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Topic: Tubular Bells Ultimate Edition problems< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Reena Offline




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Posted: June 29 2009, 15:54

Quote (Korgscrew @ June 29 2009, 10:18)
Just to give a bit of a progress update...

I'd been planning on getting in touch with Bandstores over the next few days - reports have still been coming in, but we've got a fair number and obviously we couldn't have waited around forever. It looks like we don't have to, though - they've got in touch with us (interesting how quickly word gets round when it has to...).

We'll send all the details over. They're keen to know more, as they say that there have actually been very few reported issues (which, to be fair on them, is probably true...I think the number of reports we have now accounts for about 3% of the total orders). I'll sift through what we've got and pass it on...in the meantime, do keep reports coming, I'll probably not get anything sent off to them before this evening.

Well, I'm getting more curious with the second... It really is becoming quite a joke...

Chronologically this is what has happenend so far :
- 16th of may I ordered the Signed Edition and a t-shirt
- 16th of may my creditcard is charged
- somewhere around 15th of june I phoned Loudclothing, and should have a little more patience
- 20th of June I wrote a complaint email
- 23th of june I received an email from Bandstores that my order hasn't been sent out yet, and that it might take up to 3 weeks to handle it ( ... )
- 25th of june the action by the admins here is started and I sent the requested email with my details
- 26th of june I got an answer to my complaint email, that they are going to try and find out what the status of my order is...
- today I receive an email from Bandstores that they shipped out my order between the 10th and 18th of june ( ????? ) but that according to Parcelforce a local deliverycompany is awaiting the moment that I will come get my goodies... Yeah, right.... First they haven't sent out the parcel, and now they have and they are ging to try track it for me...
- Korgscrew mentions that they got in touch with him to find out about the complaints, and ask him for details...

Well, although 3 % isn't that big of a figure, that still means that there are 15 people who didn't receive the order at all, or received damaged orders.
I'd say that's 15 too much...

And I might add to this that I'm really curious about the actual number of people that haven't received the signed edition that they ordered yet... Perhaps the same amount of people that by accident received a signed edition throug Amazon ? That would indeed be an coincidence...

I will wait and see what happens next.
 :O
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: June 29 2009, 19:12

It's true that there are probably people who haven't got in touch with us yet, and of course some people account for more than one Ultimate Edition, so that 3% was a quick estimate - I'm actually in the process of putting everything together at the moment. It might be as much as 5% of orders, and the reality could, I suppose, be as much as 10% of orders have had some kind of problem (but that's pure speculation). I don't know what sort of problem rate is normal for mail order, so I don't know if 5% is a problem rate that's to be expected or not.

Some of the delivery problems actually appear to be with Parcel Force and their partners - in one case, it turned out it had just been sitting round in various warehouses for ages, having been sent on the 10th. I'd not be surprised if that's happening with other people's orders too...it would help if they'd give people tracking numbers when they ship things.
The email about you not having taken delivery of the item is something they've sent round to a lot of people. Whether it really means that they sent your item sometime between the 10th and the 18th or whether their system just sent it out to everyone who they've received payment from but whose item hasn't been confirmed as delivered (because they haven't sent it...), I don't know. The same may be the case for the one saying it could take up to three weeks before they send it because they're waiting for stock - some people received that, then found that their item had been sent before that email was even sent.

Anyway, hopefully it'll all be sorted soon - it seems like we have their full attention now :)

I'd better get back to work...
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HRFanUSA Offline




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Posted: June 30 2009, 02:40

Quote (Korgscrew @ June 29 2009, 19:12)
It's true that there are probably people who haven't got in touch with us yet, and of course some people account for more than one Ultimate Edition, so that 3% was a quick estimate - I'm actually in the process of putting everything together at the moment. It might be as much as 5% of orders, and the reality could, I suppose, be as much as 10% of orders have had some kind of problem (but that's pure speculation). I don't know what sort of problem rate is normal for mail order, so I don't know if 5% is a problem rate that's to be expected or not.

Anyway, hopefully it'll all be sorted soon - it seems like we have their full attention now :)

I urge all you fans who received less-than-acceptable Ultimate Edition boxes to voice your opinion. We can't make positive changes unless we all speak up.

Korgscrew already has the attention of Loud Clothing and I believe they realize there are issues, both with how the distribution of the sets was mishandled, and with the shoddy outer packaging and shipping methods.

We are the customers here, and we paid our hard-earned money for this (IMHO over-priced) product, and I for one expect a little consideration before I even consider any future purchases.
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Burning Fish Offline




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Posted: June 30 2009, 03:11

I also just sent my details to Tubular.net. My apologies for acting a bit late, but I didn't have that much time for it. I hope this is all gonna help.

