Vinyl Me Please (store, exclusives, swaps, etc)

[MikeH]

Ahhh when I saw on site - "No code reqd" - Assumed didnt need one at all. TBH never got that far as I couldnt find a single record I wanted !

I'd have to believe that there's a much more efficient way to do it, but I also get them not wanting to allow stackable coupons. I feel like on other sites credit generates a gift card code and you can stack a gift card with a coupon code. At least that's how bandbox did it.......but I guess we see how that all ended lol.

I grabbed the Shabaka and Super Son. Ended up using my Impulse40 code instead because I'm not convinced that the stuff I was saving it for would actually release before the coupon code expired (or be released at all).

 

[Rowan]

Finally started working through the Gospel Truth box I picked up in swaps. It’s basically great and the fact that it ended up in swaps shows everything good and bad about VMP in equal measure

 

[MikeH]

Finally started working through the Gospel Truth box I picked up in swaps. It’s basically great and the fact that it ended up in swaps shows everything good and bad about VMP in equal measure

It seems like it was a bit of a tricky thing to market. "Audiophile" Gospel music on vinyl doesn't seem to be such a huge market. But it's another case where the "we want lost sounds found" crowd doesn't seem to show up sometimes when those types of releases happen. I didn't grab it because I'm not sure how often I'd spin it but the music on it is pretty fun.

 

[Rowan]

It seems like it was a bit of a tricky thing to market. "Audiophile" Gospel music on vinyl doesn't seem to be such a huge market. But it's another case where the "we want lost sounds found" crowd doesn't seem to show up sometimes when those types of releases happen. I didn't grab it because I'm not sure how often I'd spin it but the music on it is pretty fun.

They could have easily dropped the albums in low numbers as store drops or even put one or two in classics and I’m sure there’d have been some interest but the idea that 1000 people would drop that sort of wedge on something this niche is way out there.

But for the £40 i sunk on it I’m happy to have it. It’ll get a reasonable amount of play now I know what’s actually on it.

 

[ntaos]

They could have easily dropped the albums in low numbers as store drops or even put one or two in classics and I’m sure there’d have been some interest but the idea that 1000 people would drop that sort of wedge on something this niche is way out there.

But for the £40 i sunk on it I’m happy to have it. It’ll get a reasonable amount of play now I know what’s actually on it.

It’s become weirdly one of my most spun VMP items this year. That Louise McCord lived on my turntable for a solid week. The whole box is great weekend morning cleaning music and the wife and kids dig it.

 

[MikeH]

They could have easily dropped the albums in low numbers as store drops or even put one or two in classics and I’m sure there’d have been some interest but the idea that 1000 people would drop that sort of wedge on something this niche is way out there.

But for the £40 i sunk on it I’m happy to have it. It’ll get a reasonable amount of play now I know what’s actually on it.

I completely forgot how much that original cost was. big yikes.

i'd imagine that doing these AAA wouldn't make sense financially to do just a few hundred copies of each in store. it's a weird one....music that deserves to be heard but charging $200+ for it for relatively unknown music is a hard sell. If it turns up in swaps again, I may try to grab it. Discogs has a lot of cheaper copies too.

 

[Rowan]

I completely forgot how much that original cost was. big yikes.

i'd imagine that doing these AAA wouldn't make sense financially to do just a few hundred copies of each in store. it's a weird one....music that deserves to be heard but charging $200+ for it for relatively unknown music is a hard sell. If it turns up in swaps again, I may try to grab it. Discogs has a lot of cheaper copies too.

If it’s in swaps then it’s the no brainer to end all no brainers. In fact anywhere sub $100 and it’s worth a nibble

 

[Jeff Lerner]

Just got shipping for Junior Parker. Looking forward to this one. It's been real slim pickings for me lately, this is my first VMP box since May (Little Richard).

 

[oldjollymon]

This was my response regards using store credit for a sale order.

Thank you for reaching out.

We will check our fulfillment system to see if your order is already in process. Once we have reviewed the details and applied the credit, we will provide you with an update on the status of your request.

We appreciate your patience while we work on this. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please feel free to let us know.


What does this even mean?

I just got this from Sharmaine re: the same issue, so hopefully they will still come thru (though of course they still got confused my question re: converting membership credits to store credits):

Thank you for bringing your concern about store credit to our attention. We want to let you know that we’re aware of an issue with our credit system, which is currently not functioning as expected and has caused an error on our end.

I will apply your store credit to your order #XXXX and swap your remaining store credits for membership credits as soon as the credit system has been fixed.

 

[serotonein]

Somebody on discord pointed out that last month was Customer Appreciation Month which ended up with the Vault boxes mostly being underwhelming, AI customer service being implemented while the entire CS team was let go (probably for either a cheaper CS team or more AI), two tracks being eliminated, more promised transparency only for everyone from VMP to disappear, etc. Can't make this stuff up.

