Effective [launch date] · v1.0

The short version

  • Inspect the packaging before you sign anything. Walk all the way around it.
  • Write every mark you find on the delivery receipt before the driver leaves, however small.
  • Take photos of the packaging, the safe, and your signed receipt.
  • Don’t write “subject to inspection.” Freight carriers treat it as if you signed with no damage at all.
  • Found damage after unpacking? You have 48 hours to tell us. Keep all the packaging.
  • Questions during the delivery? Call us while the driver is still there: (877) 587-7333.

Print this page and give it to whoever will be there. The person who signs the delivery receipt is the person who protects your safe, and it isn’t always the person who ordered it.

Why this page matters

Your safe travels on a freight truck, on a pallet, usually wrapped and crated. Freight moves through several terminals and gets handled by forklifts at each one. Most safes arrive perfectly. Some pick up damage on the way.

When the driver hands you the delivery receipt, that document becomes the legal record of the condition your safe arrived in. If you sign it with no damage noted, the freight carrier is released — and once that happens, there is no longer any way to prove the damage happened in transit rather than after the truck pulled away.

That single signature is the difference between a claim we can win for you and one nobody can file. It takes about three minutes to protect yourself. This page shows you exactly how.

Before delivery day

  • Decide who will be there. They need to be 18 or older, and they need to have read this page. Print it and hand it to them.
  • Request a delivery appointment if you want one. Appointments are available on request. If you don’t ask for one, the carrier may deliver without scheduling and, in some cases, leave the safe without anyone present. What that means for your delivery
  • Clear the path. The driver brings the safe to the back of the truck and lowers it to the ground. Where it goes from there is on you unless you bought an upgrade.
  • Line up help and equipment in advance. Safes are heavy. A 700 lb safe on a pallet does not move without a pallet jack, an appliance dolly, or several people who know what they’re doing.
  • Charge your phone. You’ll be taking photos.
  • Keep your order number handy, and this page with it.

What will happen when the truck arrives

  1. The driver parks as close to your address as the truck can safely get. On residential streets that is usually the curb.
  2. The safe comes off the truck on a liftgate, on its pallet, still wrapped.
  3. The driver sets it down at the curb or in your driveway apron.
  4. The driver hands you a delivery receipt to sign. This is the moment that matters.
  5. Once you sign, the driver leaves.

The driver will not carry the safe up your driveway, into your garage, or into your house unless you purchased that service. They will not remove it from the pallet or take the packaging away. What curbside delivery includes

Inspect the packaging: what you’re looking for

You are inspecting the outside — the crate, the cardboard, the shrink wrap, the pallet, and the corners. Freight carriers do not allow you to unbox a shipment at the curb unless the packaging itself shows damage, so the outside is what you have the right to examine.

Walk all the way around it. Look for:

  • Crushed or caved corners, top and bottom
  • Tears, punctures, or gouges in the cardboard or wrap
  • Strap marks cutting into the carton — over-tightened straps damage the finish underneath
  • Water staining or a soft, damp feel to the cardboard
  • A leaning or broken pallet, or a safe that has shifted on it
  • Anything that looks like a forklift hit it

If the packaging is damaged, ask the driver to wait while you open it and look at the safe itself. Packaging damage is what gives you the right to do that.

How to write the notation

If you find anything at all, write it on the delivery receipt before you sign.

Be specific. Name the item, name the location, name the damage:

Good: “Crate crushed lower right front corner approx. 8 in. Cardboard torn, door edge exposed. Dent in door face approx. 3 in. below handle. 1 of 1 skid.”

Not good enough: “Damaged.” “Box beat up.” “Possible damage.”

A vague notation is nearly as weak as none. The carrier’s claims department needs to know what was damaged and where, and so do we.

Then sign, and keep your copy of the receipt with the notation visible on it.

Phrases that will void your claim

Never write “subject to inspection” on a delivery receipt.

It feels like it protects you. It does the opposite. Major carriers’ published rules state that “subject to” is an improper exception and will be treated as evidence of a clean delivery — exactly as if you had signed saying everything was fine. At least one national carrier states plainly that it is not a valid notation of damage.

Also avoid: “possible damage,” “subject to count,” “not inspected,” or anything else that describes your uncertainty instead of describing the damage.

Write what you actually see. If you can see it, describe it. If you genuinely cannot see anything, note that you were not permitted to unpack, and then inspect and report within 48 hours.

Minor scuffs are normal — write them down anyway

Safes are heavy steel objects that travel on pallets. Small scuffs, scrapes, and packaging abrasions are common on freight deliveries and usually don’t affect the safe at all.

Write them down regardless. It costs you nothing, it takes ten seconds, and it preserves every option you have. A note about a scuff you end up ignoring is harmless. A missing note about a scuff that turns out to be a dent is not.

Whether a mark is a defect or normal cosmetic variation is a separate question, and we answer it here: Cosmetic imperfections

When to refuse the delivery

If the damage is significant, refuse the shipment. Write the damage on the receipt first, then refuse. Call us at (877) 587-7333 while the driver is still there if you want help deciding.

Refusing for damage that you documented costs you nothing. Your right to refuse

Refusing for any other reason is treated as a return, with the fees that go with it — so if you’ve simply changed your mind, don’t refuse the truck, call us instead. Returns and cancellations

If your delivery has more than one piece and only one is damaged, you can refuse just that piece and accept the rest. Write on the receipt which pieces you refused and why.

Photograph everything

Before the driver leaves, and before you open anything:

  • All sides of the packaging — including the sides that look fine
  • Close-ups of any damage, plus one wider shot showing where it sits
  • The delivery receipt with your notation on it
  • The safe itself, all sides, once you’ve unpacked it

Send everything to info@alpinesafes.com with your order number. What we need to file a claim

After the driver leaves: you have 48 hours

Unpack and inspect your safe the day it arrives, even if you’re not ready to use it yet. Safes ship crated, and some damage simply cannot be seen until the packaging comes off.

If you find damage after unpacking, tell us within 48 hours of delivery. If that lands on a weekend or a holiday, you have until the end of the next business day. The 48-hour window and what it requires

Keep every piece of packaging — the pallet, the crate, the cardboard, the foam, the straps — until we confirm in writing that you can throw it out. The carrier has the right to inspect it, and a claim without the packaging usually fails.

If you already signed

It happens. Drivers are in a hurry, and not everyone reads this page first.

Call us anyway, right away. What happens next depends on whether the damage was something you could have seen from the outside, and there’s a real difference between the two cases. We’ve set it out here: If you signed a clean delivery receipt

If you chose delivery without an appointment

If you didn’t request an appointment, the carrier may deliver when nobody is there and leave the safe. When that happens there is no inspection and no signature, and the carrier’s own paperwork records the delivery as complete and undamaged.

That matters a great deal for anything you find afterwards. Delivery appointments and unattended delivery

Related policies: Damage, Defects & Claims · Shipping & Delivery · Returns, Refunds & Cancellations

Westside Security Inc, DBA Alpine Safes 1979 Marcus Ave #210, Lake Success, NY 11042 (877) 587-7333 · info@alpinesafes.com