BMG music – Good Prices, Mediocre Customer Service, Lousy Shipping
Written: Feb 04 '02 (Updated Feb 04 '02)
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Buy one CD, get 12 free and 500 MyPoints to boot!!!. Wow what a deal. Truth be told, I don’t remember the exact deal I signed up for at BMGmusicservice.com. I started with the buy one, get 12 free and somewhere along the line I think I bought another CD and got 4 more. They generally are offering something similar at any given time. For about $55, which includes shipping, you can get 12 or 13 CD’s. A good deal by any measure.
The Basics
To become a member and take advantage of one of these offers you will need to sign up with a credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover), chose a favorite music style, and watch your email closely. About every three weeks they will send an email offering the latest featured selection. If you want the featured CD, do nothing; it will be shipped in about 4 weeks. If you choose not to receive the featured selection, you will need to sign into the web site and reply that you do not want the CD.
Once you fulfill the original contract requirements, BMG regularly runs various sales and offers for members. I have seen buy one, get three free, buy as many as you want at 70% off, or buy as many as you want at 50% off with free shipping.
Of course, percent off pricing doesn’t mean anything unless you know the original price and the shipping costs. At this time most CD’s at BMG music are $17.98 and shipping is $2.79 for each and every CD, even if you order 5 at one time. Multi unit sets are priced higher and shipping is also higher for them.
So how do these sales translate into pricing? Buy one ($17.98), get three free ($0.00) would cost $29.14 with shipping. That is $7.29 per CD. A 70% off sale means the CD cost $5.39 so with shipping the total is $8.18. A sale of 50% off with free shipping means the CD costs $8.99. Overall, I’d say that is competitive pricing, but note that you are better off to take the lower price (when available) and pay the shipping.
Unfortunately, the BMG web site is a bit slow and cumbersome. The pages take a long time to load (I’m using a DSL line) compared to other shopping sites, the font can be quite small on some pages, and the site seems to be down occasionally. I have never had a problem for longer than 24 hours but if I am thinking about music NOW, I want to sign in NOW, not tomorrow. Additionally, there seems to be a several day lag from the time you receive an email about a featured selection and when the selection actually appears in your account. For example, on February 2nd, I received a notice about my newest featured selection but today is February 4th and the selection is not yet available to accept or deny.
Since there are about 12,000 items available at BMG music the website allows the members to search or to browse. You can search by Artist Name, Album Title, Song Title, Composer, or Selection Number. This is the BMG selection number. It would be nice to be able to search by ISBN number. You can browse by style, which includes Rock and Pop, R&B rap, Country, Jazz, Classical, Latin, Christian, Soundtracks, or Collections.
My Problem with BMG
I have probably received 25 or more CD’s from BMG music in the three years I have been a member. One CD arrived cracked. I emailed customer service and it was immediately replaced. Actually, as the CD was part of a set of three Christmas CD’s (Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Tony Bennett) BMG replaced the entire set, even though each CD was individually packaged and wrapped. It would have been just as easy to send only the broken CD.
The biggest problem I have with BMG is their shipping methods. Even if you order 5 CD’s paying $2.79 X 5 or $13.95, they still ship the order by parcel post or media mail. This can take up to four weeks to arrive and BMG will not even consider a shipment lost until it has been four weeks. They will reship the order one time but they do not ship it in a way that can be tracked.
My personal experience with a lost shipment is the reason I am dropping my membership. I ordered four CDs in November 2001. On November 27, BMG charged my credit card. When the items hadn’t arrived by Christmas, I emailed customer service and was told to wait a few more days because of the holidays. After several more emails over another week I finally convinced BMG to reship the order. They reshipped on January 10, 2002. After 3 weeks, I emailed them once again to say the CD’s had not arrived. On January 31 they insisted I wait 2 more weeks for this shipment. Instead I called my credit card and denied the charge. I think 2 months is plenty long to see that a shipment arrives on time.
Meanwhile, BMG has refused to ship a third time as if this is my fault. I have asked them to provide proof to me that they did ship one or both of these orders. They have not even acknowledged my request. I asked them to file a lost mail report with the postal service and to send me a copy. Again, they have ignored that request. If BMG did ship this order twice, then obviously there is a problem with the post office. But if BMG does not bring this problem to the attention of the various postmasters, how will the post office ever know they have this problem? Since they refuse to provide proof of shipment or file a lost mail report it does make me wonder if the shipment(s) were ever sent.
I do not like the fact that BMG can charge my credit card and refuse to reship the order after two months of not receiving it. I think that when the first order is lost (as probably happens occasionally) the replacement order should be sent by some traceable method (delivery confirmation, signature guarantee). I do not like the fact that BMG has had my money for over two months and is still telling me to wait two more weeks to see if it shows up. After two months, the shipment is lost. They should take appropriate action.
There should be a better form of communication then unsigned emails. I have received a few emails from them but not one has a name on it. There is no toll free number to call when emails are not sufficient to solve the problem.
Suggestions, if BMG wants me back as a customer
If an order must be replaced, reship the order by some traceable or trackable method.
If an order is lost, file the lost mail report with the Postal Service or the USPS will not even know they have lost a parcel. (This generally does not find the lost parcel but does put the postal service on notice that they have lost something and occasionally, they do find the item.)
Provide names of customer service representatives and assign a person to see a problem through to its conclusion.
Provide a toll free phone number with live real-time help available.
Conclusion
If you like to buy many CDs, like to shop from your computer, and don’t mind waiting for packages to arrive, BMG may serve your purposes well. I would suggest that you keep meticulous records, save all emails, closely monitor your credit card, and stay on top of everything they do or you may never receive your order.
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About the Author
Member: Colleen Farley
Location: Lubbock, TX
Reviews written: 146
Trusted by: 146 members
About Me: Happily married, mostly retired, and addicted to the internet.
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