A brief interlude, if you will

Point #1
I just want to take a moment to discuss this asinine policy that FedEx has. This guy had better luck than I did in getting his claim resolved but hit the same brick wall. Considering the fact that he was lied to blatantly by a representative of FedEx, there seems to be a pattern forming in the ethics department.

Lets look at this policy from a logical perspective. When a commercial customer of FedEx is involved it is completely rational. The receiving party would contact the people they bought the product from, inform them it was damaged in shipping, and they would receive a replacement and return the damaged goods. The commercial customer would then negotiate a claim with FedEx and get reimbursed for their damaged merchandise. All fine and dandy. But what about people that ship items they sold on eBay that don't carry inventories but use eBay as a garage sale?

When I paid for the computer I paid $250 plus actual shipping and handling charges. When the eBayer cashed my money order the computer no longer belonged to him and he was contractually obligated to ship it to me. A contract which he fulfilled. He is in no way obligated any further. But if he was a contracted agent of mine, paid and acting on my behalf, shipping goods that already belonged to me wouldn't that make me the original shipper since the ebayer was acting in proxy on my behalf?

I am no law expert but it strikes me that this policy does not make sense in the case of eBay sellers and similar consumer users of FedEx. The more I think about this infuriating policy the more it seems to be an unethical barrier to prevent legitamite claims from being processed.

Point #2
Now lets take a look at the package itself, it was dropped from such a great height that it literally tore the box open, got through several layers of packaging material, and continued on it's way to damage the front plastic facia. In the process creating such a jarring impact that the PSU was functionally destroyed.

Had there been no exterior damage or had the box not been retaped by a second party it could be said that a FedEx employee wasn't aware that there had been a potentially damaging fall. However a FedEx employee was obviously aware so it becomes a question of why they do not have a system in place to mark packages that have been knowingly damaged in transit? It would both expedite and validate legitimate claims not to mention make it seem as if FedEx actually cared about the quality of the service they provide. However this entire situation makes me feel as if FedEx intentionally avoids paying claims in this fashion in order to boost profit margins at the expense of their customers. It is common but it should not be acceptable. I think it is the type of behavior that can lead to punitive damages in civil litigation.