speakers arrived damaged (1 Viewer)

i bought monitor audio speakers s10's from audiogon for a great price...they were rated 10/10...i was a very happy camper until they arrived yesterday by fedex badly damaged..thank god the seller had them insured...he was very curtious and understanding..he refunded my money via paypal immediately and sent fedex back to pick up the speakers...i am posting this because i was extremely lucky..it could have worked out very differently...this was a lesson learned that maybe in the long run it pays to spend a little bit more and have a guarantee..

I'm glad it worked out for you. You're right, if you were dealing with a seller that wasn't above board, you could have gotten the shaft. What kind of price did you get them for, and is the seller sending out another pair to you?

I ALWAYS ask that stuff is insured when shipped when I buy off A'gon, even if I have to pay for it. Definitely worth it. I had it happen once too, but the damage was very minimal and easily fixed. Was the packaging sufficient (double boxed?) or did FedEx just really screw up? The ones I got that were damaged were very well packed and still got damaged.

to be honest it seemed a little fishy..the veener was broken off in many places, yet i didn't see any pieces in the boxes...but the pics that were displayed by the seller looked like the speakers were in mint condition...let the seller fight it out with fedex...i had gotten them for $1075.00..they were not double boxed...i'm just grateful that i didn't get screwed....but i got NO sound!! anyone care to sing??

I can whistle

Yes, things can definitely happen when the shipping companies get hold of something. Last year, I bought some 2.2 Veritas and one simply "disintergrated" inside double boxing........that was aggravating enough.... but UPS then wanted the damaged speaker shipped to their eval site prior to being returned to the original dealer for repairs.
I also had an Aragon amp mishandled by FedEx TWICE. Damaged both times.....But FEDEX paid the claim without any hesitation.
Your precious items seem only precious to the buyer and the shipping co dock personnel could care less what happens to their bread and butter. Anything heavy is almost always mishandled, dropped etc.

I don't think ones better than the other. FedEx dropped a double boxed Behringer amp and smashed the corner of the amp. Ups dropped an SVS PC-Ultra so hard that they drove one of the pedestal legs through the driver base. On the bright side, neither carrier charged extra for stress testing my audio gear packing.

I had a similar experience with Fedex shipping some AR speakers that I bought from someone in WA (I'm in NY). The speakers were double-boxed and well-packed. When the Fedex guy came to deliver them, however, and my wife asked, "Do you need any help?", he said, "No," and then proceeds to drop them off of the back of his truck. Moron. Fortunately, the damage was mostly cosmetic or repairable by me, because there was no chance I was letting someone pick them up to be examined and then dropped off their truck again.

I don't think I'll buy speakers that need to be shipped again unless the person has the original packaging.

Raymond:

For that kind of money you can get some really great new speakers.

Sorry to hear about your luck with your speakers and it is a good thing they were sent insured.

Carl: Had the same thing happen with my PC-Ultra. UPS dropped it and broke two of the feet and cracked the base. SVS was great about it and sent a replacement out immediately. But....I'm still waiting for my t-shirt!

Look up "exceptional service" in the dictionary and you see the SVS logo next to it. The PC-Ultra I bought was a B-stock item (reduced price). When I e-mailed SVS about the problem, they immediately apologized and shipped out a NEW PC-Ultra with no extra charge! They didn't play the "wait till we get our old sub back till we ship yours" game. It shipped the next business day. After they were sure I was happy, they sent me a shipping label to return the old sub. It doesn't get much better than that.

Agreed! But, I paid full price for my new Ultra, and IMO they should have throw in a shirt...instead of a pen... grumble...grumble.

Oh well, hey...I'll almost over it.

so i'm back to square one with the friggin speaker decision...i just want a simple ht in my basement...a place to chill away from whoever....i am tired and weary of trying to decide between monitor audio, swan, axiom etc..thanks guys..i got to unload a bit...

I can definitely relate! but I can tell you that the agony is much reduced when you decide to just go ahead and commit to something and get it installed. then, you can work at understanding its' capabilities and limits and getting it to do what you want. my opinion is that when all is said and done, among all the upper end systems available, where you have your system and how it's set up, has more to do with how it performs than brand.

those of you who are golfers may relate to this story. I was playing with two friends - one very enthusiastic and another who has watched the equipment fads come and go. the enthusiastic one was carrying on about the new ball he was using and how much better he was playing than before. when I asked the other if he thought a ball really made that mmuch difference, he replied that to his knowledge, the ball is not responsible for over 98.5% of the mistakes made on a golf course. I thought that was funny...

Raymond:

I feel your pain.

For the kind of money that you spent on the MA's I would look at what Axiom and Swan offer for the same amount for new speakers. Both have a generous return policy so if they don't work out you can return them. They both are have excellent after the sale service.

thanks parker...i was all set to order swans originally..i did learn that doing too much research is also a bad thing..everyone has different taste...i have snell speakers in my upstairs den and i love them...i have read many bad comments on snell speakers, but it doesn't phase me one bit. the speakers, to me are awesome....i just can't spend that kind of money again on a second set of speakers for a basmt ht.....i will be ordering the swans this week

Ray,
I had my eye on that same pair of s10 on Audiogon. I think they were originally something like $1150(obo). If it wasn't for the color I would have went for them. In the end I needed black to match the rest of my speakers, so I found a custom installer here in CT that gave me 22% off the s10. I know it's more than you're lookign to spend, but the installer does ship and he is listed as an authorized dealer on the Monitor Audio site. I know he would give you the same 22% off.

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with this installer/dealer in any way. I just though I try to help.

Legairre

i found a dealer that will do $1500 shipped...can you pm me with your dealer info, i'd appreciate it...as you can see, i'm once again on the fence between swan and monitor audio..

I've had the magnets sheared off the cones not once but twice by UPS.

hi guys...after many hours of research, i have decided to order the swans...all the positive feedback on these speakers has to account for something...customer service is beyond excellent(mainly meaning jon)...i ordered 5.2 towers in rosewood, c3 center, and two pairs of r3's...the agony and anticipation of buying from audiogon, ebay or an unkown internet dealer is not worth it...an update on the MA speakers that arrived damaged...it seems fedex has reason to believe that the seller shipped the speakers already damaged..since there were no fragments of veneer in the boxes it raised a few eyebrows, including mine...an investigator from fedex called me and i was totally honest with him...so even buying from a seller that has positive feedback can be a risk....i will give an update when swans arrived...thanks guys for all your help