Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | I'll bet that got your attention! :)
I'm extremely happy to report that due to a major persistent effort on both the east & west coast, many emails & phone calls, as well as suggestions & info from members of the OFC & others, I *finally* got money from the UPS claim on my damaged Pacemaker. Well, almost, I'll have it Friday when the e-check clears PayPal. That will be two months & one day from the day it was delivered. UPS finally sent a check to Staples (point of shipment) & they processed it (whatever that entails) & sent a different check from them to Ron (Refret) in N.J. Oddly, the check was for $320.26. Why that amount I have no idea. It was only insured for $300. We didn't bitch. Ron was going to send me whatever he finally got, if anything, but at that time we never thought we'd get more than 100 bucks, tops. I told Ron that he should keep everything over what I paid for it for his trouble so he sent me an e-check for $275 & kept the other $45.26 for his efforts.
So, I ended up with a *FREE!* 1115-4 Pacemaker with a few extra finish cracks & a cracked case to match, & Ron got $320.26 for the guitar he sold as a buy-it-now for $275.
A special thanks to both Alpep & Tony Calman for suggestions & info on what to expect & how to deal with it.
Here is a recap of some of their suggestions that worked if you have a claim with UPS-
DO NOT let them take your guitar! Demand that an inspector comes to look at it. Take you own pictures immediately. Inform UPS you have pictures. I put big pieces of masking tape on my case with big black arrows pointing at the cracks. It looked a lot worse that way & it made it easy to find all the damage when the inspector took his pictures. Save the box & all packing & put big arrows on it too.
Before the inspector shows up, get on the Bay & search the finished auctions for similar cases/guitars/whatever & print out the most expensive ones you can find. Save the links. Don't forget to include your auction. I printed out a half dozen complete auctions with pictures, descriptions, prices, everything, for both cases & guitars. Make sure you write the shipping price up at the top with the final auction price. This way you can say "It's worth this much on eBay." & "Go ahead & keep these, I can make copies."
Get names & phone numbers of EVERYONE you talk to. Jot down the date, time of day & what they told you during the conversation. Be persistent to the point of being a PITA if need be. They will probably try to blow you off repeatedly. Don't let them get away with it. Call them if they don't call you back when they say they will. Mention the names, dates & so forth every time you talk to someone. Al was absolutely right, they hate that. Try to get the other party involved immediately if possible & keep them as involved as possible. It helps a LOT if they're getting calls from both ends. Share info with the other party via email after every contact with UPS. (No problem with that in this case, "Refret" is a terrific seller!)
I hope nobody that reads this ever needs to know this stuff.
I'm gunna go play my free guitar!
/\/\/ |
Free Guitar!
