Topic: On-line Stores & Sellers

[Pat B]

A recording of Rossini's L'assedio di Calais is being retailed in Amazon for $3,769.00-for truth's sake please check this http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000002S3J/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new. Could anyone explain me what's the meaning of a price tag such as this? Who's insane enough to sell/ buy on those figures? Please note that the above instance isn't the only preposterous one, I've seen many more similar and higher-priced, particularly regarding long deleted items

Most likely nobody will buy it. I'd say the seller is not really trying to sell it. Maybe they are hoping for somebody with a high credit limit to get liquored up before checking his wishlist.

[Obradovic]

I'd say the seller is not really trying to sell it. Maybe they are hoping for somebody with a high credit limit to get liquored up before checking his wishlist.

A sort of bait then. Wondering why Amazon doesn't filter out those 'sellers'...

[Gurn Blanston]

A sort of bait then. Wondering why Amazon doesn't filter out those 'sellers'...

Almost all of these sellers use a software program that analyzes market values and sets the price accordingly. Depending on how the seller has the program set up, sometimes a wild number appears. When that happens, then all the others that use programs also seize that number and change prices accordingly. The actual use of these is supposed to be to find the lowest price on an item and set your price one penny lower. That way you get the 'Low Price' top billing. Sometimes they get out of hand, though. One day they will be The Terminator! 

[North Star]

Almost all of these sellers use a software program that analyzes market values and sets the price accordingly. Depending on how the seller has the program set up, sometimes a wild number appears. When that happens, then all the others that use programs also seize that number and change prices accordingly. The actual use of these is supposed to be to find the lowest price on an item and set your price one penny lower. That way you get the 'Low Price' top billing. Sometimes they get out of hand, though. One day they will be The Terminator! 

And the trouble arises from sellers with better rating setting the algorithm so that their price is a bit higher than others', and then the price is multiplied in turn with, say, 0.95 and 1.10 and eventually the price will be something silly.

[listener]

setting the algorithm

I thought that was a measure of Global Warming messages.

[mc ukrneal]

Ok.  I think I have a pip. On THanksgiving, I placed an order with deep discount. A week later, I looked and saw it was cancelled, but I had received no email or anything. So I wrote them just to see what would happen. They wrote back asking if the order was in my order history and could I send them a screen shot of the order. It was, so I did. They wrote back:

We're sorry to inform you that due to an error the order never downloaded into our system. Please accept our apologies. Again, thank you for writing DeepDiscount.com.  We appreciate your business.

So how is it possible that it is in my order history and it never downloaded into their system (but interestingly, there was a pending charge from them and I called the card company and they said it had been approved, but never completed)? And how can they appreciate my business, when they don't accept it?!?!!

Really, I think we'll just skip them from now on.

[Gurn Blanston]

Ok.  I think I have a pip. On THanksgiving, I placed an order with deep discount. A week later, I looked and saw it was cancelled, but I had received no email or anything. So I wrote them just to see what would happen. They wrote back asking if the order was in my order history and could I send them a screen shot of the order. It was, so I did. They wrote back:
 

So how is it possible that it is in my order history and it never downloaded into their system (but interestingly, there was a pending charge from them and I called the card company and they said it had been approved, but never completed)? And how can they appreciate my business, when they don't accept it?!?!!

Really, I think we'll just skip them from now on.

I've actually had very good luck with them in the past, a half-dozen or so orders...     I admit yours sounds weird though. Maybe a one-off?

[mc ukrneal]

I've actually had very good luck with them in the past, a half-dozen or so orders...     I admit yours sounds weird though. Maybe a one-off?

I haven't ordered from them in about a year, so I don't know. I too had generally found them to be ok as long as items were in stock. I had ordered 10-15 times in the past few years.

[kishnevi]

Anyone knows how long it takes JPC to cancel an order because the item in unavailable?  A few weeks ago, I ordered the Wergo set of the Hartmann symphonies.  Availability was given as "ships within 7 days if available from our suppliers".  After the 7 days passed, the status appeared as "waiting for it to arrive from our suppliers" (paraphrase, of course).  Now the status is given as "nachbestellen", which I understand means "on order".   

