What are your “bad packing” horror stories?

[An Balores]

My goodness, what a series of horror stories! Having worked briefly for the PO I can confirm that parcels are literally thrown about during sorting but, of course, anyone posting *should* make sure things are packaged with regard for this. I thought everyone knew how fragile 78s are?

[emerson]

I had purchased a collection of ---Little Tots, complete with all the cards and in their original boxes. The seller place each individual record in bubble wrap and then pressed very firmly with tape to seal it -----or perhaps he had his grand children press the tape down, because the majority of the records came with stress cracks. I never would of thought they would arrive like that, figuring he would just leave them in the original boxes and send them with a cushioning material surrounding the boxes for protection. Still happy to have them and am still looking for the hard to find #11,12, & 13 in nice shape.

[Steve]

I've told this one before but probably not here. It's unbelievable but all completely true!

An incredibly rare British "Fixed Tone Arm" colonial teak cased portable machine, complete with leather outer carrying case was purchased by me from a seller in the US. I'd estimate that there are possibly no more than 10 in existence. I've seen 3 in over 30 years of collecting including this one I purchased from the States. Bear in mind that this particular machine packs away into it's own case which goes inside the leather one.

The seller inexplicably sent me just the soundbox and arm separately inside a plastic bag in a used cereal box. The soundbox arrived crushed and broken, not surprisingly. Luckily, being brass I was able to restore it and replace the diaphragm etc. By some miracle the arm was not damaged!

The teak case arrived separately in a cardboard box with no packing around it. Luckily due to its robustness it survived unscathed. But where on earth did the leather carrying case go? Well, the seller somehow "forgot" to send that! Now, this was a $1500 machine at the time, so who cares about a flippin' leather case anyway?......I'm joking, of course. I was furious. The best part is that common sense should have told the seller that this machine is superbly designed to fold away into a case designed for transportation. Why take the most fragile part (soundbox) out and send that in a plastic bag in a cereal box? It's bafflingly stupid.

P.S. - I did eventually get the leather case in the third shipment of what should have been ONE! But here's the rub: three unnecessary shipments (one damaged) meant that I also had to pay THREE separate handling fees for the payment of Import Customs VAT!

[Steve]

I've also had a seller wrap parcel tape directly around an oak machine to secure the lid which is detachable. Of course, removal of the tape brought with it the removal of the original finish off the oak. Wouldn't it have been better to apply some protective bubble around it first and then tape that?. This shows zero understanding of antiques, wood, delicate finishes or anything in general really.......

[Roaring20s]

A follow-up on the VV-50. That the seller had informed me that they would not be following my "packing request". It arrived today unharmed with the crank still attached. That side was packed with enough bubble wrap to prevent damage. The case had a single wrapping of bubbles. The whole phonograph moved with the box and I held my breath when opening it. I was happy to see that nothing was damaged.

I sent them this note ...
"I am a professional packer and I will not be bidding on items of this type that you offer. The packing was substandard and given my concern and notes, unprofessional. The heavy item was able to move freely within the carton. One wrap of bubble wrap is inadequate protection. Not removing the crank was risky. As a customer, I'm dissatisfied. As a professional, I cannot trust you."

James.

[gramophone-georg]

I've also had a seller wrap parcel tape directly around an oak machine to secure the lid which is detachable. Of course, removal of the tape brought with it the removal of the original finish off the oak. Wouldn't it have been better to apply some protective bubble around it first and then tape that?. This shows zero understanding of antiques, wood, delicate finishes or anything in general really.......

It also shows an utter lack of giving a damn.

