My experience of a company called SoundsLive for anyone who's interested.

Weds 14th February 2007

I've been searching around for hassle-free, competitive priced live recording gear. I finally decided on the Tascam DP-01-FX because of its convenient size and portability, balanced inputs and 40Gb onboard hard drive, so I spent part of last Friday morning checking out suppliers.

I followed a link to the website of a company called "SoundsLive", with whom I'd not done business before. SoundsLive advertised the Tascam DP-01-FX and the price they were offering was the best UK price I could find, but the clincher was that the site said they normally despatched next day. I had plans to use the gear this weekend so that seemed ideal. I placed the order with SoundsLive.

On Monday I went back to the SoundsLive site again to check the order tracking function to see whether it had been despatched yet, to give me some idea when to expect it. The info attached to my order page informed me that, not only had it not been despatched, they didn't even have one in stock!

So I emailed them asking when they'd be able to get it off to me as I needed it quite urgently, which was why I'd ordered from SoundsLive in the first place. They've completely ignored my email. No reply, not even an acknowledgement. Zilch.

On checking my order tracking info on the SoundsLive site again today, I now find that they have amended the "out of stock" information to say "due in 2-4 weeks"!

So my experience of SoundsLive can be summed up thus:

* SoundsLive accepted an order from me for an item they didn't actually have in stock

* SoundsLive gave no indication that they didn't actually have the item in stock until after they'd accepted my order

* The order confirmation email I received from SoundsLive gave no indication of any kind that they did not have the item and that there would be a very lengthy delay in delivery

* SoundsLive made no attempt to contact me to let me know that they didn't have it and that there would be a delay in delivery of anything up to a month

* SoundsLive have not replied to my request for clarification so I have received neither explanation nor apology

* Had I not been net-savvy enough to know how to check the order tracking function on the SoundsLive website, I still wouldn't know they were delaying delivery by anything between 2 weeks and a month as they haven't observed the basic courtesy of bothering to tell me.

As they say in Auchtermuchty, "caveat emptor".

As a result of this experience, I wouldn't order a roll of gaffer tape from SoundsLive if they were the only supplier on the planet, offered to pay me for doing it and promised it gift-wrapped and hand-delivered by personal courier in a helicopter tomorrow morning.

SoundsLive have clearly never heard of the first rule of retail - "Pissing off your customers is a very silly way to do business."

Tailpiece:

Today, Fri 23 Feb, I have just received an email from SoundsLive saying "We are writing to confirm that the order you placed with us has now been cancelled."

No explanation, no apology, nothing. Just that my order has been cancelled.

Laugh? I nearly bought a round ...

©Dick Gaughan, February 2007. May not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form, material or electronic, without the written permission of the author.

Top of Page

"Don't Take It Personally

The following links are to other websites and I am not responsible for what you might find there. Sites do change without warning and it is impossible for me to keep checking that links go where they should.