SA1 NIGHTMARE!

[SHAXOS]

Hey Guys i need some advice after a bit of a nightmare AND warning this is a bit of a long rant and a warning to steer well clear of a particular delivery company 🙂 I recently bought a pair of SA1s ex dem. The speakers were described to me as having "no marks" and the stands as minor blemishes. I was happy to have minor marks on the stand but not the speakers and i made this VERY clear to the dealer. I got the speakers for a good price and thought id got a bargain but having got the speakers (after a bunch of delivery problems no less!) I found to my dismay that the speaker had a quite noticable mark on the front from a pointed impact. I then rang the HIFI dealer i brought them from sending pictures. The dealer offered me a futher 100 pound off or a refund. I opted for the refund. From here things have gone very down hill. I had the speakers for exactly one day. I got them i inspected them, requested a refund and arranged a courier via interparcel. The company that was used was National Home Delivery. The speakers were promptly picked up the next day and i thought that they would be with the dealer in a few days at most. After 3 days the tracking was stuck at Rochdale. I had to call interparcel to see whats going on and then finally the tracking was updated to ipswich (close to the dealer). I then had to wait a futher 3 days for the parcel to be delivered with the most ridiculous of a number of excuses being "the driver could not find anywhere to park!!!". Anyway i thought that was that until this morning the dealer sent me a load of pics of the stand one of which has taken severe abuse and has a considerable crack at the bottom of the stand. The dealer stated that the box had been opened. The nature of the crack suggests that considerable force had been applied to the stands. This is not something that could have occured with a simple "dropping" of the parcel. Anyway i rang the dealer in question and was absolutely gobsmacked when they stated that they would not do me a refund for the speakers. I tried to explain that i was willing to pay the full retail price of the stands (even though they were ex dem and quite damaged at that) and that the speakers were sent exactly as they were recieved by me. He went on to say that they were sold as a bundle and so he could not treat them separatly. This was the most ridiculous thing i have heard ever!! Instead of being sympathetic for my situation they thought "ooh we have him by the balls now!" . Anyway after a discussion the agreed to refund me the price of the speakers. i am half tempted to name the company but i have decided not to. So basically now i have paid 550 (including delivery) for a pair of SA1 stands that were cosmetically challenged when i brought them and now thanks to an incompetant courier completely broken. I would like to ask the advice from forum members on what i should do in terms of logging for compensation. I have emailed interparcel and am waiting on them.I have sent the forwarded pics of the damage. I have got the hifi company to give me detailed written explanation of the condition and that they feel that something heavy fell on the stands and that the box clearly had been opened and repackaged. Is there any thing i should do to try and cover for any eventualities. Im sure the courier company will try and shift the blame onto me what should i do if this does happen? Thanks in advance to every one and sorry for long post!

 

[Frank Harvey]

Did you sign for the parcel (stands) as damaged on delivery?

 

[SHAXOS]

FrankHarveyHiFi:
Did you sign for the parcel (stands) as damaged on delivery?

I dont know what the hifi store did i assume they did not as they would not have known they were broken before opening the package.As soon as they emailed me i got in touch with the courier company (they told me to contact interparcel who dont open til monday). When the stands were sent to me they had a number of noticable marks but i was generally happy with their condition as they were exdem. They were certainly not broken in anyway when sent to me so i personally did not sign for them damaged. The speakers i wanted unmarked but they were hence the reason for my refund request. The damage occured during the transit on the way back to the hifi store.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I assume when you sent the stands back they were insured? If so, you can make a claim as long as the store signed them as damaged. If they didn't, then they're liable, just in the same way that if you didn't mark a consignment damaged when you received it, it's on you, not the company that sent it.

If the stand box was damaged in any way, the dealer should've signed for them damaged.

 

[SHAXOS]

Thanks for that David. The consignment was sent insured. I will wait to see what interparcel have to say with regards to this before taking this up with the HiFi company.

 

[Anonymous]

If you have the things you sent insured, then you should be able to put a claim in against them. Especially if the shop signed for them damaged in transit etc.

Hope you get it sorted as it is going to be a long process with them.

Its awful that you had to go through this as you were really looking forward to getting the SA1's.

 

[Dan Turner]

I think the dealer could have been more understanding and helpful - afterall you have suffered exactly the same issue with the stand being damaged in transit from you to him and he did with the speakers being damaged in transit between him and you. Although sadly I can't say I'm surprised that he went into ***-covering mode.

I would go after the courier company as hard as you. Get an incontrovertible trail of documentary and photographic evidence in order, keep copies of everything and if they are are in anyway obstructive or dragging their heels then start dropping names like 'trading standards' and 'BBC Watchdog'.

Gutted for you though, sounds like a really unlucky experience.

 

[mitch65]

Sorry to hear about your issues with HDNL, I was cringing as I read your post as I've just had a similar experiance with sending an item and it being damaged by a 'reputable' courier company. Even though a claim is going through I have decided, maybe against better judgement, to refund the buyer to avoid a long drawn out 'you blame me I blame you' situation. I will probably get sweet FA from the insurers but it goes to show that it's the individual who damages the parcel not the carrier so it really is potluck. The lesson I have learned is that as long as you send goods in their original packaging then the insurers cannot claim 'badly packaged' as an excuse so your claim should be paid in full. It should be noted that I have worked for HDNL and many other carriers so I do speak as a former insider and yes of course they will try and wriggle out of any claim which is why they always rely on the receiver not signing for the consignment 'damaged, unchecked, unexamined, etc.'

Phew! got that off my chest

Anyway, good luck and keep us posted