bad experiences with ordering music online

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my recent horrible (and unfortunately ongoing) experiences ordering stuff from S***le Cr**k's website, along with the ongoing Amazon debacle, have me wondering what other bad experiences you've had while shopping for your music online. as much as i like the idea of being able to order nearly anything at any time from the comfort of my own chair, i'm glad there are still places i can walk into and walk out with exactly what i want in my hand and not deal with waiting/screwed up orders/general bullshit.

― jonviachicago, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 00:49 (nineteen years ago) link

I've had problems with lots of online stores when I pool orders with friends. Whenever we order multiple copies of albums or singles, they almost always forget one of them. Every store immediately sends it after contacted though.

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 00:55 (nineteen years ago) link

When I order on half.com i usually get some great deals, except when i ordered the second missy album and they sent me a majorly scratched clean version even though it was advertised as "like new" and the PA version.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 00:55 (nineteen years ago) link

campbell kneale and all the guys on the rootsforwarandtravel yahoo group have been going off on the GEMM mailorder site. apparantly gemm has been selling bootleg's of their cd-rs as rare collectors items, at highly inflated prices...

― chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 00:58 (nineteen years ago) link

I remember one of the first times I ordered music online, probably around ten years ago, from cdeurope they tried charging me $270 for a bunch of KISS box sets and singles I definitely did not order.

― Leon the Fatboy (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:03 (nineteen years ago) link

The only problem I've ever had was with Eclipse Records, and it wasn't Ed's fault: it was the post office's. They had my package from him but never left it at my apartment or left a note in the mailbox telling me they had it. So after sitting in the post office for four weeks, it was mailed back to Ed as "Unclaimed." This happened twice. So the third time I asked him to send it to my mom's house in Rhode Island, and I picked it up there over the holidays.

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link

i ordered a couple of cds from a reputable metal mailorder december 13, 2004. paid for priority shipping.

called after two weeks (the discs were to be christmas presents), was told that they had just shipped. really! waited another week, called them back - ah, no the discs shipped... wait, no they didn't. "well, part of our database got deleted, the part that says whether something shipped or not - really!"

waited another week, called them back. "your order shipped on the 14th." really, because it didn't get charged until the 16th. "oh, i, uh, oh... uhm... let me check our USPS receipts and i'll call you back within 30 minutes." he didn't.

for the next two weeks i try emailing and calling at various times of the day, never hear back. finally, today, i managed to pin the 'manager' down and he basically admitted they had sold out of the cds and couldn't prove they shipped the cds so they were refunding the money. leaving me with the delightful task of trying to buy mutiilation cds on ebay for less than $30 each.

when i used to order from eclipse bigtime, i never had a problem - he should really write a book on how it's done.

― el sabor de gene (yournullfame), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:27 (nineteen years ago) link

So a load of ILM'ers tried to ripoff Amazon on a some manner of glitch/loophole/mistake and came a cropper? Wow. My piles open up and bleed for them.

I've never had a bad experience ordering music on-line.

― Joe Morgensternly, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:28 (nineteen years ago) link

GEMM is the greatest. Except for that one time my long-awaited copy Cheap Tricks' first album arrived - SNAPPED IN HALF.

not cool.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:29 (nineteen years ago) link

i've never really had any other problems, but this recent one is frustrating because the label has no other contact info other than the e-mail address which they aren't responding to. they were very quick to process the transcation on my card (same day i placed the order), but now i can't even find out if its been shipped. i don't mind waiting, i would just like to know i've got something to wait for.

― jonviachicago, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:37 (nineteen years ago) link

Forced Exposure can be frustratingly slow which kind of counteracts the instant gratification quality of ordering online. Though I haven't actually ordered anything from there for a couple of years so maybe it's gotten better. Can anyone recommend a site with FE-like selection but quicker service?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:49 (nineteen years ago) link

eclipse-records.com; fuestronsound.com

― Ian John50n (orion), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:55 (nineteen years ago) link

i waited over 3.5 months for an [international delivery] from insound.com... got a full refund, though

― chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 01:58 (nineteen years ago) link

S***le Cr**k = Sizzle Crack?

gemm doesnt sell anyting
they just provide a marketplace for other sellers to sell tings
and ther's no point in buying from anyone unless they got 4 starz

― coomer, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 02:23 (nineteen years ago) link

I ordered a Broken Social Scene CD direct from Arts & Crafts, since it had not been released in the UK. It made it all the way from Canada to the hands of the delivery postman over here, who chose to fold the parcel in half (I assume with attendant splintering and crunching sounds) and then stuff it into my letterbox.

I can only guess he took the band name as some kind of instruction...

― Bill A, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 10:50 (nineteen years ago) link

Other Music once sent me a CD. It was cracked. :-( So not really their fault, but I still wasn't happy. :-( Otherwise had no problems so far.

― stevie nixed (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 10:52 (nineteen years ago) link

x-post Agree re: Forced Exposure being slooowww, plus, it's frustrating that they as well as Other Music are ofetn out of items that are listed. Isn't there a data base program they could install to track availability? The all-time worst online source I believe is Camain who sells through Amazon. They show up on practically every item page but I've ordered from them 3 or 4 times and each time the item had to be ordered. Frustrating.

― mohair (jon kapper), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 13:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Camain who sells through Amazon. They show up on practically every item page

fucking annoying isn't it!

the only bad experiences I've ever had are from 101cd.com (also retailing as CD-Wow I think), bad just meaning achingly slow delivery times. They also work through some Amazon listings, so I always double-check the 'store' page now after accidentally using them twice.

― swizzle twig, Tuesday, 1 February 2005 16:13 (nineteen years ago) link

It's seldom mentioned but I like cheap-cds.com. The selection isn't the widest, but if they have something in stock and you order more than a couple cds you can usually end up getting a decent deal. They're a little misleading with adding a handling charge when it calculates shipping instead of before, though. I think by handling they mean "profit."

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 16:30 (nineteen years ago) link

I had grief from Invisible/Underground once that got to the stage of me threatening them with legal action.

Think the ILM Amazon conspiracy, but with me doing it unintentionally (they were changing company, and there were conflicting details about what was in the offer and what wasn't) then them not sending me anything (like Amazon have cancelled the order) despite having my money. They still honoured it in the end though, chucked in some free extras and remembered to mark the customs label so I didn't have to pay extra.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 16:42 (nineteen years ago) link

i ordered a dvd from forced exposure one month ago and didn't get it. reordered it 2 weeks ago, nothing. emailed them about it - no reply. i'm never getting anything from them again.

― Jena (JenaP), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 16:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Well at the moment I'm having trouble with Pennyblack mailorder in the UK (www.pennyblackmusic.com) but they haven't actually charged my card, so I'm now assuming they've gone out of business but haven't bothered to take down their website. I've ordered a couple of 7"s and received confirmation email, this was 2 months ago and both were supposedly in stock and would ship in 24 hours! Emails enquiring wtf is going on are ignored.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link

Oct 15th placed an order for 2 7 inch records from a small indie Swedish place and they said everything was cool, they would mail them out the next day etc etc.

Nov 26th I email them to tell them I haven't received anything

Dec 4th one of them comes with no mention of the other.

Dec 12th I email them asking where the other ones is, they tell me it will be mailed the next day.

Jan 20th I email them telling them that I still haven't received anything and that if I doesn't arrive by Feb 15 I will contact paypal and have them deal with it.

Jan 20th my order arrives, mailed Jan 21st.

It wouldnt have bothered me that much if they hadn't lied twice saying they mailed it already.

― svend (svend), Tuesday, 1 February 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago) link

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