Some months ago, I went to a concert, where I bought the performer’s CD and had him sign it, yadda yadda. I do zat because I like to support people who are playing music and I like to have them signed because, well, why not, right? I have a nice little collection and it makes me happy.
It makes me happier when I can actually listen to the music I buy on the CD, which is not what happened this time. Sadly, the CD had something wrong with it, and unlike buying something from a retail store, there’s no way to return it, right? So what did I do? I emailed via Facebook to say hey, I know you’re probably not the specific person to tell, but I bought your CD, it doesn’t work, I’m out ten bucks, can you send a replacement? I’d gladly return the defective one on my own dime (because you know what, guys without record deals are making their own CDs somehow and probably footing the bill, and they’re playing gigs to spread their music, I get it! That’s why I buy the CDs!)
So I get a reply, oh, so sorry, this is [name redacted]’s “people”, that’s happened before, and we’ll send you another CD right away, and btw, also send you a tshirt for your trouble.
Well, that’s great, right? Very cool. I replied that I don’t need a t-shirt, though I won’t turn it down, here’s my address, thank you so much, I appreciate it!
That was, I kid you not, JULY 27.
Yeah, so I emailed a few times after that, politely, to say, hey, it never arrived.
“Oh, so sorry, we’ll send you another right away.”
August 28th, I followed up.
And on December 3.
You know what? Don’t promise me a new disc and a tshirt and then not send one. Three times. I don’t like being lied to, I don’t like being jerked around. I spent ten bucks for a CD that doesn’t WORK. I didn’t blast them with emails saying they sucked, I just let them know of the problem and was told it would be taken care of. Multiple times. And it hasn’t.
And, this, my doves, is how to NOT MAKE FANS.
It is, in fact, a good way to lose fans. I didn’t go to that show to hear that guy sing, I was there to hear someone else, but I bought that guys’ CD because I was there and liked his sound and thought I’d support him. Now all I have is a CD that doesn’t work and a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing.
Now, it’s not really my practice to call people out on the internet, so I’m not going to say his name, but the people who were with me know who he is, and anyone who cares could probably figure it out, since the only concerts I’ve been to recently were documented on this blog. And it wasn’t someone that I’ve talked about on here, other than very briefly, because as I said, I didn’t go to the show to hear him sing; he was just there.
And I know it’s not *him* — it’s his *people* but he really should get new people because frankly, they suck at their jobs. And he’s the one affected. Because I didn’t buy their CD, I bought his, and I won’t buy another.
I know stuff gets lost, I know I’ve mailed things that take a long time to arrive, but I do my best that if I say something went out, it goes out. If I promise a fan to send something, I try hard to send it — and if they tell me it didn’t get there, I do my best to make sure I find out where it DID go if they didn’t get it. I try hard to make sure I live up to the expectations made of me. If something’s wrong with one of my books, that’s my publisher’s job to replace it (in essence, my “people”) but if I found out a reader had contacted them and been pushed aside over and over, well…I’d be pretty upset, because it’s *MY* name that’s getting smeared.
So that’s that. I don’t expect a replacement CD and at this point, even if it arrives, I don’t really want it.
M
