Greyhound lost my tuba

[tubamarc8891]

I feel that I should let you all know about this since a lot of folks on this board use Greyhound.

Last October I agreed to trade my St. Petersburg 209L 5v CC prototype for a sousaphone with a gentleman in Chicago and decided to ship it via Greyhound. After shipping I checked the tracking number but it didn't work. I didn't think much of it because I had heard from multiple people that their tracking is very mediocre. A few weeks later I received a message from the person I traded with saying that the tuba hadn't arrived yet. After a few calls to Greyhound I was told that the tuba was in St. Louis (a lie) and was going to be arriving in Chicago soon. After a couple days, still no tuba. Called again and was told the tuba was scanned at the Chicago warehouse and would be sent to the local station soon. So I called the Chicago warehouse to verify this and was told that they did not have a package and no such package was scanned. At this point I started getting nervous and tried to file a claim with Greyhound. I was told that the tuba wouldn't be considered lost until 40 days (if I remember correctly) after the ship date so I had to wait to file it. In the meantime, My dad volunteered to go down to the main Greyhound office here in Phoenix and talk to a manager. She basically told my Dad that the package was never scanned ANYWHERE and that any of the Greyhound employees who were telling me it was had lied to me. After the tuba was officially considered lost we filed a claim and Greyhound offered to compensate me...wait for it... $100. We contacted my cousin who is a lawyer but he said we couldn't do much because of the fine print in the shipping agreement. Luckily I had the instrument insured and was able to pay my trade partner for his instrument.

As you can imagine, I will never use Greyhound again nor would I recommend them to anyone.

[Paul Evans]

Never ship via Greyhound unless you are sure of your instrument insurance. Many years ago now Greyhound lost the 2165 that I was shipping cross country (Tacoma to Rochester). My home owners insurance musical instrument rider did NOT cover this loss. I still don't have a decent CC tuba. After much haggling (I was dealing directly with Greyhound's VP of Package Express) I was finally offered the most they EVER offer: $1000.00. Hard lesson learned. A lot of people ship tubas regularly via Greyhound. Just be sure that you are able to accept a complete loss, or that your instrument insurance covers shipping.

[bort]

I will never ship with Greyhound unless there is some sort of insurance in place that gives full replacement value in the event of loss (like I have through Clarion, but I'm not sure if that covers shipping losses). Besides the fact that I would never survive weeks of wondering "where is my tuba?", I would *never* be able to explain it the situation to my wife and reassure her about it.

Their insurance model sounds like moving companies... where they pay you something like 25 cents per pound for losses (or something VERY low), which comes out to be just about nothing. At least they give you the option to purchase additional insurance and itemize your stuff!

[pgym]

I will never ship with Greyhound unless there is some sort of insurance in place that gives full replacement value in the event of loss (like I have through Clarion, but I'm not sure if that covers shipping losses).

Better not plan on shipping with UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, or other commercial carriers either then, because ALL of them state explicitly, in writing, in their Terms and Conditions of Carriage that they don't offer or sell insurance, and that the excess declared value coverage they offer is not insurance.

[doublebuzzing]

Even if there is a 1 in 1000 chance of Greyhound losing the tuba, I still would choose that over the other shipping alternatives.

[bort]

I will never ship with Greyhound unless there is some sort of insurance in place that gives full replacement value in the event of loss (like I have through Clarion, but I'm not sure if that covers shipping losses).

Better not plan on shipping with UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS, or other commercial carriers either then, because ALL of them state explicitly, in writing, in their Terms and Conditions of Carriage that they don't offer or sell insurance, and that the excess declared value coverage they offer is not insurance.

Question -- does Clarion insurance (which seems to cover just about anything) cover shipping damage? I've read the paperwork and it doesn't specifically say one way or the other... and I don't want to call them and give them ideas (I know homeowners policies can ding you just for asking about stuff).

[bort]

I paid a grad student to be a "tuba taxi" for me to work my Neptune-for-Willson trade. The time before that, I met the other person in a Walmart parking lot. I'd do either of those again before I go with Greyhound.

I'm sure Greyhound works great for a lot of people, but personally, I'm just not going to use it.

[pgym]

Question -- does Clarion insurance (which seems to cover just about anything) cover shipping damage? I've read the paperwork and it doesn't specifically say one way or the other... and I don't want to call them and give them ideas (I know homeowners policies can ding you just for asking about stuff).

Paranoid much?

The ONLY way to get a definitive answer is to ASK CLARION.

Just because one (or more) of their underwriters in the past covered (or didn't cover) shipping in the past doesn't mean their current underwriter does (or doesn't). (No, Clarion is not an insurance company, they're an insurance broker. Clarion Insurance: NYS Disclosure)

And just because they currently do (or don't) cover shipping doesn't mean that they will (or won't) at the time you go to ship.

