That's terrible about your Yockey! They make you pay insurance to cover their ineptness and then don't pay? Crazy. Well I turned the guitar in to my local post office, so if they're not going to pay they'd better give the guitar back or they'll have a lawsuit pending. I'll never use USPS again if that is the case...and I'll campaign so no one I know does either. No wonder they're bankrupt!

I've already been refunded by the seller, so if they don't refund I'm in good shape personally, but the seller will be out a guitar and out his money which is just wrong.

The Yockey was sent to me and I agree with Steven that USPS denied the claim and ignored the type of damage which was clearly caused by a forklift! Finally I was repaid through paypal since I had paid through them. But neither Steven nor I deserved the slooow process with USPS. It was darned unfortunate that he lost both instrument and payment and I have certainly complained to USPS - especially since the local employees looked at the damaged package and instrument and all agreed the damage was due to USPS.

I learned to call the insurance company twice a week and ask to speak to a supervisor about the claim or whatever. Write down name day, time and name so you have a record and that usually speeds action. Good luck.

Thanks Brian. The guitar was insured so I made an insurance claim with USPS and the insurance company asked for the guitar...which I turned in. Now waiting for the insurance money. They are not in a hurry to pay me that is for certain.

i watched a video a few years ago about gibson... it was taking you through the build from start to finish but also had a few sections on broken n busted up gibsons... if you get in touch with them ... i'll bet they could fix it

you may end up with an even more unique sound.... thing is you never knew how it sounded anyways so its gotta be better than it would be now

good luck

One more small but perhaps significant point.

The Postal carriers use actual loss/theoretical loss as the guidline for compensation which means you may only claim for the true value of the goods or the price you have paid whichever is the lower!

Ebay auction price is no longer regarded as a guide to value following many claims worldwide where value of goods was inflated by artificial bidding prior to shipping damaged goods!!!!

So if you buy a $3000 guitar for $100 you may only get $100 however if you sell a $100 guitar for $3000 you will never get more than $100 unless you can prove a higher loss.

Consequential loss is never covered normally in any case!

Thank you Dave, I will check that out. I'm not sure if I might have negated that process since I personally filed a claim with the USPS myself. I'll do some more reading on it. Thanks for the heads up!

CJ

I seem to have somehow gained the impression that this was an Ebay/Paypal transaction.

If this was the case then the 'Buyer Protection Policy' provided by the company would allow you to lodge a SNAD claim. [Significantly not as described]

You can ask for a partial refund or a full refund.

Full refund requires return of goods at your expense but partial refund allows you to keep the goods yet receive some compensation. The vendor would claim against the carrier with a full refund and therefore partial refund would normally be based on mitigation of overall loss but is perhaps worth consideration.

Cheryl, the last I knew, to collect the USPS insurance, one had to surrender the instrument. I received a damaged instrument and it was an either/or thing: either I collected on the insurance and surrendered the instrument or just kept the instrument with no compensation for damage.

Kristy, that's terrible...but thanks for sharing. I'm sure it will be along wait for a refund. Sam....very very sad. I'm hoping they don't collect her so I can at least try to get her fixed. Many...holy cow...they must have to work to wreck a bike. I had a dulcimer with a forklift hole in the box. Missed the dulcimer though. Morons.

Robin...will it be years before they refund? Kenneth...good to know you've shipped trouble free...there is hope! John(s) x 3, Thanks for your condolences. Still so sad...can't even open the case. Sounds as though all three are probably equally bad....or good?

OMG that is a serious nightmare!!! If you saw how those people ups and usps handle packages you'd understand. I had a $3000 bicycle that usps basically ruined. We believe they pierced our packaging with a loader fork. We meticulously packaged it and have shipped many bikes over the years buying and selling. I hate to see that, I would be crying my eyes out. SO sorry to see that.

Cheryl ... I know that I share your grief in the destruction of a beautiful instrument as much as the money. I hope that you get restitution, but I cringe when I look at the picture. I can't play a guitar, never will, but I've enjoyed the music from them all my life. They take on a life of their own when played. This is just so so sad.

Cheryl, I too have had instruments wrecked by USPS and had to wait for months to get paypal refund. One instrument was an early Jerry Rockwell with a snapped off head (bad packaging) and the other a Tom Yocky which was rammed by a forklift. So I understand how you are hurting. Is there a really wonderful luthier nearby? If not, Rainbow Guitars in Tucson,AZ has a fantastic repair department. Perhaps you could send detailed photos and get estimates. Good luck.

So sorry...I've recently had a similar situation with FedEx. What are they thinking???

Cheryl,

I'm adding my heartfelt condolences. i just found out about the disaster that has befallen you. I hope you get the situation resolved to your (at least partial) satisfaction. it's such a shame to see a once-beautiful, classicinstrument in this state. But... something can usually be doneto repair horrendous-looking injuries. I've even been able to repair some fairly major dulcimer damage, to my shock and surprise!

Now I'm wondering if I should continue using the USPS for shipments ofMY dulcimers? I heard Warren May say once that he was through with using UPS for his shipments,having been disappointed by them several times,and is only going with the USPS now. Hmmmm... But I always insure them these days!

Cheryl what a tragedy. I hope you get a good resolution. I recently shipped a mountain dulcimer in a gig bag by USPS from Pennsylvania to Georgia in a card board box without any problem. Almost all of the dulcimer I receive come by FedEx. So far I have had no problem with them either.

Oh, no, Cheryl, that's awful! I'm so sorry. That's a sweet guitar and I'm imagining a really good luthier could make it great again. And I know how the insurance with USPS works-- no need to ask how I know. :( Again, I'm really sorry this happened.

Ah I see. Well, I'm going to hope that is not the case and in fact it was just a tragic accident by the post office. The box is all beat up so its most likely what happened. The strings were slackened, so not sure that was the issue and the guitar was packed well in the case with the headstock supported. Anyway, what a pain...in the rear and heart! Thanks for all the support ya'll.

Cheryl, So sorry to hear about your guitar. OUCH that hurts.

Cheryl, Seller gets your money; you get refund from the insurance. If indeed it was damaged in the store, he would have had to refund your money; have it repaired and then sell it for less. Not saying that's what happened, but we'll probably never know