Hmm that's tricky sorry for the hassle! Oh and let us know what finally happens
edit: I will say Homak doesn't pack things THAT well, at least not the 72" and 54" boxes. The packaging looks good in theory but in practice it's just not holding up. They could save tens of thousands in returned merchandise by investing another $5 or $10 in packing material per unit.
this is the classic problem with things like large tool carts. damage is rampant. I have left things at stores I was interested in buying that were bashed up too much for the price they wanted.
but the manufacturer does not have the incentive to do anything different. once amazon/lowes/homedepot/advancedauto/whomever accepts the item, they are off the hook. it is the people receiving these items, who are paid on how quickly they get things done, who dont care to inspect what arrives, and sign to accept things that are clearly damaged.
amazon doesn't care, because they turn it around, and ship it to you. whomever is transiting the package doesn't check every item either, so amazon just blames them, and they pay up. the problem comes when psychwarfare's situation happens. the customer paid N00$ for it, but now amazon is selling it for 1000$. the money they are going to get from UPS isn't going to cover the new box, so they are thrashing about what to do.
but, in the end, no one pays their employees to be responsible, so no one is. the hope is that they won't get caught as the last entity to touch the item when the music stops. the entity who loses in amazon's case is the shipper. in the B&M stores, it is the store that ends up dealing with it, although I bet it is rare that they actually lose money. they knock ten percent off, and some droid buys it.
but there is no reason for homak to spend 10$ more in packing the item, they never have to deal with the results.
