[78-L] Question about insurance

Sun Jan 3 12:32:00 PST 2010

Most sellers have willingly said "It must be lost, here's your money" when 
something doesn't arrive. DerWilly was a total putz about this matter and I 
believe he's no longer selling.

Sometimes it's the Post Office's fault..as I may have mentioned here, I shipped 
an album (triple boxed!) from Lewiston to Texas back in October, by Media Mail, 
and it didn't arrive until mid December! Safe and sound.

The shipment on which I claimed (and got) insurance was for about 180 discs, 
not 60..a whole load of near mint V-Discs from someone who'd had them stowed 
away since taking possession of them during the war. He did NOT pack them 
carefully..he put too many records in too few boxes. All the vinyls were fine 
but all the Columbia pressings were cracked or broken. Luckily, the claim was 
allowed. I'd still rather have had the discs.

dl

Malcolm - Venerable Music wrote:
> As for lost items, I will never deal with DerWilly because a disc never 
> arrived
> from him and he refused to make good on it.
> 
> Wonder if he is still selling - haven't seen any listings in awhile??
> I had a similar experience a few years back when a record I won never 
> arrived.
> I kept emailing him to see if he had any information, which he never did - 
> said it was on the way. A few weeks later he sent me a message that said he 
> found it - and since I had been hassling him about it (he didn't word it 
> this way), it must be important to me so if I send him a few extra bucks 
> he'd send it via Priority Mail (as I had only paid media rate). I responded 
> that if he had shipped it when he was supposed to, I'dve had it 3 weeks 
> earlier even with Media. I also suggested that to make me happy, he should 
> just go ahead and ship it via Priority and cover the cost himself. To his 
> credit, he did just that!
> 
> DL - that record may have been lost way before it even made it to the Post 
> Office!
> 
> Malcolm
> 
> Venerable Music - http://www.venerablemusic.com/
> 78rpm Auctions - http://www.vmauctions.com/
> Venerable Radio - http://www.venerablemusic.com/samphpweb/index.html
> On Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/venerablemusic
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 3:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Question about insurance
> 
> 
>> "Anyone ever successfully file a claim for a damaged item & have
>> the postal service pay out? If so, how long did it take?"
>>
>> Yes..it took a couple of months and I had to return the broken discs (18 
>> out of
>> a shipment of 60). This was a bit maddening because I could have 
>> transferred
>> the cracked discs and salvaged the audio, but I think that because I knew 
>> the
>> discs were partially damaged when I picked up the shipment at the PO, I 
>> had to
>> leave the broken and cracked ones there and take an insurance claim form. 
>> There
>> was also a complication whereby the insurer would only reimburse the 
>> SELLER,
>> not the buyer..they sent him the payment and he then sent it to me. Not 
>> sure
>> why this was the case.
>>
>> As for lost items, I will never deal with DerWilly because a disc never 
>> arrived
>> from him and he refused to make good on it.
>>
>> If you use P**pal and have it linked to AMEX, you can file a claim for 
>> loss or
>> damage with them..I've had refunds for missing shipments a couple of times 
>> even
>> when the original seller had vanished. (From Amex, not P**pal.)
>>
>> dl
>>
>> Malcolm - Venerable Music wrote:
>>> Yea, I recently had the same experience on eBum although it was from a
>>> non-recognizable seller who has since had his account cancelled.
>>> I won a rather expensive record (Bay Rum Blues by Ashley & Foster on
>>> Vocalion) and as I always do, sent proper packing instructions along with 
>>> my
>>> payment (which I received a disgruntled "I know what I'm doing" reply 
>>> to).
>>> When the box arrived, it was obviously mishandled by the postal service, 
>>> so
>>> I crossed my fingers as I opened it up. When I found that the record was
>>> taped between 1 square (each side) of cardboard that had obviously been 
>>> cut
>>> from a used box (as it was creased where the old box would fold), and was
>>> only sparingly padded with wadded up plastic grocery bags, my heart sank!
>>> Sure enough, it was in three big pieces!
>>>
>>> I notified the seller that the record was broken & I wanted to return it 
>>> for
>>> a refund. He then instructed me that he had purchased insurance (out of 
>>> his
>>> own pocket) and I could file a claim if I wanted. Just to check out the
>>> situation, I followed up through the postal service, and indeed, the
>>> receiver of the damaged merchandise can file an insurance claim. Here is 
>>> the
>>> kicker, it takes up to 60 days for them to respond at which point they 
>>> can
>>> refuse to pay the claim if they deem the item was packaged improperly! 
>>> Well,
>>> when paying by Paypal (which is all you can do on ebum these days), you 
>>> can
>>> file a dispute within 45 days that the item arrived significantly not as
>>> described. At that point (after the seller has a chance to respond), you 
>>> can
>>> send the item back with delivery confirmation (or some manner of 
>>> tracking)
>>> and paypal will put the money back in your account once they confirm it 
>>> has
>>> been delivered.
>>>
>>> I then instructed the seller that he could also file the claim for the
>>> broken record at which point they could deny him coverage because of
>>> improper packing, but I would not be on the hook for it. As far as I can
>>> tell, the only time postal insurance really works in if the package is 
>>> lost
>>> in space?? Anyone ever successfully file a claim for a damaged item & 
>>> have
>>> the postal service pay out? If so, how long did it take?
>>>
>>> Really, if it were any kind of reputable seller, he should have just
>>> refunded the money. At most asking for the seller to return the damaged 
>>> item
>>> so he could pursue an insurance claim. I have received other broken 
>>> records
>>> in the mail before and most sellers refund your money with very little
>>> hassle - myself included.
>>> In fact, if it does show up broken, I usually feel that it was due to my
>>> faulty packing as it should be strong enough to stand up to that angry
>>> gorilla and survive!
>>>
>>> Taylor, if your friend is still having a problem, tell him to open a 
>>> dispute
>>> through paypal - but it must be within 45 days (I think), so don't delay 
>>> too
>>> much!
>>>
>>> Malcolm
>>> (the other, other one in Georgia)
>>>
>>> Venerable Music - http://www.venerablemusic.com/
>>> 78rpm Auctions - http://www.vmauctions.com/
>>> Venerable Radio - http://www.venerablemusic.com/samphpweb/index.html
>>> On Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/venerablemusic
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Taylor Bowie" <bowiebks at isomedia.com>
>>> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>>> Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 1:50 PM
>>> Subject: [78-L] Question about insurance
>>>
>>>
>>>> A friend of mine recently had a very unpleasant go-round with a 
>>>> well-known
>>>> eBay record seller who sent him a cracked record.  When my friend asked
>>>> for
>>>> his money back,  the seller demanded that my friend file the insurance
>>>> claim.
>>>>
>>>> I've bought and sold books and records through the mail for many years,
>>>> and
>>>> on the few occasions there was a problem...I never expected the buyer to
>>>> file the claim about something I'd sold and which arrived damaged or not
>>>> at
>>>> all.  I would refund the money and then file my own insurance claim.
>>>>
>>>> Any of you other buyers or sellers run into this?  Seems to be that it's
>>>> the
>>>> responsibility of the seller to follow through on problems with a
>>>> purchase,
>>>> and not the buyer.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Taylor
>>>>
>>>>