My local record store said that their distributor refused to take returns. This is the reason that I only buy new vinyl at Amazon or Elusive Disk now. The manual nature of record pressing increases the changes for blemishes, I'll only deal with a company that stands by their merchandise.
Who's absorbing the cost?
The other day I purchased a couple of albums from HMV.
Got them home and discovered that one album (with two discs) was damaged
The damagewas to both discs and looked identical, it was though they had been jammed into a thin slot and had pressure applied to actally bend them.
I returned them to the same HMV store only to be told that I could either
They also said they had no option because the Record companies refuse to take back damaged goods
However, most other stores I deal with do offer refunds on damaged albums.
My point to HMV - even if I exchanged the album they would still be left with an album they could not sell and would have to write off. So they could actually give me a refund and glean a lot of customer goodwill, but instead chose to alienate me.
Sometimes corporations cannot see the wood for the bottom line.
So who does absorb the cost if not the record company
Thanks in advance 😩
Got them home and discovered that one album (with two discs) was damaged
The damagewas to both discs and looked identical, it was though they had been jammed into a thin slot and had pressure applied to actally bend them.
I returned them to the same HMV store only to be told that I could either
- Get a gift certificate
- Get an in store credit
- Exchange for another album of equal or greater value
- BUT Refunding my money was against corporate policy
They also said they had no option because the Record companies refuse to take back damaged goods
However, most other stores I deal with do offer refunds on damaged albums.
My point to HMV - even if I exchanged the album they would still be left with an album they could not sell and would have to write off. So they could actually give me a refund and glean a lot of customer goodwill, but instead chose to alienate me.
Sometimes corporations cannot see the wood for the bottom line.
So who does absorb the cost if not the record company
- The distributor
- The retailer
- The store
- The customer, i.e. built into the price of each album
Thanks in advance 😩
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- 33 posts total
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whart...That's my understanding of how it worked it the golden days of vinyl records. My friend owned a shop and had a bin that contained defective records that were sent back to the distributor. Another friend worked at Tower, and the same policy applied; defective records were shipped back. (1970's thru 80's). Refunds were given if defects were found in the same batch of records the store received; e.g., returning a record that had clicks or pops, exchanging it, and finding the replacement had the same problem. These were the shops that would open an LP for you and play it and/or inspect it. |
These were the shops that would open an LP for you and play it and/or inspect itThat must have been way back, when staff actually possessed the knowledge of what to look for. I think this is one reason companies adopt certain policies and procedures - it eliminates the need train their staff. From the postings above it would seem that some companies - probably the smaller ones - are prepared to refund on damaged products in order to keep their customers, whereas the large companies, like HMV simply adopt a policy that keeps the money in their coffers. Corporate greed rears it’s ugly head yet again :-( Randy-11: disputing the charge is one avenue, but it lacks awareness on HMV’s part. After all, it’s just one of their bean-counters that deals with disputes The primary reason for the OP was to keep the people that actually buy vinyl informed about their policy and practices. And just perhaps, someone from HMV will get to read this thread? We all live in hope:-) Regards... |
- 33 posts total