Like Chely Wright? Shopping at chely.com is a nightmare...
Written: Jan 04 '04 (Updated Jan 04 '04)
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For those of you who don't know Chely Wright is a country music singer. She hasn't done much lately, but had some hits in the past.
I collect autographed pictures and love to buy things from different country music stars' websites. For the most part I've had good experiences, but ordering from the www.chely.com website has been a nightmare.
What the website sells:
The site has a wide variety of products and offers many personally autographed things as well. At the site you will find: 2004 Calendar (proceeds benefit Chely's Reading, Writing and Rhythm foundation), CD's, Tshirts, autographed photos, keychains, bumper stickers, color button, 5th anniversary fan club newsletter, bandanna, guitar pick, mouse pack and a pack of tattoos.
You can also sign up for her fan club through her site. The fan club is nice including an autographed photo, bio and fact sheet, membership card, newsletters and merchandise info. I like it because it isn't like many of the clubs now which are online clubs only. Her fan club is $15 per year in the US.
Shipping:
You won't know your shipping amount until you go to the checkout. Then it will update for you. I did go in and add items to the shopping cart to get shipping prices though so I could post them here.
They base the shipping on the amount spent. The minimum shipping is $4. So if you buy a $1 guitar pick your shipping is going to be $4. The shipping charges are high.
$0-$10 = $4
$10-$49 = $7
$50-$99 = $10
$100 + = $15
The shipping prices go up based on the amount.
Use of site:
The site is easy to use. I didn't have any trouble getting around at the site.
Payment Info:
When you shop it will take you directly to Paypal where you can use your credit card. That is the only option they give you for payment. It's quick and convenient for someone who uses Paypal. If you don't use Paypal then it isn't very helpful.
Confirmation Emails:
When your order is placed you are sent a confirmation email showing the items you ordered. If you do order from here save that receipt no matter what. You can count on that you will need it later to reference back to.
Contact Information:
Chely Wright Fan Club
P.O. Box 188
Old Bridge, NJ 08857
fax 1-732-723-3504
email: fanclub@chely.com
My Experiences:
My first order with www.chely.com I got my order after 6 weeks. I had ordered several items including a Tshirt. I ordered an XL shirt and I got a medium. The medium was no good to me because I couldn't wear it. I emailed the fan club. They promised to send out the correct size at no additional charge and to keep the wrong size for the trouble.
That sounded great and I was happy. The correct size shirt never arrived. After several emails with no reply, I finally just gave up. Months later I decided to give the site a try again. I thought that maybe that was just a mixup and there wouldn't be any problems in the future.
My next order I placed was for some autographed photos, guitar picks, mouse pad and a 2 fan club newsletters. It took over 6 weeks to arrive which is way too long. Then some of my guitar picks were missing and one of the fan club newsletters. I was so mad!
I immediately emailed the fan club. After a week they emailed me back stating they were sorry and they would mail my items right out. A month later and I still didn't have my items. I was so upset. I emailed the fan club again. They apologized saying they had mailed the items so they weren't sure what could have happened with them.
I waited another week and knew that my items were never going to show up. I then emailed them again and told them that with my first order I never got the correct size Tshirt. I told them that I had waited over 2 months to get the items I had ordered on my second shopping trip. I was livid. When I emailed I said that I would be writing to some of the country music magazines and tell them how horrible my experience had been and maybe they would print it.
The fan club then took notice. They realized I wasn't playing around and that they had pushed me to the limit. Within two weeks I had my missing items. They sent some extra guitar picks and even included a couple of bumper stickers and a magnet.
The extra stuff wasn't worth the long wait and the trouble I had getting what I had ordered. I decided then that I would never order with Chely's site again.
It's ashame because Chely offers nice items at her site. The items are good quality and she usually has new autographed pictures every so often. I won't chance it again.
Bottom Line:
Expect long waits (6+ weeks) to get your order. Expect to get the wrong size and missing items. Expect long delays on getting a reply to emails. Expect broken promises.
Many thanks to Joubert who added this to Epinions for me.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Member: Wendy
Location: ~Music City USA~
Reviews written: 238
Trusted by: 265 members
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