Best/Worst Customer Service from a Distro/Label?

[nobodybrokeurheart]

for someone who recently joined here seemingly to just air their grudge against Relapse, where are you geting this info from about "the girl" and a lot of people having problems with getting both green records instead of green and yellow? explain how you know what other people are experiencing rather than just naming and shaming.

....the hell. she had a weird story to share about her friend's experience with the distro. what's the problem? she clearly stated this story was happening to a friend. no need to be shitty to new members. it's the internet, believe what she wrote or ignore it.

[sjb2k1]

you don't think someone would go on the internet and tell lies, do you?

[Brock N Roll]

Secret Audio Club is backed hard. I picked up a 7" from them recently and my order arrived quickly, packaged well, and inside was a personalized note saying Thanks and how they appreciated my order

[hipsterasfolk]

SRC - same day response and extremely helpful! Those bros & broettes are awesome.

Merchnow - they are good, takes a good 4-5 days before they respond but they are pretty good :/ still kind of mad they jacked up my orders and the dude from Rise never got back to me about it after :/

[Zick]

Bear Minimum Records sucks. It's run by the singer(?) for Bicycle Sunday. I pledged something like $30 to the Kickstarter for the Park Jefferson/Bicycle Sunday split 7". I was supposed to get a shirt, a cassette, the record, a thank you in the liner notes, maybe some other little stuff. I had back and forth emailed the guy and it seemed like it was coming out. More than a year after the Kickstarter ended (and a couple months after my last e-mail from him), I sent them another email asking for a refund. No reply. Then a month later I sent another email asking for a refund. No reply. Then a couple days later I asked Park Jefferson what was up and they said that Joe from Bicycle Sunday was dealing with the record, not them. So I emailed Joe and found Joe's Tumblr account and messaged him there. No reply. Then I left a message on Bicycle Sunday's Facebook page asking for a refund. No reply and they deleted the message. Then a couple days later I got a test press for the record which I don't even want anymore (and that's not what I paid for anyway). I left another comment on their Facebook telling them that, they deleted it.

Park Jefferson also sucks for not refunding me for a cd of theirs I bought a very long time ago, haven't recieved, and don't want anymore. They also ignored further emails about it. And now they're broken up anyway, as all Nick Stutsman bands inevitably do.

Yeah, Bear Minimum sucks dick. They ignored 2 of the emails I sent them, and wouldn't contact me back unless I wrote on their Facebook. I ended up getting the order after about 5 or 6 weeks, but this dude shouldn't be running a label. I almost canceled my order after seeing all of the posts on their Facebook page asking where orders were.

[soyliz103]

Polyvinyl is fantastic. They are always fairly timely with their orders and really responsive to e-mails with any issues. Almost every time I've ordered something they've thrown in extra buttons or stickers, too.

And you always get an Airhead thrown in there. So awesome!

Their prices rule as well, especially if you hit the Garage Sale.

[paralyticstalks]

I had to make an account for this thread.

Here are some awesome labels/shops/distros I've dealt with.

• Insound
  
• Hello Merch (shouts out Sargent House)
  
• Polyvinyl (even politely respond to emails that aren't in regards to shipping questions)
  
• Topshelf (Awesome packaging, quality vinyl [they go through Gotta Groove which is probably the best plant in the country IMO])
  
• Piccadilly Records (shop in the UK. Ordered a Biffy Clyro repress. Took all measures to make sure no damage would be done to product. Fast shipping even if it had to be mailed overseas)
  
• Hot Topic (surprisingly good service and fast shipping)
  
• Captured Tracks (They are doing really neat stuff with their limited edition presses. Recently bought the new DIIV limited edition record: Screen-printed fold-over cover which was hand stamped/signed, free poster, blue/white/black marble vinyl which is absolutely stunning. The only issues I've had with them were that you can only get your items shipped via usps media mail which takes forever although it's dirt cheap and I emailed them forever ago about some information regarding how many of one of their records were pressed and I got no reply. No biggie though, I was probably being annoying anyway)
  
• Elusive Disc (FAST and free shipping (using coupons), found the last new/sealed copy of Sunlandic Twins by of Montreal on blue and yellow wax on their site for $15.)
  

Okay experiences:

• Enjoy The Ride Records (Ordered Manipulator by The Fall of Troy on vinyl when it dropped. Took what I remember as FOREVER to ship. When it arrived I put it away because I was going to buy the Hot Topic variant as well and play that one. When I realized I was never going to follow through with my plans because of how tight I had been on money, I opened the copy I ordered [long past it being sold out] and the packaging was very nice, the vinyl was stunning, but when I looked closer there was a huge bump right in the middle of the first disc. It's like a pimple kind of. I didn't complain because it's still a cool piece and plays okay but that kind of frustrated me.)
  
• Barnes And Noble (It sounds stupid but they had a Sea And Cake record I really wanted. When it arrived, the record was fine but the packaging worried me. It was essentially a giant box filled with bubble wrap and paper.)
  

