Say WHAT???

rampside

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
3,118
Reaction score
410
Location
Minnesota's Iron Range
Guild Total
4
Glad it was the right outcome, Neal. I just wished the PO would've made a better effort to put you at ease sooner.
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,326
Reaction score
6,499
Guild Total
2
Well, like a little lost puppy, the F-50R is back home, no worse for wear.

I got a call from the postmaster this afternoon, saying that she had discovered who had my guitar. She drove to the home of the person who had been given it by mistake, gave them their proper box ( also containing a guitar), and brought my guitar to me at my workplace.

did she say what the reaction was of the dude? like did he apologize for being a thief?
 

CosmicArkie

Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2015
Messages
490
Reaction score
19
Location
Texas
did she say what the reaction was of the dude? like did he apologize for being a thief?

Yeah.
In the big scheme of things, the tale of the missing guitar is of minor import, but, after a certain period of time, one could certainly impart a matter of intent of the criminal variety to the mindset of the other dude.
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,326
Reaction score
6,499
Guild Total
2
Yeah.
In the big scheme of things, the tale of the missing guitar is of minor import, but, after a certain period of time, one could certainly impart a matter of intent of the criminal variety to the mindset of the other dude.

"oh, I just thought this was the guitar I bought etc..."

yeah right. really, the guy should have brought it back immediately. there should be an honor system with these things. integrity.
 

dreadnut

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gone But Not Forgotten
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
16,082
Reaction score
6,442
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Guild Total
2
Yeah, he was probably expecting a limited-edition Estaban he bought from an infomercial...

Methinks it's a sign: you should keep the F-50 after this fiasco.
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,326
Reaction score
6,499
Guild Total
2
Yeah, he was probably expecting a limited-edition Estaban he bought from an infomercial...

Methinks it's a sign: you should keep the F-50 after this fiasco.

I think Retro rocker is next in line to own this bad boy.
 

Opsimath

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2015
Messages
4,527
Reaction score
4,062
Location
North Florida
Such good news! And I wonder, too, why the guy who had it didn't return it, or at least call the PO about the mistake, as soon as he opened the box. I would be interested to know his intent. However, you got your guitar back which is very good news.

Since the other dude had your guitar for a few days, do you suppose it's possible he may return the guitar he was really supposed to get and start looking for a Guild? Well, if he was smart he would.

Congratulations! Now you can throw the rest of that bottle of Tums in the trash can.
 
Last edited:

Default

Super Moderator
Platinum Supporting
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
13,596
Reaction score
3,008
Location
Philly, or thereabouts
Guild Total
11
The guitar was shipped insured, with signature required. I was not home when delivery was attempted and the guitar was held for pickup at the main post office. It was there that a USPS employee released it to the wrong person. And it was their signature, and their address, on the wrong pink slip, that led to its recovery.

And this is why l tell everyone to do this. I also appreciate the comments about employee theft.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
And this is why l tell everyone to do this. I also appreciate the comments about employee theft.
I hate when people jump to the worst conclusion about other people's motives before considering other possible reasons for what looks like bad behavior.
I'd say simple human error far outweighs criminal actions in causing these kinds of scenarios, although granted mail theft is a growing industry, out here, anyway.
But the TV reports of actual organized theft rings are the norm, I can't remember the last time a USPS employee was actually named.
When I mentioned dealing with register shortages in retail, I didn't actually suspect the employee of theft, just an unacceptable level of diligent attention when manning the register.
So the law provides for a series of "employee correction" measures to be performed before they can be fired "for cause", and incompetence, or making excessive errors which materially cost the employer, is justifiable cause.
Barring info to the contrary, I could see that if the other party was actually expecting a guitar, and got one, they may not have actually got around to unpacking it yet and the Postmaster call was their first reason to even look at the address label.
How often are we on "autopilot" and don't really look closely at things that conform to our expectations?
I hear it from my customers periodically, too: "I was expecting the delivery so I just signed for it", and they don't realize something was amiss until a couple of days later when they go to use the product.
In a way it's a reverse compliment: Accuracy in general is so high that they don't stop and double check every little thing all the time.
"Just sayin'"
 

davismanLV

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
19,197
Reaction score
11,815
Location
U.S.A. : Nevada : Las Vegas
Guild Total
2
Wow!! I've been gone all week and just logged in for the first time in a while. What a crazy story!! Neal, I'm glad that all's well that ends well and your guitar is back in your hands again. :encouragement:
 

merlin6666

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
1,173
Reaction score
305
Location
Canada .... brrr
I am glad to hear that all worked out in the end. Sure a strange coincidence that two guitars needed to be picked up. Still leaves me wondering if the other recipient noticed the mix up. Was the box opened?
 

mavuser

Enlightened Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
8,128
Reaction score
2,636
Location
New York
i didnt say they don't sound good, it was just a great comment! my cousin actually had the amp for a while, he swore by it! haa
 

richardp69

Enlightened Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
6,007
Reaction score
5,965
Location
Barton City, Michigan
W-a-a-ay better than those Keith Urbans.

