ImportCDs.com and bad customer service

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by rednoise, Jul 29, 2014.

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  1. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    The past few months I've noticed that importcds is undercutting their competition by a good buck or two on Amazon. Something's going on. I don't like the flimsy carboard mailer thingies, but I can deal with it.
     
  2. Jerryb

    Jerryb Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I use both Importcds and Deep Discount. I think they're the same company. I put what I want into my shopping cart at both sites and whichever comes out cheaper I order from. Sometimes there's a quite a bit of difference bewteen the two depending on what you're ordering.
     
  3. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    Heads up: Importcds 'upgraded' their whole thing from here and my Cart and Watchlist all went empty. You might want to make a note or something if it matters to you.
     
  4. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage

    Yea, I lost my cart. Still trying to remember what I had in there. The Spring sale should be around the corner?
     
  5. ShallowMemory

    ShallowMemory Classical Princess

    Location:
    GB
    My latest Imports cd order came through fine crossing the Atlantic. Sometimes the offers sell out but a good 95% of times I get what what ordered cheaply so I don't mind the risk.
     
  6. Cousin It

    Cousin It Senior Member

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    My cart survived but the watchlist is gone.
     
  7. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    Yep , it's not there at all now. So no 'leaving it for next time' in the wishlist.
     
  8. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage

    Wish list should be fine once you recreate it. Aside from that, I've been poking around their new web site. It seems only marginally an improvement, IMO. The interface has a lot of problems still.
     
  9. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    Oh right I found it now thanks. I used to move things between Cart and Wishlist but they're not set up quite the same now but at least it's in there.
    Useful improvement for international buyers is the Cart keeps the "Country" entered and International postage whereas it used to need resetting all the time. I'd like to see a currency conversion follow the country entered now too.

    I tried to send them a nice email mentioning the above but the 'Subject' line on the 'Contact Us' is proforma and doesn't include 'Format Upgrade'.
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2015
  10. geralmar

    geralmar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan
    I've ordered from them several times over the past couple of years (always through Amazon) and have never had a problem. A curious thing happened last week, however. I placed my order late at night, experienced buyer's remorse a couple of hours later and emailed my cancellation. Minutes later I received an apologetic email from "Brandon" stating it was too late: the order was about to be shipped. Even allowing for the time zone difference, it means that importcds ships out at 2 a.m.
     
  11. I don't think they are shipping that late. Their order fulfillment department basically is a separate company and it's far removed from the customer service.
     
  12. Electric

    Electric The Medium is the Massage

    What a time I had checking out today just minutes before the end of the sale. The site wouldn't accept any of my 3 credit cards and emptied my cart after each failed attempt to purchase. Fortunately, I had a text file with all the item codes, but still, I had to refill my cart 4 or 5 times, item by item, with 13 items. Used PayPal in the end, so now I've paid upfront for the pre-orders and back-orders. Whatever.
     
  13. bubba-ho-tep

    bubba-ho-tep Resident Ne'er-Do-Well

    Location:
    San Tan Valley, AZ
    I ordered a Miles Davis MSFL SACD on the last day of the latest 10% sale in spite of my vow to never order anything from ImportCDs again (the price was simply too low to pass up). I don't know when I'll actually receive the package, but I take heart in the fact that it was shipped via USPS Parcel Select and not that lame DHL thing they were doing. This is a step in the right direction.
     
    Electric likes this.
  14. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    For what it's worth I've had excellent customer service from them on Amazon Marketplace.
     
    Jerryb likes this.
  15. Romerovm

    Romerovm Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, AL
    I just had a horrible experience with them on Amazon. I had to open a claim to get my money back after I had returned the item.
     
