Furniture Arrived Damaged: What to Do (Freight and Vendor Claims)
Damaged furniture is going to happen. What separates a resolved claim from a lost one is documentation and timing. Here is how claims work and why catching damage at a receiver, rather than at the client’s door, is what makes them winnable.
The two kinds of claims
- Freight claims cover damage that happened in transit, filed against the carrier. They depend on proving the piece was damaged in shipping, which is why inspection at receipt matters so much.
- Vendor or supplier claims cover manufacturing defects or pieces that shipped compromised, filed against the vendor. These usually run against a defined reporting window from the ship or receipt date.
In both cases, filing the claim is the designer’s or client’s responsibility. The receiver’s job is to give you the evidence and the timing to make it stick.
Why timing is everything
Every claim has a window. Miss it, and even obvious damage becomes your cost to absorb. Damage discovered weeks later on install day is often outside the window and nearly impossible to prove was not caused after delivery. Damage documented at receipt is squarely inside the window, with photographs to back it up.
How a receiver protects you
When a shipment is inspected and photographed at receipt, visible damage is caught, documented with photos, and reported to you promptly while the claim is still open. You get the evidence to file, the vendor or carrier has to answer to a documented record, and the client never sees the damaged piece.
What to do the moment you are notified
- Review the photographs and the condition report from the receiver.
- File the freight or vendor claim promptly, within the applicable window.
- Reorder or arrange the repair, and let the receiver hold the rest of the project so the install stays on schedule.
Trade Receiving inspects and photographs every piece at receipt and notifies you quickly, so a damaged shipment becomes a documented claim rather than a client-facing disaster.