Warning about Andante Boutique
August Helmbright
Boutique. Please consider yourself forewarned before doing ANY type of
business with this company yourself.
I ordered the Naive recording of Vivaldi's L'Olimpiade back in mid-
November, and my credit card was immediately charged for the order. I got
an email back confirming the order (which I have saved). My attempts to
contact Andante about never receiving the order have gone unanswered. I
have done the following:
1. Resonded to bout...@andante.com - no answers to any emails, although
they have not been returned as undeliverable.
2. Sent an email to Andante through their "contact us" website - returned
as undeliverable.
3. Sent an email to Natalie Muller at Naive (the company that now owns
Andante), which she has chosen to ignore.
4. Called the toll free number that you can find on the Andante site if you
click on "shipping" from the Boutique. It now belongs to a real estate
consultant who knows nothing about Andante. (I confirmed that I hadn't
misdialed by reading him the number from the website. He said it was his
number, but only as of very recently.)
Caveat Emptor. I will cancelling my Andante membership when it comes up for
renewal - assuming they're even still in business then. I don't think
they're deliberately a bunch of crooks, but just the gang that can't shoot
straight, and likely spinning rapidly towards bankruptcy.
-----
August Helmbright
To email me, reverse the first and last names around the period.
Fred Maroth
well in Europe & not in danger of bankrupcy! Fred M.
"August Helmbright" <helmbrig...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:Xns95B97C69CA226au...@216.196.97.136...
August Helmbright
news:XxHtd.40168$6q2....@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com:
> They may be all screwed up (in USA operations) but Naive is a giant,
> doing well in Europe & not in danger of bankrupcy! Fred M.
They may be "doing well," but I guess they're doing so well in Europe that
Ms. Muller at Naive feels no particular need to respond to an email from
the US complaining that Andante has my money and I have nothing to show for
it but an expensive lesson. At this point, I don't think there's anything
that could impel me to do business with that company again. Sad, since
their website contains so much good stuff, and they've sponsored (and are
promising to sponsor) such good recordings. But no matter how good they
are, if they just pocket your money and send you nothing, it's hardly a
fair exchange.
Raymond Hall
I'd be contacting my credit card company, giving a full explanation.
Frankly, afaic, in Australia, I don't think one can beat Buywell,
Zweitausendeins or MDT, for service and more importantly for reliability,
and prompt delivery. I'd use berkshire much more, but for the fact that they
are not concerned about international customers. Surface mail, and 2 months
delivery time, is not good enough for me.
Ray H
Taree
Matthew B. Tepper
the following letters to be typed in
news:Xns95B97C69CA226au...@216.196.97.136:
And just when the Toscanini Salzburg _Falstaff_ has finally come out!
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Take THAT, Daniel Lin, Mark Sadek, James Lin & Christopher Chung!
Sergio H. da Silva
local police station and they can go as far as the FBI if the site is a
fraud.
Take a look at ebay on how you can go about reporting paying for something
you did not receive.news:Xns95B983171474Dau...@216.196.97.136...
Don Petter
<oyþ@earthlink.net> wrote:
[snip]
>>
>> Caveat Emptor. I will cancelling my Andante membership when it comes up
>> for renewal - assuming they're even still in business then. I don't
>> think they're deliberately a bunch of crooks, but just the gang that
>> can't shoot straight, and likely spinning rapidly towards bankruptcy.
>
>And just when the Toscanini Salzburg _Falstaff_ has finally come out!
>
>
If it has actually shipped, you may find it another supplier. The last
Andante box I got (Stravinsky III) came from MDT, as this was a better
source for a UK collector.
Don.
Van Eyes
> I have had recent very bad experience with ordering from the Andante
> Boutique. Please consider yourself forewarned before doing ANY type of
> business with this company yourself....
Andante Corp. lists a NYC address. You might try a complaint here...
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/complaints/complaints.html
Regards
--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
August Helmbright wrote:
Can't you tell your credit card company that you were
charged for merchandise you never received, and get them to
reverse the charge? Merchants are not SUPPOSED to charge
you until they ship your purchase, but if I have any doubt
my order is on its way, I simply inform my credit card
company that I have not received it, and get them to issue a
provisional credit.
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)
Sergio H. da Silva wrote:
> You can get the FBI involved I guess. You can report this fraud to your
> local police station and they can go as far as the FBI if the site is a
> fraud.
> Take a look at ebay on how you can go about reporting paying for something
> you did not receive.
If he charged it on a credit card, and did not receive his
purchase, all he need do is tell his credit card company -
no need to involve law enforcement! (The credit card
company simply kicks the charged amount back to the merchant
who billed it.)
Matthew B. Tepper
letters to be typed in news:b7a704d159edd5186031ef35922ff616.61436
@mygate.mailgate.org:
> "August Helmbright" <helmbrig...@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:Xns95B97C69CA226au...@216.196.97.136
>
>> I have had recent very bad experience with ordering from the Andante
>> Boutique. Please consider yourself forewarned before doing ANY type of
>> business with this company yourself....
>
> Andante Corp. lists a NYC address. You might try a complaint here...
>
> http://www.oag.state.ny.us/complaints/complaints.html
Hooray for Elliot Spitzer. We need to get him to take on the whole damn
music business.
augusthe...@msn.com
as a warning to anyone tempted to buy the Salzburg Falstaff box from
them now that it's been issued:
1. The Andante website lists a toll free number (it's hard to find, but
it's there) that no longer belongs to them.
2. The Excite Yellow Pages list a New York (212) phone number for
"Andante Corporation" that is no longer in service.
3. My credit card billing shows a different New York (212) phone number
for them that is also no longer in service.
