On-line Stores & Sellers

[RebLem]

www.cduniverse.com tends to undercut the competition by $3 on most but not all discs. I usually comparison-shop between CDuniverse, ArkivMusic, and Amazon.

Or, you can go to Google Shopping and let them do the comparison shopping for you.

[mc ukrneal]

AVOID deepdiscount. Several years ago, I had a problem with them, where they wouldn't take back an order that they processed twice - there was an issue with the website. I had such a hard time returning their screw up. I didn't use them for several years, but tried again recently and it seems I have been blacklisted. Amazing! I guess that is one way of hiding a screw up. AVOID!

[Que]

AVOID deepdiscount. Several years ago, I had a problem with them, where they wouldn't take back an order that they processed twice - there was an issue with the website. I had such a hard time returning their screw up. I didn't use them for several years, but tried again recently and it seems I have been blacklisted. Amazing! I guess that is one way of hiding a screw up. AVOID!

Wow. Bad thing if people/companies can't take any criticism.....

Means invariably that they are pretty bad at what they do....

Que

[Cosi bel do]

Follow up on my troubles with HMV.co.jp that I detailed elsewhere:

By the way, I don't know if anyone here ever ordered on HMV Japan (that is actually not affiliated to HMV anymore but to Lawson, a local company). But I'm currently living the WORST experience ever on any order I placed on a retail website.

I placed the order 2 months ago. Everything was supposed to ship in 10 days, but I really had to wait 6 weeks. Then everything was supposed to be delivered before Christmas. But the delivery failed today for the FOURTH time. After the 2 first failures, I tried to contact the delivery company but they only told me I should go to an office 10 kilometers from my home (and I don't live in the countryside, I live in the heart of the old Paris).
Then, it failed again a 3rd time, and I received a call informing me that the address was incomplete. It was : only the first word of the street name was printed on the package, and of course several streets in Paris start with the same words (even with the same ZIP code). So I was waiting for this delivery to happen today, but it failed AGAIN, it seems they incorrectly copied my instructions, or didn't have time to take these into account.
So here I am, again, on the delivery website, adding the basic informations (street name !) to this package. I checked of course, nothing was wrong originally with what I wrote at the time of the order, all the information is full and complete.

I contacted the customer service at HMV and they simply refused to acknowledge any responsibility. I sent them 3 messages explaining how they did mistakes, and how it is not acceptable to pay what I paid in delivery, to order 2 months in advance, and to see such failures in the end. All they said was to see that directly with the delivery company, that it's not their problem. They even answered one of the 3 messages with an automatic message saying they will consider my sugestions for their website (when I had selected "problem" and not "suggestion" in the first place).
I mean THEY mislabeled the address and everyone is guilty except them? Really?

The order was around €150 total, including €40 for delivery!

So, I can't be clearer than that: NEVER ORDER ON HMV.CO.JP!

I was waiting again for a delivery today. And bing! It failed again. "Prolonged absence of the recipient". This is really outrageously absurd. The delivery is now delayed for a whole week according to the tracking page. I'm going to try and cancel the whole thing. They'll have received it back in Japan faster, I think.

[Cosi bel do]

This is becoming an unending story. The package is now on its way back to Japan. They (HMV/Lawson) are waiting for it and will then refund the sum minus the cost of freight. Which is outrageous because there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place if they had not printed an incomplete address on the package.
This was the first and certainly the last time I ordered anything from Japan. In addition to have the less efficient client service I've ever seen, they are kind of rude and systematically reject all their responsibility. And make me understand that I should not say they are responsible for their mistakes, and accept to pay for them. This is the first time I've seen something like that, I mean, an online store that seems touchy as an old lady, and in the end just behaves as the most dishonest firm I've ever seen.

[Que]

This is becoming an unending story. The package is now on its way back to Japan. They (HMV/Lawson) are waiting for it and will then refund the sum minus the cost of freight. Which is outrageous because there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place if they had not printed an incomplete address on the package.
This was the first and certainly the last time I ordered anything from Japan. In addition to have the less efficient client service I've ever seen, they are kind of rude and systematically reject all their responsibility. And make me understand that I should not say they are responsible for their mistakes, and accept to pay for them. This is the first time I've seen something like that, I mean, an online store that seems touchy as an old lady, and in the end just behaves as the most dishonest firm I've ever seen.

Good to know!
Because I use a PO Box, I cannot use a delivery company like UPS or DHL - they simply refuse to drop anything off at the post office and return any item as "undeliverable"...

Which makes me wonder: does anyone here know of good Japanese online stores, with at least rudimentary browsing options in English?

