"I ordered a CD on December 7th. As Christmas approached I started emailing tower records asking where the CD was because it was a Christmas present already been several weeks. No tracking number, nothing. They blamed the slow mail for the reason But everybody else I ordered from came in on time for Christmas, including the same CD I ordered from a competitor. Tower records CD came in January 4th at 6:30 p.m., a month after I ordered it. Now they refuse to refund my purchase unless I pay for the return shipping. Tower Records does not care about it's customers. "
"Ordered a vinyl MUCH before Christmas, it was December 6. It’s December 31st today. It is shipping from Pennsylvania it says, and I live in Michigan. It was in Philadelphia for 14 days, just sitting. I ordered it as a Christmas gift and didn’t have it for Christmas. Don’t order from this unless you have no other options. Barnes and Noble has the same records online for purchase, and ships way faster. I ordered from here because this album was out of stock on BN. Don’t recommend. "
"I received a delivery of a record in the mail last week that I did not order. It had my name & address on it, but no other account information. I immediately contacted the company via the instructions on the receipt but have not received a response.
My concern is that I did not place this order, so who did? Who paid for it? Where did the order originate from? How did it get sent to me with my name on it? Is someone trying to steal my identity?
"
"unhappy upset. since i bought a vinyl when it was still available , pay priority service to receive my order on time, I never arrive,they made wait 14 days, after supposedly they already sent to say that they would reimburse"
"STAY AWAY - I placed an order on a Saturday night. The next motning (Sunday), I realised I forgot to select faster shipping. I submitted request to cancel that order, and entered new order. On Monday, the first order shipped. I sent a request to cancel the second order. No replies to either request. A couple of days later, the second order shipped. I emailed customer service asking what could be done. Three weeks later, and no reply. No order confirmations sent. I saved the webpage for both orders. This company simply does not communicate with customers."
"I am VERY unhappy with the quality of service that I received from TowerRecords.com. I had searched several places to get the books that I needed and decided upon Tower for 2 reasons: 1. They had one of the lowest prices (NOT the lowest though) and 2. They had the quantity that I needed "in stock"--well, at least that's what the screens said when I ordered them. Come to find out that they did NOT have the quantity that I needed "in stock" and I was shipped only 1 and would have to wait another 2-3 weeks for the others. This was most inconvenient as these books were for a class that I was teaching and the students needed the books ASAP. And again, I ordered from Tower specifically b/c they said that they had the quantity that I needed "in stock". Other retailers had lower prices but didn't have the quantity that I needed "in stock" so I passed. When I received notification that my other books would be coming, I called Tower to complain and they were totally disinterested. I spoke with a supervisor and asked if they could expedite the shipping on the rest of my order and they said "No." When I told them that I was upset that the website told me they had the books in stock and then I found out that they didn't they said that they were aware that their website would do that and there was nothing they could do about it. To me, that's "FALSE ADVERTISING". If you say something is "in stock", that means it's "in stock" not that you CAN get it but that it will take longer. They were not the least bit apologetic. Pathetic customer service. Buyer BEWARE!!!
"
"First and so far only purchase from tower.com
Item shipped very next day and arrived shortly after. Arrived in perfect condition. The DVD television series I order was about $20 less than any other site I looked at.
Planning another purchase shortly."
"When I placed the order on 12/14, the arrival date was on time for Christmas on website, but when I got the shipping confirmation email the following week, it said it would be here in 8- 15 business days upon shipment. Most of it arrived on 12-24 but some items had NO plastic wrap on them at all and appear to have been used. I emailed them twice and left two phone messages and NOBODY has responded. We're still waiting for one more item. I will NEVER order from them again."
"I ordered Porcupine Tree's "Lightbulb Sun" from Tower.com back in May. The website misleadingly said "item available" rather than "backorder". Tower has since overhauled the way items are listed on their website to "in stock", "ships within 2-4 weeks", or "not available". Lightbulb Sun is a difficult-to-find release and I was willing to wait for a backordered CD (they are re-releasing it later this year).
On May 29 I received a shipment confirmation and my credit card was billed. I waited 21 days for the item to deliver before I followed up with Tower.com. Through the web form, I was twice sent a form letter (On June 20 and July 7) that said my item was on backorder. Furthermore, my login was deleted and I could not find a record of my order through their automated system.
