Opinions on speaker damage

Auraomega · 19 Apr 2011 at 23:23

I ordered a nice centre speaker to finish off my surround separates. Well it arrived today in absolutely dire condition. I got it from the bay and the seller claims it was in perfect condition when sent (predictable reply), however my experience and gut says that this level of damage isn't possible by courier mistreatment, that plus the fact the box was in good condition.

I've uploaded the photos here.

Both cones and the tweeter have been ripped from the casing, the plastic which is incredibly sturdy has been snapped around both cones, a cable for the right cone has been cut and an inductor on the PCB is damaged too, all of this looks rather suspect. On the flip side there is a dent on one corner of the speaker, whether this was before or during transit is anyone's guess.

I've contacted the seller as mentioned above however they've simply stated that it was perfect when leaving them and that it must have happened during transit and are going to file a claim from the courier. So what do you think? Damaged by the courier or damaged then sold as working simply to claim it on the insurance?

Marsman · 20 Apr 2011 at 00:17

Bloody hell, looks like someone threw it out a window.

How well packaged was it?

EdwardTeach · 20 Apr 2011 at 00:24

Think he is trying to con you. Open a paypal dispute, and get a refund.

Auraomega · 20 Apr 2011 at 00:34

Marsman said:
Bloody hell, looks like someone threw it out a window.

How well packaged was it?

Tell me about it, even doing speaker repairs I've never seen this degree of damage! It was packaged relatively well, no worse than any other speakers I've bought over the years; bubble wrap and lots of cardboard.

EdwardTeach said:
Think he is trying to con you. Open a paypal dispute, and get a refund.

Yeah my thoughts exactly, except trying to con the courier rather than me. If I open a dispute though what is the likelyhood of me having to return the item? Bare in mind this is a beastly speaker and not cheap to post.

Marsman · 20 Apr 2011 at 01:18

As they were reasonably well packaged, there is no way the drivers would suffer that kind of damage. The package would have to be literally thrown out of a window really, to do that kind of damage. I think there would be significantly more case damage too. Another +1 for the seller being con artist.

I don't know if you would have to return it. If you have to, check some courier sites, see what it would cost. Royal mail, or Parcel Force would not be cheap at all.

kg648 · 20 Apr 2011 at 07:50

I had a simailar problem to this, open a paypal dispute they will make you send it back to the seller and then you will get refunded, if he wants to get his money back he has to send it to somewhere in America which costs stupid amounts of money.

Cliste · 20 Apr 2011 at 09:58

Wow, looks like you've been done. I can't see how a dodgy delivery could have done such damage.
Get a refund.

danza · 20 Apr 2011 at 11:24

I'd say it's possible that a drop could've caused that. The woofer baskets are only plastic after all, and once one of the shielded magnets was loose which is presumably about a kilo in weight, it could easily have mashed up the other stuff inside with further drops/kicks

nickrose · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:15

If you have to return try Interparcel to collect, they use the major couriers and cost about £9 upto 30Kg.

Auraomega · 20 Apr 2011 at 13:19

I normally use Parcel Monkey to be fair, cheap as chips and I already have an account with them, but thanks for the advice. Thing is I really don't want to be paying to return a speaker when it was most likely sent out in this state in the first place.