How long to wait before lodging a complaint?

Hi,

I ordered a CD on Discogs from a guy who had 98% positive feedback. I'd paid him 6 days ago and the item status has not updated from Payment Pending yet. I sent an email yesterday and again this morning request a status on my order since I'd paid via PayPal the same day I made the order.

Thanks.
Eric

 

I'd give him at least 24 hours to respond to your latest email before making a complaint. Then I'd do it.

 

I ordered an lp from a shop in LA on Discogs over four weeks ago and finally got it yesterday. It also remained Payment Pending for over a week and it took them three weeks to finally ship it but only after I demanded a refund. They wouldn't answer emails for over a week. Needless to say that I'm done with them.

 

Frustrating for sure, but give it a few days. He’s got your money and your CD, so just show patience and make a note never to buy from him again.

 

Thanks guys. I'll exercise patience on my end before I complain. Then I wont be using their marketplace again. Same thing happened on eBay too. I ordered my CD at the start of May. I'm told to wait until June 3rd for delivery. Then I contacted them today through eBay and the dude replies that because of the delays with EMS from Japan, I should give it another 2 months. I nuked him back in my reply that he must have chosen the cheapest shipping option as there wasn't even tracking info for the shipment. I'm going to rip that guy good when I finally get my goods and just forget about eBay too I think. It just doesn't seem to be worth the hassles to buy via the grey market and have to deal with all the shenanigans.

 

All shipping has been unreliable and heavily delayed since the Coronavirus lockdown. I had a package from Europe take 2.5 months.

If you can't deal with delays, then don't buy at all, or at least don't buy from overseas. A month from Japan? That's nothing.

 

Same of course in reverse: On this June 6th I finally received a package of two records from a US record shop. I had placed my order (and payed) on April 6th.
So it took literally 2 months to go from Toledo, Ohio to France. But they got their money, I got my records, everybody is happy.

 

Due to Covid some sellers are only posting once a week. Problem with Discogs is once they move to the next stage they are meant to post within a certain timescale that is not Covid friendly. We as buyers need to be a bit patient, however sellers could do with a bit better communication and most folks would be happy just knowing the situation.

 

Let us now how this turns out!

 

Which is ironic because due to Covid, people are frequently on their computers, perhaps more than normal -- is it really that hard to post an update?

 

Could be tricky if you’re hooked up to a ventilator

 

Agree we should all be more understanding and cut folks some slack these days.

That said, if you don't hear from a discogs seller for 4 days (or maybe it's 5), I believe the discogs system gives you an option to indicate that you haven't heard from the seller and then discogs sends them a message saying they have to contact you or else their account will be suspended.

Also, I would be hesitant to order from a seller with 98% feedback. Not because I am a stickler or harsh, but rather because unless it's a very small-volume seller with one negative feedback, a 98% rating is low in the context of discogs. Most medium and large-volume sellers have feedback well over 99%.

 

Thanks for letting me know this.

 

Agreed. That's the communication bit.

I bought from one chap who advised straight away that he was in a rural area and the local post office was closed due to Covid so I would have to wait until it reopened - no issue with me - at least I knew the situation and simply waited.

However I had another seller who took 10 days to post with no communication. Turns out he had similar issues but wasn't bothering to contact people.

 

I don't know what to say because I've been ordering things off eBay and have received them all within the time stated in the auction or listing. if there are situations as I said before communication is the key I don't mind waiting a little longer but to wait in the dark is not what I think is fair.

To be honest I am surprised at how well shipping is working these days for me. I ordered something from Australia to be shipped to California and received it in little over a week. Then again I ordered something from about 60 miles away from me and it took almost a week to get to me as well. It went from the San Francisco area down to Los Angeles and then back up to me. I contacted the seller and let him know for a laugh. he told me that someone purchased a disc from him 4 hours away to Fresno. He said the US Post Office picked it up and route it through Boston Massachusetts back to Fresno California.

even despite all the chaos going on in shipping I'm still receiving things in a timely manner and I guess I should be incredibly grateful.

 

Some excellent points by some comprehensive and understanding members. All I can add @UltraDNS is that paying through Paypal you have a 180 day window to recoup your payment should anything go wrong. Be patient, it's a new world we're all learning to adapt to.

