HRMC destroyed a guy's Custom Order Fender

Bidley

Why would you lie about something like this? And who's to say the shop hasn't taken photos?

Col_Decker

Munchausen syndrome

GuitarMonkey

"I not only play for fun am also a session musician" 

bertie

Fretwired said:

Col_Decker said:

Ouch

 

seems a bit fishy to me though somehow. Why no pictures?

Have to agree. Customs guys are busy people and are more likely to scan/X-ray something they think is suspicious. It would have quickly proven the guitar was solid. There was also full export documentation from a well known US company.

yep, and they, despite common misrepresentation,  dont just chop up confiscated items like guitars just for the sake of it

chrisj1602

I've seen the customs programmes where they check really discreetly so they can still deliver the dodgy, stuffed with cocaine item, and then sting the recipient for receiving the drugs.

mmaatt25

ICBM said:

I've heard about other stuff like that too. There was even a TV documentary which showed them drilling holes in someone's property (I think it was a carved statuette or something - something solid, anyway) because they thought there were drugs concealed inside. They're either wilfully stupid or intentionally destructive, I can't decide which. And you have *no rights* over it.

I'm sure as with all organisations there are individuals who wantonly destroy peoples property on import under the pretence of doing their job, however as with all government departments the cuts in their budgets only effect frontline staff not managers so they are left doing more with out of date/ageing equipment, which probably wasn't fit for purpose in the first place and cost three times what it should.
You definitely do have rights, it is a myth they are not answerable, they would have show there actions were proportional. If no prohibited or restricted goods are found then you are entitled to full compensation, no argument. Getting it is another matter.

martinw

mmaatt25 said:

I'm sure as with all organisations there are individuals who wantonly destroy peoples property on import under the pretence of doing their job.......

Really!!?

limpymcginty

This sounds utterly bizarre. If you order a Custom Shop from a dealer the minimum wait time I know of is 4 months, more likely 6-9 depending on how busy they are,what changes you've made and what parts you've asked for. Can't see how they'd have built a guitar in that short space of time...especially in satin blaze gold, I don't recall seeing many satin Custom Shop guitars if any and blaze gold is a Mexican Ltd run series colour..its possible I guess but unlikely

 The guitar will come from the US in a big container with loads of other guitars,booked into Fender Europe in the Netherlands(possibly the UK) and then sent to the dealer.

I don't see how Fender wouldn't know that customs had been inside one of their shipments and drilled holes in a guitar. Sounds like it was ordered from a dealer in the US and it doesn't sound like a custom shop build to me.

. 

ESchap

worralorracrap!  Walter Mitty on the TDPRITSBMOTBUMTIT

thermionic

So even if HM Customs destroy something they suspect of carrying drugs... it's destroyed, right? Why would they let the guy have it back in pieces? What use is that to anybody? And if they make a mistake like that, don't they have to compensate the owner in some way?

Just one other fishy aspect in a totally suspect story.

gilby

Many years ago I used to work for federal express and one of the duties I had was to assist hmrc in their inspections. Unless they've changed the reg's, a representative of the freight forwarders would have to be their when customs open packages. This just would not happen using a shipping agent.
I'm more inclined to believe either a) it's a private sale of a custom shop and sent US parcel post, b) it's bollox.

geepers0677

b) It's bollocks.

octatonic

Paul_C said:

congratulations to Octatonic for winning the pickups !

I'm pretty stoked.

Lew

Nah, he just got confused when filling in the Fender custom shop spec sheet and put 10/10 in the relic box.

Bogwhoppit

I wonder what size drill bit they used ?

Wolftone

I always believed that the shop took sole responsibility for damage/condition right up to the point of handing it over. Even if the guy had paid for it, unless he arranged for his own courier to collect it, he wouldn't be liable for any costs. he would simply refuse to accept it (reject it).

ThePrettyDamned

I don't think I believe this story...

Also, his main concern is whether his new build, using a neck and body from different eras, refinished, should have a fender decal on it?

Nope. I don't like this story. It's fishy.

grungebob

Unless they had concerns over the origin of the wood or species there would be no need to tamper with in this manner, I worked 4 years in maritime import and this makes no sense to me ergo me thinks it's bollocks

stickyfiddle

Something's not right in all this. He says in one thread he's after a Danny Gatton, and then orders a CS one-off Fender and it arrives within a month but it's busted. That screams that he's either lying or the shop is having him on. There's no way the Fender CS would put together a guitar for less than £2700 in that time.

Then in ANOTHER thread he's talking about a strat he's just picked up at a boot sale, with a photo of a clearly-fake Fender Tele with the same spec he's talking about on his CS order (gold finish and maple neck): http://www.tdpri.com/forum/squier-tele-forum/440168-what-model.html

GazLion

I must admit when I first read it I thought it seemed incredibly unfortunate but legit. Why would he lie about it? He says that he only paid a deposit to the shop, which he got back when the guitar arrived trashed....so why would HE take pictures and go for compensation? The damaged guitar is now the shops concern is it not?