CD Wow

The Lovely Muffin

Hi,

The DVD I ordered was due to be released to the general public on 9 Nov. On Tuesday (10th nov) I checked my "order history" and saw on my order it says "backorder" so I e-mailed CDWow.ie and they said "we are experiencing a delay in receiving this product from our suppliers and we are currently awaiting confirmation of when the goods will be available for dispatch" and "as soon as we have this information, we will let you know by email."

Would it be wrong of me to want to cancel my order and request a refund?

When I ordered the DVD it said "in stock", if it had said "out of stock" or "available on X date" I wouldn't have ordered, I would either have waited until it was in stock or else bought it from somewhere else.

I used a 3V voucher to pay for my purchase and before 12am that night the transaction was completed (i.e, the money taken from the voucher).

Thanks.

jor el

You can cancel and ask for a refund, but it could take a week to get the money back on the card. If it's expiring soon, this could be a problem for you.

The Lovely Muffin

jor el wrote: »

You can cancel and ask for a refund, but it could take a week to get the money back on the card. If it's expiring soon, this could be a problem for you.

Thank you.

The voucher doesn't expire until 01/10 so I will ask them to cancel my order and issue me a refund.

Thanks again.

francosp

-Orlaith- wrote: »

Hi,

The DVD I ordered was due to be released to the general public on 9 Nov. On Tuesday (10th nov) I checked my "order history" and saw on my order it says "backorder" so I e-mailed CDWow.ie and they said "we are experiencing a delay in receiving this product from our suppliers and we are currently awaiting confirmation of when the goods will be available for dispatch" and "as soon as we have this information, we will let you know by email."

Would it be wrong of me to want to cancel my order and request a refund?

When I ordered the DVD it said "in stock", if it had said "out of stock" or "available on X date" I wouldn't have ordered, I would either have waited until it was in stock or else bought it from somewhere else.

I used a 3V voucher to pay for my purchase and before 12am that night the transaction was completed (i.e, the money taken from the voucher).

Thanks.

I had a problem that was similar to yours.

Basically I bought a PS3 controller that was "in stock" on the site, after over week IICR the status was still "waiting dispatch". When I mailed them I got the "we are experiencing a delay in receiving this product from our suppliers and we are currently awaiting confirmation of when the goods will be available for dispatch" message.

I basically said that this wasn't good enough a wanted to cancel my order and get a refund.

They insisted that the item would be dispatched in the next few days, which it wasn't.. They then dispatched the item about a week later.

I contacted them and told them I had cancelled the order and wanted a refund. They insisted that the item was dispatched and no refund could be given until I received the order ( that I cancelled )...

Two months later, still no sign of the item and no sign of the refund. After a string of mails and VERY angry comments I finally got a refund. Every time I got a mail back from them it was someone new and the mail read as though they send a generic mail to everyone who complains.. Terrible !

The product never arrived.

Cr*p online experience.. Worst I have EVER come across !

jor el

This is the main reason I stopped using CDWow, which was about 2 years ago. I had heard that things had improved, but I had given them as much of my time and money as I was ever going to.

Sad to see that they're still doing the same thing.

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks for your replies.

I e-mailed cd-wow yesterday and asked them to cancel my order and refund me and they replied today and said my cancellation request and is now registered and will shortly be processed by our system. This is an automated process scheduled to cancel orders after all updated shipping information has been received from our warehouse."

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again for your help/replies.

The Lovely Muffin

Just checked my emails and saw an email from CDwow sent to me at 22:15pm tonight saying that my order has been cancelled and my refund will be processed shortly.

I'll let you know how the refund process goes.

The Lovely Muffin

Update:

I got an e-mail from "RBS World Play" (the company who dealt with my payment for CD Wow) saying I had been refunded, so I checked my 3v online account and didn't see anything about a refund, but I expect it will take about a week for the refund to go through, once it does I'll let you know.

Thankfully it's all gone smoothly so far, hopefully it'll complete without any complications.

Red Sleeping Beauty

jor el wrote: »

This is the main reason I stopped using CDWow, which was about 2 years ago. I had heard that things had improved, but I had given them as much of my time and money as I was ever going to.

Sad to see that they're still doing the same thing.

Could the EU rules/laws/derectives about onilne/"distance" selling not close them down? They're clearly skating near the edge of reputability. I recommend people not to use them. All online DVD/CD shops need a health warning though imo.

Sendit can take ages, play charge you a distorted Euro price and both ship from outside the EU leaving you open to a potentially nasty deal breaking VAT charge.

jor el

Alan Rouge wrote: »

Could the EU rules/laws/derectives about onilne/"distance" selling not close them down?

They're Hong Kong based, so I don't think so.

Red Sleeping Beauty

Oh yeah...
Hah, that means that Play.com and the like aren't affected by that doesn't it? Bleedin chancers.

jor el

Yes. Play, Sendit, etc are not bound by EU law, since they operate from outside the EU. Cheap products always come at some price.

The Lovely Muffin

I got my refund today.

Thankfully all went smoothly.

However, I will definitely not be using CD-Wow again. This experience with them is enough for me.

Red Sleeping Beauty

jor el wrote: »

Yes. Play, Sendit, etc are not bound by EU law, since they operate from outside the EU. Cheap products always come at some price.

I'd imagine though they might have some kind of cover from UK law though? They at least don't get charged UK VAT.

-Orlaith- wrote: »

I got my refund today.

Thankfully all went smoothly.

However, I will definitely not be using CD-Wow again. This experience with them is enough for me.

Good stuff.
Shame though as many more people are probably in the same position.