  16. The Lew

    The Lew Senior Member

    Have only used these guys 3 times so far. I order 1 item at the time vinyl only. Get them way cheaper than here in the UK. Takes about 12 days to deliver but hey man the Amazon Marketplace take 2 weeks to deliver so no problem. Items have arrived well packed and sealed and at a fine price. They had an offer on last week offering 10% off all purchases. I cocked it up and didn't input the promo code to get the discount. Mailed 'em to see what the score was and they replied the next day saying they would credit me the discount once the product was shipped. I'm a happy hippy with these guys SO FAR.
     
  17. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    Okay. It sounds like they have some real problems with customer service based on your experience and this thread. :(
     
    Solsbury Hill likes this.
  18. Why anyone tries to return something to ImportCDs is beyond me. I've read reports across several forums how they lose or mangle returns.
     
  19. E.Baba

    E.Baba Forum Resident

    Looks like some detail improvements and the site is working OK for me now.
     
  20. Lashing

    Lashing Well-Known Member

    Terrible company. How they make money is beyond me. Their business model is have the lowest price. No customer service, very little human involvement. They are a fraud magnet too for the same reasons. People can get free stuff all day from them because they have no one minding the store. Its all automation.

    What ImportCDs does for the general populous is not serve their music needs - but prove just how much markup is on physical media. They are owned and run by a distributor. Basically undercutting their own dealers never mind retailers. While it is expensive to produce vinyl its nowhere near what many say and Import CD's proves that with their sale prices. With their prices and rate of loss. Well they would not last a year if they didn't have a healthy markup and they have lasted far longer than that.

    I know this business a bit and tried to explain to many shop keepers just how much their distributor makes vs them. Its criminal how much markup each wholesale point makes and how little is left for the actual store selling goods. CD's and extremely cheap to produce. Most vinyl is also being made very cheaply and poorly today using CD as source with near zero mastering cost. Its all a bit of a joke.

    It also demonstrates how the business of physical media thinks. They know its dying. Which is why ImportCD's parent company doesn't not give a flying F what their dealers think of being undercut by their source.
     
    Gumboo likes this.
  21. AxC.

    AxC. Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    No, no and no way am I ever buying anything from these people again. Years ago I ordered two items from them, they proceeded to ship the cheaper item to me and place the other item on backorder. After multiple attempts to contact them via email and by phone was neglected I filed for an item not received claim. They proceeded to issue the tracking number for the one item and lied to Paypal stating both items were in there. Bunch of thieves if you ask me.
     
  22. murphywmm

    murphywmm Senior Member

    I wasn't too impressed with importcds.com recently. The "Temple of the Dog" album on vinyl was being offered by them at a good price on amazon.ca so I ordered. I received the wrong record though; they put somebody else's Etta James greatest hits record in my package (I could see the other person's name on the inside of the package). However, they don't do exchanges, only refunds... I would have to order the item again if I wanted it. By that time, their price on "Temple of the Dog" had gone up $10 and they wouldn't honour the original price.

    However, on the positive side, I will say the return process went well. They refunded me quickly after I sent the record back to them, and they also refunded my return shipping cost as well.
     
  23. RomanBlade

    RomanBlade Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Great company from my experience that often has brand new CDs cheaper than anyone else.
     
  24. ClassicRockTragic

    ClassicRockTragic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    I have purchased a lot of stuff from them and I have found them great.

    The main things are as with any big discount company

    1)the item is in stock.
    2) avoid any need to go outside their normal process. Like changing orders whether it be items, shipping etc.
    3) avoid returns unless absolutely necessary.

    My friend ended up with someone's order by accident, he contacted them, they told him to keep the CDs ( international customer) and resolved the issue with the other customer.
     
    E.Baba and PhantomStranger like this.
  25. Jimi Bat

    Jimi Bat Forum Resident

    Location:
    tx usa
    They just canceled my preorder of our hosts mastering of The Best Of The Doors due to the item being out of stock.
    Only thing is this disc doesn't come out for another four weeks so why are the taking preorders in the first place if they are just going to cancel them?
    Any suggestions on where to preorder this and get a good price from a vender that will actually accept the order and ship it when its available?
     
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