Policy changes at The Music Room TMR Audio

I wasn't posting this as an overall referendum on whether TMR was worth doing business with. Posters addressed that question but it was not one I had in mind. I like TMR. I think they're a good company. 

@lalitk I believe it applies to all equipment, including used. So, imagine you're trying out a $5000 DAC and you don't like it. You're going to spend not only on shipping but also $250 for the month trial. That's what has me hesitating.

@gregdude et al.

If you’re balking at a 5% restocking fee perhaps you should reevaluate your purchasing process.

What I said in my post was this:

Their rationale for this makes sense and seems reasonable. It would be nice if there could be exceptions to the restocking fee, such as cables and other products which don’t need extensive checking for quality control.

So, we agree. I was wondering about exceptions, not the overall policy.

The point made about credit card transaction fees and their restocking fee being pretty low compared to other vendors (mostly) were good ones. I’m thinking about that as more or less defusing my initial concern. Maybe spending a few hundred to try out a couple good used cables is worth it after all.

N.B. Here are some other policies I found out there. None make TMR seem unreasonable, but they do vary a bit. All policies below apply to used, closeout, and refurbished gear as well as to new gear.

• Echo hifi is 3% after 3 days (to cover credit card transaction) and then 20% for any return after that (up to 30 days).
• Paragon Audio has a 15% restocking fee.
• Upscale Audio has no restock fees up to 60 days and (as far as I can tell) no credit card transaction fee.
• Crutchfield, Audio Advice, Audio Classics, and Music Direct can opt to charge restocking but does not have it as an across the board policy.
• Hawthorne stereo does not mention restocking on used gear.

Thanks for the feedback. People are divided, with a majority (so far) thinking it’s reasonable as a policy. Of course, this is not a scientific sample and TMR needs to do this for the reasons they stated.

As I said, I’m mostly interested in possible exceptions.

Let’s say you want to try these $19k cables. You wind up not liking them after hooking them up once and trying them for a couple weeks. This policy would have you pay $960 to do that. I guess anyone buying cables this expensive has a lot of money laying around.

Would it be fair to assume they’re ok with spending nearly $1k to try these cables for up to a month? My instinct is they would not be ok with that, but others here are saying that the 5% policy is reasonable, so I guess I may be wrong about that!

Just to see how the fee shakes out across different gear, I tried out a few products. In some cases, the fee seems reasonable to me. In other cases, it would probably prevent me from auditioning. I know others here are totally fine with the 5% fee. So, this is just to get a sense of how a 5% fee might play out with different gear. For me. YMMV.

Ansuz Acoustics Signalz D2 RCA Cables; 2m Pair Interconnects $9,226.52
Restocking fee: $461

Audience FrontRow Power Cable; 1.25m AC Cord $3,399.00
Restocking: $170

MSB Technology Select II DAC; Black; PowerBase -- $57,058.45
Restocking fee: $2852

Nagra HD DAC X D/A Converter $38,038.65
Restocking fee: $1901

Chord Electronics DAVE Reference DAC / Headphone Amplifier $14,000.00
Restocking fee: $700

Dan D’Agostino Momentum M400 Mono Power Amplifier; Pair $31,381.72
Restocking fee: $1569

Pass Labs XA160 Mono Power Amplifiers; Silver Pair; XA-160 $9,226.52
Restocking fee: $461

Wilson-Benesch Resolution Floorstanding Speakers $35,896.43
Restocking fee: $1794

Fleetwood Sound DeVille SQ Bookshelf Speakers $14,849.01
Restocking fee: $742

WOW. This thread has degenerated. Buy whatever you want, from wherever you want.

If 5% restock fee is beyond your means, perhaps you should fish in a smaller pond, or choose another vendor. Amazon gives returns up to like 60 or 90 days, lol.

Who cares?

You folks are not "influencers". Stop it already. Nobody gives a shit what you think, nobody cares what I think......enough already. Support a US business when you can, don’t when you cannot. I don’t care anymore. Audiophiles suck.

Obviously you care. You posted. You took your time to rag on this thread.

"Enough already"? LOG OFF. CLICK AWAY. BEGONE.

Perhaps you don’t understand what a ’discussion forum’ is. I suggest you do so research and try to not be mean to people. This is a hobby, and the forum discussion is for fun.

Don't make your anger our problem.