I want to return my One Steps for a refund but my retailer is ignoring me!

I have been undecided about writing a post about this but I am getting nowhere with my retailer. So a bit of background to this:

I have purchased many One Steps from a pretty well known independent retailer in the UK. Some of you may know who I am talking about (they are not located in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland!) In general I paid £175 for each of these that I wish to return, first two Eagles, BS&T, Paul Simon Still Crazy, and Tapestry. I have some others that I probably purchased from them as well. The retailer may well also be a member or a least visits this forum. I was happy enough spending my money on these because I assumed they were all analogue and I thought £175 per One Step,although a lot of money, was worth it to me for an all analogue product. If I had known these were digital I wouldn’t have bought them at any price - it’s not as if I hate digitally sourced LPs I just try to avoid them and would not pay £175 for them!

When I first approached this retailer they said they couldn’t find any info about MOFI taking back the records listed in the case in the US. When I then sent them the info I had (from this forum) I suggested they should refund my money and apply for a refund from MOFI themselves. Their answer to this that if I wasn’t happy I should sell them on eBay for a ‘nice profit’. As we all know it will impossible to get my money back now by selling and I will end up losing considerable money on many of them. All my subsequent emails to this retailer asking for a refund for the five One Steps have been met with a deafening silence.

So what should I do? Should I just accept this, after all the retailer did not directly deceive me? I cannot return these to MOFI as things stand and if I sell them on eBay I will suffer a big loss. Should I keep them, knowing forever that I have been conned out of a lot of money for a falsely advertised product? Does anyone have any suggestions? There may be others on this forum who feel the same as I do.

 

Are these One Steps going for less money on the secondary market ?

Can you return directly to MoFi?

 

Yes and no apparently!

 

I need to add that they are no longer sealed.

 

These titles used seem to be going for between 50% and 75% of the new price, on discogs.

 

You may as well keep them and let them be a reminder of the old saying : Buyer beware.

 

IMO, yes.

Just play them and enjoy them, or sell them and accept whatever loss you may incur. It’s a little late in this regrettable MoFi saga to be looking to made whole by the retailer.

 

did you pay via credit card? can you ask your bank to step in if they were missold?

 

This can't be a serious post.

Your beef isn't with your retailer, it is with MoFi.

Your retailer is the 'middle man'. They sold them without any promises as to being analog in origin. Nor were they trying to scam you.

Contact MoFi. If they don't refund your $, sue them. That seems your only recourse.

 

I've learnt as well to avoid independent shops, family owned businesses and in general small businesses that might be not around anymore before warranty for something expires.


I can understand the shop though. Maybe they imported something for you and they didn't make the claim that it's all analogue.

I wouldn't want to bother with that as well.

 

Deadly serious actually

 

Sorry, but it's like you're saying, "I bought several expensive colognes from a retailer, and despite all the advertisements showing the guy attracting many beautiful women, none have been attracted to me. Can I return the cologne?".

"I need to add, I used almost half of each cologne."

Not the best analogy, I know. But I just bought a new fragrance yesterday, so it is on my mind.

 

As you say, not the best analogy by any means. I hope the cologne you bought attracts many beautiful women to you.

 

He wanted a all analogue vinyl. Imagine you buy a SACD that claims to be a DSD256 recording from the original tape and it turns out it's a pcm master sourced from the Redbook CD.

But he should try to get his money back from Mofi directly.

 

Oh, I get it.

And in my earlier post, I brought up, that his dissatisfaction should be taken up with MoFi, not the retailer.

This is a pretty silly thread, so I am done with it.

 

Possibly there is a different consumer culture in the UK whereby the point of sale is where this gets taken care of? (I don't actually know).

 

MoFi returns policy:

Returns

 

Won't help in this case even if he did since bought them so long ago. Even if he bought them recently, his CC or Bank would likely not reverse the charge in a case like this.

No big retailer would take these back anyway considering when he bought them. Amazon can have a generous return policy but not for something you bought in 2021 (for example). Actually, in a lot of cases, big retailers will direct you to the manufacturer in the event of a warranty claim, Amazon being one.

 

I don't think you have many options. Maybe your best bet is the US class action suit covers those outside the US and those that did not purchase from them directly.

Maybe you could try emailing Mofi and hoping they will accept a return. It's long shot and I doubt they'd do anything until the court case is done anyway.

Even if they did, they'd likely want you to send it back to them so you'd have to cover postage.

If you really don't want to own these, your best bet is to either wait for the court case to be settled and hope you can make a claim or just sell them on yourself. Recoup what you can and move on.

IIRC, assuming you could claim under the US class action, the current offer is full refund if you return, or partial refund if you keep. So either way you will be out of pocket in some way. But if you wait it out, maybe you can get a partial refund, plus sell and recoup almost all of your costs.

 

You know what they say about assuming...

Take the loss. There's no way the retailer could possibly be held responsible for this. You could contact MoFi, but I don't think they have any legal liability if they never claimed that the records were all-analogue.

Forgive me for not reviewing the whole 10,000-page thread on the subject, but did MoFi ever advertise these as "all-analogue"?

 

Good luck. Your beef is with Mo-Fi, not the retailer. If I was the retailer I wouldn't give you a refund either. Sealed is another story but you opened them.

 

You paid for these albums, you received these albums.

The retailer owes you nothing.

 

Does the retailer listing of these specific LPs say ‘all analog’?

 

Technically speaking, every record is "all analog". There is no other option.

 

do you love this music and these artists?

does music move you emotionally?

do these records sound any good without thinking about how the sausage was made?

if the answers are yes, yes, and yes, you could play the records until they're completely worn out, loving every minute of it, and get your money's worth that way.