PROBLEM SOLVED!!! :D :D :D

[Bassdude BE]

[b]Hi,
Last week i sold my Mayones Victorious custom 4 to "Martysprior" from here on the forum,
payment came through fast, so i send the bass on monday using the service of the Belgian post for international packages.

when i checked the tracking details yesterday it said the bass was delivered yesterdaymorning at 11am to Martysprior's home adress, so i send him a mail to check if delivery went well and if he liked the bass.

But today i got this disturbing pm from Marty: [/b]



QUOTE:

"Hi Don,

As of 10pm this evening the Mayones Bass has not yet been received !!!!

I've spoken to the UK courier which is Home Delivery Network well over severals times today and my girlfriends Mother has even got involved as well.

The English courier company stated that it was delivered at 11am this morning and signed for by some unknown, 50 year old man in our driveway, at the rear of our house. Our driveway is shared by four houses, one of which is unoccupied and we know of no 50 year old man in any of theses houses!

The English courier company have said that they need to investigate further and need to speak further to the driver.

Could I suggest that you, on my behalf proceed with an insurance claim on this bass as I need a FULL refund to purchase another bass urgently.

The last conversation we had with a man called Darren (Warehouse Manager) at the Ipswich depot for Home Delivery Network was that any claim must be made to Belgium Post.

Don, as much as I'm really, really upset that I've not got your lovely bass, I do not hold you personally responsible for this and thank you for communication and efforts so far.

I look forward to your response asap

Regards,

Marty"


[b]and then this one: [/b]


Re:Mayones Bass has not arrived !!!, Today, 02:31 PM


No longer a newbie


Group: Members
Posts: 19
Member No.: 9,027
Joined: 19-January 10



Hi Don,

It's has been incredibly stressfull especially as the courier have stated that a man has signed for the bass. We have no idea who this person is and I've definitely not received this bass!!!!!!!

Please keep me informed Don,

Regards

Marty

--------------------

Kind Regards

Marty Prior
Freelance Bassplayer & Composer









[b]Ofcourse i will be going to the Belgian post office first thing tomorrow morning and i hope they can sort this problem out but as the bass disapeared in the U.K. and not in Belgium i don't know what the options are..
Has anyone encountered a problem like this before and does anyone know what step's could be taken to
try and solve this quite serious problem???

I'v been doing lots of buying/selling/trading all over the European continent and have never encountered a problem like this before and i'm quite shocked something like this can actually happen!


I've added some picture's of the bass, so you can recognize it should it pop up for sale somewhere...

I still hope this is just a mistake of the UK courier and the bass will pop up soimewhere soon, but if it really is stolen i hope someone can find the thief as no one like's loosing a 1200£ investment to some lowlife scumbag... [/b]

Edited December 4, 2010 by Bassdude BE

[stingrayPete1977]

Thats bad news I hope it you can sort it out even if its only a insurance payout to soften the blow rather than the bass turning up.

(I would remove Marty's personal details off the thread though, If it were mine I wouldnt be too keen on my house/mobile and personal email on the thread )

One set of eyes peeled here anyway for what its worth,Good luck.

[bubinga5]

Surely this is the drivers fault and should be covered under insurance...The driver cant just let anyone sign it

[Macko1968]

The issue with the bass disappearing in England shouldn't be a problem, you have a contract with the Belgian Post Office & they are liable for delivery to the correct address - no matter who they sub-contract to in the UK. Inform the police as the bloke that signed for the bass has obtained it by deception - a criminal offence in the UK at least. Keep all your receipts, all correspondence & a record of all telephone calls. You should get your money back but it'll take time.

In the meantime, eBay, Gumtree & Marty's nearest Crack Convertors are the most likely places the bass will appear.

