Baggage handlers let my computer fall 4 feet onto the tarmac!
 

Yeah so i moved last week back to edmonton from Kelowna....

checked my tower in as a fragile item. they made me sign a non liability waver. its weird cause they didnt make me sign one of those when i was flying TO kelowna with the computer.
Anyhow, i was out on the runway at the bottom of the steps to the plane waiting in line and i looked over just as the box with my computer in it falls off one of those tall baggage carts beside the plane and bounces off the concrete!!! Fuck i almost pissed myself. so i get on the plane and tell one of the flight attendants but they couldnt do anything til we got to edmonton. and i was crying the whole flight i looked like such a fool. LOL!
So when i finally got the box into the baggage office and looked at the damage it was so sad. my poor computer is so beat up and later when i got some one to take a look at it, the burning is totally fucked and something else is making this nasty grinding noise and the side of the tower won't fit on anymore... cry cry!

So my question is this:
Although i signed this non-liability waiver, I also told the people when i checked the box in that it was a computer and it had fragile stickers plastered all over it. When i flew to kelowna they handled it very carefully by hand and treated it very well. on the way back they didnt show any of the same care and were obviously negligent letting the damn thing fall to the ground from 4 feet up... is there anyway to get them to pay for this? has anyone else had a problem similar?? the baggage office was supposed to investigate into the situation and call me but i have heard nothing.
i'm obviously pissed off. this was a brand new computer and my only way of making an income at the moment. should i threaten to go to the newspaper? blah i dont know.

anyone have any advice for a poor girly-girl? :(

I suggest you learn the difference between a hard drive and a computer.

you shuold have carried your hard drive in your pocket. OH WAI...

i'd never have signed the fucking agreement. it is their responsibility, you being their client. fuck them, if they wouldn't take the box without me signing the agreement, i'd demand a refund and tell them i'd find another airline.

dunno if you can do anything legally, around here i guess you can't actually sign away your liability. try that, or just start beating their employees with a crowbar until someone pays.

Gee thanks for your friendly advice i really appreciate it...:321GFY

Yeah. It doesn't matter that you signed your life away if the terms of the agreement are superceded by some law. Illegal contracts are automatically void whether you signed 'em or not.

i meant my computer tower not my hard drive

:thumbsup

However, that's not helping you now. What will help you now is a phone call to the airline. Tell your story. They'll say there's nothing they can do. Ask their name, then ask for their supervisor. Tell the story. Ask supervisor's name and ask to talk to HIS supervisor/manager/whatever adnauseaum until you get to someone with some clout. Tell the story and explain in no uncertain terms that you want a replacement. If no replacement comes forth, sweetly explain that you're a journalist and you have no problem with sending a story out over the wire about the mishap and the shitty customer service and lack of replacement.

You'll get whatever you want. :thumbsup

I have never heard of having to sign a non-liability waiver...what kind of airline is this?

Good advice but you do not have to pretend to be a journalist...just tell them you are going to several media sources to see if they might have an interest in the story.

It was WestJet. The weird thing is that the same airline didnt make me sign the waiver on the first flight i took...

alot of places get you to sign illegal waivers. They know they have no legal standing, its usually because they know legalese & a signature could intimidate the uninformed layman out of contacting a lawyer if he's ever tempted to sue.

Used to park my car in an SF garage that made you sign away everything but your first born child in order to park there. All legalese bullshit that would never stand up in court.

whites only sf garage

Take them to court and demand compensation, as you said, you cried the whole flight, so you were EXTREMELY depressed and personally effected by this. That's at least $10,000... plus a few free flights plus damages to computer ($5000).

Want to know a good Russian lawyer?

http://66.230.223.187/whitepark.jpg

Thats right

lol

After photos and repair documents are handed to them, never mind 20-30 phone calls and Emails, don't expect more than a hundred dollar voucher to fly with them again. I have been there, done that. Once you signed the liability release, you should as well have asked for a little lubricant and bent over right there.

Did you sign a waiver?

Airlines are really quite horrible. I would never put a pet underneath in baggage - because it is treated exactly how your computer was. You get $50 if your animal dies or is injured and they toss crates around just as badly as any other baggage. Obviously a life is invaluable.

Shitty about your computer though.

Cheers,
Matt

:mad:
Thats terrible, the poor things!! i never knew that... makes my computer problem seem like nothing.

This is a true story....

A lady took her dog with her when she traveled on the airline, she had to put him in a carrier and put him in the uderpart of the plane. When the plane landed the dog was dead. The supervisor assumed the baggage section was not sealed properly and the dog froze to death in the air. Instead of putting the dead dog with the rest of the baggage he threw it away, he did not want to explain about the dog.

Well, as you could assume the lady was heartbroken and pissed that the dog was lost. She threatened to sue the airline. The supervisor saw that this was a bigger mess than the dead dog would have been. So he went out and found a dog that looked just like the dead dog and tried to pass it off as the 'lost' dog.

When the lady heard the airline found her dog she was very happy - she went down to the airport to get the dog and when she saw it she claimed it was not her dog, could not be her dog and was even more upset than she was before.

Turns out the dog was dead BEFORE they put it on the plane - she was taking it back home so she could bury it with her other dead pets.

Needless to say the supervisor was fired and the lady took legal action against everybody she possibly could have.

True story, happened a few years ago - and yes, I did work for the airline when this happened.

Yikes. :(