Editorial: The Customer is Always Right

This axiom holds true no matter what industry it applies to, but especially for the kind which deal with that most important of individuals: the retail consumer. In this instance, a good friend and fellow music writer, Mark Smotroff, relates a tale of an unfortunate exchange he had at a brick and mortar record store recently. It is at once both surprising and not so surprising, given the state of the music industry.

Whether it is a defective item, a shoddily cooked meal at a restaurant or an erroneously shipped online order, we've all been there, and more often than not, we as the customer have our concerns addressed promptly and professionally. The thing that is most revealing about this story is not just the reasoning they give, but the over the top reaction by the record store employee and just how far they went with their rant against the customer, which included:

"How the store has to eat all the returns because the music industry changed its policies..."

"That audiophiles are too picky, and that the scratch and dirt I saw on the (brand new) album were nothing significant..."

"...he began to go off on he stupidity of the extra security procedures stores now add to the albums..."

The full article is well worth a read, especially if you are among those who partake in the joys of physical media retail establishments. Fortunately, I've not had an encounter with a record store employee like this, even when I returned a Deep Purple album which turned out to be a Madonna 12" single with the wrong label stamped on it (which I could still kick my teenage-self for ever doing by the way).

Mark Smotroff is a freelance writer, avid music collector and marketing communications professional for the consumer electronics, pro audio and video games industries. He produces fantastic album reviews and is well worth following on Twitter. 

How the store has to eat all the returns because the music industry changed its policies - See more at: http://audiophilereview.com/analog/customer-service-and-the-music-industry-dont-be-bullied.html#sthash.ZLQnVOcp.dpuf

How the store has to eat all the returns because the music industry changed its policies - See more at: http://audiophilereview.com/analog/customer-service-and-the-music-industry-dont-be-bullied.html#sthash.ZLQnVOcp.dpuf

How the store has to eat all the returns because the music industry changed its policies - See more at: http://audiophilereview.com/analog/customer-service-and-the-music-industry-dont-be-bullied.html#sthash.ZLQnVOcp.dpuf

How the store has to eat all the returns because the music industry changed its policies - See more at: http://audiophilereview.com/analog/customer-service-and-the-music-industry-dont-be-bullied.html#sthash.ZLQnVOcp.dpuf