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Best/Worst Customer Service from a Distro/Label?


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What is with Neon Sigh?  Bought a Ringo Deathstarr LP from the on their bandcamp on January 4, and didn't hear from them for a month, emailed them and they never responded to that.  Then I email them a week ago basically saying "I never got this.  I need an update."  And he responds within minutes saying "Should have been there by now, will send another one.  Will update you with tracking."  And never heard from them again.  Seriously, stay away.  Gonna have to open a claim now.

 

Do not buy from them!  https://neonsigh.bandcamp.com/

 

EDIT: This finally showed up after some public shaming, 4 emails, and exactly 70 days after I placed my order.

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How about a positive experience?

 

I bought a new LP at the local store yesterday. It was supposed to include a download, but my copy did not. I emailed the label, Ribbon Music, to let them know and ask for a download. It was just a general info@ address so I figured it would take several days to hear back from them and that there was a decent shot I'd hear nothing within a week and have to pirate the digital copy. But someone from Ribbon replied two minutes later to let me know she'd handle it and she sent a link to the files two minutes after that.

 

Super impressed with Ribbon Music's customer service.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I use consolidation company for collection my packages in the USA and then they reship it to Russia all in one (helps me a lot to save on shipping). And this company change address of storage.

I have a couple preorders where I need to change address.

So total i sent 6 messages on 15 march:

 

got answer from anxiousandangry in 5 hours,

got answer from fatwreck in 9 hours,

got answer from less than jake store in 1 day,

got answer from g and p records in 2 days,

still didn't get answer from src vinyl (according to their contact page, maximum waiting time us 42 hours, now i have 170+ hours waiting)

still didn't get answer from a-f records

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had a pretty baleful experience with Warner Music Group yesterday when Biffy Clyro's Warner Run official store crashed as the pre-order for the deluxe version the band's new album Elipsis went live. Not only did the store grind to a halt under what I assume was very heavy traffic hundreds of customers have seemingly been left out in the cold with no idea whether their orders went through. Some people out of sheer frustration opened multiple orders have stated they've ended up being charged for five but had no confirmations. I myself after three hours of battling ended up with a paypal receipt but no official word from the WMG run store and I've spent all morning trying to chase them on this for an answer only to find that the email listed on the paypal account isn't even active.

How a major league player like WMG could be that unprepared for heavy internet traffic is beyond me. I hope I get an email explaining that my order will be honoured but after this mess I can see it being a while before anything is said or cleared up.

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I need some advice/guidance on a matter.

I was in contact with Wout from Dunk! Records about some Kokomo merch and other stuff. At the time, he had free shipping over 50 Euros to the USA. By the time I finally had what I wanted, he had changed that policy and removed the free shipping. I had a bunch of stuff in my cart during the transition, and emailed him, and he was kind enough to give me a free shipping code.

I ended up ordering a copy of "Ausserwelt" by Year of No Light along with a bunch of other stuff, all of which came to result in an 85 euro order.

My copy of Ausserwelt came scratched on 2 sides, one about 20 seconds long at the end of Side 1, and the 2nd is about 2 minutes long at the beginning of side 4.

Dude hasn't responded to me since I sent him videos of the scratches. I asked him if there was recourse from the distributor, etc. No response.

Am I a dick to ask for a replacement copy? He did me the solid of the free shipping, but... I don't want a scratched record.

I'm torn on how to proceed with this. I told him I would pay for shipping for another record. That's fair, right?

Curious what you guys think. it's a shitty situation, but now he won't respond.

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I'm assuming the scratches produce an audible click or sound? If so, I would send him another reminder and wait a few days. If he still hasn't responded or offered to replace the record, open a PayPal claim. PayPal will help you either get a replacement or a refund.

If the scratches are just hairline scratches that don't affect the sound, I'd just move on and enjoy the record as-is.

You can always post pics of the scratches here and see what others think.

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I'm assuming the scratches produce an audible click or sound? If so, I would send him another reminder and wait a few days. If he still hasn't responded or offered to replace the record, open a PayPal claim. PayPal will help you either get a replacement or a refund.

If the scratches are just hairline scratches that don't affect the sound, I'd just move on and enjoy the record as-is.

You can always post pics of the scratches here and see what others think.

Here's video! They're fucking loud.

