Best/Worst Customer Service from a Distro/Label?

[nivek87]

interpunk updated everything and everything got shipped today. it said yesterday it was expected in stock in 4 days, so i'm pretty pleased.

[jhulud]

WORST: DOGHOUSE RECORDS

In mid-July I won three test presses from Doghouse when they were selling off a bunch of TPs. I paid within a day or so of winning all three. I went as far as requesting to switch to send them priority mail and willing to pay extra, which I did. A little over a month went by and I heard nothing nor received anything from them. I sent them numerous messages to which they responded to only one saying that they had a problem with their postage machine and unable to send out packages.

A couple of weeks passed and still nothing. Nor any additional responses. By day 44, I opened an eBay case. This definitely prompted some action of their part. They responded and apologized and would included extra stuff to make it up to me. I just wanted the damn TPs. No care for extra shit.

Within a few days, the package finally arrived. Poorly packed, mind you. I had asked to put the TPs in any spare jackets they may have had lying around to better protect them in the mailer. This did not happen. They were loose in paper sleeves. And I only received two of the three! I got shorted one TP!

I messaged them yet again. Got a reply with an apology and that the TP would go out. Tracking info was never updated. And another three weeks went by with no TP showing up. eBay case re-opened. No response from Doghouse at all. eBay refunded me the cost of the TP plsu shipping now.

For a label that has been around for a long time and is supposed to be professional, this was the single worst handling and experience I've ever encountered. Not even the jackass that ships a record in a bubble mailer or pizza box has ever been this bad!

[nelso330]

WORST: Captured Tracks....(see the wild nothing thread)!!!

Ignores emails, mails wrong editions/colors, super long shipping, rude in emails (when they do reply), lies about what they tell you to do, just fuck up your order multiple times in a row!!!!

[shat]

not a distro or label but a record store, Amoeba, who i'm sure most people are familiar with.

been hit or miss with them but after their latest bullshit i won't be giving them any more of my money on any front. first issues i've had with them is they lie about some of the things they sell online, if they list them as new what you get may not actually be new. i ordered a record from them that was listed as new and they even went as far as saying factory sealed in the description too. what they sent me was a re-sealed, used copy. now i have no problem buying used records, i do it all the time. but if i'm paying the price of a new record i expect to get a new record.

because i've run into my fair shair of shady stores and people online, i always take screen shots of the item/product page i buy and the order total before placing the order to have proof of any discrepancies. call it anal, but it paid off in this situation. when i contacted them about sending me a used copy that they re-sealed at the store to pass off as a new copy instead of sending me a legit new copy, they said what i bought was a used copy. they even went as far as fabricating a listing for the same record i bought that said used, even though i had a screen shot of the exact item i purchased that stated new and factory sealed as well. they denied everything and refused to accept a return or exchange so i had to call my credit card, sent them all the proof i had and they approved and processed my refund they next day. after that experience i should have steered clear. but they were offering a free 7" with order of an LP.

so i made another purchase from Amoeba online to get the free 7" so i wouldnt have to buy it on its own. the LP was delayed so my order turned into a pre-order of sorts. enough time passed that my local store got the same deal with the LP and free bonus 7", for cheaper to boot, so i bought it there and cancelled my order with Amoeba since it still did not ship. they emailed me back within an hour of sending the initial email to them to confirm my cancellation and give me a refund. the refund was expected to be processed withing 48 hours. a week passed and still not refund from Amoeba, i email them again, they respond within an hour again telling me they already processed my refund days ago and to call my bank to confirm it went through and maybe it just hasn't appeared in my account yet for whatever reason. so i call my bank and they have no record of the refund. yet again i had to dispute another charge from Amoeba. i don't know why Amoeba thinks they can lie and get away with it.

