Mail Order Dealers

Compiled by Lukas Kendall

Last week we had a column about mail order dealers, kicked off by a letter from Sean Zikman complaining about Montreal mail order dealer Clement Fontaine from Disques Cinemusique. It is only fair to open this column with Clement's reply:

From: Clement Fontaine, Disques Cinemusique <disqcine@cedep.com>

First it is important to point out that Sean Zikman is a Canadian living right here in Montreal, not a foreign customer. Besides his numerous e-mails he phoned me many times, always to get informations on CDs that he finally bought somewhere else - most probably his local music store. In his letter to you he admits naïvely he is not a regular customer of any mail order outlets.

To save on shipping charges Sean came to my place two times to get his CDs (2 CDs each time). I received him in my home and each time, despite the the low volume of purchase, I gave him all the attention he asked for. For my reward I got only additional questions and reservations for unlisted (and unavailable) items in the following two years. I didn't know how to get rid of this pot of glue.

I am just an human being like you, Lukas. who try to make his living in this field while being to useful to other people who share the same passion. Allowing such an importance to that kind of reaction only shows only that you want to favour my competitors and friends based in your own country, who unlike me never dared to question publicly some of your actions and declarations. I am sure they received their share of bad reactions from unhappy customers (?) but you would't allow them the same importance even if they were directed to you. You also run your own biz now.

To survive I must be a good dealer somehow. For one Zikman complaint I have got dozens of letters of congratulations for good services. Are you interested to read them, Lukas? I sincerely wish Sean Zikman will deal consistently with other mail orders outlet all over this world in the future, including yours, poor kid. I even wish them the best luck.

I rely on your honesty to reproduce this letter entirely on your site.

Sure! I did not know this and this makes it all very interesting. I have to say, I'd be a bit weirded out if someone showed up at my home asking for a CD.

I got so many other letters, I'm going to split them up over two columns. Here are more about our man of the day, Clement Fontaine:

From: "Uwe Sperlich" <uwe.sperlich@stud.uni-muenchen.de>

I was very surprised when I read your FSD column and Sean's complaint about Clement Fontaine of Disques Cinémusique. First of all, I'd like to point out that I have never received such a letter from Clement. I have done business with him on various occasions over the last two years and he always was correct and friendly. He has always shipped the CDs I ordered or which we traded very quickly and there was NOT A SINGLE occasion where I was disappointed. I've also asked him many questions without buying the CD afterwards, but he never responded in such a way. His answers were short, but informative and satisfactory.

For this reason I really don't know what might have caused such a reaction from Clement. I'm trying to look at this matter from both sides--as a customer myself and as a web-master--because everybody who operates a web-site is offering some kind of service even if he or she isn't selling anything. As a customer I'm expecting a correct and satisfactory answer (which I don't always get). In general my experiences with the soundtrack mailorder dealers have all been very good with the exception of SuperCollector. I don't want to go into details here because this could get way too long. Anyone who's interested may search the FILMUS-L archives.

As a webmaster of four film music related websites I'm getting quite some e-Mails every day and I'm trying to respond to each as quick as I can. Unfortunately, I'm often very busy, so it can take up to a week until I can respond. But: every response is friendly and informative (I hope).

Now, I'd like to try to assume what Clement's reasons were for responding in such a way. All I'm going to say now is -of course - speculation and I do not want to offend anyone, especially not Sean.

1. One reason could be, that Clement has personal problems which could affect how he reacts to e-mails. I really don't believe this, because IMHO your feelings have nothing to do with business.

2. Another reason might be the syndrome of a "hyperactive soundtrack freak". Maybe you're asking yourself what that is? Well, I'd consider a soundtrack enthusiast as "hyperactive" if he/ she sends you e-mails and resends them again if you haven't responded after 24 hours. He/she asks you a lot of questions presumably without having consulted other online ressources (like Lukas' great site or any other general film music site) first. Others don't ask, but order you to do something for them, e.g. "find this CD for me!", "you have to find out this for me", (often without using the little, but very effective word "please"). You can find many of these individuals on rec.music.movies. I've received e-mails from a few of those individuals and I've tried to cool them down a little.

Customer Service is everything and should always be the first priority. But even customer service has its limits. Sometimes, people do expect too much.

Of course, I don't know the questions Sean asked and I really don't think that he's a "hyperactive" soundtrack fan. I admit, I used to be some kind of a hyperactive film music enthusiast, too, so I may have gotten on other people's nerves in the past. I really hope that this matter clears up in a good way for both parties.

