I'm glad to report that as of a week ago I am completely free and clear of CDLATER. I have washed my hands of them for good, no matter what coupons or promo offers I may hear about. My last interaction with them was getting a credit for a returned item. The item had been returned 3 weeks ago and no credit had been posted to my account. I called up the phone rep who "axe'd" me if I had taken out insurance (at my cost) on the package. I said "first of all, you guys screwed up by sending me the wrong item, twice, and then provided return labels to your old address, and then I send it back to you on my own dime (you tell me nothing about my assumption of risk if the P.O. loses it), I don't hear anything for 3 weeks, and then you tell me that I should have known to take out insurance. I quickly elevated the situation to a c/s supervisor who did quickly authorize my credit. Now, I've received an email stating that they've suddenly found my returned item. M O R O N S

I think I better go wash out my sink to make sure I get the filthy residue that came of my hands when I washed them of this low-life merchant.

I recently ordered the Jurassic Park boxed set (4 discs) from CDNow and instead was sent the single-disc JP III DVD.

They fixed it up pretty quickly, but it was a couple of weeks to get it all straightened out.

I realize that mistakes happen, but CDNow seems to be having a LOT more than their share lately. In my past 10 orders with them, 4 of them have had incorrect items. A 40% failure rate at order accuracy is pretty pathetic... and blaming the warehouse may be correct, but CDNow has to realize that the customers didn't pick this warehouse -- if the warehouse is the problem, then *they* (CDNow) have to deal with it. Don't pass the blame and expect us to accept it.

The past 3 months or so have seen terrible problems with customer service at both CDNow and Amazon (two companies that I've used for years and have never had big problems with). If it wasn't for DeepDiscountDVD and DVDPlanet, I would have trouble finding trustworthy online stores at all.

PRECISELY

Well, all I know is that I have had a few orders with CD-now and they have always been so GREAT!!! So what if I pre-order a title 2 monmths before the release and I get it 2 months after the release date! While someone else orders the week of the release and gets it on the release date.

Sorry, I think I'am in for another bout with DDD with A Christmas Carol 50th edition. Atleast I did get an extra copy of MM in Living Color for free. Hopefully deleting my CC info will stop them from making any more charges on my CC. I think I'am through with them.

Hey, does Troma have have a 75% off sale going on now or soon? Lets try that again!!!

i ordered a disc for a friend as a present and i just found out today that he never got it! that sucks.

I've had 1 problem with CDNow in the last 6 mos (and that's over 12 orders), and it was my fault... I cancelled an item 2 days before it was supposed to ship. But I already had a copy in another order, so I kept it, and gave it away as a Christmas present.

But now they are doing this sales tax thing... and I don't even live in any of the states they have on their tax list!

I just have to forget ordering things on-line and just play the patience game and resort to CH as my online DVD-dealer!

i don't hate cdnow, but i'm not a fan and i rarely order from them. their outlandish shipping is enough to keep me away not to mention paying taxes, lol and their prices aren't all that great.
but they came through on the twin peaks season 1 misprice. the altima gc + 15% off went well also. but none of the trouble some people have had don't surprize me. regardless of my orders with cdnow, i would never recommend them.

I used to use CDNow a lot for indie and experimental electronic CDs. The 15% coupons came in handy when placing large orders, as long as everything shipped from the same warehouse.

Then, in December I tried placing an order for 5 CDs. When I put the first 4 in the cart, they all showed as in stock, ship in 24 hours and the shipping charge was the amount as if they would all ship from one warehouse. As soon as I added the 5th CD to the cart, one of the 4 that were already in my cart and previously showing as in stock, changed to out of stock and my shipping charge doubled to reflect this, negating the coupon. When I removed the 5th CD, the 4th went back to in stock. Naturally, I never placed the order and fired off an email to CDNow.

I received a form letter response that they would look into the matter and have never heard back from them since.

I was spending about $1000 a year at CDNow, but no longer. Their policies and lack of customer service have cost them a longtime customer (I started shopping there when you had to telnet to them, they didn't have a website).

Over the last three months I've had so many problems with CDNow that I have had to call it quits. During the last year I purchased 706 DVD from them and was very happy with the service that I received. In October or November everything went down hill in a hurry, I received on average 1/3 of the items that I ordered and most were late. I'll be spreading my orders around until I can find another reliable and reasonably priced site.

Mike

I'm reading all these complaints but I never have trouble with CD Now. I ordered dozens and dozens of DVDs and a few CDs from them in 2001. I've used coupons on every single order. My items come on time. Is it just that we satisfied customers rarely say anything?

