Please familiarise yourself with this case, brief your teams, and be extra vigilant. We would also ask that you please keep an eye out for the guitars that have been fraudulently obtained.
Members & Non-Members are also invited to an informal Zoom drop-in session with the MIA Team and Tony White, Managing Director of Bonners Music, taking place this Friday (3rd May) at 11am. This will be an opportunity to understand how the fraud was perpetrated and a way of ensuring that we share up-to-date information with fellow music retailers to prevent it happening again. You can register for that here.
MULTIPLE GUITARS SENT BY RETAILERS TO THE SAME CUSTOMER “BUT NEVER RECEIVED”
Has your company been the victim of a customer ordering a valuable instrument to be delivered, but the courier left it in a “safe place”, and then the customer denied receiving it?
There is a customer in the CHESTERFIELD area who has ordered multiple guitars from different retailers and then doesn’t answer the door to the Courier, even though they have been told what time to expect the delivery.
Although the driver is instructed to only deliver to the person, the Courier has been tricked and left the parcel in a “safe place”. The customer then denies that the item has been delivered, even though there is photographic evidence to show where it was left on their property. The customer then demands a full refund.
We all know this should not happen, and the goods should always be handed to the customers themselves. Still, in practice, it doesn’t always happen, and this particular customer seems to know how to trick the Courier into leaving the parcel without a signature.
If your company has been tricked and defrauded in this way during the last couple of years, please contact us so we can pass any relevant information on to the investigating police force. It might result in a conviction. If you have supporting evidence of communications with the customers involved, we urge you to keep them safe because you may be able to be part of a future lawsuit that may result in a conviction. You never know; you might even get your money back!
Bonners has become the latest victim of this particular customer’s use of the above strategy, and we know that other retailers have been tricked by the same guy.
Serial Number: 225430366
Gibson ES-335 Ice Tea
Date of Fraud: 26th March 2024
Photo Below:
Could we ask that if you are offered this particular instrument or have been the victim of a similar fraud, please contact us here at Bonners Music. We will forward the information to the investigating police force to add to their growing file of information surrounding this particular case.
UPDATE TUESDAY 30TH APRIL:
GAK has also been a victim in the last few days. GAK took a PayPal order online and the customer was based in Chesterfield. They dispatched this guitar with DPD on their High Value account which requires a signature and cannot be left in a safe place, this was ignored by the driver and the guitar was left at the back door. The customer has now said it was not there.
Guitar – Fender Custom Shop 60′ Stratocaster Relic, Gold HW, Dirty Shell Pink
Serial – R135028
UPDATE WEDNESDAY 1ST MAY
Absolute Music were also hit under the same circumstances.
UPDATE THURSDAY 2ND MAY
The MIA is also aware of two other high-profile guitar retailers who have had to give full refunds for items which were allegedly “not delivered” to the same address and/or had high-value guitars returned to their warehouse by the because there was no one at the address to sign for them and (thankfully) the courier would not leave them outside.
We have also been made away of a case from back in 2022 at PMT. The details are as follows:
- Date of delivery: 19/01/22 – Shipped 18/01/22 – DPD Next Day Service – we’ve searched for a tracking number to reinforce but no luck
- Make / Model: Kemper Profiler PowerRack w/ Remote Set – https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/kemper-profiler-powerrack-with-remote-set
- Serial Number: n/a
- Refunded customer on 20/01/22
