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UPS splinters headstock and ruins hardcase - need help with claim

#41
It's disgusting that a company like UPS will take money for shipping something and then tolerate an attitude amongst employees that allows them to treat the property entrusted to them in this way. The shipping companies really have big issues to address here, imo. There shoudl be some way of monitoring how people's stuff is treated to ensure reasonable care is taken with it.

I'm certain the CEO of UPS is totally aware that some of his trained monkeys are throwing people's valuable property around like it was worthless. What's he and the rest of his team doing about this problem? How hard would it be to put this right with a little more attention to QA and some staff training, or disciplinary procedures where it's clearly necessary? Fact is, UPS take your money and don't give a **** what happens to your shipment as long as their bottom line is healthy. Like I said, it's disgusting.
 
#44
As a side note, when I ship with UPS, I always pay the extra $30 and have UPS do the packing.

This way, if something is damaged, they can't use the stock line that it was improperly packed.

+1

That is exactly what the seller HAS to do. I have shipped over 30+ basses via Ebay and paid the extra money to have UPS pack the shipment. Everyone of my basses arrived in perfect condition.

99% of every problem you hear about UPS damages is a result of the shipper packing the item themselves. Most people do not understand how much damage can be done when something ships.
 
#45
Mr. Pickles said:
What Brown can do for me is ruin a perfectly good bass...:scowl:

UPS delivered a Fender 2004 Jazz Bass Deluxe 5 string to me today. Unfortunately, one of the handlers used it as a javelin.
The tip of the headstock is splintered and the bass apparently punched through the case's plush lining and the foam. The case is pretty warped now and all of the seals are bent. The force of impact was great enough to shift the neck and loosen the 5 neck plate bolts.

However, the headstock damage is purely cosmetic as far as I can tell.

My big concern is that the truss may be damaged as it was VERY difficult to tighten during setup. My secondary concern is that the instrument's value will be lessened should I decide to trade or sell it.

It was insured for $1000. How much of this do you all think I should ask for? The person who shipped me the bass bears no responsibilty and will be filing the claim.I plan on sending the bass to my tech for stringing and further inspection. I had planned on this bass being my main player, so cosmetics are second to sound and playability.
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Four things:

*Embrace the spirit of cooperation with the seller. A successful claim depends on this.

*Collect all the paperwork you can. The seller should have all the originals including UPS receipts. You may want to do a little research on replacement parts, cost of overall replacement, and repair services. Have price quotes available.

*File immediately. There are time limits.

*Touch nothing! Sequester / quarantine the bass, case, and packing materials as you would a crime scene.

Old story but I'll tell it again: Doug / dcr and I had a problem where UPS "blew-out" the headstock end of a hardshell Peavey case. Didn't damage the bass so we lucked out there. We followed the claim rules to a "T" including a replacement quote from Peavey for a long discontinued item (thanks Peavey!). We were cooperative with the UPS agents who, upon reviewing the materials, took responsibility for the damage. Turns out they overtightened a packing strap on the shipping pallet.

Riis
 
#47
Yep, on the seller to rectify this. FedEx trashed the headstock of a neck I sold. They did an amazing job to set it right. Issued a call tag to pick it up from the buyer and it came back to me; then they covered it on the insurance. It was only $175, so there is a slight difference here. Same principle though.

Any shipper can have issues, since they employ people not robots.

Good luck.
 
#48
The shipper is a stand-up guy. We've spoken on the phone and I get CCed on all correspondences with UPS. I'll ask him for copies of the shipping receipts, but I don't think I need to collect the money from him directly. He insured the bass for a grand, which is the exact trade value we decided on.

Just some backstory - we did a trade here on TB and I added cash on my end to make it even. I have enough basses to play as I wait for things to be resolved.

The thing is, I think this bass is one of the special ones. It has some mojo for sure. I'd hate to have to surrender it to UPS. I could have it repaired, but I don't think fender would send me a replacement neck. If I swapped out the neck for Warmoth or USACG, I think I would lose the mojo, not to mention kill the value should I want to sell/trade it in the future.

Any more suggestions?
 
#49
Mr. Pickles said:
The shipper is a stand-up guy. We've spoken on the phone and I get CCed on all correspondences with UPS. I'll ask him for copies of the shipping receipts, but I don't think I need to collect the money from him directly. He insured the bass for a grand, which is the exact trade value we decided on.

Just some backstory - we did a trade here on TB and I added cash on my end to make it even. I have enough basses to play as I wait for things to be resolved.

The thing is, I think this bass is one of the special ones. It has some mojo for sure. I'd hate to have to surrender it to UPS. I could have it repaired, but I don't think fender would send me a replacement neck. If I swapped out the neck for Warmoth or USACG, I think I would lose the mojo, not to mention kill the value should I want to sell/trade it in the future.

Any more suggestions?
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If UPS agrees to settle up, the money goes to the claimant...the seller. UPS will want something in return if they reimburse the value of the bass. In my situation, they sent a call tag for the case which was promptly shipped to their reclamation center in Salt Lake City. I don't have a clue as to how they handle claims where repairs are reasonable and practical.

Riis
 
#50
My neck alone was less value than this bass. But I refunded the money to the buyer (who took some pics), they issued a call tag back to me (I took pics), and they settled with me.

