Whooooo
From the U.S. site
Curious as why I got hit with Taxes here in FL????
$99.95 hooks
$07.00 Taxes ????
$7.95 Shipping - not bad.
$114.95 Crispy green paper.

Can't wait to get it. I have completely forgot what the radio sounds like.

Thanks! for all the hard work.

12Gb MKII 080000516 Blue

Wow!!! Very cool! I ordered mine, before they run out...

I got hit with sales tax in NJ also. Either Sonic Blue has stores in both states, or they just charge the sales tax and pocket the difference... :)

Rob, any word on the remotes or replacement faceplates in the US store? I know everyone here has been pushing for the tuner, but I have not used the radio since installation and I do not miss it. I would personally like the Rio remotes though...

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (96GB Smoke)

The eStore checkout page states:

For California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Texas State residents, applicable sales tax will be applied.

I have no idea WHY that is - US taxation is even stranger than Europe (albeit a lot lower!).

Rob

Uninformed guess: the significant factor is probably where Digital River operate.

Faceplates: They should have arrived in the US now. They need to be labelled, shipped to the store, and then they'll be available.

Remote: Not back from the manufacturer yet.

Rob

I just ordered as well, my Texas taxes were $8.58, but shipping was only 3.95 for a grand total of $112.48.

As they say... "whatever." It's roughly the one-year anniversary of when I purchased my empeg. Time for a present.

(FYI, for those reading the hard drive thread, that 48GB IBM drive is still backordered from Outpost.com. I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and pay the extra cost of HardDrive.com.)

For California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Texas State residents, applicable sales tax will be applied.

In theory, that means SonicBlue has operations in those states and must collect tax. In all other states, the buyer is supposed to be a good US citizen and pay his state what is due at tax time. Most don't and companies know this. For example, Gateway has a different company that sells their computers online. "Gateway.com" is the official title of the company, and tax is only collected in the 4 states they operate. This keeps it seperate from the Country Stores they run in I believe all 50 states.

Mine is ordered also!!!! Wooohoo!!!

I wonder if they are gonna be overwhelmed by all the orders around the same time.

Hopefully not - I suspect the eStore processes as many Rio portable orders in a week as we would expect to sell tuner modules in a year.

Rob

Honestly, I figured I would still use my radio, so I managed to squeeze both my JVC receiver and the Empeg in to my car ( and jam in all the wires behind it ). But After about a week I haven't turned on the radio once.

Greetings!

I agree - I have not used the radio since I installed the empeg about a year ago, but I am one of those "collect the entire set" people. I will need to have a tuner, even if it sits next to my extra sled in the closet until I get a chance to install it.

Rob: thanks for the update on the remotes and panels. Once the remotes become available, I think you will see a few Kenwood's going up for sale on ebay.

That is true about sales tax for out of state purchases - that people are supposed to list them on their local tax forms. I think they refer to it as a "use tax". Still, it beats a VAT. "Value Added Tax"... Can anyone outside the US who deals with a VAT let me know what value is actually added??? : )

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (96GB Smoke)

Yup, just ordered mine!!! $8 taxes in CA - oh well.

Rob, you are the bomb! How you pulled this one off, I have no idea. Great work!!
--Andrew

I second that! Just ordered and can't wait to install it. Thanks for all the work and dealing wiht our bitching!

Greg

I have been trying to convince myself that I need one of these newly available tuner modules, but I really don't see myself using the radio for anything besides traffic reports(why anyone would want to go back to the dark ages of radio while having all of your favorite songs at your fingertips is beyond me). In browsing the site I noticed that it has an interface for Sony wired remote controls. I thought that might be enough to push me over the edge, so I went to google and searched for the "RM4XS " model that was indicated on the e-store. No luck, so I searched for the "RM2XS" that was also listed. Same result. Then I decided to try my luck here on the message boards to see if anyone had discussed this remote in the past. To make a long story short after a few tries I found this post from jimhogan (thanks Jim!) that has the correct spelling(RM-X4S). Maybe someone @ empeg could pass this info on to the people at the e-store, to prevent confusing the hundreds of thousands of owners debating the purchase of a tuner module this weekend. ;-)

??? Hello??? When will the tuner module be available in Europe??? 2002? :-(

Or why do you prefer US citizens? ;)

Yours,
Frank

Mk2 40GB #090000592

Not that it's important or anything....
Just wondering, is It possible that I was close to the first ordered tuner or perhaps the first???? are they serialized like the players?

12Gb MKII 080000516 Blue

I've already answered this.

The tuner will be available in Europe in a few days (maybe even tomorrow for all I know) - however long it takes to get them across the Atlantic and through customs. Today is a public holiday in the UK so there will be no progress until tomorrow.

As for prefering US citizens, they do have Orea cookies.. but that said, Germany gets top prize for Ritter Sport with Smarties bars.

Rob

Hmm.. I wrote the copy for the store, but I lifted it from the tuner fitting instructions. I guess it's wrong everywhere.

I daresay most dealers will know what you're talking about, though.

