An independent ONLINE record store based in Michigan, USA, HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE ( www.hottracksmusicstore.com) are selling Limited Edition vinyl items that they have NO IDEA what they truly are - and for 70% mark up!!

Just today, April 3rd, 2016, a customer to their website found this with regard one of the latest in a line of Electric Light Orchestra vinyl LP releases:

Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra on DOUBLE BLUE VINYL. Along with that he also found this: Electric Light Orchestra – Zoom on DOUBLE WHITE VINYL, and lead singers Jeff Lynne's solo album Armchair Theatre DOUBLE BLACK Vinyl for sale.

All these albums are "now available in a limited press!," says the website, and backs that up with "Order Below Now!" It also adds, "International customers use the submit form below and we will send a request for payment through Paypal."

So, as the customer had wanted this Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra on DOUBLE BLUE VINYL for quite some time (years) now, he went to the link provided (see original photo), and up popped HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE's PayPal payment agreement form.

As you can see from the secondary photo here, in a photo submitted to us by said same customer, he was all ready to buy this Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra on DOUBLE BLUE VINYL because that was also what the PayPal highlighted information bar told him he was buying, when it crossed his mind to double check with the seller; just in case; knowing that this was indeed a Limited Edition item.

In a series of emails between himself, the prospective customer, and the person answering the emails for HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE, Mr. James Dubay (hottracksmusic@gmail.com), the very first question asked by the customer about this item in question was:

"Can you please 100% confirm that once I have paid the $45.98 + $3.00 SH ($48.98 in total) that this Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra will arrive as the DOUBLE BLUE VINYL Limited Edition version, thank you." [FYI - Please know all "!!!"s are put in to emphasize the level of incompetence shown by Mr. JAMES DUBAY and HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE therein.]

HOT TRACKS RESPONSE: "That particular item comes from our partner's warehouse so I can't say for sure if it is blue, or black. [!!!] It is advertised to us as blue, but sometimes it is black when it is supposed to be colored. [!!!] The supplier will not check to see if there is a sticker, etc. before sending it to us." [!!!]

Customer: "Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, but as I just went to the PayPal payment page and it clearly said "Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra [2LP] (Blue Vinyl)" as my order, that would mean I would be 100% receiving the BLUE VINYL 2LP set, correct? I mean, they wouldn't dare con me on that PP page and send me a black vinyl copy instead, would they?"

HOT TRACKS RESPONSE: "I have changed the product listing to reflect that we do not know for sure the color. [!!!] THe warehousehouse will NOT check specific products for us (color, stickers, etc) so it could be black or blue. [!!!] The item is not numbered and there is no mention of this anywhere in the product listing. If you purchased it we cannot gurantee that it is colored." [!!!]

Customer: "Just simply call these people, your partners, and ask them. Why can't you call them, James and ask?"

HOT TRACKS RESPONSE: "So there is no confusion, we have removed the item from our webstore since we cannot confirm the color of the vinyl." [!!!]

Customer: "I understand that, but you still haven't answered the question ... why can't you talk directly to your partners to find out if they have the blue vinyl so that you can relist and we can buy it/them?"

HOT TRACKS RESPONSE: "I have already told you that they will not check specific products. [!!!] Also, we have not sold 1 of these even in the past year. We are no longer offering the item so there is no confusion." [!!!]

Customer: "As EVERYTHING still clearly states - from the Hot Tracks sales page to the PayPal payment description page - that this is a BLUE VINYL edition, we will make some purchases forthwith ... and fully expect each of them to be BLUE VINYL (because that is what the sales page says they will be, and that is what the PayPal description clearly states is what the $50+ has been paid for.)"

HOT TRACKS RESPONSE: "If does let you check out through Paypal, we will just cancel it and credit it back to you. [!!!] I don't know why you are insisting on making something more out of this than what it actually is. [!!!] We are not going to offer the item for sale since we cannot confirm. [!!!] End of story." [!!!]

So, there you have it. The complete and utter rudeness shown to a customer by JAMES DUBAY at HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE this morning has not only left this customer in question VERY upset, but has worryingly opened up a door to a fraud situation that you Audiophile's might have succumbed to with their regard!

You see, this item - Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra on DOUBLE BLUE VINYL - has been on sale via the HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE website since its release in 2013/14, so they have sold this factory-sealed item @ $45.98 + $3.00 SH ($48.98 in total) for three years now ... and yet, if you are a true, blue (no pun intended) Audiophile, once it had arrived, you might not have even opened it!

Indeed, you most likely put it straight into a secondary plastic sleeve, labelled it as the item you had paid nearly $50 for re: Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra on DOUBLE BLUE VINYL, and then slotted it away with all your other ELO vinyl records thereafter. For, as JAMES DUBAY has perfectly revealed today, he was selling items that he claimed to be Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra on DOUBLE BLUE VINYL, and yet has openly revealed now, in his own words, that "I can't say for sure if it is blue, or black"!

That is FRAUD and needs to be investigated. Also, anyone and everyone that purchased either Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra on DOUBLE BLUE VINYL or Electric Light Orchestra – Zoom on DOUBLE WHITE VINYL needs to either contact HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE's website directly and inquire more about their purchases, or gently slit it open, find out that they've been conned ie: it's a generic black vinyl set), and have it sent back to HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE immediately for a full refund!

For, and again, in JAMES DUBAY's own words, and spelling, "THe warehousehouse will NOT check specific products for us (color, stickers, etc) so it could be black or blue"!

In closing, and once again, if you have EVER purchased anything from HOT TRACKS MUSIC STORE online ( www.hottracksmusicstore.com) and feel that after reading this alarming article you might have been sold a fraud copy of what your supposedly limited-edition item was listed as being, you need to contact them directly ASAP! They can NOT be allowed to get away with this act of belligerent fraud.