Received your "Pre-order" 2014 Beatles Mono vinyl records from Merchbar and/or Udiscover?

I DO hate the Beatles, I just said all that to annoy YOU!

 

I am not going away until I get my "Abbey Road" in mono!

 

Merchbar emailed me today. Help! mono vinyl shipped to me today, Oct. 17. AHDN to ship soon.

 

Uhhhh. I just received an email from Merchbar and my Mono Help! has a tracking number and is on the way. Anyone else?

 

Wow, that's great...I haven't heard anything yet, but this is the first positive thing I've heard since these "pre-orders" happened.

 

Cool. Skip side one and go straight to side two. Side one doesn’t sound very good.

 

Terrific!! Mine is still in limbo, but it's great to see someone's patience rewarded.

 

We’ll see if it’s real. I wouldn’t be surprised if a 2012 Help! shows up.

 

I just cancelled my order and now they're being shipped? Ahhhrugh

 

I too received a shipping notification from Merchbar for my 2014 “Help!” mono LP. However, I am not too optimistic that I will actually receive it.


For starters, I placed my order on July 27th as a “pre-order.” The expected ship date was August 24th. After not receiving my item, any shipping notification, or any explanation as to why the shipping date came and went (by two months), I emailed customer support two weeks ago inquiring about my order. I explained that they have had my money for 2.5 months and have not given me any updates and that they owe me an explanation. Once again (much like with the Sgt. Pepper monos) I received their generic “we will check with our warehouse partner” response. Two days later they emailed me with the shocking revelation that - my order was experiencing some delays! I had asked them very specifically to explain what the delay was and when I should expect the LP, which they did not include in their response.


I emailed them yet again and stated that the way I see it (based my 2 experiences - ordering the Sgt Pepper mono LP and now the Help! mono LP) that their company was a complete scam and that if they did not answer my specific questions I would have no choice but to share my experience with their company on various websites / forums. I sent my questions and heard nothing for a week.


Then, last night, I got a shipping notification from Merchbar. At 2:30 AM I recieved an email with the answers to my questions, and they were very unusual to say the least.


“1.) Do you even have The Beatles "Help!" mono lps?


-The Help! (Mono LP) is a pre-order, meaning we do not have it on-hand and is made to order. We are advised by our supplier, which is also the supplier of the official artist's store, that it will be released in 3-4 weeks. Sometimes, unexpected production delay happens just as in this case because of the massive demand so they need more time for pressing.


2.) The 2014 Beatles Mono LPs are and have been for sometime out of print. Please explain how you had these titles listed for sale.


-We have the 2014 Beatles Mono LPs listed when we get an update from our supplier that they are producing the album again.


3.) Do you have any intention of actually fulfilling my order, or are you just attempting to steal money from me?


-Yes, we do! We may have experienced delays with your order, but we never take people's hard-earned money and not send their orders. As a matter of fact, yours have already been shipped on 10/17 and can be tracked here.


4.) Why have all the Beatles mono LPs disappeared from your website?


-They have disappeared in our store because we don't want more people to be inconvenienced of the delay. We will have it posted again when all the previous orders have been fulfilled.


5.) If you do intend to ship my item, please explain in DETAIL what the reason for the delays are.


-The delay is due to the massive demand for these Beatles albums. More demand means more time is needed to fulfill all orders.”


So to recap - according to Merchbar these Beatles mono LPs are a “pre-order” because they are “made-to-order.” I have never heard of LPs “being made to order.” During the whole SPLHCB debacle, they were advertised as a 2019 repress. When I asked what this meant, the response I got back was “it is not a repress, but a continuation of sorts.” Whatever that means. All of this seems beyond believable.


They also refunded me $15 from the ~$26 order. I have a strong feeling this package will never show up, or most likely we will all receive a 2012 stereo Help! LP.

 

Udiscover "refunded" my money. NO explanation given...PLUS for some reason they only GAVE ME A PARTIAL REFUND...Anyone else get this??"

I emailed them asking why it's "partial," plus there was something there about a "shopify refund" which is all it looks like was refunded. I don't know what shopify is and paid only with a credit card...CAN ANYONE SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS? Anyone else have a similar situation?

 

You are VERY lucky, I just got my order from Udiscover cancelled...but haven't heard from Merchbar yet, so...

 

I just cancelled my order about an hour ago.
Didn’t receive any shipping notice for my Help! Mono order I put in last July.

 

It is currently in Nashville. I am eagerly awaiting it’s arrival. As soon as it gets here I will post what’s in the box. Fingers crossed/

 

I also ordered my copy then or whenever these we’re first announced. I was thinking of cancelling last month and just forgot to do it. Was not expecting this at all. Still have my doubts.

 

As of this AM, USPS tracking shows my Help! Mono LP is in Memphis, TN.

Oct 18 2019
03:14 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Origin FacilityUSPS
MEMPHIS TN NETWORK DISTRIBUTION CENTER

 

I ordered from Merchbar July 19, 2019.
I, too, kept getting the emails saying the LPs were coming.
Always from a “different” person at Merbar.
I just figured, what have I got to lose?
Sealed AHDN and Help! monos are going for $75-150 on Discogs and Ebay.

 

joe spagnatti,

Merchbar has shipped my order, but gave me a $15 partial refund for the inconvenience. However, I am willing to bet a 2012 stereo LP will show up.

 

Thanks for this info! Very much appreciated. I haven't heard anything from Merchbar (except f0r the standard BS; "waiting to hear from our warehouse," etc.) ...And like others, I got a refund email (well, it says "partial refund") from UDiscover with NO explanation for what it is for...unbelievable! Horrible company...the fact that they have no CS phone is extremely frustrating, too!

 

I agree - very frustrating. This whole scheme is downright bizarre. How Merchbar is in bussiness is beyond me. I knew these offers seemed too good to be true, but for $22 I figured it was worth a try. I expected the orders to be cancelled within a week or two and the money refunded, much like the SPLHCB monos. However, apparently at least one forum member recieved one. It seemed like it could be an inventory/website error. I’m not buying their story about these “being made to order.” First off, thats unheard of (at least to me). Second of all, why would Merchbar have exclusive rights to this? It would have made more sense if they just advertised it as a warehouse find. The fact that they gave me a partial refund and shipped out something adds to the mystery. I’ll be sure to let you guys know arrives. I have feeling I’ll be in another protracted battle to get the other $7 refunded.

 

72% "poor" rating:

Merchbar is rated "Poor" with 1.9 / 5 on Trustpilot

 

I’m surprised it’s not 100%!

 

You can always proxie and bot some positives I think.

 

yes me too.

 

Had a HDN on order from UDiscover, hoping they might have some old stock. Still nothing shipped as of last week and I cancelled. Sent me a full refund.