FOLLOW UP:
On July 10, 2017, News 5 Investigates confirmed the United States Postal Service issued a $400 refund related to this case.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The United States Postal Service lost a customer’s watch back in February 2017. So far, USPS refused to make things right.
Even though the customer purchased insurance, her claim was denied.
Heather Allery says after her husband’s Seiko watch stopped working, she sent it off for repair.
“He wore the watch everyday,” she said. “Dana never took it off. I trusted the post office.”
That trust quickly eroded.
“My hope was that it would make it to Seiko and get fixed,” Allery said.
However, the watch disappeared somewhere between the Colorado Springs post office on Uintah Street and the Seiko repair shop in New Jersey.
“The repairman received the envelope and it was empty,” Allery said.
Allery insured the watch for $400, but says its sentimental value is much higher.
“My husband, Dana, got it from his mom who passed away in Dec. 2014 and it was a gift to him when he was 40 years old,” she said. “He’s 57-years-old now so it was pretty sentimental.”
Allery filed an insurance claim which was denied because she did not provide acceptable proof of the watch’s value like a sales receipt.
Keep in mind—the watch was a gift.
Allery was not happy with the denial letter.
“I swore,” she said. “I mean you don’t want your stuff going missing. It shouldn’t go missing so yeh, I swore.”
A spokesperson for the United States Postal Service told News 5 Investigates to have Allery re-file a claim. She did, but claims she heard nothing back.
We were then told to check the status of her claim by calling a 1-800 claims number which we’ve called numerous times.
News 5 Investigates has been working on Allery’s case for nearly two months and after numerous phone calls and emails, the only response we’ve been able to get was this statement from the post office:
“Last year we delivered 5.2 billion packages – the vast majority arriving on time and intact. Occasionally, contents will become separated in handling and we are unable able to match them to the recipient. We believe this to be the case here and we are very sorry for the loss incurred by Mrs. Allery. In this instance, an insurance claim was initially denied because there was no proof of value included with the documentation. For the education of your viewers, proof of value for postal insurance must be provided at time of claim. This could be as a sales receipt, paid invoice or bill of sale, or statement of value from a reputable dealer. In the case of Mrs. Allery, acceptable proof might have been an estimate from a watch dealer or an online auction site. Normally, customers have 60 days to file a claim from the time of loss. If that claim is denied, there is a 30-day limit to appeal.”
David Rupert, corporate communications spokesperson for USPS did say in an email to News 5 that the post office is currently re-evaluating the claim and expects to settle with Mrs. Allery within a few days.
News 5 Investigates will keep you updated on what happens.
To learn more about the insurance claims process with the post office, click here.