4. I have continued to try emails to Andante, with cc's to Natalie
Muller at Naive. None have been returned as undeliverable, but none
have been answered by either party. None of these emails has been
discourteous (although I have made my frustrations known) and none has
contained any profanity.
Fortunately, I have filed a "merchanise not received" complaint with my
card and should be receiving provisional credit in a couple of days.
They told me the burden of proof of delivery would be on Andante to
show I received (or may yet receive) the product before the credit can
be taken away from me. Seeing how much trouble I've had getting ahold
of Andante, I doubt the credit card people will have any better luck.
--------
August Helmbright
Matthew B. Tepper
I don't mean this as a frivolous question, but have you tried writing to the
Naïve address in French?
augusthe...@msn.com
>I don't mean this as a frivolous question, but have you tried writing
to the
>Naïve address in French?
If I had any real proficiency in French, I might. I have tried some
other avenues (don't want to disclose what, because I got them through
communications that were sent to me confidentially by email), and hope
for some sort of resolution. In the meantime, at least I ought to be
able to get my money back through the credit card company, who assured
me that the credit (which I haven't seen yet, but isn't supposed to
show up for 3 to 5 business days) will not be reversed merely because
Andante protests, but only if they can prove product delivery. Not only
is there no delivery to "prove," but they have to be found in order to
try to prove anything - and the number they gave the credit card
company (shown on my bill) is no longer in service. Maybe they didn't
pay their phone bill - that wouldn't surprise me. I hope none of Ward
Marston's checks for his great work for them have bounced.
David Hurwitz
says...
>
>"augusthe...@msn.com" <augusthe...@msn.com> appears to have caused
>the following letters to be typed in
>news:1102698335.0...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
>
>> As a follow up and further warning on my Andante Boutique problems, and
>> as a warning to anyone tempted to buy the Salzburg Falstaff box from
>> them now that it's been issued:
>>
>> 1. The Andante website lists a toll free number (it's hard to find, but
>> it's there) that no longer belongs to them.
>> 2. The Excite Yellow Pages list a New York (212) phone number for
>> "Andante Corporation" that is no longer in service.
>> 3. My credit card billing shows a different New York (212) phone number
>> for them that is also no longer in service.
>> 4. I have continued to try emails to Andante, with cc's to Natalie
>> Muller at Naive. None have been returned as undeliverable, but none
>> have been answered by either party. None of these emails has been
>> discourteous (although I have made my frustrations known) and none has
>> contained any profanity.
>>
>> Fortunately, I have filed a "merchanise not received" complaint with my
>> card and should be receiving provisional credit in a couple of days.
>> They told me the burden of proof of delivery would be on Andante to
>> show I received (or may yet receive) the product before the credit can
>> be taken away from me. Seeing how much trouble I've had getting ahold
>> of Andante, I doubt the credit card people will have any better luck.
>
>I don't mean this as a frivolous question, but have you tried writing to the
>
They all speak English. Not that it matters.
David Hurwitz
Larry Rinkel
news:41b85a02...@news.individual.de...
FWIW, I saw an Andante release yesterday in one of the Tower Records stores
on Long Island, NY.
Matthew B. Tepper
letters to be typed in news:kKKzd.12261$eY4....@fe11.lga:
> "Don Petter" <don.petter*remove*@suk.sas.com> wrote in message
> news:41b85a02...@news.individual.de...
>> On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 20:44:39 GMT, "Matthew B. Tepper"
>> <oy兀earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>> >>
>> >> Caveat Emptor. I will cancelling my Andante membership when it comes
>> >> up for renewal - assuming they're even still in business then. I
>> >> don't think they're deliberately a bunch of crooks, but just the
>> >> gang that can't shoot straight, and likely spinning rapidly towards
>> >> bankruptcy.
>> >
>> >And just when the Toscanini Salzburg _Falstaff_ has finally come out!
>>
>> If it has actually shipped, you may find it another supplier. The last
>> Andante box I got (Stravinsky III) came from MDT, as this was a better
>> source for a UK collector.
>
> FWIW, I saw an Andante release yesterday in one of the Tower Records
> stores on Long Island, NY.
I've seen plenty of Andante releases in stores; just not the recent ones.
Brendan R. Wehrung
I'm still buying Dorian at Borders.
Brendan
--
rpgr...@mac.com
and I received an order confirmation by email. Because I live in Canada
my only shipping option was International Airborne Express. I find that
odd because Airborne Express was purchased by DHL early this year.
Their web site didn't update that information. So I emailed them to get
a tracking number.
I try the email in...@andante.com and membe...@andante.com and I too,
didn't get any reply. I also try to phone them, first at the 800
number provided in the shipping info page and got the real estate
broker instead. I also try the number provided by the NY White Pages
and WhoIs and got the phone number no longer in service message. The
only working phone number I found is 1 (212) 905-3420. It has a
recording only. I left a message and nobody called back.
A week later I did a search with Google and found this post. Now, I was
really sweating bullets. Fortunately, this story has a good ending,
just like a Hollywood movie. I got my order delivered on Christmas Eve
morning by DHL. Just in time for Christmas.
>From the information I could gathered on the shipping box, the order
was fulfilled by ArchivMusic.com and was drop shipped from Naxos Canada
in Mississauga, Ontario and delivered by DHL to my home address. Naxos
Canada is the canadian distributor for Andante Records.
Although my story has a good ending, it doesn't change the fact that
emails remained unanswered and nobody is there to answer phone calls.
Its like dealing with a ghost organization.
As a final note, the andante.com site was offline for two whole days on
Dec 8th and 9th.
--------------
Robert Paulhus
Don Petter
>
>And just when the Toscanini Salzburg _Falstaff_ has finally come out!
>
>
If it's AN3080, this is now showing on MDT's site, at GBP36.
Don.