Stolen Ric basses

bassman · Post by **bassman** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:39 am

Here's a quick story and some words of wisdom.

Last year I had a bass sent to me from Florida via USPS. It took 2 months to arrive. I thought for sure that after it hadn't shown up after one month, it was either lost or had been stolen.

When it got here the carton was absoutely destroyed. I mean it was crushed, soaked wet and dried.
A large sticker had been placed on the carton by Canada Post stating that they had received the carton in this condition and were not at fault. The postal person was clearly embarassed to give it to me.

So I took pictures of the carton before I took possession of it at the post office with my digital camara just in case I needed to make a claim. And by the looks of this carton, I was sure the bass inside must have been badly damaged.

When I got home and unpacked the bass, it was undamaged. Somehow it had survived the trip untouched.

I was lucky in the end, but I will never use USPS ever again to ship a guitar or bass.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 11:46 am

USPS only delivers 95% of what is sent ... UPS is better but they break stuff sometimes ...

one word ...

insurance ...

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 12:11 pm

Amen to that! (although they still took almost a year to pay out...)

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 2:36 pm

I had to file a $2800 claim against DHL/Airborne last week for the company I work for. We had bought from a Boise (Idaho) eBayer an NOS 360-pound, nearly 5' x 2' x 3' Neslab HX-150 chiller that was on a pallet in the original box. We arranged for Airborne to pick the item up from the seller, which they did, but then trouble started when they transfered it to Roadway (it had to go by truck freight because of the size and weight). After the bill of lading was issued, the item disappeared. It has not shown up anywhere, Roadway has no evidence that it ever got delivered to Airborne in San Diego (whither the item was being shipped), and it's obviously not some dinky little 'put-in-the-corner-and-forget-it" item!

Lesson learned: pay the extra $40 and ship by FedEx Freight!

atomic_punk · Post by **atomic_punk** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 6:01 pm

I've had my own UPS nightmare when I sold my Charvel Fusion 5 string bass on Ebay. I shipped it to the buyer, packed it very well, it was in a gig bag but LOTS of packing material around all of the sides and top and bottom, and a super sturdy box, and when he got it, he said that it had been dropped, or some severe force, because it took off part of the headstock and caused some stress fracturing of the neck. UPS only paid off partially on the claim, and that was after a MONTH of constant harrassing on my part. ALWAYS INSURE IT!

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 8:40 pm

I bought a V63 FG from MF a couple of years ago for $1100+. When I got it there was a footprint right in the middle of the box. Some moron at MF packed the bass using p-nuts, which as we all know, is worthless for heavy items.

The vintage case was smashed on ALL 4 corners. UPS refused to pay up because the moron at MF didn't use approved materials. MF refunded the moolah but looking back, I shoulda/coulda/woulda kept the bass.

This took the better part of 6 months.

Moral=make sure the sender knows how to pack an instrument, bubble wrap 2" is minimum for claims made to UPS/FedEx.

IMHO

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 5:05 pm

I have heard that UPS is really a PIA when it comes to trying to collect from them, and I think I remember why the USPS wouldn't ship mine, it was overseas.
UPS wanted $450.00 to ship a bass to Perú for me. Because it is not a big market for them. I don't trust them anyway, they are like a bunch of speed freaks running around all the time, I wonder what the heart attack rate is at UPS? I feel bad for them actually,I have heard that it is a terrible place to work.

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 8:31 pm

"...UPS wanted $450.00 to ship a bass to Perú for me"

They wanted $480 to ship a Ric to Israel. I didn't know wheter to laugh or cry. Of course I wouldn't draem of paying this kind of money for shipping.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 9:08 pm

I sold a Ric to a guy in Italy ... it cost over $300 fed ex but it got there no problem ... but the check he sent me came by usps and took like 35 days ...

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 10:19 am

$450.00 with free footprint! haha! I waited for my brother-in-law to visit from New Jersey, only cost me $50.00 because the made him pay duty when he entered, even though you are supposed to be able to bring one stringed instrument in for free. They told him it was an electrical device. He got sick of arguing with them.

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:56 pm

I have a few shipping stories to tell bu the one for today is: I bought a '64 615 from a seller in Western Canada. The guitar went straight to a couple Countries in Europe(!) then to Mexico and finally made it to me in South Carolina! I wasn't upset as I had ONLY paid $25. for shipping! What made me mad was seeing that the guitar had been poorly refinished and that it had apparently had a stop tailpiece installed. Oh well, what're you gonna do????

jwilli · Post by **jwilli** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:57 pm

I have a few shipping stories to tell but the one for today is: I bought a '64 615 from a seller in Western Canada. The guitar went straight to a couple Countries in Europe(!) then to Mexico and finally made it to me in South Carolina! I wasn't upset as I had ONLY paid $25. for shipping! What made me mad was seeing that the guitar had been poorly refinished and that it had apparently had a stop tailpiece installed. Oh well, what're you gonna do????