Do not use Importcds

Sorry to hear that, perhaps you can find their phone and give them an old fashion scolding?

I've had some issues in the past with Amazon sellers, were I suppose to get a refund but I've never check to see if it's actually return to my account..Guess that would be a whole different problem.

Djoel

I have bought quite a few CD/SACDs from importcds in the past few years and I have not had any issues. There was an issue about the Sam Cooke Live at the Copa "SACD". But the listing was shown as a CD with "SACD" mentioned in the information about the title. So I was wrong to assume it was the SACD.

Looking at the importcds site for the Black Sabbath Paranoid listing it does say SACD on the listing which is a mistake. There is only one Paranoid SACD release and that is the SHM-SACD release. If you look at the "SACD" Paranoid listing on importcds and read the information text you will see it states:

2009 digitally remastered and expanded deluxe three CD edition of the classic sophomore album from the Heavy Metal kingpins led by Ozzy Osbourne. Originally released in 1970, Paranoid still stands as an important milestone in the history of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. This ultimate edition features a beautifully remastered version of the album, an alternate version of the album including instrumental mixes, alternate recordings and more plus A bonus DVD 5.1 audio mix of the album. Majestic Metal, indeed. Sanctuary.

It is unfortunate that you did not realize that there was only one Paranoid SACD release and that importcds has not issued your refund. I did a little digging and found this information on importcds.

C D Listening Bar, Inc.
17822 Gillette Ave. A
Irvine, CA 92614 USA
949-225-1170

I would try calling them to get your refund and let them know that the listing for Paranoid is incorrect. I do not feel importcds is a dishonest vendor. But one that is huge and that mistakes happen.

Bill

No offense but it took me all of 30 seconds to see that there is only one Paranoid SACD (sa-cd.net) available. Then another 60 seconds or so to read the information text of the Paranoid "SACD" that clearly describes the product as a three CD edition with a DVD. I have found doing research on ALL the music I buy online a must. Not only to make sure I'm getting the disc I want and that the price is the best price available. If one does not take the time do their research when buying music online then what happened with the Paranoid "SACD" could happen again.

I understand your frustration for the length of time to get your refund. But it took me another minute or so of searching on google to find importcds phone number. Did you try calling them to explain what happened and to request an immediate refund?

Bill

Agree wholeheartedly, Bill-I've bought many discs from them without a hitch. ImportCDs and Odd Banana are my preferred vendors.

I've bought from importcds in the past and found them to be very good.

I've ordered new import vinyl from them a couple times without a hitch, and their prices are low.

Another Importcds supporter!!
I have purchased quite a few SACD's & Music Blu-rays from them without any problems. Will continue to buy from them in the future as well.
I completely agree with Bill that doing your homework and researching before you buy are key.
Many sites besides Importcds have music products mislabeled. (Amazon is a good one for this)
Checking your selection out thoroughly before buying (SA-CD.net) saves a lot of grief and hassle.
The only time I have been disappointed buying a SACD is when I didn't do it and I have learned my lesson.
I'm sorry to hear your having problems and hope you get it resolved.
I really doubt Importcds is trying to rip you off and I'm confident that once you contact them it will be taken care of.

Thread title concerned me a bit since I just ordered from them for the first time- sacd of Wish You Were Here, best price I've seen at 29.99 (plus 2.99 s/h), tho I didn't get it before they went out of stock, so its back-ordered. I sent them an email inquiring about expected time when it would be in stock and got a reply within a day or two- tho the reply wasn't very specific, but did sound truthful. Glad to hear they are trustworthy; the post (on another board) where I learned of this price stated that they had gotten good service many times in the past.

Anyone else get WYWH sacd from them?

I buy from importcds all the time and have never had a problem. I make all my purchases through Amazon Marketplace, which I feel, gives me extra protection. I've never had a problem with any Amazon order, either from Amazon directly or from the Marketplace.

Importcds owes me $8 from 2-3 years ago and never paid me. I had bought a few CDs from them through Amazon at different times and they all arrived. But then I got a 2CD set I didn't order and obviously they sent someone else's order to me in error. So I asked them if I sent it back would they reimburse me for the postage and they said yes. So I sent it via airmail and despite a few emails they never responded. They could easily refund me through Amazon to one of my purchases. I thought I was being helpful and charitable to send the set back. Next time I just won't bother and keep the items or sell them.

All you guys reporting that you've bought discs from the vendor without a hitch aren't helping. Anybody can ship the right product on time and bill you correctly - that's how it goes for 99%+ of all orders with just about any vendor that isn't just an outright fraud.

