Just figured I'd share some lessons I learned over the past two weeks to hopefully spare some people some potential anguish... It might be unrelated but I think this would apply to a much wider range of things that just guitars because I think the problem is with the carrier and not the overall mindset...

2 weeks back I sold a guitar in pristine condition on Ebay... It came with a soft case but I boxed it well with good packing and sent it via UPS with full insurance... When the guitar arrived to California 5 days later it was missing a chunk and the box showed obvious damage... I contacted UPS and they picked it up for "inspection"... I use quotations because inspecting your own self is kinda ridiculous as with the mouse watching the cheese... Nevertheless, being their policy I complied... 5 or so days later I got a 2 line email stating the claim was denied... They specifically said that guitars shipped in soft cases were not covered at all... I assured them that would exclude shipping 1/4 or all guitars anywhere but as you'd expect, they couldn't have cared less... In addition, 5 days after that the guitar showed back up at my house... I tried to refuse it so it would be sent back to the new owner where it belonged and UPS said either I take it or they would keep it and still not pay the claim... I was forced to accept it and once I did I saw that the original box it had shipped in looked as if it had been rolled down 10 hills...

Until now I did not have alot of faith in any of the many shippers out there but in this lesson I learned that UPS borders on being criminal... They state no where that you'll not be covered and surely make millions on insurance but in the end, will not pay the claims (other than entire loss) so if you value your items, I would advise you to think long and hard about the carrier you use and ask all of the important questions before buying any added coverage... Chances are you’re just wasting your money or worse, placing yourself at risks that can be extremely costly...

 

UPS..SUCKS!

I ordered a small item of bling, bling a few weeks back and on the first delivery it was destroyed...I contacted the seller and they had it returned to them via a claim process on my part..They sent out another one and it didn't even make it to my door (watched tracking progess with tracking number) It said the UPS driver decided it was too damaged to deliver and returned it him self..I contacted the the seller again and insisted they send it FEDex..So finally after 1 month of screwing around with UPS it finally arrive safe and sound.

Morrow..mixing UPS with FeDex gets you FED-UP!

 

Here is what I got back following the UPS "Inspection"... I photographed it all before touching anything... This has been packed by the same idiots that told me a soft case was unacceptable protection for a guitar... In addition, this was sent 3000 miles back to me packed like this...







Long story short, lying on it's face, the guitar even has more damage now... Pretty swift huh?? Only corporate America, sitting in safe little offices could be brazen enough to act like this... If I could reach these people at arms length they surely would not act like this... Unbelievable... Just simply unbelievable...

 

Rayvyn
First of all it nice to see you on line again.
Second you took that to a ups store if you had they would of not taken it if it look Damage or not Pack right.
i would makes a big stink if you did not insure the max they have to give you is $100.00
save all the orignal packaging and try again it depend on who they send out to inspect it.
But i would keep fighting with them.
Yes they do suck because they they are to big and they think no one can touch them.
DHL sucks two it worth a little more money and go FED-EX even FED-EX ground that cheaper.

 

I insured it for $725.00 and they told me a soft case is not good enough so therefore denied my claim... A soft case is the black thing they folded up and stuck in the case with the guitar... They couldn't even put it in a simple zippered case... They obviously fear no one and when you investigate yourself, why would you?? I am going to sue them now and hopefully show them you should care about some things...

 

Wow totally sucks. I had a supercharger and intercooler setup shipped to me from MD one time and the intercooler came all messed up and they told me I'd have to ship it back to the point of origin at my own cost just to let them 'inspect it'. I got it fixed locally and forgot it. They suck ***. [:'(]