Should a business that uses a .ie domain not be bound to Irish or EU law?

mickeyfitzray

Just thought I'd recount my experience with CDWow so far as I can see people have been having trouble.

I've had to contact their customer service twice in the past year or so and both times the issue was resolved with the minimum of fuss. One time a package got lost in the post and they resent it no questions asked.

Having said that I always try to buy from local record stores first as I think it's important. But as far as service goes I've found CdWow excellent, especially when it comes to customer service.

SlimeyGoose

mickeyfitzray wrote: »

But as far as service goes I've found CdWow excellent, especially when it comes to customer service.

Have to agree with mickeyfitzray on CD wow service.

We recently ordered 2 games with delcared value of £17.99 each but were assessed for VAT and costs of 20.42.

I emailed CD wow and they said their poilicy was to pay all local delivery charges and would refund these charges :

CDWOW! offers a service whereby all delivery costs are paid in advance by us, however on occasion local Customs may add extra charges. I have logged the details of your delivery so that our Operations team can look into this further for you.

Please send a copy of your Customs Receipt to us so that we can reimburse you via an E-voucher. As soon as your receipt is received, we will issue the voucher so that you are not out of pocket any longer than necessary.

Kar Lau

Exact same situation as Orlaith and there was no indication that the item was out of stock before or during the order process! I sent them an email just now and after reading Orlaith's posts, I am hoping that I will be able to cancel the order and get refunded asap, will keep you updated!

Daemos

Again, same kind of story from me. I ordered something that sais it would be shipped within 7-10 days. Not only has it been two weeks since my order, but the status of it has been 'Backorder' the entire time.

So thanks to my personal unhappiness, this thread, and the fact I found it for 10 Euro cheaper on amazon.co.uk, I've just cancelled my order now and asked for a refund.

It's the first time I've used the site, and I can't see myself using it again anytime soon

Kar Lau

this is my first time too. I've been checking my emails to see if there's been any replies but I guess they only work mon-fri or somethin. I'm going to be away for a week so it's gonna be annoying having to check my emails while I'm away! I wish I had researched the cd wow before purchasing anything off them, next time I will be more careful!

Yakult

I use to order off them alot a few years back and it was fine. Both prices and shipment. Then last year then I ordered a game and it took them 2 months to get it to me (Same for my friend) I was fairly annoyed so I stayed clear of them.

Last night tho I ordered from them again and it was dispatched today. So fingers crossed Im not waiting long for it.

Kar Lau

I cancelled my order with them & that was fine, the response was quick and they said they would refund me back on my card. A few days later, they said that it wasn't possible because there was a problem with my card... my bank verified that there wasn't. They then said the only option was to get an e voucher. I asked them to try the refund again but they just reiterated what they said in the previous email. I had no choice but to accept the evoucher. ah well, maybe I will order something off them anyway when I'm in no rush to receive the item..

mickeyfitzray

Don't think I'd be too happy with that. If your bank verified there was no problem then they have no excuse.

Kar Lau

yea it's a bit annoying alright. If I had been home, I would of fought it more but I was in Chicago at the time and didn't want to deal with it. Could be worse I guess. I'll just buy something with the evoucher then probably won't bother with them again!

mickeyfitzray

I would have at least asked for an explanation regarding the problem with your card. The thing to remember about these companies is you are not powerless no matter how much they fob you off. Just keep going higher up the chain until you get a response.

Luckily I've never had to do this with CD-Wow as their service for me has been excellent. But I've had huge problems in the past with Pixmania and UPC. With both I was being ignored to the point that it was insulting. I emailed the CEO's of their companies. If that doesn't work find out their parent companies and email their CEO's. You'll be surprised at how quick you get a grovelling response.

Bear in mind I went through a couple of months of extremely bad service and lies before I resorted to those methods.

Kar Lau

thanks for the advice. I asked them for an explanation and they said that either I had just got a new card or that my card was expired. I should of pursued it more. I tend to purchase my cds and dvds and other items in actual shops rather than online. next time I will research the company's reputation etc beforehand. thanks again!

jelliebellie

i ordered 5 items off of CDwow on 02/12. i have received 4 out of 5 of these items so far - last week and monday.

anyway the 5th item i am waiting on is a xmas present and the shipping address i gave them is my work one. i am finished up in work on friday for the hols. if it goesnt come by then i will have to buy another xmas present for this person and be left with their original one from CDwow (if and when it ever comes!!) which is of no use to me. is there any way i cancel the order even though my order status says that it is dispatched since 03/12.

wish i had read the reviews before i ordered really!

mickeyfitzray

The reviews here have been positive as well as negative so I think you're giving them a harder time than they deserve!

Have you tried emailing them? There's an address on the site and anytime I've emailed them I've always got a very helpful and quick response. The one flaw they seem to have in their system is when things are out of stock or they are waiting on stock to come in it doesn't show up on the site and they don't contact you to notify you of delays. However, whenever I've emailed them it's always been sorted really quickly.

jelliebellie

i know there are positive reviews also but having emailed them twice and gotten no response whatsover is pretty annoying. also my sister has been waiting 3 and a half weeks for stuff from them. she has also mailed them and gotten no reply.

not looking likely that we will get our items before finishing up in work for xmas

mickeyfitzray

OK well that's pretty dire! Thankfully I've never had an experience like that with them. They've always gotten back to me really quickly.

Lollipops23

CdWow used to be great; far cheaper than the shops and fast delivery. Then in the past year-18months, the delivery has become a farce. It took them over 3 weeks to get my Foo Fighters cd out a few months back.

I gave them one last chance coming up to xmas,ordered Star Trek for himself. It was despatched on 9th dec and STILL hasn't arrived. Am beyond annoyed :mad: