| Walk all four sides | Crushed corners, punctures, water staining, a leaning or re-wrapped load. Do this before you touch the pen. | 2 min |
| Photograph it twice | On the truck, and again on the ground. Timestamped photos are the evidence a carrier cannot argue with. | Free |
| Write damage on the receipt | In words, before signing: “damaged: [what you see], subject to inspection”. | Critical |
| Be there yourself | A neighbour signing for you signs away the same rights. | Plan it |
| Report within days, not weeks | One brand we track gives you seven days. Others exclude transit damage entirely. | 7 days |
The uncomfortable fact: for most saunas and cold plunges, the warranty you spent an hour comparing does not cover the single most likely thing to go wrong. Freight damage is commonly excluded outright — which means on delivery day the document that protects you is not the warranty, it is the delivery receipt in the driver’s hand. Signing it clean is you telling the carrier the shipment arrived undamaged.
Read from each company’s own published warranty terms. These are quoted, not paraphrased, and every one is linked in our warranty database:
| Brand | Their published position on transit damage |
|---|---|
| Redwood Outdoors | Freight damage not covered. Labour, assembly, electrician, contractor, crane, rigging, permit and service-call costs all excluded. |
| Nordic Wave | Shipping damage must be reported within 7 days. Third-party freight forwarding voids the warranty entirely. Leaving it uninstalled beyond 30 days also voids it. |
| Ice Barrel | Transportation and storage damage excluded. Warranty void if the serial number is missing or illegible. |
| Sweaty Yeti (KEB Homes) | Restricted access “may require cranes or special equipment at additional cost”. If you cannot receive the finished structure, storage runs $250/month and condition is not guaranteed. |
The driver brings the pallet to the edge of your property and stops. A sauna pallet runs from several hundred pounds to well over a thousand, and moving it is your problem — as is any crane needed to clear a fence, a slope or a narrow side return. Two things to settle in writing before you order:
1. What level of delivery am I buying? Curbside, threshold, or set-in-place are three
different services at three different prices. Assume curbside unless told otherwise.
2. Can a truck and trailer physically reach me? Measure the gate, the path and the
turning space now. A crane booked on the day costs far more than one planned, and a pallet that cannot
reach the garden becomes a storage problem with a monthly bill attached.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Visible damage, product probably fine | Note it on the receipt in words, photograph everything, accept the delivery. Note-and-accept is usually the faster remedy than refusal. |
| Obvious major damage | Refuse the shipment outright and photograph it on the truck. Tell the seller the same day, in writing. |
| Damage found after unwrapping | This is a concealed-damage claim and it is the hard one. Report it immediately — in writing, with photographs, and inside any stated window. One brand we track allows seven days. |
| Driver is in a hurry | That is not your problem. The inspection takes two minutes and it is the only leverage you will ever have. |
Both answers should come in writing before a deposit. A seller who answers plainly is worth buying from. This is item 6 on our printable checklist, and it connects directly to the warranty database, where the same brands' full terms are quoted with sources.
Warranty documents, delivery conditions, and genuine price drops on everything we track — each with its source and the date we read it.
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Every warranty position above was read from the brand’s own published terms and is linked with its date in our warranty database. Terms change without notice — confirm yours in writing before you pay. This is general guidance on freight practice and not legal advice; your carrier’s bill of lading and your contract with the seller govern. Spot an error? hello@saunaclear.com — corrections are published, not buried.