Careless, negligent and reckless with your fragile packages

We shipped our laser cutter via Intertown Transport from Cape Town to Johnannesburg. We paid R2200 to have it prepared and specially packed for us by the manufacturer, including the laser tube, which costs around R12 000. It was in a special re-enforced tube provided by the distributors of the laser cutter and clearly marked glass and fragile all along its length.

When we received the goods we could immediately see the laser tube had been crushed in the middle between two sharp edged objects. Upon opening the package we confirmed the laser tube had been crushed, costing us R12 000 to replace. The laser cutter itself was also covered in bumps and scratches, the perspex window on the top of the machine had collapsed from weight placed on top of it and it had clearly been mistreated in transit.

ITT promised to investigate the damage to our goods and came back one month later after numerous queries claiming their insurance doesn't cover glass and that was the end of it as far as they are concerned, but the problem here is you can plainly see this was purely down to negligence on their end and not how the goods were packaged. They just treated the packages recklessly, costing us R12 000. They haven't even offered to refund the courier fees we paid them to destroy our packages. We will be taking this to the ombudsman and be warned about using this courier yourselves as they clearly don't take care of the goods you ship, even after carefully packaging, labelling, and providing special instructions as to what they have.