However, neither do I think the customer is always wrong. The important point is to pick your battles. In August of 2003, I had two returns that caught me completely flat-footed. They didn't have anything to do with bad construction or materials, but with customer expectations.

One of the returns was a big ticket item - boots as it happens - and therefore a little financially painful. I could have argued that custom work is not refundable (the stated policy) and been justified in so doing, but it would have accomplished nothing but angering an otherwise very pleasant person. The boots arrived back on my doorstep, and I sucked it up and wrote the check.

The other return was a skirt. The customer assumed that the work I do is historically authentic, and that the skirt would work over a farthingale (it doesn't, and never has). Nothing wrong with it otherwise. This also was refunded. (Within 24 hours of that email, I added verbiage to the skirt description specifying that it is inappropriate for farthingales and bumrolls.)

On the other hand, there's a pair of boots in my shop that will not be refunded. Purchased a year ago, left wet and uncared for so the stitching rotted, with a defect in the attaching of the sole on one side that was never reported but instead fixed by the client with epoxy. I know that with proper care my boots will last five years or more, and the epoxy made my repair job impossible without replacing the midsole - effectively doubling the amount of work I had to do.

Pick your battles carefully.