Tight, for shure.

I think, in order to be responsible contributors to The Tighten Up Report, it is our duty not only to call out those who are slack and loose, but also to commend those who resonate like a finely tuned timpani, and continue to be sufficiently tight.

Today I would like to give such a nod to Shure Incorporated. A little over a year ago, I purchased a pair of their E2c Sound Isolating Earphones, which you'll notice are not cheap. Luckily, my sister had given me a $100 BestBuy gift card for Christmas. I paid a little over $4 for tax. Yessss.

Starting a few weeks ago, I noticed a problem -- you know, that crackling thing that almost all headphones do eventually if you use 'em enough. No worries! Shure has a 2 year warranty on all their products. But wait! I couldn't find my receipt from a year ago, oh no!

So here is where Shure shines. They don't care. They stamp each pair with either a 3- or 4-digit number to indicate the day or week and year each pair is produced so they can roughly judge how old they are. My pair, for example, had the number "395" stamped on it, which means it was made in the 39th week of 2005. That's within the 2 year window. (Btw, I found this out by a little searching and then I called Shure just to be, umm, sure.) Following the instructions on their website, I filled out the "repair correspondence form" and sent it in. In a few days I will have my fixed 'phones.

And it gets better. A friend of mine had the same problem and sent in his E2c's. They fixed them, sent 'em back, and within a few weeks, he had the same problem. Shure felt so bad about this that they scrapped the old pair and sent him a brand new pair of E3c's -- a $100 markup -- which he reports sound even more amazing than the first pair.

Good job, Shure. Thank you providing the level of customer service we all deserve and love. I guess the only sad part is how surprised I am to personally have, and hear about, companies treating their patrons so fairly. I wish more companies were so tight.