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

Reading through recent comments on here, Reddit & Steve Hoffman, there seems to be a lot of anger about the various issues the company has been having & concerns about the future of VMP; which prompts me to add my own personal experience into the mix:


I ended my annual subscription this April after being a member for two years; partly due to finances but also because swaps had dried up of titles I wanted. I’d been signed up for both Essentials & Classics & regularly bought exclusives & other titles.

I just signed up for 3 months to grab the BB King record & it was promptly shipped. I’ve also purchased the Stax box, as it was receiving various Stax/Volt albums through VMP that made me fall in love with the label.

I am a British subscriber & I bought a LOT of records from VMP - sometimes receiving boxes of up to 40+ records when they had good sales - & in all that time I never had a delay in my records being sent & only ever received one album with a dinked corner, for which they immediately refunded me fully, no questions asked. I also always got prompt CS responses.

Maybe I’ve just been extremely lucky, maybe things have just gotten a lot worse in my absence of several months - & I don’t mean to belittle the very real issues other members have had - but my experience as a member of this record club has been nothing but excellent; they’ve really enriched my record collection & expanded my musical horizons & I hope they manage to improve, iron out the issues they’ve been having, & continue to exist.

I can’t wait for January & for 8 new Stax albums to cherish!
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TenderLovingKiller® said:
TARANTINO FILMS RANKED
01. Pulp Fiction
02. Inglorious Basterds
03. Kill Bill, Vol. I & II
04. Reservoir Dogs
05. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
06. Django Unchained
07. Jackie Brown
08. The Hateful Eight
09. Death Proof

Let the record, show I would rather watch ANY Tarantino film than pretty much every Marvel film.
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1. Pulp Fiction
2. Jackie Brown
3. Inglourious Basterds
4. Reservoir Dogs
5. Django Unchained
6. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
7. Kill Bill, Vol. I & II
8. The Hateful Eight
9. Death Proof

I loved the subtlety of Jackie Brown and its great supporting characters. Robert De Niro was a fantastic subdued sociopath. Brad Pitt's character in Once Upon A Time... really reminded me of him.
 
Btsvinylfarm said:
Selling out RotMs and having strong revenues doesn't necessarily translate into having healthy profits, cash flows, or even a healthy balance sheet. We did the exercised the other day - VMP can easily be generating $10M+ in annual revenues and be losing month on a month to month basis.

As far as the bold, comparing the situation they are in right not to anything of the past is apples and oranges. They aren't even able to bundle multiple records into single shipments right now. People are receiving their December Essentials and December Classics in separate shipments. This is FAR beyond prior issues.



The fact that they aren't actually processing refunds despite confirming them is a HUGE red flag. Either the system is really THAT fucked, or they don't have the money
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Initially I chalked it up to a system error (it was an order placed on the old platform, and I WAS effectively refunded for another order that was placed on the new site). But I'm not so sure anymore
 
sjaygray said:
I feel like I'm overdue to revisit it. It just hasn't clicked for me in past viewings, but it has been many years.
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Snoddywilko said:
Reading through recent comments on here, Reddit & Steve Hoffman, there seems to be a lot of anger about the various issues the company has been having & concerns about the future of VMP; which prompts me to add my own personal experience into the mix:
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I would say this is the case for most subscribers...until it isn’t. Eventually, they will do something that will specifically fuck you over and then you will realize that, in fact, you have just been lucky. Unfortunately, their issues have begun to snowball which in turn is causing more and more of their subscriber base to become less and less lucky.
 
dbarila said:
This is the worst month I can remember in the past 4 years. If I don't get a shipping notice this week I'm ready to just email them to cancel all outstanding orders and refund my remaining months.
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Might as well send that email in, because chances are VMP won't respond until after the new year. And you can certainly do a charge back by Jan 1 if they haven't replied by then.

hlaveta said:
Account still says "unfulfilled" on this one, too.
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Me: Hey VMP's amazing new system that had a complete migration, did you see this?
VMP's new system: Nailed it.
 
displayname said:
Might as well send that email in, because chances are VMP won't respond until after the new year. And you can certainly do a charge back by Jan 1 if they haven't replied by then.


Me: Hey VMP's amazing new system that had a complete migration, did you see this?
VMP's new system: Nailed it.
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And in the past they basically shut down between Christmas and New Years
 
dbarila said:
And in the past they basically shut down between Christmas and New Years
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I wonder what they are going to do this year? Chances are, the employees they are making work OT to fix the mistakes already have holiday travel plans. And very soon, they are going to have a skeleton staff. What are they going to do with that CS queue and all those unanswered emails? What are they going to do with all the packages that haven't shipped?

If they really are as behind on shipping as they appear to be AND this migration is as FUBARed as we think it is, they are royally effed.
 
Needles & Grooves said:
Hello all,

It has gotten a bit heated in here, which is understandable given VMP's continued issues with logistics. However we decided that we needed to make an official announcement to keep it civil. Some of the language here has crossed the line, and it's not in line with our vision of this place.

Specifically, attacking individuals over at VMP is off the table. Frankly attacking any individuals is not really acceptable, but just because they're not here doesn't mean you can single people out. Too many of the recent posts have waded into this territory, and frankly it's not OK.

You have to remember there are both people here who like the VMP service and those who do not. You should be respectful no matter which side of this divide you sit on, and many here have not been.

If you continue to attack individuals you will be issued warnings, and then possibly temporary bans if it does not stop. The internet does not have to be a combative angry place, but any place will only be whatever its members make of it.
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I agree. These employees have responsibilities, families and such and thus stress (caused by the stupid company) at this time of year has my sympathy.


Also, I’m sick of hearing about useless VMP and their excuses. I take no pleasure in their downfall, other than it will change the topic around here
 
Teeeee said:
I'm so sorry to cause you to have a minor panic attack. Lol. It really is one of my top 3 that I've received from them. I was initially displeased that they repressed it (because they had previously said they would never repress sold out albums, but they've said a lot of things that they've reversed course on). But after they've repressed so many, I don't really even care. Now I'm just happy that people can get one of the better voldemort AOTMs. If it is still around, people should swap for it. But also, that statement may go to show how out of touch I am with their stock, maybe it isn't available and hasn't been for awhile?
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Haha all good. It wasn’t a major panic but I had heard others mention it as a large issue of some sort so I was curious. It’s been gone from the store for a long time. Since they did that ROTM archive sale like 2 years ago I think, which is why I went the Discogs route. I learned then, not to ever buy a sealed copy of a VMP record from Discogs because, you know that shit is going to be warped.
 
Teeeee said:
I wonder what they are going to do this year? Chances are, the employees they are making work OT to fix the mistakes already have holiday travel plans. And very soon, they are going to have a skeleton staff. What are they going to do with that CS queue and all those unanswered emails? What are they going to do with all the packages that haven't shipped?

If they really are as behind on shipping as they appear to be AND this migration is as FUBARed as we think it is, they are royally effed.
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I work for a well run corporate entity. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay people A LOT of money and force the issue with your employees. Holidays and Vacations are important but your customers ALWAYS come first.
 
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