On-line Stores & Sellers

Started by Expresso, July 02, 2007, 09:09:12 AM

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The new erato

Sounds like they were well aware of the faults of the set and were hoping to get rid of it at whatever price,

Brian

I hope all the CDs play just fine, George. Try the stuff in banged-up sleeves first? That sounds like a bum copy shipped to them from Sony, or something, and pretty infuriating. Mine had no problems, but like Scarpia, my Brilliant complete Brahms was in pretty cruddy shape, and is now even worse because it's made out of cardboard.

Also it's crazy to think that they probably had 200 of those things sitting on a pallet somewhere. That's a lot of hot pink. My parents visited this weekend and said "What's that pink thing?"

stingo

I had ordered (on Oct 7th) 3 Bartok series discs from mdt, and received two, the third (Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta etc) being placed on backorder. The instructions said not to re-order as it would be shipped when the disc became available. Not having heard anything since I sent an email (Nov 4th) to inquire if there was a status update, and received the following...

Thank you for your e-mail.

Sorry they are still waiting to receive more stock, as soon as they receive it they will send it to us and we will ship it to you, unfortunately they do not give timescales on when they expect to receive the stock.

However, I subsequently got an order dispatch email from them a few hours later. I can only imagine that the stock was there, they just needed a reminder to send me one. Not complaining - just thought it amusing.


The new erato

Quote from: stingo on November 04, 2013, 05:11:43 PM


However, I subsequently got an order dispatch email from them a few hours later. I can only imagine that the stock was there, they just needed a reminder to send me one. Not complaining - just thought it amusing.
I have bought literally a thousand discs from mdt over the years and have never experienced them needing a reminder to send me my discs, >99,9 % of the discs have arrived without any prompting from me, and in a handful of cases I have received a mail saying it was out of print with the supplier. Never have an order gone AWOL, they have a highly professional organisation. I find it far more likely that the disc actually was delayed from the supplier, was under processing in their store (thus you would have gotten it anyway within a day or three) and that your mail simply made them speed up the processing a little.

Manos

Quote from: George on October 30, 2013, 10:24:31 AM
...
Any advice guys?
If they will take it back for a refund, I'd go that route. You may not find it as cheaply priced elsewhere, but you also may not find a vendor who ships dented boxed sets as consistently as ImportCDs. I accepted the first two as you're considering, then noticed that boxes from other vendors arrive in far better shape. Some of the damage appears to occur before they enter the shipping box. To their credit, they accepted my last two box returns for a full refund. I trust ImportCDs for single or double discs, but not boxed sets.

Obradovic

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

Pat B

Quote from: Obradovic on November 24, 2013, 07:34:04 AM
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

Quote from: Pat B on November 24, 2013, 09:29:29 AM
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

Quote from: Obradovic on November 25, 2013, 10:36:04 AM
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!  :)

8)
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North Star

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on November 25, 2013, 10:56:53 AM
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!  :)

8)

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.
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listener

Quote from: North Star on November 25, 2013, 11:57:23 AM
setting the algorithm
I thought that was a measure of Global Warming messages.
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

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:

QuoteWe'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.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: mc ukrneal on December 06, 2013, 11:43:33 AM
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?

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

mc ukrneal

Quote from: Gurn Blanston on December 06, 2013, 12:17:02 PM
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?

8)
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.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

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

Quote from: Mirror Image on December 06, 2013, 06:43:07 PM
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.