What's up with Soundstage Direct?

I stopped doing business there after my third "take forever and call Seth several times" order. In my experience it started during Christmas. Bad timing. I waited a month and finally got the order when I threatened Seth with a bad Google review. He sent my order that day and gave me a $100 gift certificate for doing a nice review. I waited another month for the order using the gift certificate. Then one last time because they claimed to stock a record that I couldn't find anywhere else. I have since updated my Google review and laid it out as it is.

I've spoken to Seth on several occasions and he is always apologetic and promises better service in the future. First he claimed that he tried to expand last year and couldn't find anyone to run the satellite warehouses, so he pulled back. Plus, Amazon is killing him.Then he was having trouble getting the stock back from the satellite warehouses. Then he didn't have any people, but he hired a new crew and they would be trained and everything would go back to normal.

I imagine the story has changed, but I believe as many of you do, he is going under. Too bad, he is a nice guy.

I would be very careful if you order from them. I believe they are buying stock as cash comes in. It most likely is not your stuff. Note, they take the money at the time of the order from PayPal or CC. Then most likely use it to pay the distributor for their most recent record order for customer orders that were ordered weeks ago, not yours. The same with hardware.

Also, everyone is recommending other shops. Try Elusive Disc. They ship immediately, have the same pricing structure with coupons. I'm very satisfied with their service and selection. They stock Speakers Corner, no waiting for German shipment like if you buy them from MD.I also notice that when MD has a 15% or higher coupon, their posted prices are $5 higher. I haven't seen that at Elusive.