What matters is how a company handles exceptions, what they do after they screw up. Good companies promptly correct the situation with minimum hassle for the customer. Bad companies drop the ball and leave it to the customer to pick it up.

This is true. But sometimes one has to dig a little deeper to reach an actual person to get results from a company as large as importcds. If after going the extra mile to resolve the issue without success you contact your CC company or Paypal. Hopefully by then you will have had the issue resolved. Then if you wish to never use importcds again thats up to each individual.

What I see in the OP's case is he bought a boxset from importcds that was incorrectly labeled. I'm sure this happens quite a bit on other music sites as well as importcds. If the OP read the description of the Paranoid "SACD" he would have seen it was not an SACD. The OP has yet to reply to if he called importcds and if he received a refund.

Bill

I've bought many times from them and had one problem disc. The refunded my money quickly with no problems. Would not hesitate to use them again.

No problems with -importcds for me, either, other than shipments maybe running a little slow at times.

[quote=hakstone;21848222]
Really? That is totally up to you but it was quite obvious by reading the complete product description that the Paranoid "SACD" was not a SACD. It is just common sense to take the time to insure the product you are ordering is the product you desire. If you do not want to take the time or feel it is not your "responsibility" to be sure you might have similar issues like this in the future.


Did you ever call importcds and talk to them directly? If not then thats too bad as you could have received much better service than just using email communication. If you took a few minutes of your time to read the product description on the importcds site would you have still bought the "SACD"? Yes it is easy for me to endorse a company like importcds.

If you recall I mentioned earlier that I had a similar issue when ordering a "SACD" from importcds. The difference is I accepted responsibility for the error as I was wrong and was hoping to get a product that was not a SACD. I then called importcds and received prompt service and simple steps to receive my refund. You can be sour on importcds but in the end you have to assume some responsibility for the error.

Bill

I think it is ALWAYS up to me to make sure I fully understand what I'm ordering, but that's just me.

In addition as mentioned elsewhere, the refund taking 3 weeks or more is pretty standard outside of a few major vendors like Amazon.

I try to always order through Amazon or pay for any transactions through Paypal, then you are protected. Simple as that. Personally I think you jumped the gun on this thread you've posted across multiple forums.

+1

I guess you win (or maybe I do) seeing that we have the last posts. Lets call it a tie.

Bill

Why is that? You started this thread telling members here not to use importcds. Many, including myself disagree with that and have posted positive experiences with importcds as bwv1080 did. So you are basically saying that bwv1080 was wrong to post his positive experience with importcds? I wonder if you would feel the same if bwv1080 posted a negative experience with importcds.

Bill

Bill I give you permission to keep posting too. I'll refrain from the personal attacks though.

A curious side-note to this whole issue: IIRC, when the Paranoid multi-channel disc release was first announced, there was a tremendous amount of confusion as to whether it would be SACD, DVD-A or DVD-V. Pretty well every retailer had the listing as an SACD at first, and not every retailer gets around to updating their product listings for every update. Amazon does a pretty good job, but they have a seemingly huge support staff around the globe.

So although it would have been nice if importcds had corrected the info and been more easily contacted about refunding the OP's payment, I'm not surprised at the root cause in this particular case.

And in general, I always double-check listings for multichannel discs to make sure I am ordering what I expect - there have been several cases where SACDs were only available for European releases (e.g. Genesis box set), or the "surround Sound Audio DVD" was really just a DVD-V, not a DVD-A like you might expect. It's the nature of the niche-market of multi-channel discs and SACDs and DVD-As in particular, unfortunately. Very few retailers actually know what they are stocking/selling.

shinksma

I do see the confusion of formats being posted. Sacd and DVD Audio are two misunderstood formats. That's why they fell through the cracks. Most surround music unfortunately is only in the DVD Video compressed sound and NOT the high resolution we music fans love from the down and out formats. That's why people are paying hundreds of dollars on a sacd I bought back when for under twenty bucks. Most sacds no longer exist. Same for DVD Audio discs. It is sad that we music fans are satisfied with 16 bit technology that is ages old. I prefer the 24 bit hi resolution audio that sacd provides.

SACD is one bit, not 24. DVD-A is generally 24 bit.

Add in the confusion caused by other formats such as HDAD, HDCD, 24/96 DTS, and DualDisc, and it's easy to see why consumers must be wary of labels and product descriptions from web sites. Many DVD-V releases with DTS or DD tracks have been labeled Audio DVD, just close enough to be mistaken for lossless DVD-Audio.