Q

[SonicMan46]

Classicsonline - for those who use this site (Naxos sponsored, I believe) which I do occasionally, I just ran into a problem w/ my most recent purchases, i.e. their convenient 'downloader' would not work on my Macbook Pro (as it did before) - the reason after several email exchanges is that I had upgraded to OS X Yosemite since my last purchase which requires a legacy version of Java Runtime (did not want to even resolve that issue, plus they are working on updating their downloader) - SO, they suggested two options (a manual one which was tedious), the one chosen which was putting several zipped files into Dropbox which I retrieved easily and each contained the appropriate MP3s.  Dave

[kishnevi]

This is becoming an unending story. The package is now on its way back to Japan. They (HMV/Lawson) are waiting for it and will then refund the sum minus the cost of freight. Which is outrageous because there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place if they had not printed an incomplete address on the package.
This was the first and certainly the last time I ordered anything from Japan. In addition to have the less efficient client service I've ever seen, they are kind of rude and systematically reject all their responsibility. And make me understand that I should not say they are responsible for their mistakes, and accept to pay for them. This is the first time I've seen something like that, I mean, an online store that seems touchy as an old lady, and in the end just behaves as the most dishonest firm I've ever seen.

Sounds to me like it is time to file a dispute with the credit card company.
In the circumstances, not refunding the charge for the very thing in which they failed is adding insult to injury.

[mc ukrneal]

This is becoming an unending story. The package is now on its way back to Japan. They (HMV/Lawson) are waiting for it and will then refund the sum minus the cost of freight. Which is outrageous because there wouldn't have been a problem in the first place if they had not printed an incomplete address on the package.
This was the first and certainly the last time I ordered anything from Japan. In addition to have the less efficient client service I've ever seen, they are kind of rude and systematically reject all their responsibility. And make me understand that I should not say they are responsible for their mistakes, and accept to pay for them. This is the first time I've seen something like that, I mean, an online store that seems touchy as an old lady, and in the end just behaves as the most dishonest firm I've ever seen.

It's funny how companies can simply fail at the simplest of things. I recently received a present from someone from Target. It was an online gift and not available at the stores. It was broken and I wanted to exchange for the exact same item.  Here are the basics:
1. Call #1 - cannot exchange as I was the giftee, so they iniated a return and send at the same time. Emails sent to person who sent the gift - they could not send to me. The first email was received, which initiated the new order. The link to the return label was not received. Call took about 20-30 min
2. Call #2 - Called a day later when no label received. Person sent another link, but as there was a history to follow, it took about 45 min.
3. Call #3 - Called a day later when still no email with link to return label (remember, I had to bother someone else with this as they could not send label to me). Tried to get me to do it online, and system refused to allow me. Supposedly sent another link. About 45-60 min.
4. Call #4 - Bad connections, so took me about 4-5 calls of 3-5 min each before I got a call that held. Last person said nothing new and I lost connection again. 30-45 min.
5. At that point, having spent an inordinate amount of time on the phone, we just took it to the store and returned it. Interestingly, they had to manually enter info into the system as the scan did not give them enough info!
6. Got a call from the giver that the second order had been cancelled.

This should have been a really easy fix (I had order # and all sorts of other info from the gift receipt), and yet it was a total fail in my book. By the time I got to the store, I was itching for a battle, but the girl was nice and helpful (darn).  One doesn't have to go to Japan to find frustrating service!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

One doesn't have to go to Japan to find frustrating service!

Ha! That's for sure.

On my home soil (US) I just had a very bad experience with one of the mainstays of Amazon's Marketplace: ImportCDs. They'd been reliable in the past but not this time.

I ordered a CD from them and after a week or so I noticed that the status of my order and been updated to "delivered". Only thing is the CD hadn't been delivered...at least not to me.

I emailed them but their response amounted to little more than "there must be something wrong on your end" (possible bogus address, etc...) and I should just be patient and wait another ten days or so for the item to arrive. They seemed pretty certain my order would arrive even though it supposedly already had arrived. 

Many days go by and the arrival date passes but still no package.

So time for a refund or a replacement...........in my dreams.

THREE subsequent emails to ImportCDs went completely unanswered. Not a peep from them. Nobody home. Talk to the hand.

Infuriated I filed an Amazon claim and roasted them in my feedback. I'd like to never buy from these clowns again but so much of the time they have such smoking deals!

[Mirror Image]

I don't even want to launch into the story of how MovieMars 'almost' screwed me on the Bruckner Wand set on RCA. (I put 'almost' because I actually caught them doing something that was totally against Amazon policy)

[Mirror Image]

I've been burned many times as well whether it be Amazon MP or eBay. I've thankfully narrowed down a list of sellers that I'll continue to do business and the ones that I've had the most trouble with are on my blacklist.

