I got a Rio Volt instead of an Empeg in one of my orders. I know, I know... They're very hard to tell apart. Look for yourself.

Hey i wondered why i could never get my riocar to fit in my dash it is square not round. i want a round one

wow! that really sucks!

I know how you feel.. 2 months ago I ordered an extra docking bay and the lens kit. What did I receive? A rio portable MP3 player cigarette lighter adapter. I've been trying to get a refund for 2 months now and have not been successful. On a good note, I did receive my new (Extra) 30 gig Empeg today.

Oh, that's great. I wonder what I'll get. Now, why is it that they can mess up with something that looks nothing like the ordered product, even when shipping orders for MULTIPLES, yet they don't seem to send anyone a 60GB player when they've ordered a 10GB? Now that would be something easy to make a mistake with - I'm assuming only the label numbering is different.

Bruno

I wonder if people who ordered ReplayTV 4000's are getting waffle irons...

This has gone way past absurd. I think you have to TRY to be this stupid. Really.

I received the second package today and all seemed to be correct on my order from SB. Sorry to hear your order was incorrect. besides, the RioVolt makes a fine paperweight.

I know this is really annoying, but nobody has tried to screw you (as you suggested in another thread).

The guys in the warehouse don't know anything about SB products - they just pick shipping manifests. When they make a mistake it can look absurd - I mean who could confuse a Rio Car with a Rio Volt? - but the actual mistake made was probably just a couple of digits on a stock code, or a product stacked in the wrong place.

Complain to customer service and they'll fix up your order - and most likely have a chat with the fulfilment center manager as well.

Rob

I posted the email address of the director of customer service, when he offered to look into such cases personally. It's up to you if you want to take him up on that offer.

Rob

That makes sense Rob, have you guys heard from any people who ordered a Rio Volt and gotten a Rio Car? Or a person who ordered a Rio Car Kit and got an Rio Screen Kit? Sheesh. :)

Calvin

Rob - Where can I find that e-mail address?

Thanks,
Rob

Is this a common problem? it is potentially very dangerous for me. I live in Chile and used the SB e-store because I 've got a PO box in miami that delivers stuff I send there to my adress in Chile. If it turns that my order was incorrectly delivered, I will only be able to know it when it reaches my hands.. very very far from customer service. I would get really mad if this happens to my order. The difficulties to redeliver to Miami and then to the warehouse would be enormous.

Does the eStore allow PO Box addresses then? FedEx won't allow us to ship anything to a PO Box address, but maybe it's different for domestic consignments.

Rob

FedEx won't allow us to ship anything to a PO Box address, but maybe it's different for domestic consignments.

Nah, it's no different domestically.

"PO Box" refers to a box at one of the government post offices.

Despite the word "Federal" in their name, FexEx is not connected with the government. They are a private company and do not have access to the government post office boxes. Same thing with UPS.

Most towns also have private mail service companies which have mailboxes. In my town there's one called "Post Net". The boxes they have there are similar to a PO Box, but they are not technically PO Boxes. They are a drop box at a privately-owned company. I don't know what FedEx and UPS policies are for this kind of a drop box.

I'd hazard a guess that the person who gets his mail forwarded to Chile uses the latter kind of service. So I don't know if he'll be able to take delivery or not. It would be interesting to find out.

Rob, you are taking my other post much too seriously. I am a pretty fun-loving guy and don't hold a grudge against anyone at Empeg or SB. Jim Hafner-Eaton has helped me in the past, so I contacted him right after discovering the box contents were wrong. Jim seems to be a good guy, that's why I contacted him directly instead of the general customer service email account. We'll see how everything turns out.

That's no longer 100% true. The USPS is contracting FedEx to deliver (or at least transport) Priority Mail. This might mean that FedEx could have access to PO Boxes, but I doubt it.

robricc,

I don't know hat there was about your original post that could be taken *too* seriously. It seemed fair. If Rob is responding to an insinuation that somebody at SB is out to screw us by messing up orders, I can understand, but I think that yn0t_'s statement "This has gone way past absurd. I think you have to TRY to be this stupid. Really." is quite fair. For my boring previous op-ed on customer service, click here .

