jerrysleftyguitars Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 I shipped a Heritage Eagle to Boston from Sarasota a couple of weeks ago. Detuned a 1/2 step, headstock completely packed in OHCS. The case was put in a 275 lbs. burst strength new box with styrofoam peanuts completely filling the box and surrounding the case on all sides. The guitar arrived with a cracked pickguard and cracked top. I filed a claim and the shipper pick up the guitar from the customer (he repacked it exactly as he received it) for claims evaluation. The guitar disappeared for a couple of days, then showed up on the doorstep of another customer!!??? It did not get shipped back to me. The guitar arrived at the other customers house, after having been evaluated by the shippers claims department, with the headstock completely broken off! This guy told me it looked like a mafia warning or something. A guitar shows up out of the blue with the headstock broken off! The shipper can offer no explanation as to how the guitar got where it did or how the headstock was broken off. I'm waiting to find out how my claim, now a total loss, will be handled. I was going to include photos, but it is impolite to photograph the dead.
Jazzpunk Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 How could the guitar have gone from one customer to another customer? How would the shipping company have gotten a different customer's address information? Also, if the guitar was packed so well how did it go from having a couple of cracks to the headstock broken off?! Somethin' shady definitely went down somewhere along the line. Just doesn't add up.
Dick Seacup Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 Very strange circumstances. I have heard it argued that solidly packing the headstock is good way to ensure that it will crack/break in shipping. Something about preventing it from naturally flexing, or putting stress on that weak spot.
golferwave Posted May 31, 2009 Posted May 31, 2009 You didn't name the shippper but Gil Southworh for years had a disclaimer on his website that said "we no longer ship UPS.. they have broken our last guitar" I always ship FEDEX and have never had a problem.
Steiner Posted May 31, 2009 Posted May 31, 2009 You didn't name the shippper but Gil Southworh for years had a disclaimer on his website that said "we no longer ship UPS.. they have broken our last guitar" I always ship FEDEX and have never had a problem. +1 My experience echos that.
bolero Posted May 31, 2009 Posted May 31, 2009 man that's a shame!! RIP I have had good experiences with good old US ( and Canada ) Post avoided couriers/UPS etc because of horror stories
jerrysleftyguitars Posted May 31, 2009 Author Posted May 31, 2009 I was not going to name the shipper until this is resolved. I'm thinking if they pay for the guitar, I'll continue to use them. If they don't, I'll have to think about what to do. I've shipped almost 200 guitars with them now, and this is my first claim. They seem incredibly inept as we stumble through this situation (how did get to another customers house? Why wasn't I or the buyer told they were coming to pick it up from his house? Why did they initially send a denial of claim letter before they even saw the guitar? Why have they not picked the guitar up from my other customer and returned it to me?) and yet the guy I'm speaking to on the phone about it (took 24 hours to return my "what the hell is going on" call) seems very conciliatory and looking into if there is anything to salvage. I told him a luthier would love to have it as a project but with a broken pickguard, cracked top, and broken headstock, the guitar would be worth maybe $300 completely repaired and it would cost much more than that to get it in condition to sell. The shipper is Fedex. I'm not denigrating their service. Accidents happen. I pay full insurance on every guitar I ship just for this eventuality. If they make good, I will be happy and continue to think of them as the company to use. Only 1 damaged out of 200 guitars is pretty impressive (even if it was damaged twice in 2 separate incidents).
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