Buyer beware when it comes to shipping insurance and Smart Send

So someone painted it an ugly blue and black, then broke it in half? Fuck those guys :lol:

And somehow they did it WITHOUT braking the headstock or the neck joint. :lol:

Version_6 said:

So I sent a claim in to the shipping broker and the promptly told me they won't process the claim as it wasn't in a hard case.

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How is that even relevant? Like, they'd have reimbursed you for the hardcase? only certain goods that fit in a guitar box are covered?

Good to know. I actually used smart send to ship a JP100 down to Melbourne. From memory they only charged me $35 and got it there overnight! I was very impressed. I'll stay away from now on though.

On a side note, any recommendations on which carrier to ship with over to America? I need to ship a guitar over to Miami soon and have no idea who to go through

Metal Ken said:

How is that even relevant? Like, they'd have reimbursed you for the hardcase? only certain goods that fit in a guitar box are covered?

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Their terms and conditions say that guitars must be shipped in a hard case, even if they don't come with one normally. IE if I were to sell a brand new guitar in box that did not come in a hard case and it got damaged in transit, then tough shit. I argued the point quite a bit and am now getting in contact with the department of Fair Trading to see what can be done as it's ridiculous.

requiem_guitar said:

Good to know. I actually used smart send to ship a JP100 down to Melbourne. From memory they only charged me $35 and got it there overnight! I was very impressed. I'll stay away from now on though.

On a side note, any recommendations on which carrier to ship with over to America? I need to ship a guitar over to Miami soon and have no idea who to go through

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Yeah they don't charge much and the funny thing is none of the courier companies they use to send the package actually have a clause that says a hard case is necessary. So yeah, $130 out of pocket but shit happens.

As for shipping stateside, depends. I've had decent luck with DHL and Pack and Send but it depends. Still cost north of $350 each time I sent one over there that wasn't sent as a neck and body separately. It would be so much better is Auspost didn't have those stupid restrictions on parcel size. Seriously, we are the only country in the world with this restriction.

Version_6 said:

Their terms and conditions say that guitars must be shipped in a hard case, even if they don't come with one normally. IE if I were to sell a brand new guitar in box that did not come in a hard case and it got damaged in transit, then tough shit. I argued the point quite a bit and am now getting in contact with the department of Fair Trading to see what can be done as it's ridiculous.

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Probably nothing - they're entitled to set policies as they see fit. UPS or USPS does something similar, where they'll let you ship a guitar without a hard case, but they won't let you insure it unless it's in a case. It's a way of their protecting their liability, and as long as they're up front about it, then it's legal.

UPS May make an exception if you (pay them to) have the guitar packed by their staff at a UPS Store, but this is pretty standard in America.

They can set their policies however it can be argued that only guitars are listed as needing a hard case, not violins or other stringed instruments. Plus it can be considered reasonable to ship a guitar in a protective package as it would be shipped normally without a hard case. At least that's what Fair Trading have said and are backing me up on this one.

I'd be REALLY surprised if you get anywhere on this, man. All the same, good luck.

I'd be surprised too but I'm a sucker for a fight. :lol:

Besides, the company is simply a freight broker. The actual company that collected it was couriers please and their packing instructions say nothing of a hard case so that's where the second supporting point has come from.

If I lose then I've lost nothing as I bought the guitar for that same amount simply to salvage the pickups from it (Iommi signature hum buckers) but if I can at least bring light to the situation for anyone else who uses their service then that's a plus. The guy I sold the guitar too had a guitar booked in for pickup the next day and immediately cancelled the booking when I told him of the hard case clause as he didn't know about it either.