Jerry Goldsmith's L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997) - 2022 Varese Deluxe Edition

[Tydirium 1,167]

Holy crap, Varèse (or Concord) is sending my blood pressure through the roof. As I said, I requested to cancel the order on 9/21 at 3:45pm (ten days after I placed it, and hadn’t heard anything whatsoever about it shipping). Less than 2 hours later at 5:30pm, I get a notice that they are shipping it. The next day, a customer support agent emails me and says:

 

"Hi there, thanks for reaching out! 
 
Unfortunately, we are unable to cancel your order since it is already on the way to you. 
 
Tracking: https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction_input?origTrackNum=92490903332000300000106819
 
Please reply back here if you would like to return or exchange your item(s) once you receive your order and we can send those instructions along for you."

 

Never mind that I placed the cancellation request before they shipped it out anyways, but whatever; the implication from her email is clearly that I can return it if I don’t want it.

 

So the other day I received the CD with a big crack on the front cover of the case (not just a scratch; the plastic actually moves if you barely press on it even through the factory seal). I was already going to return it anyways (because I figured I’d get a better-shape copy from SAE or Intrada), but I reported back to the customer support agent my frustration with the whole situation, and mentioned the damage. Her response yesterday:

 

"Hi there, 
 
We are so sorry to hear that your order arrived damaged.  In these situations, we recommend letting us help you with a claim.
 
In order to process your claim from here, I will need photos of the damaged item (or videos if the issue is with a music item that is not playing properly).
 
Please reply directly to this email with attached photos/videos and we can proceed from there. 
 
Thank you!"

 

So I sent a picture clearly showing the damage. Then today I get this from her:

 

“Hi,
 
We are so sorry to see this. Unfortunately, slight damage can occur with music items while in transit. We are unable to issue replacements for minor cosmetic damage such as creases, bends, split inserts, dings, etc.
 
In this situation, we can offer a $3.00 refund on the item cost since the damage is cosmetic and does not affect playability.
 
We understand that this solution may not be ideal and we sincerely apologize.
 
Please let us know if we can proceed with this partial refund.
 
Thank you!”

 

A $3 refund?? When I spent almost $30. ...But as shown above, she had said just back on 9/22 that I could return or exchange my item just because I didn’t want it (no “claim” required)! So what changed since then? The fact that they got it damaged along the way, so now they can’t accept it back? This is ridiculous and I’m about to hit my head against a wall. Give me my money back and I’ll just reorder it from SAE, already.

 

Also, it’s not a “crease,” or “bend,” or “split insert,” or “ding”; it’s a full-blown crack in the plastic, which only occurred because of how shoddily they packaged it. I still don’t understand why I even needed to submit a claim, when supposedly I was going to be able to return it just because I wanted to cancel it. I was already going to return it anyways, but now apparently I can’t? The crack isn’t even the thing really bugging me here; it’s the fact that they sent the CD anyways after I asked them to cancel, then said I could return it, and now are apparently saying I can’t.

 

EDIT: Just checked out of curiosity, and what do you know, USPS tracking shows they didn’t create my shipping label until an hour after I requested to cancel the order…! Absolutely nothing from them for ten days, and then they just so happen to decide to do something an hour after I let them know I’d like to cancel? And of course therefore, when the customer support agent messages me the next morning it’s conveniently too late for them to cancel it, because now it’s on its way. Am I supposed to believe this is just a coincidence?

[Yavar Moradi 2,599]

Yeah it’s Concord. Again, Varese hasn’t had a Varese employee shipping packages since early 2018 at the latest.

 

Yavar