Recording the Beatles. . .Damaged?

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:53 am

I GUESS this is People Skills. . .

I got my "Recording the Beatles" book last week as a present. It came very poorly packed (box fit loosely around book. . .partially open) and was damaged. It wasn't ripped or anything, but the corner of the box was smashed in enough to damage the book "case" and dent the corners of the book itself. There's also a barely visible indented line down the book from the seam where the box was sealed.

I guess it may seem like i'm griping. . .but this book was a HUNDRED DOLLARS. I wouldn't cry so much if it was $30 at borders. We've sent emails to all parties involved but have yet to hear anything other than their auto response outlining their FAQ. My fiancee (who bought me the book) called and left a message as well at the number she found on the site.

I guess my questions are: Does anyone have any experience with their customer service? Anyone else receive a damaged book? Did you get it replaced? Am I being unreasonable? (this is, of course, a "coffee table" type book and would be displayed in my home when it's not being read. shouldn't it be in great shape?)

I talked to kentothink and he said that his book arrived in a box larger than the book and surrounded by protection. How did everyone's come in?

-James

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:00 am

Mine came in about two/three weeks ago, and was very well packaged and arrived safely. I've been pouring over it nonstop since its arrival. Have you emailed the authors? You probably know already...they post on the board from time to time and seem to be very customer-friendly.

iC · Post by iC » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:04 am

Hi. The "tape reel" box on my purchase came with worn edges/corners... the book itself is in fine shape... can't recall the packing job....

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:13 am

iC wrote:Hi. The "tape reel" box on my purchase came with worn edges/corners... the book itself is in fine shape... can't recall the packing job....

I think (hope) the worn edges and corners is on purpose. It's supposed to look like an old tape box. My problem is that one of the corners was smashed in on the box bad enough to smash the book as well.

I have no doubt that the authors are good guys, etc. It just seems like getting in touch with someone is the issue. It was purchased and shipped through the publisher (curvebender?) so i'm assuming they are the ones that need to remedy the situation.

-James

LeedyGuy · Post by **LeedyGuy** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:39 am

I saw the box that James book came in and it was not the same as the one mine came in. Mine had extra cardboard around the left and right sides of the book to protect it. His was just a regular old skinny little box. Weird...Mine is perfectly beautiful though and the book itself is far exceeding my expectations!!!

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 7:32 pm

mingus2112 wrote:It was purchased and shipped through the publisher (curvebender?) so i'm assuming they are the ones that need to remedy the situation.

That's Kevin and Brian. If they're not responding to you it may be because they're out of town or have something else going on. They're good guys, very reliable, and great to deal with. Be patient and they'll be in touch.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

mingus2112 · Post by **mingus2112** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:52 pm

My fiancee told me that fedex left a message on her cell phone today saying they were at the house to pick up a package. It could have been a wrong number and a coincidence. . .but i wonder if they were there to pick up the damaged book? it would definately be super fast service, but a heads up would be nice!

Anyway. . .i know they have a lot of emails to go through. . .so i'm hoping we hear back soon!

-J

tactics · Post by **tactics** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 9:40 pm

Mine was sent to me in Australia and was in perfect condition.Haven't those guys posted here before?

BrianK · Post by **BrianK** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:38 pm

Hi - I just saw this thread. Your book was damaged, and while that is the fault of the shipping, we will replace it. The books almost always arrive in great shape, so it's not the fault of the packing. It is definitely rougher than normal handling. We want you to have a nice clean book (the "tape box" IS supposed to look worn around the edges - we used an old worn box as a model and liked that look, plus it keeps you from worrying about it so much...)

I am on the road and don't deal with the shipping emails; Kevin and I are very busy on other projects and the shippers are supposed to handle this; BUT they ship many more products than just our book and they have to deal with many many requests each day, on top of orders. I have never known anyone to get less than full satisfaction in the end...

Let us know how it goes.

