Guutar damaged during GSP delivery

[edward_kaye2oxs]

I found a guitar (from the UK) that I've been after for years and it finally arrived today. As soon as I saw the packaging, my heart sank. Sure enough, a large chunk is missing from the body and the paint job, which is the primary selling point, is pretty much ruined.

The seller is insisting their packaging was sufficient and this is the fault of the Global Shipping Programme. They've offered me 150 to get the piece glued back on, but this thing cost me $1600 including shipping. The paint job is being repair. What do I do?

Urgh, there's a local person selling the same guitar without the fancy paint job for $500 locally. I might be sick.

[marnotom!]

If the item arrived damaged at the GSP’s UK hub, it’s unlikely that it would have been forwarded to you. The damage likely occurred when the GSP took over responsibility for the shipment, so the issue of inadequate packaging on the seller’s part is pretty much irrelevant.

File a claim for a “not as described” item through eBay’s Money Back Guarantee process, noting that the item was handled by the GSP and catastrophically damaged. There may be a few other hoops to jump through given the value of the shipment, but you should receive a refund—including the import charges—through the GSP, rather than the seller, if all goes well.

[femmefan1946]

Once the guitar was accepted by the GSP responsibility for secure delivery moved to the GSP.

The seller is not responsible.

Do keep the seller in the loop, but not in a hostile way, just as a learning experience.

And as marnotom! says make it clear that this was a GSP shipment.

Generally the GSP /Pitney Bowes just calmly refunds. They rarely mess up (although they can be slow)and have excellent insurance.

You keep the damaged guitar.  Perhaps it can be repaired as the seller suggests. Do you know any luthiers?

[edward_kaye2oxs]

Thanks. I've been very stressed all day. Hence the bad proofreading and phone typos. I opened a claim today and the seller is seeing about escalating it.  They seemed unhappy that I was implying that their packaging job wasn't good enough, which was not my intention. I really don't care who is responsible at this point, I just want a resolution.

I do know a couple of good luthiers and the one I messaged today said yes they could probably glue the piece back on, but it's not a clean break, so it will be noticeable and they can't really cover up the missing paint, because it's a more complex finish and would look weird. 

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

Sorry that happened. It is very upsetting especially if it is an expensive item.  I ordered a large lot of vintage jewelry from a seller in the US last year. It was sent by GSP.  Quite a few pieces were damaged in shipping.  I put in a claim.  They asked for pictures of the damaged items which I sent.  They refunded me all my money including shipping & told me to keep the items without having to send them back.

[edward_kaye2oxs]

That's good to hear. How long did it take eBay to resolve the case? The wait is very stressful.