Thoughts on ClassicSelect?

What are people's experiences with ClassicSelect?

Excluding downloads, I have placed four orders with them.

The first was the Szell box set. It shipped 38 days after I placed my order.

Okay, that was an outlier. I can live with that.

Then I ordered the Bernstein Vocal Works. It shipped after 30 days.

I have two "unfulfilled" orders, made respectively 37 and 32 days ago, and counting. Fairly recent stuff, complete Emanuel Ax, that sort of
thing.

You can sense a pattern here.

Keep in mind that they charge when an order is placed, not when it is mailed. So, I feel like I'm not placing an order as much as floating
them a loan.

And their customer service is sub-optimal. Lots of unanswered emails and the ones that are answered contain little useful information.

Packaging was fine, btw. No issues there.

Still, three orders--excluding the Szell--is a pretty small sample size.

So, I thought I would try to gather more info before writing them off.

Has anyone placed an order with them and had it filled in a timely manner, say a week or less?

Or is 4-6 weeks or so standard operating procedure?

 

Hello JimSumner, I am in the same boat, I have two very large orders (almost $500) pending with them including the Beethoven DG, Szell and Bernstein boxes, 3 weeks and counting now. The owner always says "it will be shipped in the next 2-3 days" and has promised yesterday that it will ship next week. Hoping for the best!

 

I received my Szell box nearly two months after I ordered it. During the long wait, Greg at ClassicSelect didn't answer many emails, but when he did he was always polite and confident that ClassicSelect would deliver when it could. The surprisingly heavy box was well packed and arrived in perfect condition, and the price was better than any other retailer's. After awhile, I won't remember how long I waited and I'll still have the joy of the music.

 

I had a similar experience. Long wait, but in the end a delivery and a good deal.

 

Similar situation here. I have 2 unfulfilled orders totaling about $900. Both over a month old.

It’s pretty obvious that they most likely have no stock of their own, and just use our money to obtain items from their sources. I should have known better based upon their Szell box set semi-fiasco.

At the beginnings of ecommerce, I placed orders with a fledgling company that used a similar business model. Well they went belly up, leaving all of its customers without paid goods and a diminished bank accounts. The only saving grace was that the credit card company American Express refunded all of us...out of the goodness of their hearts. Those were the days!

I don’t think that I’ll ever order from this company again in the future.

“Live and learn”...is that a saying?

 

This is disappointing. I was preparing to place my first order with them. A better option for classical music bargains it seems is Berkshire Record Outlet. They are very trustworthy and reliable, have all their CDs in stock, and offer amazing deals. The old-style website is also charming and very effective for browsing and finding what you want.

 

I've made two orders from ClassicSelect. The first took a couple of weeks. I then ordered again in July. I received one of the owner's effusive emails telling me how devoted he is to providing me great service and how much he wants to hear from me. As the months went by, I wrote twice to ask how things stood. I got no reply. I finally canceled the order. While their inventory is different, I agree with the comment above about Berkshire Record Outlet; I've had excellent service from them for years.

 

Yes, same story here. Looong wait for the Szell box, and not being overly confident that it would ever arrive, I purchased elsewhere in the interim. Now I have 2! But placed an order for 3 other box sets on 9/26 and then the Callas box on 10/2 taking advantage of the 50% off he offered to those Szell purchasers who had to wait so long. Sent Greg an email early this morning asking for an update on those, and no response as yet.

I think (hope) they will get here. But seems that this 1-2 month delay is SOP. Some great prices, but looks like you have to order and forget about it for a while, keep fingers crossed and be pleasantly surprised when you actually get them. Helluva way to shop and kinda frustrating, but after a summer screwing by soundstagedirect, I can live with delayed shipment on great prices as long as I get them!

 

Why choose them in the first place, I don't see they anything exclusive?
Their 'about us' would lead me to believe they are all 'senior citizens' so maybe no one there is in a hurry?
I would be reluctant to place an order with them and I do buy Classical online so thank you for bringing this to my attention
Biggest negative for me was the use of Media Mail

 

For me, they had the best price on the Szell box around, and not by an insignificant amount. And subsequent orders were because of a deep discount offered. For example, the EMI Callas Complete Studio Recordings 70 CD box for $40!

 

Well, I'm glad you got your music
Still, seems more a hobby than a serious business

 

I do not like posting this but am never going to purchase from them again no matter how low their prices are especially after receiving a very long email from the owner clearly decrying how unreasonable my expectation was of receiving regular replies/updates from them or expecting the order to be shipped within 2-3 weeks (and am not even talking about the big box-sets here plus its already been over a month of placing the orders) and how he has a "booming" business but he can not get his distributors to fulfill his orders in time and why he does not see anything wrong with charging up front even when the item(s) will take several weeks or even months to ship. His whole attitude was like he is doing me a favor Learnt my lesson and never again.

 

When something seems to good to be true it usually is, or at least a pain in the butt
When a dozen sellers want one thing and one seller wants another and it's much less then that should tell you something right there
There's no free lunch, and if there ever is it's usually for a limited time only
I try to avoid mail order music but when I have to I go with reputable vendors that can take care of any problems should they arise
Meaning, they got the inventory

 

I agree, it is a pain in the butt for sure.

 

latest update from the owner for anyone still looking to purchase from them:

Updates on Shipping and Changes at ClassicSelect

 

Still waiting over 2 months for both orders to be fulfilled

 

I would email the owner, Greg, to cancel the orders and refund you the money, they do not have most of the items in stock and depend on their distributors to ship it to them first which takes forever. I had to run around 3-4 days to get a refund from them so I wish you good luck for that process as well.

 

The note about labels shifting to CD-Rs is chilling. It makes no sense to collect CD-Rs, so I believe my CD collecting days might be coming to an end.

 

Despite the warnings on this thread I was seduced by ClassicSelect's seemingly amazing prices and decided to place an order. Three weeks later and having received no CDs or communications, I emailed them to ask for an update. Several days went by without a response so I wrote again. No response either. Finally, fed up with waiting and receiving no replies, I wrote for a third time warning them I would request a chargeback. Immediately I was issued a refund.

By ordering from ClassicSelect then I lost the opportunity of buying the CDs somewhere else and take advantage of the great sales that were ongoing at other retailers. Do not order from them unless your aim is to park your money for a month and receive nothing. AVOID.

 

Yeah, of the 4 box sets I ordered from them in late September/early October, I've received 3 in 2 different shipments, the last one just about a week ago. Hoping for the last box set to come in at some point and then I'm done with them also. I could live with waiting for a month or even 5-6 weeks for a great price on something that I'm in no great hurry to hear, but when it gets to the 2-3 month period, time to abandon ship. And, as is pointed out, their (his) communications skills suck.

 

On feb 14, they said they’d be up and running again “next week”...but there’s still nothing. Should we all give up on them ever coming back?

 

Looks like they haven't paid their dues to the web-site hosting company Shopify