HDTracks HORRIBLE Customer Service

[HeyWaj10]

O rant:
 
Who the hell does this company think it is? I have never experienced a company that is this bad from a CS standpoint in the day-in-age we live in.  I have tried multiple times to contact them about a download I purchased a week ago, to no avail.
 
I tried purchasing two Hi-Res albums, and mistakenly selected "AIFF" as the download format. Which was weird in the first place, as my selected "preferred" download method is FLAC, according to my membership settings. Neither here nor there.  So I immediately stopped the download in the middle of the 1st track of the 1st album, so they couldn't say "well you already completed the download...sorry" (which I've heard before).  Somehow, in the mix of this, I may have refreshed the page inadvertently, which then triggered a double-charge on my CC.  Now, I realize these are all my own error, this is not HDTracks fault...I need to pay closer attention I guess when doing music downloads. HOWEVER...
 
I then emailed them, asking how to proceed and please remove the double charge, and how I can change my download to FLAC.  That was the very night the incident occurred (Aug 3rd), and followed up with a 2nd email on Aug 6th.  I have not heard a peep, and the transaction has completely gone through on my CC, about $70+ dollars worth.  How does an INTERNET-driven business not have the capability or decency to respond to a customer's query?  This is absurd.
 
/ rant
 
Any suggestions on how I can move forward with this?  I'm still fine with making the purchase (for these albums), but would really appreciate getting my money back for the double-charge and have the format be in FLAC.  That being said, I will no longer EVER purchase from HDTracks again.  I'll take the time to purchase hard discs and do my own ripping.  Until there is some competition in this Hi-Res market out there, I'm gonna just hang tight with standard-rate audio. I don't b**ch about much in life, but this is really grinding my gears.

 

[brhfl]

You could always attempt a chargeback with your CC. 
 
HDTracks… They lure me in every now and again, but I have to agree with you. Their store is miserable to use (coupon codes are horribly unreliable, if PayPal doesn't go through right away you're in for some sour times, 'preferred' format straight up doesn't work, as you found, so on and so forth). Their customer service is not any better. Slow, ignore your complaints, and can be downright insulting. I think eventually you may get a resolution if you wait it out and keep prodding, but really… they don't run that ship very well at all. Good luck…?

 

[Radioking59]

Wouldn't it be easier to just convert the tracks?

That is crap that they don't respond though, especially after they already have your money.

 

[brhfl]

Well maybe in the first place, but OP got double-charged, and that's really the big issue here. And you probably wouldn't expect that you'd have to worry about such a thing - the AIFF dl will be larger, and untagged, I think it'd be perfectly reasonable to, in light of such inconveniences, think there may be some allowance for an oops in the system.
 
I've made similar mistakes on both Bandcamp and eClassical… Downloading the correct format after pulling an oops is no big deal on either…

 

[snapple10]

Sorry to hear about this, was planning to get an album or two to compare to my cd ripped FLAC and see if am able to tell the difference. Thanks to you, will sure pay better attention to the format am downloading . Hope things workout for you, and are able to spend time doing other things than fighting a duplicate charge. Just have your CC company deal with them by disputing the "duplicate" charge , since the same albums were in deed downloaded

On another related note, I was under the impression that FLAC qualities , on these site, are better than CD ripped versions, is that true?

 

[brhfl]

Quote:

On another related note, I was under the impression that FLAC qualities , on these site, are better than CD ripped versions, is that true?

 
Not just the FLAC, any of the four formats they offer usually are either a higher bit depth, sample rate, or both. Some, however, are Redbook (44.1/16, same as a CD). Fortunately they're labeled pretty clearly what the resolution is. Prices increase with resolution. 
 
I do, begrudgingly, continue to buy from HDTracks on occasion. It's always worth running a google on (the album you plan to buy) + hdtracks before buying. Often there will be some discussion on the Hoffman forums. Some of the high res offerings have simply been upsampled (which, you know, you could do on your own, or have your computer or DAC do on the fly, etc.) vs. being truly 'closer to the master.' Additionally, some are compressed to the point that they offer little over the CD, some have had clipping introduced as some point in the new transfer, etc. This is all the fault of the label/studio, not HDTracks, but it's worth doing a little research to make sure what you're getting it worth it. Folks love nerding out over it, use that to your advantage. Also, there have been occasions where the aforementioned problems have arisen, and HDTracks has been able to get better material from the studio, and rectify the situation. 

 

[snapple10]

Great thanks, very valuable info

 

[HeyWaj10]

Fortunately, my bank is helping me recoup my funds for the double-charge.  That being said, we're going on two weeks now, and I have yet to hear a single word from HDTracks customer service.  Two...WEEKS.  I have emailed them 3 separate times, providing all of the details they "require" for inquiries.  Unbelievable.
 
Needless to say, they'll never see a dime from me ever again.  I just hope some more companies come along to add some competition into that market, because it really is a fantastic concept and likely the future of the industry.

 

[hogger129]

I just get a CD.  HDTracks IMO doesn't sound that much better than a decently done CD.

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

Fortunately, my bank is helping me recoup my funds for the double-charge.  That being said, we're going on two weeks now, and I have yet to hear a single word from HDTracks customer service.  Two...WEEKS.  I have emailed them 3 separate times, providing all of the details they "require" for inquiries.  Unbelievable.
 
Needless to say, they'll never see a dime from me ever again.  I just hope some more companies come along to add some competition into that market, because it really is a fantastic concept and likely the future of the industry.

You know what... makes me glad I get all my Music off What.cd... and yes I spend about $30 a month buying New LP's to share with the world... and every know and then a good HD track get's leaked.... might start seeding with the hope that those miserable bastards get shut down <3. Even if ur products sucks, Customer service makes everything better 
 
I'll take my 24bit Vinyl Rips and be content though 

 

[CoffeeDog]

I know this is an old thread, but people do peruse old threads for information (which is how I got here) and wanted to add my three cents worth.
 
I've made the same mistake as the original poster, downloading in a format other than my preferred.  In my case, I think I may have added the albums to my cart before logging in, so the format for downloading remained as the Website default rather than my own.  I didn't reload the page, resulting in a double charge, but neither did I realize my mistake until a few hours later.  Upon emailing HDtracks with the relevant info, they'd set up my account so that I could once again download my files, in the desired format.  My experience with HDtracks customer service was the polar opposite to that of HeyWaj10.
 
On another occasion, I purchased an album that I had, in fact, already purchased about a year previously.  (You should see my DVD collection!)  I once again contacted them, explaining MY mistake and including my prior purchase date, and they promptly refunded my purchase.  I think (but am not certain) that I'd told them a credit to my account would be just fine, considering that it was my mistake, but they instead processed the refund to my credit card.  Once again, my experience with their customer service was all that I could have hoped for.
 
All is not bad with HDtracks.  I'm absolutely not attempting to negate the importance of the prior posters' issues, nor do I wish to imply that their issues were anything other than exactly what they have described.  I do think that my experience with them is useful to those who are considering doing business with them.
 
FWIW, I'd first heard of HDtracks from a poster here on Head-Fi, who'd passed on a link for a Head-Fi-er discount code. 

 

[gmplus]