United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

[RacerX]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

Which, to spell it out, means it is indeed a neckthrough. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[Jim Shine]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

If the neck is like Tony's (the pic on the previous page), it is toast.

Another thing, I am sure they read those Fragile stickers. That is what probably prompted them to single that out and throw it around.

[JimmyApollo]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

[ QUOTE ]
Steve Howe of Yes used to buy a separate ticket for his beloved Gibson ES-175D under the name "Mr. Gibson". I doubt you could get away with that today, but it would be the best way of transporting a guitar--many cases won't fit in the overhead bins, although a gig bag might.

[/ QUOTE ]

My girlfriend's brother is a professional cellist; he buys a separate ticket for his cello every time he flies.

[tmdiamond]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

In the fine print, United states a maximum of 2500 for a checked piece of luggage. She asked me what the cost was when it was new and I estimated it to be around 2k....(1987, Custom, etc). The case was and is a solid, brand new Soloist case and the guitar fit snug as hell. I checked it very thoroughly prior to handing it over to them. If they deny this claim, they will wish to God they hadn't. I'll fight them for as long as it takes. I'll get the media involved, attorneys, etc. I'll go after the baggage handlers who loaded that plane with legal action. I'm sure that employee work schedules can be subpoenaed. It makes me sick that these people would intentionally throw a piece of luggage marked "fragile" with the obvious intent of damaging it. That's fine, if they intentionally try to break my property, I'll tie the handlers up in civil court forever. I think I may try and shoot some video of them throwing bags around. I will keep everyone posted as to what happens. Some may think that I'll be fighting a losing battle. But I feel very, very strongly about respecting other people's property, especially mine, and I'm willing to fight this type of crap to the bitter end. I can't stand these freakin' corporations **** us at every turn. ANyone here who has gone into battle against UPS or FEDEX can attest to the fact that they try their best to get us to walk away with our broken guitars and a denied claim.
I'll see what happens Monday when we get back to STL and I take my busted Jackson to their claims people.

[V]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

Yeah the other guitar player in my band had a white 50w Marshall head delivered by fed Ex which was conveniently left on his front porch waiting on him coming home from work. Don't these dudes have any concept of value?

[HuntinDoug]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

[ QUOTE ]
I'll fight them for as long as it takes. I'll get the media involved, attorneys, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man...Dude, I hope it works out for you. Unfortunately I think fighting a case like this is known as "Throwing good money at bad money". The airlines are well prepared for this kind of problem...I'm sure they damage stuff all the time...probably daily. And, I'm sure they have a way to weezle out of their responsability....It sucks! Kinda like the signs on the back of a gravel truck that say: "This vehicle is not responsible for rocks thrown from the road". Rocks don't come from the road, they just bounce off the road after they fall from the back of the truck. They know they are at fault, and they pay lawers big bucks to keep them out of the hotseat.

If you take this to a lawyers, he'll sit you down and get you all fired up about how wrong this is. Before you know it, your bill is a couple grand. That happened to me in a copyright case. I was so pissed at the guy that was ripping me off by using my design, I didn't care about how much it costed to burn his A$$. I ended up having to cut my losses and walk away....a much poorer man. Most lawyers are nothing but legal theifs. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[veemagic]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

You stick to your guns man. They will pay!! That limit has gone up since my problem happened and thats good. As long as you can prove the value, in my case they wanted 2 estimates from reputable music stores, and then they'll pay. It took about 60 days for the whole thing to be complete. One hint. Tell them your a professional musician and this has cost you earnings beyond the value. That helped expedite my case.
good luck!!

