My 2 cents for what it's worth.

If I was returning something for whatever reason and they (BSW) gave authorization, I'd expect some kind of coorespondence via phone if the agreement was altered. But I'd also allow time for them to contact you especially durring holiday seasons. Also BSW should restate their expectations prior to giving return authorization imo.

Now if you knew that the contents weren't going to be returned in the original packaging you should have given a heads up to BSW and see if they change their minds on the return auth. I would have anyways but maybe you didn't know you didn't have the original packaging at the time.

Now I too see the issue of them telling you of the damage done durring the shipping process resulting in a loss of money back to you. I don't think that BSW is the one to make the call that the damage was due to incorrect packaging methods. I think the shipping company is the one who should say that if they are the ones to be paying for it. BSW should help you with providing you with the proof of damage in order for you to make that claim just as they would have a customer help them out in a reverse situation.

On a side note, I'm not sure how the speakers would be damaged durring shipping and not be the shippers fault since they were packaged back up in a box made for a speaker of the same size! I'm pretty sure that Pionner packs their products as good as the next guy.