Buyers/Sellers: Guitar shipped and lost with USPS

[bigswifty]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this thread, but I hope some of you can shine some light on this situation from experience.

I shipped out a guitar on November 25th to a fella in Illinois (from Vancouver, BC)
He payed via Paypal. I packed the guitar into its hard case and then that inside a guitar box loaded with packing materials to ensure a safe travel.
Then I went up to the Canada Post office and shipped it off (correctly addressed) to Illinois.

The package was insured (though Canada Post has a maximum cap off).
The package was requested as "no signature required", as the buyer is always working within the hours of postal delivery.

The estimated delivery time was Dec 2nd.
The item passed from Canada Post's possession into USPS.
Tracking showed that the item reached (and was signed for) the local post office to the buyers address in Illinois.
On Monday Dec 7th, the package went out for delivery.
However, at 1:04am on Dec 8th, the package was updated as "In-Transit, Delayed".

I contacted the buyer and was informed that no package had reached him.
This seemed odd to us, so we started inquiring.

We were both told by the local USPS office that the employees had recieved the package, and they all noted it was a guitar (it was in a Gibson shipping box).
A lady at the PO told us that it had gone out on Monday, and that the delivery employee was new.
She also informed us that the package had not returned to the office and that the delivery employee has no recollection of the package.
The package was NOT scanned out as "delivered".

What the hell do we do here?

I called USPS Customer Service and talked to a lady who advised me to open an "International Inquiry" with Canada Post, which would prompt an investigation with USPS.
However the lady at the local USPS office told me to open a Claim and possibly another with OIG - the postal police (afaik them as).

It just disappeared.

My thoughts on the possibilities are that:

a) the package was dropped off somewhere without being scanned out as delivered, that was not the buyers address.
b) the new employee stole the package
c) the new employee left the truck alone and it was taken from the truck
d) the package returned to the post office but was not scanned back in or noted. (the lady at the PO confirmed it did not come back but who knows?)

I've filed a claim with Canada Post. They've quoted 5 business days and said to keep an eye on the tracking for updates.
Beyond that I'm trying to figure out what will happen or what is fair. I really hope that it works out and that the buyer receives his guitar in tact.

What a disaster..

 

[Jonathan20022]

"no signature required"

First off, never EVER accept this. These requests will automatically have Paypal side with the buyer and you will lose your product and money if they file for a reimbursement. Always have signature requirements on whatever you ship off, worst case with USPS, he can pick it up the very next business date as soon as they open.

Claims should honor this specific claim though if it really never shows a delivery status.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

i had a few of the items ive sold on ebay get lost when usps updated their systems a few months ago.

i live in texas and when any package i sent out went to another address in the united states and "usa" was in the address (which is common on most paypal verified address), usps would automatically send them to customs...where they are probably still being held.

as stupid as it sounds, packages got lost there, never to return. luckily i have recovered my money from the post office.

 

[marcwormjim]

The only thing the US Postal Service seems to do smoothly is send things in to Canada. But within the US, they're perfectly happy to keep their crapshoot success-rate below a hit-or-miss standard.

I use USPS when buyers want free shipping but, honestly, signature-required and insured FedEx/UPS delivery is the minimum I need to feel protected. USPS may offer both, but are more likely than the others to refuse to honor insurance-claims unless they themselves packed the item(s), in-question.

It recently took me a month to get refunded for a returned guitar due to the post office losing track of it for two weeks. The post office clerk warned me that they keep ZERO records; and that your receipt with tracking info is the only proof that you even dealt with them. Had I merely misplaced or discarded the receipt in any way, USPS never would have even attempted to locate it.

Two weeks before that, I had my Steinberger Spirit GU stolen off the post office counter because the clerk that processed it FORGOT to move it. ALL DAY. The security camera footage showed the package sitting there until they shut the camera off at closing time. That's right - USPS SHUTS OFF THE SECURITY CAMERAS FOR THEIR OPEN LOBBIES AT CLOSING TIME. And when it came time to close the shutters over the counter, the clerk pushed the USPS-labeled package out of the way so that they could be closed. Then the postmaster claimed that the office wasn't liable for anything left in the "lobby", because it's public property. I'm still waiting for the postmaster general to contact me about this "investigation", in spite of the cut-and-dry negligence.

