dormouse tries to buy a Cee Dee

From the Badlands e mail...
To avoid disappointment please make sure you can log in to our website and that your address details are up to date. To be really sure, if you haven't bought from us for a while then it may be worth making a purchase today to make sure everything work smoothly.

Please fill in your payment details as quickly as possible. You may get the item in your basket but it is only confirmed once your payment has been accepted.

If your online purchase fails we are sorry, it means we have sold out.

Please note there is no Paypal checkout available for this purchase

I hate these things. Really leaves a, ahem, bad tart in the mouth. I now need to buy something to make sure I stand any chance of buying something I want. Doesn't do much to encourage future purchases does it. McCartney started messing with his fans with these sort of wheezes and it has done him a lot of harm. Be fair to those who have supported you over the years, not upset them. Sigh. Here we go again.

OK. I set up the account and bought something I was going to buy anyway just to prove the account works. Seems OK, but I suspect tomorrow holds bad news. Lucky I happened to have the day off! I hate these things. Really takes the edge off buying music.

Well, I guess in an hour or two we all find out. I strongly suspect that this will not end well and it will add to a small list of suppliers that will disappear from my horizon in future.

Why, oh, why did we not just get the standard BS series packaging that has been typical over the last few years? Seems like it would have been perfect for a five disc set with a nice book in the usual box.

What happens here is that you get left with a very bad taste in the mouth and stop falling for the strange ploys in future. I'm looking at you Egypt Station suitcase. Luckily that was so ridiculous that it was easy to jump off the bandwagon and not feel in the slightest bit disappointed at failing (or that should be deciding) not to play along.

There will probably be three scenarios here:

1. It is £200-£300 and I walk away from the Dylan/Badlands fiasco and the other lovingly collected sets of the last decade or so feel no longer that special or complete anymore.

2. It is £20 but sold out immdiately. Ggrr!

3. It is £20 and a copy wings its way in my direction, but I feel pangs of guilt for all of those who were less fortunate because they were not able to sit there waiting at 9.00am because of work commitments or their location does not allow a purchase or merely that they did not even find out about it until it was too late.

None of these is satisfactory in reality. When did buying music become this broken? It is supposed to be fun and these sets an educational deep dive, not a race to the prize, pushing everyone out of the way and gloating at your win.

Sigh!

Here is an idea. Put it out as a free cover disc with a magazine or sell them unlimited at cost price and absolutely everyone goes home happy.

You may be right and I hope that it does come in on a reasonable price point, but it's hidden essentially from a lot of interested buyers who are going to be disappointed at 9.10am or whatever time that they realise they missed the opportunity and it is limited to 300 or whatever copies.

I know that this is somewhat forced upon the suppliers by the copyright laws but just make it all available to all the fans not just the lucky few. They will all probably find it elsewhere later but I would rather pay Bob s0mething for his work than have to search out copies elsewhere. I still feel guilt for managing to obtain Wings Over Europe as part of a set which many will still not have had the opportunity to hear.

So 2! Grrr!

Sorry Badlands, probably not your fault but won't be shopping again!

What a ridiculous situation. Why did they not just issue this thing in the way they have for the other annual BS sets in recentl years? Was listening to disc 1 of Travellin' Thru as I tried to order a copy. I've had to switch it off. It will now feel incomplete and unsatisfactory. What a joke they music industry has become.

Yeah, did all this, even purchased something last night. It will be my last. They should have told Columbia where to get off rather than upset their potential future customers. Sorry Badlands, goodbye.

Not sure about the EU copyright issue in the UK. Don't really care to be quite honest. Stopped doing Record Store Days last year. Will stop this lottery nonsense going forward. The industry has dropped the ball dramatically in recent years and as I said earlier, it is just not fun anymore. Sounds like I have thrown my toys out of the pram, I know, but I was expecting this as I posted before the 9.00am deadline fiasco. What an idiot for sitting here refreshing pages for two hours! Should have had a lie-in!

Spot on. Likewise, I am happy for those who won the lottery. Getting the email made no difference. I refreshed immediately, entered everything at the fastest speed I could, to no avail.

I have the same taste in my mouth. My only way of fighting back is not to use Badlands again. They have lost a customer (probably more than one) by playing these stupid industry games. Sadly people who care for their music have long memories.

It is an interesting fact that many of these discussion threads which begin with hope and anticipation for a new and eagerly awaited release by a favourite artist end in massive disappointment and a lot of furious posts about the inability of the record companies to service their musicians. Can you imagine one of the hard-nosed music business executives in the sixties spending all of this effort ensuring that customers cannot buy their client's music. LOL. They would have been sacked on the spot. We live in very strange times.

I did the same.

I have also asked them to cancel the order I was conned into making as well as how to delete my account with them.

Not impressed at all. First and last attempt to use Badlands.

Boy, am I grumpy!

True to a degree, but don't consort with the devil if you do not want to reap the consequences. They should have passed on it. I imagine they have lost an awful lot of potential future customers because of this.

I really don't care about industry nonsense. This is ill-advised on so many levels. The underlying reasons I understand but the end result is massively flawed.

Sony have lost out, Bob has lost out, Badlands have lost out. But most of all the fans of his music have lost out.

