Record store owners here is how NOT to treat customers

You mean sorry to hear that the store owner agreed to set aside certain items for him? Sounds like the store owner as trying to do the guy a favor. We want our local store owner to do special favors for us, but they don't get one record in right away, and we go buy from someone else instead of waiting a week for them to get the record in stock. Loyalty is a two-way street. Like so many other of these discussions we've had in the past, this is a tempest in a teapot.

 

I still think the owner overreacted. It was only one record. I don't know what the big deal is.

 

A lot of buried feelings on this thread!

 

Exactly. Being a regular customer is what makes one a valued customer. It's not about the customer who spends the most money.

Actually they do have a strict rule about that. They can lose the privilege to participate in it for doing that. We may frown down at flippers who buy many copies to resell and short change those waiting in line and employees holding copies are no better to those in line.

 

yes and yes.

 

Agreed. Every time a store owner sets aside an RSD item for you, they're screwing over someone who stood in line and played by the rules.

 

If a customer loyally spends mucho bucks at a store each year (in this case $1500, but it could be $500 or whatever), the owner has no right to bitch about one record that should probably sell anyway (assuming he doesn't chase all of his customers away with his attitude).

There's no "preferential treatment", that's just common courtesy and a cost of doing business.

I wish I lived in the same town so I could boycott the store.

 

It's embarrassing enough that they post that trainspotting here. It's a totally different matter that the waveform was printed out and taken to a store.

 

IIRC, he didn't print the waveform - he showed them the picture of it on his cell phone. While it was odd, I can understand what he was trying to do (educate people on the loudness wars).

 

Can anyone provide a link to this thread?

Sounds like interesting reading

 

I think it shouldn't make a difference what you spend... one of my favorite stores in DC - SOM- the owner always gives me a smile even if I spend $1 on a dollar bin record that is worth far more than $1... that's called class.

On the other hand I know stores that I have to worry about how much I'm buying (is it enough? will i get the raised eyebrow?)... I hate that feeling of "Oh I better get another record or...."

 

Last RSD my local store knew I wanted the T Rex release, and offered to hold one for me).
But I stood in line to get my copy.

Darryl

 

As a record store owner, it's always a balancing act. You gotta treat people right but not let shady folks take advantage of you, either. Especially because we pay cash for stuff from customers, we get some real losers. Some jerk didn't like the offer we gave him and stormed out, when he whipped the door open, he broke the closer and cost me 120 bucks. I wish I would of been there to call the police, but he scared the hell outta the kid that was working. I had a guy punch me in the mouth once because he claimed we told him something was 22.99 instead of 29.99 and I wouldn't give him the cash back. When you sell used media, you can't give cash back. Ever. For any reason. You can't open up a new CD or DVD at Best Buy and return it, so why the hell should I? I can't tell you the lengths some people have gone to try to skirt the policy or light up an hourly employee to get there way. One guy told me he was a lawyer and because his son was under 18, he could not be bound by the implied contract created by the return policy on the receipt. I asked him how much he had to pay someone to pass the bar for him and hung up. Crap like this happens on a weekly basis. Dishonest D-bags like this will send complaints to the "corporate" contact us page on my website and complain specifically about me, not knowing I'm the owner, either trying to get there way still, or just being punitive to the employee.

I can't tell you how many time customers have threatened me with legal action because they did not get their way in a transaction that is usually never over 100 bucks. Don't people understand the second you bring up legal action against another party (or curse at me or one of my employees), the only reasonable response is to end the conversation and tell them if they ever return the police will be called and you'll file a trespassing complaint. Threatening legal action or otherwise blowing up in a retail store is just childish and a foolish attempt to get the business to bend over to avoid the embarrassment.

But I digress, in the OP case, the owner was really foolish to make such a fuss. Customers want what they want now and for the cheapest price possible, and also a reasonable expectation of the seller taking care of them if there is a problem. As an independent retailer, I have to fit in somewhere between the Internet and Best Buy to survive. I think it's great that today is "Small Business Saturday", but the simple fact I'm independent does not make me special. I have to play with the big boys if I want to continue to exist, and that's why independents are a dying bread. Thanks for letting me vent, guys!

 

Yeah, I know...the guy sounds...unfortunate. And his behaviour was awful. And I have some amount of sympathy but if I ask my guys to hold something, I don't buy it somewhere else. That's a done deal.

They're friends and associates that I have done business with for several years, not someone there to please me at my convenience in lieu of finding a record a few days sooner. This isn't a transient relationship for me.

 

Are there rules? is there some agreed-upon contract? I've taken part in Record Store Day, and I don't remember any such thing. This is not a loaded question.

If a shop owner wants to put an item behind the counter for a regular employee and a guaranteed sale, I say more power to the shop owner.

One unstated possibility that should be considered:

Record Store Owner plans to stock one item each of RSD releases A, B, and C. The Loyal Customer requests that Record Store Owner hold him one copy each of A, B, and C. Record Store Owner says no problem, and then increases his order to two copies of RSD Releases A, B, and C. One goes behind the counter, the other goes to you after you waited in line for them. If Loyal Customer hadn't requested the hold, then one of you would have lost out.

Incidentally, I was recently at Rasputin's and Ameoba in Berkeley. Wow have times changed - those places used to be packed. I thought I saw a tumbleweed blow by. Scared me more than a little. I hear Telegraph street in Berkeley is going down the tubes, so maybe it wasn't the store, but the neighborhood.

 

Yes there are rules. Stores have lost their RSD privileges for breaking them.

 

Without naming the street off Moreland, I'm thinking of a particular record store owner who is reading about himself in this thead. As a customer, it only took one visit and I've never been back.

 

Ok. Thanks for that. Can you tell me more about them?

 

That wasn't much fun to read. Calling customers "D-bags" and such, even if they are less than ideal, isn't an attitude that makes me want to shop your store, wherever it is. Hope you feel better from venting.

 

I thought they did too....but before responding, I checked www.recordstoreday.com and found this:

I just think it's a "fair play" thing agreed upon by the folks in the industry.

 

RECORD STORE DAY DISCLAIMER:
There are a lot of stores that participate in Record Store Day and are listed on this site. Those stores are all INDEPENDENT, which means not only are they not owned by a corporation

Really? That will come as a surprise to the 50 offices of the Secretary of State who require that businesses register with them. They may be independent shops, but most of them have incorporated to conduct business. Rather sloppy writing by the Record Store Day folks.

 

No. There are things such as this that make them lose the privilege to receive RSD items. Stores have lost the privilege and this had been discussed before. I don't know why I'm the only one who remembers.

 

Stores have lost privileges for breaking street dates and withholding items to sell online. I don't think they have for holding items for particular people. Doesn't mean it's not incredibly unfair.

 

Back in my day (1975), stores took back opened LPs with no questions asked. And that's how we liked it.

 

You would never be able to shop here in Boston. Some of the rudest owners and store clerks in the world. I was shocked when I moved here from the midwest.