Shipping. Hard Lesson.

Update: My wife went up to the UPS store where it was packaged and shipped initially to find out what is going on. They now have the amp. My wife saw it there in the box but she said the box was not recognizable as a box. The clerk there said they'd have a decision about the insurance claim by the end of the week. My wife told them we expect them to pay us no later than Thursday, full amount including shipping. Not sure that makes any difference.

Also not sure if they will allow us to have it back since they will be paying us the amount paid for it. If I knew it worked I might buy it back from them but I have no way of knowing and wouldn't gamble without knowing.

I've been pretty disappointed in UPS's attitude in all this. As soon as we made the claim they started treating us like the bad guys who have to prove we're not trying to scam them. Totally unacceptable in my opinion. A sad commentary on the state of society as well. Not shocked by any means. Its just sad.

Same goes for my FedEx recent delivery  Claim was for $200 for a remote control that was damaged.  They paid me $100 saying that was its worth, well yes but the shipping and tax from overseas put it at $200.  So I cannot replace the remote for $100.  It took a month or more to get paid.

The actual value of this amp is a lot more than what the seller paid and what we insured it for, so if UPS tries to play that game I will have to fight back. I hope this does not require an attorney. I hate the thought of that but if it comes down to it I will get one. I'll probably lose money in the process but at some point in time principle has to count for something.

Dealing with a similar issue right now and perhaps my story may help others in the future.

Purchased a Celeste HT-5 from a new member a couple of weeks ago.  Questioned him as to his ability to package such a heavy item properly and was assured it would be professionally packaged by UPS.  His professional packaging consisted of the amplifier being wrapped in a single layer of bubble wrap, placed in an oversized, single walled cardboard box surrounded by light weight plastic airbags.  As you can imagine, the 69Lb amplifier was absolutely trashed upon arrival and the little plastic airbags were all deflated.

Tried to work with the seller to come to a mutual compromise but got the run-around until such time as I received a phone call from the seller's father indicating that his son was in college, didn't have time to deal with the issue, it was my problem and that absolutely no refund would ever be issued.  His exact words were... "I have your money and you will never get it back!"  :)

Opened a dispute with A'gon and they were fantastic.  Unfortunately the seller refused to comply with A'gon's ruling for a return/refund.

Now working with PayPal however I worry that PayPal may not abide by A'gon's policy with regards to damaged shipments.

One mistake I made, which may help others in the future is this...
I used my FedEx account to pay for shipping.  As a FedEx account holder, I am entitled to a reduced rate for International shipments.  I utilized my account to send the seller both the shipping labels and customs paperwork.  Even though I had the shipment properly insured, because the amplifier was not packaged according to either Audiogon or FedEx guidelines, FedEx will most likely not be paying out the claim.  I can't fault FedEx in this case as I agree that they can not be held responsible for negligent packaging.

The seller is using the fact that I had insurance with FedEx as his defence for not issuing a return/refund.  Had I just let the seller ship the item on his own dime, he most likely would have still reneged on his responsibility for a return/refund, but would not have the luxury of accusing me of trying to collect on both ends.

I had filed a claim with FedEx, at the insistence of the seller, prior to the phone call from the father and assured him that should any restitution be paid out by FedEx, I would forward it to him immediately.  As I am now honouring the fathers request not to communicate with his son, I have been forwarding all communication with FedEx, to the A'gon case worker.

Lesson here could be to always let the seller be responsible for all aspects of shipping.  Try to save a dollar and spend two :)

Update: UPS is giving us the run around. They filed the claim on Aug 14. They have the damaged amp back in the local UPS store. They said we'd have a decision and a check within 10 days. We checked back several times after the 10 day mark and were told that they were waiting for the higher-ups to make a decision. Today (17 days after the claim was filed) they are saying the same thing and will not give us contact information for anyone above the local store.

I have not called an attorney yet and don't want to do so. In the end it will probably cost me money to do it. But something clearly needs to be done.

Does anyone know if this sort of thing can be handled in small claims court?