I knew there was a chance it would not be available when I ordered, so if it is cancelled,  I will accept it philosophically.   But I'd like to know how long I need to wait before the axe falls.  This happened once before to me, with MDT,  but they cancelled it within two or three days of the orders with an email that said, in effect, "oops!  we're sorry we can't really get this item! bad us!"

[kishnevi]

Email I just had to send to Prestoclassical, unfortunately.   Details are set forth in the email.  They usually respond quickly to customer service complaints;  I'll let you know it turns out.


Dear Sirs:

I am writing this in a state of extreme disgust with your business.  I thought you were a reliable company, but apparently you are not.

I have been waiting not quite a month for the shipment of the remaining item on this order (Pacifica Quartet: Soviet Experience IV).  You've had my money all that time,  I might mention.

I've been checking every so often, and seen you move back the supposed release date of this recording a week at a time, until this past week you claimed it would be released on December 9.  You've had my money all that time, I might mention.

This on a recording that was actually released in the US on November 19, and which I could have ordered from American sources (at a lower price, it turns out) and received long before now.  I chalked this up to different release dates in the UK, and waited patiently. You are after all a reputable firm with whom I've received good service up to now. I received the other items on this order quite promptly.  You've had my money all that time, I might mention.

Just now,  I checked again, and found you list the status of that item as "out of stock at our UK distributor, etc." and announcing a six week wait time, on top of the almost one month since I placed this order.  You've had my money all that time, I might mention.

I refuse to be patient any longer.  You can do one of two things:

1)Arrange at your expense for another vendor to drop ship this recording to me immediately.  I might note that you can actually order this from AmazonUS Marketplace vendors on my behalf,  and not lose money on the order, given the cheaper prices.

2)Refund immediately the appropriate portion of what I paid a month ago through WorldPay. 

Do one of these two things, and you can hope to keep my business on items you actually have in stock: I won't be pre-ordering from you again, at the least.
And I might not order from you until you revamp your system so that items are not charged until the item is actually shipped, like just about every other vendor in this business.

Don't do one of those two things, and I will start a fraud investigation with the bank whose card I used to pay WorldPay.  You've had my money all that time, as I mentioned, and it would seem you retained it under false pretences.

Sincerely yours

[Mirror Image]

I hear you, Jeffrey. I'm quite disappointed with Presto Classical as well. I had to send them an email as well as they never shipped an order to me nor did they tell me that the item was actually out-of-stock. Two weeks went by and they never sent me an email, so I was left with no choice but to email them and ask for an immediate refund. Only when I emailed did they act that they even cared. Their business practices aren't up to par with other sites I've bought from.

[kishnevi]

I hear you, Jeffrey. I'm quite disappointed with Presto Classical as well. I had to send them an email as well as they never shipped an order to me nor did they tell me that the item was actually out-of-stock. Two weeks went by and they never sent me an email, so I was left with no choice but to email them and ask for an immediate refund. Only when I emailed did they act that they even cared. Their business practices aren't up to par with other sites I've bought from.

This is the first problem I've had with them, barring an order that got lost in the mail, and that turned out to be the fault of my local post office.  I'm hoping that they will still ship me the item, and this "out of stock" merely means they received only enough copies to cover pre-orders, and can send them out on 12/9 to people who pre-ordered like I did.  That's the best possible situation.  As I said, they usually answer emails very promptly, so I expect to hear from them on Monday.

[Mirror Image]

I understand. I'm not going to completely right them off completely either. They do have some great deals on occasion and this problem I had with them was the only one I had.

[Brian]

Whoa! I have never had a problem with Presto. As a matter of fact, they're one of my top two favorite online retailers of physical CDs (with ImportCDs) for combination of price and service (if you count digital, eClassical is there too).

