RadioBanter - View Single Post - When is a re-stocking charge a good idea?

March 8th 04, 11:27 PM

In article ,
says...
I've been a customer of AES for years. Spent THOUSANDS with them,
usually buying at least a couple of different rigs a year.

Just got a call from one of the fellas there. I just returned a little
2/6/70cm HT in which I couldn't see the little keypad very
well....among other technical problems with the HT. Only had it a
couple of days. I requested the substitution of another HT and a 2
meter beam...resulting in them receiving $100 additional.

The gentleman was very polite, but said because there was some type of
wear on the beltclip (and I certainly didn't see any. But there could
have been since I did use the clip.), they couldn't resell the device
as new...so they would have to charge me a 15% re-stocking fee. ($39)

As a ham businessman myself, I KNOW the cost of doing business. But I
know I wouldn't go as far as to possibly alienate a customer in long
standing. In fact, I have several customers in long standing and have
had to "bite the bullet" on a couple of returns from them....just
because I DID NOT want to alienate them from doing further business
with me. I felt the greater need to keep these people as customers.

Even without the large profit margins, the store can and does send the
unit back to the manufacturer in many cases. Plus, if they take a loss
on an item it gets recorded as an expense on their part. Lowers their
overall tax liability.