Bought a vintage instrument and the case handle was damaged during shipping. What should I do?

That part is the sellers fault. None of the item should have been left on the outside of the box. Real bonehead move!
You'll have to contact a luggage repair place for cost

 

Not the best move on the seller's part. When I was in college I worked in a drug store that had a Post Office substation. Let me tell you, the Post Office is not gentle and some very not nice people sometimes see a "fragile" sticker as a challenge.

 

not a smart move to leave it exposed - sellers fault

 

Did he wrap it in paper?

 

You'll have to get a repair handle, something like this. But make sure the measurements are correct.

Guitar/Instrument Case Handle-Stitched Leather BLACK- for FENDER Strat/Tele+USA | eBay

 

That's ridiculous, that should have been shipped in a box.

 

+500, dumbest thing i think i've seen in weeks, lol, and if you knew my life thats saying something, lol, dang, that is just stupid, lol again....

 

I'd just go buy a new replacement handle. And let the seller know that he's terrible at packing.

 

The seller just wrapped the hard case in brown paper and sent it like that?

A replacement handle will alter the originality of the case, and ding its value.

The seller owes you a new vintage correct case IMO...but good luck with that. Not gonna happen. That's not how an insured package works.

If you make an insurance claim, they likely won't just replace or fix the case; they aren't that nuanced. They will most likely refund the money, take possession of the entire package, and auction it off to recoup some of what they paid out.

I would make the claim, as plead with them just to cover the cost of a replacement case, instead of taking the while instrument from you.

 

^that. Unless you're REALLY planning on flipping the instrument for the largest possible profit, what's a case handle in the grand scheme? You can get them for a few bucks and put them on in a couple minutes. It was the seller's fault, and you should make that known, but in my opinion it's not worth doing anything about.

 

Really stupid packing... and lazy. Makes me mad to know the seller did it this way. He should get a real spanking!

 

Crappy packing job, SMMFH...

 

Seller should pay for the replacement handle.

 

Is this vintage as in old , or as in valuable ? If it is old , the just be happy to own it. If it is valuable, then agree on the amount that will fix the damage.

IMPORTANT NOTE —- Get the damage fixed , that’s why collected the money , right ?

 

what kind of bonehead ships an instrument like that? Wrapped in paper with the handle left exposed.

You are lucky the case wasn't damaged further.

If you want to keep the bass, Find out how much the case is worth or how much it costs to be repaired , contact the seller and get a refund for that amount and tell him you will be returning the bass if that doesn't happen.

 

There is no way in the world any shipping company would honor a claim for damage like that. I don’t know who handled the shipment, UPS, FedEx or USPS but any review of their requirements for package will clearly show that anything exposed will not be covered by insurance. The seller needed to have that case, INCLUDING the handle boxed with at least a couple of inches of protectIon (bubble wrap, peanut or something similar) before a shipping company would even consider coverage.

if you paid for the insurance, given the way that bass was shipped, you wasted your money, or should I say, the seller wasted your money. That packing job was unacceptable. Go to the shipping company’s website, cut and paste the requirements and send it along with a demand for an appropriate replacement handle. If he won’t accommodate you, contact your credit card company or PayPal (whomever it was you used for payment) and relay your story to them. I guarantee they’ll reverse payment and demand the seller pay for return shipping.

 

Astounding if true.

Lucky you!