Bob Dylan: Bootleg Series Vol 13 Trouble No More -- Pricing & Shipping Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by HominyRhodes, Sep 20, 2017.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. G L Tirebiter

    G L Tirebiter Forum Resident

    Location:
    east of Pittsburgh
    Maybe that was about the time the doorbell broke?
     
    bluesbro and Brian Doherty like this.
  2. Brian Doherty

    Brian Doherty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA
    Tirebiter, I love a good Dylan lyric gag so much I can "like" thru my tears.
     
    HominyRhodes likes this.
  3. JMGuerr

    JMGuerr Forum Resident

    Location:
    new mexico
    Hmm...interesting. My package has no DHL labels/stickers of any kind. The shipping label reads:

    From
    One Live Media 04 Austin One Live Media
    9201 Brown Ln
    Austin TX 78754
    United States

    To
    ----
    -----
    Mississauga, On L4Y 4K7
    Canada

    Package arrived earlier today, left at the front door by the postman...no duties/taxes.
     
    HominyRhodes likes this.
  4. redsock

    redsock Writer, reader, grouch.

    I will mention that when I talk to DHL. The return address on my package is:

    DHL eCommerce
    4 -- 355 Admiral Blvd.
    Mississauga, ON L5Y 2N1
     
  5. shepherdfan

    shepherdfan Western European Socialist Music Lover

    Location:
    Eugene, OR
    Sigh! Mine still hasn't arrived.
     
    HominyRhodes likes this.
  6. joannenugent

    joannenugent Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast USA
    Bwahahaha that is hilarious! But congratulations on the vinyl box set!

    I sent Sandbag an e-mail today and was told that if I don't receive the set by the end of the week, they will mail me out another copy (presumably when they get restocked). They seemed rather polite and apologetic about it all.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2017
    mrjinks likes this.
  7. HominyRhodes

    HominyRhodes Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago
    :yikes: Wow, you really laid it all out there, didn't you? If that doesn't get their attention, I don't know what will.
     
    redsock, mrjinks and Jimmy B. like this.
  8. DmitriKaramazov

    DmitriKaramazov Senior Member

    I think it’s just a gol dang OUTRAGE that so many still have not received the deluxe set, for which they paid a premium price too. Un freaking believable

    :yikes:

    — David
     
    streetlegal and HominyRhodes like this.
  9. hodgo

    hodgo Tea Making Gort (Yorkshire Branch) Staff

    Location:
    East Yorkshire
    Guys, as an outside observer having ordered my set from Amazon, I have to say I'm horrified at the appalling service you all have and are receiving. If anything having ordered directly from the Dylan site, you guys should be reciving your boxes on release day at the very latest and not still waiting almost two weeks later.

    Can I ask what you will do for future releases?

    For example, when BS14 is released and it once again comes with an exclusive set in the same way that BS 13 did, would you still order from BD.com or has this put you all off for good?
     
    DmitriKaramazov and Peter_R like this.
  10. bubba-ho-tep

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

    Location:
    San Tan Valley, AZ
    For me, it will depend on the actual service provider. If it's Sandbag again, probably not. At the very least, I would spring for the more expensive FedEx option. I've had my fill of DHL.
     
    hodgo likes this.
  11. hodgo

    hodgo Tea Making Gort (Yorkshire Branch) Staff

    Location:
    East Yorkshire
    What was the price difference between Fed Ex and the alternative option? Going for a cheaper option shouldn't mean you have to endure such apalling service, at most there should only be a couple of days difference between the two options
     
  12. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client


    I'll order from BD.com for the exclusive bonus. Reluctantly, though. My experience with Sandbag was not so bad but the experience other people have had leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    I would have thought the best way for Sony / BD.com to distribute an exclusive next time around is to choose a big multi-national player as a partner that can deal with the demand that a release like this generates around the world. A****n is the obvious choice; maybe there are others.
     
    HominyRhodes and hodgo like this.
  13. hodgo

    hodgo Tea Making Gort (Yorkshire Branch) Staff

    Location:
    East Yorkshire
    There have to be tried and tested companies that other artists use who can offer a far better service than these guys have.

