Airport security messed up my Axe-FX II !

Rhiza

Rhiza

Inspired
Hi guys, It's rare that I complain about airport security but this one has to be put down in writing.
Long story short. Since I became a dad couple of months ago the Axe-FX II has been collecting dust and I decided to lend out my Axe-FX II to a band I'm good loyal friends with to make touring easier for them. And they have been big fans of the Axe-FX since! :)
They wanted to lend it one more time for a concert on a metal festival in Norway called Inferno.
They take the Axe-FX and various other gear with them as luggage and check in.
to make sure that the covers wont fall of the rack cases, they duct tape over the rack case locks.
None of the band members are detained and fly to the festival with no issues what so ever.
When they arrive they notice that one handle is missing and the internal fan cooler is making weird noises.
Everything seems to work so they play the gig and head home right away.
When I get my Axe-FX II back, I can see what the damage is:
Front handle is missing, the cooling fan is making weird noises. A lot of the top plate screws are loose.
the Fan cooler was laying on the PCB making rattling noises and several internal screws were loose and laying around inside the case!
I'm just lucky it didn't fry the Axe-FX!

This is my theory:
It looks like some idiot at the airport decided to take my duct taped suspicious looking Axe-FX apart, probably because he/she thought the band was smuggling drugs or something.
DRUGS?!
Because of this he/she screws the lid off, and before unplugging the fan cooler, he/she just rips the lid up, and breaks the fan cooler.
For some strange reason he/she wants to take the front off as well and unscrews the front handles.
probably after realising he/she broke a 3000 US $ preamp, he/she panics, decides to just cover it up, screw the top plate on again and passes it on, without putting any sticker or mark that it has been screened for drugs.

I was so angry I wanted to cry. How can a person be so senseless.
I have never been an advocate of calling security of drug enforcements dumb and senseless, but this is just plain WRONG!
None of the band members or me was alerted that the axe-fx had been screened for drugs and taken apart.
Simply put, no one wants to be held responsible.
The band apologized and will pay for repairs. Since they or me can't afford shipping the Axe-FX to fractal audio for repairs, I'm going to repair it myself.
Now I need a new fan cooler.

Just wanted to share this.

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I feel you, I had my axe-fx checked. Since then I just put a sticker or a printed page inside the case, warning the staff that this is a delicate and expensive apparatus, asking them to be careful.
 
It would've been far easier, faster, and less expensive just to use drug sniffing dogs in a case like this rather then hacking up an expensive piece of privately owned gear. That is just wrong.
 
Man that's terrible, I hope you get it together again ..

I would at least mail pictures and raise hell and try to (if nothing else)
rattle around some in the airport security in all three countries ..
there must be some insurance against stuff like that ... if not on your side
there ought to be on their side ..

It would probably not lead to anything but personally I would feel better if
I got to bitch about it .. :)

I've had some bad experiences as well coming into the USA a couple of times
but not as bad as that ...


good luck ..
:)
 
I would seriously search for the responsible person. They must have protocolised every inspection.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
 
I would not be that sure it was customs. I don't know if you've ever seen an airport bag handling system but imagine your axe falling 300 times at 50mm height on a rubber floor, for each air travel. Maybe you should consider not putting the axe as separate luggage or buy a rack that is fit for transporting high value electronic devices. Why the hell would a customs agent open up a device he can inspect in less than 30 seconds by the all present scanning machines ?
 
That sucks for you that they did all that damage!!! Some of those people hate their job and don't give a crap about anyone.. sucks! Hope you can get it fixed quick and cheaply.
I've been lucky with mine, one thing i do when traveling is, I leave inside the road case a brief note to explain what it is, and the power cable next to it so they can plug it in, if they decide they need to do that, so far no problems on tons of trips, I think the harder it is for them to test it the more they mistreat it, mine is on a gig bag, which goes inside a heavy duty road case, but never put any locks or anything to make it easy to open, they'll break any locks if they can't open it..so I try to make it easy for them, and hope for the best..
 
Spazi said:
worst part is no one is held responsible. They checked through 3 airports.
There is no way we will ever know who took it apart.
Click to expand...

Wow. In the US, when the TSA opens a bag or item for inspection, they leave a "we were here" note like this:

TSAluggageNote.jpg


You can use that to follow-up if something has gone missing or is damaged. Probably it's a meaningless gesture, but at least they try to pretend to be accountable! :)
 
Update: Now it's completely broken, won't even turn on.
The powersupply said a few crackling sounds and poof! It's dead.

Two airline companies were involved, so I'm not sure which airport was the one that did the damage. Either way, the airline companies don't take responsibility for broken goods.
Let's just hope the insurance company are willing to pay.

It's 100% percent clear that this was taken apart. The loose screws, broken fan, missing handle. It's a dead give-away.

I've contacted the friendly staff over at fractal audio and we are arranging something now.
I want them to take it in for repair and debug it to see if anything else is broken.
I'm worried that if the power supply died, maybe something else is broken as well. No way to know for sure unless they test it.

I'm just so disappointed and angry.
 
Moral of the story........No good deed goes unpunished.

I wouldn't lend any of my gear to anyone, for any reason.

You got punished for you generousity. Hope it works out ok for you. Theres's a lot to be said for Tech 21s fly rig. Can fit in cabin baggage, no issues.
 
Spazi said:
Update: Now it's completely broken, won't even turn on.
The powersupply said a few crackling sounds and poof! It's dead.

Two airline companies were involved, so I'm not sure which airport was the one that did the damage. Either way, the airline companies don't take responsibility for broken goods.
Let's just hope the insurance company are willing to pay.

It's 100% percent clear that this was taken apart. The loose screws, broken fan, missing handle. It's a dead give-away.

I've contacted the friendly staff over at fractal audio and we are arranging something now.
I want them to take it in for repair and debug it to see if anything else is broken.
I'm worried that if the power supply died, maybe something else is broken as well. No way to know for sure unless they test it.

I'm just so disappointed and angry.
Click to expand...


Now this is really bad news man... sorry to hear.
 
Sadly, customs is allowed to do this. When I was much younger we (my friends and I) crossed the border from Canada the USA in my Dad's car and the customs guys tore the car apart looking for drugs. When they were done, they left everything completely torn apart and we had to put it all back together. International law allows them to do this with no recourse.
 
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