Problems with bestbassgear.com

[PunkKitty]

I learned the lesson that except for food and kitchen items, not to online shop after Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Most of my Fedex, Amazon and USPS woes are around the holidays. I extend that past the first MIdAtlantic ice storm and/or mudslides in California. So Basically Dec to January is an order desert for me. I have done this after 4 Amazon cases, 2 Fedex and 3 USPS issues from Dec 20222 - Jan 2023.

That's all fine and good, but many times I need parts, like specialized pots, that are difficult to find, even in a big city like Chicago. In those cases, there is no choice but to order it.

 

[micguy]

BBG's email response to my recent inquiry said that USPS picks up from them DAILY but that often, somehow, the items are in the possession of USPS but somehow don't get scanned AT ALL for (in this case) 8 days. Plausible? Sure. But plausibility doesn't equal proof. Given how fundamental scanning is to today's logistics I don't really find it that plausible at all. I would think that scanning would be stressed as extremely important and that even subs would know to do that immediately with every package of which they take possession. The idea that they regularly just don't scan anything at all but just throw it all in a bag that then goes to an entirely different location before someone there finally gets around to scanning it more than a week later seems extremely implausible to me.

I think that your ability to compare shipping times directly (and thanks for that info) is further evidence that BBG's issue likely isn't entirely the fault of USPS.

I'll definitely be giving my business to Fat Bass Tone going forward.

If USPS is picking up items from them daily, then BBG isn't packing items and giving them to them until days (sometimes many days) after the order is placed. I don't believe that USPS regularly ignores packages they pick up from BBG for days, but they move those from FBT immediately. We're not being told the truth here.

 

[KenD]

BBG's email response to my recent inquiry said that USPS picks up from them DAILY but that often, somehow, the items are in the possession of USPS but somehow don't get scanned AT ALL for (in this case) 8 days. Plausible? Sure. But plausibility doesn't equal proof. Given how fundamental scanning is to today's logistics I don't really find it that plausible at all. I would think that scanning would be stressed as extremely important and that even subs would know to do that immediately with every package of which they take possession. The idea that they regularly just don't scan anything at all but just throw it all in a bag that then goes to an entirely different location before someone there finally gets around to scanning it more than a week later seems extremely implausible to me.

I think that your ability to compare shipping times directly (and thanks for that info) is further evidence that BBG's issue likely isn't entirely the fault of USPS.

I'll definitely be giving my business to Fat Bass Tone going forward.

I agree. What you described here sounds much more like BBG is handing off to a third party mail aggregator, of which Global Post is by orders of magnitude the worst.

 

[Dust2Dust]

I hate USPS so much that if I order something like strings from Sweetwater I'll pay the extra money for faster service just so it's not USPS that I'm depending on

I even started ordering from Amazon more because they are the only one that wasn't a pain in the tuner when it comes to shipping, but then I ordered something small from Amazon (several different orders actually, within a few days of each other) and Amazon sent them through USPS.
One of those orders is the one I posted about in the LAST shipping-rant thread where a package was delivered to me that belonged to someone else on the next street over, and MY package was delivered to someone else. I got lucky and that other person brought my package to me, and they were asking me if I had gotten THEIR package! If you are having trouble following along here, that's THREE wrong deliveries within a space of TWO blocks!!


And UPS can be a little strange sometimes. Back in 2022 I ordered three different basses at three different times from Sweetwater that year (UPS - I'm in south Florida) and each time, when the package hit Chicago (or it might have been Cincinnati or Cleveland, I can't remember, but) I would get these notifications; (about 1 notification every 6 hours)

Your package arrived at Chicago.
Your package departed Chicago.
Your package arrived at Chicago.
Your package arrived at Chicago.
Your packed departed Chicago.

There's no type-o's there. I would get at least that many notifications, and in that crazy order

Things were ok each time after the packages finally made it out of that crazy vortex. Even with all that chaos, they all arrived in a reasonable amount of time and in good condition.

 

[dune]

I agree. What you described here sounds much more like BBG is handing off to a third party mail aggregator, of which Global Post is by orders of magnitude the worst.

Looking back, I see now that I actually got 2 emails at 9:14am on the 2nd, one says "Shipped via USPS via Pitney Bowes PM" while the other mentions only "Shipped by Priority Mail". Maybe that's only signifying the usage of a Pitney Bowes postage meter, but Google mentions that Pitney Bowes also does mail aggregation, although they'll be discontinuing that service soon.

 

[sunbeast]

I've been having problems getting some parts from bestbassgear.com. The parts I ordered were in stock. They were supposedly shipped on Jan. 2. The Post Office has no record of receiving the package. I contacted them yesterday and was assured that they shipped, but the PO didn't process them yet. Seriously? After a week? Has anyone else had problems getting parts from them? At this point, I'm looking for a new supplier. But I haven't been able to find these anywhere else.

When I lived in Los Angeles USPS often didn't scan a package even when they took control of it- in fact they were so understaffed they would tell you that was their policy. Unless BBG is directly handing it to a USPS agent at a post office this is unfortunately very common- and even then they get missed often enough in my experience.

 

[logdrum]

That's all fine and good, but many times I need parts, like specialized pots, that are difficult to find, even in a big city like Chicago. In those cases, there is no choice but to order it.

I am not telling anyone how to do anything. My own way of keeping my frustration down. My holiday expectations are that 2 day delivery will take 2 weeks with 25% chance of it being lost or damaged. Prevents me from making any purchases that will tie up my funds as well because I rarely pay for any GAS hobby items on credit.