Did you consider asking the shipper whether you could inspect the inner box (your comment of an "outside box" implies there is an inner box) or, if there was only one box then inspect the item itself, prior to refusing the shipment? I have had drivers from UPS or FedEx allow me to do that rather than incurring the hassle of returning possibly undamaged goods to their distribution center. In each case when I inspected the item (I believe only two times) it was undamaged. In a separate instance, a B&W M803 tweeter was damaged and the dealer sent me a new tweeter.
Shipping damage
How many of you have had to refuse an item, new or used, due to shipping damage or the shipping box being destroyed? Did you dealer make it right and how? Was your product damaged? I had a new amplifier on order from a dealer and had to refuse it yesterday because the outside box was shot to hell and roughed up beyond recognition. Would you "return to sender"?