HELP! Shipping company wont deliver cnc!

[John Hamilton 3]

I'm throwing a hail mary hoping any of you have any ideas on how to solve this big problem.

I ordered a stinger II cnc from CAMaster and after waiting many months for it to be built and shipped, it finally arrives in my state and the shipping company wont deliver it. They say that it is too big for a liftgate delivery like I had set up with CAMaster and that not only do I need a forklift but I also need a loading ramp because it's too long for the forklift to lift out. I don't know if any of you guys ran into this problem or not, but I could sure use some advice. I'm pretty upset with CAMaster for not mentioning that the delivery we agreed on would not be what I was getting and I'm really upset with the shipping company for accepting the delivery which was originally set up for a residential neighborhood. Not many houses have loading ramps.

If any of you have ever been in this situation or have any ideas it would be greatly appreciated on this end.
Thanks in advance,



John Hamilton (very frustrated/bummed out luthier)

[daniel lane]

John,

I have zero experience with this sort of equipment, but I have had to receive long/large items before without a loading dock. One method that is suggested for receiving experimental aircraft kits is to tie a rope around/to the item and then secure the other end. As the truck creeps forward, the rope will pull taut and the kit/etc. will start sliding out of the truck. To keep the item from falling, you position saw horses/etc. underneath the crate as it comes out of the truck. Once it's out, you open/disassemble, etc. at your leisure. Not sure if this will help, but it might help to get it out of the truck for a forklift/etc. to move it.

Another idea may be to be selective for the forklift, if you absolutely must have one; look into hiring someone with a GradAll ("grade all") or other similar extension boom forklift. These can reach into the truck to pull the crate out/forward, and as long as the forks are long enough to get under the item, they can usually take a heavy weight at a distance. (I've rented a 10,000lb GradAll before, I believe they have larger ones, too. Max weight is reduced with boom extension, but you would barely need to extend the boom in this instance.) This would eliminate the need for a loading ramp and may also serve as an alternative to the rope trick for pulling the item out and letting it rest on sawhorses/etc.

Hope any of this helps, best of luck.



daniel

[Mike Heidrick]

Pretty sure keith unloaded a Stinger II with a Deere CUT and pallet forks on his loader?
I can DEFINATELY see how using a liftgate truck will not work. It barely worked with my big shaper.

I would go to the shipping company's dock, bring a rented tilt bed tow truck that is used for haluing cars (pay the tow truck company to help), have the shipper load it on that truck, you and the tow guy secure it, and the tow driver take that to your house.Tons of guys move HUGE Felder combo woodworking machines this way that are much larger than a Stinger II.

Then have a rented long arm pallet jack waiting at home when you get there with a few friends to help.

Personally I would use my tractor and loader but not ever person has one of those.

Find out the size machine/crate you need to move and call Sunbelt Rental or some other big time equipment rental company for help.

[Bruce Page]

The shipping company doesn’t have a flatbed trailer? I had a #2700 milling machine delivered to my home on a flatbed and I picked it off with a rented forklift.

Have you contacted Camaster? I’m sure they can tell you the best way to pick it up.
You might have to rent a flatbed & forklift.

[Scott Shepherd]

I agree with Mike. Call a tow truck company, tell them you need a flatbed, tell them what you're doing, and they'll be able to winch it onto the flatbed, secure it, bring it to your place, tilt the bed, release the winch and slide it down the ramp, leaving it where you want it.

We brought ours back in an enclosed trailer, but brought it back to a building with a loading dock so we had no way to get it up there. Called a tow truck, they came, pulled it out of our trailer onto their flatbed, backed up to the loading dock and we put pallets jacks under it and wheeled it right off.

It really was a piece of cake. Those guys get asked to do stuff like that all the time, so they'll know how to do it.

[Jerome Stanek]

rent a fork lift with fork extensions and have them bring it out to your place

[John Hamilton 3]

The shipping company doesn’t have a flatbed trailer? I had a #2700 milling machine delivered to my home on a flatbed and I picked it off with a rented forklift.

Have you contacted Camaster? I’m sure they can tell you the best way to pick it up.
You might have to rent a flatbed & forklift.

I called them yesterday the minute I got off the phone with the delivery company and left a message, but haven't heard back. I emailed them this morning with all of the information including the shipping companies local office # where the machine is being held the account # etc.., but I still haven't received a call or email back. I'm not entirely sure why you would offer a liftgate delivery for more money on a machine that can't be delivered with a liftgate? Also why wouldn't you inform the recipient that this was the case. Needing a forklift instead of the liftgate I coud've dealt with. The trucking company refusing to deliver without a loading ramp and forklift is a bit of stretch.