 

This is why I prefer to be organized and communicate with my buyers, so they don't have to feel like they threw their money out the window.
I sent my buyer here a PM yesterday reassuring him I'm aware of yet another USPS boomerang effect where his purchase had arrived in his city, bounced back here, and now bounced back to his city !

Don't judge all of Discogs by one seller either. I've had 54 successful buys there. Each seller is of course an individual.
Some of the best sellers here in our classifieds sub forum also have shops there.

 

I had an experience that left me a little concerned about the future. I buy quite a bit of stuff off eBay. when there is an issue regarding how the item was received I have recourse. when there is a issue regarding that I received the item or not I have less recourse.

I ordered a pair of pants through eBay. it was shown that the package was delivered but there was nothing on my doorstep for me to receive. I complain to the seller and they just stated over and over if they sent it. I complained to eBay and they credited my account.

Several months later same situation. I ordered a small toy post office noted it was delivered where there was nothing. I complained to the seller they said sorry we shipped it it shows it was delivered. Then I complained to eBay and they told me sorry we credited you for an item before as a one-time courtesy so there's nothing we can do. since I paid with the item through PayPal I appealed to them and they stated that because the post office show that it was delivered they would not credit my item.

So the guarantees that you think you have with eBay and PayPal sometimes you don't. whenever there's an item especially a high-dollar item that I want to receive I tell the seller to send it so that I have to sign for it. I would much rather be inconvenienced going to the post office to pick up a package then to lose it.

 

I've got stuff stuck around the world cos of Covid. EU, US, JPN.
It's been stuck for months! So long that now I've moved house since I paid for them.

I stopped buying at the start of the virus shut down.

Two of those are small sellers and their post offices are not accepting any mail to AU. The US seller is Experience Hendrix who just aren't even bothering to answer emails.

Not receiving after a week? Shoot, hardly worth a comment.

 

I just got notice via an app on my iPhone that items I ordered from HMV Japan back in April had just been release from the post office in Japan for delivery to me here in Portland. I will admit, as mentioned previously, as long there clear transparency throughout the transaction, I have no problem with delays due to COVID-19. It's only when the seller treats me like a mushroom and keeps me in the dark and only feeds me s*** that I really get annoyed and use the nuclear option (guess what movie that is a reference too--it has DeCaprio and Nicholson in it). I mean, the guy on Discogs, only after I reported him as being non-responsive this morning finally decided to change the order status to Payment Received. And dont even start on the eBay guy: I just pre-emptively left him negative feedback as a 1 star seller. Ugh, just so frustrating.

 

Frankly, I'd be happy to be charged for parcel insurance by the seller to ensure that I full recourse available if nothing ever arrives.

 

Thankfully big shop places like Amazon Japan use DHL Express Delivery (hence their higher shipping fees) but at least you can rest assured that short of an item being lost by the shipping company, you'll get your goods.

 

I'm so sorry that your stuff has been stuck and you've been treated so poorly. Personally I try to buy things from sellers in the United States. not because I have anything against foreign sellers but I would prefer to give my money to Americans than others. I would prefer to give my money to individuals than Amazon. However I've had some incredible luck buying items but not being in any hurry to get them.

I have bought items from France, Russia, England, Australia, Germany, and believe it or not China. All these parcels have gotten to me within just over a week. They give time frames from a week to over a month for me to receive and I have no problem with that. I honestly don't know what's going on but I feel blessed and grateful that these items are getting to me right away.

 

These parcels did have insurance on them but since the postman scanned that they were delivered to my house I have no claim to the insurance. As far as I know the postman scan them and deliver them to the wrong address. maybe all those concerned just think that my item was stolen and as long as it was scanned as delivered they don't care after that.

 

Honestly I have issues with all shippers however after I'm so sick of dealing with one shipper someone shis it with them which I have no choice and the product is received okay. It's hit-and-miss with shippers as far as I'm concerned. I tend to like or go with the United States postal service because they have a way for my items to be held and signed for where it's more difficult for me to do that with UPS or FedEx or DHL.