Bad experiences:

• Amazon (This seems to be this threads most hated distro of sorts. I ordered two items from the same shop in the same order and one of them came one month before the other. The first item already took 2 months to arrive so I was pissed. Not to mention one of the items seemed like it had been previously used and someone put new shrink wrap on it. It was bizarre.)
  

*UPDATE*

Dangerbird Records have pleasantly surprised me. Pre-Ordered the new Minus The Bear record a few months ago and it arrived at my doorstep in Virginia (shipped from California obviously) the very day it was scheduled for release. That never ever happens to me. Love or hate the album, that's good service.

Edited August 29, 2012 by paralyticstalks

[themessenger]

Shop Radio Cast is really pissing me off. I pre-ordered The Almost and Gaslight Anthem's Handwritten, and it still hasn't shipped due to a backorder. I've emailed 3 times and no answer. I want to just cancel but their customer service number always gets forwarded to voicemail, and no answer on emails. This is ridiculous.

[isavedlatin54]

I just had a really good experience with Hot topic. I ordered Aesop Rock's new LP about a month ago and couldn't spin it until yesterday. I opened it and both records were warped worse than I have ever seen any record. I called and they replaced it without any question, she told me to "make something cool" with the warped records, and said she wouldn't make me send them back.

SRC has never failed me either, it sucks that people have bad things to say about them. They sent me the wrong record once, and sent the correct one out the day I emailed them.

I also just ordered from Oldies.com so ill let you know how that goes. They have the most random stock I have ever seen.

[Emo Revival]

I just had a really good experience with Hot topic. I ordered Aesop Rock's new LP about a month ago and couldn't spin it until yesterday. I opened it and both records were warped worse than I have ever seen any record. I called and they replaced it without any question, she told me to "make something cool" with the warped records, and said she wouldn't make me send them back.

SRC has never failed me either, it sucks that people have bad things to say about them. They sent me the wrong record once, and sent the correct one out the day I emailed them.

I also just ordered from Oldies.com so ill let you know how that goes. They have the most random stock I have ever seen.

I work at Oldies.com if you have any problems PM me and I'll help you fix anything

[amnstypls]

In The Clouds Records.... buy with confidence.

[isavedlatin54]

I work at Oldies.com if you have any problems PM me and I'll help you fix anything

awesome! thanks so much. im pretty stoked about the random stock you guys have.

[Emo Revival]

awesome! thanks so much. im pretty stoked about the random stock you guys have.

Yeah a lot of it is albums that I want to buy so I ask our buyer to get em haha

[SubSub]

Got an email out of nowhere from No Sleep Record stating that my order had shipped. This threw me off since I haven't purchased anything online in a few months. I logged onto my NSR account, and saw that they were shipping the RSD LD/TA split for free . I had put in for it in April, but, of course, it sold out. The order read: "Free Apology Gift for RSD Issue."

Since I haven't purchased anything in a while, I was not up-to-date on anything as far as updates or announcements. It should be here tomorrow, but I thought that was a very kind gesture by No Sleep, and for that, I plan on picking up some new stuff from their store soon.

[drds89]

Major Positives:

1. TMS: hard to beat Joel and Lindsay

2. Interpunk: Dave's shop is probably 90 minutes away from me, in the big city, but he can get an order and ship to me in the boonies faster than I can drive there

3. Timo @ Denovali

4. Jeremy @ Eclipsical

5. Justin @ Archipelagosrises

6. IVWT, tough to beat their prices

Only one minor negative----but they made it right was--- hellomerch:

sent a beat to H@#! copy of a new LP and since it was shirt bundle as the only way to get this COOL shirt I wanted &, the postage was outrageous. It was packed right, but quality control dude/dudette must have been having a bad day? The other couple of previous orders with them went fine. Have a Caspian preorder pending... we'll see how that one goes...

[McNeder]

I know it's been said before and there are a bunch of people with good experiences, but in my book Shop Radio Cast is the worst.

I ordered 6 records there (incl. 1 preorder item) and when the release date came I didn't get any shipping confirmation. 1 week after the release I wrote my first e-mail. No response. I tweeted them and posted on their Facebook page. Nothing. I wrote 3 more e-mails and one week after the last one, they replied, saying that 1 item I ordered was no longer in stock. I replied with what I want as a replacement. They said it was fine. 8 days after that (and no confirmation once again) I wrote another e-mail. This time they told me they were out of packaging material. (WHAT??). But my stuff should be shipped "every day now". So I waited for another week. Nothing. Again. After another mail, and another item out of stock. Then an additional 2 weeks waiting, I received my shipping confirmation. And finally my stuff.

So, I got my records, but it took them a loooooong time and a lot of excuses. Won't order there again.

