Walter Neff

This is just a warning to anyone who buys from DeepDiscountCD.com: I received a CD from them early last month, and it came with a big crack in the case. No big deal -- I just called them, had them send me a return label, resealed the box, and sent it back to them for a replacement. Well, that was back about 3 1/2 weeks ago. As of today, they say they still have not received my return.

The customer-service representative I talked to today said the returns department is backed up by about two or three weeks. (In other words, he said, my return shipment is likely there, but may take another two weeks to process.) Their own return-authorization letter, by the way, says: "You should receive your replacement order 5 to 10 business days after we receive your return." In this case, "receive" apparently means "whenever we get around to processing your return," not the normal definition of "receive."

I told the customer-service representative to simply give me a refund when they process my return (two or three weeks from now or whenever it will be) and not to bother sending me a replacement.

I sure hope this is not the case with DeepDiscountDVD.com as well. I had to send them back a DVD that came with a knife-slice through the spine a few weeks ago, and have yet to see anything about a replacement from them either. I have had good luck with DeepDiscountDVD in the past (this was my first order with their CD counterpart) and would hate to see their customer-service quality diminish like this.

Walter Neff

Good news! The manager of customer service at DeepDiscountCD read my previous post and e-mailed me, offering to take care of the problem. Here's part of what he said, if anyone's curious:

I just read your post on DVD Talk. I was shocked to hear that our
returns department was backed up by 2 to 3 weeks. So I decided to go
out to our warehouse and see if that was the case. As I had expected to
see, we are NOT backed up by 2-3 weeks. Our returns department is
current and everything is processing normally. Your return should have
arrived here in the first couple of days in July. There must have been
a problem somewhere while that package was in transit to us.

I would like to find the source of the faulty information. Please let
me know the time that you called today and if you remember the
representatives name. If our returns department was truly backed up I
would not have a problem with the information that you were given but I
was not able to find any outstanding returns for DeepDiscountCD.com in
our warehouse.

I apologize for the bad information that you were given today and look
forward to hearing back from you.

Best regards,

Rick Mejorado
Manager, Customer Service
DeepDiscountCD.com

iveal

I've had the same problem with DeepDiscountDVD. I had ordered a DVD boxset back in May that came with a broken case and cracked DVD. I phoned DDD for a return mailing label and had returned the boxset to them back in late May/early June. I had contacted them in June several times, and they claimed that they have not processed my return yet. It wasn't until a week ago that I emailed them asking for a refund or disputing the charge with my credit card company did they finally agree to ship me a replacement product.

They still claim that it is not their company policy to ship out replacements until they've processed the return, however. At this point, I've been waiting for nearly 7 weeks without anything to show for it when I've already shelled out $60 for the boxset.

samuelowens

I got sent the wrong item by DDCD. Instead of receiving Aftermath UK, I received the US version of Aftermath. I emailed DDCD on 48 hours ago to see if they would send the correct disc, but as of now, I am yet to receive a response.

boc4ever

I basically got seriously boned when I opted to buy Radiohead Hail To the Thief Limited from them. I bought it the week of release for $12.89 - It was the version with the fold out map. When I got it, it had a nice thick scratch down the center. So I called customer service and they offered to send a return label. I asked them to send a replacement and they told me they wouldn't until the return was received. Knowing fully well that the item would go out of stock in the interim.

The label took a good week and a half to get to me. I promptly put the disc in an envelope and took it to the post office. This was back on June 20th. I called to check and see if the return was received on July 7th and they said "no" and the item had been discontinued. I called again today and they still haven't processed my return, and the item is not available.

The part that blows is that I wanted to give DDDCD the business and it ended up biting me in the ass. If I had bought it at Best Buy for the same price, I wouldn't have missed out on the Limited Edition at that price. Now if I want it, I'll have to shell out about $16 for it. Not that much more, but it makes me reluctant to use their service. Even if they don't plan to carry the item anymore, I find it hard to believe it cannot be obtained from a different distributor to satisfy my order.

Anyway, it will be unlikely that I will order anything Limited Edition from them again. It seems that they carry these items the first week and they disappear. I am really disappointed, but will probably buy it from Best Buy once my credit is processed. Which at this rate will be sometime in 2004.

iveal

I received an email today from DeepDiscountDVD regarding the problem posted earlier in this thread. Apparently, they want to charge me $60 to get a replacement out to me. Basically, they are shifting all the risk and responsibility to me, which I find unfair since it has been them who has failed to provide either product (the DVD) or service (replacing the DVD) as agreed upon during the initial purchase.

I sent them a reply, and I hope that something good will come of it. The content of my reply is below:

Dear DeepDiscountDVD,

I was told in a previous email that DeepDiscountDVD agreed to ship out a replacement set for order xxxxxxxx without my having to wait until DeepDiscountDVD processes the defective/damaged set that I have long since returned to DeepDiscountDVD (which has likely been received by now but still hasn't been processed). I had assumed that DeepDiscountDVD would do so without charging me anything extra because DeepDiscountDVD has taken so long to resolve this problem (nearly a month and a half).

I don't find it reasonable that I've already paid $60 for a product which I don't have in my possession because DeepDiscountDVD has taken an unusually long time to process a replacement request. To add to my frustration, it seems that DeepDiscountDVD wants to charge me an additional $60 so that I can finally have a product for which I have already paid. I am fortunate that my credit card doesn't allow unauthorized charges, or otherwise, I would have been doubly charged. The only way I will allow DeepDiscountDVD to charge me $60 again for a replacement set is if DeepDiscountDVD refunds my initial purchase of $60 first.

In any case, if the above cannot be done, I would rather DeepDiscountDVD completely refund my $60 for my initial purchase and disregard any replacement. I've already gone through too much inconvenience, waiting, and frustration to have to further be responsible for DeepDiscountDVD's poor handling of this matter. In essence, that's what I've been through during this entire ordeal: DeepDiscountDVD has placed the entire burden of responsibility and risk on its customer since it already has my money and won't be out anything if I allow it to charge me again for the "expedited replacement".

I hope DeepDiscountDVD will be able to accommodate my humble request. In the past, I've had nothing but a favorable buying experience with DeepDiscountDVD, and it would terrible to see that change, especially when I had planned on shifting a significant portion of my purchases to DeepDiscountDVD.

dvdgoddess

iveal- you might want to see if they also put a credit on to your credit card. I sent back and item once and they put a refund to my credit card and charged my credit card.