Frampton Les Paul: Destroyed!

[shreddermon]

GC should be dealing with this, not you. You should call them ASAP, and request an immediate refund. Whether they want it returned or if they want to call in the UPS dogs themselves instead of you shipping it back, they should refund your $$$ pronto. Dealing with UPS should be GC's hassle, not your's. GC owes you the refund, not UPS. And UPS's insurance monkeys owe GC, not you. If you charged it, worst case scanerio is that you'll have to dispute the charge, once it's in GC or UPS's hands. If you don't get the refund within 30 days, dispute the charge with your CC company, no matter what.

[gort]

That's the "I'm Union/Don't give a fuck" smile. You should have messed up his teeth.

Yeah one of my buddies is a UPS driver and he said he's seen how people handle packages. They do it like they don't give a shit what's in there. It sucks. I told him if he ever sees a guitar shaped box to be nice to it!

[JACKSONFREAK]

His claim is with UPS. Not GC. UPS broke it. without knowing how it was packed we cant point blame at the GC guy who packed it. I've had the unfortunate opertunity to deal with UPS claims and it takes forever. It wasnt anything i did. It was before i got to the warhouse. We sent a drum kit out to a customer and it got broked buy the UPS gorrilas and the customer sent it back to us after making a claim with UPS. We then sent it back to him after a few months of nothing from UPS. and we ordered the parts for it that were broken. Rims and lugs. Then he swapped it out at the store nearhim when he got it back from us. Unfortunately with your guitar its not possable to swap out for a new one that isnt damaged. call the GC and UPS and get the ball rolling and see what both sides say. It's gonna take some time but you will get it resolved one way or another.
Good luck
Gil

[Subvamp]

Thanks for the info guys.

The story just gets better and better.....

Just found out that the kid who packed it only insured it for $2000. With tax, I paid $3300. So even if they give me a full refund, I'll be out $1300.


So, after this nice tibit of information, and, after getting over the shock, I gave the guitar a good once-over, and the guitar can be repaired. I'm almost leaning towards a repair, because I'll take a beating on a refund, and otherwise, the guitar is awesome. It's a clean break, and most importantly, it's one of the First Run that I was looking for, and I was damn lucky to find it. What are my chances of having UPS cover the cost of the repair, as opposed to a full refund?

[ApeDosMil]

I would just get it fixed. I have a beat to shit Les Paul with a snapped and glued headstock and it functions perfect. If it breaks at the headstock again, it won't be where it has been glued

[JACKSONFREAK]

A good luthier can repair it and refinish the break to look original. I've seen it done. The cost of a repair is way less than the 1300.00 you could lose on an insurance claim. Heck claim it anyway. get it fixed and maybe they'll setle for the 2G's it was insured for. then you get the guitar even cheaper. lol Just a thouht.
Gil

[Subvamp]

My main issue with repairing it is that it would kill the value of the guitar. So, I called a few buddies and found out that if I send it to the Gibson Repair & Restoration shop in Nashville for the repair, then the value of the guitar won't be affected, because Gibson handled the repair. So that sounds like the way to go.
Big pain in my ass, lemme tell ya!

[Dave L]

Isn´t it a bit optimistic to say it won´t affect the value if Gibson handles the repair. It´ll still have been broken and repaired whoever does it... or is it something along the lines that it´ll still be "original" if Gibson does it? A hard-core Gibson collector thing?

[MortenP]

I'm so sorry for your loss...Try to make the best of it!!

[Newc]

Isn´t it a bit optimistic to say it won´t affect the value if Gibson handles the repair. It´ll still have been broken and repaired whoever does it... or is it something along the lines that it´ll still be "original" if Gibson does it? A hard-core Gibson collector thing?

Sorry about the damage, and the stupidity of the kid who under-insured it.

I do have to agree with Dave, though - a repair is a repair, and I for one would not pay the same for a repaired collector's item as I would for an untouched one.

[Subvamp]

I think the way it works through Gibson is that it will be COMPLETELY un-noticable. Since the guitar is a Gibson, they have the exact paint lots, etc to repair it and make it look like it's brand new. So basically I'd never know it was repaired. It doesn't really matter to me though...I'm gonna play it, not stick it in a humidor as an investment. But I still don't want an ugly Frankenstein scar across the back of the headstock. If Gibson can make it "as new", that's what I'll go for. The pics on their site of repairs are impressive!

[hammer84]

The story just gets better and better.....

Just found out that the kid who packed it only insured it for $2000. With tax, I paid $3300. So even if they give me a full refund, I'll be out $1300.

I had this happen with some high dollar DMX lights I bought. The store said they did not insure them, even thou it was listed in the shipping details. I told them either replace or I'd do a charge back. They replaced the lights I ended up only paying for shipping.

[shreddermon]

His claim is with UPS. Not GC. UPS broke it. without knowing how it was packed we cant point blame at the GC guy who packed it. I've had the unfortunate opertunity to deal with UPS claims and it takes forever. It wasnt anything i did. It was before i got to the warhouse. We sent a drum kit out to a customer and it got broked buy the UPS gorrilas and the customer sent it back to us after making a claim with UPS. We then sent it back to him after a few months of nothing from UPS. and we ordered the parts for it that were broken. Rims and lugs. Then he swapped it out at the store nearhim when he got it back from us. Unfortunately with your guitar its not possable to swap out for a new one that isnt damaged. call the GC and UPS and get the ball rolling and see what both sides say. It's gonna take some time but you will get it resolved one way or another.
Good luck
Gil

I'm sorry, but you're wrong on this. He paid GC for an undamaged instrument. That's not what arrived. I'm not saying this is GC's fault. Maybe it was packed bad by GC. Maybe not, and UPS tossed it around like a basketball. From his perspective, it doesn't matter. What arrived isn't what he paid for. When something is damaged in shipping, it is the seller's responsibility to make things whole. GC should give him an immediate refund - in full, despite their insurance goof-up. And the insurance claim with UPS is GC's dealio to handle. That's how they'll get made whole, $$-wise. Call them immediately, dude, and initiate a return/refund. If they don't follow through, initiate a charge dispute with your CC company.

[Subvamp]

Hey Shreddermon,

That actually sounds correct to me. I'll call GC now. I did pay for it with a c. card (I sure don't have $3300 cash!) so maybe that'l be to my advantage. Thanks for the tip.

In the meantime, some light reading:

http://www.unitedpackagesmashers.com/

LOTS of broken guitars on that site...

[MBreinin]

I would ram that guitar down GC's throat. They are a huge company with an enormous amount of cash. They should take that guitar back and give you either a new one in exchange, or a refund. I am telling you, make enough noise here and you will get satisfaction. DO NOT ACCEPT ANYTHING ELSE.

Mike