I've been buying off Richer Sounds since my first hifi. It was a different kind of shop then, jam-packed with piles of boxes; last-year-models, bankrupt stock, etc, it was a treasure house of bargains, and, until recently, they maintained a policy of
only hifi separates.
They must have returns, for one reason or another, because they offer them, refurbished if necessary, at further-reduced prices! My experience of the company makes me think that if there
is a problem, they would sort it out without hesitation. Generally, being a retail customer in UK is a far better experience than being one in India, but I'd go with Richer rather than some other British chain stores, any day.
They even have a decent "extended warranty" (a scam in most shops) scheme, with a good buy-back system for upgrade day! What's more, they won't try to force it on you when you buy. Every sale comes with a card inviting your comments on the shop, the service, and the experience, even if it just a cable.
I'm beginning to sound like a shareholder, and I can only say, "I wish"! I
am a satisfied customer.
Of course... none of this is any help at all when you are 5,000 miles away from the shop! Most recently, I bought my Logitech Duet Squeezebox from them, in June of this year. I'm glad to say that it did work, out of the box, when unpacked in Chennai
. Got the VAT refund too. Although the private company that does the refunds takes a hefty commission, it is still worth having.
Unless otherwise stated in the shop, or on the site, they sell brand-new, unopened, factory-packed stock. The only logical reason for them getting any higher returns than any other retailer is that that, as another poster said, they sell more! Actually, they do not necessarily have record sales in absolute volumes, but they sell more per square foot of shop space than any other British hifi retailer. Part of their business plan has been
not to go for big, high-rent shops in fancy malls, but to set up in some small building a couple of streets away. It works for them! You'll find some of their shops, like London City, jam-packed in the lunch hours.
. So I'm back to square one. Waiting for Ashish's report on the Caiman 