Sadly Badlands will probably be the worst loser here. We were encouraged to register and even buy something to prove that the account worked. Oh, dear. That does not sit well at all. I did so and have now requested a refund and how to cancel the account. I'm not the only one.

Yeah, we are small fry in this but it is unpalatable and I am swimming away.

Yes, it is.

There is a neighbour cutting his lawn outside now and I can't get back to sleep!

Badlands have apparently "received my feedback and will replay shortly if required".

Remember when we could go out to these things called shops, browse shelves, choose music, buy it (!) and then go home, play it and smile?

I remember the name Badlands from way back but have never investigated them until yesterday. Sadly the first contact went down badly so that is it I'm afraid.

I know, I know. But this was a very poor first impression. Buy something from us and we'll put you in a lottery.

OK, point taken, although clearly I am not the only one. I'm sort of more irritated that they used the opportunity to grab a sale to check that your account worked. That wasn't really on in my book.

I will move on and as people above have said it sadly plays into the hands of the grey market. I like Bob and would like him to benefit rather someone unconnected with the production of the music.

Mine has just shipped too! Well played Badlands. I fell for it!

As Ian Hunter sang: "Once bitten, twice shy..."

I'm now going to put Travellin' Thru back on the shelf and make myself a coffee. And perhaps shed a tear for what might have been!

Anyway time to move on. Coffee calls.

I want a coffee but...

No, not from Yorkshire! Although the Four Yorkshiremen sketch from the Pythons does come to mind! "You try and tell that to the young people of today and will they believe you!"

I didn't buy anything I didn't want. But, I would not have bought it from Badlands unless my arm was being twisted. I now do feel conned as the other gentleman above has pointed out also. I'm not angry enough to kick the neighbour's (I'm sure metaphorical) dog but I am annoyed at myself for falling for these tricks. I'm old enough to know better.

Yes, I have just had this as well! I did try to "complete the order" as requested and guess what... I appears to be out of stock. Well, I never!

How to win friends and influence people! Nothing like having your nose rubbed into it.

They have shipped the 'con' order though and not replied to the 'con' order cancellation, account deletion or complaint.

Sorry Badlands, but you have become this season's 'issue'.

Anyway... coffee. I have wasted most of my unplanned day of work not managing to order this set, so I guess "One more coffee before I go..."

Thanks Richard--W.

I'm OK. I don't mind the ribbing. I was annoyed, felt used and utilised my right to express an opinion. I don't think I was being unreasonable given the circumstances. I'm old enough to roll with the blows and at the end of the day it's a CD. Big deal.

I think I was fair with Rhino. They produced a great product which I was happy with but there were some issues (and still are, I believe). I tried to empathise with those who had difficulties. Call them rants if you like but check the word count on the Woodstock threads and you will find 99% positivity about that product. It was great. Some of the admin was appalling but on the whole that was probably the release of the year and all credit to those involved in getting it out there.

I'm finished with this moan now. Can't do anything about, don't like it, but, hey, life's too short to sit here seething with anger!

Just to be fair, here is a response from Badlands.

Dear Customer,


Thanks very much for trying to buy the Bob Dylan 1969 anniversary CDs from Badlands, unfortunately demand way outstripped the quantity we had available to sell.


Many customers managed to get a copy in their basket in theory but were unable to complete the purchase because the inventory had run out, we are very sorry about this but it is simply the way the technology works . In addition some customers have received automated emails asking them to complete their order which unfortunately isn’t possible as the set is sold out, again we are very sorry this is happening and we apologise.


This was an extremely limited edition product and we tried to give a few hours warning to our mailing list of Bob Dylan customers that it would be going on sale this morning, however as this is the 21st century a few people shared this information across the internet which vastly increased the number of people trying to buy at the same time at 9.00am today . The CDs sold out on line in less than 1 minute and a decent number of people did get lucky and completed their orders. We are a small independent record shop who happen to specialise in Bob Dylan and we try our best to put rare items in the hands of genuine fans and collectors and we hope that is what happened today. We totally understand there are not enough copies in existence and many customers will feel upset or angry to miss out .


This item was as far as we know released in France and Germany too as well as in the UK so there may still be copies up for grabs elsewhere . If you were lucky enough to complete the order you should have received a confirmation email and will also be sent a despatch email when we ship the CD set. If you didn’t manage to complete check out then sorry we are now sold out and we are sorry you missed out.


Thanks very much.


Badlands Staff.

It doesn't answer my query regarding cancelling the order I made (to check that my account would work for the Dylan CD) or cancelling the Badlands account. I'm not expecting them to do anything with that as they shipped the item after I complained, but if they do I will be fair and post the response here.

They are not answering emails sent via their own site either.

They suggested that I check that my account would work correctly ahead of ordering the Bob Dylan set by putting through an order for something else ahead of the 9.00am deadline. I did this and when this suggestion proved fruitless I requested that they cancel the order and delete my account. Following this they despatched the order and sent me an email requesting that I complete the order for the Bob Dylan set. I obviously tried to do so unsuccessfully. I emailed again. No response. From my point of view the request to put an order through for something else does not sit well. At least one other person on the forum fell for this, shall we say, ruse and experienced the same result. I appreciate that there is nothing that can be done about the item that has sold out but there are two issues that I would like responded to. That is fair, I think. I have been polite, made my point, and am awaiting a response.