Rob Voisey, believe me when I say that I view your accumulated credibility WRT customer service as unparalleled, but I am a bit surprised to hear you making excuses for the "guys in the warehouse" in this case. I would hazard to say that many successful mail-order businesses operate successfully with front-line pickers who are not familiar with all of the many distinctions between a zillion products, but who actually rely on checking the SKU when any doubt. I honestly can't count the number of places I have ordered multiple orders from over the past 10 years and who have *not* screwed up even once (West Marine, BoatUS, CampMor, L.L.Bean, All Electronics, CyberGuys, Amazon, ProVantage are just a start...) If any one of these performed at the the level of the SB/Digital River order fulfillment dumbvirate, they would be out of business. Unfamiliarity of the guys in the warehouse would be no excuse; it is a program management problem.

It is good that SB has someone in Jim Hafner-Eaton who is interested in improving things. If he spent 2-3 hours on this BBS searching for DR topics, it would be time well spent (potential ammunition for a nonperformance beef with DR).

With respect to "PO Boxes", since he says they will do forwarding, it sounds like Reggie is using what the USPS would like us to call a "PMB" - Private Mail Box (the Post Net type of deal Tony describes). Since I travel a bit for work, I use a local PMB as my working address for everything except voter registration. They'll take delivery from FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS, Airborne, Viking Express, CREEP bagmen, you name it. Mine is a fairly ancient family-run concern that serves a lot of cruising sailors. In Reggie's place I could ask them to crack the packaging and double-check the contents before sending it. I doubt many mail drops provide this level of service, though, so I understand his concern. Reggie, good luck. Go for it!

(Oh, for the purposes of ordering from outfits like DR, it helps that my functional address is: #90, not PMB 90. They can then believe that it is an apartment ; it must also synch with my credit card billing address, which it does. Some agencies (such as my local election board) and companies who have enough motive to pay the USPS for detailed address databases may be able to sniff out PMB addresses and may declare it an invalid address for their purposes, but it still works 95% for me.)

Maybe the term "PO box" isn't accurate, my mistake. But the fact is that it's a system that establishes a physical adress in USA for my name so I can buy in american sites that do not deliver worldwide. Very useful , plus they manage everything , taxes etc.and I get my stuff delivered at my door.
I know it works from the SB e-store because I bought the tunes some weeks ago and it is already waiting for the Rio Car to arrive (I can manage sending schedules, etc). Everyone in Latin America who buys things in Amazon and other places alike has mail boxes, normally in Miami.

Perhaps I was serious, but screwed was the wrong word to use. This might imply that fulfillment is intentionaly putting the wrong things in the boxes.

I don't think that at all. I am quite sure that it has mostly to do with being unfamiliar with the product and being somewhat careless. The manifest/packing slip describes the product as "Rio Car Player - 10GB Hard Drive." You can't tell me any semi-trained person can't tell that a Rio Volt isn't a car stereo, and that it doesn't have a hard drive.

Furthermore, I am sure they were pulling A LOT of Rio Cars that day. Didn't they notice that the Volt they pulled off the shelf looked different from all the other Rio Cars?

For months the complaints have been mounting. For some reason, this thread seems to be standing out making me look like a whiner. Well, I'm not. I was just trying to add my name to the list of SB/DR order screw-ups.

PS: The times I had to deal with Empeg in the UK were excellent. Their customer service is first class. Other than the tuner incident, the rest of the world should feel lucky they don't have to deal with Sonic Blue.

PPS: Who buys a Rio Volt directly from Sonic Blue anyway? A quick check on PriceGrabber.com shows you can get it for at least $10 less in many other places.

