Heartbroken over the broken Heatbreaker@#$%^!&*()

[Monsta-Tone]

:evil: UPS destroyed the Heartbreaker that I just sold.

I've sold and shipped over 40 amps on Ebay over the last 4 years. Some of them were Vintage Fenders that were worth a whole lot more than the Heartbreaker. I've always used Fed Ex Ground and have never had anything damaged. I've shipped 4 amps through UPS Ground and 1 of them was slightly dammaged, but the Heartbreaker has been beaten down severely.

I packed it very well, but I can plainly see in the Buyer's pics where they dropped it on a corner.

The chassis and the top of the amp originally broke free from the cabinet. The Buyer sent me pictures of the damaged amp, and package.

When I got it back this afternoon, the box looked 100 times worse than before they took it for "Inspection." The chassis was sitting on the speakers, the top of the amp was about 6 inches into the cabinet. The baffle and back of the cabinet were broken away from the actual cabinet. The Reverb Tank was knocked out of the bag and the rubber stopper that holds it in place fell out of what was left of the box when I cut the 4 pieces of tape that UPS had placed on it to ship it back to me.


It's repairable, but I have to go through the whole process of filing a claim, getting a quote from the local guy (who is not qualified to change the strings on my guitar), and trying to get a partial or total refund.

What a scam the insurance is. They will pay the lesser of the 2: Total insured amount $822, which is the purchase price, or repair costs.

If they pay the entire purchase price, they take the amp and scrap it. I'm out all of the Ebay fees, and the $90 that it took to ship it. If I get a quote, then the check has to be made out to the guy who makes the quote.





On the other hand, if I replace the 2 broken Preamp Tubes, I bet it would fire right up. The speakers are scratched, but look otherwise undammaged.


Can anyone help me post some pics? My website isn't up yet.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I forgot the worst part.....I'm a Mesa Tech and I have to take it to a hack to get an "Un-Biased" opinion.

What a joke.

 

[Reese Bobby]

thats freakin terrible....i've heard a number of ebay/ups horror stories. keep us infromed if you get that thing runnin again with changing the tubes...that would further prove the durability of these fantastic amps. peece.

 

[disassembled]

That sucks man. I haven't had any bad luck with receiving or selling anything on ebay or HC. Maybe the guy didn't like the amp and decided to beat it with a bat? J/K I hope UPS does something right but unfortunately they are infamous for ripping people off with insurance claims. I wonder where the amp goes if they buy it? Hmm. Anyway goodluck.

 

[guitarmaniac]

UPS SUCKS!! In a matter of 4 weeks,they smash and destroy a box containing my amp,but manage not to damage the amp itself,lucky me.Then this week they misdeliver a package that hasn't shown up,after they were at my door 6 hours earlier delivering a guitar,but somehow forgot where I lived later in the afternoon.. :roll:

 

[Mick]

Sorry to hear about your amp. UPS will destroy whatever you ship and their standard denial is "insufficient packing" I had a job for 7+ yrs. where I rcvd 40+ pkgs per day and have seen it all. Some of their drivers will stand in the middle of the truck and toss the cartons a good 10 feet onto the loading dock if you don't tell them not to. Also famous for using pkgs for step stools, I've seen countless boxes with a size 12 boot print on top of a "fragile" sticker.

I've had best luck with the post office, probably shipped and rcvd a dozen acoustic instruments priority mail with 0 damage.(knocking on wood)

Keep in mind that while shipping priority or 2 day is more expensive, it also means that your valuable goods are spending alot less time bouncing around the back of a truck or riding on conveyors. If you ever see the inside of a UPS trailer filled for delivery, you'll see that the stuff isn't stacked, it's literally thrown on a pile and the driver will stand on any convenient box in order to reach another.

I have no beef with UPS, just stating what I've observed.

 

[siggy14]

First things first, since UPS destroyed your package, if it ends up they just pay the cost of the amp, then then should refund your money for shipping. Might take a little b!tching, but it can be done, they were at fault, not like the package got lost, it was there neglect. You threaten them with never using them again, reporting them again and telling them you will inform everyone you know not to use them, you will be surprized how quick they will refund your money.

Next, as to only paying the value of the amp, that is just the way insurance goes. Whatever you sell the amp for is all the insurance you should put on, because they will never pay out more, even if you insure it for $10,000, they will only pay the cost of the package. You cant even insure the amount of shipping, just the cost of the package and nothing more, and nothing less.