[Brian]

I ordered a CD from them and after a week or so I noticed that the status of my order and been updated to "delivered". Only thing is the CD hadn't been delivered...at least not to me.

I emailed them but their response amounted to little more than "there must be something wrong on your end" (possible bogus address, etc...) and I should just be patient and wait another ten days or so for the item to arrive. They seemed pretty certain my order would arrive even though it supposedly already had arrived. 

My friend just had this happen with another shady supplier: the US Postal Service! She ordered $100 in stamps to put on her wedding invitations, eventually to learn that the stamps had been "delivered". It took two months to get her money back because they didn't believe her, dragged their feet on the investigation, and eventually somehow arranged a delivery to a woman with the same name who lives 1,500 miles away!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

My friend just had this happen with another shady supplier: the US Postal Service! She ordered $100 in stamps to put on her wedding invitations, eventually to learn that the stamps had been "delivered". It took two months to get her money back because they didn't believe her, dragged their feet on the investigation, and eventually somehow arranged a delivery to a woman with the same name who lives 1,500 miles away!

That stinks.

[Mirror Image]

My friend just had this happen with another shady supplier: the US Postal Service! She ordered $100 in stamps to put on her wedding invitations, eventually to learn that the stamps had been "delivered". It took two months to get her money back because they didn't believe her, dragged their feet on the investigation, and eventually somehow arranged a delivery to a woman with the same name who lives 1,500 miles away!

My dad ordered some stamps as well from our good ol' US Postal Service and received them 20 something days after he had placed the order. I'll just go to my local post office and pick them up if I need any.

[kishnevi]

My dad ordered some stamps as well from our good ol' US Postal Service and received them 20 something days after he had placed the order. I'll just go to my local post office and pick them up if I need any.

Where, if you do not stand in line, you get thermally printed labels.   Which is why I buy mine at the local supermarket.

[Mirror Image]

Where, if you do not stand in line, you get thermally printed labels.   Which is why I buy mine at the local supermarket.

Thankfully, I don't use stamps much and I'm actually still going through a book I bought a few years ago. I use the 'forever' ones.

[Ken B]

Ha! That's for sure.

On my home soil (US) I just had a very bad experience with one of the mainstays of Amazon's Marketplace: ImportCDs. They'd been reliable in the past but not this time.

I ordered a CD from them and after a week or so I noticed that the status of my order and been updated to "delivered". Only thing is the CD hadn't been delivered...at least not to me.

I emailed them but their response amounted to little more than "there must be something wrong on your end" (possible bogus address, etc...) and I should just be patient and wait another ten days or so for the item to arrive. They seemed pretty certain my order would arrive even though it supposedly already had arrived. 

Many days go by and the arrival date passes but still no package.

So time for a refund or a replacement...........in my dreams.

THREE subsequent emails to ImportCDs went completely unanswered. Not a peep from them. Nobody home. Talk to the hand.

Infuriated I filed an Amazon claim and roasted them in my feedback. I'd like to never buy from these clowns again but so much of the time they have such smoking deals!

I won't deal with them anymore. I have had several bad experiences, and had to get refunds through PayPal -- whose service is excellent.

[Gurn Blanston]

Ha! That's for sure.

On my home soil (US) I just had a very bad experience with one of the mainstays of Amazon's Marketplace: ImportCDs. They'd been reliable in the past but not this time.

I ordered a CD from them and after a week or so I noticed that the status of my order and been updated to "delivered". Only thing is the CD hadn't been delivered...at least not to me.

I emailed them but their response amounted to little more than "there must be something wrong on your end" (possible bogus address, etc...) and I should just be patient and wait another ten days or so for the item to arrive. They seemed pretty certain my order would arrive even though it supposedly already had arrived. 

Many days go by and the arrival date passes but still no package.

So time for a refund or a replacement...........in my dreams.

THREE subsequent emails to ImportCDs went completely unanswered. Not a peep from them. Nobody home. Talk to the hand.

Infuriated I filed an Amazon claim and roasted them in my feedback. I'd like to never buy from these clowns again but so much of the time they have such smoking deals!

I had virtually the identical experience back in September with them. I swore them off, the lowlife bastards. Almost 6 weeks before I bought something else. Their shipping has always sucked. It appears they have ended their contract with DHL, the worst shippers in the world, but they aren't a whole lot better off now. 

[Brian]

That stinks.

My dad ordered some stamps as well from our good ol' US Postal Service and received them 20 something days after he had placed the order. I'll just go to my local post office and pick them up if I need any.

Today's update: she requested her money back, but they did NOT give her the money back. Instead...they mailed her the stamps.

So at least she successfully received them!