    For the additional cost you guys paid everyone should have have got the set on release day. I paid £103 inc P&P for my box and received it within two days, the cost from the official Dylan site was £161 inc P&P, even taking into account San Deigo, with that kind of price difference you paid a massive premium, at the very least they should be refunding all delivery charges for such an appaling service.

    Guys you must not let this ride, badger Dylan & Sony big time because you all deserve better.
     
    HominyRhodes and mrjinks like this.
  14. bubba-ho-tep

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

    Location:
    San Tan Valley, AZ
    I don't think that it was that much more expensive.
     
  15. jsb!

    jsb! Forum Resident

    FYI, everyone:

    Today marking one week since the last update
    on my tracking, and no box arriving miraculously without tracking, I wrote a firm but polite email to sandbag (via the contact form linked from my shipping email). About half an hour after I sent that, I got a response apologising for the delay & saying:

    We are extremely unsatisfied with the service you have experienced from the courier in this instance and will happily refund your entire shipping costs for this order.

    So that’s something: $32 USD/approx $40 AUD back. Now, let’s see if/when I actually get the box...
     
    HominyRhodes likes this.
  16. Percy Song

    Percy Song A Hoity-Toity, High-End Client

    I would have done the same as you (although when I looked briefly at other sites on the day the BD.com offer was announced the best price I could see was £134) but for me San Diego was an absolute requirement and was worth the additional cost. I did get it on release day so my only complaint was that I was informed that my parcel was being shipped 9 hours after I had received it! Also, the use of DHL/UKMail would not have been my choice if I had been given one.
     
    HominyRhodes likes this.
  17. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    I think a major point is that Bob Dylan Industries, Inc. should never again require anyone to buy from one exclusive dealer only to obtain exclusive music content. I could give a hoot if that outfit offered an exclusive photo print, hand numbered by the photographer, with purchases from bd.com. That's OK. But don't do it with the music anymore. Put it out for everyone, in all international markets. No more elite dealerships for Dylan's music.
     
  18. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    I just received this email from Sandbag. they want me to wait up to 72 hours to get a reply from DHL (or Sandbag, that is unclear)

    As I noted before, it doesn't even take 26 hours to drive a 1956 Buick from Houston to my front door. Just deliver the package in 72 hours.

    I do not expect the package or a reply from DHL/Sandbag in 72 hours. In 60 hours, I'll be seeing Bob Dylan.

    Maybe Bob will announce before the show that any bobdylan.com customers who have not received their package should come to his bus after the show and he will give them signed copies.


    Here is the email:

    Thank you for your email.
    I have emailed DHL for an urgent update on your order. Please allow 24 - 72 hours for a response.
    Apologies for the wait.

    Kindest regards,
    Jordan
     
    mrjinks and hodgo like this.
  19. John Rhett Thomas

    John Rhett Thomas Forum Resident

    Location:
    Macon, GA, USA
    At this stage, all this "wait 24-72 hours" is playing out the clock. They're hoping you get your set finally and are thus mollified, because you're off losing yourself in the art of Bob Dylan which means they never have to hear from you again which means they're off the hook.

    Two things seem pretty clear to me at this point, though they result in a single outcome: one, they've either engaged in intentional fraud to induce us into using their services on the pretense that we'd get the box in a time frame we desired, or they've been incompetent from the start but have doubled down on this incompetence by stringing us along and lying to us in a lazy and disinformational "customer service" posture.

    The only single positive thing they've done for me in customer service was refund a shipping cost that wasn't worth what they charged in the first place. That superficial act is all they've done. Their words of concern are hollow because all their actions have been obfuscation, Bizarro World tracking numbers, and radio silence.

    We know from DHL that Sandbag INTENDED to send these items bulk mail. Does anyone know how bulk mail works? I'm not a postal worker (and I open the following to improvement from someone who is) but this is a thumbnail sketch based on my understanding of how things work: Items of a like packing size/weight are picked up from the source location, in this case the Sandbag distribution point in Austin. They are then taken to a regional DHL staging location (in this case Houston) and they sit there and wait until they are joined by enough other parcels of a similar proportion and weight to justify the costs in shipping them to their next staging area (a more local distribution point narrow. (This includes non-Bob Dylan stuff, btw.) Your item could sit in Houston for days waiting for a critical mass of other stuff to trigger the next stage in delivery. So when that critical mass finally hits and they have a full truck (or plane) it goes from Houston to, in my case, Orlando. There it gets to sit for more days waiting and waiting.

