I Bought A 2-Post Lift, and Then I Cried
 

After completing my shop construction I've finally pulled the trigger on a shop tool that I've lusted after for many years, a 10,000lb 2-post car lift.

The lift was shipped to my work for the ease of removal from the 18-wheeler.

Upon initial inspection once it was inside the building, the sides were quite scratched up and the packaging protection was laughable. Once I was able to un-band it and look underneath (where all the forklift drivers had used to handle it) there are gouges spanning several feet into both pillars.

I know I'm particular, but having two 12.5' tall pillars sticking up in my shop with deep scratches and gouges doesn't seem acceptable to me.

After much back and forth with Dannmar, I was offered some store credit for more tools, or we could submit a shipping damage claim. After some deliberation I chose to go the path of the damage claim.

I loaded up the two columns and got them to the local powdercoat shop for re-coating. Hopefully I can try to install the damn this soon and the shipping company doesn't try to fook me.

Pictures below of the damage.

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i'm with you. I would never have put that up in my shop. I am sorry you have to deal with this. Even if you will be getting reimbursed for some of it, you will be out the time you spent and you will be out the time you had to work without a lift.

Agreed.

I'm the type of person when building a car, that if a suspension bolt/nut has to come out, it gets replaced with fresh. All that damage on the lift is absolutely not acceptable.

They installed a Challenger 2 post at work that probably has worse scratches. Not sure if it was during shipping or our wonderful "building maintenance" guys installing it. Here it doesn't really matter they get covered with dirt/scratches pretty fast.

I made a similar post over on Garage Journal. I couldn't believe how many people implied they wouldn't care and would take the free tool offering.

I'm aware that I have higher expectations that most, but more than half seemed perfectly content with the free tool situation. I suppose this is just one of those situations I'm just not supposed to understand.

I wonder if they'd accept a new car off the lot with the same scratches? Maybe a "free oil change" by the dealer to make amends I'm with you, unless I got a "open box deal" I expect it to be new/pristine.

That's impressive. I've moved my lift at least twice and it still looks better than that. The shipping company won't pay you a dime unless you bought 3rd party insurance. Any company that regularly ships LTL should understand that the impetus is on them to package the product in such a way that bump-and-scrape damage is impossible. Dannmar should be covering the damage IMO, shame on them for not offering to. If you used a CC to buy it, I would consider calling them about it.

I'm in complete agreement. A few pieces of sacrificial wood could have saved everyone involved time, effort and frustration. Literally tens of dollars.

I also had the same reservation about the shipping damage claim being paid out. In this case the warranty agent is filing one and he assured me that they would be reasonable. Time will tell I suppose.

That sucks, and I agree is completely unacceptable. Items should arrive undamaged no matter what they are.

I, too, have been lusting for a lift for quite some time and am routinely researching to see which one I want. I need to make some ceiling adjustments and concrete reinforcement before I can move forward with anything though - my garage only has 8' ceilings and the concrete depth is a touch under 4". I'm hoping to be able to modify my trusses to gain at minimum 2' of ceiling height. 4' would be more ideal obviously, but I'd be happy enough with 2' if I could do it relatively simply/cheaply.

I would go for the tool deal and paint the lift posts myself.

I pestered the hell out of the lift company so they would pack it well when we bought ours.
Unpacking the thing took damn near half an hour when it arrived.

Not acceptable. It looks like a used lift. A little scraped up on the bottom pads is one thing, but that's right where you see it.

When I bought my Ranger Quickjack (which goes right on the ground), Flyin' Miata called after I got it. They not only wanted to make sure I was happy with my purchase (I was, and am), but they also specifically asked about the condition of the packages and if there was any shipping damage. They wanted to be sure that the jacks arrived in absolutely new condition. I'm glad I bought from them.

I think that's not acceptable.

My garage is coming along too and I'll be buying multiple lifts soon. Danmar just went to the bottom of my list.

GAWD..They could have at least half-assed a 70" pallet to the bottom of the posts. Anything but metal tines on a painted metal post.. Hell, they probably did half the damage themselves loading it.

Why didn't they strap this to a pallet? They can build the cost of a long enough pallet into the price. Anything that gets shipped freight like this needs to be on a pallet with "no stack" cones taped to it. Fully wrapped in cardboard, banded, and stretch wrapped would also be a nice touch. This isn't rocket science here.

I agree that's unacceptable, and it's totally on the manufacturer to make it right. And I hope they do. However...

You are where you are right now. There are no easy options here, just PITA ones. My humble engineer's opinion is that unless that damage is worse than it looks in the pictures, the lift is probably fine from a structural standpoint. It may be that taking the free tools is the easiest thing at this point.

I agree with several above. We receive much larger and heavier items regularly and they are crated, strapped, and protected. That's shoddy packaging on behalf of the sender.

I think that some would accept this damage and take tools since they view it as "cosmetic" and not affecting functionality. Plus a commercial place that changes tires or has mechanics working on cars for pay would assume that these lifts will be scratched and dirty after a while anyway. I'm not saying one or the other is correct, but I can see both points. Where I do agree is that someone is on the hook for this - either shipper, insurance or seller (due to packaging).

A commercial place who receives a damaged piece of equipment, weather it's cosmetic or not has a guy to call. You can trust me when i say that businesses / companies do not deal with NEARLY the kind of crap the regular consumer deals with.

If i received this damaged hunk of garbage at work you can bet your ass that the salesmen who sold it to me will get it fixed, immediately.

I didn't realize so many people didn't use their credit card, and then when received something like this, "Oh you don't feel like helping? Great, pictures are going to the CC company and I'll be filing a dispute on the charges to have them reversed, and you'll still have to come get the lift anyway."

As a small ray of hope, the powdercoater was running semi-gloss black all day yesterday. They were able to clean up the damage and run the columns and arms for me yesterday. I'm now out several hundred dollars for that service, but at least it looks new again.

Now it's a waiting game to see how the damage claim turns out.

Hopefully I can get them stood up and installed this weekend.

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