--------------
"Lemon curry?"
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HRFanUSA Offline




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Posted: June 30 2009, 04:58

Quote (Burning Fish @ June 30 2009, 03:11)
I also just sent my details to Tubular.net. My apologies for acting a bit late, but I didn't have that much time for it. I hope this is all gonna help.

Thanks, Burning Fish

Collectively, I think we CAN make a difference here.

I hope the rest of you who purchased this Ultimate Edition set and have had problems will also take the time to voice your thoughts. To those of you who received "perfect" sets, I'm happy for you.

Honestly, I wish Universal would have distributed the Ultimate Edition through Amazon exclusively. They could have posted a "taking orders now" time, and after many years of excellent service from Amazon, I have no doubt my set would have arrived in perfect condition. If not, Amazon would have made things right, and especially, would have bothered to take the time to address any issues I might have had with their great communication, unilke Loud Clothing who has yet to respond to my email from June 15th. As a company, Amazon is first-class in my opinion, and they have always treated me like a valued customer. They know how to do business properly...

I also wonder if Mike Olfield reads this forum? If I were in his shoes, I'd surely like to see what's going on with my most dedicated fans. Many of us have followed and supported his efforts since 1973, and I'd be most interested to read here what my fans are saying.

I don't mean to ride a dead horse here in this forum but I'm grateful we have the opportunity to share with each other what we think-

Thanks, Harry
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tubular_trekkie Offline




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Posted: June 30 2009, 05:49

Quote (HRFanUSA @ June 30 2009, 09:58)
Quote (Burning Fish @ June 30 2009, 03:11)
I also just sent my details to Tubular.net. My apologies for acting a bit late, but I didn't have that much time for it. I hope this is all gonna help.

Thanks, Burning Fish

Collectively, I think we CAN make a difference here.

I hope the rest of you who purchased this Ultimate Edition set and have had problems will also take the time to voice your thoughts. To those of you who received "perfect" sets, I'm happy for you.

Honestly, I wish Universal would have distributed the Ultimate Edition through Amazon exclusively. They could have posted a "taking orders now" time, and after many years of excellent service from Amazon, I have no doubt my set would have arrived in perfect condition. If not, Amazon would have made things right, and especially, would have bothered to take the time to address any issues I might have had with their great communication, unilke Loud Clothing who has yet to respond to my email from June 15th. As a company, Amazon is first-class in my opinion, and they have always treated me like a valued customer. They know how to do business properly...

I also wonder if Mike Olfield reads this forum? If I were in his shoes, I'd surely like to see what's going on with my most dedicated fans. Many of us have followed and supported his efforts since 1973, and I'd be most interested to read here what my fans are saying.

I don't mean to ride a dead horse here in this forum but I'm grateful we have the opportunity to share with each other what we think-

Thanks, Harry

Great suggestion regarding Amazon. I've always found them to be tip-top with their customer service - generally efficient, helpful and prompt. I'm hoping that for the next round of re-releases a bigger and better organised company (like Amazon) might be enlisted; if it's bandstores/loudclothing again for any future signed sets I shall probably give it a miss and just get an 'ordinary' set from Amazon or play. (And I say that as someone who did get a mint signed copy - I just feel it was through sheer luck though and not because bandstores provided a excellent reliable service  ;)  )


--------------
"The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future."

- from 'Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib' by the Princess Irulan
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wiga Offline




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Posted: June 30 2009, 05:58

Quote (HRFanUSA @ June 30 2009, 04:58)
Amazon would have made things right, and especially, would have bothered to take the time to address any issues I might have had with their great communication, unilke Loud Clothing who has yet to respond to my email from June 15th.

Yes exactly, Loud Clothing not bothering to address your issue - that's real frustrating.

Well if Universal use them again they could have problems - Mike Oldfield fans are not complete push-overs.


--------------
Barn's burnt down - now I can see the moon.
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Reena Offline




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Posted: July 01 2009, 02:36

Wow ! You people must be magicians, for the first time in history the month of June has 31 days....
Now my expectations for a happy ending have become sky-high !  ;)
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: July 01 2009, 02:58

Nice catch ;)
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leesonar Offline




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Posted: July 01 2009, 04:37

heard from bandstore yesterday they don't like replying to emails it seems.

Sorry for the delay in reply, i shall have a look into this for you.
Would you prefer a refund or would you like your other one sending out?
Please bare with me and i shall get your complete order sent out ASAP.