[FellowCollector]

Way back in 1996 I bid and won (by telephone bidding) a nice original, complete and working Edison Amberola V at an auction in Binghamton NY. The auction house (no longer in business) offered in-house packing and shipping so I asked them to please pack the Amberola very securely and I would happily pay whatever they charged me. I also asked to have the reproducer and linkage removed (I sent a marked up picture showing the parts and a brief description on removing the parts) and to please immobilize the carriage with newspapers or whatever before wrapping it all up. They charged me $125 for shipping. I was only 3 hours drive away from the auction house but I had a badly broken arm and my wife was taking me back and forth to work and so forth as I couldn't drive at that time. They shipped it UPS Ground. 4 days later upon returning home from work I saw a package barely larger than the Amberola V standing upright on our front porch. The box had "accordion bellows" dents on all 4 box corners and creases on the flat ends. We opened up the box and could tell there were loose parts inside. Oh boy.... You can imagine my disappointment at opening the box and seeing the front grille and rear grille smashed in pieces and the lid hinges broken off and pieces of the cabinet wood where the hinges were lying around inside. The reproducer and linkage was never removed as I'd asked but thankfully they survived intact and the motor still worked and the carriage survived. I thought about contacting the auction house and complaining but I was pretty certain it would be a huge hassle so I said forget it. And I was also concerned that if they ever found any more phonographs to sell at their auction they'd remember my complaint and decline my bidding on them. They went out of business a few years later.

[Raphael]

Mine is more of a "non-packing" story. About 10 years ago, I bought over $70,000 worth of clocks at an auction in Marshallton, Iowa. The auctions house listing said they do their own packing and shipping. After winning (and paying) for them, the auction house said "no way, we won't ship, too valuable". Great. So I found a UPS Store who agreed to pick them up and pack/ship. Hearing nothing after a few days, I called the UPS Store and they said "oh, yes, we have them here, but we're busy right now and it may take a few days or a week to get them out". Really? So busy that you can leave $70k lying about in a small shop? And not insured until after they pack and I paid the bill.
So, I emailed UPS corporate and contacted a friend high up in their system. They jumped on the store and got the clocks heading my way within 24 hours, and they did arrive safely.

Stanton is the only auctioneer that I trust 100%.

Raphael

[danohallaron]

I have 2, but pretty much both the same situation:

1) Auction purchase of an Edison Standard, Cygnet, a Columbia, a couple of horns and accessories... Called a few days after I paid and was advised that "we usually tell buyers it will be at least a month to ship". Ok, waited it out. When it arrived, everything had been tossed into two boxes with the big air pillows. Needless to say, they popped and most items were destroyed. Big pain to get a partial refund and they acted like I was the problem. Deleted them from my list lol.

2) Ebay purchase of a Triumph, a few months ago. Seller went on and on about how he had bought out a collector and had shipped over 40 machines with no issue. So, I let him be. Needless to say, the Triumph was shipped intact, lightly packaged and tossed into a box. Upon arrival, the case was destroyed and all mounting hardware was mangled. He did agree to take it back. However, I couldn't ship it in the same manner I received it and he wouldn't do a partial for the damage. So I had to repack it all on my time, the whole time being upset about the loss of the machine. Then, it fell off USPS radar and hadn't even been scanned in. So, for days I also thought it was lost in shipping with no origin scan. I have everything scanned in now.

Basically, it is a bad idea to ship a machine in its case. And a Triumph? Just forget it. Pull the machinery out of the case and ship separately in 2 boxes, well wrapped. No problem.

[TinfoilPhono]

A number of years ago I bought a rare Edison Opera (serial #10) from someone in Florida. He said he was unable to pack it himself, so he took it to a UPS store. I told him to give very specific instructions. He said they had lots of experience.

You can guess the rest. The horn was actually packed just fine, with lots of styrofoam and double-boxed. But the machine.... They didn't remove the reproducer. They certainly didn't remove the mech from the cabinet. They didn't put ANY sort of padding inside between the mech and the lid, or inside the motor. All they did was wrap a couple of layers of bubble wrap around it, turned it onto the left end, and dropped it into a box.

Incredibly, it arrived in California mostly undamaged. I was blown away. There were a couple of small issues which I was able to fix, but I consider it a total miracle that the cabinet wasn't broken into a million pieces, and the castings shattered.

I considered it a VERY close call.