[warwickhunt]

It's always difficult when a courier firm isn't 'solely' responsible from collection to point of delivery! You tend to find that one will blame the other and deflect any blame (though this is difficult for the UK courier to do as they handed it over to someone and got a signature). I'm sure we'll all keep eyes and ears peeled but I'd be starting a claim asap as I can't see this bass turning up any time soon unless a neighbour has taken it in and just not had time to knock on the recipient.

It does leave you in a position whereby you are being asked to refund as the bass is undelivered!

Best of luck to both of you.

[Truckstop]

Eyes peeled everyone. How many of these are in the country?!

Truckstop

[skej21]

I would also say they definately don't have ANY defence if they didn't actually deliver it to the front door of the address. They shouldn't be letting people accept a package on the driveaway (especially a SHARED driveway) without seeing some I.D.

[wesfinn]

This should be comletely down to the courier company. In this scenario a claim needs to be made to the corier for the value of the instrument and include delivery costs. It is their responisbility to ensure that the package is signed for by the name on the delivery address unless there are instructions to leave with a neighbor if not home etc. They should be able to ascertain pretty quickly that the driver was at fault and then pay out a claim as long as the full value of the package was declared etc at the time of sending.

[adledman]

home delivery network are getting a bad reputation. throwing items over back garden fences. i have has two items damaged in transit by them. cheap company with unsatisfied poorly paid drivers. i will never use them again. the local driver here picks up and drops off stuff in her beaten up car full of kids!
i dare say you will get your maney back but it takes ages and they usually use tactics and expect you to just give up. took me over six months once. that was not hdn though.

Edited December 4, 2010 by adledman

[Smash]

That really is awful, it amazes me that just a signature is all that's needed these days, surely the courier companies must start using a way to see the recipients id.

As painful as this is, the sender must get in touch with the company used to send the bass, it is their fault that he didn't knock on your door to let you receive the goods. They will show you a POD but that is useless, have you seen some of them digital displays, my signature looks like a line. You should get your money back as long as your persistent and you did include insurance. I feel for you though, that bass is in some oinks hands grrrrrr

[Bassdude BE]

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1047352' date='Dec 4 2010, 03:38 PM']Eyes peeled everyone. How many of these are in the country?!

Truckstop[/quote]


@ Truckstop: It's a custom shop bass, so there's only one with the red led's and custom top like this one.


Unfortunately the Belgian post office is closed during the weekends, so i'll be there as soon as it opens on monday morning
and i hope they can find a solution for this problem.
Now i see why some people don't trust in U.K. couriers, stuff like this never happens in Belgium...

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Home Delivery network seem to give the impression that they employ drivers under some kind of scheme to integrate people with no common sense into the community. I've had stuff lost they they say they have delivered where it looks like it was tossed over a fence & visible from the street, & another which was delivered into the recycle bin on a Wednesday night when the bins were collected on a Thursday.

Hope you get this sorted.

Edited December 4, 2010 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[molan]

Something vaguely similar happened to me recently.

Courier said package delivered but the buyer hadn't received it.

I managed to get a scan of he signature of the person who'd taken delivery and it turned out to be a neighbour/friend who'd taken it in and hadn't spotted the buyer was home from work yet.

I'm assuming you've tried all the local houses to check that it's not sitting in an, absent-minded, neighbour's hallway?

Should definitely report to local police as well - they ought to take some interest in £1,000 stolen package.

[jmesa]

Hope this gets sorted out Don !

[Bassdude BE]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='1047369' date='Dec 4 2010, 03:54 PM']Home Delivery network seem to give the impression that they employ drivers under some kind of scheme to integrate people with no common sense into the community. I've had stuff lost they they say they have delivered where it looks like it was tossed over a fence & visible from the street, & another which was delivered into the recycle bin on a Wednesday night when the bins were collected on a Thursday.

Hope you get this sorted.[/quote]


Thanks for the support guys!
I hope Marty joins in on this topic as he is the one that must feel the most ripped of at the moment
and might have some other information that might help finding a solution/the thief .