[Dan Schultz]

I'm curious... were these 'lost tubas' packed in boxes that concealed the contents?.... or just in cases that made them recognizable to a thief?

[Michael Bush]

"You pays your money and you takes your chances."

No one is promised a risk-free life. So far, Greyhound has been the best bet. Not a flawless record, but a more acceptable risk than the alternatives, other things being, if not equal, then at least somewhat predictable. That could change. Until it does, I'm going to keep betting on it.

As bloke and the elephant have said from time to time, if you really want to make sure it isn't lost and isn't damaged, just go get it yourself (or something like that).

[tofu]

I've used all the carriers - Greyhound/Fed X/UPS and truck freight. I think you take your chances with all of them in some form or another. I fortunately have had success with all of them. I did once have a horn shipped to me from Dillons via LTL shipping 15 years ago where it ended up sitting out on a dock on a pallet somewhere for 10 days and nobody knew where it was or how it had gotten off loaded along the way. It did sustain a bit of damage, but Dillions made good on it. With Greyhound the chance of damage I believe is a lot lower, but the chance of being slow in final delivery or lost is higher. With the lack of reliable tracking the sense of anxiety is higher during shipping with the dog -especially when it doesn't show up right away.

[Paul Evans]

I'm curious... were these 'lost tubas' packed in boxes that concealed the contents?.... or just in cases that made them recognizable to a thief?

My horn was inside a Walt Johnson flight case. That added about $1200 to my loss.

[Donn]

With Greyhound the chance of damage I believe is a lot lower

Lower than with truck freight? I'm guessing that, context aside, you meant chance of damage is lower, than with UPS. Greyhound has damaged stuff.

[Tom]

Yep...with truck freight much of the risk comes with the "materials handling equipment" such as forklifts and the trucking / loading dock environment. I've got one almost complete set of Anvil timpani cases here at work that got run through by a forklift. Not one case, but three or four of them...each containing a timpani that costs more than all but the most expensive tubas. Somehow the forklift operator realized he'd stabbed the case(s) and stopped or threw it in reverse before piercing the drums themselves. You'd think that it would only happen once, but this guy hit 3 or 4 cases in a single shipment! So...trucking is not without its risks!

[MackBrass]

I wouldn't call it lost yet. Greyhound is very slow some routes. I'd give it another couple weeks....

All kidding aside, the unclaimed packages deemed lost go to texas somewhere. You should go there and see if it was ever delivered there.

There is actually a warehouse in Dallas where lost packages are sent. Give greyhound customer service a call and ask them to patch you in with Dallas. One thing that GH should have done was a trace-route, did they?

The tuba is somewhere.

[tubamarc8891]

I wouldn't call it lost yet. Greyhound is very slow some routes. I'd give it another couple weeks....

All kidding aside, the unclaimed packages deemed lost go to texas somewhere. You should go there and see if it was ever delivered there.

There is actually a warehouse in Dallas where lost packages are sent. Give greyhound customer service a call and ask them to patch you in with Dallas. One thing that GH should have done was a trace-route, did they?

The tuba is somewhere.

That's what Greyhound told us to do. We called the warehouse weekly but it never turned up unfortunately.

[Alex C]

Greyhound scares me now, even though I have shipped through them half a dozen times in the past.

It is most important that you ship to and from major cities only. For instance, if I lived in Muncie, Indiana I would have the tuba shipped to the main terminal in Indianapolis. The fewer stops it makes the less likely it is to disappear. Straight through is best, if you can arrange it.

Even with that, Theft Insurance is a problem. Security is a problem. Damage is a problem. I wouldn't be willing to use Greyhound now except on the most inexpensive tuba.

I guess, I'm with Elephant... I'd rather drive than take a chance.

[windmill]

Just to put a positive note on it: recently I purchased a Mirafone 186 from a C'list Seller in Sacramento, CA. Of all the things that could have gone wrong, nothing did. No damage, no significant delays, of course there was really poor tracking but I was surprised to get a phone call when the tuba came in in White Plains, NY. I would trust Greyhound again.

[bisontuba]

Wade-
So are these horns for you? What did you get?
Mark

PS ...and I can vouch for Wade 1000% that he WILL travel...we did a horn trade years back and he drove from Mississippi to Buffalo and back!!!!!

[Heavy_Metal]

Maybe this could be adapted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UoERHaSQg" target="_blank

For those who don't remember, this was the first one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo" target="_blank

and there's a third one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45E0uGVyeg" target="_blank