Guild Wars 2

Has anyone out there had problems with Direct Song? I’ve had issues with them when buying soundtracks for both Guild Wars games, and I’m hoping someone can maybe help me out or offer some decent advice. If any admins or other Anet employees come across this, I’d appreciate some feedback.

My most recent and upsetting episode with them was when I tried ordering the signed, limited edition Guild Wars 2 soundtrack. I placed an order with them in early October, and it has only just now been resolved at the end of November. I’m certain that is I hadn’t placed my order through PayPal, I’d have gotten my money stolen flat out.

I waited about 3 weeks for my CD’s to arrive, and obviously they didn’t. There was no e-mail form Direct Song, no package confirmation number. Nothing. So I filed a grievance with PayPal. The lit the fire under someone’s a** because I got an immediate response. The message was something to the effect of “We’re having production issues, so you should probably take a refund.” Unacceptable. I’m a Guild Wars enthusiast and collector, from the original collectors edition of the first game, all the novels, art books, soundtracks, T-shirts, Razor Death Adder mouse, wall graphics, in game skins, etc, etc… I’m extremely annoyed that I cannot get this soundtrack.

Anyway, I replied to that message something to the effect of “I really don’t want a refund, I want the CD’s. I can wait as long as needed, as long as I get some kind of time frame. When can I expect my package?” No reply. I sent 3 more messages, asking for a simple status update. Still no reply. I waited til the last possible day to escalate my grievance to a claim in hopes that they were just busy. As soon as PayPal informed them that they would have to refund me, they sent out a package and PayPal sent me the tracking number. Great! Or so I thought…

5 or 6 days later, I got the package in the mail. I was elated. It was labeled “Guild Wars 2: Original Soundtrack.” I tore open the packaging, ready to pop the CD’s into my computer and treat my ears to a musical feast. I was heartbroken when I found the package actually contained The d*** Skyrim IV soundtrack instead. Composed by Jeremy Soule, yes. Probably also great music (I have yet to listen to it I’m so disgusted). But not my Guild Wars music. A clever ploy to throw PayPal off the case. Shady, unscrupulous business practice if you ask me.

Naturally I contacted PayPal again, telling them the item I received was entirely wrong, and asking what the process would be for returning the item and getting the correct item instead. Generously, PayPal refunded my money, and said no return of the item was needed, but I’m pretty much out of luck for getting my Guild Wars Soundtrack. That ruined my month.

Not only wont I be able to get the Soundtrack form my favorite game series of all time, I used my discount coupon (which came in the GW2 Collectors edition box) for the soundtrack, and now it’s void. Even if I were stupid enough to try and repurchase it, I’d have to cough up the full price. I absolutely hate Direct Song, and I’m pretty upset at NCSoft/Anet for choosing to do business with them.

So, my questions are thus: Has anyone lese had similar problems with Direct Song, not just for Guild Wars music, but for any of the music they’re supposed to provide? Has anyone ordered the GW2 Soundtrack and actually received it? Does anyone know of another (legal) way to get the soundtrack from a RELIABLE vendor? For the admins, is there any chance anet will distribute the music themselves? Is there any way I could get another coupon or similar discount for purchasing the soundtrack elsewhere?

Please Help.

~Disgruntled Fan

Directsong are thieves
I bought GW1 sound track with bonus for the game and could never download them even after many email with them. They finally sorted it out around when EotN came out. I didn’t even bother downloading it because i already had it from somewhere else.

I ordered Skyrim soundtrack for my friend for last Christmas as soon as it released. They charged me right away but I still never recieved it. I emailed them a few time and, like you, never got reply.
In my last mail I told them I give up. That they should keep my money preciously because I would get the music I want where i’m sure they wont get paid.
They finally replied that they were very sorry and it must have been an error and they are sending the soundtrack. That was last time I heard of them. This was last time they see my money too.

Wow, that’s just brutal. Sorry to hear about your CD troubles. I was actually thinking of ordering the 4-cd soundtrack sometime next month (I’m very lazy and forgetful) but after reading that, maaaaybe I’ll change my mind. This is probably the only time where being lazy and forgetful is a good thing.

I wish Anet sold the soundtracks through Amazon, they’re reliable and I never had any problems with them, plus they’re already selling the GW2 game anyway, why not the soundtrack. I don’t own any apple products or have itunes so downloading it from apple is honestly never going to happen.

