Help! Spakers damaged during shipping?Paid insurance (with proof)being told not Insured?


LONGGGG story, here is short verison. (this has bene going on for the last 7-8 months!!!

I sold a pair of B&W speakers on audiogon.com as well as purchasing insurance and shipping label through audigon.com
When speakers arrive to buyer he notifies me immedietly with pictures that they are broken and boxes are all busted up like they had been dropped from a formitable height and landed on their head.
I file claim with audiogon (whom i purchased the insurance through). Claim is denied due to package "not being Insured'. How can it not be insured if I paid for the insurance at checkout when I purchased Shipping label

To clarify, the claim is not getting denied for handling the situation wrong ( i.e.-  throwing away the damaged item or something) nit actually is NOT EVEN GETTING THAt far. MY receipt says that I paid for insurance and show the amount I paid but' on their end' they are showing something different (that this was not insured).

How to Resolve? Next step of Action?
 





a_mulder
If I read this thread correctly, it looks like Audiogon took an order and accepted payment for the shipping insurance and then failed to actually place coverage with their carrier. 

As a commercial insurance broker for over 40 years (and have actually served as an expert witness in litigation a couple of times), this would be considered an "error or omission" on Audiogon's part -- they accepted money and then failed to provide the provide the product or service.  This assumes all of the facts presented are in line with what actually happened. 

This makes them responsible for the loss whether they carry an E&O policy or not.  The sad reality is that for situations like this, the cost of lawyers would likely dwarf the cost of the damaged product.  It is one of those case where you'd really like to see Audiogon step up and do the right thing, but at this point that doesn't seem very promising.

I would like to take this opportunity to make a plea to speaker owners. PLEASE KEEP THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING CARTONS! Yes, I'm yelling. I have wanted to purchase various speakers over the last couple years only to read in the ad, "Local pick-up only due to not having the original shipping cartons" These are on the East Coast or West Coast or Florida and of course I'm in the upper Midwest! I missed some great deals because of this. I always, always, always keep the original packaging for items I buy. I know they can be a pain to store but it's the best way to insure their safe arrival if you ever have to send them out. I had a guy tell me that it would be up to me to pay for packaging if I wanted them shipped. Well, I didn't throw away the original cartons! I always double box items and take them directly to Fedex. I have never had an issue shipping an item.
While several have pointed out the desirability of keeping the original shipping boxes for the product, that doesn't appear to be the basis of the denied claim in this particular case. It looks like Audiogon accepted responsibility for obtaining cargo insurance and then failed to bind coverage with their insurance carrier.
I will let you all know how this gets handled by higher ups at audjogon. I hope they make this right but don't have much faith at this point. Wish me luck.
I am very sorry you have to go through this.  This is why I will not ship speakers or any heavy items.  Period.  If there is an out-of-town buyer, I will work with them on defraying the travel costs to some extent.  I would rather take less for my item and have finality after it is sold.