My annual renewal was scheduled for the 30th and I cancelled it last week. I felt after 9y as a member in some capacity (remember Crate memberships? $4/month in June 2015), it was only fair to provide some feedback as to why I'm walking away. I put some thought into a few paragraphs about the issues, many of which have been ongoing since Matt was initially in charge, and some of which like cost I know won't change anyway but are still worth stating.

So far, not a peep from VMP. If they cared about losing a longtime customer who's given them $$$$$ over the years they haven't expressed it. I'm sure the coming changes to the Tracks & rumored curation decisions will bring in a bunch of new memberships to make up for it.

 

[MikeH]

I just got this from Sharmaine re: the same issue, so hopefully they will still come thru (though of course they still got confused my question re: converting membership credits to store credits):

Thank you for bringing your concern about store credit to our attention. We want to let you know that we’re aware of an issue with our credit system, which is currently not functioning as expected and has caused an error on our end.

I will apply your store credit to your order #XXXX and swap your remaining store credits for membership credits as soon as the credit system has been fixed.

i got a similar email to apply credit to an order. fwiw Paulie did mention that there was something down the other day with their credits system so hopefully it gets fixed soon.

 

[MikeH]

My annual renewal was scheduled for the 30th and I cancelled it last week. I felt after 9y as a member in some capacity (remember Crate memberships? $4/month in June 2015), it was only fair to provide some feedback as to why I'm walking away. I put some thought into a few paragraphs about the issues, many of which have been ongoing since Matt was initially in charge, and some of which like cost I know won't change anyway but are still worth stating.

So far, not a peep from VMP. If they cared about losing a longtime customer who's given them $$$$$ over the years they haven't expressed it. I'm sure the coming changes to the Tracks & rumored curation decisions will bring in a bunch of new memberships to make up for it.

I'm probably out after end of October. Think my sub is up in October or start of November. I do have a bunch of credit and was debating rolling that into member credit to renew since there hasn't been much i want in store lately. Credit is kinda useless if you're not a member...

Curious who you emailed your note to? I may do something similar...

 

[serotonein]

I'm probably out after end of October. Think my sub is up in October or start of November. I do have a bunch of credit and was debating rolling that into member credit to renew since there hasn't been much i want in store lately. Credit is kinda useless if you're not a member...

Curious who you emailed your note to? I may do something similar...

It was an optional window soliciting feedback at the bottom of the cancellation screen after asking you to select one of the 5 or 6 radio buttons as your primary reason. It's probably part of the standard membership template in Shopify and honestly no idea if what I typed was ever put in front of one of the (human) employees. I'm sure they're working on it...

 

[MikeH]

It was an optional window soliciting feedback at the bottom of the cancellation screen after asking you to select one of the 5 or 6 radio buttons as your primary reason. It's probably part of the standard membership template in Shopify and honestly no idea if what I typed was ever put in front of one of the (human) employees. I'm sure they're working on it...

Melody is probably the one assigned to reading it.

 

[serotonein]

Melody is probably the one assigned to reading it.

I haven't been told they're converting everything in my account to credit... yet

 

[Joe Mac]

It was an optional window soliciting feedback at the bottom of the cancellation screen after asking you to select one of the 5 or 6 radio buttons as your primary reason. It's probably part of the standard membership template in Shopify and honestly no idea if what I typed was ever put in front of one of the (human) employees. I'm sure they're working on it...

I usually just put storf in the text box for those.

 

[serotonein]

I usually just put storf in the text box for those.

I figured my comments about "curation" covered that without directly naming names. The only person I specifically called out was Matt, noting that I had little expectation of things like "communication" to get better when he couldn't be bothered to care about that the first time around.

 

[oldschoolkirby]

It’s never been possible to use credits with a coupon code. You have always had to buy with coupon then email CS to have them refund and apply your credit. It’s supposedly a Shopify limitation. I’ve never had an issue getting the refund although now with the CS AI people have generally been having some problems actually getting some of their requests resolved.

Ah, thanks for that info. I’ll give it a try next time.

I think they really need the cash.

This was my thought too tbh

 

[ByersVinyl]

Anyone had shipping for John Lee Hooker or Fraction Moon Blood ? Noticed in Stock - No idea how long for but I ordered and those were not dispatched with my Essentials swap.
Fraction was on a bit of a whim and a spotify speed listen. Sounds decent, anyone any thoughts.
Felt like time to get as much credits used as possible,

 

[Nee Lewman]

Anyone had shipping for John Lee Hooker or Fraction Moon Blood ? Noticed in Stock - No idea how long for but I ordered and those were not dispatched with my Essentials swap.
Fraction was on a bit of a whim and a spotify speed listen. Sounds decent, anyone any thoughts.
Felt like time to get as much credits used as possible,

Some folks on discord said Fraction shipped with their ROTM.

Did you buy them together?

I bought Tribe with the Morgan repress and I get to wait until the other one gets pressed for Tribe.