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Do you sell guitars or other musical instruments on eBay? Here's a heads-up for those of you who use Parcelforce to ship valuable items within the UK and abroad.

When I went to post a guitar today at my local post office, the assistant asked why I was using Royal Mail Standard Parcels rather than Parcelforce, since Parcelforce provides a quicker service. I pointed out to her that Parcelforce would only insure the delivery of musical instruments up to the value of £150, and that my guitar was worth considerably more than that. This revelation surprised the assistant somewhat. She told me that it was common for people to buy additional compensation when sending guitars and other musical instruments via Parcelforce's services, and that she was unaware of any such restriction. She then went on to check all the terms and conditions on her computer, and nowhere could she find any mention of the compensation restriction for musical instruments. At this point I began to doubt myself, so I returned home to check the Parcelforce website again. Sure enough, there it was in black and white:

http://www.parcelforce.com/portal/pw/content2?mediaId=25900694&catId=25900691

I printed out the details and returned to the post office to show the assistant. To say that she was gob-smacked would be an understatement. She then became concerned that she had been taking customers' money under false pretences, and said she would notify all of her colleagues to ensure that it did not happen again.

It's my opinion that post offices up and down the country are selling customers worthless insurance when sending musical instruments. Parcelforce clearly state that musical instruments will be compensated up to a maximum of £150. This level of insurance is included free. I don't know if any of you out there have had reason to claim against Parcelforce for loss or damage, but as far as I can see you'd only be covered up to the £150 limit.

Peace and love.
guitardunc

Yep. Happened to me two months ago. Bought a £250 guitar. Didn't like it one bit so sent it back for a refund. Unfortunately, ParcelForce did this to it....



The shop wouldn't give me a refund because it was damaged. ParcelFarce only gave me the £150. I didn't bother arguing it as i was lucky to get anything at all (the driver was in too much of a hurry to fill in the paperwork, so i had no proof the package was undamaged before pickup).

Thanks for the heads up

***UPDATE*** Parcelforce have now revised their terms and conditions. They now say that "Musical instruments will only be covered up to the maximum amount of inclusive compensation included with the service". I had a look and as far as I can tell £200 is now the most compensation you can claim when they trash your precious instrument. And that's only if you use the most expensive service. If you use the cheapest service the maximum compensation is a pathetic £20. And yes, post office cashiers are STILL unaware of this restriction. Only today did a guy try to get me to use Parcelfarce to ship a £500 mandolin. No thanks, matey.

For what its worth...

I have been using Parcel Force for 18 months.

Damage in Transit: TWO (Both the same model, in the same faulty designed hardcase which broke the headstock of the guitar) so basically NONE!!!

100% non breakage over 18 months with maybe 10 guitars a week being packed and shipped (you will have to work out the maths!!).

The key is ALL in the packing. If you package a guitar correctly it is very hard to damage it, even if you try.

By the way - I regularly ship guitars to spain, italy, France, Denmark, Sweden Germany (ok I should have just said Europe!!) and even a chap who has bought two guitars from Singapore.

Hope this puts things in context.

I can provide a tutorial in safe guitar packaging at £29.99 - avaialable by download.

PS The last bit was a joke (Thought I better mention it before someone has a go at me)

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Strangely enough, if you use a parcel delivery service that employs Parcelforce, Senditnow for instance, you do get the option for enhanced insurance, which is then clearly indicated on the Parcelforce documentation. Also, if you look at the Parcelforce claims form, there is provision for enhanced insurance, which would suggest that they do have such a thing. Surprisingly too, using Parcelforce indirectly through another agency seems to work out cheaper. Also, there's no need to take the package down to the post office, as Parcelforce collect direct from your house. The only issue I have with Parcelforce is that they're rather unreliable on deliveries. The last time I arranged collection from a seller for delivery to myself, I waited three days for what was supposed to be a next-day delivery, and in the end had to collect it myself from the depot. I gather that such failures are down to individual depots, and I just happen to have the misfortune of being served by one with a bad reputation for poor service (Mitcham). Parcelforce are also not too hot on processing claims.

I am intrigued as to what was deleted here!!!

AHHHHHHH

This one is for Wolfe.

That Shine guitar - what other wrapping did you use?

I presume you didn't send it in the guitar box alone?