Yes, you're absolutely right about it, I really didn't know what the real name of the service was, thank you very much.
About cracking and double-checking, I actually can ask them to do it, they've got a very well-put online help system. They can also re-package the thing if the original box is unnecesarily big (very normal) and will make me pay ridiculous taxes in chilean customs. It's a very useful system, never had a problem. For example, my Saitek Cyborg joystick (bought specifically to play Independence War 2, best game of the year if you ask me) came in an oversized box and they shrunk it almost to half the size.

Everyone in Latin America who buys things in Amazon and other places alike has mail boxes, normally in Miami.

Why, does delivery come up cheaper (I mean for those e-stores that do deliver internationally, like Amazon)?

Hm, actually this service sounds handy. Most US outlets selling computer-related stuff don't deliver internationally, Amazon sells second-hand books to only 20 or so countries etc. Do tell some more about the service, please.

Yes, it normally comes out cheaper than if delivered through the e-store's own international delivery system. And they manage all the tax annoyances (no free-trade treaty with the U.S. yet. Please mr Bush?)
Well if you can read some spanish, the url is www.casillaexpress.com (hah, never remember how to use html markup when I need it.) It's by far the best system I've used, my Visa card came with a similar one but wasn't as fast and was also very expensive to maintain.
Bonzi, you're european, so you know Peugeot cars.. gotta share my joy with someone!! Just bought a 307. Beautiful car. Even better than my late Golf. Just love small hatchbacks.

Robricc,

I'm sorry, when I said/addressed "Rob" in the same e-mail, I was referring to Rob Voisey's reply to you (I've edited that to reflect same). Looks like I made a muddle of that and I'm afraid you may have interpreted some of what was intended for Rob V as directed at you. Make sense?

I don't see how your post stands out as "whiney" above the considerable number of other SB/DR tales of wierdness and woe. Hope they fix it quick.

Oh, and it looks like Reggie's Miami service has some expediting features that go way beyond my humble PMB (taxes, customs, etc.)

Jim, I took it how it was intended. Rob's post is the one I'm referring to when I say it seems like I was whining. Rob seemed like he was annoyed at my original post. I don't see why he would be since it's not his fault. That's just the impression that I got. If anything, he should be annoyed at Sonic Blue for sullying the good name of Empeg service.

I would hazard to say that many successful mail-order businesses operate successfully with front-line pickers who are not familiar with all of the many distinctions between a zillion products, but who actually rely on checking the SKU when any doubt.

Yeah, I was discussing this with my friend Tod just yesterday. He and I were both incredulous that the wrong item could be shipped by the warehouse. I said that I thought it had to be Digital River's fault somehow. That maybe the warehouse got the wrong order, and that they packed the correct item based on the information they were given.

I'd be curious to know if the incorrect order had a packing slip inside the box anywhere. What items were printed on the packing slip?

The USPS is contracting FedEx to deliver (or at least transport) Priority Mail.

Interesting article. Still, the USPS is just buying some space on some of FedEx's airplanes, it's not like FedEx is delivering the mail or anything. It doesn't change the age-old "FedEx can't deliver to PO Boxes" rule.

Tony, packing slip was in the box. I attached a pic of it.

Okay, so the product names are correct. Those numbers (there are three columns' worth of cryptic numbers) ... They don't happen to be the same or similar as any numbers on the Rio Volt box, do they?

Eureka! Vendor Part # seems to be the culprit.

90260227 - Rio Car
90260277 - Rio Volt

Somehow this doesn't make me feel any better.

I have used www.usabox.com for a while now. I did a lot of looking around before signing with them, and they had the best price/facility/ease deal for me. It gives me a US address, to which I also have a credit card registered, and I have had no problems getting anybody to deliver stuff to them.

One word of warning though - onward shipments are ONLY by their preferred courier service (this seems to be the general case), which is where they make their margins, and it can sure add up. But guess how I'll be getting a new EmpegSuperMaticRioDigitalHomeAutoNetworkMediaCenter even though I'm not US resident ?

Mark