I mostly agree but:
- CDNOW raised their shipping prices without notice or any confirmation by e-mail upon asking about this
- CDNOW made a few mistakes (on my case) with charging shipment costs: sometimes they didn't calculate $7.20 (old costs) but the new ones and sometimes I got charged for seperate shipments. I have to say that until now, CDNOW always handled these situations correctly.
- Lack of coupons & Customs: two 'external' reasons for me not to use CDNOW as my ONLY webstore

Overall, I can't say I'm dissatisfied or have any horrorstories to tell.

Ditto. My only complaint is that they charge you a lot if all your items come from different warehouses. Probably wouldn't order again unless they have a very good deal.

I have $50 to blow there. I've been holding out because there really isn't anything I wan't at this time.

But let me clarify something. Yall are saying. If you place an order, and at checkout it shows ex. $25 + $5 shipping, Total $30.

They actually come back and charge you more!???

CDNOW is getting worse by the day.
The reps only give you stupid standard answers and don't even seem to read your questions.
Last week they send me somebody else's e-mail.
When they ship a title they do not e-mail you a specified amount for that item alone, but the amount for the whole order.
As they always list the full price on the package, I have to pay import tax for that full amount.
I could always file a complaint to the tax office accompanied with the shipping e-mail showing the (right)price that I was paying for that single item until now.

A final follow-up to my original posting...

After countless phone calls and emails, 2 scratched dvds,
lost hopes of going to the mail box only to find
a floating disc, and over two months of waiting...

I finally have a dvd I can watch!!!!

The original order was was placed on 11/15/01. A non-damaged
dvd finally arrived on 1/16/02.

I still have one scratched replacement sitting here too. I guess
thats an extra case for a previewed dvd from blockbuster (I
never can get those stickers off)...

I think I am going to give them a call later today 1/17 and
have them permanently remove all of my information from
their systems if thats possible. I am done with cdnow.

Amazon is going downhill too, with service and prices, but
if I have a problem, I never wait 2 months to get a decent
looking product.

So in conclusion, the hassle wasn't worth the $5 I "saved"
in using a cdnow coupon. Their deals are not worth your
trouble unless you still have a "free" gift certificate from
something else.

Since I had a big discount with them I ordered BTVS Season 1 from them 2 or 3 months ago. I received it early and in good condition. I was quite pleased with it.

I'm not sure if individual stories about good and bad experiences at any etailer are significant unless a pattern begins to emerge. I am now beginning to believe a pattern has emarged and that CDNow is either going downhill quickly or is undergoing disruptive internal changes that are not properly managed. Perhaps they've moved their customer service function (they are in the same building as BMG Music Service in Indianapolis now) or they have changed warehouses (I live in Illinois and most of my titles came from Niles, Illinois until lately when things have started to flood in from Florida) or all of the above and more. We all bemoan the dearth of good promotions and coupons, I am only thankful that I smelled this coming and placed a big order with the last 15% coupon.

Below is an email I sent to CDNow in which I unload. This is my story and I'm stickin' to it:

"Order No. X placed 11/4 is the order from hell. There have been so many screw-ups on this I can hardly count them all. The latest fiasco came when I received a shipping notification today that also stated that one DVD title – The Alarm, Greatest Hits Live – was cancelled “per customer request.” I requested nothing of the sort! Who is canceling these items without speaking to the customer?

The next problem I will have is that the price of the item has shot up by $5 since it is no longer a pre-order and to re-order will cost me an additional and unnecessary $3 for shipping. Why list a title for pre-order if you will never stock it? What other possible explanation can there be for this cancellation, since, presumably, you would have earmarked one copy for me since it was pre-ordered? It’s on to Sam Goody now. At least they will have it.

The final problem I will have is making sure my gift certificate balance is correct. It is easy for you to cancel a title and not charge a credit card. For some reason, I always have to call to get my gift certificate balance fixed. Without my intervention, it will always wrong. I’m a CPA and I don’t work for crooked Arthur Andersen, so I know what I am talking about.

It appears that order no. Y is next to be screwed up with another cancellation.

I would think that someone would take much better care of a large volume customer like me. My order history only goes back to 8/6/01, but you can probably see many, many more massive orders before that date. For the orders still in my history alone, I have spent almost $3,400 for the entire family.

