ATROCIOUS handling & packaging, CHILDISH Customer Service mental midgets.
Written: Mar 09 '03 (Updated Mar 10 '03)
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As for the positive aspects of this webstore, suffice it to say there are several, maybe even many. I think their biggest plus is that they offer a very big catalog, with selections that aren't available at other online music stores.
The thing is that their numerous drawbacks are substantial: first off, their customer service isn't professional: it's problematic at best, and they resort to malicious designs at worse. Their cus. service reps seem to act like mafioso wise-gals (to paraphrase "wise-guys") who on one hand send you gifts you never asked for and didn't deserve anyway, and on the other hand try to deny you what's legitimately yours as a customer. I'll use my most recent personal account to demonstrate this: my last purchase from this webstore was during August or Sep. 02'. I purchased more than 5 CDs. The problem was that several jewel cases were damaged either during shipment - due to their shoddy packaging methods, or prior to packaging - due to careless handling in the warehouse (and this had been already the 4th or 5th order shipped with this problem occurring). After I got replacements for 2 cases with a black tray, I asked for a replacement for a clear case. It too arrived damaged due to their shoddy packaging!! So I had to ask for a replacement's replacement...and I phoned them to explicitly demand secure packaging that time around. Well, when it arrived, it turned out they mailed 3 jewel cases, not only one! At that point, in Nov. 02', I decided I had had enough of this store and emailed them asking to be refunded my store credit. Also in that email I communicated my dissatisfaction with the person who had been answering the phone their for quite a long period during 2002 as well as my general dissatisfaction with the store. I didn't resort to any kind of profanity, obscene words or name calling. And guess what? They hadn't even bothered to respond, let alone send me a refund check! So in mid Feb. I emailed them again to demand the refund check; I berated them for having ignored me for so long and for something else which I'll explain later. The following was their reply: "There will be no store credit, We sent you jewel cases in good faith, but we will not be issuing any credits or refunds. Tami, Customer Service Representative". Folks, now you can see what I mean by "wise-gals" tactics...As far as Tami was concerned, I wasn't entitled to my refund check because she and/or her counterpart/s earlier sent me 2 jewel case replacements I shouldn't have got. Well, I called them up, and one of their senior reps., Danielle, was on the line. I of course repeated my demand, yet she also said that when she and her counterparts got my email from several days ago, it "through them off" - they couldn't understand I was actually demanding a refund of my store credit! Seems like she had had a long tenure kidding other customers. In any rate, she finally sent me the refund check that week.
As far as backorders are concerned, CDUniverse promises to try up to 45 days to obtain and ship them. That's a lie; if you are informed in the order's confirmation email that a certain item happens to be backordered, they'll keep trying to get it only up to 21 days...but sometimes they'll give up even sooner - if they think it can't be obtained, regardless of the real chances to obtain it from any of their sources. How do I know? Because this happened to me in one of my orders. After about one week from when I placed the order they sent me an impersonal automated email telling me that a certain item couldn't be obtained at all; I emailed cus. service, demanding them to keep trying until the 45 day limit, and within 2 weeks they obtained that title!!! In addition, I phoned them to ask if they really have a 45 day limit of obtaining backorders, and I heard that they try only up to 21 days!! When I asked them why then do they promise on their website 45 days, they did their best to dodge answering my question. The conclusion? Their service in general and customer service in particular is untrustworthy and lazy; lies are an integral part of their business ethics.
Earlier I already mentioned that in my mid Feb email I scolded the cus. service team for something other than their having ignored my preceding email 4 months previously. Now I'll explain it: in Sep. 02' they promised to mail me the replacement's replacement (jewel case) via priority airmail, therefore I was supposed to receive it within 2 weeks. But guess what happened?! When it finally arrived about 2 months later - I saw on the postal stamp that the package was indeed sent Priority, but...... it was mailed out at the beginning of Nov., not September!!! They did it again... This couldn't have happened at CDconnection.com, for instance - this sort of behavior is really beneath them.
For the interim, the conclusion regarding CDUniverse is: if you suffer from the results of shoddy warehouse handling and packaging and dare to complain,- they'll do everything short of having you kneel and beg for their forgiveness, and in the meantime deny you customer service. IF YOU'RE NOW IMPATIENT AND DON'T WANT TO READ ON, YOU MIGHT BE ASKING: WHAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE, WHAT ARE YOU SUGGESTING? MY ANSWER: GO SEARCH FOR CDs IN Gemm.com,- YOU MIGHT EVEN FIND THEM CHEAPER THAN AT CDUNIVERSE. TRY ALSO IN Musicstack.com AND Netsounds.com. From what I've written so far you can also easily conclude that it doesn't pay off to purchase even from a webstore offering the greatest selection of titles if their packaging is awful, and this awfulness is compounded by a cus. service team of lukewarn performance, whose members ocassionally engage in vindictiveness.
I'd like to add to the above that I submitted once to their customer support through its email link (at the bottom of their webpage) comments and feedback about Mike, the guy I mentioned earlier who had been manning the phone during a big part of 2002; my comments were professional - constructive as much as they were critical. I also complained about their shoddy packaging and warehouse handling, as I've already discussed here. Part of the cus. service team's behavior must be seen in the context of that criticism.
I'd also like to point out that this webstore used to be on Gemm.com. At a certain point, presumably right before they decided to significantly downgrade their service, they made a strategic decision to quit Gemm, apparently because they knew very well they would get clubbed in the feedback section of their Gemm store by virtually every customer who would have ordered from Gemm.com's shopping cart. As you can see, their catalog link (beneath the word "welcome...") has 0 items and their last "catalog update" was on 8/26/98, meaning the date they left Gemm. I, at any rate, had given them there (under moniker "zvize") as late as 3/4/02 - before I had become totally disillusioned with them - a good rating accompanied by an honest account of the experiences I had had with them. This goes to prove I have had legitimate complaints all along and that I'm not fabricating anything. It's in everyone's and anyone's best interest to avoid CDUniverse, not only mine. I'm not the only person who had had grievances about their shoddy packaging & handling, as I saw on this site and I speculate they're even more folks out there who haven't had time to even publicly complain about this webstore.
Bottom line: their site is easy to navigate and looks appealing, their prices are low, but don't let that fool you. "DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER" - DON'T JUDGE CDUNIVERSE.COM BY ITS COVER. BETTER OFF NOT LETTING THEM SHIP YOU CDS IN BROKEN / DAMAGED JEWEL CASES TO BEGIN WITH. EVERYONE DESERVES BETTER SERVICE THAN CDUNIVERSE OFFERS. AVOID CDUNIVERSE.
And I second HJS33's conclusion: these people are CROOKED.
Recommended:
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zvize
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