how long to wait before filing a dispute for non-receipt?

[whiskey02]

So Jack, can you imagine yourself ever buying a guitar internationally again? I've shipped to Canada on one occasion but that's about as exotic as I care to get. There's good reason why you see "lower 48 only" so often.

[vinlander]

So Jack, can you imagine yourself ever buying a guitar internationally again? I've shipped to Canada on one occasion but that's about as exotic as I care to get. There's good reason why you see "lower 48 only" so often.

Well, it is luck of the draw I guess; back in July, it took just about 5 days to get Jack's Tal from Cleveland USA to Montreal Canada (including Customs/Duty time) with USPS/Canada Post.

[Woody Sound]

Yeah - why would anyone go to all the trouble of importing a guitar from Germany unless there was something illegal inside it ?! Maybe some contraband TI Swings ?

Many years ago I bought a fairly inexpensive 19th century classical/parlor guitar from a local shop. As soon as I got it home I took off the strings to get a look/feel at the inside bracing. Found a bag of weed taped to one side of the neck block.

[Nils]

So it had more skunk than thunk?

[Engine Swap]

^^^^^^^^
Zing!!!!!

[JazzNote]

So Jack, can you imagine yourself ever buying a guitar internationally again? I've shipped to Canada on one occasion but that's about as exotic as I care to get. There's good reason why you see "lower 48 only" so often.

I have ordered three guitars from the US over the years and shipped one L7 which i bought in Boston myself to Switzerland and never had any troubles so far. I think it's a real shame some sellers don't dare shipping overseas. After all insurance will cover the financial aspect in case of damage.

[Archie]

Many years ago I bought a fairly inexpensive 19th century classical/parlor guitar from a local shop. As soon as I got it home I took off the strings to get a look/feel at the inside bracing. Found a bag of weed taped to one side of the neck block.

Thats my kind of guitar deal lol

Oh and what happened to that bag, I hope you did what any Jazz musician should do, on such a discovery

[jzucker]

I have ordered three guitars from the US over the years and shipped one L7 which i bought in Boston myself to Switzerland and never had any troubles so far. I think it's a real shame some sellers don't dare shipping overseas. After all insurance will cover the financial aspect in case of damage.

No they won't. Ask Vinny. He had to take UPS to court. The insurance carriers will deny payment at every opportunity. And if USPS is involved, they will not insure for more than $600

[vinnyv1k]

AMEN !!! Jack.

[docdosco]

fortunately, no damage but was a pain in the butt to have to take the strings off and reinstall the pickups. Amazing that they don't have to restore something to it's previous condition after inspecting...

Along a similar vein, my dad used to occasionally play at the white house for dinner functions. One time, they decided to inspect his bass amp and they literally pried off the front grill cover and unscrewed the speaker to ensure there was not a bomb inside. They left it to him to reinstall the speaker and repair the damage from prying off the grill cover.

Some years back, I had 20 guitars stopped at US customs in the port of Los Angeles and re-routed to the customs inspection terminal where they opened one carton of 4 guitars and snooped around. Thankfully they didn't damage anything, but they charged me an extra $400 (or some such outrageous fee) for having the whole lot of the guitars trucked from the brokerage warehouse to their facility and back.

I don't know what they expected to find in a shipment of jazz guitars from South Korea.

And on the subject of shipping overseas, the insurance is pityful from USPS. $650 max I believe. I don't know how or why they came up with that number, but it doesn't begin to cover even the wholesale cost on the better jazz boxes. And, only certain Euro countries will accept and deliver a guitar sized box from US post. For FedEx and UPS, the rates are astronomical. I think I was quoted 6 hundred to ship a guitar to Australia once through FedEx.

I would dearly love to find another shipping company that has as reasonable rates as USPS, but I have yet to find one. (anyone know of any???)

I really dislike FedEx, as they used to go into my bank account occasionally (when I had a FedEx account) and take more out than I was charged at the counter for a US ground shipment. They would claim that a mistake was made and I was undercharged. If I was ever overcharged, they were certainly silent on that!

Recently, FedEx tagged my Discover card (which was still on file from before I guess) the amount of $479 on some guitars claiming it was for US customs. I had all of the correct invoices, packing lists, security filing papers, and free trade documents, but they wacked me 5% duty anyway. The air freight was $150 a guitar, so it added up to $1200 on that lot, if I recall. Expensive shipping to begin with. I had to dispute the charge with Discover and then in the end send all of the paperwork on several shipments to Discover showing the FedEx error and have the card company reverse the charge. I still have the Discover account frozen as FedEx keeps trying to re-charge my card for that amount.

GRRRRR (I agree with that sentiment, Jack!)

Doc Dosco