Blackhalo.1324:

So, my questions are thus: Has anyone lese had similar problems with Direct Song, not just for Guild Wars music, but for any of the music they’re supposed to provide?

Yes.

Never, ever, buy stuff from DirectSong. Ever.

The issues you had are not the exception; they are the rule. I strongly regret buying products (which now no longer work, for the records) from DirectSong, and I will never do so again.

oh man… I brought the sound track at the full price because I loved the CD that came with the collectors edition (lost my code :/).

now Im wondering if I will ever get it, I haven’t even emailed direct song yet… and I think I paid for it as a guest with a credit card.

DirectSong is Jeremy Soule, which is why they are and forever will be the only ones selling it.

They are a small company and GW2 was a big hit on them. They were immediately overwhelmed by orders in addition to having having manufacturing issues from the very start.

It takes about 10 weeks for your order to be sent.

Also, when they send the wrong thing, you don’t contact PayPal… you contact the sender, DirectSong. Since you forced a chargeback though, your original order is forfeit.

he has his own business to sell his own music, he does it terribly, apparently ignores basic customer service rules and you make excuses for him? bravo. no one else that posted seemed to mention any knowledge of a “10 week waiting” period, and when asked “how long?” customer was ignored. remember when one guy did contact them and they ignored him? how do you think they will respond to “you sent me the wrong thing?” probably the same way they did before, ignoring it.

he did the right thing and got his money back from paypal. customers don’t want excuses, they want what they pay for and if you can’t deliver that, then you shouldn’t be in business.

I ordered the 4 CD set from them. When I did, I saw the notice that it would take 6-8 weeks. I didn’t see HOW it could take that long, but…okay.

It took that long. Actually, it may have taken a bit longer, though I was at least receiving notice that the CDs were on their way by then.

BUT… I got the CDs, as ordered. Slow as hell, but they did arrive.

Also: I used a prepaid gift/debt card to buy mine, and it STILL processed through Pay Pal. That may or may not be of interest to someone.

Yep its 4-8 weeks before its shipped usually.

You did a chargeback on week 3? Der.

Why don’t we have an option to skip the CDs and buy digital from iTunes, Amazon, etc.?

I’ve got to agree I’ve ordered twice for the soundtrack now and no product , I don’t know who has the authority to organise selling this amazing soundtrack but iTunes should be a definite option , to whoever is in charge of the media sales outlets make this a very serious point because a lot of people are complaining and all that is happening is Guild Wars 2 reputation is being dragged into the mud by the questionable repute of the only media sales outlet for this amazing soundtrack , I refuse to complain to Direct Song as they simply won’t listen to people who have legitimate complaints treating them like idiots instead of valued customers with some " simple simons whitewash excuse strategy " of sorts making out the customers are at fault or whatever , etc etc etc , and I just refuse to be treated like an idiot anymore because I certainly feel like one now , is this the response that Arena Net wants , no I don’t think so , so I won’t have anything more to do with these people , do something about it now make it a very serious point at your next bussiness meeting before there are even more complaints , Go through iTunes as a legitimate option for digital downloads and Amazon.com as a CD option apart from the scalpers prices for the CD at Amazom.com. at the present moment. Thankyou Arena Net for listening.

Yeah direct song is bad. Unfortunately the decision to sell it there is not up Arenanet. It’s Jeremy Soules decision. He’s in over his head with this one and should release to amazon or iTunes. Direct song is a good way for him to make money but its really too small for this game.

Their productions pretty bad, one of my friends got the disc 2 of GW2 soundtrack as GW Nightfall…

I personally waited 4 months since day of order to receive my CDs, and I had to contact support many times. Sometimes their support can take up to 3 weeks to respond to your ticket.

Oh and, their product quality is terrible, the box had scratches and was bent, no plastic protection, looked like something used.

I’ve only used DirectSong once for my signed copy of Skyrim music. The only problem I had with them was their massive delay in sending it and not keeping me at all updated. The Skyrim packaging itself was literally paper glued to plastic holders with paper spines an inch long, meaning if I keep opening it, it will eventually tear.

I probably won’t ever be using them again after hearing about this on top of my own experiences. When I bought it, I was thinking I’d have it forever, Based on the packaging, I’d be lucky to have it by 2014.

Yeah, definitely a shady deal. I ordered the original soundtrack from them some years ago and was never able to download it and never able got any answer from support. I didn’t request a refund because I had found other means by which download it.

