amazing job-I certainly admit that -BUT it should have been more than suitable to make sure the bike got back from the race in one piece given NORMAL shipping conditions. Bubble-wrap, zip ties, extra padding, etc were used. I purchased insurance since I had a couple bikes stolen earlier this year and am a little anal now.
When the Shiv arrived, we immediately saw the massive gash in the side of the box, as well as a dented corner, as evidence that it had been dropped. The frame was scratched and gouged on the rear of the fork and downtube, from where a wheel was placed, and this lined up with the gouge on the side of a box. It looks like the wheel broke loose, the box was manhandled/laid on its side with heavy boxes on top, and as such, the wheel broke loose and scratched/gouged the frame. Given that it had under ~15 rides, I wasn't too happy.
I reached out to Bikeflights within a day of getting the box. I was concerned that they would want pictures of how the bike was packaged, but alas they did not. The tear in the box was pretty dang obvious that the box was mistreated. They replied back, asking me to send pictures, a note from the shop stating the damage/how much it would cost to repair or replace. Once this was submitted, they said they would get back to me within 3-5 days. I got a email back two days later stating that they approved the claim and I would be getting the $1400 of insurance.
My main qualm with the insurance process is here. Online, they state that they will "pay claims within 24 hours of APPROVAL", but I was then told that I would have to ship the frame out, and once they received the frame, they would pay it. I just didn't like how their written policy differed from actuality, through their actual process did make sense. They arranged for a prepaid label and pickup, and I disassembled and packaged and sent it out. I got the money back two days after it was received by them, but only after a couple phone calls/messages and emails.I am still waiting on the refund of the original shipping charges and hopefully the shipping charges I needed to send my wheels/parts back home.
Through the process, I was never able to talk on the phone with someone, it was always "leave a message and we will call you back", and I dealt with several different claims people rather than one contact person. Overall, I am not pleased that I had to deal with the hassle and that my bike was messed up in the first place, but I am content that they stuck to their word and made the claim process somewhat simple.
I just wanted to share my experience in case it can be beneficial for someone else.
The bike was shipped <300 miles from OR to NorCal from a race to another race. The person packaging it did not do an amazing job-I certainly admit that -BUT it should have been more than suitable to make sure the bike got back from the race in one piece given NORMAL shipping conditions. Bubble-wrap, zip ties, extra padding, etc were used. I purchased insurance since I had a couple bikes stolen earlier this year and am a little anal now.
When the Shiv arrived, we immediately saw the massive gash in the side of the box, as well as a dented corner, as evidence that it had been dropped. The frame was scratched and gouged on the rear of the fork and downtube, from where a wheel was placed, and this lined up with the gouge on the side of a box. It looks like the wheel broke loose, the box was manhandled/laid on its side with heavy boxes on top, and as such, the wheel broke loose and scratched/gouged the frame. Given that it had under ~15 rides, I wasn't too happy.
I reached out to Bikeflights within a day of getting the box. I was concerned that they would want pictures of how the bike was packaged, but alas they did not. The tear in the box was pretty dang obvious that the box was mistreated. They replied back, asking me to send pictures, a note from the shop stating the damage/how much it would cost to repair or replace. Once this was submitted, they said they would get back to me within 3-5 days. I got a email back two days later stating that they approved the claim and I would be getting the $1400 of insurance.
My main qualm with the insurance process is here. Online, they state that they will "pay claims within 24 hours of APPROVAL", but I was then told that I would have to ship the frame out, and once they received the frame, they would pay it. I just didn't like how their written policy differed from actuality, through their actual process did make sense. They arranged for a prepaid label and pickup, and I disassembled and packaged and sent it out. I got the money back two days after it was received by them, but only after a couple phone calls/messages and emails.I am still waiting on the refund of the original shipping charges and hopefully the shipping charges I needed to send my wheels/parts back home.
Through the process, I was never able to talk on the phone with someone, it was always "leave a message and we will call you back", and I dealt with several different claims people rather than one contact person. Overall, I am not pleased that I had to deal with the hassle and that my bike was messed up in the first place, but I am content that they stuck to their word and made the claim process somewhat simple.
I just wanted to share my experience in case it can be beneficial for someone else.