Joni Mitchell / Archives Volume 1: The Early Years 1963-1967 box set 10/30/2020

[humprof]

Does anybody have firsthand experience with Oldies.com? I'm not all that big on pre-Blue Joni, but the price is right:

https://www.oldies.com/product-view/89187S.html

 

[Quad Linda]

Got an Email from Joni's people. Mine was shipped directly from them today.

 

[leahypc]

Does anybody have firsthand experience with Oldies.com? I'm not all that big on pre-Blue Joni, but the price is right:

https://www.oldies.com/product-view/89187S.html

I used to buy a ton of CDs from them about 10-12 years ago - I just kind of drifted away from them after I found a lot of older and hard to find discs. No particular reason for it, just kind of forgot about them, actually. They were always excellent with availability and shipping, though. You should jump on it - that's a great price.

 

[jhw59]

thanks for this headsup. I was on the fence but at this price even with tax and shipping(about $10) still a great deal!

 

[Madman Riley]

Both good and bad "experience" with Oldies.com, from an active customer.

Does anybody have firsthand experience with Oldies.com? I'm not all that big on pre-Blue Joni, but the price is right:

The good: amazing selection, quality recordings (both audio & video), well protected shipments
The bad: prepare for a BLIZZARD of catalog mailings from them!
So-so: somewhat slow delivery

 

[privateuniverse]

A really good article about the new box set.

 

[humprof]

A really good article about the new box set.

Sounds like the interviewee, Patrick Milligan, Rhino's A&R Director, is one of the guys we need to pin our hopes on for future Quadio releases, too. "I’m basically responsible for putting together catalogue products – physical, streaming, video. It’s a pretty great job," he says. (No doubt!) I hope he's friendly with @Steel Woole!

 

[humprof]

A really good article about the new box set.

Thanks for posting that--fantastic read. (I feel even better about Milligan, knowing that his favorite Joni album is Hejira!) The article it links to about how the "Saskatoon Tapes" were found is worth reading, too.

Amazing to think what might be coming down the pike if she continues this series a la Neil Young. (I'm already thinking ahead to all the guys she tried out for the Mingus album before settling on the final line-up.)

 

[Clement]

allmusic.com REVIEW

 

[Quad Linda]

Still waiting for my Joni box..

 

[esimms86]

Still waiting for my Joni box..

I paid for and downloaded a digital copy from HDTracks in 24/44.1.

 

[Quad Linda]

Archives Vol. 1 - Joni Mitchell 5 CD bonus pen and ink sketch from Joni.com.

just arrived

 

[humprof]

Both good and bad "experience" with Oldies.com, from an active customer.



The good: amazing selection, quality recordings (both audio & video), well protected shipments
The bad: prepare for a BLIZZARD of catalog mailings from them!
So-so: somewhat slow delivery

Well, sad to say I would not recommend buying from Oldies.com based on my now one and only experience.

They advertised the Joni Mitchell set at that insanely low price for three or four days back in October, so I finally bit, placed an order, and got both a confirmation, a receipt, and a charge to my PayPal account. They said that shipping might be delayed because of the pandemic, but every time I went back to their site to check on the order status, it said "In Process."

Finally, after 3+ weeks, I decided to call and see if anyone could give me any news.

• The first time, I talked to the owner's wife, who couldn't explain why the order hadn't been shipped, but said the warehouse showed 15 copies in stock even though the website reported it was now back-ordered. So she renewed the order, but said I should call again in two days and speak to her husband to make sure it went through.
• Call #2: I couldn't get through to Mr. Oldie, but a flunkie told me that Mrs. Oldie had not in fact succeeded in jump-starting the processing of my order. She (the flunkie) would research the issue and get back to me. She didn't.
• Call #3: one week later, and it's now been over a month. This time, it was "Oh, yeah, sorry, we had a lot of those. Our distributor gave us the wrong price, and there's no way we can honor it without losing our shirt. Anybody who placed an order should have been notified and issued a refund." Obviously, I got neither.

I get it: this wasn't entirely their fault--although it's not like a newspaper misprinted a sale price in a third-party advertisement, either. And I'm sure it's hard doing business--and holding onto knowledgeable, long-term employees--in COVID times. So I'm not going to get on my high horse or get my knickers in a bunch over a $28 disappointment. Still: kind of a shabby way to handle the situation.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Well, sad to say I would not recommend buying from Oldies.com based on my now one and only experience.

