Shipping guitars

rickwatt · Post by **rickwatt** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 10:27 am

What shipping service are you guys using to ship guitars? I'm leary of U.P.S as I"ve heard to many horror stories. Any suggestions would help- Thanx

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 11:20 am

I've had no problems with UPS on about 6 or 7 times shipping a guitar through them.

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 1:53 pm

Guess what, I ship with the post office and they are excellent. I mite add that they are cheaper than UPS or fedex and alot faster as well. I can ship a guitar from NC to Cali in 3 days for around $30.00 to $40.00. Beat that UPS!

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:06 pm

Wow, USPS. Who would have thought. I may have to give them a try sometime. I never had any problems with UPS or FedEx. My only complaint with FedEx is that they don't keep their tracking updated on their website.

BobKat · Post by **BobKat** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 3:05 am

I have shipped over 300 guitars via UPS. Not one incident.

I have shipped about 5 guitars via Fedex. 2 incidents.

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 5:51 am

The weak link is the tracking numbers by the post office. Not much info.

Cole

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 6:59 am

Cole, I took your advise, and I am sending Dale Fortune my 4002 to have the neck refinished.
The only other down side to USPS is the price of insurance. I already have my basses insured so the USPS rate from Pa. to Oregon is $50 priority mail in 2 days. When you add insurance to it, the rate jumps to $83 bucks. Still not bad for 2 days across country.

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:06 am

Bob... I sent a fellow in Pa. a guitar several months ago by USPS and it was only $28.00 which included only $500.00 Ins. It arrived in 2 days with no problems. Looking forward to yours. Dale

leftyguitars · Post by **leftyguitars** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:07 am

I have received (or not as the case may be) 5 guitars this year from the USA with Parcelfarce, err, I mean Parcelforce, here in the UK. I have had problems with every one. The latest incident being today!!! I HATE PARCELFORCE. The only things that they are good at are loosing, breaking, stealing and lying! We don't get any say on who delivers to us here, it just depends on which company gets the swag from the customs first, and we pray that it won't be Parcelforce!

There, I'm glad I got that out of my system, I feel better now!

lowendbob · Post by **lowendbob** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 7:17 am

Peter, sorry about your mishap.

Dale, I don't know if my rate is higher because of the weight and box dimensions. It is double-boxed, and the box is pretty big.
I just bought a 4001C64S from North Coast Music, and Gary always double-boxes his stuff, so I am using the same boxes for the 4002.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:00 am

I use UPS and USPS and never a problem. Dealers always ship to me UPS. FED EX has gone WAY downhill in the last three years. I no longer use them. I have had problems with FED EX not finding my address, when it's one of the busiest corners in SF.

I have used Parcelforce in the UK, and although it took awhile longer than expected, the tracking and service was otherwise excellent.

Don't ship anything to South America of value. Hand-carry it.

jerrymac51 · Post by **jerrymac51** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:33 am

I've shipped more than 100 guitars in the last few years, using FedEx 99% of the time. Not a problem for the first 85 or so, and then suddenly 3 damaged guitars out of 20. Two were really destroyed, neck pulled off bodies. When insurance claims were filed, their claims adjusters reported no damage!!! I had to call up customer service and fax them photos to prove the damage. They when I get the reimbursement check, it was only $100 because they claimed I didn't insure them. Then I had to send proof that I did insure them to get the rest of the settlement.

Originally, I thought it might be a problem with the local facility, maybe a new employee who was less than gentle. But be that as it may, I was more put off by their attitude in paying out damages. For the last few months, I've used UPS, and so far have had success with the 7 or 8 guitars I have shipped with them. I'm shipping 2 more tomorrow - wish me luck!!!

Here's one of the poor unfortunate victims that wasn't damaged according to FedEx

leftyguitars · Post by **leftyguitars** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:50 am

Paul..."I have used Parcelforce in the UK, and although it took awhile longer than expected, the tracking and service was otherwise excellent."

A Parcelforce employee took a liking to my new 660/12 a few weeks ago, when I checked the tracking on their web site they had (according to the web site) "tried to deliver it twice with no success" and it was to be "abandoned" as the senders label had "come off" so couldn't be returned. In reality they had made no attempt to deliver and had hidden it in the warehouse.

leftyguitars · Post by **leftyguitars** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 11:56 am

James, I have tried to claim on the insurance twice for broken/trashed guitars. Both times I sent photos as requested, they came back with...
1, "We need proof that they weren't like that when they were posted.
2, "If they were damaged in transit prove that we did it and not the airline or carrier at the senders end".
Needless to say, they refused to pay out both times.
Luckily I had paid for another guitar, which was never seen again after they got hold of it, with a credit card so I got a refund from the CC company.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 12:00 pm

Yow. Bad stuff. Thanks for the warning.

My last bad experience with UPS was three years ago, when I shipped a pricey handcrafted collectible (not a guitar) to a dealer, fully insured thank God. It was destroyed fairly completely. They paid fully on the claim--$3200.00--after seeing the pictures. Took ten days total. The box showed ne damage on the outside and passed their rattle test when it left; when it arrived it was rattling--in a zillion pieces.

Since then 100% success.