From: "Brian T. Bilby" <bbilby@45acp.com>

I wanted to make a couple of comments about your article Wednesday.

1) I have dealt with Clement at Disques Cinemusique sevral times and have always gotten what I wanted with no problems. He may seem a little blunt, but people who run a business by themselves or with limited time usually do. I think your printing of the letter that you did, and your somewhat snide remarks show more of a personal agenda than a service.

2) If you want to flag a dealer for shady practices, then go after a guy in California that operates a business called Soundtrack. He does all of the Star Trek conventions and such. I talked to him at one and in his soundtrack section he had titles like Under Fire, Man on Fire, Runaway, 7th Voyage of Sinbad and other super-rare titles. When I asked him about them he said that they were licensed copies from a British soundtrack club. When I asked if if they were Gold or Chrome discs he said that they were a Gold/Green color. When I asked to look at one, he refused. When I asked for a business card or catalog. he said he didn't have any, which is bull because a friend of mine got one. He was selling CDR's for $65-$75 a piece and saying that they were licensed original copies. Hell he was even selling easier to get titles like the new Krull for $80 and Quigley Down Under for $40!!

These are the guys who you should be warning people about, not someone in Canada who actually delivers what he promises and who's only fault maybe his curtness.

That guy at "Soundtrack" is the biggest crook... I think his name is Paul Magwood. I always bad mouth him at conventions and tell people not to buy things right when they are about to fork over the money.

From: Chris Kinsinger <76263.2355@compuserve.com>

I was truly surprised to read the negative notices from Sean's letter, as well as Lukas's comments ("Clement's been a grouch") just now.

My personal experience with Clement Fontaine has been exceptionally favorable! I've been purchasing CDs from him for several years now, and he has been absolutely wonderful to me. We have even done a few trade deals, which I have been very pleased with! Clement's personal attention to my purchases places him right up there with Soundtrack Album Retailers, and the very best sources available on the internet!

Seems to me that Clement's letter to Sean was cordial, even in spite of his refusal to continue their dealings, which causes me to have a few questions about Sean's numerous inquiries. . .(BOTTOM LINE: Based on my dealings with Clement, it appears to me that he was politely dismissing a pain-in-the-ass who was wasting his time). In any event, it's clear that Clement was not in any way being rude to Sean.

And further, I'd like to ask you guys if you took the time to question Sean about his dealings with Clement, or did you simply publish his note based upon its face value?

Face value, baby.

From: "Madapaty, Lakshmikanth (Lax)" <lmadapati@lucent.com>

Worst film score dealer: Monsieur Clement Fontaine, who is anything but clement when it comes to selling or trading film score CDs. If you find something you want for a good price in his catalog, just buy it - don't ask questions! Best film score dealer: Music Boulevard. Their prices are fantastic and so is their service.

From: vance_brawley <vance.brawley@ccmail.turner.com>

I too have run into horrible customer service from Clement. However, his Georges Delerue selection was worth it at the time.

I would suggest (and ScoreLogue endorses) Craig Spaulding at Screen Archives Entertainment. Craig is not only very knowledgable of his product, but he is very helpful and quite congenial on the phone. As a friend, I know that Craig is extremely busy with fullfilling orders and dealing with customers, but he remains calm, gratious, and always accompanies a 'Thank You' note with each order. Now that is ideal customer service. SAE also carries a lot of harder to find items.

The guys at Footlight are also helpful, but at times very busy and need to call you back in 10 or 15 mins. But they take the time to search their stock for harder to find items.

From: Tom DeMary <demary@arlut.utexas.edu>

Sean Zikman wrote: "In this situation, I was ready to purchase, but instead of answering my question about the titles (which would havetaken the same amount of time) he decided to forsake my business and to patronize me."

Correction! It would take about twice as long to answer questions and process an order. First you answer the questions, then you wait to see if the customer is still interested, perhaps losing a sale to a steady customer on the item while waiting to hear from the occasional customer who may not even bother to email back. I recommend the telephone for instant gratification and questions.

I have had great service from Disques Cinemusique, Screen Archives Entertainment, Intrada, Footlight, STAR... I don't recall bad service from any soundtrack dealer actually. Once, a package did not arrive in timely fashion from Steve Harris, but finally showed up 3 years (!) late with an apology from the post office. The albums were out of print by that time, so I actually made money on the order.

More soon! Keep on sending your reports. Power to the people.

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com