Buyer Dispute

I sympathize with both the seller and the buyer, assuming that they were not defective when sold. With proper freight shipping, they should have arrived with no damage at all, either to the speakers or the boxes. The fact they there was visible damage might indicate that something happened to them while the pallet was being loaded or transferred, perhaps.

That being said, Seller very reasonably offered to have the speakers repaired under warranty. How would he have known that it would take 6+ months to get the replacements? Similarly, Buyer acted very reasonably in accepting that offer, rather than returning the speakers, which he was certainly entitled to do, since he bargained for receipt of working speakers, not blown ones.

So what now? Clearly neither party contemplated that it would take so long to get the replacement. Buyer is completely justified in requesting a full refund. It is seller’s responsibility to get Buyer a working pair of speakers and he didn’t, whether his fault or not. That is why I ship anything expensive with insurance. Seller is clearly obligated to refund the money and take the speakers back.

I can easily relate to this because I shipped a DAC to a Buyer, and the screen (finicky on this DAC) worked when I had it in my system and didn’t work on arrival. Luckily, the screen wasn’t necessary to get it running since it has an app, but I gave Buyer the option: return it for a full refund or I will pay to get it fixed. He chose to hold onto it and get it fixed. Manufacturer has had the screens on backorder for 2 months now, and I told Buyer that and again offered to take the unit back. My reputation is far more important to me on here. Buyer again confirmed that he didn’t care, and may not even repair the screen, although I told him that would be a mistake, since he would have to fix it at some point. Bottom line is that sometimes crap  happens, and it is neither party’s fault. The Seller is ultimately responsible for getting working equipment to the Buyer. Period. Seller has to suck it up.

Dude, that Seller is full of sh$t!! Those tweeters were toast when he packed them up. He did you wrong on purpose, no forgiveness when it comes to that kind of money. Open a dispute NOW with PayPal or it will haunt you forever. Good luck! Dana

OP, don’t mean to cause you additional worry, but have you confirmed with B&W that replacement tweeters DO NOT have to be matched in order to meet their design goal? Does B&W match the tweeters used in these speakers? Perhaps not. Some manufacturers use only matched pairs for some of their models. I went through this with speakers using Dynaudio tweeters that needed replacement. The new tweeters were simply stock replacements (not matched as were the originals) and the result was a slight but audible reduction in image stability.  

I have not confirmed that. I will pose the question to their support staff.

So what were/are the shipping terms?  FOB "shipping point" or "destination".  That will tell you who owned what, when.  If you own it, you probably just wait (assuming the part is on order).  If they owned it during shipment, send it back.  Two tweeters going out during shipment????  Helloooooooo!