CDWow ... A warning to bargain hunters ...

Darthrodney

All,
Maybe be offtopic in this forum (Mods Please move if you wish) but I feel compelled to warn fellow bargain hunters to STAY AWAY from CDWow ... avoid like the plague! If someone else had posted this in the bargain board I would have avoided this situation.

I was a loyal user of Cdwow for many years, I usually chose them for being a few Euro cheaper than Play.com etc ... never ever again. (If you compare pretty much all recent and pre release Cdwow still work out slightly cheaper)

I have been forced to cancel both of my last two orders as I was still waiting for the items to be shipped 3 WEEKS after their release date.

I did a search for "CDWow delay" online ... and ohhhh boy am I not alone in being disgusted with their cowboy style now ... do a search yourself and you'll see stories of huge tax bills, a warehouse burning down (after the tax bill ... curious eh?:rolleyes: ) and now CD/DVD suppliers that seem to have CDWow as the last customer on their lists they will supply.

The replies from customer service are the usual trite "cut and paste" replies apologizing for a "slight delay", i would not call 3 weeks "slight".

I'm pasting below the e-mail I sent them (one of the many I have sent them in the past few weeks, telling them send me my order or I take my business elsewhere).

In summary folks ... PAY THE EXTRA EURO OR TWO and use play.com or one of the other sites mentioned on the boards.

Cheers,
Darth

******************

To whom it may concern,

Due to the frankly unacceptable delays in dispatch I wish to cancel the complete order for all items in Order Number #########.

If you care to check my order history I have been a customer of CDWow for some years and have purchased quite a few Games, CD's and DVD's from you over the years ... I can assure you this will not happen again.

The blurb on your web page stating that "that everything is now back to normal and even better than before." frankly has made me laugh out loud and is the only thing that has brought a smile to my face with regards dealing with CDWow with this order and my previous order which I was also forced to cancel due to horrendous delays.

I expect a full complete refund to be credited to my credit card by the end of business hours today or I will be pursuing this matter with my credit card company.

Please pass my congratulations to management on alienating a loyal customer ... and sending any future revenue from me, my friends, my workmates and Board/Forum/Facebook readers etc to your competitors.

Yours sincerely,
David

wirelessdude

have to say that i have used them since the change in management and they seem to be back to normal delivery times for any items i have ordered

Mizu_Ger

I used them for years and thought they had gone to the dogs in the past few months. However, they do seem to be picking up. I have made 5 orders in the last week and 3 have already been shipped (including 2 copies of Spiderman 3, which isn't out til next week). The other 2 orders have already been released, but not shipped, so I am about 50:50 on whether or not they are back to normal.

Darthrodney

Wirelessdude, Were you ordering new releases or previous releases?

Well Battlestar Galactica Season 3 was out 4 weeks ago ... and they are still "awaiting delivery from their supplier".

"300" was last week ... "awaiting delivery from their supplier".

"Heroes Season 1, Region 10 (which is Region 2+4) was due out September 22nd ... "awaiting delivery from their supplier".

And I had exactly the same thing with previous orders like "Hot Fuzz" where after 4 weeks they were still "awaiting delivery from their supplier".

In short ... the last 5 items I have ordered ... every single one ... delayed, delayed, delayed ...

A major reason I decided to post this was with Christmas coming up I would hate for people to order from this frankly shocking shower of cowboys and be left waiting for what was intended to be x-mas presents to arrive. From the two replies above some people are lucky ... I wouldn't wish to take that chance with them anymore ... they are making promises they are back and better than ever before, well thats just horsesh1te ... I SWORE BY THEM before and recommended them highly, and my last few orders have all been messed around.

Cionád

I found during the summer, they got really bad and deliveries were taking weeks & months(for anything!!). I've started ordering off them again in the last month, and everything has arrived within 2 weeks. They were not new releases, and they were only around £2 a piece so i wasn't bothered if they didnt show for ages.

I order off Play regularly for all sorts, and i've never had an issue at all with them. Having said that the bargains from CDWOW that are mentioned in this forum are generally far cheaper than Play equivalents. So as a message to bargain hunters, if your going for the real bargains (which are generally older titles) do it, if your after new releases you might want to try a competitor, at least in the short term.

Dades

The only probs I've ever had were with new or pre-releases - but they all got there eventually. e.g. The World at War took a couple of weeks longer, but arrived. Snakes on a Plane(!) arrived 3 days after ordering.

The released, bargain stuff always seems to arrive promptly.

christo82

I have ordered 4 items over the last 2 weeks and they all came within a week of ordering.

Doodlebug

They really had gone to the dogs up to a month or so ago, 6 weeks for some (not new release stuff either) - and some orders having to be cancelled due to plain old not being sent at all.

Since the announcement of 'new management' I have had no problems - its like the good old days - ordering bargain DVDs & receiving them in about a week!

But, as has been said above, I haven't had the need to order new releases from them since. Probably not a bad thing to remind people that this company still has to prove itself before relying on it for last minute xmas presents, etc.

Although the signs are good so far, I will be keeping a close eye on the feedback they get on this site and others before relying too much on them! Fingers crossed things are back to normal!

dereko1969

i can't really blame cdwow for this but i will
hadn't ordered in ages from them, then got suckered in with the vouchers offer so ordered a couple of dvds and a cd, when i went to update my cardholder address (i'd moved in the interim) i foolishly presumed that that would be the delivery address....not so. now when i order from any other site the delivery address always pops up for you to confirm that address (amazon, play, dvdpacific) didn't happen with cdwow so my dvds have been sent to an apartment i moved out of 5 years ago! thankfully the cd was delayed so i think i've managed to get that sent to new address.
at least the dvds were only a fiver each or i'd be really upset. anywho, just remember to manually check your delivery address when you make an order.