On July 11, established phone contact with Tower.com and was told that their system was overhauled on May 29 and that I was erroneously sent a shipment confirmation and that my login information was deleted. The phone rep was able to look up my order and saw that it was still on backorder. It is now August 11 and I have not received any contact from Tower and my order has still not arrived. Lightbulb Sun is now listed as "Not Available" on Tower.com.
Tower.com will take orders that they cannot fulfill in a timely manner. It has been way past the 2-4 week deadline and I will be following up this order this Monday to see if my order has been canceled (I have not received a credit). If you're looking for customer service through the web form, forget it. You'll just receive a form-letter reply that doesn't answer your question. Phone support was satisfactory and I received a follow-up e-mail. If you want a back-ordered item, I would not recommend Tower based on my experience and I will never order anything from Tower again.
Update: I just got off the phone with them and they told me the item was unavailable and canceled the order. Why they didn't tell me it changed status is beyond me and I don't know why I gave them the benefit of the doubt with this order. Now I have to see if the refund goes through smoothly..."
"AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. The old TowerRecords.com that used to provide excellent service is as dead as the brick-and-mortar retail store chain that closed last year. The Tower.com domain was recently purchased by Caiman.com, which I believe willfully enagages in deceptive business practices. They advertise as having items "in stock", bill your credit card, and then provide excuses when the item can't be shipped. This happened to me twice. The first time I had ordered a CD with Caiman through Half.com. When the disk did not arrive I contacted them repeatedly by email and was given a number of excuses regarding the delays in processing the order. By the time I realized they weren’t going to be able to deliver, I had gone past the deadline for disputing the charge. Based on that experience, I would not have ordered from them again. However, I recently placed an order from Tower.com, not knowing that Caiman.com had bought the domain. I ordered an "In Stock" item from the website, and when the item did not show up I was told variously that "the item is on back order and will ship next week", "the item will ship tomorrow", and "the item had not yet been obtained from their distributors and could take several more weeks". After that last excuse I cancelled that portion of the order, and immediately received an email saying that the refund would be completed in 72 hours. After nearly two weeks the credit had not been posted to my credit card. When I called Tower.com they told me the refund would take 6 to 8 weeks to process. Since waiting that long would effectively cause me to forfeit the chance to dispute the charge, I have contacted my credit card company to alert them of the disputed charge. At this point I am awaiting resolution. Based on my experiences and other posted online comments, I urge others to avoid Caiman.com and Tower.com at all costs."
"Ordered two games form them Call of duty 3 for Playstation 3 and Excite Truck for WII. Got both for good price and good shipping.No problems."
"I have ordered from Tower Records for quite a few years now and it is 1 of only 5 online music retailers I use. I have never had a problem with ordering and I have received my orders promptly."
"This is the worst company I have EVER dealt with-On OR offline.
Not only did the CD I purchase arrive cracked, but I purchased the "MySpace Records Volume 1" that comes with additional MySpace photos... NEVER GOT THEM.
For every 5 angry emails I send I get one half assed answer. The last stated someone has to manually set them up... What the heck was the 'activation' link I clicked? A joke?
I'll tell you what the joke is... this company."
"Over the past few months I have placed 13 orders online with US CD & LP sellers. Orders placed with both Acoustic Sounds Inc & CD Connection were all dispatched in their entirety, whilst of the 8 orders placed with Tower Records, only one, the first, was sent in one shipment.
All the rest required 2 or even 3 shipments to complete, whilst the currently outstanding order, if completed, will require 4. The initial shipment of this order, vis. 3 CDs, was lost in the mail, the first and only time this has ever happened to me in well over 200 transactions between myself in Melbourne Australia, and sellers all over the world.
Even the replacement shipment, which I received today, was for only 2 Cds; they couldn`t even send it complete!
Despite good communications and friendly staff, at the end of the day, it`s service that counts, and Tower Records` service is terrible. I certainly won`t be buying any more CDs from them. Ever.
"
"This company is not reputable. Priced a collection at a great price and failed to deliver. Sent a note that it is no longer available, yet still posted on this site. I don't recommend anyone dealing with this shady business."