I was hesitant about ordering this soundtrack from them, but figured wth, I could use Paypal to get a refund easily. At the time delivery was set to 6-8 weeks but I figured that was because it was meant to coincide with game launch. Intentional or by coincidence my soundtrack shipped out on August 28th. And surprisingly, I could even retroactively apply the code from the CE.

Everything was fine and dandy until I seen the packaging. The “case” is flimsy poster-board stock paper and the clear plastic seats glued to it, for the CDs to sit in, seem to be made of the same thin and cheap plastic that 8oz bottles for spring water are made of. I ripped the songs and then put the original in storage because Im sure it would just fall apart after being opened and closed a handful of times.

On a sour sweet note, Jeremy Soule isn’t doing the music for GW anymore, so no more direct song in the future.

Interesting to read everyone’s experiences with DirectSong. My experience with them has been a mixed bag, although mostly quite acceptable.

I’ve bought music from DirectSong several times, starting with the Collector’s edition soundtrack from Factions. Since then I’ve also ordered other Jeremy Soule soundtracks. Everything I’ve previously ordered, though, has been downloaded, so there were no problems with delivery.

When GW2 came out, I bought the Collector’s Edition, complete with the little special price code. I immediately ordered the GW2 4-CD set, as well as the Skyrim 4-CD set (as long as I was there).

I received the Skyrim CDs very quickly. I was disappointed not to get the GW2 CDs at the same time, but figured they would be along when they were ready.

Just this past week, I finally thought, “This is nuts. I should have those CDs by now!” I contacted customer support at DirectSong via email and explained my situation. They responded within 24 hrs, saying that it looked like my order had been lost in the mail. They have promised to expedite the CDs to me.

Haven’t seen them yet, but it’s only been a couple days. Still, thought I’d add my experience to the collective; I’ll check back to report when the CDs arrive (or if they don’t!).

With Guild Wars 1, I had to make my own version of the files for them to work in my new computer, since they didn’t bother making a proper version without DRM after they scrapped it.

Fortunately, the dll works with mp3 files, so I just had to take the mp3 versions.

There’s also no way to obtain anymore some of the tracks, so I had to convert them to mp3 myself in my old laptop that had the DRM licenses you cannot obtain anymore.
That old laptop was REALLY broken. I was lucky I had an old CRT monitor and managed to run it a last time to play the files and capture the music.

Once I had all files in mp3 format, I made a perfect folder that will work on any installation of GW1, all you had to do is copy it and run the ‘registerdirectsongfolder’ application.
Now I can install the music for any of my computers, as I kept it in cloud storage just to be sure.

It shouldn’t have been me the on having to do that, but themselves.

I can understand Soule wanting to keep control over his works, but DirectSong is only giving trouble to the customers.

Their website keeps changing, but keeping outdated parts of it, errors keep happening, files disappear, DRMs stop working…
All headaches.

I,ve got some of the soundtracks by Inon Zur for Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 and " LORD of THE RINGS " War in the North all via iTunes . Whats the big deal with not making the Guild Wars 2 soundtrack available through iTunes I mean really ! in 2013 AD the digital age.
You want to keep up with the competition don’t you , don’t you !

Healix.5819:

DirectSong is Jeremy Soule, which is why they are and forever will be the only ones selling it.

A man who really doesn’t deserve any money after he compared his music being posted on Youtube to the Holocaust.

Mr Crazy Moose.5760:

Healix.5819:

DirectSong is Jeremy Soule, which is why they are and forever will be the only ones selling it.

A man who really doesn’t deserve any money after he compared his music being posted on Youtube to the Holocaust.

Just post it on youtube yourself and you will get money. It’s not such a big problem.

I also ordered the Skyrim soundtrack plus Guildwars 2 soundtrack last november ( 2012 ). I received my first Skyrim disks in Jan, then after a few more weeks contacted Direct song support about the Guildwars 2 disks.

They said they had ran out and were waiting for another shipment. Two more weeks past and a email said they had shipped my Skyrim sound track, sure enough another copy of Skyrim appeared but still no Guildwars 2 soundtrack.

I contacted them again and they gave me the same answer so I am sitting here expecting another Skyrim soundtrack to appear in the mail.

I ordered my Guild Wars 2 soundtrack in February this year and it has been almost 2 months since then. The say that they have delays in manufacturing. Yeah, my a** they do. Thinking of mailing them again soon and probably ask for a refund WITH INTEREST. -.-

I ordered and payed my soundtrack in November LAST year and still haven’t seen a thing I can’t get the money anymore from paypal and they don’t react on e-mails anymore. Anybody and idea where I can get the soundtrack from otherwise? This really is a huge disappointment.

