Really poor experience with ImportCDs (Amazon Marketplace seller)

Sorry to hear about your troubles but that is not always true, I had a shipment come with a couple broken jewel cases, sent them an email and got a reply the next day. I also received a second email when the replacements were shipped.

That is the only time I have had to deal with customer service, I have approx 15 orders through them the others have been flawless.

 

I have had literally hundreds of cd's from them and the one and only time I had to email their customer service dept they got back to me very quickly and sorted out the problem I had with the same speed.

 

IT was a similar post like yours that led me to dealing with importcd.
I now have now seen enough evidence on the net that suggests my issues with this company are not isolated.
One of the constant complaints is their spotty record replying to emails and have no listed phone.
If they have been good for you I imagine it's only a matter of time.
Can't imagine this outfit can last much longer treating the customers this way.
Bottom line
All they had to do was complete the transaction as agreed to and not ask me to reorder at a higher price 4 days prior to Christmas.

 

I called the number today and the message voice says "You've called Super D."

 

They definitely did not treat you right, I will stay away from ordering "boutique label" stuff from them but some of their box set prices have been fantastic and they delivered then to me within reasonable time.

I will stay with them until they tick me off and then move elsewhere.

 

4 years of the best possible service, whenever I've chosen them based on the best price for an item.

 

I tried to give them every opportunity to correct this and failed :thumbsdn: while having my money for over a month.
When it finally arrives in stock a week later they cancelled the order and asked me to reorder at the higher price. The slight increase in price itself is not the issue but the audacity to tell me it is now in stock is what I find shocking. Wonder if I would be allowed to post the email?
As I previously said, it was a post like this that led me to them . I hope your post and the others supporting importcd do not lead to frustration for another forum member.

 

While your problems with them are real, and the other complaints are probably legit, They do have a pretty good track record. Any seller doing high volume and maintaining a 98% positive feedback rating (on amazon) is doing a good job, IMO.

If the item was out of stock/backordered when you ordered it, there's not much they could do. It's entirely possible that the item cost to importcds had increased, and they had to raise their price. This could have caused them to cancel your order. Maybe someone took exception to your inquiries and used their option to cancel after 30 days. Maybe orders are automatically canceled after that time in order to minimize backorders on the books.

Remember that it's much more likely that a dissatisfied customer will publicly complain than a satisfied customer will publicly appreciate a seller, so published criticism is not a true reflection of service.

I think calling them scammers is both unkind and unsupported. I understand your problem, but I think it's fairly minor, and not a good reason for bashing them.

 

I preordered CSN and inquired to an eta only after they missed the second promised shipping date
I sent an email on the 21st
" Do you have an eta yet?"
They sent me back an email saying the computer cancellation was automatic after 30 days and if I wanted it it is now in stock at a higher price
Scammer seems just in this case

 

I think you expect too much personal service from a high volume seller. I also think that bugging a seller for a shipping date when they haven't received product yet is asking for trouble.
You ask for too much, you don't want to just roll with it, and you complain, over and over.

If your emails to them were as annoying as your repeated complaint here, I'm not at all surprised they treated you like they did.

 

Yeah we get it, it is our fault for receiving good service from a seller and reporting it as such.

 

I recently discoverd that a friend of mine is the ex-wife of the principal owner of importscd. We were out to dinner one night and she happened to mention that they used to have a record distribution business. It turns out that I was one of their customers back in the 80s. The place was called Abbey Road Distributing and was right here in Santa Ana.

I used to buy a lot of LP's and singles there. It was mainly a wholesale distribution house, but I wormed my way in there. It wasn' setup to serve the public, but they let me go in there and browse thier racks about once a month. I probably bought 1000 records from them all told. I never sold records, but with a business named DS Audio nobody ever gave me any trouble.

Of course they are long gone, but that company sort of morphed into importscd.

 

Import CDs = Abbey Road? OMG - they used to be the main wholesalers that dealt with record importers over here. I remember reading through their catalogues!

 

I have also had a bad experience with Importcds.com. So long as they get your order right everything is gravy as they have good prices, good packaging, shipping etc. However, If the order is not right and you have to deal with customer service, good luck.

 

The store I worked at in the 90s got 99% of their stock from Abbey Road.
I remember they only had about a 30-40% fill rate on special orders, but they were great on new releases.

 

Wow small world. The guys name is Bruce Ogilvie and these articles say he joined up with them in 2001.

http://www.sdcd.com/CD-DVD-Distributor-And-One-Stop

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-retail-stores-not/4401280-1.html


Bruce Ogilvie, the former owner of super one-stop Abbey Road Distributors and onetime chairman of Wherehouse Entertainment, has bought into Super Discount CDs & DVD, a one-stop based in Irvine, Calif. Ogilvie, who will serve as CEO of Super Discount, says he bought a one-third stake but declines to reveal terms of the deal. He will co-own the company with David Hurwitz and Jeff Walker, who founded it in 1990.

Ogilvie founded Abbey Road in 1980 and built it into one of the premier one-stops of the day before selling it in 1994 to Alliance Entertainment Corp. for $35.5 million. After a year with Alliance, Ogilvie left and, in 1996, joined Wherehouse, which he led out of Chapter 11. Since then, he has been out of the music business.

Hurwitz says that he and Walker have built Super Discount into a company with annual sales of $20 million and brought in Ogilvie to help "keep the company growing." He adds, "Adding Bruce is a huge boost to our team. He has done this already, and his vision is similar to ours."

 

Another nod for ImportCD. They have been my go to for 3rd party Amazon sales and their ratings have always been way above 90%.

Who knows. The economy sucks and CD sales are way down. Small businesses selling music even on the internet are treading water to survive.

 

Isn't that the deal with any low-price supplier? I never expect the supplier with the best prices also to have the best service.

Tim

 

Wow I am surprised to hear about so many problems with ImportCD. Just a few weeks ago I ordered the Lennon Signature Box. The item was well packed but one of the CDs in the box was horribly mangled (obviously a manufacturing error). I emailed them, got a response back in 1 hr and mailed the package back. Got my refund a week after the item was marked as delivered with my tracking.

Very sorry to hear about your problem though. I will have to be a little more cautious using them I guess.

 

Have ordered a couple of doz times, never an issue, though none in the last 6mo's.

 

Strange as they have in the past with me never cancelled any order over 30 days old. They do however take your money up front and if the product is not in stock on day of release then they can be slowish in getting fresh stock in presumably because they are having difficulty in getting supplies. Who knows.

 

Had a bad deal this past Christmas, sort of. They had a great price on ABBA's "The Albums" so I ordered it for my wife. For some reason, they use DHL, who simply transfers to USPS for first class mail.

DHL had the dang package for over a week...why they don't just ship first class mail and bypass DHL is beyond me. I was short one Christmas present.

 

I order from them all the time, but only through the Amazon Marketplace. So far, so good - placed probably 20+ orders from them.

 

I've ordered from them many times with no problems. Heck, they even came through on my Aqualung box set for $76.!!

 

I wonder whether the OP resolved his problem.