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
  • 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
So I contacted HMV and got the same reply.

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 
  1. The distributor
  2. The retailer
  3. The store
  4. The customer, i.e. built into the price of each album
#4 you say? That's what I believe

Thanks in advance 😩
williewonka
Ultimately, in any commercial venture, the customer absorbs all cost.

Just as stores raise their prices to cover shop-lifting, damage costs, transit costs, maintenance costs, etc., ALL costs are passed on to the consumer.
Refunds are only available when it is unopened with factory seals intact.
That’s true, but in the past a customer with a defective record was sometimes given a refund depending on the store’s policy. Defective product was returned to the distributor for credit.

Since the resurgence of vinyl, record labels will not take back an album for any reason. The burden is on the consumer and the individual vendor. Music Direct would not even exchange a defective Zeppelin LP for me, whereas Amazon has no problem doing so.
I agree that the cost is built into the price of each album. Have you noticed the price of new vinyl continues to rise?
Willie, understand what you are saying, but return policies are usually made for categories, not for specific items. Like jmc says, all costs are included in the final selling price to the consumer.

Music Direct took back a defective (dished) Classic Records Zeppelin album from me. It was an exchange for a new one -this was when they first came out. Don't know what their policy is these days.
@dweller ,
Music Direct told me they considered vinyl records as software. So we went back and forth with emails, but they wouldn’t budge.
Now I have a worn out LZ I from the early 70’s and a defective remastered LZ I.

I'll bet they were getting too many returns with defects.