Buyer Dispute


I would like to have some opinions of a remedy for this issue:

I purchased a pair of B&W 804D3 loudspeakers through Audiogon in August 2021. They were shipped in original containers by freight. The boxes arrived damaged with some holes in the boxes, but no damage to the speakers accept for one very small spot, which could be repaired with a drop of stain. However, neither tweeter was functioning. A multimeter revealed an open circuit across both voice coils. The seller said that they worked before shipping but offered to send me replacement tweeters under the previous owner' warranty which I agreed to. However, and here is the rub; Because of supply chain issues, Bowers and Wilkins did not, and still does not have the tweeters in stock. I have been waiting 6 months for the seller to provide the replacements from B&W, but they continue to be out of stock. In short, I paid nearly $7,000 in August 2021 for speakers that I still cannot listen to.

Any opinion on a path to resolution?

 

kirbymydog

All interesting discussion, but this is NOT the place to get something like this resolved. Way too much speculation in my opinion. There is always more to a story than meets the eye. The way you see it, the way I see it, and the way it really is. Just saying.....

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.