The story of the guy in the driveway sounds so unreal to me that i was already thinking the driver might've stole it himself as i had to put the value of the package on the delivery papers and if he's a dishonest person it would be easy for him to make it disappear and try to make some money out of it...



*edit: added picture of the red led's

Edited December 4, 2010 by Bassdude BE

[jhk]

Reading this only re-enforces my resolve when selling my gear,as I do attract a bit of negative comment when stating that I won`t do shipping etc..I`m so gutted by the position both parties have been placed in.We all love to think that good faith and decency will prevail but life is just not like that.I truly hope that there will be a happy ending to this dismall story.

[wesfinn]

I work for a guitar store and the best reason I've had from a courier was that the parcel was signed for by somebody using a pen with invisble ink which had dissapeared by the time the driver got back to his van so he went over the indent with his own pen! thus the £3000 gibson 335 went missing...until it turned up a day later in the recipents shed hidden behind a parasol after the investigation had been made into it all!

[ThomBassmonkey]

[quote name='molan' post='1047371' date='Dec 4 2010, 02:55 PM']I managed to get a scan of he signature of the person who'd taken delivery and it turned out to be a neighbour/friend who'd taken it in and hadn't spotted the buyer was home from work yet.[/quote]

It's lucky that it showed up that way. The neighbour should've posted a note through the reciever's door really though, but all's well that ends well. The delivery person shouldn't really have delivered it to a neighbour though, as much as people can hope people are trustworthy, they aren't always. I've taken deliveries of expensive items and not had to show ID, they just assume the person answering the door lives at the address, if someone gets the address wrong or teh delivery guy reads the wrong address, it'd be easy to do a fake signature and take the item.

This is a good thread to highlight the importance of insurance. I hope that the bass shows up at the buyer's house soon.

[noelk27]

The OP's contract is not with any third-party courier, but with the Belgian Post Office, so that is whom he should be communicating with in respect to this matter. It would also be advisable for the OP to report the matter to the Belgian police, as the lose occurred to a package which originated in Belgium, and in theory, until appropriate delivery is effected, is in the custody of a Belgian corporate body under a contract signated in Belgium. It will be for the Belgian police to communicate with any other police force with respect to the investigation of the matter.

If placed in the OP's position I would not be considering issuing any refunds until the facts of the matter and the veracity of the buyer's assertions can be ascertained. Personally, I would not be issuing a refund until any insurance claim against the corporate body which had care and custody of the item were resolved, with full and final settlement concluded. Hard on the buyer, I accept, but private individuals cannot be expected to go beyond the specific performance of corporate bodies, and no corporate body would effect immediate issue of monies under any contract of insurance, without proper investigations.

[phil.i.stein]

[quote name='Bassdude BE' post='1047379' date='Dec 4 2010, 03:02 PM']The story of the guy in the driveway sounds so unreal to me that i was already thinking the driver might've stole it himself as i had to put the value of the package on the delivery papers and if he's a dishonest person it would be easy for him to make it disappear and try to make some money out of it... [/quote]
probably the best assumption.

[niceguyhomer]

If the guy on the driveway does exist then surely someone must know him at that address otherwise why would be be there? Unless of course, that was all part of the plan hatched by a dodgy driver...

[Prime_BASS]

[quote name='phil.i.stein' post='1047410' date='Dec 4 2010, 03:21 PM']probably the best assumption.[/quote]
An assumption none the less.

I've signed for packages after the driver saw me walk up my own driveway, not asked if I was a resident there or who I was, didn't even stay around to see if I had the key to my own front door. I could have been anyone.

Best thing to do is claim your insurance, and notify the courier you used to post it.
Then I'm sure if anyone of us sees it in a crack convertors or on eBay they'll notify you and the local authorities.

[martysprior]

Hi Don & Bass Chat,

Firstly, although bloody cold, stressed Eric, and at the same time very relieved that the Mayones has finally turned up, let me thank you for your kind efforts and the very postive and constructive comments from all the other bass chat members. THANK YOU ALL!!!