[tmdiamond]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

Thanks for the advice guys....here's the latest...
Got back to STL last night, went to UAL Baggage SVCS, I was polite but firm and explained everything in detail. She said she didn't know anything about it, used a lot of doublespeak, etc. She asked if I signed a waiver of liability which, she explained, UAL employees are supposed to have customers sign if they check a valuable or fragile item. I did not sign a waiver and, after traveling multiple times with guitars, I have never been asked to sign any waiver on my instruments. She said, "well then we're responsible for the damage." But, the guy who handles claims wasn't in and she couldn't tell me whether or when he'd contact me. She asked me to leave the guitar with them and they'd look into it. I got a receipt and made sure she signed it. Today, I called the 800 # she gave me in case the "guy" didn't call (and he didn't). I spoke with a really pleasant computer named Simon who steered my call in a perpetual circle, never allowing me to talk to a human and, in fact, they don't have a "hold" option to talk with a baggage claim agent. If all agents are busy, Simon says bye-bye. So, I did some internet searching and found untied.com. No, that's not a typo. On that site, I found some really interestiung info that, while none of it was reassuring, at least I know I'm not alone in despising these people. The site actually provided a customer relations # which I called. They told me that I should receive a call within 2 weeks from somebody regarding the guitar. Doug, thatnks for the advice. Fortunately, I have a few atty buddies, remnants from my detective days, who would probably be more than happy to assist. Plus, if this ends up being a small claims thing where I would represent myself, I've got enough courtroom testimony experience that I can probably waddle my way thru with a minimum of financial investment. In the interim, I'm going to take veemagic's advice. I am a professional musician by definition, I suppose. I'm also going to get estimates on replacement from 2 music stores. I'll check with Matt, Scott, and Kevin since they are dealers. I took a bunch of digipics, which I'll post soon. Although I can't imagine that anyone really looks forward to seeing another Jackson with a snapped neck. Thanks GOD I didn't bring one of my favorites.

[Guest]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

Tom,

Take it down to Gravity, Jimmy will hook ya up...

Pat

[Tekky]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

Sad to hear that they didn't fire all of the Samsonite gorillas. I hope you get justice man!

[charvelguy]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah the other guitar player in my band had a white 50w Marshall head delivered by fed Ex which was conveniently left on his front porch waiting on him coming home from work. Don't these dudes have any concept of value?

[/ QUOTE ]

It's common for delivery services to leave items of value out. Drop, knock and run,.. the epitome of wham, bam, thank you ma'am. At least some will try to conceal it so only you can notice it when you walk up and not some Joe driving by on the street. Fed Ex has delivery options so that situations like that do not occur .. it just costs more money. Usually with most major carriers it can be stipulated in delivery instructions to leave it with a trusted neighbor which is not a bad option depending on your relationship with your neighbor.

[charvelguy]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

tom, best of luck, I know it's going to be a tooth and nail and I hate runarounds that these places give you. It must be a common line that the person you need to talk to is gone on vacation or isn't in when you want to deal with issues like this cause I've had the same happen. Rake em over the coals and leave the bones for the dog.

[BigDaddyD]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

Sorry to hear about the damage, but that is what Flight Cases are for. I would truly be surprised if they paid because the instrument was not packed properly...by their standards. That is why you actually need an approved flight case. Infact, there are companies that make Flight Case like cases, but are not actuall approved flight cases. There are certain specs I believe. Good luck. Next time get a flight case.

[Joe_Steeler]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

Dude that sucks to high heavens.
How are you spelling it on the claim dollarwise?
Maybe you need to get a friendly appraisal.

Good luck dude.

Joe

[LesPaulCustom]

Re: United Airlines SUCKS! J3172 is DOA!

<font color="yellow">[ QUOTE ]
There are certain specs I believe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man...that sucks big, hairy donkey nuts (not heehawsinfeffer tho [img]/images/graemlins/refuse.gif[/img], hims cool [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img])....anywho....I hate to see that happen to anybody's guitar, and lets face it, there are a finite number of the J serialed Jacksons running around.

I don't agree with the whole Flight Case theory...yeah, they are very sturdy and afford the instruments the ultimate in protection, but they are cost prohibitive for the average musician unless that is pretty much all you do for a living and can deduct the expense as a job incurred necessity.

For us average musicians, studio cats, or just people who love to have nice guitars and play for the sake of playing (myself), that isn't practical to spend $250-$400ish on a case that we may only use once per year to travel (if that). Generally, the cases that are provided with them are adequate to protect the guitars against "normal" use.

It makes me mad when other people don't appreciate or respect others property [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Regardless of how much any of us on the board makes or doesn't make, these guitars aren't cheap monitarily, but on a more personal level, they have personal value to us...which isn't quantifiable.

OK...enough on ranting....I know Tom and I have our differences together, but I am truly sorry that this happened to him and I hope he gets to use the newly patented "powered nutnoose [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]" on these fukking apes in loaders clothes.

Oh yeah, by the way, Flight Cases are in fact required to be a certain specification by the ATA and ANSI (American National Standards Institute) to be classified for airline travel. </font>