They advertised the Joni Mitchell set at that insanely low price for three or four days back in October, so I finally bit, placed an order, and got both a confirmation, a receipt, and a charge to my PayPal account. They said that shipping might be delayed because of the pandemic, but every time I went back to their site to check on the order status, it said "In Process."

Finally, after 3+ weeks, I decided to call and see if anyone could give me any news.

• The first time, I talked to the owner's wife, who couldn't explain why the order hadn't been shipped, but who said the warehouse showed 15 copies in stock even though the website said it was now back-ordered. So she renewed the order, but said I should call again in two days and speak to her husband to make sure it went through.
• Call #2: I couldn't get through to Mr. Oldie, but a flunkie told me that Mrs. Oldie had not in fact succeeded in jump-starting the processing of my order. She (the flunkie) would research the issue and get back to me. She didn't.
• Call #3: it's now been over a month. This time, it was "Oh, yeah, sorry, we had a lot of those. Our distributor gave us the wrong price, and there's no way we can honor it without losing our shirt. Anybody who placed an order should have been notified and issued a refund." Obviously, I got neither.

I get it: this wasn't entirely their fault--although it's not like a newspaper misprinted a sale price in a third-party advertisement, either. And I'm sure it's hard doing business--and holding onto knowledgeable, long-term employees--in COVID times. So I'm not going to get on my high horse or get my knickers in a bunch over a $28 disappointment. Still: kind of a shabby way to handle the situation.

I was ALMOST going to order from Oldies myself, humprof, but scratched my head at the almost give~a~way price and resisted. Glad I did. And as one poster mentioned, who needs all those Oldies mailings on a regular basis. Have enough junk mail in my box!

 

[Madman Riley]

Yes indeed -- one bad experience can destroy a customer relationship!

Well, sad to say I would not recommend buying from Oldies.com based on my now one and only experience.

Y'know, when it comes to otherwise reliable sellers I've been there myself.
To wit:

Though I've ordered hundreds of dollar's worth of SACDs & box sets over the years from AcousticSounds.com (aka AcousticSoundsInc on eBay) it only took one horrible -- and horrifying -- experience to swear off buying from them for a full year now, and counting.

Same is true for ImportCDs.com (aka Get_ImportCDs on eBay) when speed of shipment is an issue for an order.
And even when that's not the case, I can expect molasses-slow delivery from ANY seller listing "Shepherdsville, Kentucky" as shipper's address.


Always unfortunate when anyone has a bad experience with reputable sellers who rely on their reputations...

 

[humprof]

On the bright side, here's another good new essay about the set:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/joni-mitchells-youthful-artistry

 

[ProgRules]

Well, sad to say I would not recommend buying from Oldies.com based on my now one and only experience.

They advertised the Joni Mitchell set at that insanely low price for three or four days back in October, so I finally bit, placed an order, and got both a confirmation, a receipt, and a charge to my PayPal account. They said that shipping might be delayed because of the pandemic, but every time I went back to their site to check on the order status, it said "In Process."

Finally, after 3+ weeks, I decided to call and see if anyone could give me any news.

• The first time, I talked to the owner's wife, who couldn't explain why the order hadn't been shipped, but said the warehouse showed 15 copies in stock even though the website reported it was now back-ordered. So she renewed the order, but said I should call again in two days and speak to her husband to make sure it went through.
• Call #2: I couldn't get through to Mr. Oldie, but a flunkie told me that Mrs. Oldie had not in fact succeeded in jump-starting the processing of my order. She (the flunkie) would research the issue and get back to me. She didn't.
• Call #3: one week later, and it's now been over a month. This time, it was "Oh, yeah, sorry, we had a lot of those. Our distributor gave us the wrong price, and there's no way we can honor it without losing our shirt. Anybody who placed an order should have been notified and issued a refund." Obviously, I got neither.

I get it: this wasn't entirely their fault--although it's not like a newspaper misprinted a sale price in a third-party advertisement, either. And I'm sure it's hard doing business--and holding onto knowledgeable, long-term employees--in COVID times. So I'm not going to get on my high horse or get my knickers in a bunch over a $28 disappointment. Still: kind of a shabby way to handle the situation.

Sorry about your experience.