I have sent emails complaining of incorrect listings on your web-site and nothing gets fixed. CDNow continues to list pre-order music DVDs without even providing the name of the artist. Check out your current listings for “Greatest Video Hits” and “Hits Live in Concert.” Who’s hits?

You make other listings the have gross errors in them, such as the current listing of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 & 2. Someone misspelled Grieg as “Crieg.” You are supposedly a music retailer, but you can’t even take the time to enter correct or complete information. If Herbert von Karajan is conducting the piece, I’m interested. If Yogi Berra is conducting, I’m not interested. Who’s the performer? If the label or studio is providing you with preliminary and incomplete information, don’t list it.

Other problems:

1. Shipping sends duplicate titles for which, because I am honest, I request a shipping label so that I can return it.

2. Customer service fails to send return shipping labels when they say they will.

Lousy customer service is a direct reflection of management, poor leadership, ineffective policies and procedures, or a business about to fail…but not the individual customer service representative. The CSR on the line with customers needs help and direction. I have found in my experience that most employees want to do a good job; all they need is training and direction.

Who is in charge and who is not doing their job?

All of this is my experience since my November 4 order."

I'll let you all know if I get a response.

For those interested in this already long-winded saga, here is the ultra-laim email response from CDNow:

"Hello Hal,

Thank you for contacting CDNOW.

Please accept our apologies concerning your situation. We pride
ourselves on having an efficient, competent, and knowledgeable staff who
are willing to take the extra measures to satisfy all of our customers.
You are very important to us, and we are concerned about solving any
difficulties you may incur as quickly as possible. Please be assured we
are making every effort to rectify your situation.

If there is anything else that I can do for you, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Godless Pucker Sphincter
Customer Service"

They obviously don't care and won't make good. I would be rid of them if I had not piled up a bunch of GCs I need to use. More updates promised...

Hal2000 - AFAIC, you have done more than enough to give this company the opportunity to make amends, not just with you but with me and many others. These guys are not the only game in town and they certainly have not earned my business. Voting with your wallet is the best "letter to the company" you can send. Hopefully they'll get their act together and turn things around. And if I hear enough consistently good feedback, then perhaps I'll give them another chance. Right now, I will only call on them if I want something that I cannot get anywhere else (a rare CD). Now, I use DDDVD which offer free s/h and no sales tax.

I placed an order with them for 5 discs recently... including Citizen Kane, the Princess and the Warrior, and FWWM.

for various reasons I recently deicided to cancel the order for Citizen Kane - so I went through all the normal cancelation process for cancelling an unshipped order.... then, when I woke up this morning I found out that I had an e-mail stating that they had shipped Citizen Kane and another two discs, and cancelled the princess and the warrior and FWWM...

what can I say but WHY? (well, I could say a lot of things, but I value my forum membership more than I value my right to express my opinions using a series of four letter words

not a happy camper,

Hemulen

Hemulen,

I have had an experience identical to yours. I got an email for a 15% off coupon on Thursday. Great, I thought. I'll cancel the order that I placed which had a 10% discount and place a new one at 15% off, with a couple of additional items. Friday goes by without hearing a thing. Well, that's gone through smoothly, I think to myself. This (Saturday) morning, I boot the computer up to find that they shipped part of the old order, and cancelled the one remaining item. Didn't they check to see what I wanted before they shipped it? I've cancelled the second order but I'm now hoping that they don't ship the items to me a second time.

I had a similiar situation with CDNow. I had two orders placed. Each had 5 or 6 DVD with multiple street dates. The prices for the discs were the typical 30% off preorder price. Well, They shipped one DVD from each of the orders and actually cancelled the rest of the orders in each of the shipments. Not before changing the preoder prices from 30% off to 10% off. I called CDNOW immediately and was told that they would have to contact their wearhouse to find out what happened. No word from them yet as to the problem. I've never had a problem with them before. Hopefully this was some glitch in the system and is something that will be repaired.

Well, they shipped the order to me again (despite once again giving over 24 hours notice that I wanted to cancel), which means I now have the hassle of returning two of the titles (one title was different in this order). This has wiped out the savings of the coupon, and the inflated postage costs mean that this ineptness on the part of CDNow is going to mean that far from being the cheapest, least stressful option, they are going to be a) the most expensive and b) the most stressful option.

For the past 6 months, I have had a charmed run (although my one and only order two years before that was also a schmozzle). However, my luck (something that I should not require purchasing DVDs) has run out.

To paraphrase Cartman, 'screw you guys, I'm using Deep Discount DVD and ABSound', both of which are quick and cheap.