Bass lost in transit

[Kinder]

Hi

I sold a 5 string Precision to @smileegee on here and arranged to courier it up to the buyer in Newcastle. I booked it through Interparcel as they were recommended on here and they were using Parcelforce.

Parcelforce didn’t turn up on the agreed day (last Monday) and then forgot to rebook it, so they eventually picked it up on Wednesday.  The bass was supposed to be delivered on Thursday, but instead my buyer received a deep fat fryer.  My bass ended up at some repair centre in Nottingham.

After countless emails and calls with no-one getting back to me from Interparcel, they’ve finally told me today they have lost the parcel. Thankfully I insured it, but they’re saying it can take up to 28 days to pay out. They have also asked for proof of purchase and value – I’m not sure why, but I’ve provided this anyway.

I wouldn’t wish Interparcel on my worst enemy.

So my bass is out there somewhere, some toerag in Nottingham will be looking to sell it.  It’s not on ebay. It's a black and maple 5 string Fender Precision and the serial number is US. Please keep an eye out for it.

Mods – please feel free to move this if it’s in the wrong place.

Many thanks, Andy

 

DRAMA OVER - I phoned the place I thought it might have been delivered to and they had it. So I’ve been over there and collected it this morning!  Thank goodness, what a major stress but I’m so relieved now. And huge thanks to @joeystrange for offering to help.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Kinder
Now found

[Crawford13]

Hi Andy, 

Pretty shocking from Parcel Force here. I deal with them of a daily basis, and while our regular driver is great and checks every parcel, whenever it is anyone else them seem content on giving you any box to make up the numbers. 

These things seem to be getting worse since COVID means you no longer actually sign for anything. 

I hope you get sorted out. 

[joeystrange]

Did they say where in Nottingham this repair centre is? Or any other info?

If you can find anything out then could it be rescuable?

[Kinder]

Thanks mate. The communication from Interparcel is awful but I’m going to hassle them on a daily basis until I get the insurance through. I hate the idea of someone nicking the bass as well, it was absolutely pristine.

[Kinder]

2 minutes ago, joeystrange said:

Did they say where in Nottingham this repair centre is? Or any other info?

If you can find anything out then could it be rescuable?

I’ve got the address but Interparcel reckon Parcelforce have carried out a thorough investigation and declared it lost. I might try calling them anyway.

[joeystrange]

If you PM me the address I could try to go and see if they still have it?

[stonevibe]

This is a pretty crap answer from the courier, I'd be making their lives hell until I got a result. Name and shame them on social media, that normally gets them working harder to sort things out.

[Lozz196]

It’s worrying not only them losing it it, but the request of proof of purchase & value. Bit difficult for some I’d reckon, if a bass has been bought used and with cash. Makes using couriers even less likely for me now.

[Kinder]

Update:

Yesterday afternoon I took @joeystrange‘s advice and contacted the place in Nottingham that I thought my bass had been sent to. Amazingly, they had it - so I drove over there this morning and picked it up. What a relief.

I don’t know how Interparcel and Parcelforce ‘conducted a thorough investigation and concluded the parcel was lost’. I told them where I thought it was and the guy in Nottingham said they had called Interparcel last week to say they have it! It honestly beggars belief.

I had an email last night saying Interparcel were paying out £900 on the insurance. After a bit of soul searching, I’ve just told them I’ve found the bass so not to pay out. I’ve asked for reimbursement of my travel costs and some compensation but I won’t hold my breath.

Anyway, the happy ending is I’ve got my bass back. I’ll be putting it back up for sale soon, so if you see a 5 string black and maple P bass in the marketplace, it isn’t stolen!

[Beedster]

I imagine they conducted a thorough investigation into whether they could be arsed to do anything about it and came to the conclusion that they could not. IP are usually quite good, PF a farce as we all tend to have found to our loss! Very glad you got it back, do love that you paid for insurance to cover their risk not yours, yet they still challenge you on proof of purchase. It’s as if they’re suggesting you might have devised a cunning criminal plan to force them to deliver it to the wrong address to land a huge payout  

[BlueMoon]

24 minutes ago, Beedster said:

It’s as if they’re suggesting you might have devised a cunning criminal plan to force them to deliver it to the wrong address to land a huge payout  

Glad it got sorted. Unfortunately, the insurance folks very quickly start from that premise (i.e. your're on the fiddle) and give you a hard time. I had a company car stolen (keyless entry) from outside of my house and the first reaction was to suspect me of an inside job. Wierd thing was.........the car was gone for around 6 months and then reappeared in the middle of the night. I'd since moved house and had a different car! Spooky.

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, BlueMoon said:

...the car was gone for around 6 months and then reappeared in the middle of the night...

Oh, I do so hate it when that happens. 

...

 

[Lozz196]

Great you got it sorted, though I’m a bit bemused how IP & PFs thorough investigation yielded such a different outcome as yours. Presumably theirs didn’t include picking up the phone....

