Recording the Beatles. . .Damaged?

[Justine_X]

I am also pretty sure Brian and Kevin are upstanding gentlemen. They obviously put a lot of hard work and passion into their book, and hey -- after all, they are Beatles fans. (Brian, I just got your PM and will send you an email. Thanks for posting.)

My beef is with their publisher, who were supposed to act as middlemen between the authors and me; instead, they dropped the ball and failed us both. Please note that I'm speaking from my own personal experience. I'm sure they got it right with other folks over the years. Unfortunately, I'm one of the people that fell through the cracks.

The guy who posted on Amazon whose experience mirrored mine can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2S5VSM2Z9 ... hisHelpful

Just to make sure everything is on the table, and assure everyone I'm not inept or trying to mount a smear campaign, I will list/reiterate pertinent facts from my experience:

-> The web page didn't say the book was out of stock when I ordered in May. I wouldn't have ordered if it did.
-> Even if I didn't notice the "out of stock" note, I was never given an opportunity to talk about this with the seller. (Except for the "Travis email", detailed further down)
-> My credit card is good. I know the order went through because I checked with my credit card company.
-> The book was never shipped to me. I know this because I never received the shipping notice promised by Curvebender.
-> The AutoReply email problems: I'm sorry to hear about this. But what about the multiple voicemails that I left over the span of 5 months?
-> Email problems #2: During those 5 months, nobody at Curvebender decided it was a good time to make a cup of coffee and sift through emails and messages? Set aside a Saturday morning to communicating with customers who had questions/concerns not covered by the AutoReply?
-> The Travis guy who emailed me: Said he'd check if the book was in stock, and *did* mention a refund. My reply to him: yes, if out of stock, send refund. But then I never heard back from him!

Brian: On September 25 I sent an email to the "contact the authors" address at curvebender.com. If you check, it will be there. I didn't think you'd get it, though, since it was going through the same people, so I don't find you at fault here.

As far as contacting you on Facebook: frankly, I would've felt silly searching for you on there. Like I said, the situation was between me and the people who sell your books. The idea of talking to the author never really entered the picture. Maybe I am naive to the business of selling books, but hey, I gave Curvebender LOTS of chances...

Unfortunately, I can't take you up on your offer, either, because last week I typed up a statement of events and sent it to my credit card company. After 5 months, I felt like getting my money back was LONG overdue.

[BrianK]

As I've said to you in emails, I'll send you my last book here. FREE to you for the book or shipping, and I've asked if your card company DID cancel the charge or not. If not WE will make sure it's refunded first. Your grievances are solid and true, and helped us find out some things that were certainly NOT set up well. From your point of view, you did all you could try, but I am always around and can handle individual things that need handling.

Yeah someone screwed up, and I know that does happen now and then. Sorry it happened to you, and I'm trying to make sure these things don't happen, but I can't control every thing - there isn't enough time in the day. Sometimes you just have to work and trust that things are being handled.

Brian

[Waltz Mastering]

Great frickin book. Kudo's. Well worth any wait.

[BrianK]

Thanks Tom, did you just get one? All the domestic orders have shipped this last week and most have arrived. Glad you feel it's worth the wait, we'd prefer NO wait, but it happens when we reorder just before Fall, they are printing tons of books for Christmas season and it goes 3x slower in Sept-Nov months.

I'm told they're working their way through sending the international orders in the sequence they arrived but each of these takes much more paperwork to ship, then you have a few weeks through the post and Customs.

[Justine_X]

Hi all --

Just wanted to bring everyone up to date on my situation with Curvebender, Brian and RtB. Brian did indeed make good on his promise to process my refund and send me a complementary book. This was much more than what I was looking for when I posted here on the TOMB (to release frustration, mostly), so all I can express is gratitude for his gentlemanly gesture.

As for the book, it truly is a work of art -- or better said, a giant museum featuring tons of exhibits which detail every facet of the Beatles' recordings. Locations, equipment, people, history, track-by-track recording processes, etc. etc. etc. It's wonderful... but we already knew this...

A couple friends who were waiting months to see the book have now finally been able to peruse it, and they are also awed. Now that they know I contacted one of the authors to straighten out my problem, they will probably order their own copies of the book soon.

[BrianK]

Thanks Justine. I'm sorry it got to that point, just glad we found out about this and could handle your thing. Enjoy the book!