I have a great retail service story to tell.

A year or so ago I upgraded from my regular, foam-covered Sony ear-buds to some in-ear MDR-EX71SL ear-buds in an effort to improve my listening experience on the train. I’ve been absolutely loving them. Although it took a few weeks to get used to the feel of them in my ears, the sound quality has to be heard to be believed. Given there is virtually zero noise leakage (in fact you can hardly hear them if you hold them in your hand), the power they pump into your ear is astonishing, and the bass level simply rocks! It’s like you’ve got a sub-woofer in your neck.

Anyway, I was walking to work last Friday morning, ear-buds in, when I bumped into a friend. I took the ear-buds out but got the cord caught on my coat. I’m pretty sure that’s when I lost one of the silicone caps, but I didn’t notice until I was about to go home that evening. Bummed out I grabbed the larger caps (you get three sizes in the box) and made do with them, somewhat uncomfortably.

So on Monday I wandered over to the local Sony shop with hopes that I could purchase a replacement set. As I walked into the shop, I cased the joint and decided I should head to the right hand end. A lady behind the camera counter caught my eye and asked if she could help. I thought, why not and produced the ear-buds from my pocket and said “I lost one of the silicone caps.” Her immediate response was “What size?” I explained “The middle size” and she promptly walked around behind the counter (the one I had been heading for), rummaged around, and produced a pair of silicone caps which I confirmed, by comparison to my remaining one, were the correct size. Already somewhat surprised by this time I muttered something like “What are they worth?” and she smiled and said “You’re welcome to them.” I expressed my great thanks and as I turned to walk away she said “If you ever need any more, just pop in and see us.”

Brilliant, Sony! Just brilliant!