OffsetGuitars.com

Hey everybody, I don't know if this the right place to put this question, but I figured I'd try. So, I bought a Mustang from a Japanese seller, it got here in a couple of days, arriving at the New York customs place. Evidently it cleared customs fine, because I got the "inbound out of customs" status tracking wise. Then nothing. It never moved pass this point, and it has been a month since. I have worked with the seller, who has been as helpful as he can be, and he put out an international search inquiry, which I approved of today, letting the post office know in writing that I had not received the guitar. I don't really know what else I can do, but I wanted to ask you guys if there is something. Anyone had any experience with this before? I am pretty worried that my Mustang is just lost forever.

Was it insured? I hope you're not SOL, but you might be SOL. My experience dealing with the USPS on a damaged, insured shipment was less than successful despite having done everything right. They run a crooked game. If it was insured by the Japanese postal service, though, then I'd be willing to bet that they'd do right by you.

Yeah, it was insured. I am not too worried about the money, more about the instrument. I am pretty sure ebay or paypal would side with me on getting a refund. I just hate to see something as nice as a brand new Mustang disappear into a warehouse or something like that. I also hate to have to take the sellers money back from him, as it wasn't really his fault all of this has happened. I am just applying pressure to the usps by calling them every day or two, politely asking whats up. Hoping the inquiry process is enough to find it and get it going towards me again.

Yeah, I wish you all the luck. That would be a sad day for the seller, definitely.

I have firsthand experience with New York customs. I've been there, I've looked around, I've dealt with those people.

My hunch is that it's still in the customs building.

Are you actually in NY or did it just pass through there on the way to you? There is not anymore that you can technically do but if you're in NYC, you can physically go down to the customs building at JFK and nicely nag them. I think my and my wife's constant nagging is what finally got our package found when we had a similar situation. But we did go down there several times and we talked to a bunch of people who really aren't supposed to be dealing with the public. They even ended up giving us kind of a tour of the place to show us what the process is.

If you're not in NY, then just wait for the trace to complete. Your guitar is probably sitting in a room somewhere at the bottom of a pile of other boxes. If I remember right, they have a series of "cages" where packages sit that have been cleared and are waiting to go to the various postal sorting facilities. Sometimes these cages go a long time before they're really emptied out, and in the meantime new stuff just keeps getting added on top of old stuff. (Not sure why that would happen now, but maybe the USPS or somebody is just understaffed.) I'm gonna guess that the box will eventually be found and make its way to you.

Yep, thats kind of what I had suspected. I don't live in New York though, thats just where it came through. Thanks for sharing that, as it basically reaffirms what I figured was up.

Any update? I dread experiencing this but I'd like to know what to do if this happens to me - or any other travelers who see this. Hope it worked out for you.

Hey, just saw your reply. I don't really know if there is any way to solve this problem were it to happen to you. I never got the guitar, called customs, called the post office. Did pretty much everything i could, ad was basically just told too bad, so sad. I got my money back and bought another guitar, but it was still a bummer. Be wary of the potential issues with importing.