[xjustinxschwierx]

not a distro or label but a record store, Amoeba, who i'm sure most people are familiar with.

been hit or miss with them but after their latest bullshit i won't be giving them any more of my money on any front. first issues i've had with them is they lie about some of the things they sell online, if they list them as new what you get may not actually be new. i ordered a record from them that was listed as new and they even went as far as saying factory sealed in the description too. what they sent me was a re-sealed, used copy. now i have no problem buying used records, i do it all the time. but if i'm paying the price of a new record i expect to get a new record.

because i've run into my fair shair of shady stores and people online, i always take screen shots of the item/product page i buy and the order total before placing the order to have proof of any discrepancies. call it anal, but it paid off in this situation. when i contacted them about sending me a used copy that they re-sealed at the store to pass off as a new copy instead of sending me a legit new copy, they said what i bought was a used copy. they even went as far as fabricating a listing for the same record i bought that said used, even though i had a screen shot of the exact item i purchased that stated new and factory sealed as well. they denied everything and refused to accept a return or exchange so i had to call my credit card, sent them all the proof i had and they approved and processed my refund they next day. after that experience i should have steered clear. but they were offering a free 7" with order of an LP.

so i made another purchase from Amoeba online to get the free 7" so i wouldnt have to buy it on its own. the LP was delayed so my order turned into a pre-order of sorts. enough time passed that my local store got the same deal with the LP and free bonus 7", for cheaper to boot, so i bought it there and cancelled my order with Amoeba since it still did not ship. they emailed me back within an hour of sending the initial email to them to confirm my cancellation and give me a refund. the refund was expected to be processed withing 48 hours. a week passed and still not refund from Amoeba, i email them again, they respond within an hour again telling me they already processed my refund days ago and to call my bank to confirm it went through and maybe it just hasn't appeared in my account yet for whatever reason. so i call my bank and they have no record of the refund. yet again i had to dispute another charge from Amoeba. i don't know why Amoeba thinks they can lie and get away with it.

man, that sucks.

[feralpanda]

Vinyl Junkie distro in Houston is/was AMAZING and I'm crazy sad that he closed up the shop and is closing the website once the inventory is gone. Dude ran a killer distro for like 13 years and specialized in punk/metal/hardcore stuff that you don't see in most stores. Better yet, he sold everything at a really low price barely above cost.

Really cool guy, really cool deals...you should check out whats left on his site because i think it closes in a couple of months for good.

[isavedlatin54]

the weirdest things just happend with my order at SRC:

i paid through paypal, it went through to my bank account and said the transaction was "shopraido ny" or something like that. then the money was put back in my account as a "check card reversal" (something my bank charges me for, not happy) and then was taken out again by "fork radio." which is usually what it says when I order from them..... can anyone explain this?

[wexzer]

Best:

Deathwish - hands down. Best customer service I've experienced so far. Postclubusa screwed up big time with a rather big package I've ordered from DW. Postclubusa had make my package disappear somehow so I asked DW to help me out. They figured out that the package had been missent, so they offered to repack my order and send it to me so I didn't have to wait that long and then they would get postclubusa to send the original order back to them. But yea, postclubusa manage to screw that up as well, because about 1-2 weeks after I've gotten repack package from DW I also got the original one. I sent an email to DW on what to do, and they thought it was too expensive for me to sent it back to them and I should keep it, and maybe give some of the vinyl to some of my friends. So freaking awesome! They're always so helpful and it's awesome since there are so many bands on that label that I like.

Bridge 9 - Never made a mistake with any of my orders. Vinyl are packed proper and they usually throw in some extra stuff plus their customer service is usually pretty helpful as well!

Interpunk - I've only had good experience with them so far. Got everything around the promised time and without any kinda damage.

Worst:

Paper + plastick - Sent me a wrong color of the vinyl I ordered. I know that can happen. But the solution they offered to my problem wasn't quite sastifying. They told me only way I could get it switched around to the right color was sending the vinyl back. But I didn't wanna do that since it's pretty much the same price as ordering a new one from them and get it sent. But yea the response was that it was the only way too get the color changed. Maybe I'm a bit bitching, but I think it was rather disappointing it was the only solution they could offer me since it was their mistake in the first place.

SRC - I can see you people already know about. I haven't ordered anything from them but my friend has and they treated her like dirt so no way I would ever order anything from them. Could seem like they treat the US people a bit better than people from other places in world, but I don't know if that's the case.

[Emo Revival]

Clifton Motel - I ordered Mansions - Dig Up The Dead August 24th and still haven't gotten it. I sent them an email 2 weeks ago and they said they'd send out another, but I still haven't gotten it. I'm getting pretty frustrated about it.

