Zombob's Zombie News and Reviews

POTENTIAL ZOMBIE MOVIE MAKERS BEWARE!

How Filmmakers Get Screwed When They Ship With FedEx Because FedEx will totally demagnetize all your footage and not reimburse you for your work or the irreplaceable footage. Terminal Descent is a film we've covered on the PF recently, so were were horrified to find out that the raw footage of the film has actually been destroyed by the magnetization process that FedEx uses to scan their packages. Can you imagine putting god only knows how much money and how much time into making an independent film, and having FedEx fuck it all up for you in one fell swoop? Filmmaker and actress Tara Cardinal was set to receive a package containing the magnetized digital film tapes for the sci-fi flick Terminal Descent in August 2012. Two weeks later, on her Facebook page, Tara Cardinal wrote, Quote: So, most of you recall that 2 weeks ago on Friday I waited with my DOOR OPEN for Mr. Fed Ex driver to deliver my package (with the Terminal Descent footage). He never came. He just marked my package as 'undeliverable'. By the time I saw the update and called Fed Ex and got a return phone call (45 minutes later) he had already been back to the facility and GONE HOME. Clearly, he wanted to get a jump on his weekend. So, I trek down the office (a good 25 minute drive), pick up the package - only to discover that EVERY SINGLE tape has been wiped clean. All the footage is damaged. Magnatized. We call Fed Ex and IMMEDIATELY file a claim. They tell me they're going to send out an inspector to look at the tapes. GREAT! Send them over.Now, in FedEx's Terms of Service they make it very clear that they are not responsible for "erasure of data from or the loss or irretrievability of data stored on magnetic tapes, files or other storage media, or erasure or damage of photographic images or soundtracks from exposed film." Which is weird because FedEx seems to encourage the shipping of magnetized tapes on their shipping guidelines page. As of the 19th they were still "considering" her claim, and as of today, the 23rd. Quote: So there's been some discussion over the damage to the tapes. I contend that they are demagnetized (aka wiped clean - no footage). At first they told me they were going to waive the inspection. Now I'm being asked to ship the tapes to Utah to be inspected. This concerns me, because I live in Los Angeles, the heart of film making. Also, this pushes back the resolution yet another week. Monday will be THREE weeks since the claim was filed. At least there's forward motion. When I called FedEx, I was told that the customer service agents did not know what could possibly cause such a demagnetization, and that they had no idea how or why or when any package would ever come under anything resembling something that could demagnetize. Needless to say, they didn't even know what demagnetization was. Cardinal's Facebook post has been spread around quite a bit, and apparently FedEx is now willing to talk with her about covering her claim. Quote: It's not until I post on FB that I get any response at all. Finally, a nice supervisor calls me up and tells me that FED EX doesn't accept liability for magnatized tapes. Hear that film makers? DON'T send your TAPES via FED EX. They will wipe them clean and NOT honor the claimed value. Nor will they return phone calls with out publically calling them out.So, filmmakers, do not ship using FedEx. Period. Remember, this is the company where one of their delivery drivers threw a flat screen monitor over the customer's fence, destroying it.

~planetfury.com