Guitar damaged in transit

ailey

I just received an accoustic guitar and it has arrived with a 4 inch crack. It was in a padded guitar bag and in a guitar box with brown packaging paper down the sides and some foam chips on the underside. It got cracked on the top (front) of the guitar. The box had 'Fragile' tape on the front. (I know some people say that they don't put Fragile on parcels because some people don't treat them any more carefully etc). It is clear on the box where something has been dropped on it as it has a big dent in the cardboard exactly where the crack is on the guitar. So disappointing for my son!

I've sent a message to the seller to ask what cover the parcel had with Parcelforce and it has £100 compensation. My son is wondering if it can be repaired so he'll have to take it up to the city to find out. It cost him over £250 and £15 postage. Such a disappointment when parcels are not handled with care.

Has anyone else had a problem with music instruments being damaged in transit? Any advice welcome.

soolin

Why do you need to know what insurance the seller has? You as the buyer are entitled to the full amount back when you return it.

Assuming this was paid for by PayPal in the first instance tell seller you want a full refund if you return guitar. If seller proves difficult open a PayPal SNAD case (or an eBay one if bought on eBay) wait until you are told to return item and then send it back tracked.

Take photos of the damage before returnig just in case.

Do not muddy the waters by suggesting repairs or partial refunds.

Contains_Mild_Peril

Whether you want to consider accepting payment for a repair instead of a refund may depend whether it's an unusual guitar or if you could just buy another with a full refund. If the seller has sent it without adequate cover the risk was theirs, not yours. You should keep all the packaging to send back with it if you do return it, since Royal Mail may want to see it before agreeing any payout (your seller should refund long before this happens, so this is just to make things easier for them).

ailey

soolin wrote: »

Why do you need to know what insurance the seller has? You as the buyer are entitled to the full amount back when you return it.

Assuming this was paid for by PayPal in the first instance tell seller you want a full refund if you return guitar. If seller proves difficult open a PayPal SNAD case (or an eBay one if bought on eBay) wait until you are told to return item and then send it back tracked.

Take photos of the damage before returnig just in case.

Do not muddy the waters by suggesting repairs or partial refunds.

Thanks soolin. My son likes this guitar because it is a special one. I don't know much about them. He just wondered about getting it repaired. I would much rather he pays that sort of money for an undamaged one. I've sent the buyer photos of the guitar which clearly shows where it is cracked on the front. I don't feel the seller is to blame entirely but Parcelforce is for the handling of the box although if the seller had put polystyrene packing on top of the guitar case, it would then have been better protected. It would not have fitted in the guitar box though but maybe he should have got hold of a larger box. He said he has sent other accoustic guitars and never had any problem and this one was the best packed (he thought!).

I did send him a question before bidding on it to ask if he would be packing it with polystyrene chips for protection and he said he would but they were only scattered underneath and none on top of the padded bag.

The seller seems a decent person and I hate things like this happening but I don't want my son to take the hit for it not being properly protected for transit, but he may decide to keep it and get it repaired and hopefully that is possible. Maybe when he comes to look at it again tomorrow he may decide to return it.

soolin

Just watch your time frames and remember that a buyer cannot insist on a partial refund for repair costs. If he goes ahead with repair then nothing can force the seller to repay those costs- it will remain return for a full refund, or keep.

ailey

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

Whether you want to consider accepting payment for a repair instead of a refund may depend whether it's an unusual guitar or if you could just buy another with a full refund. If the seller has sent it without adequate cover the risk was theirs, not yours. You should keep all the packaging to send back with it if you do return it, since Royal Mail may want to see it before agreeing any payout (your seller should refund long before this happens, so this is just to make things easier for them).

soolin wrote: »

Just watch your time frames and remember that a buyer cannot insist on a partial refund for repair costs. If he goes ahead with repair then nothing can force the seller to repay those costs- it will remain return for a full refund, or keep.

Thank you both for your help. My son has decided that he wants to keep the guitar and claim Royal Mail Parcelforce for repair charges. It's not what I would decide though but it's his choice and his money. I'll contact the seller to ask him to send me the document he has for Parcelforce. I suppose it will be a long drawn out affair and something which could have been prevented with some more polystyrene packaging on top of the guitar case. So annoying!

