The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

STRANGE UPDATE!!!!!!!

SO! I got an email from my customer today.....the machine arrived! I paid for 3-Day service, and got 22 day service!!!!

And, it gets weirder!

For those that do not know, Global Express Guaranteed service is a union between USPS and FedEx. USPS accepts the package, and hands it off to FedEx in Memphis. FedEx then completes the delivery to the international destination.

The tracking number received NO UPDATES AT ALL.

Did FedEx deliver it? NO!!!!!!!!!

The box arrived at my customer's Post Office. Inconspicuously. No fanfare. No paperwork excuses. It just arrived.

I can only think that the box was misdirected to the Priority Mail division, and they didn't bother to hand it off to GXG (FedEx)......they re-labeled it and shipped it Priority Mail International instead! Which, would have cost me considerably less.

For anyone else who has ever lost sleep resarching on the internet what happens to missing packages, watch the Youtube video on FedEx's Memphis distribution and sorting plant. It is a technical marvel. It will give you *SOME* confidence. The rest is up to waiting.

USPS has upheld their 30 year record with me, having never lost a package. I just wish I never have to experience this drama again.

Happy Veterans Day, to all in this forum that have served. Thank You.

Wow, really good for you!

I am not sure what it does to my confidence in any shipping solution. They now get outrageous rates and offer diminished services. The biggest relief for you might have been avoiding an insurance claim. They would have positioned themselves as making it your fault somehow and delayed any remediation as long as possible.

I am happy for you, but the package path will remain a mystery and of course no explanation will be possible from the perpetrators.

John

Great news, Wyatt. Somehow I was sure that was exactly what was going to happen. It is immensely frustrating, strange, and aggravating -- but at least the package arrived.

Isn't there a service guarantee for Global Express? You should be able to get a refund on your shipping cost. I've never had to do that with USPS but I've had refunds from UPS and Fedex when they have failed to meet their guaranteed delivery date for whatever reason.

Now if only my Georgia Melodians record would arrive, it has been in limbo for at least ten years. The USPS claims to have delivered it to my office building, but on another floor. The alleged recipients had no knowledge of it. I doubt anyone else in this building has a legitimate use for an Edison Diamond Disc. Where did it go?

I'm happy to hear that your package was delivered. Now you need to apply four full refund under the GXG guarantee.

Rich Gordon

THE STORY GETS BETTER!!!!!!!!! IT GETS BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!

My customer sent me pictures of the boxes (that's right....TWO BOXES) that the Graphophone arrived in!!!!!!!!!

I sent the machine originally in a single double wall 19x19x19 box. The boxes he showed me were covered in FedEx redirect labels, the tracking numbers didn't match, and, did I mention......TWO BOXES? And, the pictures of the packing material revealed that NONE of my packing material was used!

It was COMPLETELY unboxed, then REPACKED in TWO boxes! The boxes were sealed with MAILBOXES ETC packing tape, and the quality of the boxes were also very sub-par. Imagine what "Chinese cardboard" boxes look and feel like... yeah, low quality.

Are you sitting down?

The perfect repro decal that was on the cabinet now has a gouge in the 2nd "H" and end "E" of "Graphophone."

Blood boiling!!!!!!!! BOILING.

What in Tom's name did USPS/FedEx do to my box!?!?!?!?!?!

OOOOOOhhhhhhh......hopping mad.

That is just absolutely crazy. Why would they rebox one of your shipments? There's no way they could pack better than you. Maybe the package was inspected and then badly reboxed?

Garret

The original box was either:

1) Damaged by the usual carrier incompetance and mandatory rough handling, or

2) Blown up by Homeland Security. During routine x-ray your alien contraption did not fit their profile of known terrorist devices.

It is good to hear that the machine arrived at
the destination, more or less intact...

What I suspect happened to it is that customs opened
it for inspection and then did a lousy repack job
and then also mishandled the item while inspecting
and repacking.

And, as someone else already suggested, the original
box could have also been damaged in part of the
mishandling/inspecting/repacking process.

This past summer, a customer in Australia ordered
some brown wax blanks and paid the outrageous international postage for a medium USPS flatrate box. That box disappeared from the tracking data stream after it left the U.S. Two weeks later I got an email from
the customer saying the blanks had arrived safe and sound. I was worried the entire time about the
possibility of customs opening the box for inspection.
But apparently in this case they did not open it.

One thing I did make sure to do was to be very accurate
on the customs declaration form about stating
exactly what's in the box. That way, when they X-Ray
it, the image they see matches the written description.

However, imagine the X-Ray image of a cylinder phonograph. Most folks don't even know what that is
and so it most likely got opened and pawed at.

Just my ideas...

Chuck