    See, with bulk mailing, your package is not treated as an individual package but as a tiny part of a big mass of packages that only moves when the size/weight ratios trigger a little "Profit!!" ding ding sound in the DHL logistics department. USPS Priority Mail treats your delivery as an individual item with its own travel arc. Not so with bulk mailing. Your package is at the mercy of the Borg, to borrow from Star Trek. It has been assimilated.

    Remember: This is not about what we paid Sandbag, it's about the super discount rate Sandbag is paying DHL. It wouldn't surprise me if the unit cost for them was half what we paid for "USPS Priority Mail" and that Sandbag is making a nice profit on the margins based on what they charged us for shipping.

    Everything they've said about "looking into this" is dog and pony stuff. There's not much to "look into" in a bulk mailing dynamic. It's not like some DHL shlub is going to go rummage around and pick your item out and report back to Sandbag, "Hey, we found it, you can reassure your loyal customer who paid a premium!" Insinuations to that effect are part of the customer service snow job.

    Once they bait and switched us into bulk mail delivery we were STUCK with this scenario. Nothing was gonna change it. And they know that. They've always known it. They've probably got the shipping refunds they've handed out to their most irate customers built into the P+L (profit and loss) configurations.

    Can you tell I'm righteously steamed about this?
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2017
  20. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    Plus, they charged more than $20 above the basic price for the item that all other dealers are charging, most with free delivery that works quickly
     
    hodgo likes this.
  21. htom

    htom Senior Member

    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    My package arrived yesterday afternoon. No duties charged either.
     
    HominyRhodes likes this.
  22. mrjinks

    mrjinks Optimistically Challenged

    Location:
    Boise, ID.
  23. dbacon

    dbacon Forum Resident

    My box arrived yesterday...but my promised shipping refund has not arrived
     
    HominyRhodes likes this.
  24. dormouse

    dormouse Forum Resident

    This has been an intetesting experience that I genuinely hope everyone, including Bob's people will learn from.

    1. I agree with a previous poster. If you want to offer something extra don't make it the music. It is not fair that genuine fans miss out on this because they either cannot afford to pay so much extra or no longer trust the delivery methods.

    2. Ensure transparency in terms of the delivery methods and expected arrival dates - preferably release date.

    3. Ensure that the packages are appropriately packed. Mine had no padding of any kind and rattled around unsupported inside a wraparound card sleeve. It was damaged.

    4. Ensure working tracking. A good proportion of people here were either given incorrect numbers or misleading information.

    5. Ensure that honest delivery companies are used and that they do deliver correctly. I was told my package had been delivered on release date even though people were in and no delivery attempt note was left. Subsequently at a later date a first delivery note was left although again people were at home. The reference on the note was incorrect which meant that I had no idea how to contact the delivery people as no info other than a web address which required a valid ref no. was included on the note in order to enquire. After enquiring to an executive email address I was advised that it had been delivered to an unknown neighbour with no address and then that it was available for collection at a collection centre. I asked for a guarantee that it was there and drove to collect it. I was then informed that it was delivered and signed for by a second unknown person. When I expressed my dismay they admitted that they had made a mistake and they did have it. It was then handed over in a damaged state. I asked then to note that it was damaged and they would not even look at it. Jokers. I emailed the executive email contact again and after a week had to remind them that they had not responded to the complaint. They were not interested and passed the buck to the sender.

    I've not gone through every stage of the fiasco here but it does give some idea of how never to ship another premium package in future.

    Eveyone out there still waiting has my deepest sympathy. We should not have posters equating the purchase of a deluxe music item with family bereavements and divorces. But we have. Shame on everyone involved.
     
  25. Just click the FedEx option next time. That worked perfectly for most (not all) orders
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine