Advice : Avoid Musicstore/Digital Village - customer service will lie, and avoid/delay refunds

[whyterabbyt]

Advice for anyone who is thinking of ordering from Musicstore (aka Digital Village) especially if you're in the UK. Dont.

Ive bought from DV from years ago (2005?), as an individual, and for my employer. And even in the earlier days of their acquisition by Musicstore. Never had a problem.

However, I wont be doing so again, and I would honestly recommend you dont either. Their customer service turns out to be worse than IK's and their customer service agents will actively lie to you, as well as refuse to follow their own terms and conditions.
They are cheaper than some UK suppliers, but if you actually want the stuff you order, then price might be a moot point; you'd just be letting them keep less of your money for nothing.

A few weeks ago I ordered a £350 module from Musicstore. Im in the UK, my account dates back to before Musicstore took over the UK company Digital Village, and I accessed their site via the dv247.co.uk URL, which redirects. If you go that way, FWIW, there is a UK contact number and sales email address displayed.
(But of course that doesnt mean they'll adhere to UK Distance Selling Regulations, they're not even adhering to their own terms and conditions, but that's part of the story behind the warning.)

The courier, UPS, was as shit, as they always have been; their delivery estimate was a Monday. I got sent a delivery notice on Tuesday that they would deliver on Wednesday, the one day that week I was out of the house, so had to reschedule from the Wednesday to the Thursday. The item didnt actually get redelivered, because it hadnt actually moved from customs since the previous week. On Friday, it briefly got flagged as out for delivery for half an hour, then they rescheduled the delivery, and then alsely claimed that I'd requested that.
I got the parcel the following Monday, a week after I should have.

But it turns out that Musicstore sent the wrong item. They sent a Roland Boutique thing that cost 3/4 of what I paid for my module.

The UK phone number on the website is not a real number. Im not convinced the UK email address on the website works either.

I found several conflicting contact email addresses, so sent them an email (to several of them*) explaining that they had sent the wrong item, and asking them what had happened and how to proceed. The initial response was that they would look into this, and get back to me.

(* this becomes a thing; they dont respond from any of these addresses)

But a day later, I had still heard nothing and emailed them again, asking for the status of my enquiry. They didnt reply till the day after that, but all they did was provide a return label and export documents. There was no explanation, let along an apology.

Because of this, I emailed them back and exercised my right to cancel my order, and asked them to initiate a refund.
Their response was to state that they would not refund my order until the item had been returned..

(You know, implying that even if their courier lost the item, they'd keep all my money, which was 50% more than the cost of the thing they sent.)

However their terms and conditions actually state "We have the right to refuse repayment until the goods have been returned to us or until you have given evidence that you have send the goods back to us, depending on which is the earlier moment in time."

At that point I had already handed the item to their courier, using the return label I was sent, which included the tracking number for that return.
By the way, they provide some documentation on what the forms are etc, but they expect you to complete the export customs forms and provide no guidance on doing that properly.

So I quoted their terms and conditions, and provided them with their own tracking number, and a photograph of the receipt proving that I had handed the item to their courier, as two items of evidence that I had sent the goods back to them, and asked them to initiate the refund, as per their terms and conditions.

I then got back an email 'correcting' me on their terms and conditions, saying that they were "We have the right to refuse repayment until the goods have been returned to us or until you have given evidence that you have send the goods back to us, depending on which is the earlier moment in time"
You know, exactly as I had already stated in response to their false assertion that refund was only when the item was received back by them.

I responded saying that I knew that, and had already quoted that on my request to initiate the refund. I pointed out that in the same email, I provided evidence that I had sent the goods back, and since this was earlier than them receiving the goods, then I wished them to start my refund, as per their own terms and conditions.

I got no response. I emailed them a day later quoting their terms and conditions, pointed out when I had provided evidence the previous day that I had sent the goods back, and asking if they had initiated my refund as per their terms and conditions.

I got no response. I emailed them again later that day (because I had noticed that they didnt seem to respond when I replied to the email address that was sending to me, only when I sent to their various customer service email addresses that I mentioned earlier) quoting their terms and conditions again, pointed out when I had already provided evidence nearly that I had sent the goods back, and asking if they had initiated my refund as per their terms and conditions.

I got no response. Today, I emailed them yet again, pointed out when I had provided evidence three days ago that I had sent the goods back,what that evidence was and asking if they had initiated my refund as per their terms and conditions.

I finally received a response to that, three days after I sent them evidence that I had sent the goods back. The response was

"as already stated, the amount will be refunded as soon as the return has been received and processed by us."

So, they're back to lying about their terms and conditions.

TL;DR version is that if you buy from Musicstore, they will happily ship you the wrong item, and not explain, apologize, or assist you with meeting your actual order.
If you want a refund from Musicstore, they will not meet their own terms and conditions.
They will lie repeatedly about what their terms and conditions are.
They will withhold refund even when you do meet the actual terms and conditions.
They will refuse to accept or acknowledge any evidence that you have met their terms and conditions.
They will withhold refunding all your payment, even if you receive a cheaper item.

And if you have to reurn an item, you are going to have to cross your fingers and hope that their courier doesn't lose the item in transit when you return it, or that its not extensively delayed because of some problem with those customs/export forms they expected you to know how to fill out.

I have no doubt they make it as difficult for other people who exercise their legal right of withdrawal from purchase for any other reasons, eg damage or just change of mind.

I also have the very strong suspicion that if the item I had received was more expensive than the item I had paid for, they'd be a lot more helpful, dont you?

[Gamma-UT]

If you haven't already (you are in the UK, aren't you?), go for a Section 75 or a chargeback. You're above the threshold for a Section 75 and under the circumstances this looks a better option. As you've already exercised the 14-day rights, I don't think you have to send them another letter/email. But if you want to be sure, send a tracked letter.

Then they'll have the credit-card company to deal with and will either suddenly become a lot more responsive or you get the money back anyway and never have to contact them again.

[whyterabbyt]

If you haven't already (you are in the UK, aren't you?), go for a Section 75 or a chargeback. You're above the threshold for a Section 75 and under the circumstances this looks a better option. As you've already exercised the 14-day rights, I don't think you have to send them another letter/email. But if you want to be sure, send a tracked letter.

Then they'll have the credit-card company to deal with and will either suddenly become a lot more responsive or you get the money back anyway and never have to contact them again.

This was paid for through Paypal, and Ive already looked at their process to claim. Unfortunately, Paypal's procedures for refund takes me to to a page that is headed "We recommend that you get in touch with the seller directly to resolve your issue" and includes a form letter to contact DV247 via a dv247.com email address, (not a musicstore.com email address)

Below this it says 'If you've already contacted them but your issue is still unresolved, let us know how we can help.' and a 'Continue filing with Paypal' button which does not actually work in any browser I have tried.

edit : Oh wait, its still not working in Firefox, it is now working in Chrome, it wasnt yesterday. Cheers for prompting me to check.

[whyterabbyt]

Paypal resolution centre : "Estimated case resolution 29 August 2025"

I ordered on 16th July, so they'll have had my money for 6 weeks by then. Its pretty obvious to me they want to delay refund as long as possible, so Im sure that another 3 weeks of interest on my money will be just fine for them.
I guess this helps if the item goes missing in transit back, but its hardly punitive...

sigh.

[revvy]

Sorry for your woes.

I’ve only recently realised that PP offers different buyer protection than credit cards. Is another potential warning that it’s better to use CC for these things than PP?

Good luck with getting it sorted.

[whyterabbyt]

Sorry for your woes.

I’ve only recently realised that PP offers different buyer protection than credit cards. Is another potential warning that it’s better to use CC for these things than PP?

