Napster Customer Support

In the past, I've had Napster service. No, I didn't participate with anything illegal, I joined when they were legal and have used their services without doing ANY copyright infringments. However, I HATE month recurring bills. I would rather pay a lump-sum up front than have recurring billing to any credit card. Napster has been good about allowing me to pay for a year in advance. I often let my year laspe and then re-sign up under whatever promotion might be in play at that moment. I recently tried to do that again, however while Napster is quick to take my money, they are also quick to have crap for service.

On June 1 of this year, I signed up for Napster service. I did not want to have a recurring bill, so I emailed their sales team to ask how I could sign up and pay all at once. They very quickly replied and told me how to do that. I then signed up for 1 year of service with a free music player.

Before the end of the day, my credit card was charged $189.00

I patiently waited for my package to arrive. I checked the online status of my order and it said, "processing." I checked the next week. It said that orders normally take 7-10 days and this one was processing. I checked the next week. It said "processing." After 14 days, I sent an email to their store's customer support team, asking why I hadn't received my order. I reminded them that I was billed with hours, but it had now been 14 days and the order was still "processing." I received a reply immediately:

It is possible to check the status of your order by returning to our store and logging into your account.

Once logged in, click the 'Continue' button to select a list of your orders. By clicking on an order, you can review a detailed list of each item ordered, its status and track your order (if a tracking number is applicable).

Please note that "Open" does not indicate that your order has not processed. Please allow 3-5 business days from your order date for the status of your order to update. "Open" indicates that your order is processing. Please also note that orders containing more than one item may be shipped from different warehouses and, therefore, arrive at different times. Thank you again for shopping with us.

Sincerely,
Shop Napster Customer Assistance Center

***This message has been auto-generated. No additional action will be taken. To avoid receiving another auto-response, please reply to this email and we will route your email to the best customer service consultant to assist you.***

Note the last section -- asking me to reply if I want additional action. Of course, I replied, explaining that it had now been 14 days since my order. Napster's response from "the best customer service consultant:"

That's right, absolutely nothing. So I waited. I checked the status of my order. It said, "processing." A week later, June 20th, I attempted to contact them again. Once again I got the same auto-response email, asking me to reply if I wanted more assistance. Once again I replied (this is now my fourth attempt to contact them). And yet again, the same response from Napster Customer Support: Absolutely nothing.

Later in the day on the 20th, I tried contacting Napster support (instead of the Napster store support). The form automatically sent me to the store. Finally, I tried contacting Napster support (not the store) and explained my entire situation, including my order number and all the details about my order. I knew this would go to "Napster" and not the store, but the store wouldn't respond, so I thought I'd try something. Two days later I got a response (from Mike R):

What was it that you purchased?

Sigh. Well, at least I got a response, 21 days after my credit card had been charged. I yet AGAIN explained what I had purchased, when I had bought it, and the order number. Two days later, I got another response (this time from David G.):

Unfortunately I was unable to locate your order on June 1st. Please contact our free Customer Support line at 1-800-839-4210. Live Customer Support is offered Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Holy crap. Once again, they had NO problem charging me within hours, but now they don't seem to be able to find my order. *I* can still find it -- it's online and shows up as I write this as, yes, you guessed it, "processing." You may want to think twice about using the Napster Store. They're really incompetent. I did call the number once. After spending the first few minutes listening to their message about their FAQs and how to check my account status online, I was on hold for about 15 minutes. I had to go, so couldn't wait any longer.

Today, 40 days after my credit card was charged, I still have nothing. I think that today I shall send 5 emails to Napster, asking for help. Tomorrow I'll send 10. Maybe if I send 50 emails in one day, they'll actually respond to me -- but I'm not holding my breath.

Again, beware of the Napster Store. Their customer service simply does not respond.

Posted by: Ogre at 05:07 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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