[Beedster]

10 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Great you got it sorted, though I’m a bit bemused how IP & PFs thorough investigation yielded such a different outcome as yours. Presumably theirs didn’t include picking up the phone....

Of giving a flying flip  

[uk_lefty]

My experience with Interparcel and Eurosender is that they are not worth bothering with at all. I use them to see market rate for the package and which courier would take oversized boxes. I find the intermediary does absolutely nothing to help when things go wrong, then the actual courier technically shouldn't talk to you they have to talk to the intermediary. The intermediary just reels off their terms and conditions: pickup date is not guaranteed. Delivery time is not guaranteed. Item not getting lost is not guaranteed. Item not having the sheet kicked out of it, not guaranteed. Upgrade to a faster service if we don't pick up on the correct day, or the day after? You can't do that, we don't guarantee it. Discount due to faffing you about? We don't guarantee against that. 

Pay for pickup tomorrow? Pay extra, if you don't pay up front nothing happens and that's a guarantee. Pay for faster delivery? Pay extra, guaranteed nothing will happen if you don't pay. 

So we guarantee our payment, if you don't pay you don't get, guaranteed. But you do pay, and get no guarantee back. 

The only way I found to maintain some sort of power in all of this was by payment through PayPal. When Interparcel kept shrugging off my queries because for two days running the pickup had not happened, and refused to upgrade the service, or refund so I could book with someone who could be arsed I said "fine, I'll just recover the money off PayPal because you haven't completed the service."

Edited April 29, 2021 by uk_lefty
Self censored profanity to remove term that rhymes with Barry White

[fleabag]

Edited 1 hour ago by uk_lefty
Self censored profanity to remove term that rhymes with Barry White

Carry shyte ?

[andy67]

Always use UPS for instruments, haven’t let me down yet 👍🙏

[mikegatward]

22 hours ago, Kinder said:

Update:

Yesterday afternoon I took @joeystrange‘s advice and contacted the place in Nottingham that I thought my bass had been sent to. Amazingly, they had it - so I drove over there this morning and picked it up. What a relief.

I don’t know how Interparcel and Parcelforce ‘conducted a thorough investigation and concluded the parcel was lost’. I told them where I thought it was and the guy in Nottingham said they had called Interparcel last week to say they have it! It honestly beggars belief.

I had an email last night saying Interparcel were paying out £900 on the insurance. After a bit of soul searching, I’ve just told them I’ve found the bass so not to pay out. I’ve asked for reimbursement of my travel costs and some compensation but I won’t hold my breath.

Anyway, the happy ending is I’ve got my bass back. I’ll be putting it back up for sale soon, so if you see a 5 string black and maple P bass in the marketplace, it isn’t stolen!

Well done you.

I might have been tempted to carry on the claim on a win some, you lose some basis. But then I’d probably have slept on it and decided to do the same as you.

The stress they’ve caused you is worth a big chunk and clearly they’ve done nothing to find it for you.

Glad it got resolved

[Kinder]

32 minutes ago, mikegatward said:

Well done you.

I might have been tempted to carry on the claim on a win some, you lose some basis. But then I’d probably have slept on it and decided to do the same as you.

The stress they’ve caused you is worth a big chunk and clearly they’ve done nothing to find it for you.

Glad it got resolved

Thanks mate. I was very tempted indeed but it’s the right thing to do. And I didn’t want to cause problems for whoever buys the bass in the future.

I’ve said on here it’s gone missing and put the serial number up and I gave the serial number to the courier’s claims department, so I thought there was a chance it could be flagged if it came up for sale in the future. Probably very unlikely but I wouldn’t have been able to sleep!

No surprise that I haven’t heard from Interparcel yet after yesterday’s email.

[uk_lefty]

20 hours ago, Kinder said:

No surprise that I haven’t heard from Interparcel yet after yesterday’s email.

Don't expect you will either. You got your goods back, any mess up in the middle will be blamed on the courier and therefore "not our fault, guv. Its in the Ts and Cs" 

[Guest]

Given Parcelforce only cover musical instruments up to £200 (although they don’t separate damage and total loss, so it may be different), you may count yourself lucky you recovered the bass. It does seem that IP may have offered additional cover but what’s the betting when push came to shove they’d wriggle out of the full payout? Any courier can screw up but I’ve gone direct to UPS for my last 20 or so purchases and sales and they’ve been far cheaper than IP for the same service and haven’t let me down (yet), plus they seem to offer the highest level of compensation I’ve been able to find. 

[ProfJames]

Becoming more common unfortunately.  Glad it turned out well for you though.  I have been to Wales twice in the last two months collecting basses I have bought.  No other way around it unfortunately............actually enjoyed meeting the people!  Have travelled further in the past after experiencing similar........anything over 200 quid.......I drive......