Source: https://alpinesafes.com/damage-claims/
Effective [launch date] · v1.0
The short version
Three different problems get lumped together as “damage.” They have different deadlines and different owners. Find your row first.
| What happened | Your deadline | Who resolves it | Where to start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage visible on the packaging or safe at delivery | Before you sign the delivery receipt | Alpine Safes, with the freight carrier | Write it on the receipt, then report it to us |
| Damage found after unpacking (the packaging looked fine) | Within 48 hours of delivery, extended to the next business day if it falls on a weekend or holiday | Alpine Safes, with the freight carrier | Concealed damage, below |
| The safe doesn’t work as specified (a defect, not transit damage) | That brand’s warranty terms | The manufacturer, directly | Manufacturer Warranties |
| A small cosmetic imperfection; the safe works perfectly | See below | Usually not a defect | Cosmetic imperfections, below |
Not sure which row is yours? Contact us within 48 hours of delivery and we will tell you which process applies.
If your delivery was made without an appointment and nobody was present to sign, read Delivery appointments in our Shipping & Delivery Policy first. It explains what an unattended delivery means for a claim.
Write every dent, tear, crush mark, and scuff on the delivery receipt before you sign it. Damage that is not written on the receipt cannot become a claim.
The delivery receipt is the legal record of the condition your safe arrived in. Once it is signed with no exceptions noted, the freight carrier is released, and there is no longer any way to prove the damage happened in transit.
At the truck, in order:
Safes ship crated and wrapped. Some transit damage cannot be seen until the packaging comes off. This is called concealed damage, and for a crated safe it is the normal case, not the exception.
Report concealed damage to us within 48 hours of delivery. After that, we cannot accept the claim.
If your 48 hours would end on a weekend or a public holiday, you have until the end of the next business day. A Friday delivery gives you until Monday.
The deadline is short because it has to be. Freight carriers deny concealed-damage claims that are not reported almost immediately, and our ability to make you whole depends on our ability to recover from the carrier. Unpack and inspect your safe the day it arrives, even if you don’t plan to use it yet.
To report: send everything listed under Evidence to info@alpinesafes.com within the window. You can call us at (877) 587-7333 as well, but the claim starts when your evidence reaches us in writing.
Two situations, two answers.
Damage that was visible from the outside at delivery, but not noted on the signed receipt: we cannot accept a claim for it. There are no exceptions. A clean signature is the carrier’s proof of a good delivery. It removes every means we have of establishing that the damage happened before the safe reached you.
Damage that could not have been seen from the outside (intact packaging, damaged safe inside) is concealed damage, and the 48-hour window above applies in full, evidence requirements included. Your photos of the intact packaging are what establish that the damage could not have been seen at the curb.
This distinction is the whole reason the delivery-day inspection matters. Read Receiving Your Safe before the truck arrives, and hand it to whoever will sign if that isn’t you.
We can only act on complete evidence, because complete evidence is what the freight carrier demands from us. A claim that is missing the items below cannot be processed.
Keep everything. Do not discard the pallet, crate, cardboard, foam, or straps until we tell you in writing that you can. The carrier has the right to inspect the safe and its packaging, and by filing a claim you agree to allow that inspection. If the packaging is gone, the claim usually dies with it.
Freight claims involve the carrier and, on many orders, the manufacturer or supplier who booked the shipment. That is why the window is what it is. You will not be left wondering where things stand.
If we approve your claim, we choose the remedy. Depending on what actually happened, that may be replacement parts, a repair, a locksmith we arrange, a partial credit while you keep the safe, a replacement, or a refund. We pick the option that makes you whole fastest. Most freight damage is a single part or a finish blemish, and a full round trip of a several-hundred-pound safe serves nobody.
Approved damage claims never carry a restocking fee, and shipping required by a remedy we choose is paid by us.
Safes are welded steel products, built and finished in many hand-work steps. If your safe opens, locks, and performs to its specifications, minor cosmetic variation is not a defect. That includes slight differences in paint texture or gloss, small marks near welds and seams, and minor handling scuffs.
Two distinctions worth knowing:
Write everything on the delivery receipt anyway, however small. It costs nothing and preserves every option you have.
A defect is a product problem that is not transit damage: the safe does not function to its specification. Defects are covered by the manufacturer’s written warranty, and warranty claims go directly to the manufacturer, under the manufacturer’s own terms.
Every brand we carry, its published warranty terms, and where to file: Manufacturer Warranties.
Alpine Safes sells the products; the manufacturers warrant them. We offer no warranty of our own, and nothing on this site adopts, extends, or modifies any manufacturer’s warranty. If you cannot tell whether you are looking at a defect or at transit damage, contact us within the 48-hour window and we will tell you which process applies.
Related policies: Receiving Your Safe · Shipping & Delivery · Returns, Refunds & Cancellations · Manufacturer Warranties
Westside Security Inc, DBA Alpine Safes 1979 Marcus Ave #210, Lake Success, NY 11042 (877) 587-7333 · info@alpinesafes.com