? for those who order from Soundstage Direct

That's exactly right. I don't know why they didn't get out of software sales and just grow the hardware business. They are good at that. Selling vinyl isn't worth the hassle.

 

You know, with Prime the other dealers are lucky there is any business left. Put aside that we want to support more than one supplier (I do...trust me, you don't want everything coming from one dealer), and that we want to support our local brick & mortar. Most of us do I think. And lets put aside pricing...let's be honest...the prices are about the same really everywhere. And don't bring the 25% off thing...we all know people aren't getting everything they order and even if they were is it worth the aggravation? So, forgetting the practical reasons why we should support at least two dealers, the experience from Amazon is when you pre-order you generally receive it ON release day. Everything else, in two days. They are well packed, at least in my experience. If anything, they are laughably over packed. If there is any issue at all, you put it on your door step and it isn't your problem. No feeling bad that you have to burden your local dealer with it, knowing he can't return it. Why any of us by new vinyl anywhere else is an interesting question. But most of us do! But from a pure practical standpoint, Amazon has really earned all the business imo. But, I still spread it around. And I welcome any disagreement if I'm looking at this wrong!

 

I buy vinyl from Amazon a lot too, been a Prime member for a long time. I'd say Music Direct & Acoustic Sounds are my second spots, mainly for audiophile pressings that Amazon doesn't have or will ever carry. But yes, I also buy from local spots and especially if away on vacation, first thing I do is lookup record shops.

 

My pre-order that was released a month ago just shipped.. and I MIGHT get it Saturday since they upgraded my shipping. Nothing ever progressed from "processing" until I complained. Then more delays until I complained again. It's absurd for a company to charge your card on a pre-order if they aren't even shipping on release date. I'd rather support local stores vs. Amazon, but SSD has totally lost my business.

 

That's been the thing that frustrates me. Not only does it take weeks or sometimes months, but the only time I can get them to move on my orders is when I begin to relentlessly hound them. I don't have time to chase down goods for money that's already gone from my bank account.

 

To SSD's credit Seth actually did reach out to me this morning to make things right. I'm still frustrated by the whole experience, but it's worth noting Seth still cares. It's annoying because he seems like such a nice guy I'd love to give him my business if they could get their shipping issues corrected.

 

Yes I agree. I'm definitely rooting for them to turn it around. But like I said, I just don't have time for it. It's been my last 3-4 orders. My poor mother even had to go through hell with them for 2 items she's ordered for my birthday in consecutive years and that was 2 and 3 years ago. Hope they turn it around but I'm not taking another gamble until I start to see positive comments here.

 

Well, I emailed to cancel my order for Pulse and i have not heard a reply yet. I just decided to call them and ask when it will ship and was told they are still shipping preorders and that next week they will be receiving the rest and mine should go out, said they would keep an eye out to make sure it ships. From reading this thread and going by their website were almost everything says this within 4-7 business days means that don't have anything in stock on hand.

 

I received an email from SSD today indicating that the copy of Pulse I ordered on 9 April had shipped.

 

Still processing my order from 5/15! I ordered something on 4/21 and a few weeks after being in the processing stage I cancelled it. Got a refund and store credit which was nice. Have given them a second chance with this recent order but it’s approaching a month. Seth seems like a great dude and I feel bad this is happening. But waiting this long does not look good for his company. Ive ordered stuff from eBay and The Sound Of Vinyl (excellent company) and it all got here within 7 days from ordering. While this one is still processing. Frustrating to say the least. And that’s being nice.

 

Never again. Just cancelled my second order from them. This one too was in processing over 4 weeks. Done with these people.

 

I emailed them to cancel my order, haven't heard back from them yet. Its funny how they send you 20% coupons every freakin' week too and they don't stock anything. Ridiculous!

 

I keep reading these threads and I keep laughing...why on earth do they keep sending out solicitations for vinyl orders?? They just offered to hand deliver and set up a turntable to a forum friend of mine who is local to them. Now, that's pretty darn nice! And that sounds like the Seth I know (he's the owner). Why offer such incredible service for hardware and then drop the ball on a business that I don't even know why they are in? It's a way to start and get their name out, but why do it now? Weird indeed. And I agree...I don't really think they stock much vinyl, which would perfectly explain the very common shipping issues. And I wouldn't either...that business model sucks! But I wouldn't be in that low margin business to begin with.