Justine_X · Post by **Justine_X** » Mon Oct 18, 2010 10:44 pm

Original post is 3 years old but I can weigh in that my experience with ordering Recording the Beatles from Curvebender has been a horrible failure. I never even got the book.

Back in May I paid the $100 + shipping for the book on their website. Never got a shipment notice. No response to my multiple emails and voicemail messages until 5 weeks later, when I get an email from a guy named "Travis" who apologizes and says he'll look for the book in the warehouse.

Unfortunately that was the last I heard from them. No book, no replies to more emails and voicemails. I even tried emailing the authors!

Their website says a reprint will ship in October, but the month is half over and I'm tired of not hearing anything. I'm going to report them to my credit card company. Fraud.

Sad to see Curvebender publish something that was obviously a work of love by the authors -- and then totally drop the ball. Like James says, the book is A HUNDRED DOLLARS. This is the first time in 10+ years of online orders that this has happened to me, so I am still incredulous. Buyer beware...

joninc · Post by **joninc** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 12:05 am

that sucks - but it's been out of stock for a while though, no?

Justine_X · Post by **Justine_X** » Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:29 pm

joninc wrote:that sucks - but it's been out of stock for a while though, no?

When I ordered in May, and through the summer, there was nothing on the website to indicate it was out of stock. Only recently (probably September) a note popped up on the order page that it was out of stock and up for reprinting.

Anyways, it's irrelevant if it's in or out of stock. If a seller can't deliver the goods, they should communicate that to the buyer, and offer a refund... Right? It's the absolute basics of selling stuff on the internet. They failed to do this simple stuff, so they appear to be thieves.

I'm not the only one this has happened to -- there's a forlorn guy who wrote a review of the book on Amazon, complaining about the exact same experience. So again, I say buyer beware.

If I was the author of Recording the Beatles, I would be angry that my publisher has been so idiotically unprofessional with potential readers.

BrianK · Post by **BrianK** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:25 am

Hi Justine - this is Brian Kehew. One of the authors of the book. It WAS sold out - and the website said so, but some people did not notice and ordered books. It takes months to get them when they sell out.

We've always offered people a refund IF they order a book and cannot wait. Even if they ordered one knowing it was out, and cannot wait. It's sold out again now (people still like it) and orders for this Fall are arriving soon - but we ALWAYS put up a notice when it's sold out. As I said, many people get excited and just order without reading everything and don't notice.

I have a book I'm holding here for someone and WILL send it right to you instead myself. BUT we need to know (because some people have messed up and thought they ordered a book and it was not) that your credit card was charged for it. Sometimes someone's card is rejected and we never get the order. And people think they have ordered. So I'm here and on Facebook and all over the web - even my post is above - you can see it and I'm here too. Not hiding. We're so easy to reach and reply to just about EVERY one who writes if we can. Find your order info and we'll take care of it asap! I'll send you a PM now with my personal info.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 10:33 pm

I can definitely say that I've had interactions with both Brian and Kevin and they're both extremely nice, extremely together guys.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

BrianK · Post by **BrianK** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 8:08 am

OK - here's what I found out. The mail had been coming in, all with the same question "When are books coming", which is something there was no NEW answer to (other than what is on the website already). So the webmaster had put up an AutoReply and it had somehow stopped after a few days. So no one got an email through, but it didn't reply, and we didn't know.

As I said above, we're often available ourselves all over the web (not always on forums though). If this kind of stuff ever happens, just search and find me. I still have not heard back from Justine above... write me from the PM I sent you.

Last news I heard, books shipped out from Hong Kong on the boat about 2+ weeks ago. It takes several weeks to get here, then clear Customs and get to the shipping warehouse. Then they fulfill our orders in sequence. Still on track for October book arrival here, as the website says.

If you have ANY other issues other than waiting for an ordered book to arrive, find me on Facebook or something. Thanks.

Message Board

Recording the Beatles. . .Damaged?

Recording the Beatles. . .Damaged?

Re: Recording the Beatles. . NEVER SENT

Who is online