Indeed, it seems so; my choice was that my CC isnt interest-free the way this PP purchase was, but yeah, bad call in this instance.

Its also a warning to anyone expecting a UK-masquerading website to adhere to UK law. (and Im not even convinced their stated terms and conditions adhere to EU law.)

Good luck with getting it sorted.

Cheers.

[Gamma-UT]

The PayPal thing complicates the situation but might not knobble a Section 75 completely. There’s quite a long time window for using a Section 75 so it might still be usable as a backup.

You can also take the Trading Standards route on this one as shipping a cheaper product and then refusing to refund is the kind of thing that smacks of deliberate fraud in a lot of other cases.

Complaints go through Citizens Advice. This has the benefit that the complaints get collated if this isn’t isolated, though it depends on enough people realising if Musicstore has made a habit of doing this (and their response does suggest this isn’t isolated as finding out you’re shipping the wrong products should be triggering a response that’s a lot better than this).

[Gamma-UT]

Sorry for your woes.

I’ve only recently realised that PP offers different buyer protection than credit cards. Is another potential warning that it’s better to use CC for these things than PP?

It depends (though I can’t work out how you use a credit card via PayPal without logging in, as mentioned here): https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credi ... section75/

But I would say using a Section 75 with a CC provider in the UK is way less aggro than trying to navigate PayPal’s hall of mirrors. And it’s quick.

[revvy]

Yeah I bought a new dishwasher recently and went with my CC rather than PP.

I guess bypassing Peter Th**l is another potential bonus.

[Bunny_boy]

I would shop them to Trading Standards as well.

Interesting to know that pp is not good for buyer protection - I wasn't aware of that.

And if all else fails, write to The Guardian

[Bunny_boy]

Yeah I bought a new dishwasher recently and went with my CC rather than PP.

I would say thay CC is the best way for big purchases, but that does involve calculating the amount of interest you can afford, which might make it prohibitive

[slackhead]

I had trouble getting PP to respond a few months ago when I had an issue when an IT supplier tried to rip me off after ordering a couple of NAS drives. They basically said they wouldn't help.
Since then I won't use PayPal for anything other than low value items if I can avoid it.

[vurt]

damn, thats even worse than the few details i knew.
as i already said, they wont see any custom from me, but after this, i will actively stop others too.

in the past, i had an ebay issue, that ebay washed their hands of, i had payed through paypal, and i couldnt work their terms out, so i just did a chargeback on my visa which is attached to the paypal, that over rode any protection the other two offered. might be different now maybe? paypal have a lot more power these days i guess.

[Bombadil]

Very strange. Sorry to read. I know it's frustrating AF.
I've dealt with Musicstore for at least 15 years, and never had a problem. Then again,I'm in Germany.
I usually use Amazon Pay, which has never caused me grief. My most recent purchase, my Novation Launchkey 61 mk4 went off with no issue.
I hopeyou get your money back asap.
Did you ever consider just phoning Musicstore?

[whyterabbyt]

Did you ever consider just phoning Musicstore?

I tried at the start, which is how I found out the UK number on their website wasnt in service.

And it honestly doesnt feel like there's much point. Rather ironically, I got asked for Trust pilot feedback for them at the end of last week. While I was at it, I had a look at their other feedback, and it was, erm, interesting.
On a scale of 1 stars to 5 stars, they more than 80% 5-star ratings. Of the ratings that are -not- 5 star, the vast majority are 1-star, there are more of them than 4,3,2 star ratings put together, and a full 10% of their ratings.
Looking at the actual feedback on them, delivery issues factor quite highly, and they have a canned 'not our fault guv, its the courier innit' response.
A noticeable number, though, are in the same territory as mine, issues with refunds and returns. And Musicstore's standard response for those is the one that I keep gettng, ie one that contradicts their stated terms and conditions by saying they only process refunds when they get the items back.

So this isnt just one customer service guy getting it wrong, this is clearly their actual policy, in contravention of the one they state in their terms and conditions.