Expert: Timmy Chou - 7/2/2005

Question
I own a small packing and shipping business in Ohio.
We recently
packed and shipped a projection screen for one of our  regular customers.  It went to a distributor
who promptly sent it to the manufacturer.  By the
time it got to the manufacturer it was damaged.  We never had time to pursue a shipping claim because there was a second carrier involved by the time we found out about the damage.  I took
the matter to our insurance company who found that
we did nothing wrong.  Our customer is still pressing us for satisfaction asking us to split
the amount of his loss which is $500.  I talked
to the distributor who does not remember the condition of the package.  They just put a new label on it and shipped it on.  I feel we did our
job but I also want to do right by our customer.  It doesn't make sense to me to cough up $250 when
we did nothing wrong.  Our customer doesn't see it
that way.  He's getting nowhere with the distributor and manufacturer so he's looking to
us.  He says no one wants to take responsibility.  I appreciate your input.  Steve  

Answer
Thank you for your question.

Mediators do not get involved in "resolving" disputes but use special techniques to assist disputing parties in settling their own conflict.  However, I will give you my opinion based on my business consulting experience.  

Unfortunately this scenario seems far too common, and comes down to who has the most long term interests in settling the matter.  Obviously the two shipping companies involved do not see your business as so important that they will do what is necessary to take care of their "customer".  If you were a large-dollar shipper they would step up and take care of it regardless of the fault.  They know that they can coast on the lack of adequate proof of liability to point fingers elsewhere.  

I would say that the pressure point is the distributor.  It was their responsibility to verify the condition of the package when it arrived at their facility.  Their "negligence" created your inability to correctly assess the proper liability for one shipper or the other.  

However, it is likely you would end up in a fight with them to try to compel them to take care of you--costing more than $250 in time, energy and real costs.  

Give it a shot, but in the end, you have a customer relationship to protect and really have little choice but to meet customer expectations.  

Good luck!