I purchased a bass from The Bass Gallery in London on March 13th. They shipped the next day and by the 16th it was in Louisville, KY being held by customs. That same day, early in the morning, I was called by UPS and told that there was a missing document that was required to clear customs, the 'Plant and Plant Product Declaration Form'. It tells them what the product you're trying to import is made from, what types of woods, how much of each wood, where it was harvested...etc. It was still early on a Saturday, but knowing that The Bass Gallery is 5 hours ahead of me, I reached out via email letting them know they needed to fill out/submit the missing document. I received a response from them saying "Oh I'm sure everything will be fine. We'll reach out to UPS on Monday."
Monday comes and goes, still no progress, so I call UPS and they tell me the document they need is still missing. I reach out to The Bass Gallery early on Tuesday morning and they send me a copy of the form suggesting I submit it on my end and that they'll do the same on their side. I follow their directions. Still no progress, so I reach out to UPS again and they tell me that TBC didn't fill out the document correctly or that it was incomplete and that until it was filled out correctly my package would be held. I sent TBC another email and they respond that their guy at UPS is telling them everything is fine and that it's on me to work things out with customs. I reiterate that UPS has told me several times and I've been getting notifications that the document they need for my bass to clear customs is still missing. TBC submits the corrected document finally, sends me a copy to submit on my end and finally, that night I get a notification that the bass has cleared customs.
I thought my bass would be released and since it was only a few hours away it would arrive to me in a day or two. It's now been four days since being cleared by customs, and every night I get a notification of an 'Import Scan' in Louisville, KY but still no progress. I received an email this morning that it's still being held but they'll update me NEXT THURSDAY, March 28th if they hear anything. They have no idea when my bass will be released and even less idea of when I'll actually receive it.
I can't help but feel like if The Bass Gallery had included all of the required documents up front that I would likely have my bass by now. They took days to address the issue and when they did, they did it wrong, and took another couple days to fix it.
Am I simply being impatient or do you feel like you would also be upset? Have you experienced anything like this? How long did it take to get your instrument? It could be days or literally weeks according to UPS.
Monday comes and goes, still no progress, so I call UPS and they tell me the document they need is still missing. I reach out to The Bass Gallery early on Tuesday morning and they send me a copy of the form suggesting I submit it on my end and that they'll do the same on their side. I follow their directions. Still no progress, so I reach out to UPS again and they tell me that TBC didn't fill out the document correctly or that it was incomplete and that until it was filled out correctly my package would be held. I sent TBC another email and they respond that their guy at UPS is telling them everything is fine and that it's on me to work things out with customs. I reiterate that UPS has told me several times and I've been getting notifications that the document they need for my bass to clear customs is still missing. TBC submits the corrected document finally, sends me a copy to submit on my end and finally, that night I get a notification that the bass has cleared customs.
I thought my bass would be released and since it was only a few hours away it would arrive to me in a day or two. It's now been four days since being cleared by customs, and every night I get a notification of an 'Import Scan' in Louisville, KY but still no progress. I received an email this morning that it's still being held but they'll update me NEXT THURSDAY, March 28th if they hear anything. They have no idea when my bass will be released and even less idea of when I'll actually receive it.
I can't help but feel like if The Bass Gallery had included all of the required documents up front that I would likely have my bass by now. They took days to address the issue and when they did, they did it wrong, and took another couple days to fix it.
Am I simply being impatient or do you feel like you would also be upset? Have you experienced anything like this? How long did it take to get your instrument? It could be days or literally weeks according to UPS.
