What is the value of Classe P401 ?

Yeah, it was not very difficult I think.The key is to not give up after the first level of rejection. The manager of the agent I was working with called me when I asked the agent to escalate the case, and I just asked him if he can do anything to change the outcome and he said no. So that was the end of discussion with claim agents.The next step is to send a demand letter to the legal department. This was a 1 page letter that in my case contained:1. description of what I did, i.e. took a working unit to Fedex Office, they packed it, they shipped it and it arrived at the destination with extensive damage. I also put in the letter that I declared the value as 5000 and that the ageng charged me extra for the high value.2. what is the single issue that is being contested. In my case it was the value of the amplifier. Then I showed 3 different pieces of evidence that the value they were proposing ($3) was totally unreasonable. a, I showed them the value of an exact item for sale right now in China, then, b,  I showed them the letter from company that said that CA-401 and P-401 are equivalent, then I showed them the graph of used CA-401 prices (from Audiogon) and c. I showed them the value of CA-201 on ebay and computed twice that price (also an idea from Audiogon). And all 3 calculations came to close to 4000. Then I took 25% off the lowest calculation and put that as my estimated price.3. the options for remedy of the damage.  I gave them 3 options, a. fix my amp, b. replace my amp or c. pay me the above estimated price + shipping4. gave them 3 weeks to respond, if they did not I would take them to small claim's court5. Asked them to only respond by email or regular mail.Thats it. So folks here at Audiogon contributed for sure in this success.
If anyone wants to see the letter, I can show it.Best, Saumil

WHAT !!! ???
really???  TOTALLY AWESOME!!!
never have I ever heard of a shipping co. Actually paying out for the damage THEY did during shipping.

  Wow, the best bet is using a legal dept. 

also: they are not giving you a value towards an amplifier, they are simply afraid of any media coverage, or paying more to you if they chose to fight your legal action, which would cost them more in the long run, as this was NOT your fault, and them actually paying out is a miracle!!

 This is great news!  
  CONGRATS!!, keep us informed as to the finished outcome

Hi all,
Good news, the carrier accepted the settlement amount I had sent their legal department in my demand letter. A check for $3113.50 is on the way. So there are people with some common sense and can immediately see that the value of a classic amp like P-401 is not $3.Thanks everyone for suggestions.Best, Saumil

Thanks everyone for your support and suggestions.

You have a very good point, the settlement should be based on the value of repair and not the used value. Because if I interpret what you are saying correctly, their responsibility would be to either get my unit back to the original state or replace it with an equivalent unit. But maybe they would consider this as a total loss. I am not sure how they are treating this. They do have the repair cost estimate from Classe.
Yes, this is the first time I am sending anything of such value using a carrier. I have learnt many lessons this time :-)

It seems that what is more important than the used value is the cost of repairing it. Have you made that distinction with the carrier?
I also have to ask if this is the first time you have shipped an item f value, because I find it hard to believe that you didn't think about insuring it as you said.
I hope that you're able to recoup something.

Huh... I did not know that there is a separate insurance, the shipping cost depended on the value I declared, so my guess was that it was the insurance that was costing more. The agent never asked me if I want to insure my package. So I know for sure I did not insure if that was separate from the additional cost that I paid to ship.
I told the claim agent that for $3 we cant even buy a original brochure for this unit :-)And yes, you are absolutely right, they are responsible, they packed it and they shipped it. And yes, just the capacitors and transformer will cost 1000s. I have asked the claim agent if they can infer the cost of P-401 from other amplifier made by Classe. Common sense tells us that one should at least be able to establish a minimum value of a 400W amplifier by just multiplying the cost of 300w/ch amp by 1.33, specially when specs are identical. In reality, going from 300W to 400W is quite a challenge and the cost could be even a larger factor than 1.33. But it is also noteworthy, that CA-301 is for 3K which translates to 4K for P-401, and this is identical to the cost estimated from the chinese seller. Here is the listing for the exact item in Chinahttps://www.taobao.com/list/item/wap/561872232885.htmThe current currency conversion is 1 Chinese yuan is 15 US cents. So for them to disregard this information to me is solely based on their convenience. They could just purchase the unit from chinese seller and replace my unit. That would be one way to resolve this. And yes, my time's worth in dollars is a lot :-) I did get a Classe 2300 (and that was 5800 dollars for 300w/ch) to replace this unit because I knew this claim is going to drag on for some time. Classe does not even make a 400W/ch unit now.

The case is being escalated. I told the claim agent that common sense dictates that I would not ship a $3 item and pay close to $500 just in shipping costs. If this is not resolved then I will definitely go to small claims court, which I told the claims agent will not be good for anyone. Lets see what a judge thinks of $3 value :-) and all of their ill logical reasoning.

Classe support did help to take pictures and send me all the information needed to file a claim. The problem is to get a used value for P-401. They did send me a letter stating the original value but what the shipping company needs is used value, and thats why the information from CA-301 and chinese seller above is extremely helpful.
Oh that sucks that 3 of your shipments were damaged. Did you pack them yourself ? In my case, they packed the unit so they should have known better. Did you try small claims court ?

Absolute worse nightmare.  I am so sorry, I feel your pain and loss.  Now you have to deal with idiots that want to mess with you.  You knew the value and that's why you insured for what you did.  You are dealing with bereavement and loss and they are throwing this crap.   

Classe is still in business.  Tell them your situation and see if they can help.  Just the parts alone in that thing have to be $1,000's.  Let them know you won't be able to purchase a replacement until you get this resolved.  Or, can they repair?  Their repair estimate might be higher than a new one. 

The issue is also this.  You aren't going to be able to replace that amp without spending lots and lots of time waiting for one to come up on the market.  I collect the old stuff and it can take years to find exactly what you want.  How much is your time worth? 

Ask them to either produce a replacement that works or send you the money.  Your loss is worth much more than that, especially in this community.  There is a CA-300, used for sale on Audiogon for $3k.  Perhaps they can use the CA-300 as a reference price to justify your settlement, establishing that this is the model down from yours?? 

Good luck, so sorry about your loss. 

Feel your pain!!

  Did you insure it, I don’t think declaring value is same as insuring it against damage?.

  If so, get on it right now, pictures, and lots of them, email, phone, the company, contact corporate as well, on a daily basis, 
hopefully Classe can help,a,bit as well. 
   Write letters to the hub, where it was shipped from.
I would be doing everything I could, what your describing is disgusting, and shows these heartless,mind,ess morons really don’t care about any thing. 
     Wish we could help more.......been through it, not at the level your mentioning. 
   Do what ever it takes, the shipping company IS RESPONSIBLE!!!