I pre-ordered an item, why has it not shipped yet? Why does my local record store already have this title?

While it might be disappointing to hear, ordering a record or another item as a pre-order does not mean that you will be one of the first people to have it. Pre-orders should be considered as a guarantee you will receive an item (especially in case of limited editions), a chance to purchase a special package / bundle or additional items not available for regular retail or simply showing support to the label or artist.

Depending on where you live and how long it might take for parcels to arrive, you might receive your order days or even weeks after the release date – it is not always in our control.
Another thing is that we often receive the stock from the label or distributor on the same day they are starting to ship their wholesale/distributor orders. So on rare occasions we might receive stock on the same day that your local brick and mortar store received it. This is also not always in our control.

Please note that all the shipping dates given on the product page while you place your order are always only estimates. Although our priority is always to ensure quickest possible shipping and delivery to our customers, production delays may happen (especially on vinyl orders) and the physical items might be shipped even a few weeks or even months in the worst cases after the planned date – by placing the order you accept this risk.

If the order you’ve made includes a few items, this order will be shipped in one parcel after the last pre-order item is available. If in the meantime you decide to split your order, please inform us about it via e-mail and we will issue an invoice for the second shipping charge and send you a partial order after the additional charges are covered.

 

I ordered vinyl as a pre-order and was promised download code, but did not receive it. Where is it?

In some, but not all cases, a product description might list information that the vinyl order comes with digital download code. Codes will be sent via e-mail with 1 download for a customer limit, but please note that those are not sent right away – in most cases you will be receiving a download code on the release date of an album, not earlier.

If the release date has already passed and you don’t have a download code in your inbox it might be a glitch in our system – please contact us via e-mail and we will do our best to help.

 

Tracking number - is it important? Should I track my parcel?

We strongly encourage you to check the tracking of your parcel often to ensure a smooth and unproblematic delivery. Please note that when there is a delivery attempt and the recipient is unavailable at the time of delivery, the mailman will take the parcel back to your local post office where it will wait a few days for a personal collection. Depending on your local post office, you might receive a written notification about the delivery attempt in your mailbox or at your door, e-mail or sms notification or (rarely) nothing at all. Unsuccessful delivery as well as parcels being left in the post office should be updated on the parcel tracking webpage, so checking the status of your delivery is highly recommended.

While the tracking link you receive in e-mail from us is often from the Polish Post, sometimes when the parcel leaves the country, the tracking becomes unreliable. We recommend copying the tracking number (usually in RR123456789PL format) to a “track my parcel” website of your local postal service like Royal Mail, Deutsche Post, PostNord etc.

If the parcel is returned to us and the tracking from Polish Post or your local post websites clearly states that there was a missed delivery with the parcel waiting for local collection at the post office, but was not collected – you will be asked to cover the shipping costs for the second shipment.

 

Help, my parcel is stuck! Tracking says “Sent from Poland” but nothing else happened for days!

With international shipping very often parcels are stuck in limbo after they are leaving the sender’s country, in our case Poland. You might notice that the last update on the tracking link you received is “Sent from Poland / WER Warszawa” and nothing comes after that.

Sometimes, after the parcel leaves our country and is not yet processed by your local postal service or in case of exporting outside of the EU it might be stuck at the border or in the customs office. In rare cases parcels with “Sent from Poland” status might take even a week or two to be updated, so please be patient. In the case of parcels being shipped to the post-Brexit United Kingdom it might take even longer, although those are rare occasions.

If last status update was “Sent from Poland / WER Warszawa” and few days passed already, we recommend copying the tracking number (usually in RR123456789PL format) to a “track my parcel” website of your local postal service like Royal Mail, Deutsche Post, PostNord etc. or contacting your local post office (the one nearest to your address) and checking the status with them – usually they are able to help!

In rare cases, your local post office might claim that they have no updates and that you need to contact the sender – please note that when the parcel leaves Poland, we cannot help, as the parcel is no longer in the hands of the Polish post and postal service of recipients country should take responsibility for the parcel then.

 

Help, I am waiting much longer than usual and I am afraid that my parcel might be lost!

While we fully understand that there is nothing worse than waiting for the mailman to arrive with your parcel and that sometimes the wait might be frustrating or unsettling, please remember that parcels sent from abroad might take longer than expected to arrive. While most of parcels shipped in the EU are reaching the recipient in up to 14 days and majority of the parcels shipped outside the EU need approx 30 days to arrive, this timeframe might be longer than that during a high peak in the e-commerce market (i.e. the Holiday Season) or if the export is made outside of European Union and parcels might be stuck in customs longer than usual.

We know it is a lot to ask, but we kindly request your patience in those cases. Sometimes customers want to file a claim or ask for a refund because their parcel is lost after a week or two of waiting. While we can file a claim about a missing parcel with our post office, 99% of the claims are rejected because the timeframe that passed is not yet great enough to be treated as lost.

