How well did UPS ship my Bronco? PIC HEAVY

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:26 am

I have had to get Brown to re-route because they required sig in person and then acted all shocked when I couldn't just BE there waiting. I wanted to ask them to ship it to me USPS so I could get what I paid for. I am pretty sure there is a HUGE market for shipped goods, folks. WTF?

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:36 am

When Aen shipped me the CP Jazzmaster, UPS actually shipped it North-West and it got as far as Grand Forks three days later, nearly two states over, in totally the wrong way!

I had to call and ask them WHAT THE FOK? before they went: "lolololol sry, homie. Our bad." and sent the guitar back through Eau Claire and finally moving in the right direction. They never offered any kind of compensation even though somebody obviously payed for this guitar to show up at a particular place, within a particular time frame. Clearly their timed delivery system looses all it's relevance once you've payed for it.

As for their "brokerage fees" for international shipping, they seem to be pretty arbitrary seeing as the delivery guy totally waived them when he saw how pissed I was at the door.

brambleperro · Post by **brambleperro** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:26 pm

MrMaxima wrote:It doesn't look like any packing material was used inside the case to immobilize the guitar. Thus the guitar shifted around and broke through the case. The case is too long for the guitar which doesn't help either.

A guitar needs to be packed to mimic a "form-fit case" with packing material surrounding the body so the guitar doesn't move around inside the case. Crumpled up craft paper is a good material to immobilize the body and will also cushion the guitar in the case of a drop. Don't use newspapers as the ink rubs off. Don't forget to support the neck and the headstock also to prevent a "whiplash" causing the headstock from shearing off.

The cardboard box is the first line of defense, then the packing material between the box and the case, the case, and finally the form-fit liner (or packing material) inside the case to protect the guitar... Fender guitars are much tougher than Gibson guitars where the headstock has a habit of shearing off.

I've shippped 20+ guitars with UPS, USPS, DHL, and FedEx and never had a problem. Usually the cardboard box gets battered, but stuff inside arrives intact with no damage.

Mr.Maxima

Excuse me? I am the gentleman who shipped the Bronco to Pullover. I did, in fact fill the case with packing material. If the kind people at UPS had treated it like the $XXX instrument that it was (which they should have, as I insured it for as much) there should have been no problems getting it to its destination safely. Thank you for your advice, but I've shipped my fair share of guitars as well, sir.

astro · Post by **astro** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:54 pm

laterallateral wrote:As for their "brokerage fees" for international shipping, they seem to be pretty arbitrary seeing as the delivery guy totally waived them when he saw how pissed I was at the door.

Did you say that you would refuse the package unless the fee was waived? I've never said that to the UPS delivery guy but I'm wondering if that's the secret to avoiding the fee. I've always been reluctant to try that out of fear that they would call my bluff and ship it back to the sender!

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:03 pm

Yeah, I basically told him that I was very upset about the delay, that customer service did not feel my problem deserved correction beyond a verbal apology and that I fully intended to cause as much trouble as law would permit, if I had to spend another penny on their service.

He just said "ok, I understand" made me sign the thing and left.

laterallateral · Post by **laterallateral** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:09 pm

I think that legally, they have to hold your package at their facility for 1 week before the can return to sender.

porterhaus · Post by **porterhaus** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:50 pm

We typically only hear about the horror stories.

My experience, so far, has been that in general all the carriers do a pretty good job.

I received a fragile Kenny Hill classical guitar via UPS a while back. The guy that sent it apparently had no clue as to how to pack it for good protection. Here is how it arrived:

The box was bulging in places because it was made for a smaller guitar:

Inside the box was a gig bag with the guitar inside:

I was pleasantly surprised that the guitar made it without incurring any damage:

My hat is off to UPS for the way this package was handled. I would never ship anything that is fragile without thoroughly packing it for maximum protection. We were just lucky with this one I suppose.

astro · Post by **astro** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 8:36 pm

laterallateral wrote:Yeah, I basically told him that I was very upset about the delay, that customer service did not feel my problem deserved correction beyond a verbal apology and that I fully intended to cause as much trouble as law would permit, if I had to spend another penny on their service.

He just said "ok, I understand" made me sign the thing and left.

laterallateral wrote:I think that legally, they have to hold your package at their facility for 1 week before the can return to sender.

I never knew the drivers had the ability to waive the fee. If I'm ever trapped getting a package from UPS ever again, I'm going to really push to have the fee waived.

I didn't know they had to hold it before sending it back. I wonder if I can offer to do the customs paperwork myself in order not to be charged the brokerage fee?