Anyone who has done any business in the real world (read: someone who lacks this odd/false sense of entitlement who can survive away from his computer) knows that restocking fees are the norm. They protect sellers from lost opportunity as well as the time value of the money they need to refund. It is a standard safeguard we have in case we encounter a completely unreasonable person with no mechanical or comprehension skills.
Y'know what I mean?
A brief chime in.......
Sometimes in business, even if you think you're right, you still lose. Perception is reality.
Without taking sides in the dispute, if it were me, I would have just gone with the path of least resistance, and offered the refund, resold the product (with perhaps a crystal clear understanding or including the needed parts), and moved on.
I've had sales situations that have run the gamut of everything from cordial to insane, and I try to place myself in the shoes of the customer while coming to a conclusion that makes sense. And still once in a whole, you don't win.
I had a customer once inquire about an Acura MusicLink kit. Now the kits were so lousy in form and function that every time a customer inquired, I explained in detail exactly why they DONT want this clunky thing. This customer I knew for a while, and I went through in explicit detail all of the functions and why he wouldn't want it. He fully understood, and said that he wanted it anyways. Well, okay, if you insist.....
He calls back about two weeks later, and having installed the kit, told me that I'd hit all of the points on the kit dead on, and that I was right, that he didn't like it for the exact reasons that I'd stated, and wanted to return it. Installed kit, no box, no hardware. I told him I couldn't. No argument, he was disappointed, but understood.
Customer then issues a complaint with Acura corporate against me and the dealership. Customer gets the refund on the kit through corporate, and we process it in-house as a warranty item as per our district rep.
Sometimes the customer is right, sometimes they're not. If they're right, you lose, if they're wrong, you lose......it's all about how you handle it at the point of the problem. As a businessman, I have no idea why you'd waste the time and energy on a point of your perceived principle.
To racer98: I wasn't here for the original transaction, but regardless whether ponyboy was right or wrong, his issue should have been satisfied. A post from a respected member saying that the vendor was very good in handling a problem (and we ALL get them) looks a heck of a lot better than this train wreck on your credibility.