If the parcel does not arrive within 30 days (EU orders) or 60 days (ROW orders) since you received a shipping confirmation with tracking number, please let us know via email and we will do our best to help and assist, and most importantly to file a claim with Polish Post.
Please note that Polish Post has 90 days to solve the filled claim, counted from the day after the claim is filed.

 

I want to return an item or items I’ve ordered from your webstore.

We are sorry to hear that, but of course it is possible. According to EU law, you can return your purchase within 14 days from the day you received the parcel and you do not need to justify it with any reasoning – it is simply your right to do so.

If there are no signs of usage and/or the original packaging has not been opened, within mentioned 14 days you can fill this online form and proceed with instructions you will receive in email confirmation. Please note that if the CD or vinyl was originally packed in shrink wrapping/cellophane and the shrinkwrap was removed, this item is no longer treated as unused and we can refuse to accept the return.

Within 14 days from when the form was filed you should send the goods back to us with the trackable parcel and a refund for your purchase will be made by our accounts within 14 days after we receive the returned items. Please note that it is your responsibility to pack the goods safely, so it can arrive to us in undamaged condition. If the goods we receive are damaged or defected, we might be forced to refuse to issue a full refund.

If you want to return the goods based on your right to withdraw from the sales agreement you have to cover the shipping costs.

 

The merch item I ordered does not fit me well and I would like to exchange it for a different size.

This happened to all of us at least once, right? While we of course will be more than happy to help and assist with such a situation, for warehousing and accounting reasons we are not doing exchanges, but instead we need to ask you to fill a return form and send goods to us.

As long as there are no signs of usage and the 14 days since you received the parcel have not passed yet – you can return the goods to us, receive the refund and order the merchandise once again. In order to do so please fill this online form and proceed with instructions you will receive in e-mail confirmation. Afterwards, please place a separate order for an item in the desired size.

You will receive a money refund in 14 days after we receive and process the parcel with returned items.

Most apparel items in our web stores have a table with dimensions in product description – we advise to carefully inspect those before placing a new order.

 

The product I’ve received has defects and I want to return or exchange it.

While our team always does their best to ensure you receive a highest quality product, sometimes there are hidden defects that we are not aware of – for example on CDs or vinyl records that are shrink wrapped or otherwise packed.

Please notify us about the defect via support@ruderecords.com and add photographic evidence of the defect. One of our employees will investigate the received claim and contact you regarding the next steps – if claim is Accepted you will receive email notification with further instructions. If the claim is in regard to audio quality of vinyl record, we might ask you for additional video depicting the defect.

You will be asked to send the defective item back to us via the cheapest possible trackable parcel – keep the receipt and inform us about the costs of shipping so we can reimburse you the shipping costs. When we receive the parcel with your return and confirm the claim, we will ship you a new item within 14 days after the parcel is processed.

 

The parcel I received is clearly damaged and the products inside are damaged as well and/or missing.

Fortunately such scenarios are rare, but are still sometimes happening. The first thing that should always be done in such a situation is asking the carrier/mailman or a person working in your local post office where you went to personally collect the parcel about their damage protocol and be sure to file it right away.

While there is no universal template for such a form and internal procedures vary depending from country and company, the carrier of the parcel is required to share and should, in most cases, fill out the damage protocol with you on the spot. Occasionally delivery workers might be looking for excuses to not assist you, or may inform you that you can file such a protocol via the website, but please urge them to do it with you the very moment they are there handing you the parcel – it certainly helps a lot later on!

Please do not throw away the outer packaging  describing the damages and including photos of mentioned damage protocol, damages to the outer packaging and damages to the items in the parcel. When we receive all information from you along with the photo evidence, we will right away file a claim with a transport company and inform you about the next steps via e-mail. You can always count on our help and assistance in order to ensure a delivery of the products you ordered in a pristine condition.

Please note that we do not issue refunds or send replacements for “minor cosmetic” vinyl damages like corners dings, seam splits, small cover bends or visual defects on vinyl (specially in colored editions) if those do not affect audio quality.

 

I want to cancel my order.

As long as the order is not processed/shipped yet, of course it is possible. Please contact support@ruderecords.com and our employee will take care of canceling your order in our system and issuing you a refund for your purchase.

Please note that while we are doing our best to respond to your messages as soon as possible, our team works from 9:00 to 17:00 CET on weekdays and we are reserving a right to respond and process canceled orders within 24 hours. In rare cases, the parcel might be shipped before someone from our team is able to process your request (especially if the order does not include any pre-orders or on-demand items).

 

I would like to personally collect my order from your fulfillment center.

We are very sorry, but this is not possible – our warehouses are not open for customers or visitors.

 

I would like to combine a few of my orders into one parcel or add items to an open order.

We are very sorry, but it is not possible to change the open orders, add items to open orders or combine a few orders into one parcel. You can request an order or orders to be canceled and place a new order when we cancel the open ones and issue you a refund.