 

[Rev2010]

Like Jonathan said above, never EVER ship anything of value without a signature request! With no signature required they are allowed to just leave it in front of the door. I've had them leave packages and not even bother to ring the doorbell! Secondly, always use either UPS or FedEx as US Postal sucks the biggest donkey dong in existence and if your package gets lost dealing with them can take years off your life. Here in NYC I tried calling four nearby post office's just to try and find out where a package I was waiting for was. Long story short it said the business was closed when they attempted delivery but it wasn't then it sat in limbo for nearly a week before I tried calling. NONE of them answered the phone, several attempts each.

Good luck with this. All you can do is open an investigation with each postal service that was involved in the shipment. The thing that sucks is when packages get lost sometimes they're not really lost but fall into limbo forever then magically make it to their destination months later. Problem is by that time you will have already refunded the guy and would have to hope he'd be honest enough to tell you the guitar showed up a month later. I have a shirt I ordered disappear, said delivered by their system, got refunded and *TWO MONTHS* later it gets delivered to me.


Rev.

 

[bigswifty]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I'm not sure why I thought it would be fine to go with no signature required.
Thankfully the guy I am dealing with is kind and trustworthy.

It's shocking to hear all the bad stories involving USPS, since prior to this deal I had heard otherwise.
All feedback I had heard was good.

Digging into forums, however, reveals some pretty nasty stories.
I just don't understand how the package doesn't get delivered, or signed out as delivered, or returned to the station

Hoping for a lucky resolve in this.

 

[Floppystrings]

I would call the police and make a report, if the employee is under suspicion of grand theft, considering his job the police should probably be able to secure a search warrant.

Stop looking at the employee as an extension of the company, look at him as a possible criminal and treat him as such. His business will not help you catch him, unless police are involved.

 

[Rev2010]

I would call the police and make a report, if the employee is under suspicion of grand theft, considering his job the police should probably be able to secure a search warrant.

The police are NOT going to get a search warrant. The police won't even get involved once you tell them the post office lost track of it. Firstly, was the package insured for the cost of the guitar? If so, then he needs to file for reimbursement through USPS. If he didn't insure the package then I can't see how he's going to get any monetary compensation. Additionally, the police will tell him to take it up with USPS, they're not going to raid the USPS office in search of his missing guitar.

God I hate unwarranted "CALL DA POLICE" responses.

PS. I like ya FloppyStrings, I really do, so I'm sorry if my post offends you which I'm fairly sure it will. It's just the absolute wrong thing to suggest the OP to do.


Rev.

 

[ArtDecade]

 

[Chokey Chicken]

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

I'm not sure why I thought it would be fine to go with no signature required.
Thankfully the guy I am dealing with is kind and trustworthy.

It's shocking to hear all the bad stories involving USPS, since prior to this deal I had heard otherwise.
All feedback I had heard was good.

Digging into forums, however, reveals some pretty nasty stories.
I just don't understand how the package doesn't get delivered, or signed out as delivered, or returned to the station

Hoping for a lucky resolve in this.

For what it's worth, you'll find just as many horror stories with any courier service. All of these places make mistakes, and things just go wrong sometimes. Not exactly advice, but using USPS wasn't a bad decision. I've shipped about a dozen guitars through them and it's always worked out for me. I hope it works out for you. Everything else that I could say has already been said though.

 

[Rev2010]

For what it's worth, you'll find just as many horror stories with any courier service. All of these places make mistakes, and things just go wrong sometimes.

That is true, every other service has it's own share of mistakes and issues. The difference however is working everything out when one does have a problem. UPS and FedEx have always been several orders of magnitude more helpful and efficient and resolving issues than USPS has been. The service reps are in entirely different moods with the USPS reps all sounding annoyed, disinterested, and just wanting to go on break.

Maybe your experience has been different, but man... mine has never been what I could call "excellent" with USPS. I have had excellent experiences however with UPS and FedEx.


Rev.

 

[thrsher]

ive done claims with usps fedex and ups. only fedex have i ever had a "postive" outcome.

