Where to Buy Audiophile Recordings with a Smile

Thank you for the responses and new supplier suggestions. To those who feel that after 4 months to return a record is unacceptable I understand to a point, but as one who has spent a good part of his 45+ years in the business world, it's always a good idea to give a little in order to profit a lot. The company in question chose not to do so. (Happy to share the company name if you email me directly but it's not any that were mentioned). Additionally it's not like I'm a chronic offender of a return policy.

Not only did they choose not to do work with me they didn't make the effort to really explain their position to someone who had so quickly spent a significant amount of money on vinyl and cds. Maybe the explanation wouldn't have changed anything but it would have shown an attempt on their part to possibly work with me or fully explain their dilemma in taking the record back for a credit or exchange. I'm not a "fly by night" buyer of music but a serious buyer of music with a collection that started in the late 1950's.

When I say sonically a mess it was the pressing on side one of Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits that had issues with hums and occasionally a repeated low frequency sound that I found very annoying. The sides 2 through 4 were fine.

What should have been done is to bump the concern from the customer service contact person to ownership/upper management to determine a solution. If I had been in control of the situation I wouldn't have wanted to lose the long term business of such a buyer.

Thank you again for the suggestions on other retailers and since leaving this supplier I've already spent a couple of hundred dollars on lps and cds.

Some of the responses to my post are very interesting and how anyone chooses to handle their affairs is not something I feel I need to be judgmental about.

I never ever thought of approaching the problem with the defective record in any other way than by politely asking for an exception from this retailer. Under the circumstances the business chose to handle the situation one way and where I would have hoped they would have worked with me they didn't. Therefore I made the choice to remove my future business from them. I guess it's that simple.

I've moved on and ordered from some of the companies suggested by others and for this I appreciate the input. I'm looking forward to the re-issue by Roger Waters "Amused to Death" coming from Soundstage Direct. I've also decided to buy directly from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab and will continue to search through other suppliers.

As an aside received the first 5 albums from Blue Notes 75th Anniversary re-issue with the next 5 arriving any time. They're pretty good but they used the thinnest of vinyl. I guess I would have thought they would have bumped it to 180gm. Oh well still amazing music.