GotMetalBoy
Power User
I recently sold my beloved Mesa Boogie Triaxis to another forum member @Brock and USPS damaged it during shipping. I paid for $2000 insurance and asked that they mark the box fragile. The USPS lady kind of pissed me off because she made a smart ass comment that I'd be lucky if a box that big and heavy makes it that far without getting banged up. I shipped the package from Rochester, NY on Saturday 02/28 and it was delivered to Anchorage, AK 3 days later on Tuesday 02/21. The box wasn't in too bad of condition when it was delivered but all the corners and edges were pushed in and the outside of the box had some puncture holes and looked like it had been dragged on the ground because it was very dirty and you could see the indentations of the corrugated cardboard.
USPS denied our claim because I don't have the original receipt for my Triaxis. I bought my Triaxis over 10 years ago and it must have been around 2004 because that's what I've figured out from the serial number. I barely used my Triaxis and kept it in almost new condition and I had replaced all the tubes.
How can I prove the value of the Triaxis? I provided USPS a copy of the Mesa Boogie online store because it shows the new price but they're discontinued and USPS said that's not good enough proof. Here's the link: https://mesahollywood.com/products/triaxis-programable-pre-amp
We're not looking to get $2000 from USPS. We just want to get refunded for the repair cost and the to and from Mesa Boogie shipping, which is going to end up costing close to the price I sold my Triaxis for.
I am very OCD about my gear and overly cautious with it, especially when selling it. I wrapped bubble wrap around each tube, so they were all secure and I wrapped the entire unit in 4 layers of bubble wrap from front to back and another 4 layers from left to right, so 8 layers total and 1.5 inches thick. I also, sold my 290 with the Triaxis and wrapped it the same way. I taped both units together and then put them in a box and added extra cardboard and stuffing, so nothing could move in the box. I took pictures of every side of each unit as I wrapped them and packaged them.
I think because I used, so much bubble wrap and stuffing in the box, it would have almost been impossible to to crush or dent the box but I think USPS dropped the box hard enough to break something inside the Triaxis. Before the buyer agreed to buy my Triaxis, I made a video of me playing through my Triaxis and 290 and pressed all the buttons and switched all the channels and modes to show everything worked and I even had my laptop on top of the rack with CNN open to prove the date. The night before I shipped it, I made a bunch of recordings and tone matches between my Triaxis and Axe-Fx II.
When the buyer first hooked up the Triaxis, the LD1 Red channel wouldn't make any sound, even with all settings all the way up but all the other channels worked. A couple days later none of the channels would change and had to use presets to access the channels.
I know I probably went overboard with the packaging and proving that everything worked but I have been ripped off in the past both as a seller and buyer, so I try to be as thorough as possible, so there's no surprises. I knew I would regret selling my Triaxis and 290 This whole situation doesn't help with me trying to sell all my other gear because I have over 10 7 string guitars I need to sell but I've always been afraid to ship them because I've received a few damaged ones and it was such a pain to file a claim and hope the seller would refund me when they received it. Looks like I'm just going to end up using all my 7 string guitars as decorations on the walls.
I really want to thank @Brock for being, so professional and patient through this long stressful drawn out process.
USPS denied our claim because I don't have the original receipt for my Triaxis. I bought my Triaxis over 10 years ago and it must have been around 2004 because that's what I've figured out from the serial number. I barely used my Triaxis and kept it in almost new condition and I had replaced all the tubes.
How can I prove the value of the Triaxis? I provided USPS a copy of the Mesa Boogie online store because it shows the new price but they're discontinued and USPS said that's not good enough proof. Here's the link: https://mesahollywood.com/products/triaxis-programable-pre-amp
We're not looking to get $2000 from USPS. We just want to get refunded for the repair cost and the to and from Mesa Boogie shipping, which is going to end up costing close to the price I sold my Triaxis for.
I am very OCD about my gear and overly cautious with it, especially when selling it. I wrapped bubble wrap around each tube, so they were all secure and I wrapped the entire unit in 4 layers of bubble wrap from front to back and another 4 layers from left to right, so 8 layers total and 1.5 inches thick. I also, sold my 290 with the Triaxis and wrapped it the same way. I taped both units together and then put them in a box and added extra cardboard and stuffing, so nothing could move in the box. I took pictures of every side of each unit as I wrapped them and packaged them.
I think because I used, so much bubble wrap and stuffing in the box, it would have almost been impossible to to crush or dent the box but I think USPS dropped the box hard enough to break something inside the Triaxis. Before the buyer agreed to buy my Triaxis, I made a video of me playing through my Triaxis and 290 and pressed all the buttons and switched all the channels and modes to show everything worked and I even had my laptop on top of the rack with CNN open to prove the date. The night before I shipped it, I made a bunch of recordings and tone matches between my Triaxis and Axe-Fx II.
When the buyer first hooked up the Triaxis, the LD1 Red channel wouldn't make any sound, even with all settings all the way up but all the other channels worked. A couple days later none of the channels would change and had to use presets to access the channels.
I know I probably went overboard with the packaging and proving that everything worked but I have been ripped off in the past both as a seller and buyer, so I try to be as thorough as possible, so there's no surprises. I knew I would regret selling my Triaxis and 290 This whole situation doesn't help with me trying to sell all my other gear because I have over 10 7 string guitars I need to sell but I've always been afraid to ship them because I've received a few damaged ones and it was such a pain to file a claim and hope the seller would refund me when they received it. Looks like I'm just going to end up using all my 7 string guitars as decorations on the walls.
I really want to thank @Brock for being, so professional and patient through this long stressful drawn out process.