Amp Arrived - UPS did it again - or did they?

[onemind]

Package looked pretty good, maybe a small dent in the bottom, nothing alarming. Not original box/materials but looked packed well, tiny bit of 'room' in the box but still seemed solid, bubbles/styrofoam etc. Cabinet looks perfect, beautiful amp, one of my dream amps too that I paid a lot for. Go in the cab to pull out the foot switch clear out the bubble wrap in there. foot switch was wrapped up but the cord was thrown in loose, seemed fine, but the foot switch was 'attached' to the speaker magnet...hate when that happens. Pull it out, but hey what's that? Transformer (smaller of the two...output transformer I guess) Is hanging down, its metal frame warped. One side is not attached the other loose and it's attached to the speaker magnet as well. What a gut wrenching feeling. Took pix and called dealer (actually bought it from a retail store and had it shipped from the south), wanted to make sure if I put it back together I wasn't jeopardizing my ability to return it. found lock nut and washer (also stuck to speaker) and screw MIA. Finally found it in the box among the packing materials. Pull wires from reverb, power etc. pull chassis, I needed to press the leg of the transformer back in to line up the holes...

After putting everything back together and securing the transformer I contacted the dealer once more to let them know I was going to test it, they said go ahead. Small noise when I applied power but amp is operational. Getting some weird artifacts. Noise when no cable is plugged in and some unmusical break up occasionally when playing chords and double stops. Also some 'howling' like a tube is going when the gain on the dirty channel is turned up with no instrument plugged in. I guess it's going back...boxed and ready.

They've offered to have it fixed. I said no, now they're offering to have another one built (very small manufacturer) I think at this point I'm going to ask for the money back (though they won't pay shipping to return it) and tell them I'll reconsider when the new one is in stock. Hate the thought of having 2K tied up during what could be a long build process and perhaps lose any consumer protection I have.

Sorry, had to vent.

[riff1006]

That's disappointing. Shipping amps just scares the hell out of me and if it's a combo I do everything I can to avoid it, including trading it off locally. All it takes is for it to fall off a conveyor en route and neither you or the builder are to blame for that. I've had cabinets arrive with the speakers rolling around inside. Those cones just can't take that and neither can the baffle. It's a shame after looking forward to something like that only to see a big failure. I have yet to have a big problem with shipping heads other than a cockeyed transformer.

[FlyingDutchman]

One way to avoid damage to any package is to ship via Priority Mail or UPS 3 day. I know it's a lot more expensive to go this route but I always feel like the packages are handled better because of the time constraints. Parcel Post and UPS Ground is so slow and all that extra transit time and handling is just more opportunity for something to go wrong. If I was ordering a $2k amp I would insist on a better shipping service than 7 days on the ground in some truck!

[FFTT]

There are two ways to ship an amp safely as far as shipping damage.

In a hard shell flight case

or completely enclosed in 3" rigid structural styrofoam panels.

[John Coloccia]

Well, as a fairly experienced engineer, I can tell you that you would be amazed at how screws can loosen themselves up in shipping. I remember driving a box down to a customer a few hours away. The whole job was rushed. We didn't have time to loctite everything down. Anyhow we dropped it off, they used it to do what they had to do, and then they sent it right back to us for refurbishing and "really" building it to spec. We found half a dozen screws just rattling around in there just from a short drive and one flight.

It's just absolutely amazing what even a small amount of vibration can do to loosen screws, and frankly I'm really surprised this doesn't happen more often. It probably had nothing to do with the shipper, though....just bad luck. Glad they're going to have another one built for you. What amp is it?

[onemind]

Bad luck for sure.

[FFTT]

For builders large and small, it's not about the design, but about the execution
of the build and doing it right the first time, not cutting corners to save a few pennies.

Then after all that work, it seems ludicrous not to take a few extra steps
to make sure the amp is protected.

3" rigid foam panels are reasonable enough where the material cost
could be figured into the build quote.

Just a bit of extra care and so much trouble and disappointment could be avoided.

[TopDog]

It doesn't seem to me like this was a result of mishandling during shipping. Quite possible the xfmr was not secured properly, I've seen this before.

my 2 cents from reading your post....

It's on the seller IMO

[TTripp]

Transormers are heavy. Dead stops of any kind can tear them loose, doesn't matter how good the packaging is AROUND the amp.

[onemind]

Originally Posted by TopDog

It doesn't seem to me like this was a result of mishandling during shipping. Quite possible the xfmr was not secured properly, I've seen this before.

my 2 cents from reading your post....

It's on the seller IMO

Rod, I'm inclined to agree especially since the other side was loose, Maybe they just were never tightened properly and that made it easier to work loose with some handling.

[michael patrick]

If it arrived damaged, why is return shipping on you?

[onemind]

Yeah, hoping to work that out. I took tons of pix and supplied them with those. Reading their policies online it looks like they want to deduct the CC (and or paypal) fee as well. Though I know there is no paypal fee if the payment is refunded.

[lcjc800]

I shipped a maz 18 2x10 combo, in an ATA case packed in a Booggie box from Buffalo, NY to State College, PA via ups and it showed up much the same way your's did, with added broken tubes.
This one had actually pulled the trans former from the chassis from a drop....
sometimes I think it's done purposely.

[Brazen]

It'd be a good idea to ship it upside down.

[Peeb]

Originally Posted by onemind

Yeah, hoping to work that out. I took tons of pix and supplied them with those. Reading their policies online it looks like they want to deduct the CC (and or paypal) fee as well. Though I know there is no paypal fee if the payment is refunded.