As to the Ebay fee's, time is your worse enemy right now, first thing I would do is find out as quick as possible the cost to fix the amp, if they are just gonna total it then get the UPS payment, Refund the guy is money through Pay pal if that is how he paid so you get your service fee back.

Then with Ebay file saying you both decided not to do the sale and you can get your fee's back that way as well.

I had Fed Ex completly mess up a roadking combo i shipped to a guy, but in the end the guy ended up happy, he got the road king fixed, plus $700 dollars back in his pocket, so it worked out for him, just took about five months.

:evil: UPS destroyed the Heartbreaker that I just sold.

I've sold and shipped over 40 amps on Ebay over the last 4 years. Some of them were Vintage Fenders that were worth a whole lot more than the Heartbreaker. I've always used Fed Ex Ground and have never had anything damaged. I've shipped 4 amps through UPS Ground and 1 of them was slightly dammaged, but the Heartbreaker has been beaten down severely.

I packed it very well, but I can plainly see in the Buyer's pics where they dropped it on a corner.

The chassis and the top of the amp originally broke free from the cabinet. The Buyer sent me pictures of the damaged amp, and package.

When I got it back this afternoon, the box looked 100 times worse than before they took it for "Inspection." The chassis was sitting on the speakers, the top of the amp was about 6 inches into the cabinet. The baffle and back of the cabinet were broken away from the actual cabinet. The Reverb Tank was knocked out of the bag and the rubber stopper that holds it in place fell out of what was left of the box when I cut the 4 pieces of tape that UPS had placed on it to ship it back to me.


It's repairable, but I have to go through the whole process of filing a claim, getting a quote from the local guy (who is not qualified to change the strings on my guitar), and trying to get a partial or total refund.

What a scam the insurance is. They will pay the lesser of the 2: Total insured amount $822, which is the purchase price, or repair costs.

If they pay the entire purchase price, they take the amp and scrap it. I'm out all of the Ebay fees, and the $90 that it took to ship it. If I get a quote, then the check has to be made out to the guy who makes the quote.





On the other hand, if I replace the 2 broken Preamp Tubes, I bet it would fire right up. The speakers are scratched, but look otherwise undammaged.


Can anyone help me post some pics? My website isn't up yet.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Thanks for all of the info guys. I've sent all of my paperwork into UPS. We'll see what happens.

I got a quote directly from Mesa. Unfortunately for me, I get a discount on the parts, so UPS gets off easier.



I did refund the guy's money and got all of my Paypal & Ebay fees back, but what a mess.

 

[RR]

Monsta-Tone, how far is Silver City from Santa Fe? Sorry I did not check it out on a map. A fellow bulliten board member (not this board) lives in Santa Fe.

Sorry about your ordeal with UPS.

I'm just wondering where they dropped (obvious drop[?]) your packaged. You see, when I was a college student, UPS had flyers all over campus needed shipping employees for grave yardshift to load the trucks. They would hire just about anyone not only students even "shady" characters since it was temporary employees.

These type of employees could careless what is in these packages. So if they dropped a packaged, no skin off their noses. :?

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I think that I'm about 300 miles from Santa Fe. I'm in the lower South West corner of the state, Santa Fe is in the Northern part.

As for where they dropped it, I'm not entirely sure of the location.

It looks like they dropped it off of the truck and onto the corner of the loading dock. The box only had 1 horizontal dent in it when the buyer received it. When I got it back, the box basically crumpled into a pile after I removed the remains of the amp from it. It's almost like they thought, "Oh well, it's already broken."



I will ship heads through UPS, but never a combo again. There is no Fed Ex office here in my town, if there were, I would have never used UPS.




I had to disect the remains of the cabinet to get the chassis out of it. I have just about repaired the cabinet though. It should be stronger than before, since I'm using countersunk screws instead of the finishing nails that Mesa used at each glue joint.

Now I just have to bondo the screw holes and some various dents that UPS put in the cab and then I can recover it. I guess I'll go with a nice color that sets it apart.

 

[teejay]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I just got one off Ebay and luckily it came all intact via Fed Ex Ground. Not even a dent on the boxy. But boy was the Fed Ex guy not happy about carrying it in to my house. Good think I have two teenage sons that helped me upack it (as long as they got a chance to try it out too). I may end up selling this because its just too heavy for an old fart like me these days. And when I do I will definitely ship it Fed Ex Ground. UPS seems to not like carrying heavy packages. I hope it all works out for you with UPS.