Another Needless Tragedy... Revisited

[WPM]

Hello Everyone,

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Ive been out of pocket for a while, working on numerous projects and what not, and you know the old cliché when it rains it pours Anyway, Ive read through some of the previous threads, trying to get back up to speed, and one thread in particular caught my attention; it is titled: Another Needless Tragedy. The reason it caught my attention is because it has to do with me, and the recent sale of my Cornwall IIIs.

Many of you may have wondered, and some of you may have already surmised, that the pair of damaged Cornwall IIIs you see for sale on Audiogon, and now on Ebay, are the very ones I used to own.

Oldtimer, you hit the nail on the head what a tragic ordeal it turned out to be. I sold the speakers to a gentleman in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />North Carolina, and they were damaged in transit. If anything, let this be a lesson to anyone contemplating the shipment of their Heritage speakers original boxes or not, simply DO NOT SHIP! I believe a few forum members have already expressed the same sentiments. However, if you really must ship, ship them via a reputable freight company, such as BAX Global, where they can be properly palletized and transported safely. I would have used BAX, however, they do not pick up in residential areas. Unfortunately, I used DHL, as they do pick up in residential ares and, well, you can see that it turned out to be a mistake.

All seemed well on the day of pick-up: the carrier arrived, filled out the paperwork, and took every precaution while loading them safely into the truck and secured them. I never gave it another thought. That was until the gentleman at the receiving end e-mailed and informed me that the speakers had been damaged. It was the e-mail that anyone who buys, sells, and ships audio equipment (or anything else, for that matter), never wants to receive. Lesson number two, insure packages for the full purchase amount. I did, thank goodness, and DHL is now processing the claim.

Ironicallyand this has absolutely nothing to do with the gentleman from North Carolina who purchased the speakersTravis expressed a sincere interest in purchasing the speaker's and lives just a little more than an hours drive north of me, and could have had them driven safely to his home. Sorry Travis. You and I had talked, but I was already in the process of selling them at that time. Lesson number three, make a local sale, if at all possible. Thats pretty much it in a nutshell. I thought youd like to hear it straight from me as it happened.

Whats next after the Cornwall IIIs, you ask? Im not entirely sure. I sold my Quicksilver Horn Monos and Line-Preamp to Texas42 (sorry, Chuck, you're on your own now), so I am in-between systems, at the moment. Theres a big move coming up for us later in the year, and I am not counting out the possibility of a pair of Khorns. On the other hand, I just may return to my roots with a big pair of Magnepans and Classe electronics. In all honesty, I have never been able to shake their sound from my mind, having been a Maggie owner for over 20-years. For now its all tentative and subject to change, but I will keep you posted.

William

[sunburnwilly]

As far as shipping goes , your right , anything can happen .

If you think about it though almost all speakers from Klipsch are shipped . If you make it a point to know who you are dealing with and they understand what they are shipping things can work out well . Now admittidly , I was a nervous Nelly and a PITA to the company ; Roadway , that frieghted my first pair of Belles . But they made the more than 2,900 mile journey from Tacoma to Charleston without a scratch !

5 days , minimal packaging , a little less than $500 . "I could have saved $90 but I chose to have a liftgate truck pick them up from the seller , who advertised local pickup only ."

It can be done .

[Travis In Austin]

William,

I hope nothing I said anywhere on here suggested that I was upset with YOU concerning your sale. As I wrote you privately, when I heard you had an offer prior to me contacting you I was happy that you had a quick sale, but bummed because the day or two that I had not really checked the forums I missed your generous offer to sell them here first. You had made a deal with that gentleman prior to me contacting you and there was no way I would expect, let alone ask, that you try and wiggle out of it. I asked you to consider me No. 2 if it did not go as planned, which you did, and you kept in touch to advise me how it was proceeding.

I was sick only because they were so close, yet so far away. I started to consider them again, but they are just too far. That seller is jinxed, he has an eternal black cloud over his head. First, he says they will not work for him. Who has a pair of speakers shipped out without knowing whether they are going to work or not? He lists them on Audiogon for what he paid plus the shipping, but was willing to take $2,400. He turned down $2,000 from me. I ask them if a claim is being made and he says yes but he does not expect much as all and it is going to be a long time. I tell him I am willing to make him whole, wait and see what he gets paid for damage, and what I am offering might even put him ahead. The next day, boom, he puts them on ebay awith a $2,000 min, what I offered, and a a 2,600 or 2,700 buy it now, and someone does the buy it now, but they have a negative 2 feedback as a fraudulent buyer. He relists them with a min. bid of $2,600 and a buy it now for the same price of 2,600. So he is not going to get any bids at all, someone is either going to buy them or not.

Are you even going to be able to present a claim if he sells them? What if he gets $2,600? I would think the shipping company, on these kinds of claims, has the option of paying you, or the buyer, the full amount of the claimed value, they cut you a check, they pick up the speakers and sell them for "salvage." They could also give you the option of keeping the "salvage" but that is where a bunch of negoiation comes in, they claim they are worth a bunch, and you claim they are nearly worthless, and you try and reach a compromise. Most also have the option of trying to have it repaired, and they would need the speakers for that as well.

It sounds like the buyer does not even care about the damage, at least if he can get $2,600. I bet he takes a different positon if he can't sell them.

You tried everything you could do to get them to someone on this forum, and for a local pickup. I am just sorry I missed the opportunity, but I am even more sorry about your aggravation in connection with the damage. I hope there is a quick and easy resolution to that.

IF ANYONE EVER NEEDS A SHIPPER FOR SPEAKERS let me know. I will get you name of a moving company that I have at the office. There are nationwide, with terminals all over the U.S., and they specialize in moving antique furniture from door to door. They are double to triple the cost of a shipper. My media crendenza cost about $700 to ship from LA to Austin, but they unloaded it, unpacked it, and carried it up to the second floor. They move items costing tens of thousands of dollars, all day, every day, all over the United States. They are approved by piano manufacturers, pool table manufacturers, etc to deliever their custom products to customer's homes. So if you are trying to get something to yourself in good shape they are the way to go, and if the buyer insists on shipment, insist on them as the only people you will use to ship and they cost __________. These people know how to move stuff that is valuable, a pair of our irreplaceable Herritage speakers would be the lowest cost items on the truck, but they all get the same care and precautions. Insurance for a mover is different then a shipping company. A mover takes full responsibility for the item, they are liable for anything that occurs to it whether it is their fault or not, until you sign for it. You don't sign for it until they unwrap it. A shipper's liability is governed by Federal Regulations under the ICC, and there liability is limited. Like I say, it will cost, but it is well worth it.

Travis

[WPM]

William,

I hope nothing I said anywhere on here suggested that I was upset with YOU concerning your sale...

Hi Travis,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Absolutely not. In fact, you are the consummate gentleman. More than once I thought about wiggling out of the deal and selling the speakers to you, if only because I loathed the idea of shipping them so far, and for fear of what inevitably happened. I wish I would have known about your shipping company ahead of time, as all of this could have been prevented. But then there's the cost, and whether the other individual is willing to pay the price. I should have sought the advice of the forum members regarding this very issue, but there you go.

As for the claim process, you are correct. If the speakers are not available, the claim is void. I have done what I can do. The claim has been initiated, the rest now lies with the other individual.

I've been reading about your continuing quest to find another pair of speakers and, hopefully, you will reap the benefits of that quest very soon. Talk to you later.

William