The customer is alway right ... no, not true.

As part of my small BadCatRecords website I sell about a dozen albums a week.  I'm not doing this to get rich, rather to simply get rid of tons of albums that I just don't need.  Anyhow, when someone buys an album from me it is guaranteed.  In virtually every case, if there's a problem, I'll take it back and cover the shipping costs.  The point I'm trying to make is that I'm not out to screw anyone over.

Judging by the number of repeat customers I have (including scores of foreign customers) and the positive feedback I get on Amazon, Discogs, GEMM, and MusiscStack, most folk seem to appreciate my efforts.

Of course you can't please everyone.  Here's my new favorite customer (name deleted).

CUSTOMER: You have the distinction of sending me the most worthless record in my last 1,500 pieces. It is on its way back. I wonder who you are going to try to pawn this off on next? Bad crap!

RESPONSE: Little bit of explanation would be appreciated - poor condition; bad music; hated the cover. Send it back I'll issue the refund to your PayPal account.

CUSTOMER: Since it was your record I thought you were aware of the poor condition of the record. Yes, poor as in, the grade it deserves. The sleeve has wear well beyond VG+ records. I used to think you were honorable people. You shot that all to hell. You wasted my fucking time goddamnit!

RESPONSE:  Send it back and well refund the cost and the shipping costs

CUSTOMER: It is on its way back to you.

RESPONSE: Since the lp is guaranteed there obviously isn't any benefit to trying to rip you off

CUSTOMER:  Yes there is since I could have shelved it without looking at it and you would have gotten over.

RESPONSE:  Guess that's possible, but hardly a business model that anyone in their right mind would pursue - As far as I know I've never had anyone buy an album and then shelve it.  Kind of like buying a painting and not hanging it.

CUSTOMER: ive done it many times. i guess im stupid to you.

So at this point there just isn't much left to say ...  Not sure I'd call anyone stupid.  Foul mouthed and rude comes to mind.  'Course it takes all kinds.  

Postscript
So the customer returned the LP and out of curiosity I slapped it on my turntable to see if I'd screwed up and actually sold the guy a mis-graded LP.  All I can say is that on my Rega it sounds fine.   Whatever ...

Cub Scouts and Reston Interfaith

Our youngest son is a cub scout and this weekend he participated in the scout's annual 'food-for-charity' collection drive.  Not to be critical, but on Saturday the scouts left bags on people's doors saying they would be back Sunday to collect donations - one day isn't a great deal of notice for anyone ...   Overlooking that, I was surprised at how generous people were.  I'd guess that at least 10% of households in our designated neighborhood contributed.  You're hard pressed to get 10% participation in anything ...

Sunday was a beautiful Indian Summer day with the sun out and temperatures in the '70s.  As expected, the scouts turned the donation drive into a competition, racing to see who could collect the most bags of food.  It was fascinating to see how competitive some of them were.  'Course the real highlight was checking out the dead deer at the entrance to the community.  As one of the moms put it - 'I guess they might as well know about the circle of life.'  My kid was a little more realistic about it when he informed me that a blue car had nailed the deer.  Apparently part of the car bumper was embedded in the carcus ...  Yech.

So if that wasn't inspiring, the next part should be.  After the donations were collected, we hauled them to our locale charity food pantry - Reston Interfaith.  I've occasionally donated money to this outfit, but had never actually visitied them - so much for being actively involved in my community.  The staff gave us a quick tour of their facility, even showing us the food pantry which was surprisingly small - maybe the size of a master bedroom.  We were told that all of the food the scouts had collected (probably a total of 500 bags), would only last three days.  

On a shoestring budget, Reston Interfaith regularly support 300+ families offering food, clothing, cooking lessons, child care, job skills, interview support, etc. Those 300+ families include over 100 elderly who are largely dependent on Reston Interfaith for survival.   These folks are amazing !!!  I was massively impressed. 

BadCat Album Art and reviews of 45s

I've long been fascinated by album art and have accumulated a lengthy list of favorite album covers.  Some are good and some are horrible.  I'm finally getting aroung to posting some of them.  They're all worth checking out.

While BadCatRecords focuses on selling vinyl LPs, I've got thousands of singles and will occasionally post a review of a favorite 45, or some obscurity.