The best experiences I had was with Side One Dummy, Flight 13 and No Idea Records. Nothing but awesome, nice people who reply immediately and are willing to help you any time.

[xmarcusnapple]

SHOP RADIO CAST is by far the worst, ever. I had an order put on hold 6 months ago and have tried contacting them via phone and email at least 20 times to have the order taken off hold so I could get it, no response. I've called, left voicemails, emails, everything. I wish there were ways to shut labels down because they deserve nothing less.

[gentlesenator]

Add another vote for Matador being pretty horrible. I ordered vinyl that came horribly packed and completely damaged. 10 days later I'm still trying to get someone to respond to me--they only respond to PayPal claims it seems, so I'll let PayPal sort it out from here. All I want is to return or exchange. I don't want anything for free!

[nivek87]

Haven't ordered from interpunk in a couple years, when you get these messages for items, do they tend to always fulfill the order or has anyone had experience where they get a notice back saying they are actually out of stock or that the item is actually out of press.

1 On Order (Expected in stock soon)

1 On Order (Expected in stock in 1 day)

[Duff]

Haven't ordered from interpunk in a couple years, when you get these messages for items, do they tend to always fulfill the order or has anyone had experience where they get a notice back saying they are actually out of stock or that the item is actually out of press.

1 On Order (Expected in stock soon)

1 On Order (Expected in stock in 1 day)

that is one of my biggest pet peaves with interpunk. their stock system can be completely misleading. odds are if it's an obviously OOP record i would not order it from them and bank on it eventually shipping. keep a close eye on anything that is not a pre-order, because if you check tomorrow on 9/17 and it says "expected in stock in 1 day" then check again on 9/18 they may change the date to "expected in stock in xxx days." with that dog and pony show of the expected in stock date constantly getting pushed back continuing until they decide to tell you the item is no longer available or discontinued by the manufacturer. that one item that is back ordered with no hopes of getting restocked may hold up an order for weeks.

knowing this is an issue, i have held off on adding some things to my orders, as i try to buy as much as i can from interpunk at one time. for example there has been one record i've been meaning to buy that is fairly easy to come by on ebay. it's likely OOP for distros and stores, but there are always quite a few copies on ebay for a bit more than i'm willing to pay for it. despite the fact interpunk will most likely never be able to get it from any distributor, they still have had it listed for sale for close to 1 year now. just for kicks i add it to my cart even now and then to see what their stock system says about it, and it always says "expected in stock soon."

[nivek87]

that is one of my biggest pet peaves with interpunk. their stock system can be completely misleading. odds are if it's an obviously OOP record i would not order it from them and bank on it eventually shipping. keep a close eye on anything that is not a pre-order, because if you check tomorrow on 9/17 and it says "expected in stock in 1 day" then check again on 9/18 they may change the date to "expected in stock in xxx days." with that dog and pony show of the expected in stock date constantly getting pushed back continuing until they decide to tell you the item is no longer available or discontinued by the manufacturer. that one item that is back ordered with no hopes of getting restocked may hold up an order for weeks.

knowing this is an issue, i have held off on adding some things to my orders, as i try to buy as much as i can from interpunk at one time. for example there has been one record i've been meaning to buy that is fairly easy to come by on ebay. it's likely OOP for distros and stores, but there are always quite a few copies on ebay for a bit more than i'm willing to pay for it. despite the fact interpunk will most likely never be able to get it from any distributor, they still have had it listed for sale for close to 1 year now. just for kicks i add it to my cart even now and then to see what their stock system says about it, and it always says "expected in stock soon."

Thanks for the heads up. When I looked at ebay prices, they weren't marked up, but the fat wreck store said they no longer had it. So I guess we shall see. Also, maybe someone can help me, is Old Man Markley oop? Party Shack and Guts LP? Same question goes for the Devil Makes Three S/T.

What record you looking for?

[nivek87]

they updated. they put one as in in stock in 1 day and the other 7 days. only time will tell now.

[FEN1XD0WN]

Haven't ordered from interpunk in a couple years, when you get these messages for items, do they tend to always fulfill the order or has anyone had experience where they get a notice back saying they are actually out of stock or that the item is actually out of press.

1 On Order (Expected in stock soon)

1 On Order (Expected in stock in 1 day)

yeah usually when i see something like that ill email them directly and ask "do you have this on hand or expecting it soon in case i put an order in?" and most of the time i get a no, were OOS. ugh, its like.....really update your records.

[FEN1XD0WN]

oh and vitriol is ALWAYS on point when it comes to orders. awesome bands, awesome label, you can always expect great service from them.

[hickey]

Just had an amazing customer service experience with Grave Mistake. An LP I received skipped throughout the entire A-side...I looked at it in the light and noticed a bizarre scratch pattern that looked like it was made by a machine - maybe a glitch during the pressing/manufacturing. Anyway I contacted the label and Alex sent me a replacement ASAP and the new copy plays clean. Solid dude, quick fix!