I await the conclusion...
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ian Offline




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Posted: July 02 2009, 15:47

Of course if you paid by credit card, it's up to the credit card company to sort it out as you are within your legal right to refuse to pay on the grounds of either not fit for purpose or non delivery of goods.

Another good site is the Money saving expert.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/

If enough of you get onto this site and vent your complaint in the forum, you might raise awareness and even the guy who runs the site may get involved if there are enough of you. Also, try BBC Watchdog.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 04:51

I don't think there's any need to involve anyone else at this stage - we're currently working with everyone involved to resolve all the problems that have been reported. We have what so far seems to be an amicable relationship with the representatives of Bandstores and Bravado and I really don't think it would be in anyone's best interests to sour that; it's more likely to just delay things further.

The complaints have been passed on and they're now being investigated. Where necessary, we're collecting further details to help the investigation. If anyone isn't happy with the way things are being handled, it would be helpful if they could contact us first so we can try and find out what's happening.

One other thing I can add is that generally, you should try contacting the company in writing before taking the problem any further. That will probably be the first thing your credit card company will ask you if you contact them, and ought to be the first thing any Watchdog researcher should ask as well; Trading Standards will ask it too: have you contacted them in writing?
Emails get lost easily - I suspect that may be the source of a lot of the communications problems here, that emails aren't getting through to the right people. That may not be the fault of the customers (I really have no idea - all I know is that one side says they've been emailing constantly, the other side says it's been very conscientious about replying...all I can say is that something's clearly going wrong somewhere! ), but it's really a good idea to send a letter by recorded delivery, so you have written proof that it was sent and can get written proof that it was received. In these sorts of cases, written proof is always a good thing!

We'll continue working on this, though. If you suspect your emails aren't getting through to them, let us know and we'll pass them on for you - we'll make sure it gets through. If you think your emails aren't getting through to us for some reason, send me a quick PM on the forum. I believe we've also got a representative of Bandstores here on the forum now - perhaps if we all call him loudly enough, he'll come and say hello :)
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Reena Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 05:52

@korgscrew :

I made the decision to give them a chance after your update, and the email that I got about how things are going to be handled from you guys on the 1st of July.

But I think that it might be wise to ask CID for a timeschedule with actions that they will perform, because up until now I haven't had any confirmation from them that my name is on the list you passed on to them and that they are going to do something about it.  

Let alone, that they have done anything about the case at all after receiving your list.

And that's bothering me somewhat...
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 08:23

I'll give them a prod for you, Reena.

I just scrolled up and noticed I'd missed where you asked a question about the figures:

Obviously we don't know for sure how many copies actually got sold by Amazon. I've asked about that again, but I've not heard anything back about it. Five copies were reported here - that's the best figure we have.

So far, going by the figures we've collected, ten ordered from Bandstores are unaccounted for, plus one which had no certificate inside.

There may be some truth in what they say about things waiting in warehouses; there's been at least one case where it turned out that the package had been kicking around in various warehouses since June 10th when it was sent out (and yes, the 'three weeks' email was sent out in that case too, saying the parcel hadn't been sent even though it had). I've pointed out that all these emails are highly confusing - I'm not sure that you should definitely believe any of them.
Still, if there's an easy way of checking with your local parcel depot/post office to see if there are any packages waiting for you, try doing that. If there isn't, I'll try and get them to contact you with a tracking number, if it's been sent out (which it probably has; I believe all the supply problems have now been resolved).
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Willem Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 10:15

Hi everyone,

Here's my story regarding the ultimate box.

Ordered on May 15th.

On June 23, I recieved this email from Bandstores:

Quote
Dear Customer

We are writing to apologise for the delay in shipping your order of one of the Signed Tubular Bells Ultimate Edition sets and to inform you what is happening.

We are very sorry to tell you that we have not sent out your order yet. Due to supply problems there will be a further delay of possibly 3 weeks from now to send out your order.

We know how important your order is and please be assured that we are doing everything we can to speed up the process.

In the unlikely event that you want to cancel you order can you please contact customer services by using the phone numbers and emails on the link below, and we will of course arrange a full refund.

http://www.bandstores.co.uk/shop/tubularbells/contactloud.php

By way of apology we will be sending you a Tubular Bells t-shirt as a gesture of goodwill. This will arrive separately to your Ultimate Edition box set.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Bandstores Team


Great! Now I have two T-shirts as I ordered one already. (The additional t-shirt still has to arrive, though.) But anyway...


Several days later, my box arrived looking like this:



It looked like it was tossed about like a pancake. The quality of the outer box itself is just terrible.

After opening, I noticed dents, dirt and scratches on the back of the white box:





I'm not happy with this, but the worst has yet to come!

