Is it Britannia Music, or New England collections? (Britannia Music)

Member Name: TheDrowningMan

Product:	Britannia Music
Date:	16/08/03 (704 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none

Disadvantages: Poor ordering service, Terrible customer service, Dont show any compasion for your circumstances

Now, as im writing this, i can see 'Do not use insulting language' written to the left of this box. The more i remember about my experiences with Britannia, the more i think that this maybe quite difficult.

I started off with Brit. in 2001. An nice friendy person called with promises of cheap music, and loads of good deals. Im a big music fan, so this was literally music to my ears. Maybe i was naive, but all i have to do is buy 6 cds a year for this wonderful offer to be fulfilled. Six!! thats nothing, sometimes i buy 6 in one spree!

Well, i didnt bargian for the eventualities that were about to unravel. Firslty, i specifically asked for indie/rock music when the woman initially called, and she said they cater for everyone. Maybe i should have been concerned when she asked what i would like for my complimentary album, and they didnt have a single Radiohead album on their catalogue!

Anyway, during the year i constantly checked their site for new music, and things i would like to buy, but they really didnt have many things that interested me. I was really quite annoyed by this, and after a gentle reminder that i had a few months left in which to buy the requisite 6 cds, i knocked up a list of the best they had. I ordered them online, and paid, and waited for them to arrive. After a month, i still hadnt received the cds, so i called them up. To cut a long story short, they said they hadnt received my order, even though my bank statement said different. After weeks of the worst possible customer service (funny how the nice woman has now been replaced by the most ignorant person on earth), they finally gave me my money back.

So, after a few more weeks, i was charged for the fact i hadnt ordered my requisite number of albums. Even though i argued with them that i HAD ordered them, but they were too incompitent to send them, they stood firm, and i ended up, out of pure exhaustion, paying up. By now it was mid 2002, and
i had had quite enough of britannia. The inconvenience of having to open their junk mail, and tick a box and send it back, or else they'll send you a crappy cd you'll never want, was driving me insane. I tried to ignore them as much as possible, and that just about got me by. In Aug. 2002, i had to travel to america, due to a family emergency. Oweing to personal reasons i had to stay for 3 months. When i arrived home, i had quite a few letters from britannia, each containing a useless cd (they ask you what music you listen to, so their 'recommended recordings' are gonna be things you'll like. Well i said rock, and indie, and they had sent me, Kylie Minogue, elton john, christina aguilera, j-lo. now, how youd class these artists as rock an indie, ill never know). also, there were a few letters from 'New England Collections', whom are brit. musics debt collection agency. now, because i hadnt been able to send back the recommended recordings, and prevent them from being sent, i was charged for some of the cds. And because i hadnt paid for them, id been sent to a debt collection agency. I called and called and called, but the same shabby customer service meant that i got no where, and ended up paying.

Well, now i thought Britannia had had their pound of flesh from me, but i was wrong. I had another bill, for the rest of the albums i'd received. this time i was determined not to pay! So i got on the blower, and asked to send the recordings back instead. It took 8 phone calls for them to aggree for me to send them back, using a pre paid label they would send me. 3 empty envelopes from them, and a number of phone calls later i sent them back for a refund, but not in time, it seems, to avoid being sent another letter from New england collections, saying i owe them money. Well, they said they would credit my account, and recall the debt from N.E.C. 3 weeks later, i got another letter from N.E.C, saying if i dont pay up in 14 days, th
ey'll take further action to reciver the money. I called britannia, as i was sure they had recalled the debt. The excuse i got was that, they credited my account for the cds, which cleared the debt, but then charged me for my membership cancellation, and therefore didnt recall the debt. I thought it was unfair that my debt wasnt recalled from N.E.C even though i cleared it, and that this new chrage was totally different. They, as usual, repeated the same sentence 28 times until you finally hang up the phone in a fit of rage. Now, after years of hassle and annoyance, ive got it under control. Ive paid my cancellation fee, and washed my hands of the company forever.

I have no idea how a company as terrible as Britannia music can continue to sponsor britains premier music award ceremony, but ive got one thing to say. STEER WELL CLEAR!

Summary: