Music Direct - Audio Hardware Seller?


First post.

I want to share a very strange exchange (telephone call) I had earlier this afternoon with Jasmine in the support department at Music Direct.

    I finally purchased a Roon Nucleus+ device from the Music Direct website on July 16, 2019 and received emails notifying me that the item would ship on July 17; Music Direct also added California tax to a later receipt. (NOTE: I purchased a Roon Life Membership in May 2016, but have not installed any software yet as I've been waiting for the "roon environment" to improve before wandering aimlessly spending thousands of dollars unnecessarily.)

    Two days later, my account indicated that the item was still “Unshipped” so I called and spoke with a gentleman in Sales who was likewise surprised that the order had not been filled because they have the item in stock – so he transferred me to Support and that’s where I had the opportunity to speak with Jasmine.

    Jasmine happily explained that for first time purchases that they will “email and call” the new customer to make sure they had placed the order. She also confirmed that while she had not emailed me, that she had called me and left a voice mail asking me to call and verify the purchase. I did not receive a voicemail message and my call log does not show any incoming or missed calls. This conversation then went from bad to worse and she offered to just cancel the order all together and I confirmed to cancel the order. I also stated that I hoped to speak with a customer service supervisor because this was a very distasteful exchange. I have received the Music Direct catalogs for a couple of years and their website looks legitimate. I do not know if they were “stalling” because they did not have the item in stock or if I just had a bad experience, so to speak.

    Has anyone else had bad experience with Music Direct? Are they a legitimate audio hardware reseller? I have a suspicion that something is wrong, but I cannot put my finger on it and wanted to share this experience with the hope of helping others or learning that my experience was not typical. Thanks in advance for the feedback. Sincerely, Mark L.

marklet
Been a customer for many years and I’m a satisfied customer. Once they got an order slightly wrong- they went above and beyond to make it right. I have zero hesitation doing business with them. 
Been a customer for many years and I’m a satisfied customer. Once they got an order slightly wrong- they went above and beyond to make it right. I have zero hesitation doing business with them. 
Thank you all, including @nonoise @agriculturist @ozzy @stereo5 @nolacap @jackd @kingbarbuda @jayctoy @three_easy_payments @artsam @idigmusic64 @wturkey @rdk777 @nekoaudio @lcaudle24t @audioguy85 @winoguy17 @grannyring @dougsat @lalitk @elizabeth @sfar @cleeds @68pete @tooblue @zavato @marqmike for your feedback; I sincerely appreciate that you took the time to respond with your experiences, advice, observations, and recommendations. @big_greg I am glad that they are verifying that I am who I say I am in order to reduce fraud; my issue is that I might still be waiting to receive an item that they never shipped because someone thought they contacted me when they had not. @ebm My inquiry was to determine if a company is legitimate, and I received sufficient feedback today from other board members and now agree with you that “Those dudes are cool.”

To follow up, I received an email a couple of hours ago from Seth at Music Direct inquiring about my canceled order. I replied thanking him for contacting me and I shared my experience with the company support staff. He replied thanking me for sharing my experience and indicated that he would work with the staff to provide a better customer experience.

It seems, and I would agree, that my experience was definitely an aberration. I have not decided if I will make the purchase, but I sincerely appreciate the feedback from members who took the time to respond and I am glad to know that Music Direct is a legitimate and quality audio equipment dealer. Peace. Mark L.
I had similar experience with another legitimate vendor on the Internet, except that I cannot say they were unfriendly in any way. It turned out that they wanted to call me and get all the credit card and my own information. Kind of a thing your parents tell you never to do when someone calls you. It was not announced in advance and I was taken by surprise just like the OP was here. Eventually, I cancelled my order ($1200) and they continued being friendly. Some weeks later I ordered something else from them ($75) and it went without any hiccup. I will continue shopping there for smaller items but will avoid anything that requires this "confirmation".

When it comes to collecting taxes in the USA, I believe that relatively recently Supreme Court decided that states can do it. I do not think it depends on the vendor’s mood anymore.