The one at the end of Side A I can live with because its at the end of the song and only 20 seconds, but Side D is right at the beginning and goes for a solid 2 minutes. I ran out of memory space on my phone, so the video is only 1:30. The dude did me a huge solid for the free shipping, but if it takes reimbursing him for that to get a clean record, then I'm good with that.

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I ordered two albums from SRC but I had my old address as the shipping address (my fault, I know). So it gets shipped back to them. I emailed them two weeks ago about the whole situation and they responded 3 days later saying I would have to pay $5 for them to accept it back and $5 more to ship it out again. Fine, I paid it. A week later (last Wednesday, I get an email saying they will ship them out the following Tuesday (yesterday). What the hell.

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I'm assuming the scratches produce an audible click or sound? If so, I would send him another reminder and wait a few days. If he still hasn't responded or offered to replace the record, open a PayPal claim. PayPal will help you either get a replacement or a refund.

If the scratches are just hairline scratches that don't affect the sound, I'd just move on and enjoy the record as-is.

You can always post pics of the scratches here and see what others think.

I emailed him again last night. Being super polite, even offering to reimburse him for the free shipping. My last email was 2 Mondays ago (the 20th). I know the dude is busy and does a lot, so I don't want to harass him.

But I want a clean Ausserwelt! 2 scratches on a new record is not acceptable.

The label should always be on the hook for stuff like that, right? The jacket wasn't damaged in shipping or any other possible cause like that.

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Just had a fairly shitty experience with MerchNow I thought I'd relay. Ordered a couple Dave Hause records from them, and when I got them both were warped. No big deal, it happens, and it only affected play on one, so I contacted them regarding a replacement. Their policy is "ship it back at your expense, we'll get to it in a week and reimburse you for shipping".

They received my return over a month ago, ignored 3 emails from me in the subsequent weeks (the first was sent over a week after they received my item, I gave them the time period they asked for before contacting them), and only replied when I worded my last email a bit strongly (no insults or profanity, just pointed out their poor customer service and how irritating it is to have three emails ignored. They replied stating it would go out in the next batch of returns. Another week went by until it shipped, and they shorted me $3 on my shipping reimbursement, and still sent it out using media mail (sorry, I'm not saying all companies should take a huge loss on a manufacturing defect, but after ignoring emails for a month, big delays over a simple exchange, and shorting me on a shipping reimbursement, send the damn thing priority mail). Should finally have it in a few days, but this was absolutely ridiculous for a simple exchange.

 

Well, that doesn't sound great. I've just put my first order in with them for the latest Dear Hunter album. Saw the option to pay extra for 'expedited processing' or whatever, thought 'how long can they really take to ship something?' - turns out the answer for me was a fortnight. What a crock. The international tracking hasn't updated for a week either, fingers crossed I don't have to get into a whole thing with their CS.

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Have had bad experiences with Merchnow, but they have all been resolved after I contact them. They always send me replacements on scratched or damaged vinyl (not requiring me to return the original). Had bad one experience (one time and only time ordered from this site) with InterPunk. I know lots of people have had problems with No Sleep Records, I personally haven't had problems with them, but I may have problems now since they are now run by Merchnow or what ever. Being said that I haven't really had any horrible experiences (not getting an order or having a broken vinyl irreplaceable), that is cause I am one to speak up until I get my shit fixed. One time however, I ordered four records from Merchnow, all in stock and one a preorder. Over the course of the time until the preorder came out, they sold all of their coppies of the #1 record I wanted. I was pissed, gave them a call and they refunded me. I was just very upset that I placed an order, had to wait four months for it to ship, then by that time they sold out. Even before the record was all sold out, I gave them a call expressing my worry and they assured me I would receive a copy.

PS: if anyone has a copy of Famous Last Words- Two Faced Charade (this is what sold out), please contact me. Will pay good for it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No Sleep sent me the wrong LPs once and were quick and efficient with sending me a return label and shipping out the correct LPs.

 

Another time, however, they sent me a defective LP that skipped like crazy (tried on multiple players, vacuum cleaned it, nothing worked) and never responded when I inquired about a replacement.  The LP was only like $5 so I just gave up and ate the loss.  This was more recent, about 6 months ago, and I know they are basically going out of business so maybe customer service isn't their focus right now.

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My best experience was with Epitaph. I placed an order for a copy of The Ghost Inside's Dear Youth. Received my package, opened it and instead of Dear Youth, I received a copy of Piano Become The Teeth's Keep You. Emailed them and they said they'd send out my copy of Dear Youth and to keep Keep You or give it as gift(this was around Christmas). I kept it and ended up loving the album.

