There are literally dozens of more important things going on in the world, but, since I complained previously about Skyroo.com failing deliver Bob Dylan’s Christmas In The Heart album (the vinyl format) on time, I am now obliged to follow up.

Today I received an e-mail with the subject line, “Your Skyroo Entertainment Order has shipped.”

Sean, your Skyroo Entertainment order has shipped!

We thought you would like to know that we have shipped your order.

[...]

It has been our pleasure serving you and we trust you will enjoy your purchase upon arrival.

We look forward to serving you again soon!

Regards,

The Skyroo Entertainment team

http://www.SkyROO.com

The premier pre-sale marketing company for today’s hottest music!

The e-mail was indeed dated today, December 2nd. No explanation was offered for why the album was only being shipped today, when it was officially released a full 8 days ago (and my order was placed 7 days before that). And no explanation was given for previous misleading information indicating that the LP had been shipped “on or around” Saturday, November 21st.

For those who think I’m expecting too much from poor Skyroo and from Sony/Columbia, here’s a point of comparison for me: Earlier this year, I ordered a CD that was only being released overseas, from a British-based vendor (CD WOW). They offered free shipping, and the CD was a good price to begin with. I received it in the mail just three days after its official release in England — and it had been shipped via Hong Kong! That certainly exceeded any expectations I had — even more so considering the free shipping. Skyroo Entertainment charged me for shipping, of-course. And Sony/Columbia are compelling me to make this vinyl LP purchase in the first place by putting an overly-loud mastering of the music on the CD — which of-course I’ve already bought. The vinyl LP through Skyroo is costing me $27.08, including the shipping.

So excuse my complaint on such a petty issue, but I feel that not to call out these lousy business practices is to acquiesce to being a doormat. Goodwill to men, to be sure, but woe to a record company that continues to deliver sub-standard quality at excessive prices, and fails to deliver the product according to its own release dates.

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Addendum: Correspondence with a Skyroo customer service rep. led to me being informed that the reason for the delay was the availability of the promotional 7-inch singles of Must Be Santa; i.e., the label, Sony/Columbia, failed to get them to Skyroo on time. I suggested back that everyone who is receiving their purchase late as a result ought to be refunded the cost of shipping. I haven’t heard back.

…

Addendum II 12/4/2009: Skyroo today refunded the shipping charge to my PayPal account, so kudos to them for that. If you have had a similar problem to mine with your order then you would obviously be well advised to request the same.

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