At SHF some reported getting their shipment but many like myself hadn't. I'd been waiting patiently and much like the low price on the back-ordered Chicago quadio set from Deep Discount, accepted that the price was probably too good to be true and didn't expect to get it.

But unlike the DD order, I got a shipping email Friday. It's in USPS's hands and is scheduled to be here Sat!

Hope yours come through too Prof. That #3 response is unlike anything I've heard; most who checked were told they didn't get enough in and were waiting for another shipment. Sounds kinda fishy; if the distributor quoted the wrong price, wouldn't they have to honor that? Although that price is so low, it does seem like a mistake.

Looking forward to hearing the set that been getting raves at SHF. Young Joni, although apparently way mature beyond her years even at the tender age she was here.

As much as I'm looking forward to hearing this set though, I'm really psyched about her future archives!

 

[humprof]

Sorry about your experience.

At SHF some reported getting their shipment but many like myself hadn't. I'd been waiting patiently and much like the low price on the back-ordered Chicago quadio set from Deep Discount, accepted that the price was probably too good to be true and didn't expect to get it.

But unlike the DD order, I got a shipping email Friday. It's in USPS's hands and is scheduled to be here Sat!

Hope yours come through too Prof. That #3 response is unlike anything I've heard; most who checked were told they didn't get enough in and were waiting for another shipment. Sounds kinda fishy; if the distributor quoted the wrong price, wouldn't they have to honor that? Although that price is so low, it does seem like a mistake.

Looking forward to hearing the set that been getting raves at SHF. Young Joni, although apparently way mature beyond her years even at the tender age she was here.

As much as I'm looking forward to hearing this set though, I'm really psyched about her future archives!

Oof. Well, to learn that some who ordered at that price did get their orders (and that Agent #3 was effectively lying to me) makes me even more steamed.

I'm happy that you got yours, though, of course! And yes: I'm also hoping for great things from the middle and later years of the archives!

 

[JR65]

I posted this missive on the SHF yesterday about my experience trying to order Joni Mitchell’s Archives Vol. 1 boxed set from Oldies.com.

After seeing folks posting here that they finally received their order from Oldies.com, or at least received an email indicating their order was being shipped, I called Customer Service for the second time to check on the status of my order that was placed on October 29th. When I called the first time, they advised they were awaiting 151 units from the shipper of which 150 had already been sold, including one for me. When I called the second time, I was advised that all available units had been shipped and mine was shown as still being on back order. At that point, I asked they simply cancel the order. The Customer Service rep said it would take 10 to 14 days for the refund to show up on my PayPal account. I hope they do a better job at providing refunds than they do at filling orders.

I went ahead and placed an order with ImportCDs.com for this release and won’t be using Oldies.com for any further purchases, regardless of the cost savings.

 

[Quadgirl]

Well, sad to say I would not recommend buying from Oldies.com based on my now one and only experience.

They advertised the Joni Mitchell set at that insanely low price for three or four days back in October, so I finally bit, placed an order, and got both a confirmation, a receipt, and a charge to my PayPal account. They said that shipping might be delayed because of the pandemic, but every time I went back to their site to check on the order status, it said "In Process."

Finally, after 3+ weeks, I decided to call and see if anyone could give me any news.

• The first time, I talked to the owner's wife, who couldn't explain why the order hadn't been shipped, but said the warehouse showed 15 copies in stock even though the website reported it was now back-ordered. So she renewed the order, but said I should call again in two days and speak to her husband to make sure it went through.
• Call #2: I couldn't get through to Mr. Oldie, but a flunkie told me that Mrs. Oldie had not in fact succeeded in jump-starting the processing of my order. She (the flunkie) would research the issue and get back to me. She didn't.
• Call #3: one week later, and it's now been over a month. This time, it was "Oh, yeah, sorry, we had a lot of those. Our distributor gave us the wrong price, and there's no way we can honor it without losing our shirt. Anybody who placed an order should have been notified and issued a refund." Obviously, I got neither.

I get it: this wasn't entirely their fault--although it's not like a newspaper misprinted a sale price in a third-party advertisement, either. And I'm sure it's hard doing business--and holding onto knowledgeable, long-term employees--in COVID times. So I'm not going to get on my high horse or get my knickers in a bunch over a $28 disappointment. Still: kind of a shabby way to handle the situation.

i am having exact same issue. Ordered in October, told it would be here Nov 2 at earliest, and now nothing But still “in process.” That is all I need to move on to a better company.