UPS told California customer his guitar was destroyed, then he found it for sale online

Wednesday, May 14, 2025 5:50PM CT
HAYWARD, Calif. -- A Hayward, California man says UPS lost a unique guitar he purchased, then offered up a bunch of different explanations, including that it was destroyed in the Southern California wildfires. That is until ABC San Francisco affiliate KGO got involved.

It sounds like Christmas came late for the Diaz family.

"It's a nice guitar; I like its tone a lot," Hayward resident Damian Diaz said.

The 16-year-old just recently received his gift. His dad, Tony, purchased the guitar months ago, from seller Adam Hulsey.

"I shipped them all at the same time, from the same place, printed the labels right here at home," said Hulsey, Adam's Guitar Addict general manager.



The guitar was one of three in the shipment, but only two arrived.

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This Dime Slime guitar seemed to be stuck in Lathrop, California.

Calls to UPS customer service revealed all kinds of reasons it wasn't delivered.

"Burned up in a California wildfire, fell off a truck, fell off a train, so many different stories," Hulsey said. "The package was damaged beyond repair. All contents were destroyed and discarded."



Hulsey received some compensation from UPS, but not an amount he felt was fair. UPS says it was going off the amount for which Hulsey insured the shipment.

Tony Diaz had a hunch the guitar was still out there.

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"I just had an intuition that the guitar was stolen and that it wasn't damaged and destroyed," Diaz said.

Sure enough, on a search, the exact Dime Slime guitar down to the serial number appeared on a Guitar Center website.



"21 1564," said Tony Diaz, reading it off.

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"That's like a VIN number on a car, and it's there for reasons just like this," Hulsey said.

Hulsey snatched it up, and Diaz made the drive to Bakersfield, California to get it.

"It was three and a half hours to get up there, and it was four hours to get back. Was it worth it? Yeah, it was absolutely worth it," Diaz said.

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"When you're a small business like myself, you can't afford to have these types of things happen," Hulsey said.



They filed a police report, and called UPS back. But Diaz says the call didn't go great.

"UPS was kind of, 'hey, why are you calling with this tracking number? This is already a closed case. The guitar was damaged and destroyed.' And I told them on the phone, 'well that's so funny that the guitar was damaged and destroyed because I just bought it from Guitar Center, and I have it in my car with me,'" Diaz said.

That's when KGO stepped in. Investigative reporter Melanie Woodrow spoke to a UPS security supervisor, who said the guitar was stolen, but that UPS couldn't reimburse Hulsey for more than he had insured it. After speaking with KGO and Hulsey, UPS agreed to revisit the issue, if Hulsey provided a receipt for the purchase.

In a statement to KGO, UPS writes, "We strive to provide excellent service. We've been in contact the customer and have resolved the situation."

The resolution was a bigger refund that satisfied Husley and Diaz.

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"I couldn't have done it without you guys. Melanie, you've been great in getting me in touch with the right people at UPS," Hulsey said.

The guitar, which had been in mint condition prior to the theft, now has a few blemishes.

"It didn't have that dent in the top before," Diaz said. "There's a scratch back here on the back right here."

Tony Diaz and his son are glad to have it in their hands, safe and sound.

Woodrow asked the UPS security supervisor why Diaz and Hulsey were given so many different explanations about what happened to the guitar. He said there was a "casualty code" assigned to the shipment, and it's possible representatives in the customer service call center didn't know what the code meant.
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