"ClassicSelect"

[Peter]

I wonder if anyone is familiar with, or has done business with, a company
called "ClassicSelect"? Hopefully this company is reliable.

"ClassicSelect" offers some amazingly low priced compact Discs from major
manufacturers.

[Willem Orange]

I have ordered from them with no problen at all

[Alan Dawes]

In article <Q8-dnXUAl-RutLvJ...@giganews.com>,

I haven't used "ClassicSelect" so cannot comment but in the UK, I've found
"Selections" to be a good source of very cheap CDs starting at
0.45ukpounds.

http://www.selections.com/music/classical-music-on-cd-and-dvd/

http://www.selections.com/reduced-to-clear/music-clearance/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=R+Strauss+CDs&utm_content=R+Strauss+CDs+CID_0ac0bff750fac076b4ad9167fcf9025e&utm_source=Email%20Marketing%20Software&utm_term=clearance%20section

You can subscribe to their newsletter which often has interesting special
offers.

Alan

--
alan....@argonet.co.uk
alan....@riscos.org
Using an Acorn RiscPC

[Steve de Mena]

I personally wouldn't worry. If they're not reliable I'd just get my
credit card company to reverse the charges. No big deal.

Steve

[Jim Paul]

For anyone who's interested, here's my story:

I placed an order for about ten items. One was canceled and refunded as it was out of stock. My order included all three volumes of Imogen Cooper's Schubert on Avie. When I received the package, I found that they'd sent two copies of volume three and no volume one. I sent an email to inquire about returning the extra copy for the right one. They responded that they would send volume one, and did not ask me to return the extra. A few days later I got an email that they were having trouble locating volume one. The guy I heard from said he was sure they had it but that if he didn't find it by the following day, he'd issue a refund. About a week later, having received neither discs nor refund, I sent a follow-up email. That went unanswered for a couple of days, so today I sent another, less patient-sounding email. That was answered to say they've located volume one and mailed it but, due to the delay, they're also going to credit me for the item price.

So, on the minus side -- slow and less than fully competent customer service.
On the plus side -- free stuff as compensation (assuming cds and refund actually materialize).

[Mark Zimmer]

I have also ordered from them several times with zero problem. Good prices, fast service, at least in my experience.

Mark

[Jim Paul]

I begin to smell a rat. I just opened a cd I bought from them -- the DG Originals release of Wilhelm Kempff playing Beethoven sonatas (447 404-2). The label in the center of the disc is not DG yellow; it's a kind of sickly, pale orange, and the label side has a flat, dull finish, unlike other DG disks. The booklet too appears to be a cheaply printed copy. I've now examined all the cd's I bought from them. Some look legit, but a few definitely look like counterfeits, though none as obvious as the Kempff.

[wkasimer]

On Wednesday, November 5, 2014 5:38:31 PM UTC-5, Jim Paul wrote:

> I begin to smell a rat. I just opened a cd I bought from them -- the DG Originals release of Wilhelm Kempff playing Beethoven sonatas (447 404-2). The label in the center of the disc is not DG yellow; it's a kind of sickly, pale orange, and the label side has a flat, dull finish, unlike other DG disks. The booklet too appears to be a cheaply printed copy. <

I've had similar experiences, over several orders. Most of the Universal products that I've received have looked suspiciously like reproductions of the "real thing". And the Woldike SMP that they sold was clearly a very well produced CDR. They also sell MHS issues without disclosure. For example, I recently ordered all six volumes of Fey's Mendelssohn on Hanssler; five looked like stanard Hanssler CD's, and one was an MHS issue.

I'll continue to order from them - they're certainly cheap enough some of the time - but with a greater sense of caution.

Bill

[Mike Painter]

On Thu, 6 Nov 2014 12:26:54 -0800, wkasimer wrote
(in article <554c0c52-a353-4f24...@googlegroups.com>):

> I've had similar experiences, over several orders. Most of the Universal
> products that I've received have looked suspiciously like reproductions of
> the "real thing". And the Woldike SMP that they sold was clearly a very well

> produced CDR. They also sell MHS issues without disclosure. For example, I
> recently ordered all six volumes of Fey's Mendelssohn on Hanssler; five
> looked like stanard Hanssler CD's, and one was an MHS issue.
>
> I'll continue to order from them - they're certainly cheap enough some of the

> time - but with a greater sense of caution.

IIRC, they were started by MHS employees when that operation fell apart, so
they might still have some MHS stock. That's no excuse for selling cheap
imitation products, though.

cheers,
Mike

[3Bs]

I see they have Tahra's 4 CD set of Scherchen's Nixa recordings. That comes in a hardback book-style case- I can't imagine anyone bothering to fake that up. If I didn't have it already, I'd certainly pay the $12 to find iut if it is real.

[Frank Berger]

On 11/11/2014 7:23 AM, 3Bs wrote:
> I see they have Tahra's 4 CD set of Scherchen's Nixa recordings. That comes in a hardback book-style case- I can't imagine anyone bothering to fake that up. If I didn't have it already, I'd certainly pay the $12 to find iut if it is real.
>

Plenty of used ones at Amazon, for $25 and up.

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[Gregory Barbero]

On Friday, September 26, 2014 11:07:42 PM UTC-4, nor...@googlegroups.com wrote:

Hello - as the person responsible for much of ClassicSelect's operations, i just want to post, not to promote the site, but to eliminate the use of the word "counterfeiters" from the discussion.

The origin of about 50% of the products we sell is the old inventory from Passionato and Musical Heritage Society, which means it was produced legally under license. We are not counterfeiting and did not engage in selling counterfeit product. Now, the manufacturing standards, I will be the first to admit, particularly in Musical Heritage's own plant in NJ, were often far from perfect. And the example of the Kempff disc is a good one. I admit that in the tens of thousands of discs that we have - there are some that really aren't that great.

The rest of the product breaks down this way: about 20% was produced in plants in the United States, including the same company that produces ArkivMusic's "ArkivCDs".

About 30% of the titles are purchased directly from manufacturers, or from stores that are reducing inventory. So that qualifies as "finished product".

Unfortunately, when we first started, we didn't clearly mark the old club product well on the product pages, and we will start to do that once the holiday rush ended. As one poster mentioned, we do put in our "About Us" page that we do sell product and are ex-employees of Passionato and Musical Heritage Society.

As for the customer service issues, it's a fair point, and I remember the Imogen Cooper situation well, as I frankly continually got confused about which version the customer had - and, somehow, completely randomly, Volumes 1 and 3 ended up on the same shelf. But it doesn't excuse how long it took to fix the problem.

Thanks for the time...

[Mark Zimmer]

Thanks for the response. That explains quite a lot.

[jean.de.p...@gmail.com]

I have placed an order on Feb.6 and then Nothing. I send them 2 mails: no answer!
Luckily I paid through Amazon and I have'nt been charged yet !

[Bob Harper]

Putting ClassicSelect in the search bar yields "www.classicselect.com is
currently unavailable." I suspect that may be a permanent condition.

Bob Harper

[MiNe109]

Word to the wise: don't put classic select in the search bar!

Stephen

[Frank Berger]

Another one bites the dust. For a few hours yesterday Presto's web site
did not respond. I was worried. Working now.

[mswd...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, February 20, 2019 at 3:57:43 AM UTC-6, Mike wrote:
> ClassicSelect's Feb 14 Facebook post in its confusing entirety: "Hello - we're still in business, although the web page that our e-commerce provider Shopify put up. We're going to preview a new site next week, and we'll give you access via our emails."

He's not addressing inventory fulfillment concerns at all, so it seems to me the only reasonable response is to dispute the charge for my last purchase.

[factor...@gmail.com]

ClassicSelect appears to have closed its virtual doors in mid-February. Gregory Barbero, who seemed to be the CEO or operating manager of ClassicSelect, has reincarnated the business at classicalselectworld.com. The new site is very similar to ClassicSelect. Barbero's blog article indicates:

"ClassicSelect World has been created to offer customers a chance to buy CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays at great prices - worldwide. Our home office is in London, but we also have an office in the United States... Any issues regarding ClassicSelect must be referred to ord...@classicselect.com or ques...@classicselect.com. ClassicSelect is not associated with ClassicSelect World, and issues pertaining to ClassicSelect will be handled, but must be handled via the ClassicSelect service team."

From the home page Frequently Asked Questions, here's more information:
"14. Is ClassicSelect World associated with ClassicSelect.com?
No. ClassicSelect World is an international company that is based in London. Some employees of ClassicSelect World have worked for ClassicSelect.com but there is no legal connection between the two companies."

So all in all, I'm unimpressed with the sleight-of-hand switching of entities.

[AJC]

Nightmare! I have been wrangling with Barbero for over a month now for over $400. in refunds when suddenly cancelled all of my outstanding orders (some from September!). His bank denied the refinds to Paypal and i have been pushing for resolution. I gave GB and CS every chance, but it seems borderline fraud. I hope BRO reopens, and I will continue buying from them as i have since the 1980's.

Alan in Brooklyn

[Bob Harper]

On 3/4/19 3:11 PM, AJC wrote:
> Nightmare! I have been wrangling with Barbero for over a month now for over $400. in refunds when suddenly cancelled all of my outstanding orders (some from September!). His bank denied the refinds to Paypal and i have been pushing for resolution. I gave GB and CS every chance, but it seems borderline fraud. I hope BRO reopens, and I will continue buying from them as i have since the 1980's.
>
> Alan in Brooklyn
>

I guess I'm lucky; I got a Szell box from the second tranche, and some
half-price BBC and other live performances. Glad I didn't get greedy for
more.

Bob Harper

[nbay...@gmail.com]

On Monday, March 4, 2019 at 3:11:40 PM UTC-8, AJC wrote:
> Nightmare! I have been wrangling with Barbero for over a month now for over $400. in refunds when suddenly cancelled all of my outstanding orders (some from September!). His bank denied the refinds to Paypal and i have been pushing for resolution. I gave GB and CS every chance, but it seems borderline fraud. I hope BRO reopens, and I will continue buying from them as i have since the 1980's.
>
> Alan in Brooklyn

He's got 150 bucks of mine from last October. Refuses to answer emails I just filed with the New Jersey BBB. CROOK.

[nbay...@gmail.com]

https://www.facebook.com/greg.barbero.1