I haven't lost faith in CAMaster. I still believe they are a group of really nice people trying to make a good product, but I really hope they aren't the type of company that is there for you until you send them your last check and then they leave you hanging to fix a screw up on their end that occurred on their end. I'm sure that's not the case, but it's a little hard not to be slightly jaded in this situation.

Thanks for your input Mike. If their loading yard was in the same town as my shop that might be a solution unfortunately it's quite a distance from where it needs to be.

Daniel, thank you for your advice as well. I used to work on a loading dock in Montana and we did a maneuver I believe that was very similar to yours using the rope/chains and saw horses. I asked the delivery driver if we could try something like that and he said that would be well outside the guidelines they are allowed to follow. Basically he said, "if I help you drop it off the back of the truck it will be my (neck)" I will look into renting a Gradall but I think given where my shop is located it would have to be trucked over on a lowboy which will probably cost quite a bit more than I would like to spend at the moment. I recently just made a large purchase haha! Hey if you can't laugh at your bad luck then it's even worse than you thought.

[Gene Crain]

open that box at the shippers...make a few quick signs and I'm sure some of the boys would be happy to help you out!

[Mick A Martin]

I picked up my 4' x 8' machine which was in a 7' wide by 6' tall and 12' long create with a towing company flat bed ...... worked like a charm

[Keith Outten]

CAMaster delivered my Stinger II with a lift gate truck. The Stinger was larger than the lift platform so I picked up half the machine using a strap with my tractor and we lowered the Stinger to the ground by lowering the platform and my front end loader (FEL) at the same time. Once on the ground I picked the Stinger up with my FEL and moved it to my shop.

I didn't have pallet forks at the time, it would have made the job much easier and I wouldn't have needed the lift gate. My FEL is capable of lifting 1400 pounds and the Stinger had to be over a thousand pounds so I had to hook my bush hog to the back of my tractor for counterweight.

I now own a set of commercially made 48" long pallet forks, they are indispensable.

Other than my Stinger I normally have large machines held at the shipping dock and let them place the machine on my trailer. Once I get the machine home I have used a number of options to unload, currently the tractor has proven to be the easiest way....unless the machine weight exceeds the tractors lifting capability. The good news is that my trailer is a tilt bed so I can back it up to my shop and slide machines off the trailer to the shop floor with ease.

If you have a trailer hitch and a vehicle capable of pulling a one ton trailer you can rent a tilt bed trailer and move your machine yourself. A roll-back wrecker as mentioned before is always a good choice but they aren't cheap these days and you pay the milage fee in both directions. I own a lot of straps, wenches and other lifting gear and I have had plenty of experience over the last 30 years handling large heavy objects. If you don't have any experience find a friend who does to help you or pay someone to do the job, dropping a machine will break your heart

The folks at CAMaster are busy beyond belief, you should call them once per hour until you get through and ask for Joey Jarrard. Joey will help you make a decision that will work in your situation, they have been though this hundreds of times.
.

[james mcgrew]

john i am sure we will become friends as your new machine makes its way into your life,, with that i just woke joey up and you will have some help in a little while !! you have no idea how sincere these fellows are about the machines and thier owners.

have you joined the camheads forum, it is monitored for machine owners by machine owners who could have saved you a good bit of time at this point. my phone number is 803 518 2074,, the forum is "www dot camheads dot org" the flat bed wrecker is a good bet just insure he pulls on the crate only and not the machine

i gambled twice in my life and won both times,, that said i will bet CAMaster will get this fixed quick !!

[james mcgrew]

update,,,, john check your voicemail, joey returned your call yesterday.. it is first prority this am.. he called oakland terminal yesterday at 5:30 pm est 2:30 pm pst and dispatcher was not so well versed in english and attempted to pass info back to atlanta,,,, joey is calling broker this am at 9:00

more in a few minutes!!!

also found out that shipping company picked up machine contracted and agreed to deliver your machine with a full understanding of its size,, oakland may be an outsourced terminal

[Mike Package]

The folks at CAMaster are busy beyond belief

+1

I think it's hard sometimes to discern between a company that is overbooked/spread thin versus one that lacks concern. In my dealings with them, they definitely don't lack concern but since they are so very busy you have to make sure to follow up with them.

[Joey Jarrard]

Talked to John just now. Seems like the folks at the shipping company in CA is not as work oriented or resourceful as in other parts of the country.
I advised John to look in to a tow truck. I have a call in to our broker for a local truck company with some nads and gumption.

This is just one of those unavoidable problems you know. Like the genie said
It's all part and parcel, the whole "genie gig" PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! Itty-bitty living space!

[Jerome Stanek]

You did say you paid extra for a lift gate truck. there should be a refund there.