uk_lefty

Yeah they've just told me it's my fault so I don't deserve a refund. Also, neither DPD nor Eurosender have even approached the issue of my property being with someone else. Just a quick, "would you like us to send a courier tomorrow to collect it and return it to you?" would help. This isn't Ped's fault though, a company has offered us a discount and we are not obliged to use them, nobody could have known that they'd be this bad. Until there's a handful of us saying the same things.

So I asked Eurosender for a refund. I paid for a service that has not been provided. Here is their response. "Thank you for your email. We regret to inform you that your order was already processed and confirmed. This means that, according to our Terms and Conditions, a refund is no longer possible. After an order is placed, Eurosender is authorized to order transportation services with one of the partner courier companies. The customer expressly agrees to waive the right to cancel the Agreement with Eurosender once the order details are submitted to the selected courier services provider and confirmed for the chosen pick-up date. We apologize for the inconvenience caused. Please let us know if any further assistance is needed." Regardless of their terms and conditions, to retain my money after the service I have paid for has not been fulfilled I think is outrageous, they need to recover fees from DPD and return my money. Anyhow, if this is human error or" sometimes sh!t happens" then this is how they don't help at all.

I once got a drum stick in the back. Tried to play one handed so I could give the stick back. Then another hit me. Then another. Then I turn around to see the drummer and the two sound guys are P!ssing about having a drum stick throwing fight and they were trying to drag me in to it. All because the drummer thought playing Sunshine of your Love was boring!

Thanks. Am going to see if I can recover the cost through them seeing as the delivery was a complete calamity, not Eurosender's fault but they in turn should recover money from DPD.

So almost a month later, lots and lots of time on the phone to DPD after giving up on Eurosender as they wouldn't do anything to help... The parcel, almost one month after sending arrived in its originally intended destination looking like it had been thrown and kicked around a depot. This is 10 days after DPD allegedly arranged a return to sender. I accept human error etc. But there is a fundamental flaw in the way DPD operates: customer services see different information to what you as a customer see on their tracking site, so it's very difficult for them to help you. If you call saying "your site says parcel delivered yesterday, but where?! It's supposed to be with me but its not" they can't even confirm it has been delivered, let alone show you any kind of proof. Worrying when you're sending a 37 year old bass. Their customer services simply seem to say "I can see a new label has been applied to the box today" but they cannot tell you what that means. Customer services always try to ring the depot but the phone is never answered. Trying to redirect the parcel seems to have no effect. A kind lady raised a complaint for me last week, but I have no written record of that, so what does that mean? Lost in the ether no doubt. Customer services do not reply to emails, they stopped replying on their Facebook messenger channel which was at least polite if equally useless as those on the phone. I had to refund the guy almost two weeks ago. He's now got the bass. I have to get it back from him... Will I be arranging via Eurosender or DPD? Absolutely not. With regards Eurosender being a partner to the site or offering a BC discount, I am sorry to say that I don't think I can use them again. They get you a good price and sort things quickly, but if things go wrong they can do nothing. Will I get my money back for the 48hr delivery that took from 22nd September to 13th October? Who knows?!

I had a Bryce bass and it was utter turd. I wouldn't buy anything else with their name on.

My guitarist bought one specifically for one song, the choir setting is great, on guitar at least. Other guitarist has the organ sim pedal and it sounds OK. Haven't used either on bass but will try when i can

Agreed. Synth sounds for bass are just far too wacky. The only way I can describe what I want is a smooth synth sound like in so much 80s music. Yes, I know I could buy a synth and learn how to programme it and play it, but I really don't want to. I want to get those sounds out of a bass guitar.

I would have said my Jim Dunlop Bass Wah. It was awesome but in a 2 guitar band it wasn't getting anywhere near the use it deserved and I am happily living without it. I always scoffed at amp sims and cab sims for people who played through amps and cabs. Possibly because my first experiences of them were in a Zoom BFX708 so that's... 20 years ago. Now, even though I have a very good amp, the main effects I use are essentially EQ effects based on amp and cab sounds! A Trace Elliot simulator is my main one at the minute, but there's also a "super flat" amp sound I used a lot with a lot of compression that really sounded awesome with my Sire active jazz, there's an effect I'm just going to call "Duff" which is essentially my copy of Duff McKagans tone that is mostly amp sim with a chorus I can kick in. When I had a Fender Bronco bass amp I didn't bother with the on board effects but loved going through the different amp sims to get different flavours out of the bass. All I have now is a Boss GT10B old but solid tech. I don't know if the audience can hear any difference if I change from Trace Elliot to Super flat or if they even care, but it makes me happy.

Pedal boards seem to me like golf. Nice idea but frustrating as h3ll.