The worst experience I've had was with Shop Radio Cast. Ordered 3 records from them, heard nothing for a month(even after countless emails), and finally got a response when I aggressively asked to be refunded. I was informed that my shipment looked as if it was lost in the mail(an excuse I heard that they liked using frequently), then the person corresponding with me tried to backtrack and say that they misplaced order info when switching over to the new website. Whatever, just get me my shit. He said that they would ship out what they had in stock and refund me for anything they didn't. Was suppose to receive a $7 dollar refund... last year... Still haven't heard anything about it and I won't hold my breath. I know it's $7 but it was MY money. Haven't placed an order with them since

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  • 2 weeks later...

Indie Vinyl Den just blew me away with a great experience.

There was a small snafu that ended up with a delay in shipping one of 3 records I pre-ordered from them and not receiving a shipping confirmation for another. Customer service immediately confirmed shipping and provided a confirmation number for one item and shipped out the other with expedited shipping and some substantial freebies. All 3 records were packed in sturdy mailers as well. Every email I sent was responded to within an hour, even when emailing at 8PM PST.

I'm impressed.

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Tried multiple times since RSD2016 to get in touch with Flood at Asbestos records, I purchased the judgement night soundtrack and and it has a gouge out of it like someone slipped with a knife and no answer from him after 3 emails.  I knew i should have just purchased a normal black one off discogs for half the price.

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My postive recent experiences:

Earache Records - Got a not-great looking copy of the new Cult of Luna "Somewhere Along The Highway" album. Lots of scratches, no play affected though. Phil mailed me a new one, free of charge. SUPER AWESOME.

Deathwish - the new Bossk record "Audio Noir" has now come twice to me scratched, in the Mint Green /700 variant. Caleb has offered a 3rd replacement. SUPER AWESOME label.

IndieMerch - Got my copy of the yellow "Mariner" variant by Cult of Luna, and they packaged it like shit. Album plays fine, but came with seamsplits in all the inner sleeves. They've sent me a new one, free of charge. Very awesome customer service.

Hobbledehoy Records - Bought a bunch of Fourteen Nights At Sea stuff, and Tom threw in a free copy of This Will Destroy You "Another Language" and an Arrows album I don't know, for free. Dude is awesome.

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My postive recent experiences:

Earache Records - Got a not-great looking copy of the new Cult of Luna "Somewhere Along The Highway" album. Lots of scratches, no play affected though. Phil mailed me a new one, free of charge. SUPER AWESOME.

Deathwish - the new Bossk record "Audio Noir" has now come twice to me scratched, in the Mint Green /700 variant. Caleb has offered a 3rd replacement. SUPER AWESOME label.

IndieMerch - Got my copy of the yellow "Mariner" variant by Cult of Luna, and they packaged it like shit. Album plays fine, but came with seamsplits in all the inner sleeves. They've sent me a new one, free of charge. Very awesome customer service.

Hobbledehoy Records - Bought a bunch of Fourteen Nights At Sea stuff, and Tom threw in a free copy of This Will Destroy You "Another Language" and an Arrows album I don't know, for free. Dude is awesome.

With the exception of maybe the Bossk record, you sound like the worst type of customer there could be. You emailed over split inner sleeves?! Honestly, that CoL/JC collar was packaged great from IndieMerch...

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Would you waltz into the library of congress or the Antiques Road Show: Vinyl Edition with seam splits on your generic sleeves?  Not if you wanted to walk out of there with an official gold-foil stamped certificate of Mint Condition authenticity.  This is the kind of quality assurance we should demand from a four-employee screamo label in North Carolina.

 

But if they send us a second copy that is in slightly better shape so that we can sell the first one on Discogs and make our money back, we are totally cool with that too.

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Would you waltz into the library of congress or the Antiques Road Show: Vinyl Edition with seam splits on your generic sleeves?  Not if you wanted to walk out of there with an official gold-foil stamped certificate of Mint Condition authenticity.  This is the kind of quality assurance we should demand from a four-employee screamo label in North Carolina.

 

But if they send us a second copy that is in slightly better shape so that we can sell the first one on Discogs and make our money back, we are totally cool with that too.

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  • jhulud changed the title to Best/Worst Customer Service from a Distro/Label?

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