Axel Music

[GSyren]

Axel has pretty much dropped shipping costs until Wednesday. Still too pricey in most cases, but if you want to buy something there at all, now is probably the time to do it.

It's true that Axel is not the cheapest place to buy. Still they're pretty much the only place I buy Region 1 DVDs. Why?
- They're VAT safe. I just hate the hassle when stuff gets held by customs. It may not happen as often as it did, but it still happens.
- They listen to customer suggestions. Many of the features on their web site are direct responses to my suggestions.
- They have outstanding customer service.

I don't know how many of their customers get VIP treatment, but when I log in on their site I have a link that says "You personal Axel contact is Rasmus". And that gives me a direct mail link to Rasmus Christiansen, their CEO. Top that, Amazon... 

[Kinoniki]

I like their new rewards program where you receive points for every purchase. Even for reporting that your orders have arrived!

And I've already bought two blu-rays for my reward points. 

[Najemikon]

Sounds good! How many points do you need to make a decent purchase?

[GSyren]

And I have already purchased enough to acquire seven Rewards titles. All blu. I'm buying too much... 

[GSyren]

Sounds good! How many points do you need to make a decent purchase?

That really depends on what you consider a decent purchase.
You can decide for yourself. Every title on their website shows how many points you earn when you buy, and there is a list of available reward titles with prices ranging from 4000 points up to 99900 points.

[Kinoniki]

I've bought:
The Cell - 6,500 points
Doctor Zhivago - 25,900 points

[Achim]

I have never used them before, but will try them shortly. I am currently setting up my account with them and next time I want to order online I will use them.

EDIT:
darn, it seems they don't ship to Asia

[Achim]

After my previous message I remembered that asking is free and certainly does no harm.

Coincidentally I got reply from Rasmus, as mentioned in Gunnar's opening post (Rasmus clearly knows Gunnar, and in a good way ), and he confirmed that they normally don't ship to Asia. However, he offered that I should place an order, using my shipping address and only use USA for country instead, then e-mail him immediately after so he could manually adjust it in their system. Then, if I confirmed later that my shipment(s) have arrived, he would be able to add taiwan as regular shipping destination in their system. Now that is customer oriented service!

I just received the first two of the four discs I ordered and now probably can look forward to make more business with them in the future.

[GSyren]

Glad to hear that, Achim.

They're not the cheapest, but they do know how to take care of their customers!

If there's anything you want that you can't find - just ask. If they can get it, they'll add it to their database. And they can get pretty much everything except DVDs that are only sold directly from the producer (very rare) and - of course - store exclusives.

[Najemikon]

That really is very good, Achim! How many more I wonder never thought to ask and there he is ready to tweak his procedures. 

[Achim]

After some sweating on my part (first deliveries took two weeks, thrid one needed four ) I finally received the complete order I had placed.

Rasmus confirmed to me, that they will keep servicing me in Taiwan, although won't add Taiwan to the list of serviced country (I feel special now ).

As discussed earlier in this thread, they are slightly more expensive on most items, but their service sure makes up for it! No automated e-mail system that you have to fight repeatedly until eventually a human answers, instead you get a personal response within no more than two days! So, while I will have to compare prices for the most part, I will definitely keep using them.

[Jimmy]

If I do a comparaison with amazon canada their price are higher for the pre-order, by exemple

Crazy Mama & Lady in Red (amazon canada is 14.49 and the Axel price is 17.84)

But they seem to discount their price often and they have the title usually faster than amazon canada.

[Najemikon]

I had a weird problem with them a week or so ago and discussed it on Facebook! Then they emailed me and gave me free shipping off the next order, even though they hadn't done anything wrong.

When you order in pounds, your prices are converted during checkout to Canadian dollars and inclusive of shipping. Accounting for the difference in currency, I saw two titles increase more than one and indeed, when I reloaded the site and was back to pounds, that one title was still cheap, the others had gone up.

I thought the price had changed while it was in the basket, a cheeky trick you used to have to watch HMV online for, but instead, they were just accounting for shipping. I still don't know why the first title didn't do that. But like I say, the service was attentive and thorough.

They can be more expensive, but these titles were offers being posted on Facebook. Blu-Rays for under a fiver...

[Achim]

I agree with both of you, one must be very careful about the prices. before I placed my order yesterday I compared prices on a one-by-one basis between Axel and Amazon. At first I didn't notice that my listings at Axel included shipping, so I had to get them a second time Anyway, on about half the items they were competetive, between slightly cheaper and up to 10% more. However, on the other half they were ranging from 50-100% more! So, I split my order, giving business to the small company with outstanding service but still protecting my wallet along the way.

It cannot be said often enough: They service is excellent/outstanding! The order transparency is so ridiculously detailed, it borderes on spam in my Inbox


Jon, did you investigate that more?, Is it maybe "cheaper" to order in one currency than the other? So far I had used US$...

[Najemikon]

No, it seems to be a consistent amount, though they prefer you to use Canadian dollars for some reason. They give you more of those points...