With over five hundred bicycles shipped world wide, I have seen three situations of damage occurring due to shipping carelessness. I pack my bikes really well but sometimes damage does occur.
Instance one, a damaged set of stays on an early eighties Basso Gap. Took me, the buyer and finally one decent employee from the shipping company to make good for the repairs.
Instance two was a bent drive side drop(pressed steel and my fault for not bracing the rear drops) and a soaked suede saddle. The company claimed the damage occurred due to flap glue failure. BS, to say the least and the guy or gal who made that claim should have been disciplined for being careless, dishonest and stupid. It was obvious that the container had been miserably mishandled. I filed a claim with FedEx and never did get a second of satisfaction from that huge company. I did however get the frame set back from FedEx and I sent the lady who bought the frame set a complete bicycle modified to her Single Speed specifications(see pic or replacement bicycle before modification). She could not believe that anyone would do something like that, let alone a strange.
Instance #3 was a dented top tube in a lovely old and near mint Italian bike from the early eighties. The buyer claimed the frame was dented. I sent him pictures of the area of concern to demonstrate that there was no damage when the bicycle was shipped. I opened a claim with FedEx Ground after the buyer showed the damage to a FedEx field rep. FedEx did not go good for the claim and the buyer never did get back to me. Perhaps it was a scam to get a seller(me) to refund some of the money the fellow paid for the bike. I honestly do not know but I do know that the bicycle was in great shape and there is little chance that the dent could have occurred without some sort of external damage to the box.
Advise your customers to take pictures of the shipping container before opening it if there is any evidence of rough handling. Continue taking pictures as the bike get unpacked. This is the best way to ensure that your butt(as both a seller and a buyer) is covered even if the big boys won't stand behind their service when their employees screw things up.
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