A couple weeks ago I spent way too much time with my good friend Mr. Daniels and I ended up ordering one of the Keith Urban acoustics. I spend quite a bit of time down by my pond enjoying a fire in my fire pit and don't really like to expose my guitars to the smoke, temps, moisture etc.

I gotta tell ya, for $149 all in including the guitar, a gig bag, a small practice amp and a guitar cord it really isn't a bad thing and it works perfectly for my purposes. Don't get me wrong, Guild, Gibson, Martin and Taylor don't have a lot to worry about but if you're looking for something inexpensive that you won't be using in real desirable conditions, you could do whole lot worse IMHO. The electronics aren't bad at all.
 

txbumper57

Enlightened Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2014
Messages
7,577
Reaction score
58
Location
Texas
A couple weeks ago I spent way too much time with my good friend Mr. Daniels and I ended up ordering one of the Keith Urban acoustics. I spend quite a bit of time down by my pond enjoying a fire in my fire pit and don't really like to expose my guitars to the smoke, temps, moisture etc.

I gotta tell ya, for $149 all in including the guitar, a gig bag, a small practice amp and a guitar cord it really isn't a bad thing and it works perfectly for my purposes. Don't get me wrong, Guild, Gibson, Martin and Taylor don't have a lot to worry about but if you're looking for something inexpensive that you won't be using in real desirable conditions, you could do whole lot worse IMHO. The electronics aren't bad at all.

Around 6-8 months ago a friend of mine got one of the Keith Urban Acoustics with the Lesson plan and everything. For the price That is a great sounding little guitar! The thing that really impressed me was that it stayed in tune well and the intonation was spot on all the way up the fretboard. It is also easy playing enough for her to stay interested in guitar with a decent setup straight out of the box. Most of those lower end acoustics like that are really hard on the fingers especially for beginners due to not being built right or shifting geometry from bad construction techniques and materials. She is still playing it and it still sounds good. For the price I was extremely impressed with it. Like you say, it is no where near what any of the Major US manufacturers are putting out but it is one hell of a value for the money and it plays like a guitar should. The lessons are really straight forward with it as well and it caters to someone who has no experience in reading music or such. Pretty cool in my opinion.

TX
 

Neal

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Messages
4,857
Reaction score
1,627
Location
Charlottesville, VA
Yes, I have to admit that as this situation unfolded, my 35 years of experience in criminal justice were telling me to consider fraud as a possible explanation. Yes, the other USPS customer did open the box, remove the F-50R, and play it for six days without alerting USPS that they had been given the wrong package. If the postmaster (after being contacted by the manager of USPS consumer affairs at my insistence) had not knocked on their door, they would probably still be strumming it.

As for USPS, no fraud occurred, just a failure to follow well-established procedure. Mistakes happen.
 
Last edited:

Christopher Cozad

Senior Member
Platinum Supporting
Gold Supporting
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
2,415
Reaction score
1,426
Location
near Charlotte, NC
...the other USPS customer did open the box, remove the F-50R, and play it for six days without alerting USPS that they had been given the wrong package.
Witness the heart of man.

...As for USPS, ...Mistakes happen.
So do corrections, yet rarely by accident.

...at my insistence...
Well done. And a special thank you for maintaining your composure throughout.
 

txbumper57

Enlightened Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2014
Messages
7,577
Reaction score
58
Location
Texas
Neal, I am curious about something. Are you entitled to any legal course of action against the individual who unboxed and played the guitar for 6 days without even notifying USPS of the mistake? I could understand if they were out of town and the box hadn't been opened but clearly they knew this was not their guitar upon opening the box yet they continued to play the instrument for almost a week. It is obvious that they had no intentions of notifying USPS or returning it. If the postmaster had not tracked it down they would still be playing it and not reporting it. Isn't that in itself a crime that can be prosecuted to some extent or at the least have charges levied against them? There should at the least be some course of action to discourage that individual from thinking they could do that again. I understand that 6 days is not a long time but they still by playing the instrument used an item that wasn't theirs and put play wear on the instrument itself. As the owner of that instrument shouldn't you be entitled to reimbursement for the playing time they put on a guitar that wasn't theirs to play? I'm not trying to be a jerk about it but someone with no intention of doing the right thing should be held accountable in my opinion in some form at the least.

However, I am really glad you got her back and hope this never happens to anyone again. I still have nightmares about the Guild Crossroads that a member here shipped USPS without insurance or signature delivery that never made it to it's destination and is still to my knowledge missing in the postal system a year later.

TX
 
Top