Anyone had any claims like this that they could enlighten me on any pitfalls when claiming as there are so many exclusions for sending parcels via Royal Mail?

custardy

The seller has no compensation cover

General advice
Guitars must be placed in a sealable hard case designed for the instrument. The case must be then packaged for
protection and placed in a strong cardboard box.
Guitars must not be despatched in trapezoid cardboard boxes alone, these are not designed for, and are not suitable as
protection through our network. Also leather or cloth cases do not provide adequate protection, especially for string
instruments such as guitars.
Please note that if the instrument hard case is used as the external packaging, then the case itself will be treated as
packaging and not contents, as a result the case will not be covered for compensation in the event of damage.
Parcelforce Worldwide recommend any instrument strings be loosened or removed before sending.

ailey wrote: »

Thank you both for your help. My son has decided that he wants to keep the guitar and claim Royal Mail Parcelforce for repair charges. It's not what I would decide though but it's his choice and his money. I'll contact the seller to ask him to send me the document he has for Parcelforce. I suppose it will be a long drawn out affair and something which could have been prevented with some more polystyrene packaging on top of the guitar case. So annoying!

Anyone had any claims like this that they could enlighten me on any pitfalls when claiming as there are so many exclusions for sending parcels via Royal Mail?

Now lets be sensible. Your son has no contract with Parcelforce
Your item was not packaged correctly
So follow your course and get £0


handled with care doesnt come into it.

jeffuk

Good advice from Soolin & Custardy, your son will get nothing from Royal Mail. Open a Not As Described Case, send guitar back with tracking (try Interparcel.). You will get refunded for item cost and outward shipping cost. I'm a guitarist myself so can understand how your son may have fallen in love with it. Return and keep looking for a similar model, one will turn up. Good luck.

ailey

custardy wrote: »

The seller has no compensation cover

Now lets be sensible. Your son has no contract with Parcelforce
Your item was not packaged correctly
So follow your course and get £0

handled with care doesnt come into it.

jeffuk wrote: »

Good advice from Soolin & Custardy, your son will get nothing from Royal Mail. Open a Not As Described Case, send guitar back with tracking (try Interparcel.). You will get refunded for item cost and outward shipping cost. I'm a guitarist myself so can understand how your son may have fallen in love with it. Return and keep looking for a similar model, one will turn up. Good luck.

Yes that's what I think he should do also, to return it and get refunded. Such a shame and I feel bad for the seller too. I need to grow a business head and not be so caring lol! He thought he had packed it so well but just the padded case, some foam chips on the bottom and packing paper around the sides but nothing between the padded case and the lid of the box so that's why it got cracked when something landed on the box. Had there been polystyrene added in between, it probably would have prevented the damage. I keep any packaging material I receive in boxes so I will use polystyrene when returning it if I can convince my son to let me return it. I'll let him read these comments to try to let him see sense as he doesn't have money to throw away.

I thought if the seller sent me the Parcelforce paperwork that, as the recipient who had paid the postage price, we would be able to claim for the repair of the guitar but you have been excellent with the above information in letting me know that we would get zero back from Royal Mail because the guitar was not in a hard case etc. Many thanks for all your help.

custardy

ailey wrote: »

Yes that's what I think he should do also, to return it and get refunded. Such a shame and I feel bad for the seller too. I need to grow a business head and not be so caring lol! He thought he had packed it so well but just the padded case, some foam chips on the bottom and packing paper around the sides but nothing between the padded case and the lid of the box so that's why it got cracked when something landed on the box. Had there been polystyrene added in between, it probably would have prevented the damage. I keep any packaging material I receive in boxes so I will use polystyrene when returning it if I can convince my son to let me return it. I'll let him read these comments to try to let him see sense as he doesn't have money to throw away.

I thought if the seller sent me the Parcelforce paperwork that, as the recipient who had paid the postage price, we would be able to claim for the repair of the guitar but you have been excellent with the above information in letting me know that we would get zero back from Royal Mail because the guitar was not in a hard case etc. Many thanks for all your help.

Dont feel bad for the seller.
Guitars are notorious for their fragility in transit.
Parcelforce carry up to 30Kg standard packages.(from memory)
So an item has to be able to stand up to those types of items being on top of it at the very least.
His/her packaging was nowhere near the requirement,plus he used a service with no enhanced cover options

mgdavid

custardy wrote: »

Dont feel bad for the seller.
Guitars are notorious for their fragility in transit.
Parcelforce carry up to 30Kg standard packages.(from memory)
So an item has to be able to stand up to those types of items being on top of it at the very least.
His/her packaging was nowhere near the requirement,plus he used a service with no enhanced cover options

^^^ all of this.
The seller is completely daft (other words are available) for not packing it correctly. It doesn't take a genius to work out why the courier and haulage companies won't cover instruments and zillions of other fragile items unless packed in SOLID boxes - because they are so easily damaged.