GOLD LEGION --- A fool's gold?

[NickNack]

I just read with interest rhessel's thread on the CDs he ordered from Gold Legion. I'm glad he and others actually received their music. I haven't been so lucky.

On July 29th, I ordered Corey Daye - Corey & Me, Roberta Kelly - Trouble Maker, Giorgio & Chris - Love's In You..., Vicki Sue Robinson - Never Gonna Let You Go, Paul Jabara - Keeping Time and Munich Machine - self-titled and A White Shade of Pale. None of these were the "special autographed" copies and all were listed as "In Stock". On July 30th, the money cleared my account for these purchases.

On August 5th, I sent an email requesting their shipping timeframe since it's not given in their "terms and conditions" and the status of my order on their website was, and still is, listed as "invoiced". On August 6th I received this email:

Hello xxx,

Hope this email finds you well.

Apologize for the delay in reply. I am going to look into your order for you and see what was ordered and status. To answer your question, "Invoiced" means your order was placed.

Hope you are having a nice day.

Kind Regards,
Greg

To me, this email was nothing but bull. "Apologize for the delay..." What the hell is he talking about. The response was within 24 hours. "Look into my order to see what was ordered and status..." I supplied the order number in my email --- what's to look up? Status? I supplied that, too --- "invoiced".

As of today, along with two follow-up emails I sent on August 10th and 13th, I have heard nothing more. I'll hold off until close of business Monday, the 16th, before I do anything. This will allow them the weekend to get their act together. After that, I'll be talking with my bank about getting a credit to my account.

Has anybody else experienced anything like this with Gold Legion? If so, I'd like to hear and maybe other members/guests would also. I typed this up at Bernie's suggestion in hopes of preventing somebody else going through this grief.

[Bernie]

I'm going to say what I've said before when the now defunct Disconnected label had issues shipping product to paying customers, and that is to always buy any new releases through a reputable retailer like Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk. Why? Because if there's ever a problem, Amazon will give you a refund even if it's through a third party seller. Nicky, I hope your situation is resolved to your satisfaction.

[DonaldCleveland]

I just read with interest rhessel's thread on the CDs he ordered from Gold Legion. I'm glad he and others actually received their music. I haven't been so lucky.

On July 29th, I ordered Corey Daye - Corey & Me, Roberta Kelly - Trouble Maker, Giorgio & Chris - Love's In You..., Vicki Sue Robinson - Never Gonna Let You Go, Paul Jabara - Keeping Time and Munich Machine - self-titled and A White Shade of Pale. None of these were the "special autographed" copies and all were listed as "In Stock". On July 30th, the money cleared my account for these purchases.

On August 5th, I sent an email requesting their shipping timeframe since it's not given in their "terms and conditions" and the status of my order on their website was, and still is, listed as "invoiced". On August 6th I received this email:

Hello xxx,

Hope this email finds you well.

Apologize for the delay in reply. I am going to look into your order for you and see what was ordered and status. To answer your question, "Invoiced" means your order was placed.

Hope you are having a nice day.

Kind Regards,
Greg

To me, this email was nothing but bull. "Apologize for the delay..." What the hell is he talking about. The response was within 24 hours. "Look into my order to see what was ordered and status..." I supplied the order number in my email --- what's to look up? Status? I supplied that, too --- "invoiced".

As of today, along with two follow-up emails I sent on August 10th and 13th, I have heard nothing more. I'll hold off until close of business Monday, the 16th, before I do anything. This will allow them the weekend to get their act together. After that, I'll be talking with my bank about getting a credit to my account.

Has anybody else experienced anything like this with Gold Legion? If so, I'd like to hear and maybe other members/guests would also. I typed this up at Bernie's suggestion in hopes of preventing somebody else going through this grief.

Nick, you'll probably get your Troublemaker & Whiter Shade....soon. Most (including me) have gotten theirs within the last few days. My problem is that I didnt get something FREE (replacement liner notes) they promised me- and that they seem to NOW have for sale. That's a pretty LOW cowardly move.

The other titles are not with them yet. I'm an insider dealing with the same labels they deal with. I just got an announcement that some things we have on pre-sale are going to be delayed a month. I expect Aluminum Legion to suffer the same fates as us with shifting manufacturing dates.

It would just be nice if somebody from Aluminum Legion would show up **somewhere** on some board- even their own facebook page (!) and address at least some of their issues head-on. Instead we get the same crap that pisses me off as a customer and I personally vow to fight as a seller: non-contact. My company only has 3 full timers and one part timer.
In the USA...it's JUST ME.
Yet, I find time to make deliveries, answer emails, take and make calls, sign contracts, write and edit liner notes, help design art, do inventory, lift and ship heavy boxes, etc, etc...and still contribute to this site, EMS, soulfuldetroit and run my twitter account~!! So when these other label cats come on with their sorry excuses about why they cant interact with customers and cant keep up with things- I just laugh at their weaknesses and lies. But at least Aluminum Legion is avoiding weakness and lies by just......saying nothing at all! Perhaps they are more clever than I realize?

