Barnes & Noble return policy for records.

I had an issue returning a record at a local store once. I stopped going there.

 

gee I've never ha issies if I open something right there in front of them and never leave the store

 

So, my recent experience:

I wanted to pick up the Rhino "Start Your Ear Off Right" release of Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack. Not many stores near me were getting it but B&N did.

So I went in and they said they just sold the only one they had in stock but they could order it for me. I said "great!".

So they ordered it online to ship to my house, I paid, and began to leave. I thought $30 was a bit much, so looked at my receipt and...CRAP...this is the Zimmer's 2049 Blade Runner.

I walk back in and they are "sorry, we can't cancel the order. But you can return it when you get it."

Ugh.

So, I get it then realize I can't get refunded for my shipping it back.

Ugh.

And I can't return it to the store as they only give store credit.

Ugh.

What a pain.

I've only (tried) purchasing records twice from B&N and, needless to say, I'm done after this.

 

Around a year ago I got a defective copy of the Black Keys' Brothers. The first track of side 3 had this really ugly... thing on the record. It looked like a tangled piece of string had fallen on the record while it was still malleable, or maybe someone had taken a pencil and scribbled all over this one part of the first song. It was unplayable. They looked at it, made a very surprised face and noise. I asked if I could replace it with a different record (as Brothers wasn't back in stock) and they said yes, so I got El Camino instead. Played fine and sounds great.

Sometime over the summer, I got Are You Experienced and side one had no bass whatsoever. I'm talking And Justice For All levels. It just plain sounded like the bass had been mixed out. They took it back without even looking at it. I can't remember if I got a refund or if I swapped it for another record, but they didn't give me any trouble for it.

 

I'd have been asking to speak to a manager right quick as soon as the clerk said they couldn't cancel the order. That is irrelevant, THEY made the mistake, not you, so they are obligated to fix it.

Assuming you paid with a credit card, if the manager was unable or unwilling to rectify things to your satisfaction (which in this case should be either they cancel the order, or they give you a full refund - not store credit - once the LP shows up and you return it), then I'd have informed him that a chargeback from my credit card company would be forthcoming. You did not receive what you ordered, so if B&N can't seem to figure out how to make you whole again, they should have to deal with the charge being reversed.

From what you described, this is a textbook case of "not my problem".

 

I agree 100%. Alas, it was actually the manager that said they couldn't return items ordered online--even though they are the ones that ordered it and even though they ordered the wrong one. I guess I could have raised a stink, but I honestly didn't think it'd be a big deal to return via mail (I guess we can blame Amazon for making it so easy to return stuff that we forgot most stores aren't nearly as accommodating).

At the end of the day, I probably would have ended up buying this album anyways, so I'm chalking it up to a life lesson...no more buying records at B&N.