I've just come in from walking around for the last 40 minutes or so with my girlfriend.

We've been knocking at most of the neighbours doors in my village. To my surprise the neighbour across the road from me, came over and just delivered my bass!!!! He's the unknown chap who had signed for my bass yesterday!!! The Home Delivery driver had assumed that my neigbour knew me and didn't even ask for my neighbours details, ID etc., where I was or anything!! However my neighbour had signed receipt of the bass and had taken it back over to his house because he assumed that we were out at the time. Incedently my neighbour, which I've just found out, was about to go on shift at work as well.

The really stupid thing about this Don is that I'd clearly stated my address to you and courier was trying to deliver my bass to No 5 which is my neighbours house.

In actual fact I'd be in most of the day awaiting the arrival of this bass after several painfull telephone conversations with Home Delivery Network both Customer Service and the local Ipswich Depot. Our driveway is at the rear of our house and is shared be three other houses. My backgate is always bolted and locked because of my dog. The courier driver should have come to the front of the house, that's were my front door is!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Thank God my neighbour was a genuine guy, he said the courier driver just assumed that leaving the bass and signing for the bass was acceptable for him. This is definitely something that I'm going to follow up on Monday. I'm issuing a formal complaint in writing to Home Delivery Network. I really do not feel that it is at all acceptable for a Company that has been contracted to deliver an item, whether or not its value should have just let anyone sign for this item, apart me!!!!

I don't know whether their is a post or thread on this forum or not, but it would make complete sense to address couriers as a whole, especially ones like Home Delivery Network who have been contracted by Belgian Post to delivery this bass and at every step of the process have failed, apart from the fantastic result that I've got the bass and tonight and tomorrow I'm looking forward to playing it!!!!!!!


Yours Relieved !!!!

Marty

NB The Bass by the way is fantastic

[RichF]

wow, great it turned out OK. I benefit the whole time from cowboy couriers delivering to any number of neighbours on my street without the required explicit agreement to do so. I wouldn't want a £1200 bass left with them but it's pretty convenient when it comes to the usual strings, pedals etc. I need to think twice about this practice. Enjoy your beautiful bass.

[GremlinAndy]

I had a similar problem with a package being couriered by parcel force. It simply never showed up... When I contacted them they said it *had* been delivered and they had a signature so therefore their job was done. I explained and showed proof, that at the time of thier claimed deivery I was out of the country in our India office, and herefore couldn't possibly have signed for it. They posted me a copy of the signature (some scrawl that didn't even look like a word) This coversation went back and forth with them saying someone else at that address must've signed for it, I countered by explaining that I live alone.... back and forth. The end result was that I was told that since I was the receiver, I had no rights anyway, or claims to them, and that the sender would have to start some kind of claim.

After a while, he said he'd done all he could and that they'd said there was no case, and felt he'd done everything he needed to, (he didn't put it that way, but that was the crux of it) and that was that. I put the £200 down to experience, and don't use couriers unless I absolutely *have* to.

Buyers, you need to know that *you* have nothing but the goodwill of the sender, if your parcel goes missing, and that *you* are completely without insurance or protection, unless I guess you make a claim in court against the sender for the money back. I dunno how hard that would be or how much it might cost....
Maybe my sender was unscrupulous enough to have got the claim money back then just not sent it. I just know I never got anything but a whole mess of frustration and bile from that deal. (This wasn't a music related product, I trust people better on the basschat forums)

Can anyone else tell me where I'm missing something, cos that deal still bothers me to this day, and I'd love to feel more secure when I buy things...


Edit: Ah SO glad your experience wasn't the same as mine buddy! Your bass turned up! Brilliant. Maybe my nieghbors aren't as honest as yours! Who knows? But I'm sure glad your story turned out to have a happy ending!
Andy

Edited December 4, 2010 by GremlinAndy