Mr. Vella, you are right on this point, however this is a standard portion of our terms of sale, which is copied verbatim from our website:
RETURNS AND REFUNDS: NetworkRetailing LLC (not the seller) will refund your purchase price excluding shipping costs, provided both the seller and NetworkRetailing LLC are notified by email within three days (72 hours) of delivery or within ten days (240 hours) of payment confirmation, whichever is sooner, that the item will be returned, and provided further that the items are in fact returned (i.e. delivered, not shipped) to the seller or his agent at the seller’s option (not to NetworkRetailing LLC) within ten days of delivery to you or your agent, subject to the following additional conditions:
3. ALL USED ITEMS OTHER THAN FIREARMS: Any or all used items other than firearms may be returned for any reason or no reason to the relevant seller(s) provided that they are complete and in the same condition as shipped.
and regarding shipping damage
"Goods lost or damaged in transit to the buyer or his agent are the responsibility of the seller and vice versa. In the event of loss or damage en route to the buyer, the seller will at his option either replace the item or NetworkRetailing LLC will refund the full purchase price including outbound shipping to the buyer."
So basically you had the option to return the item for a refund; and if it transpired that the item was in fact damaged going out, you would have gotten your shipping costs back as well. But since you stated:
"I would return the case immediately, but for the fact that I have just paid an additional $97.21 to UPS for Customs Brokerage Fees and GST which I cannot now recover." and since you did not in fact return the item within the prescribed period, you gave up your right to compensation.
I assumed from your statement above that you understood you did have the right to return for a refund, and the point was moot.
If you had in fact returned it, and if it transpired that the case had been damaged in transit, I would have done two things:
1. Refunded your purchase price and your shipping cost both ways per policy. I don't have a policy with regard to customs duties, since we sell almost nothing outside the US due to the nature of the goods we are selling, however, I probably would have made that good as well because I would have been extremely embarrassed to find that you were right and I was wrong.
2. Submitted a claim to UPS for the damage that they inflicted on the case, since the case was fully insured for both legs.
I paid insurance on this case. If it were damaged en route, it's no skin off my nose to recover the cost from UPS and to make good with the customer. UPS insurance covers return shipping and any shipping incurred to repair the case. I have won every insurance claim I have ever made on UPS.But in order to win a claim, I have to have substantiation of damage. Pictures and usually UPS visits the customer's premises to inspect the item before it's returned.
To clarify re the above policies, in the case of this item, NR LLC was the seller.
The bottom line for buyers of goods on our websites is that the WORST CASE SCENARIO is that you are out the shipping on an item that you purchase from us. This protects us from "buyer remorse". If the item is damaged en route, you are OUT NOTHING. You either get an identical item (if it is replaceable) or you get ALL YOUR MONEY BACK.
However, if you keep the item, all bets are off. What could be more simple (or fair) than this?
The problem here is that I believed (and still believe) that the case arrived in the condition it left here, and was as described, complete with a bare spot in the felt in one compartment, but not ripped up and (as you now state 3 months later) bashed about. Yes, there were no keys but the case was not described as having keys, and in any case you were able to obtain keys for free from Americase. Regarding the combination lock, it was set to 0000 and it worked on 0000 as written on the case in marker pen. So all I knew was that it worked. Since this problem was brought up after things had already gotten heated, I dismissed it as operator error or worse.
I'll make a third and last attempt to straighten this out. Send the case back to me, and I will apply our policies retroactively. In other words, I will refund what you paid for it, your shipping, and your return shipping costs to me. In addition, in this case I will pay your customs duties and I will compensate you for the $50 you spent fixing it up. I won't be able to claim anything from UPS since there is no evidence of damage, and the claim period is up. So this comes out of my pocket.
The only condition is that you accept this offer on this BBS.