The actual vinyl pressings are full of stains, dents and scratches!!!!







I tried them on my turntable, but it's hopeless and useless. I'm afraid damaging my needle, so I took it off almost immediately. I have several originals which are 36 years old and they are flawless and sound better.

All of this -of course- is absolutely unacceptable!!!!

For a product already overpriced arriving in this condition, I'd like to see a full refund.

I'll submit my details to contact@tubular.net and bandstores.


To conclude with a somewhat more positive feeling:

I really like the printwork and type setting. The famous bell on the front of the record sleeve has been vectorized and is razor sharp. This is really an improvent. They re-typed all text on the back, adding the silliest error. It is GLOCKENSPIEL. On the original they misspelled (it says: GLOKENSPIEL). Instead of correcting this, they added another mistake: it now says: GLOKENSPEIL. That's just really stupid or there's some English twist about it which I don't know of (I'm Dutch)

The poster is quite useless an the guitar picks are just silly. (and useless as well!!;)

Mike did a great job remixing. I like having the demo's on CD. For me, this is really inspiring. That applies for the Second House broadcast as well!

I really like the book, nice photo's, story well told. Lots of new details.

Still, altogether overpriced, especially the way it arrived.

Thanks for the effort Korgscrew.

Willem
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 11:27

Would anyone else like to take some pictures of the marks on their LP? I know a fair few people reported seeing fingerprints and other marks, most of which people felt didn't affect the sound, but...after seeing this, I think it's going to be a good idea if we document all of them, no matter how insubstantial, because it looks like someone at the pressing plant (or at some stage after that maybe) is doing something really wrong with these.

I'll have to get mine out and play it again; I don't remember noticing any really obvious effect on the sound quality, but then I just had it playing in the background. The wipe marks on mine looked very similar to the scratches on Willem's (just obviously they didn't rub as hard...). It's almost like someone got fingerprints on it then decided to scrub at it with their shirt as if it was a CD (not that it's really a very good idea to do that to CDs either) in an attempt to get rid of them...

As for the rest of it...someone there really isn't thinking the whole packaging thing through properly. This is supposed to be a premium product and I think the service should be premium the whole way through, even down to the box it's shipped in...if the experience of opening it, handling the contents and enjoying them isn't there, people might as well be downloading it.
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Tati The Sentinel Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 12:42

I've just recieved this email from Bandstores about my order a few minutes ago,and here it is:

Quote
Dear Tatiana

I'm emailing you so we can update about your order for the Tubular Bells box set and to say we are sorry that your customer service experience hasn't been as good as you should have expected from us.

We are currently waiting for the remaining copies of the box set to be delivered to us and as soon as they arrive we will arrange for your copy to be delivered to you by Parcelforce. We hopefully will have the remaining copies with us within the next two weeks

We are aware there have been one or two complaints about the packaging previously used so we will be using an alternative method of packaging your order.

Again we're very sorry for the delay in getting your set to you and that we didn't deal with your emails in a timely manner.

Regards

Antz
Director


Trying to believe on what I've just read...no way!


--------------
"But it's always the outsider, the black sheep, that becomes the blockbuster." - Mike Oldfield, 2014

"I remember feeling that I'd been judged unfairly and that I was going to prove them wrong." - Peter Davison, 2011
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Reena Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 13:29

Same email here in my hotmail-account...

I sent them an answer, in which I state that they should take notice of the fact that my order was for a signed ultimate edition. Because in this email of them they don't refer to my order as a signed edition....

I won't leave anything to chance, if I can help it in any other way...

Right now there still a lot of smoke covering my sight of what they are doing......
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tubular_trekkie Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 14:30

Blimey, is this still going on? Utterly disgraceful.

Incidentally, I didn't actually check my vinyl intially (as I have no intention of playing it anyway), but having a quick look at it now I'd have to say it doesn't look all that great - certainly not the immaculate quality and condition you'd expect from such a collector's edition.

Korgscrew - I'm guessing this is a recurrent problem across all the sets? The condition of the rest of my set (sans vinyl) is immaculate, so it must be a problem with the manufacture and/or handling at the factory. Not CID's problem presumably, but this is still an unacceptable issue as far as these premium priced sets are concerned.

What a complete bells-up it all is!!  :/


--------------
"The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future."

- from 'Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib' by the Princess Irulan
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Willem Offline




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Posted: July 03 2009, 17:07

Quote
This is supposed to be a premium product and I think the service should be premium the whole way through, even down to the box it's shipped in...if the experience of opening it, handling the contents and enjoying them isn't there, people might as well be downloading it.


Nuff said!  :cool:
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