 

Just cancelled three orders that I've placed with them. The last straw was not shipping out the ZZ Top Cinco No.2 after two weeks of waiting. They charge immediately, so there's really no excuse to wait that long to ship. Haven't heard back from them after two days either; I'm sure they're more enthused about taking money than giving it back. Elusive Disc and Music Direct are a one-day ship for me, so that's where I'll be going from now on.

Shame what SSD has come to--I've done a lot of business with them over the years, but their service on LPs is now quite poor.

 

I sent them a nasty email stating the same thing, you take my money immediately but have nothing to send to me for weeks. Music Direct, Elusive Disc and Acoustic Sounds are way more reliable to do business with.

 

Just had to send my own "nasty" email (actually it was polite but forceful) today. They've ignored two previous messages to cancel my orders, so maybe this one will do the trick. Or I'll simply contact PayPal this evening and start a refund through them. Funny that they couldn't respond to my email, but did manage to send about half a dozen sales emails to me over the weekend.

I know I'll never use SSD again, no matter how many "25% off" deals they offer.

 

I’m going through PayPal also to get my money back. They are still not responding through PayPal with my case. I bet they are purposely ignoring my request to get my item out to me. This company is horrible.

Did you notice on the newest 25% off coupon email they state better things are coming like faster ship times.

 

I did, but they also--if I remember correctly--stated the same thing several months ago with a promise that "things are going to really improve around here" and look where we're at. Kind of way too little way too late for me. And to not refund money to customers when they request it (and when they've already taken your money) borders on "shady" to say the least.

 

Finally received my refund of $75.00 through PayPal dispute and also the Better Business Bureau. Seems like this is the only way Seth & Co. reply to problems. I’m done, never ever do business again with them.

 

I ordered a turntable May 4, was told it could take up to 4 weeks to process, we’re now around 6 weeks and no response to multiple emails. I also have an outstanding vinyl order for nearly as long.

I’m a reasonable person and can be patient. But not being transparent about wait times upfront and not communicating reasonably accurate delivery times, followed by no communication at all is simply unacceptable.

 

Does anyone here ordered from Soundstage Direct? I ordered 2 Chicago LPs back in April, they arrived the first of June. I ordered another LP last week, the payment was made, but now My order isn't even on the website.
I have been trying to call customer service, but every time I get the "answering service". When at work, I don't have time to leave a message and wait for a call back. Is their service so bad that they can't even handle phone calls? Has anyone else had this kind of trouble?

 

Not in the slightest. Last thing I ordered from them was the Master Of Puppets deluxe box a while back, and they did everything great.

 

I just cancelled an order yesterday for a VPI Prime I made on May 5; I sure hope the cash is back in my paypal account today.

Not sure what the heck is going on. I know VPI was behind in manufacturing (I spoke with them directly), and Seth really is a nice guy. Talked to him last week, and he said the Prime would be shipping to him and that I would have it this week. VPI told me they hadn't sent him anything, and actually sounded pretty surprised that I had been waiting 7 weeks.

I am pretty patient, too. I'm currently waiting for an Ars-Sonum Gran Filarmonia tube integrated to be hand made in Spain that I ordered back in April, and at the time I was told it would take about 3 months. Received messages since (from the owner) about the status, and found out it is complete and now in the initial burn-in/testing phase. I don't mind waiting if the expectation of that is noted at the outset, and the communication is there; especially when one drops over $5k on a piece of equipment. I would think that VPI would have contacted said dealers and said "by the way, we are having some production issues and your orders will be delayed a few weeks". Not a problem.

I don't want to bad-mouth anyone. Seth offered a $250 gift certificate for music when he found out I would be moving, and when I cancelled, offered a hefty discount on a Rega RP10 (I have a dealer literally 5 minutes from me that I use) that he has in stock. When you reach out to him, he does get back to you (although his voice mailbox was full and I sent him a text yesterday)...but it does seem that you have to push in order to get movement. Many folks have had great results with SSD, but I'm going to stay local as much as possible. Again, this isn't intended to be mean-spirited in any way; just sharing my experience.

 

I ordered my my Avenger from SSD. Everything went beautifully. The TT arrived in time. I know VPI is running behind and they don't always have the most accurate info. VPI sent my TT with the wrong arm. SSD took care of the problem in a day.

Jay at SSD does great work for TT setup. I would buy from them again.

 

If a merchant gets too many chargebacks their credit card merchant account will be closed. And that’s usually the end of the line. Doesn’t mean that will happen with SSD. I just wonder if people here are seeing all these issues, what the general public is running into! I can imagine a lot of chargebacks are going on.