By the way- if you ask for a refund from my label we give it. But I do agree with Bernie's advice. Just had to state that even with a really small staff working hard- we get things done. Not as good as with a fully staffed label, but we do OK.

[kdavid13]

I oredered my bundle back in May and I still haven't received all of the discs.I got the first 3 in the same batch (Munich Machine 1st/Roberta Kelly's Zodiac & Paul Jabara's 3rd Album) - since then I got Munich Machine's A whiter shade of pale and I should get Roberta's Troublemaker this week - since many of my friends in the States have already received theirs this past thursday.

Greg has called me at least 3 times and went out of his way to make sure I got my first bundle.

We receive an e-mail every time they ship something so we pretty much know when to expect it.

Hope you get your stuff soon...I still haven't ordered the France Joli CDs - and I will do so only when they are "in stock".

[DonaldCleveland]

I oredered my bundle back in May and I still haven't received all of the discs.I got the first 3 in the same batch (Munich Machine 1st/Roberta Kelly's Zodiac & Paul Jabara's 3rd Album) - since then I got Munich Machine's A whiter shade of pale and I should get Roberta's Troublemaker this week - since many of my friends in the States have already received theirs this past thursday.

Greg has called me at least 3 times and went out of his way to make sure I got my first bundle.

We receive an e-mail every time they ship something so we pretty much know when to expect it.

Hope you get your stuff soon...I still haven't ordered the France Joli CDs - and I will do so only when they are "in stock".

Why do you get phone calls? If you are that close to the Aluminum Legion organization, tell them to step it up. And keep their promises? They screwed up the inserts for the first 2 releases. They knew it. They offered to make good. But they have NOT. And they wont even answer why. They called you 3 times? Next time they call you, find out why they are selling the inserts they were supposed to send free? But are now selling.

Nice to know they look out for YOU, but there are about 6 of us (that post, anyway) that are not getting anything from them. No matter how you look at it- that's lousy odds.

[Videoskooter]

Bernie, Nicky, others have you tried to contact 'em on their FB page? Do they reply?

Gold Legion

[rhessel]

Hi guys:

As I have previously posted, Greg from Gold Legion called me by phone about three months ago, apologizing for the delay in delivery of the first albums.

Soon after (more or less a month) I received an email stating that the first 3 albums (Paul Jabara - The Third Album, Roberta Kelly - Zodiac Lady and Munich Machine - Get On The Funk Train) had already been posted in the mail. As I live in Brazil, the delivery time is rather long, but I got the first 3 discs without any problem.

I'm still waiting for the other three discs from the first bundle (Giorgio & Chris - Love's In Me Love's In You, Machine Machine - A Whiter Shade Of Pain and Roberta Kelly - Troublemaker).

From these three CDs, Greg has informed me by email that two of them have already been posted in the mail. I'm still waiting.

Besides, I already ordered 3 CD's of Vicki Sue Robinson, which are still in production.

Thus, to date, I have no complaint against the Gold Legion since fulfilled all promises, except for the delay in deliverying the CDs, which seems to be a commom problem to all companies of remastered CDs by Universal Music.

Cheers and keep the faith...

Hessel

[kdavid13]

Huh - Donald... First of all - I am not close to anyone in the company. I happen to know someone who is close to someone at the company...not the same thing. I'm the person who alerted everyone on this forum that the company was offering these CDs. That's as far as my involvement goes.

B) I have received 3 phone calls so far and each time I do I am surprised that I do and I don't ask him - "Why did you choose me out of all your disgruntled customers ?? " - I just take the call and listen to his apologies for the delays. I'm very surprised to hear that YOU haven't.

And as far as CD booklets being sold now - the ones that are sold are not only because they have expanded liner notes - it's because they have been autographed by Chris Bennett or Roberta Kelly.
Not the same thing.

[DonaldCleveland]

Huh - Donald... First of all - I am not close to anyone in the company. I happen to know someone who is close to someone at the company...not the same thing. I'm the person who alerted everyone on this forum that the company was offering these CDs. That's as far as my involvement goes.

B) I have received 3 phone calls so far and each time I do I am surprised that I do and I don't ask him - "Why did you choose me out of all your disgruntled customers ?? " - I just take the call and listen to his apologies for the delays. I'm very surprised to hear that YOU haven't.

And as far as CD booklets being sold now - the ones that are sold are not only because they have expanded liner notes - it's because they have been autographed by Chris Bennett or Roberta Kelly.
Not the same thing.

Kris- I remembered that you brought them to our attention. I sent you a PM at that time and you clarified your position. But since you did weigh in and tell us (how else would we know?) that you were called 3 times- then certainly that means you have their ear. I'm kinda quick to ask things like that on the behalf of others- it's not a crime that you did not. But you spoke authoritatively on the subject and thus I ask:

Are these non-autographed liner notes being sold on the company page an illusion of mine? Because your last reply line on the subject of the liner notes would point to me being wrong.
But I am not, look here:

http://www.shop.goldlegion.com/REVISED-ARTWORK_c7.htm

Jus' sayin.....

[kdavid13]

Are these non-autographed liner notes being sold on the company page an illusion of mine? Because your last reply line on the subject of the liner notes would point to me being wrong.

I looked,I saw and you're absolutely right Donald. Hope they arrive soon.

[NickNack]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the responses. Informative to say the least. I gave Gold Legion 2 EXTRA DAYS and still nothing. So, this afternoon I contacted my bank and began the disputed payment process. I emailed Gold Legion and told them I was cancelling the order. A lot of you seem to have waaaay more patience than me. I have no intention of going back and forth for 3 months just to get CDs.

Well wouldn't you know, just to make my life easier, at about 7PM my phone rings. I let it go to the machine. Of course, it was Gold Legion. Said they'd call back tonight or tomorrow. Keep you updated but I can say right now, if he tells me anything other than the entire package has been mailed out, it's no sale. One CD now, 2 CDs next week, 2 more the week after... no way to do business. At least not with me.

[guy1]

To be fair, they can't ship cd's if they have not yet been manufactured. I have so far received 2 cd's from them, i am expecting another to ship this week, i also have another 5 on order but it clearly stated that these were not going to be released until late august/september and they were pre-orders. As long as i get everything i ordered i'm quite happy to wait.

[Bernie]

To be fair, they can't ship cd's if they have not yet been manufactured. I have so far received 2 cd's from them, i am expecting another to ship this week, i also have another 5 on order but it clearly stated that these were not going to be released until late august/september and they were pre-orders. As long as i get everything i ordered i'm quite happy to wait.

If they haven't been manufactured yet then they shouldn't be taking money for them. It's standard business practice to only charge for items once they're shipped to a customer if they are not readily available and this is clearly not the case with Nicky's order with Gold Legion. What they are doing by taking money up front for merchandise they don't have is not a proper way to conduct business. It's also telling that they are one of the few labels that doesn't participate in any way shape or form on this community in spite of the publicity and goodwill they would receive. Also the issue that Donald brought up about Gold Legion now wanting to charge for liner notes that were promised at no charge to replace incorrect ones for a paid order is not fair. Again, maybe there's something we don't know, but that's just it, we'll never know because they don't respond here.

Again, I'd rather buy the same items from a reputable online retailer like Amazon where I know that if anything happens I can get a timely refund. Buying from Amazon... gives you the best of both worlds, you support the small labels and you protect yourself.

[guy1]

Yes i do agree that we should not be charged upfront for the cd's, this was also a concern of mine but as i haven't dealt with companies like this before i wasnt sure if it was standard practice.

[BrunoRepublic]

Yes i do agree that we should not be charged upfront for the cd's, this was also a concern of mine but as i haven't dealt with companies like this before i wasnt sure if it was standard practice.

It certainly shouldn't be.

To the best of my knowledge, Amazon (.com/.co.uk/.ca/.de/.fr) do not charge you for things until they have been sent in the mail.

[NickNack]

I received a call from Rafael of Gold Legion yesterday afternoon. He was very apologetic and wants to do the right thing. Of course he can't do it all right now because he doesn't have everything in stock. I was going to stick to my guns and say "no, cancel everything" but my lover talked me out of it. Asked me to give the guys a chance. (Talk about role reversal :) --- usually it's Bill who wants to go for the throat!) Anyway, if everything goes as Rafael stated I should have everything by mid September.

And thank you, Bernie. You DON'T charge your customers for items you haven't shipped. And you shouldn't mark things as "in stock" if the manufacturer hasn't supplied you. As I said, all the CDs I ordered were listed "in stock". We'll see in September. Fortunately I didn't mail out my "disputed payment" package so an email to the bank should suffice in stopping the process. Now, it's back to Amazon!

[NickNack]

It certainly shouldn't be.

To the best of my knowledge, Amazon (.com/.co.uk/.ca/.de/.fr) do not charge you for things until they have been sent in the mail.

You are correct, sir. Amazon doesn't charge until it's in the mail. If they can't get their hands on something in a timely fashion they email you and ask if you'd like to wait until it comes in or cancel. This will continue until you have it or the manufacturer stiffs Amazaon. Then they contact you and cancel the order. Can't beat it.

[Bernie]

Amazon is great when it comes to customer service. I once bought a book through a third party seller who promptly took my money and never shipped nor responded to my requests. One quick contact with Amazon and all my money was refunded. Another time they couldn't get a CD in a timely manner and after I kept extending the time let me cancel with no hassles.

Can't beat that. Again, order through Amazon or any reputable retailer. You still support the small labels yet protect yourself and have a way to get all your money back. Good luck with that order Nicky.

[NickNack]

It seems my bank has decided for me that the order should be cancelled. Before I could stop the dispute request they credited my account for the full charge. I already emailed Gold Legion and told them not to ship anything and cancel the order. I've had enough. Hopefully end of story but I doubt it.

[rhessel]

Hi guys:

I just received a reply from Gold Legion on August 20th:

"Hello Ricardo,
Whiter Shade Of Pale and Trouble Maker are on the way to you.
We expecting Giorgio And Chris towards end of next week for shipment.

Regards,
Greg"

I am still waiting...

Cheers,

Hessel

[discopsycho]

Wow, this is a tad discouraging. I ordered all the Vicki Sue Robinson cds. I hope all goes well with the order. I'm willing to wait some, since I've already waited years for the cds to be released. I ordered directly from Gold Legion since I figured I'd support them for providing this service instead of a big company taking a cut.

[rhessel]

Hi guys:

Only yesterday (This expression is like the name of a song I already know ) I received this 2 CDs from Gold Legion:

1) Munich Machine: A Whiter Shade of Pale, and
2) Roberta Kelly: Trouble Maker.

Unfortunately the new liner notes for Munich Machine (Get On The Funk Train) and Roberta Kelly (Zodiac Lady) didn't come with in this shipping.

Cheers,

Hessel.

[rhessel]

I'm going to say what I've said before when the now defunct Disconnected label had issues shipping product to paying customers, and that is to always buy any new releases through a reputable retailer like Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk. Why? Because if there's ever a problem, Amazon will give you a refund even if it's through a third party seller. Nicky, I hope your situation is resolved to your satisfaction.

Hi guys:

Bernie, you are right.

Amazon.co.uk is the best... I ordered 2 CD's (Philly Re-grooved and Black & Blue by Harold Melvin). I ordered the 2 CD's in the same order to cheapen the cost. The Black & Blue CD's was delayed by the manufacturer... so, Amazon split the order in 2 shipments, just to make things faster to me... without increasing the order price.

BTW, my credit card will charged only when the goods are ready to be sent.

Cheers,

Hessel

[schabalik]

To all who've encountered the shoddy customer service at Gold Legion: I feel your pain and frustration.

While I, too, received a phone call and several e-mails from the enigma known only as Greg, the standard response from GL is simply...no response at all.

I'd ordered Roberta Kelly's "The Trouble Maker" in May, immediately after the "Available on" date posted on GL's website, but it turned out the disc was having a production "glitch", which resulted in my not receiving the disc until August. (To be perfectly honest, though, it was totally worth the wait.)

I do need to add that I've e-mailed Greg at least 6 times over the past 4 months asking to purchase the expanded liner notes for "Zodiac Lady" and "Munich Machine", and STILL have yet to get even an answer. (I've also made the request 3 times through the website directly, with the same rate of success.)

Despite all this agita, I think this company actually does mean well, but their, ahem, organization is run poorly (to put it charitably), and their sense of customer service is much more "miss" than "hit".

In short, DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING DIRECTLY FROM THEM - wait until Amazon or another reputable vendor can sell you a copy, EVEN IF IT COSTS MORE!!

[schabalik]

What happened to my last post on this subject, from yesterday? (It was definitiely here for viewing shortly after I'd written it.) I find it more than a little strange that late yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from Greg, asking me how I'd like to resolve this issue (?!?!?!); I told him the resolution is simple: just send me the merchantdise I'd paid for 3 weeks ago. He then had the unmitigated gall to tell me that when I write so negatively about his company, it hurts their business; I had to point out that it's not my "negativity" that hurts their business - IT'S THE SHODDY WAY THEY CONDUCT THEIR BUSINESS THAT HURTS THEIR BUSINESS. He also said he didn't want to lose me as a customer, but I informed him it was too late for that. He agreed to send me what I'd ordered, and I promised that once I received what I'd paid for I WOULD NEVER, EVER BOTHER HIM OR MAKE A PURCHASE FROM GL AGAIN. Now - today - I find my righteously angry statement completely absent from this thread; WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?