[tre]

WORST: DOGHOUSE RECORDS

In mid-July I won three test presses from Doghouse when they were selling off a bunch of TPs. I paid within a day or so of winning all three. I went as far as requesting to switch to send them priority mail and willing to pay extra, which I did. A little over a month went by and I heard nothing nor received anything from them. I sent them numerous messages to which they responded to only one saying that they had a problem with their postage machine and unable to send out packages.

A couple of weeks passed and still nothing. Nor any additional responses. By day 44, I opened an eBay case. This definitely prompted some action of their part. They responded and apologized and would included extra stuff to make it up to me. I just wanted the damn TPs. No care for extra shit.

Within a few days, the package finally arrived. Poorly packed, mind you. I had asked to put the TPs in any spare jackets they may have had lying around to better protect them in the mailer. This did not happen. They were loose in paper sleeves. And I only received two of the three! I got shorted one TP!

I messaged them yet again. Got a reply with an apology and that the TP would go out. Tracking info was never updated. And another three weeks went by with no TP showing up. eBay case re-opened. No response from Doghouse at all. eBay refunded me the cost of the TP plsu shipping now.

For a label that has been around for a long time and is supposed to be professional, this was the single worst handling and experience I've ever encountered. Not even the jackass that ships a record in a bubble mailer or pizza box has ever been this bad!

Lolz. Imma gonna email you on this lolness...

[mattisr1984]

WORST: DOGHOUSE RECORDS

In mid-July I won three test presses from Doghouse when they were selling off a bunch of TPs. I paid within a day or so of winning all three. I went as far as requesting to switch to send them priority mail and willing to pay extra, which I did. A little over a month went by and I heard nothing nor received anything from them. I sent them numerous messages to which they responded to only one saying that they had a problem with their postage machine and unable to send out packages.

A couple of weeks passed and still nothing. Nor any additional responses. By day 44, I opened an eBay case. This definitely prompted some action of their part. They responded and apologized and would included extra stuff to make it up to me. I just wanted the damn TPs. No care for extra shit.

Within a few days, the package finally arrived. Poorly packed, mind you. I had asked to put the TPs in any spare jackets they may have had lying around to better protect them in the mailer. This did not happen. They were loose in paper sleeves. And I only received two of the three! I got shorted one TP!

I messaged them yet again. Got a reply with an apology and that the TP would go out. Tracking info was never updated. And another three weeks went by with no TP showing up. eBay case re-opened. No response from Doghouse at all. eBay refunded me the cost of the TP plsu shipping now.

For a label that has been around for a long time and is supposed to be professional, this was the single worst handling and experience I've ever encountered. Not even the jackass that ships a record in a bubble mailer or pizza box has ever been this bad!

didnt the guy that runs doghouse run lumberjack who basically ran off with tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands, owed to their distributed labels? assuming im correct, im not all that surprised.

[tre]

didnt the guy that runs doghouse run lumberjack who basically ran off with tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands, owed to their distributed labels? assuming im correct, im not all that surprised.

Bingo.

[gutterpunk79]

Add me to the long list for WORSE : SRC

I placed a few orders with them and I guess that I got lucky cause it went well...that was until my last one.

I purchased 3 records. There was 1 record in particular that I really wanted and I decided to add 2 more to my order to make the shipping worth it (their shipping to Canada is as bad as Interpunk). What do you know, I receive my order....but there's only 2 records in it! I never got an email saying that one of them was on backorder or no longer available. Instead, they ship me the 2 they have...that's it. I contacted them 3 times. No answer. Finally I opened a claim after 2 weeks. Then a few days later I get an email. Sorry, that record is on backorder / not available. Due to my claim, they did refund me the value of the record and a few dollars of shipping. But I'm still really pissed on how they handled everything and even the communications after...they certainly didn't do anything to express that they were sorry about the mistake or anything remotely close...I actually felt like shit! Great customer service...not! It's one thing to make a mistake. The key is how you handle it...

IF SOMETHING IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, YOU DON'T SHIP AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS LATER! You notify the customer and give him / her the choice of how they want to handle that order! Also if someone contact you saying they are missing a record, you don't take 2 weeks (and a claim) to get back to them to at least let them know that you have received their info and are looking into it, etc...

Anyway, I'm never ordering from them again, that's for sure!

[isavedlatin54]

Ive made many orders with SRC, and other than the weird thing i posted about a few days ago, I have had zero problems. Got sent the wrong record once, and the one i was supposed to get got sent out the same day i emailed them. its a bummer that all you folks have problems with them.

[openupyourskull]

Some good words for Heavenly Recordings:

Earlier in the year I ordered a TOY 12" directly from the Heavenly Emporium, waited weeks for it in the mail. I know international shipping can take a while, but after about 4 weeks of it not arriving, I sent them an email just to check on things. Danny Mitchell (the label boss I belive) personally emailed me apologizing and sent me off another copy the next day, no questions asked, even covering international shipping. Recieved it a week later.

Excellent label, love doing business with them.

[HiEverythingsGreat]

BEST:

No Idea Records - cheap stuff and pretty fast shipping considering I live in Canada. It's not that expensive to ship here either (compared to Interpunk, holy crap). I think it was under $7 for the shipping and PayPal fee. The customer service is great too. Within a day they responded to my email.

Kings Road Merch/Epitaph - I had a question about the women's shirt sizes for the pre-order of Motion City Soundtrack's "Go" and the customer service guy actually found out what brand and style the shirts were being printed on and sent me a size chart. The whole thing, back and forth emails and what not, was resolved in a few days.

TDR Records - you can email Mike (the owner) and he can give you a good deal on shipping. He will also probably include a bunch of freebies, like posters, flyers, stickers, etc. in your order and will always include a personalized thank you note on Dunder Mifflin stationary. And he's the master of packing things. He managed to comfortably fit 6 CDs, a 7", and lots of posters and stickers into a medium-sized bubble mailer.

[HiEverythingsGreat]

I wanted to do this separately so it wouldn't be one huge post. Anyways.

WORST:

MerchNow - it took them very long to actually ship out my order after I initially placed it, then nearly a month passes and nothing's come in. Then I get an email saying that my order was returned to them (they didn't say why) and that if I wanted it to be mailed out again I would have to pay the shipping again within 5 days, otherwise I would only be refunded the cost of the items. Since PayPal always takes a while transferring money, I asked if they could just wait a little bit longer and their customer service rep said that would be fine and that they would make a note of it. I guess she didn't because I ended up being refunded and ripped off the cost of shipping. SO I had to redo my entire order again, wait forever for it to be shipped out again, then wait forever for it to actually come in. I placed my initial order in May and I got it around the time my Gaslight Anthem record came in. So near the end of July? Wow.

MadMerch - This was probably the absolute worst experience I've ever had. In January I pre-ordered a really great bundle for Anthony Raneri's "New Cathedrals" EP. I waited about two months, because I thought that the reason why it was taking so long was because it had to ship to Canada. Nothing came. I emailed them, sent them a copy of my receipt, and told them they charged my credit card. Then they tell me that they "don't have my order on file" so they did not refund me anything. Then I find out that they only ship within the US. If you only ship within the US then DON'T HAVE A LIST OF COUNTRIES TO CHOOSE FROM WHEN YOU ENTER YOUR SHIPPING ADDRESS. This was before their website makeover and I believe they have fixed this now. To this day I still have not received my bundle and they ripped me off nearly $30. Also, they always give me sass when I email them. Hopefully I can get a hold of Anthony/Bayside when they're finished with this tour and this will be resolved.

[azvd]

Just won a claim against Midheaven. They were always great to deal with, big distributors but my latest order wnet on hold, they ignored any e-mails I sent them asking for changes on status which took me to a PayPal dispute. It's a shame I had to burn that bridge, they were handy for that or another item sold out at the label but still available there.

[gentlesenator]

I really don't understand why Matador has such a problem

A. Packing LPs sufficiently - they always arrive poorly placed in some sort of cardboard mailer with bent corners, etc.

B. Responding to e-mails.

They're a a pretty popular and successful label, yes? Seriously.

I opted to give them another chance after my last miserable experience, but the record I ordered arrived in a bent, flimsy box. That meant the record itself was warped and the sleeves mangled. 2 days later and they have yet to respond to any e-mails. Last time I had this problem I only got resolve by involving PayPal. Pity.

[searos]

Wanted to give props to Andrew at http://chiselrecords.com/main/

They are doing free shipping for orders like 30-40 dollars and they had some great stuff. It came within a week and I got exactly what I wanted . The package was sealed good and came with a bonus cd, a handwritten thank you card, and the albums. The site lacks a lot of description about specific pressings but has some really hard to find stuff and the owner is really easy to get in contact with by email or on the forums here. I managed to get a first pressing of My Everest by The Swellers (Hand Screened Cover /Mixed Color ltd. 300), Ups and Downsizing by The Swellers (Dirt Color ltd. 333), and Menos El Oso (Black) all for 39 dollars. The Free Shipping deal runs till October 23rd These records are hard to find and are now valuable parts of my collection.

The service was great, the communication was great, the shipments came fast, and the products on the site were relatively hard to find stuff. I actually really am happy to own My Everest cause how great the album is and how rare it is.

I just wanted to tell people to check them out. Apparently they have been around for like 2 years and honestly gonna be checking them out more. Everything about the transaction and product search really went well so its fair that someone boasts about them cause it is a great independent distro.

[jerseydave77]

Warner/Electra

1. Never sent me items.

2.Claimed they did.

3. I File Paypal Claim.

4. They tell me to return merchandise to receive a refund.

5. Reread #1

6. Warner Electra once again wins asshole of the year award - a repeat performance after fucking up the Flaming Lips/Yoko Ono split in dramatic fashion.

7. I offer hearty congratulations to Warner Electra for their consistent history of being the absolute worst when it comes to customer service. Well done ladies and gentlmen - may you all have as obnoxious an experience as I have in your daily dealings.

(After 6 weeks Paypal found in my favor since all of Warner's responses were contradictory)

[xjustinxschwierx]

^liked because you won...wow...that's kinda nuts, how were you ordering direct through the label?

[jerseydave77]

It was their webstore Justin. I mean, it was insane. They admitted I never got the items within 24 hours. I asked for them to be shipped out. They told me they can't communicate except through Paypal. Then they responded asking me to send back the items. It was so looney that eventually Paypal got tired of it too and deducted the money from them and returned it to me.

[jerseydave77]

And yeah, winning is good but when I add up the 3-4 hours of time wasted getting the refund it means I lost out financially in the end to get back $32.

[brandonsd]

Just wanted to give people who have been dicked around by SRC a little helpful advice that worked for me.

Awhile back I placed two orders within two days of each other. One was a pre-order that was due to come out about a week and a half later and the other was for three records that all showed they were in stock. To make a long story short I went through all the same bullshit everyone else has talked about. Things showed shipped when they hadn't been, all of a sudden they were out of records they said they had in stock, they'd say that it was coming in within the next few days and it never did etc. Eventually I emailed and ask that they just refund me my money because I was sick of waiting for them to get their shit together and I had already found other places to get the records I wanted and then they stopped replying to emails all together. At this point it had been about a month and a half since I placed my orders so I called my bank and disputed the chargers explaining that I paid and never received the product. They opened an investigation and immediately refunded me for both orders I placed with SRC. The next day I emailed SRC to let them know I was disputing the charge and they magically found all of the records I had been waiting on and shipped them out the next day even though I told them not to because I had already ordered them from somewhere else. I got those records a week later and was then sitting on two copies of each of them because I had also received the order I had placed for the albums SRC had lagged so bad on. So I email them asking for the address of where I should send the records back probably about five or six times and they never replied to tell me how to get them back to them. I knew that if the bank finished their investigation and found I did eventually received the product they could take back the money they had refunded me. I thought it was a pretty fucking dirty move to refuse to tell me how to return their shit to them. Anyway, in the end the bank concluded the investigation, I kept my refund and the records. I'm not exactly sure how that all worked but I assume if a company is run so poorly they can't even keep their inventory and stock straight, they probably aren't savvy enough to figure out how to reply to a disputed charge from the bank.

Just an option I thought might be helpful for people to be aware of if these assholes are lying and screwing you over too. I don't know if all banks work the same way (I have Bank Of America) but it worked for me.