Question Regarding New Item Damaged in Shipping


It's been a while since I've been active on this forum, and in audio.  I will not name names, will not provide additional information, my goal is not to sling mud, merely to understand if the practices of the "maker" and the "dealer" I am about to describe are, as the dealer is telling me, common in audio sales.

Facts:

I spent low 5 digits on a pair of mono block amplifiers. Shipped, they are 2 boxes of identical size and weight, about 85 lbs each. 

I did not use a credit card.

It appears that one of the boxes was damaged in shipping, however from the outside, it didn't / doesn't look like much of anything, however once the item is opened, you can see a little damage to the box, a little damage to the foam packing "clamshell", but not much.  

A speaker terminal was contacted by something sufficient to bend the chassis, and it isn't thin.  There's no marks of impact anywhere, it just looks as if pressure was applied to the terminal and the frame bent. 

All of my contact has been with the dealer. The dealer obtained a RMA, and asked me to ship the damaged mono back to the maker, at my expense, who will rebuild on a new chassis and send back to me at their expense.

I am being told that, despite the fact that the item was new when shipped to me "this is the way its done" in audio.  In other words, it is common practice among dealers and makers of high end audio to handle items damaged in shipping this way, and the buyer would bear the expense of getting the item to the maker for inspection and/or repair.

 

Is this accurate?

I appreciate any input you can provide.

 

 

gthirteen

Showing 2 responses by fzman1956

I'm not sure if there's a "usual way things are done' anymore, given the new state of the world.  It is a great question to ask, and I am not sure whether either party should have involced 'standard practice' in such a case. Wht was promised and agreed on is, to me, the more relevant consideration.

That said, ih the old days, you wwne to the local tore, bought what you wanted, and if it was defective/damaged when you got it home, you drove back to the store, and they pulled another one off the shelf --maybe you opened it there to make sure it was not the entie batch--then went on your merry way.

Things are very different now.  Not sure how else to respond, without knowing way more of the specifics of the case. 

Speaking purely hypothetcailly, one of 3 things could have happened here.

1. it was boxed and shipped that way (by the manufacturer, in essence)

2 It was damaged in shipment, ini spite of there being no visible outer damage, and the shipment being signed-for/acceoted by the recipient

3,. it arrived in perfect condition, and was damaged post-shipment.

Interestingly, no one took the dealer's or the manufacturer's 'side' on this one. I was not party to any part of this transaction or series of events, so I cannot really speak to the facts. Outside of the OP, none of you can either. 

As to the notion that 'this is how it is done...' I would ask what the terms of sale were, and whether and what sort of return policy was in place, and who paid for shippng in the first place.When you return something in general, you have to 'bring it back' to the store. They don;t come and get it, and you don;t get reimbursed for your gas or time for the return trip.

Shipping was a service, and was provided. 2 85LB boxes are usually best sent via freight, strapped to a pallet, but that costs a lot more than the usual carrier's ground service.

I am not takins sides here, and hope the OP gets his amp taken care of, but i think we need to know way more detail about this transaction to make more specific claims about who should pay for what.