Rozbeef

i've ordered 4 dvd's from them in the past month or so. still haven't received sunshine, but it was a region 3 and they informed me of the delay. i don't really mind. it was very cheap. got the other 2 on time. the last one i only ordered yesterday so expect to get it in a week or so.

can't people just be patient?

FeelingTired

Ordered Grey's Anatomy DVD last Wednesday,received yesterday,brilliant.And it.€36 play.com,€15 cdwow.No brainer really.

FutureGuy

Have had no problems with them over the last 6 months. Most recently, I received a package last week-days after ordering.

Steve J

they were terrible before the change in ownership a few weeks back but they're certainly back to normal now. I wouldn't worry

muffler

I have to concur with what everyone else is saying here. I have placed a couple of orders with them in the last few week and had no problems at all.

I think the OP is both over-reacting and using the medium of this forum in a crusade to tarnish Cdwow.

Ruu_Old

Steve J wrote:

they were terrible before the change in ownership a few weeks back but they're certainly back to normal now. I wouldn't worry

Agreed.

Rozbeef

muffler wrote:

I have to concur with what everyone else is saying here. I have placed a couple of orders with them in the last few week and had no problems at all.

I think the OP is both over-reacting and using the medium of this forum in a crusade to tarnish Cdwow.

yep very unfair imo. especially as he's probably doing it on a few other websites aswell.

Darthrodney

Rozbeef wrote:

yep very unfair imo. especially as he's probably doing it on a few other websites aswell.

Well excuse me for trying to help anyone who actually expects a timely delivery for new releases ... as for a crusade to tarnish CDWow ... sorry, but that is horsesh1te ...

As I said I have used them for years ahead of Play.com and others, hell I recommended them to many many people over the years ... but my last five orders (all for new items not bargain basement or old stock they are trying to get rid off) have all been delayed as i said, every last one.

In my personal opinion I will not be using them again for any new releases or pre orders ... that was my intention as I would have liked to have seen a warning from others about pre orders and new releases being late.

Take heed if you want ... don't if you don't want to ... your choice.
My conscience is clear.

hannah00

I have to agree with Darthrodney. I ordered 3 items. I older item which took over 1 week to be dispatched. The foo fighters new album which still has not shipped & lost season 3 which has also not shipped yet. What a pain!!

Nunu

I have 6 items pending dispatch for the last 2-3 weeks on 3 seperate orders.

Springsteen 'Magic' - pre ordered on Sept 22
Total Recall - ordered Sept 25
MI3 - ordered Sept 25
Children of Men - ordered Sept 25
Elvis by the Presleys - Ordered Sept 29
American Beauty - ordered Sept 29

Rozbeef

Darthrodney wrote:

Well excuse me for trying to help anyone who actually expects a timely delivery for new releases ... as for a crusade to tarnish CDWow ... sorry, but that is horsesh1te ...

As I said I have used them for years ahead of Play.com and others, hell I recommended them to many many people over the years ... but my last five orders (all for new items not bargain basement or old stock they are trying to get rid off) have all been delayed as i said, every last one.

In my personal opinion I will not be using them again for any new releases or pre orders ... that was my intention as I would have liked to have seen a warning from others about pre orders and new releases being late.

Take heed if you want ... don't if you don't want to ... your choice.
My conscience is clear.

sorry i didn't mean the post to sound like it did. but i never buy new releases from them as it's pretty obvious that they're having problems with them. most old titles i don't have any trouble with and they give the best prices. half the time i don't care whether it takes 1 or 3 weeks to arrive as i've got other films to watch in between anyway.

apologies again for sounding like an arse.

Steve J

this is getting funny now.

I personally don't have a problem with them and can see the differences in the last few weeks. They may have 1-2 teething issues at the start I'm sure, but overall it's all good and better than our rip off irish prices.

just saw their new blog - interesting

http://cdwow-ireland.typepad.com/

ilovemooch

I ordered about 5 CD's about 2 weeks ago and all they've sent me so far are emails telling me that they are going to be delayed.
I also ordered a DVD and they emailed me to cancel the order and gave me my money back as they said they wouldn't be getting it back in stock.
I'm glad I'm not the only one in this situation.

Kashkai

Like the OP, I bought literally hundreds of €'s worth of DVDs, CD's and games off them since 2003. However, their "service" went to hell in the last 12 months so I stayed away. However, I went back to look at their website last week and saw some bargains and some new releases that were a few yo yos cheaper than Play.com so I placed the order. A week later, my order is still "pending dispatch". "Be patient" I hear some saying, well they were quick enough to take the money from my credit card (same day) but not so quick getting the order shipped, even though the 4 DVD's were all supposedly in stock. I e-mailed them today and was told that one of the DVD's (Fantastic 4 part 2) was now delayed until the 15th. Well that doesn't explain why the other 3 DVD's are held up. CRAP SERVICE FROM A CRAP COMPANY. SHOULD HAVE GONE TO PLAY.COM:mad:

Darthrodney

Ok, I'm feeling a bit better now that I'm not alone in my displeasure with CDWow ...

Thought I was the only getting the sh1tty end of the stick from the first few replies ... *wipes brow with relief*

Rozbeef, no sweat, forget about it

IrishPhoenix

I ordered 2 Battlestar Galactica boxsets off them and season 1 took over a month to come and season 2 still had not dispatched. After about 5 'sorry for the delay' e-mails, I cancelled the order and bought it off Amazon, where it arrived in less than 3 days.

There's absolutely no harm in being wary when it comes to Xmas orders. They're kinda the last thing you ever want to wait for.