As a matter of fact, I just had an amazing experience with Presto. I ordered a CD from them and put the wrong zip code in the box - my own fault, human error all the way. Because of the wrong zip code, USPS returned the CD to Presto in England. They contacted me saying there had been a mistake and asked if I still wanted the CD. I sent them my correct address, apologized, and confessed to making the mistake. I admitted the liability. But they sent me the CD FREE OF ADDITIONAL CHARGE.

Overseas postage costs a lot of money. I'm amazed they did that.

[Mirror Image]

Well, not one experience is the same, Brian. I was as surprised as anyone to have had a problem with them, but, like I said, the problem wasn't enough for me to burn the bridge completely.

[mc ukrneal]

I find that the achilles heel of nearly all online ordering (non-cds included) is when items are not in stock (pre-order falls into that). If I were to count all my internet order issues over the years, I'd probably find that 75% or more were connected to that. Once I stopped ordering cds that were not in stock, the number of problems I have has decreased considerably.

[Brian]

Well, not one experience is the same, Brian. I was as surprised as anyone to have had a problem with them, but, like I said, the problem wasn't enough for me to burn the bridge completely.

Actually today I looked at a record of my October ImportCDs order (6+ weeks ago) and saw they're still trying to find 3 CDs I ordered from them. I haven't gotten any email notifications or any updates since the order was placed. The fourth CD that has not arrived was apparently cancelled, according to the record I found.

This marks the second time I've gotten burned on a cancelled out-of-stock order for the same disc: ImportCDs and MDT have both failed to deliver Schubert's String Quintet D956 as played by the Prazak Quartet and Marc Coppey.

[Mirror Image]

Actually today I looked at a record of my October ImportCDs order (6+ weeks ago) and saw they're still trying to find 3 CDs I ordered from them. I haven't gotten any email notifications or any updates since the order was placed. The fourth CD that has not arrived was apparently cancelled, according to the record I found.

This marks the second time I've gotten burned on a cancelled out-of-stock order for the same disc: ImportCDs and MDT have both failed to deliver Schubert's String Quintet D956 as played by the Prazak Quartet and Marc Coppey.

Ah, yes, I think we've all encountered problems of some kind with internet retailers. Not every order will always be a success.

[The new erato]

I've never had a problem with presto. OTOH; I dont fly off the deep end when the supply chain has delays either, and fully understand that an item may not be in the pipeline simultaneously in all markets. Come on guys; this is CLASSICAL music, it is not like it is fresh cupcakes. It has been around for some years, it will be around for some time, and it is not like we don't have anything else to listen to.

My Pacifica vol IV set is on backorder at mdt too (and was preordered a couple of months ago - and the other items in the order have been received ages ago); and I haven't even in my wildest dreams contemplated being irked about it. Instead I have some additional weeks enjoying the pleasure of looking forward to listening to it, and enjoying other stuff instead. It will turn up when it is available to the shop.

If you want to complain about it, you should write to Cedille or the UK importer that surely has failed to supply the set to UK webshops simultaneously with other channels.

I don't undertand the frustration, neither do I understand making presto the target. I'll go and order something with them to make them happy.

[bluto32]

Just noticed all this about Presto, and thought I'd mention my experiences.

I've ordered with them quite regularly for just over 2 years now, and on the whole have found them to be excellent. Their packaging is second to none, with sturdy boxes and lots of bubble-wrap. No item has ever arrived in anything less than immaculate condition - the same is not true of Amazon, sadly.

The one time I had a faulty CD (part of a box-set), I telephoned them, and they immediately offered to send me the replacement disc without my having to return mine. As the item was no longer in stock, they had to order another one in; I was impressed to receive it within 4 days of my call.

I did recently have to wait a long time (over 2 months I think) for another box set to arrive, but they did send me emails every couple of weeks to let me know there was a delay with their distributors, and offered to refund me my card at any time should I get sick of waiting. I could have had a refund and shopped elsewhere, but I had got a super price from Presto in a sale and didn't mind waiting. While I agree that it is irritating on principle that a card is charged before the goods are sent out, it seems to be pretty common practice when shopping online. As long as the company is willing to refund when there is an excessive wait, then that is acceptable to me.

Anyway, I hope that anyone experiencing current difficulties gets them resolved!