Rob

Okay... I'm starting to get pissed! I ordered on monday & paid for 2 day shipping. I called once & the guy said that my order had problems 'probably due to browser issues'... even though I had received a confirmation email with an invoice. He said he would get back to me the next day & never did.

I kept watching the status of my order. It said 'processing order' or something for a few days. Now it says 'there are items pending shipping'.

Today I called & a chick answers & says that she doesn't know what is wrong with the order. She puts me on hold for a few mintutes, comes back and says she is talking to her supervisor. 10 minutes go by & she hangs up! WTF!??

I paid for 2 day shipping when the tuner was in stock. Now they don't even know what is happening with the order nearly a week later... Service has definitely gone DOWN since processes are switching from empeg to SonicBlue. When dealing with the empeg folks, I could get an answer within 10 minutes ANY time of the day. Now nobody seems to know what the heck is going on. I'd gladly pay premium prices to have service. I am a professional who doesn't have a lot of extra time to listen to stupid hold music.

Its too bad that when companies get successful they have to hide the intelligent people under two or three tiers of morons.

-Jeremy

Mk2/40GB/Blue

I've got a hunch that your problems were with Digital River, not Sonic Blue.

I had a guy here in the office just go through a big hassle with Digital River for a totally unrelated product.

Remind me that whenever I get something to sell on the web, that I don't want to use Digital River as my provider...

___________
Tony Fabris

Well here is DR's response nearly a week later... (and still I have no Tuner).

Dear Customer,

Thank You for your message. Unfortunately, we no longer handle customer
service for Sonic Blue. Please contact Sonic Blue directly with your
request.

Sonic Blue may be contacted at customersupport@sonicblue.com or by
calling 1-800-468-5846.

Thank you for contacting Digital River.

Sincerely,
Customer Service
Digital River, Inc.
service@digitalriver.com
http://www.digitalriver.com
Brian B.


Mk2/40GB/Blue

I did post a few days ago stating that ALL enquiries relating to the eStore should go to SONICblue (and I included the appropriate contact details).

I am aware that the customer support center has a serious staffing problem right now, though, and that service levels are way below target. The people there are extremely dedicated and of a very similar mindset to empeg, but they are working in difficult conditions. It can take a long time to get through to them at the moment.

I hope they'll get that fixed soon.

Rob

Yeah... I've been using the phone # in that post to call up Sonic Blue to try and get some information. So far I keep getting put on hold for 10 minutes & the person comes back with something like: The order looks okay... I don't know why the Tuner hasn't shipped yet. What am I supposed to do? Wait indefinitely for the Tuner?

They have told me that they are asking DR what is going on with the order & DR never responds with an answer to Sonic Blue. The Sonic Blue people seem nice enough, but what good are they if they can't let me know what is going on (due to Digital River).

I'm on hold right now (again). If this guy has the same answer, I'm going to ask for his supervisor so I can make SOMETHING happen. This is getting OLD!

-Jeremy

Mk2/40GB/Blue

You could try asking to talk to Dominic - he asked to be kept up to date with problems that were affecting rio car owners.

Rob

Do you happen to have Dominic's email? It is getting close to the TWO WEEK mark & my order still says 'Order Status: Has Products Pending Shipment'. I have been on hold for about a 1/2 hour now & I am getting tired of this!

-Jeremy

Mk2/40GB/Blue

I don't know if this is going to make you feel better or worse. I placed an order for the tuner on Monday, even though it still said "out of stock", and I came home today to find a shipping notification in my email. I don't know when it'll get here, but at least I know it left and I can track it's location!

I'd definitely urge you to send an email to the guys at Rio. I've gotten very speedy responses (usually within a day) from them. I inquired about the availability of remotes on Monday morning (a holiday, no less!!!) and got a response later that morning saying that they should arrive at the US store in two weeks. I'd feel better if I could place the order and just wait for it to ship, but no big deal.

So, to anyone looking to buy a tuner... place an order!!! They had at least one, hehe!



George

What the hell?!! I just talked to a guy who said that my order has not been completed because they ran out of stock! I ordered on August 27th!!! This is really frickin stupid. The person in charge of the empeg/Sonic Blue relations is not in the office today. I sent him an email earlier letting him know of my frustrations.

I'm going on 10 days AFTER my order with no tuner! Am i the ONLY one that is having issues with Sonic Blue / Digital River?

-Jeremy

Mk2/40GB/Blue

No, you're not the only one.

You're far from the only one who's having problems. I ordered 2, was charged for 2, and was only shipped 1.

This is REDICULOUS! Two weeks & no Tuner... I decided to cancel my order & can't even get through to Sonic Blue! "Due to high call volumes, the phone queue is full." I'm FED UP!
-jpski

Mk2/40GB/Blue

Dominic Ropon [dominicr@sonicblue.com]

i sent it and he e-mailed me back the next day.
i had to send the e-mail to postmaster@sonicblue.com and then the postmaster forwarded it to Dominic. and this is what he said

We are in the process of moving stock for Estore orders... once this is done, all outstanding orders will be fulfilled immediately.



Dominic Ropon
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Product Team Leader
Customer Care Center
SONICblue Inc.