RE: Hobby Shop Customer Service
IMO, that's one of the many benefits of dealing with a local business...the face to face customer service. By all means, if another of the same item is available, they should happily exchange items, and deal with the manufacturer/distributor themselves on the defective item. If they don't have another in stock, then I believe they should order another while handling the return.
To me, the "We didn't make it, sorry, deal with the manufacturer" attitude is nothing more than a cop-out. I hear people say "Well, the LHS isn't responsible for the quality of workmanship or parts in item X"...but they ARE INDEED responsible. It is THEIR choice to carry that item...THEY have chosen THAT item to offer to their customers.
Now...I'll certainly grant that there are numerous cases where I'd happily make an exception. If, for example, my LHS were to special-order something for me because I wanted a specific brand that they did not carry....I wouldn't have much heartache with being left to deal with the manufacturer on my own if things broke. And certainly I think it's fair that the LHS place conditions on the exchange/return, such as "item must include all original packaging" or what have you.
However...more often than not, it seems to me that if two reasonable people can talk face to face, each trying to understand the other's situation, then SOMETHING fair for both parties can be worked out....again, the value of the L in LHS.