I ordered the Guild Wars 2 soundtrack from Directsong and I’m still waiting for it. They said that they had some trouble getting the disks, but would send it ‘next week’. This was in February. I ordered the thing last year, and I’m still waiting for it. I want a phone number so I can talk to them directly, kitten it.

Darkobra.6439:

I’ve only used DirectSong once for my signed copy of Skyrim music. The only problem I had with them was their massive delay in sending it and not keeping me at all updated. The Skyrim packaging itself was literally paper glued to plastic holders with paper spines an inch long, meaning if I keep opening it, it will eventually tear.

I probably won’t ever be using them again after hearing about this on top of my own experiences. When I bought it, I was thinking I’d have it forever, Based on the packaging, I’d be lucky to have it by 2014.

Yeah mine took like 4 months to get to me. I’m glad I got it as a huge fan, but it was not worth the worrying. T_T Not to mention the 4 weeks it took to get confirmation I even paid despite emailing their support.

Not to mention my friend ordered the GW2 soundtrack for my birthday 6 months ago and still hasn’t recieved it.

And yes, they have such shoddy contact information. There is no formal way to contact them. Their forums is worthless as they never post responses and their email service is just as bad. And no phone number anywhere on their site.

Ordered it back in November last year :l from all the emails I sent them they only replied twice. First was saying how they had ran out. Second, they finally noticed my order was outstanding so sent me a digital download of it. At least they did that.
I think I might just give up expecting to receive a physical copy…

Hey guys, is there someone who knows where they actually manufacture this stuff?

I ordered and paid with paypal directly my CD like way back when it was announced right after the presale april 14th for gw2 itself.
They said they would start shipping it with release (august 28th).

In November i sent my first ticket and i got following answers:
1. My adress had invalid signs, it is some glitch in their shop.. yeah right
—-> i gave them my US-adress as well as my swiss adress
———> no reply for a long time, the ticket was suddendly closed in jan13 with the title changed to “shipped”

A month later i opened my 2. ticket since i still didn’t have it
2. oh they ran out, they’re sure to put me on the first to ship list…
3. oh the mail got lost, we will resend you
4. out of stock sorry, here have a code for a free download (i already downloaded the discography of him a long time ago somewhere else tho)
——> still no reply, no cd no nothing

It’s alsmost been a year for me since i ordered it.

So what should i do? Go there my self?
I got a lot of patience but im also stubborn. Ima collector. I just want it. I already paid for it. How is it actually possible the state/country allows him to have such a scampany?

Anyone can start a business in the US. They go out of business if they can’t satisfy customers.

Try complaining to the Better Business Bureau (https://www.bbb.org/us/), that can light a fire under people and make them do what they promised. If you used a credit card, you may also be able to request a chargeback, although frequently there are time limits and you may be passed them.

Other options include suing in small claims court (not sure how that would work across international borders). Or just suing in general, but paying for a lawyer can be kind of expensive.

DirectSong is a total, irreversible and god-awful failure as a company that sells music. It’s been unfortunate fact for years.

I’ve only ever ordered from Directsong once – for the Jeremy Soule signed GW2 soundtrack. Paid for it right away, and it took them a couple months for them to process my order but every e-mail I sent was received and replied to. I got my soundtrack signed with no complaints. Sorry you’re having issues!

I Ordered the Skyrim CDs and got them within the promised 4-6 week window, despite seeing many complaints about delays. So I risked my $30 in April, which is over six months ago, and since then I have had neither the CDs arrive, nor a peep from the support tickets or the email address supplied by an ArenaNet rep on another thread. Absolutely terrible service. I notice over here they have 0.17 out of a possible 10 – http://www.resellerratings.com/store/survey/complete/direct_song_12

I ordered the GW 2 Soundtrack from Direct Song back in January 2013, but still haven’t received it.

Their support is dead and they don’t reply any more. The last thing they told me was:

“My greatest apologies for the delay in response as we have been shipping these past weeks our hope is that you have received your soundtrack.
Your ticket has been assigned to an agent whom will be contacting you. If You are receiving this message it is because you are either on our ASAP list or have been on our ASAP list. An agent will confirm your order status with you while our system processes return to sender’s."

That was back in April 2013…

Direct Song doesn’t even sell the GW2 soundtrack any more and neither is it available in the GW2 store!

