Dealing with delivery disasters -- Page 2

"Keep all your records," he says. "By law, the credit card company must investigate your dispute."

Insist on free delivery
Ari Gershman, a recent college graduate in New York City, was thrilled to get new furniture as a gift from a relative. What he didn't know was that delivery would take up the summer -- and the fall, and the winter.

"In August, I ordered a bedroom set and was told the delivery would take four weeks. The four came and went, and I was waiting," Gershman says "Normally, I'm patient, so I kept waiting and waiting.

"Finally, in October, I called and they said there was a delivery delay because the furniture was coming from Italy. There was a labor dispute there, and I figured, OK, I'm supportive of labor unions, so I waited," Gershman says.

"On Monday, Oct. 27, I took the day off from work to wait for the furniture," he says. "But they said, 'Your furniture never got on the truck. They couldn't explain to me why."

The only good news? "They waived the delivery charge -- $185," Gershman says.

Insure your delivery, if you can
The delivery folks -- whether it's the U.S. Postal Service or a private delivery firm -- may have insurance options that can help you when delivery doesn't happen.

If you mail something precious, and you don't buy insurance, you're totally out of luck. The Postal Service makes every effort to find lost items, it says, but it won't compensate you financially for noninsured deliveries.

"Only insured items are covered," explains Monica Suraci-Miller, a spokesman for the Postal Service.

There are other caveats to keep in mind.

"Insurance only covers actual value, not sentimental value," says Suraci-Miller. "So one-of-a-kind family photos and items like that will have minimal actual value, although they may have considerable sentimental value.

"Also, we do not provide indemnity for loss due to delay," says Suraci-Miller. "For example, if you send a concert ticket and it arrives after the concert, that is not covered by insurance."

Don't skimp on packaging
There are steps you can take to increase the chances that your delivery will arrive safely, Suraci-Miller says.

"Package the goods properly as you would if you were moving them yourself," she says. "We sell Bubble Wrap and other mailing tools which can protect breakables in transit. Also, make sure the package is accurately addressed so that it will not require additional handling to complete its journey to its destination."

As to what happens to lost items, "When a piece gets separated, it goes to a mail-recovery center and every effort is made to match those pieces that have gone astray from the parcels that they are in."

If the merchant you buy from is sending it to you, an extra label can literally save your delivery, she says.

"You want to request that the sender and receiver names are inside the package as well as on the outside," she says.

Think before you buy
Sometimes there are clues that your item will never get there. One red flag with big-ticket, delivery-required items like furniture, or expensive, order-only items, like hand-crafted jewelry, is whether the company refuses to take credit cards.

"Be wary of companies that don't accept credit cards," Bilker says. "They may have lost their merchant's account if they had too many charge-offs."

Using a card is better for the consumer, Bilker explains. "Once you use your credit card that's it," he says. "It's the bank's responsibility. It's a big benefit. People say credit cards are evil, but you have these protections under the law, and you want that with a big-ticket item.

Don't lose perspective
If you do get stuck in a furniture-delivery quagmire, try not to lose your sense of humor.

When your precious cargo finally arrives, consider breaking out the champagne and doing what a young woman in Chicago recently did after waiting eight months for a couch.

She threw a furniture party.