There's a website somewhere that can do this planning exercise for you

I had a pedal board and was just never fully happy with it, some effects not reacting to my playing and instruments the way you expect them to or simply not delivering at all. Or being great for a passive P bass but awful for an active J bass (EHX Battalion). Or causing nothing but noise even when bypassed, or having a noisy switch. It was a constant in-out of pedals. Constant rearranging and sticking stuff back down, then getting flat head cables to save space. I tore the side of the pedal bag there was so much bulging out of it. The Wah pedal was too heavy and didn't fit on too. I lost patience and got a bargain Boss GT10B that does everything you can imagine. But its a pain in the bum to use unless you spend hours crafting your sound for each bass, storing the patches then knowing where they are to recall them it's exhausting. I tend to just put it on something I vaguely like from the presets and leave it like that all night, maybe adding the chorus if it's there. I often think I want to go back to more simple days of having a chorus and a drive pedal in front of me. And a Wah. And a pre amp/ DI pedal. And I'm using octave a lot now. An EQ pedal would be useful for quick changes from fretted to fretless. Of course all this needs an actual board. And a power supply. And cables. And a compressor. And a tuner that does mute too. I did think about buying good pedals for my essential effects then adding something like a zoom ms60b for stuff I might need occasionally or in future. And when I think about this I'm right back where I started, facing a lot of cash outlay for effects that probably won't give me exactly what I expected, a heavier bag to carry around more points of potential failure. And I think maybe those hours on the Boss multi will be worth it, when I can fit them in...

It's never been an issue for me. But I don't play with my knobs in public.

Love, love, love that whole piece. Thank you for sharing. Really enjoyed listening to that. Oh yeah, the HB bass sounds alright too.

I don't think you're cold and unfeeling. There is a difference between being genuinely upset by something that has happened and being "social-media shouty look at me and feel sorry for me and let me be part of someone's grief" playing to the crowd. I'd add to your list, if I may, footballers doing "tributes" to people. A minutes silence, OK, but then the whole writing messages on shirts, having props to pull out during games to pay tribute to people... Don't get me wrong, footballers do give a lot to charity etc. But it's the showy "look at us displaying our grief" thing that just seems tacky.

I think that's the problem, Eurosender are not a courier they're like an agency. So they get you a price and offer insurance but you're in the hands of whichever courier they send to you. They had previously sent DPD and there was no issue. To your previous point, we all accept some things go wrong sometimes, but it's how it's dealt with. Eurosender don't seem at all interested in trying to resolve the issue. Anyhow, as an update I've got the package on return to sender as of yesterday morning. Lady at customer services said I'd get a new parcel number, I haven't, its the same parcel number again. Website tracking still saying "we've received your instructions and we're waiting for your parcel" which doesn't fill me with hope that I'm seeing the bass again any time soon.

Nah he became a born again Christian and couldn't have been more generous in nature. I found a similar Peavey to this on eBay, a long drive away and I have no need whatsoever for it. I just want to know what the pyramid knob does, might be worth a 4hr round trip...

My first ever band sounded a bit like that... Band breaks up because lead guitarist is an ego maniac. He reforms with the drummer and recruits me. I didn't have a gigging amp but there was a huge Peavey at the guitarists house, you had to take the head unit out, turn it upside down and join two wires to switch it on. Anyhow, it worked. Luckily the ex bassist was the older brother of a mate from college, so no hissy fits but he sold me the amp for a tenner, then I spent fifteen quid repairing it. And bought a good condition amp off him for another hundred. Used to stack them on top of each other and go from the line out of one to the input of the other, monstrous.

Agreed. Bad news travels faster, but there's never news of things going unspectacularly just as they should. However my main issues are DPD's information being unreliable and Eurosender being unable and unwilling to step in and deal with DPD when I was getting nowhere, that's what will dissuade me from using either again as I think both are signs of a broken system rather than an off day. Obviously no guarantee that anybody else will be better.

Band hissy fit, unfortunately I didn't witness it all but am reliably informed... Keyboard player tries out and is terrible, odd personality, can't play his masses of kit, talks like he's Rik Wakeman, you get the picture. BL says "pack your gear in to your car and when he's gone get it out again, I'll fire him now..." so my gear goes in the car but its late and I'm knackered so I say I've had enough and drive home. I get a phone call on the journey "we know you haven't got it, but can you check all your gear for keyboard players car keys, please? We've turned everything inside out and can't find them!" they had given him his marching orders which were not well received expecting him to pack up and go, but he couldn't load up his car and they had an excruciating hour looking for his keys! Eventually they found them. In the pocket of his hoodie that was in the corner of the room all along.

I will listen out for cues a lot because I am not a person who counts bars in my head I just try to "feel" where the changes come, which relies usually on a cue from the drums, so I guess I'm a follower. Though if I know the song better than the drummer, which does happen, I'll lead with a bass fill to tell him it's time to transition to a different part and to pull the guitarist out of a solo or whatever.

Well after DPD's tracking system and staff telling me it is definitely being delivered today on Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday and then yesterday telling me it will definitely be delivered Monday the buyer has just had enough. He's requested a refund and said if the bass is delivered he will just reject it. I get it from his perspective he could be thinking he's been scammed. I've called DPD this morning, customer services person kept saying "it's not me, I'm not in the depot" which to me as a paying customer is entirely irrelevant. I've ordered a return to sender and raised a complaint. Goodness knows if I'll ever get the bass back. I've refunded the guy's money too on Reverb and if the bass goes missing I'll then claim through Eurosender insurance. What an absolute farce. I don't think I will use Eurosender again, and I definitely will never use DPD again. How can they promise a delivery three days straight but not even attempt a delivery? How can they "agree a new delivery date" without, you know, agreeing it with anyone?! Absolute shocker. Eurosender just can't do anything about it, which makes me think they're little use and for the money saved too much of a risk.

I think it's one of those things, if you've got loads of it you can reign it in when you want to (e.g. Muting techniques or devices) but it's much harder to add in sustain if it's not there naturally

Indeed. He's a bit odd but he's not an octopus.

I've learned the hard way this time, for certain