Pianos are an investment. Not only are they expensive to purchase, they’re also expensive to ship. In June’s craziest claim, one local piano company the unfortunate luck of eating some expensive charges.
A customer came into the shop and priced out one piano with overseas shipping included. He purchased it with a credit card and later returned to purchase a second piano, leaving detailed instructions to ship both pianos internationally using a specific shipping company. The owner of the piano shop contacted the shipper who stated that they’d need the funds to be wired – which equated to nearly $10,000 of shipping costs – before they’d come pick up the two pianos. The owner obliged and unfortunately, the shippers never contacted them to schedule pickup. Within a week, the credit card company notified the shop that the charges were fraudulent and rescinded the payment from their account. Sadly, because the funds were wired to a fake shipper, the monies weren’t covered by insurance.
Claim: $10,000
Insurance: Not covered
Moral of the story: Be weary of wiring funds to unknown companies you don’t do business with directly.