I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

I was very unpleasantly surprise when I opened my credit card bill yesterday and found out that Sheppard Express charged me for freight on April 9th. I thought that we had free shipping to and from Atlanta?

Anyone have suggestions on who I should contact to clear this up?

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

Was your crate overweight? Shepard charges the credit card number you provided on the shipping forms if the crate is over the allowed weight for free shipping.

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

You're way off... always good to check the manual before you post.

http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...ation-RevA.pdf

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

It must be for overweight charges.
We got hit with the same as Shepard stopped by our pit to tell us.
This is even though it says FedEx to and from Championships, Free.

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

frcteams@usfirst.org will be able to help clarify.
or call the 800 number for FIRST and press "0" to reach them
8:30-5 M-F

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

How could those charges be for shipping from Atlanta (since the Championship was the next week)? The billing date of April 9 sounds like a drayage charge from SES upon arrival of your crate in Atlanta.

If the amount was $55 or $110, then you were charged for the crate being overweight. ($55/hundred). We sent a 495 lb crate from the LA Regional to Atlanta so we didn't have to lug so many tools, materials, etc. Needless to say, that was $55 well-spent.

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

Reminds me of a story...
Our teacher was charged for something like 8000$ on his credit card two years ago for shipping two robots (1577 and 1657) from Israel to Atlanta and back. Of course this was later resolved (however it was quite a shock to him at first).

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

I'm still checking into this but ........

No, we were not over weight.

yes, I was charged over $600 on May 9th. One week prior to the actual championship.

I used the original free shipping to get crate from School to St. Louis (one way) and then St. Louis to Milwaukee (one way).

Then, I thought that I used the free shipping (won Milwaukee Regional) to get to Atlanta from Milwaukee and back.

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

The charge most likely was for the St Louis to Milwaukee trip. You get shipping to ONE regional, to the Championships (if you go) and back home. (details posted by jgannon above)

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

There is only free shipping to one regional, you should have had to pay for either shipping to STL or to Wisconsin.

Shipping to one regional is free, to ATL is free, and home is free. I am guessing you got charged for STL to Wisconsin.

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

help me with this reasoning .........

If you get one free shipping for a regional (2 one way trips)
And one free shipping for championship (2 one way trips)

How did I use more shipping than given freely?

I went to St. Louis from School (1)
St. Louis to Milwaukee (2)
Milwaukee to Atlanta (3)
Atlanta to School (4)

Wouldn't this fall under the free freight?

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

No, you get free shipping to 1 Regional and Home.

If you are going to Atlanta you get shipping to the CMP from your last regional and shipping home.

If you goto more than one regional you are responsible for the shipping for that.

Here is a team example.

Last year 269 went to Wisconsin and Toronto and Atlanta. We paid for shipping from OHS to Wisconsin, used our free regional shipment to Toronto, and used free shipping from Toronto to Atlanta and home.

The free regional shipping is not round trip unless you are just going to that ONE regional and back home.

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

Nope, if you are a team registered for the Championship you get:

• free shipping TO one regional
• free shipping TO championship
• free shipping HOME.

This is stated in section 4.10.1 of the manual (Robot Transportation) on page 12.

See attached image.

I'm sorry to hear about your trouble. Hopefully your budget can absorb the added shipping costs. You guys have a great team, I bet the Championship was worth it!

Regards,
John

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

I have a question about this. The rules state that if you are registered for the Championship you get free shipping. Does this mean ANY team that is registered gets free shipping? Or is it just the teams that have qualified for the Championship that get free shipping?

We have been told this two different ways.
We double qualified both of the last two years but I would like to get this straight for next year...

Anyone know the straight scoop on this?

Can you show me in the rules where it states that only teams that qualify for CMP get shipping?

thanks

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

That would be true if the robot came home between the regional and the championship. But it doesn't - so there's only 3 trips total that are covered by the free shipping.

"Registered for" means registered. It doesn't matter how the team mananged to get that registration done.

Re: I was charged to ship robot home from Atlanta
 

John,

Thanks for the kind words. Coming from someone like yourself ,with the experience you have had with exceptional teams, it means a lot to me to hear.

We have been very fortunate our first two years. We have a core group of students that excel and have an unbelievable work ethic. As mentors, we sit back and shake our heads in disbelief wondering where they will take us next. It is a great ride.

We'll survive the $600+ hit and learn from the experience. You are right, we would not trade the experience of Atlanta for anything as trivial as $600. What's another moneymaking adventure in scope of all the things that we have been exposed to?

Let the journey continue. Again, thanks for the kind words.