My order status on Direct Song doesn’t even say it’s shipped or anything. It simply says “Card Accepted”… And yes, they did charge the money.

They’ve never been ideal, with their stinky DRM, but this thread makes me feel pretty lucky to have received my soundtrack at all. It took a while, but I ordered pretty much the day it came out and it did eventually arrive, and signed by JS to boot (I assume, tbh I have no real way of verifying!). The worst sting in the tail for me was the import duty that got slapped on it.

Anet may have little control over how the soundtrack gets sold, but it would great if they could chase this up with DirectSong. You’d think they’d have some power in the relationship, and since they advocated the sales on DS they have something of a responsibility to customers to manage widescale problems.

DirectSong is Jeremy Soule and he now exclusively works with SOE for EQ. ArenaNet can’t really do anything about someone else’s business. He also made comments about not being invited to something back at launch, so he probably doesn’t even like ArenaNet, but that doesn’t explain his failure of a store, since everything else he sells comes with the same service.

If you still have an order with them, you should request a refund, which they will probably ignore or even tell you your order is not refundable due to being too old. Unfortunately, since your card was charged so long ago, you will not be able to force a chargeback. Your money was stolen.

Healix.5819:

DirectSong is Jeremy Soule and he now exclusively works with SOE for EQ. ArenaNet can’t really do anything about someone else’s business. He also made comments about not being invited to something back at launch, so he probably doesn’t even like ArenaNet, but that doesn’t explain his failure of a store, since everything else he sells comes with the same service.

That man seems to have a reputation of shooting his mouth off without thinking, doesn’t he? :\

I have contacted him directly on Twitter and plan to do so continuously until he replies.

He seems active on Twitter and Facebook, so there’s a change he might reply. Who knows? He is a genius composer, but he might also be a huge kitten and just ignore me (and countless of over costumers who did not receive their soundtrack either).

I encourage everyone to tweet him, asking him for a respond on all these issues with Direct Song.

Here’s my tweet if anyone would be interested:
https://twitter.com/Nicolai_Larsen/status/462897724204281856

NizeGuy.9360:

I have contacted him directly on Twitter and plan to do so continuously until he replies.

He seems active on Twitter and Facebook, so there’s a change he might reply. Who knows? He is a genius composer, but he might also be a huge kitten and just ignore me (and countless of over costumers who did not receive their soundtrack either).

I encourage everyone to tweet him, asking him for a respond on all these issues with Direct Song.

Here’s my tweet if anyone would be interested:
https://twitter.com/Nicolai_Larsen/status/462897724204281856

The last time I asked him what happened, his response was “Far as I know, this has already been shipped.” and then proceeded to ignore further tweets explaining that I never even got the usual dispatch notice (that I remember getting with Skyrim). He either doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing, or he just doesn’t care.

I’m not sure pressuring him on a social network where he can just retreat to Private Mode will be much help either.

I ordered (and paid for) the GW2 soundtrack about ten months ago, and despite opening a support ticket with DirectSong and repeatedly mailing them through it, I have had no responses from them, no refund and no soundtrack. DirectSong basically stole my money. In the end I have been emailing them actually pleading to just be allowed to download the digital version but still no response. Facebook messages – no response. Twitter – no response. My ticket still just says ‘Payment accepted’ and all later activity on it is just me leaving more messages, nothing from DS customer ‘support’.

It was a lot dearer for me too, the price was 39 GBP, not sure what that is in dollars but probably nearly double the US dollar price. I’ve tried to buy a copy elsewhere but the one – the ONLY one – I saw on ebay just sold for 180GBP, just a tad beyond my humble means lol

I still love the soundtrack, and I still want it, so if anyone knows anywhere I can dl it from please let me know – I have PAID for it already

A small update.

Mr. Soule answered me on Twitter quite fast actually. Short message, but fast.
https://twitter.com/mistersoule/status/463011640691015680

info@maxsteineragency.com

I’m guessing he wants me to send my dispute to that email. We’ll see how that goes.

Hmm…that’s Jeremy Soule’s agent. Not sure the agency will help you, but best of luck, anyway.

Great news. I finally got the soundtrack after contacting Jeremy Soule’s agency!

However, it seems that CD 1 is wrong and contains the Guild Wars: Factions soundtrack.. geez

Arena’s support is really good, actually one of the best i’ve ever seen, but direct song should be avoided at all cost.
I’ve bought GW1 soundtrack from direct song, but I learned something very important : Never trust any company that use DRM.