Sucks for sure. Maybe they'll let the buyer keep it, maybe not. Feel for ya man. Insurance can't pay for mojo.
 
#51
My story has ended well, at least on my end. I got a refund from the seller yesterday. He did insinuate that I might have damaged the guitar, and I'm not too happy about that, but I insinuated right back that he might have shipped a damaged guitar.

I still think it was damaged in transit. UPS can't find any "obvious" damage to this box. What do you think?

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#53
I hate UPS. Those a$$hats threw my 2x10 cab around, knocked the magnets off. I wound up eating the costs, since I didn't want to pay shipping for that and another cab and wait for a claim. I didn't have the time or money to buy another cab in the mean time.

I will never use them to ship anything. UPS = oops. Their claim process suck as well. They need someone local who can make determinations IMO.

I used work for a construction company, and there were several times we received items damaged by them
 
#54
OmnitzGarima said:
My story has ended well, at least on my end. I got a refund from the seller yesterday. He did insinuate that I might have damaged the guitar, and I'm not too happy about that, but I insinuated right back that he might have shipped a damaged guitar.

I still think it was damaged in transit. UPS can't find any "obvious" damage to this box. What do you think?

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IME, the box deformity is not that severe but the bass & case damages speak for themselves. I've received shipping cartons in far worse condition but with the contents intact. Kinda reminds me of the "egg toss" we'd do in grade school: wrap a raw egg in foam rubber and drop it from a height of 20 ft. The shell will remain intact but the inner yolk will be ruptured 99% of the time.

Glad things were resolved in your favor!

Riis
 
#55
My story has ended well, at least on my end. I got a refund from the seller yesterday....
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This is the best tac, without a doubt.

UPS can't find any "obvious" damage to this box. What do you think?
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That's the UPS "mantra" when they don't feel like paying, which is disturbingly often. It's a loophole, and they have plenty more tricks up their sleeve when push comes to shove.

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Ironically, Fedex seems rougher with packages than UPS, but their insurance company seems more willing to pay up on damage claims. Go figure.
 
#56
I have a buddy who works at ups, And I showed him the other damaged by ups thread on here. His response was no one at ups cares about damaging whats in the boxes. To them its just a box and its completely ok to stand on it or throw it. or just dump it right out of the truck. They just want to get home as fast as possible and crack a beer.
 
#58
bassybill said:
It's disgusting that a company like UPS will take money for shipping something and then tolerate an attitude amongst employees that allows them to treat the property entrusted to them in this way. The shipping companies really have big issues to address here, imo. There shoudl be some way of monitoring how people's stuff is treated to ensure reasonable care is taken with it.

I'm certain the CEO of UPS is totally aware that some of his trained monkeys are throwing people's valuable property around like it was worthless. What's he and the rest of his team doing about this problem? How hard would it be to put this right with a little more attention to QA and some staff training, or disciplinary procedures where it's clearly necessary? Fact is, UPS take your money and don't give a **** what happens to your shipment as long as their bottom line is healthy. Like I said, it's disgusting.
Click to expand...

the vast majority of packages travelling through ups' doors arrive just fine. you're talking about a tiny, miniscule fraction of a percentage of the packages they handle.

when my wife worked there in the corporate tax department about 3 years ago, they handled 17 million packages a day, give or take. even if they smashed up ten thousand packages a day - and they don't, it's a lot less than that - that's still less than 1 % of their packages. couple that with the possibility of poor packaging on the part of the sender, and fraudulent filings on the part of some receivers, and it's not that big of a stretch to visualize how the higher-ups at ups (heh) aren't going to be losing sleep over this kind of thing.

might not be right, but it certainly is understandable.

that being said, i have sent or received, at one time or another, every single one of my custom basses via ups, at least once, and never had an issue. thankfully all the folks who did the shipping (conklin and ritter, my lej was hand-delivered :D) knew how to properly pack the instruments which undoubtedly helped their survival.

then again, having instruments insured for $3-5k or (much) more might also help guarantee they get handled nicely.
 
#59
spaz21387 said:
I have a buddy who works at ups, And I showed him the other damaged by ups thread on here. His response was no one at ups cares about damaging whats in the boxes. To them its just a box and its completely ok to stand on it or throw it. or just dump it right out of the truck. They just want to get home as fast as possible and crack a beer.
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Nice to see that some things never change. lol

I worked on the UPS docks in '67, loading trailers. You'd be appalled at what we did in the name of "expediency".
 
#60
when my wife worked there in the corporate tax department about 3 years ago, they handled 17 million packages a day, give or take. even if they smashed up ten thousand packages a day - and they don't, it's a lot less than that - that's still less than 1 % of their packages. couple that with the possibility of poor packaging on the part of the sender, and fraudulent filings on the part of some receivers, and it's not that big of a stretch to visualize how the higher-ups at ups (heh) aren't going to be losing sleep over this kind of thing.
Click to expand...

So what is the percentage then? Do we even know?

Whatever the overall portion of damaged packages is, it's certainly low. It's also deceptive, because many (if not most) items being shipped are virtually "unbreakable" to begin with, despite the rough handling they will inevitably recieve.

Of the "breakable" items (for lack of a better term), I suspect the damage ratio is significantly higher. I doubt UPS, or any carrier, would want the actual figures known publically. I'm not sure we'd even want to know.
 

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