My KALA KA-CEM exotic mahogany concert ukulele was delivered today...........

habe

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while I was at work and those box smashing gorillas at UPS absolutely destroyed it!!!

Delivered it around 4:00pm, typical drop and run UPS type delivery. My daughter heard the truck, told my wife and she immediately went out and got the box.

When I got home, the shipping box had a spot that was smashed through. If I had been home at the time, the driver would have never left without the box being opened. Opened it up and the KALA uke box wasn't bad but, looked a little bent in. Opened the KALA box and.......

Bridge is smashed right through the top with a split running all the way across. Otherwise, it was a very nice looking ukulele.

Guess I won't be starting my ukelele adventure this week..... or probably next week either. :(

I'll post some pics when I have more time tomorrow.

habe
 
That sucks. Same thing happened to me with a model train I bought. UPS had to come out and make an inspection and it took like a month to get my money back. Hopefully you will have better luck.
 
Sorry to hear about your uke, all together now, "UPS SUCKS!"

Shipment I got today was fine but it was in a very sturdy box. Shipment I got a few weeks ago, ditto. The four or five shipments before that, absolute disasters! Two of them the boxes were literally broken open and spilling their contents all over the porch. Every time we were home but the driver didn't knock even though the packages were supposed to be signed for. Funny, when the package ISN'T in 50 pieces they knock and ask you to sign. Curious how that works out, ain't it.

Once they left a broken open box of digital camera gear laying on my porch with the contents clearly visible from the street... Several lovely little Canon boxes fairly shouting "come and get me!"

Part of the fault has to lay with the shippers, though. They have to know how bad UPS is - you would think they would pack accordingly but sadly most of them don't. Every package I've received from major instrument and camera "big box" retailers has been a joke. Thin boxes salvaged from the trash with my merchandise dumped in the bottom and then filled up with air pillows - like air pillows on one of six sides is going to protect $1k worth of camera and lenses! :mad:

The curious thing is that my company uses UPS a lot for shipping all kinds of things and the packages are almost never damaged. In fact, before I started working from home I would have all my packages shipped there and rarely saw visible signs of rough treatment. So, riddle me this, why is it that packages delivered to businesses aren't roughed up while packages delivered to my house more often than not look like they drove the whole fleet of delivery trucks over them?

John
 
Ughhhhh.... I'm sick.
IMAG0040.jpg
 
That is horrible!!!! I hope you are able to get things straightened with the seller and/or UPS.

On another note, did you try and play it? Does it play at all? I'd try and tune it and play it just like that to see what it sounds like!

Best of luck!
Cheers,
Skottoman
 
Aloha habe,
I would definetely be pissed off and call then right away...they should be responsible for it...
I think that's the worse damage I've seen yet for any mail deliver...now I am supposed to
send a uke out and worried about it...good luck and hope everything goes well....contact the
seller too.... MM Stan..
 
Wow thats terrible. I feel so bad for you. Man I would call UPS right now and give them a piece of my mind!!!
 
I had a small, sturdy cardboard box, 10" square, get dropped off by ups two days ago, and it had been crushed. Somehow the tape held together, but the whole box had been accordioned.

Luckily, this time, what was inside was fabric, so no damage, but geez. It looked like somebody dropped a safe on it.

Ditto what Oldephart said, above, though. People and companies *really* need to pack better when shipping via UPS. It'd be nice if you didn't have to, but this stuff happens all too often.
 
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Maybe you can make 'deconstructed ukulele Art' from the remains as a recent post showed us...

Sorry about the hassle, it's gotta be hugely disappointing for you. Hopefully, it will end with you getting a great new uke.
Good Luck!
 
Right now, I really can't say enough to express how the person I've been dealing with at Mr. music in Allston, Massachusetts has treated me.

I really wanted a KALA KA-CEM and I got lucky when I came across their site while searching for a KA-CEM Tuesday morning and called and got Tom. They had just gotten 2 KA-CEM's in the previous day. Price was good and shipping was super fast. Tom had the uke out to me that same afternoon.

I spoke to Tom this morning and gave him the whole story and described the damage to the uke. I offered to send him the photos and Tom said don't worry about it. He said he would pack up the other one they had (extra packing in the sturdiest box he could find) and have it out to me this afternoon!! He wanted to call UPS right away and since I was tied up at work, I told him I'd call him back in 1 1/2 hours. By the time I got back to Tom, he had everything straightened out with UPS and again, said the new uke would be out later today.

If anyone needs anything, I would highly recommend Tom and Mr. Music. Their prices were the same as the big online sellers price (who BTW, did not have the uke in stock) but, did not include free shipping. Believe me, the extra shipping cost was way outweighed by the excellent customer service that I received.

Kudos to Mr. music and Tom!!!

Link to their site : http://www.mrmusicguitars.com/about.htm

habe
 
I lived in neighboring Brighton MA in the late 70s and early 80s, and I know exactly where Mr. Music is. I wasn't an ukulele player back then, but I went in once (as a former clarinet player) just to look around and the place and people seemed nice. I'm glad that the folks there took care of the problem for you. (It's bad enough when someone breaks something. When you have to fight with them about it on top of that, it just makes things worse.) I'm also glad for Mr. Music that it worked things out with UPS. Otherwise, someone would have to write a country song called "UPS Breaks Ukes."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

I hope the new ukulele gets there quickly!
 
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Although I must admit that the situation is horrible, and that yes, someone was most definitely at fault for the smashed uke, I wouldn't blame UPS. I have only had good experiences with UPS and I've known a few delivery guys who are very nice and careful, and are just doing their job, the delivery guy doesn't like to see that the package has a big hole in the side of it when he brings it to your door, because he is the one that is going to take the blame. So DOWN WITH THE SPECIFIC PERSON WHO SMASHED YOUR UKULELE!!
 
Crimes against Ukuleles and those who play them must be punished to the fullest extent!
 
Maybe Ukester Brown could do a training video/song for UPS "Please Handle With Care (It's My New Freaking Uke)"...
 
Man - that sucks. Glad you have things worked out with Mr. Music and Tom - look forward to some pics of you new uke. Keep us updated.
 
UPS man picked up the broken one today, new one scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. Fingers are crossed......
 
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