 

[Chokey Chicken]

That is true, every other service has it's own share of mistakes and issues. The difference however is working everything out when one does have a problem. UPS and FedEx have always been several orders of magnitude more helpful and efficient and resolving issues than USPS has been. The service reps are in entirely different moods with the USPS reps all sounding annoyed, disinterested, and just wanting to go on break.

Maybe your experience has been different, but man... mine has never been what I could call "excellent" with USPS. I have had excellent experiences however with UPS and FedEx.


Rev.

I've had mostly fine experiences all around, (Fedex, UPS, USPS, DHL, etc.) with the soul exception being FedEx one time telling me to essentially .... off because they had a signature that says I got the package, when the signature wasn't mine. (or anyone I knew.) Someone signed for/stole my package, and they did nothing for me despite the signature not being mine. Which is actually one reason required signatures aren't a fool proof method. They'll let anyone sign and hold the package. (Not that you shouldn't do it, as it is still much safer than just leaving it at the door if nobody answers.)

More times than not, customer service reps tend to be short/annoyed. This goes for ups, fedex, usps, walmart, guitar center, and any other store you can think of.

Maybe my area is just .... though, and I wouldn't doubt that being the case. The guy who delivers for fedex to my house looks high 100% of the time, and shows up regularly after 8:00 pm. I prefer UPS, which is timely and our driver is awesome. I've heard many others say they despise UPS. Really depends on your area it seems.

 

[ArtDecade]

I've had luck shipping with FedEx, but they suck when it comes to delivering to me.

 

[Rev2010]

Really depends on your area it seems.

Good point! People in different areas and lifestyles certainly do have different dispositions. I guess my area is heavy with mostly pissed off entitled idiots that think the world owes them everything. NYC is certainly not known for being super hospitable! Even my home post office in Jersey is better than in NYC (I get most of my deliveries to my job in NYC).


Rev.

 

[Floppystrings]

PS. I like ya FloppyStrings, I really do, so I'm sorry if my post offends you which I'm fairly sure it will. It's just the absolute wrong thing to suggest the OP to do.


Rev.

I'm not offended at all.

I think calling the police to make a record is a good idea, maybe they won't get a search warrant, they probably won't based on this. But if they have any previous info about this employee maybe it could help get to the bottom of what happened.

My dad's car was broken into and the guys got away, so I'm kind of extra touchy when it comes to people stealing. Now my 68 year old dad thinks he might need a gun, it's messed up.

 

[NemesisTheory]

The postal service right now is awful. I've had more lost, delayed, rerouted packages this year than in the past 15 years combined. I was told by my local office there is a 'new' tracking or computer system that is causing problems. There is a massive increase in packages being sent due to increased online purchasing that they are not prepared to handle. Bear in mind they also have driven out a lot of knowledgeable long term employees in favor of cheap, temporary and part time labor. Oh, and people are walking right up to people's front doors and stealing any packages they can get their hands on. There were 2 stories on the news just today about that. Get aggressive about it and don't wait to take action.

 

[ecalcagnino]

Hey guys. I'm the buyer of the guitar that never showed. A lot of you may know me from past deals. The OP has been very helpful in getting this going and starting the claim. I'll be sure to make sure this thread is updated with anything that comes up. We're both Hopi g it's in a dark corner at the local USPS office and gets "discovered" soon. Thanks.

Eric

 

[GunpointMetal]

USPS went to .... in the last two years. I've had maybe one package show up on time, I've had multiple packages sit in holding for WEEKS at my local post office (but you can't just go pick it up until a delivery attempt has been made), damaged packages (like a four inch knife hole through a package of strings), their tracking is so useless. One of my packages that sat there for weeks....I checked the tracking before I left work for the day, said it was still at the PO, but when I got home it was outside my apartment building (a signature required package, too) so I checked the tracking # again and it was still at the PO according to the website. Just for ....s and giggles I kept checking on the tracking # occasionally. Their website showed it at the PO for THREE MONTHS...then its status changed to "UNDELIVERABLE"....and calling that place is a joke. It's not customer service, its a Hold/Transfer service....

 

[Rev2010]

^^^^^

My experience to a T.


Rev.