Let me state right up front that I have, in no way, shape or form spoken to anyone at Axiom about this topic, and have no idea what their reaction would have been to this topic or what it will be when this is posted. This is simply an observation on my part. Further, I'm not pointing fingers at any forum members here; I have no idea who has done this in the past and who hasn't. Either way, I could just be talking out of my hat… or worse. Capn Pickard, does this suffice for the layman?
Frequently in these forums, members casually recommend to potential Axiom clients to just have Axiom ship them a bunch of speakers as they can return what they decide they don't want. Or, they're told to order a set of speakers to try for their 30 days, allowing that they can be sent back to Axiom at N/C if the customer decides to go with a "bigger" model. As a businessman, I cringe every time I read this.
I'm not the "Axiom Police", but it seems that those suggestions are sometimes made too nonchalantly. We know that "returned" speakers are sold at substantial discounts to family members of employees, and those discounts (plus the initial shipping costs from Axiom to the customer and sometimes again back to Axiom) require a substantial loss to Axiom. I have absolutely no idea of the financial integrity of Axiom (and it's none of my business) yet I can't help but cringe when someone here makes a casual suggestion that will (needlessly) cost Axiom hundreds of dollars. Maybe it's part of their business model, with the thought that if they can just get them in people's homes, 95% of people will love them.
We all know that the in-home trial is important to Axiom. I for one, felt that Axioms were likely "too good to be true" for their selling price, and the 30-day return allowed me to feel confident in ordering them. Further, some people honestly are not sure of the best model for them and might make a wrong decision and wish to change to another model. So I'm not suggesting that the recommendation to do this should not be made at times…. Only that it's sometimes made too casually.
I first became aware of this when someone wrote (essentially) "just order the 60's even if you really think you want the 80s. It won't cost you anything to upgrade to the 80's down the road." I think that's simply unfair to Axiom.
We all know that we truly are not shills for Axiom. Despite their hosting this forum, we've never ever been made to feel that we can't speak our mind on any topic, even including recommending a competitive product sometimes. But I think that, without shilling for Axiom or being a bunch of brownnoses that we should at least be aware that casual recommendations such as the above will cost Axiom many dollars needlessly.
[Soap Box Mode] My personal opinion is that 30-day return policies should be used as a last resort. It's not even just an Axiom thing. I've read often in audio forums of people who "try" a multi-thousand dollar component for awhile in their home when they're really doing nothing more than in-home playing. "Well, I went in to check out DVD players, but they had this awesome $2500 receiver that I thought was really cool. I figured I'd take it home since they have a 30-day return policy. I'm not gonna keep it, but I wanted to see what kind of a difference it would make in my setup". We've all read posts like that before. Maybe I'm too sensitive to it, but I equate it a bit with theft. If your intentions are not to keep it, then don't take home an unopened box that, once opened, the store will have to sell for hundreds of dollars less. Don't buy an RS SPL meter to use once and return; tell your wife and girlfriend that it's wrong to buy a dress, wear it to a function and return it. It's perverting the intentions of the store to allow returns to ensure that customers are happy. And, in the end, we all pay for it through adjusted pricing. Or, maybe it's part of why there are no more "stereo" stores on Main Street anymore.
I know it can be argued that if that person keeps the $2500 receiver in their home for awhile, they just might like it too much to return it and the store makes the sale so sometimes it works out. But much more often than not, customers just take advantage of the policies for their own gain. [/Soap Box Mode]
Sometimes it's warranted to make use of a 30 day trial….pure and simple….especially with a product like Axiom speakers that aren't available for demo in local showrooms and are dependant upon room acoustics. But for those of us who make recommendations to potential Axiom customers, we should at least keep in mind that a too-casual recommendation on our part can cost Axiom hundreds of dollars in lost shipping costs and reduced sale price of the speakers.
[donning flak jacket but hoping that if I need to defend myself, it will at least bring me over the 1k-post mark!]
