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

heartswells said:
Been on and off for the past 3 years but like to think I keep up to date on their goings on.

Not claiming anyone is bad for being upset that they may have wasted time or they missed out on the item they wanted but upset enough to demand VMP set things right? Since the site went down is every member now entitled to a discount/refund/access to a limited product?

That is where my beef lies, folk demanding reparations for the site going down.
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Just catching up on this post, so sorry if this has already been answered further on.

I personally see my fellow forumites reaction to this as less of a 'what discount/refund/access are you going to give me' over a plea for them to just fix their website. Not sure how long you have been using VMP but this issue of their website not being able to handle the number of people that use it has been going on for YEARS.

If they had a website that could handle their amount of traffic this wouldn't have been an issue, because if an item sold out before you had the chance to get it then straight away you could pick something else. I was personally in the position of not knowing if my swap went through and by the time I was able to access my account again (as the website crashed and made it appear that I wasn't a member) it turns out it didn't go through and that all the other options I would have liked to swap for had sold out.

I imagine they have had hundreds of emails asking for them to upgrade their website, yet it falls on deaf ears and time and time again the website being down is the excuse for when things go wrong.
 
Selaws said:
I imagine they have had hundreds of emails asking for them to upgrade their website, yet it falls on deaf ears and time and time again the website being down is the excuse for when things go wrong.
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I mean, I guess... but you can't honestly pretend like they've never tried to address that problem. First, they shut down their forum with minimal notice to silence dissent and then, when shit really went awry over the holidays, they effectively shut down all correspondence rather than answer why their customers products were all missing.

We ARE talking about the problem of people contacting them about issues, and not the issues they're having, correct?

But seriously, folks...

I honestly get fairly worn out on that whole narrative that swaps are a "bonus" they don't have to offer. Yes, they actually do have to offer them, because that is part of the fucking service listed that you're paying for. They've changed and botched and readjusted so much over the years that the swaps were a natural evolution that became necessary to compensate for other changes and retain customers. Without the swaps, it wouldn't be worth it for a lot of people to join or remain members. If that aspect is a major selling point for you and you're not receiving the benefit of it, then you have a right to be upset and speak up/out about it.

Believing that you shouldn't have to deliver on what you are charging people for is entitled. Treating them reaching out to you about it as being a nuisance you can dismiss after you have their money, is entitled. And, actually, criticizing other members who just dealt with more bullshit that should have been remedied years ago and never should have been issues to begin with, as unappreciative and overreacting, because the process is working out for you and the problems of other people -- problems you can scroll past, mind you -- are just whining and downers... that's kind of an entitled mentality, too.
 
Bluecloud777 said:
In what way are they broken? Is it impossible at all to swap for you?
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I have an additional problem as well, its still saying im not a member and that I need to sign up. I THINK I might of actually ended up swapping Stevie for TLC (either way im hoping to get the Stevie at some point) but I have no way of knowing because I can't see my membership details. Not too worried though as I still haven't got this months records so they have plenty of time to sort it going off that timescale.
 
Selaws said:
I have an additional problem as well, its still saying im not a member and that I need to sign up. I THINK I might of actually ended up swapping Stevie for TLC (either way im hoping to get the Stevie at some point) but I have no way of knowing because I can't see my membership details. Not too worried though as I still haven't got this months records so they have plenty of time to sort it going off that timescale.
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I also got logged out while trying to swap yesterday, but quickly was able to log in again.
 
Typical VMP. I didnt swap anything and I'm glad I didnt reading all of this. I'm pissed enough at still not knowing when I'm actually going to get my April records and going on weeks with no CS response.
The thing is their membership is too big at this point. And they have hype on social media, even from the artists themselves, guaranteeing new members to replace the ones who are leaving. I don't see them actually fixing these problems anytime soon until it hurts their wallets, and as you can see from that video with Matt Fiedler, their business has actually gone up during the pandemic...
 
I've ended up just swapping Salt and Pepa for Stevie and cancelling the other tracks. Just went and bought the Pumas LP in the spatter on sale from an Australian retailer along with a couple other albums I've been after, so pretty happy all round. Also cancelled the auto-renewal, I get that VMP can produce good product, but their actual systems are blah, and this has very little to do with anything pandemic related, this is a consistent marketing promise/failing to deliver issue. Spending money like this on the subscription shouldn't cause this level of anxiety or frustration, I can get that elsewhere for free.
 
wynn72 said:
Typical VMP. I didnt swap anything and I'm glad I didnt reading all of this. I'm pissed enough at still not knowing when I'm actually going to get my April records and going on weeks with no CS response.
The thing is their membership is too big at this point. And they have hype on social media, even from the artists themselves, guaranteeing new members to replace the ones who are leaving. I don't see them actually fixing these problems anytime soon until it hurts their wallets, and as you can see from that video with Matt Fiedler, their business has actually gone up during the pandemic...
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I have a feeling that some of Fiedler’s interview was blowing smoke up the interviewer’s ass. Yes they might be selling more but I bet their profit margins are shrinking. They are offloading stuff like crazy at big hits to profit. All the sales they have been running lately, Woodstock box set in swaps (they had to have taken a loss on that), the buy 2 get 1 sale...all of this is designed to get inventory off the shelves no matter the cost. On top of that, all of the coupons and store credits they have to give for fuck ups and coupons being posted online and being used by tons of people...and shipments randomly going out without all of your records in it. The amount of potential profit they are throwing away every month because they can’t figure out how to actually run the business smoothly is amazing to me.
 
radiodead said:
My Caribou also has popping on the final track on Side A. Yves Tumor has a nasty warp, I put it in the spin clean and it was like an inch from being able to line up to actually spin it properly.
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The Caribou click has sadly been a widespread issue. Some members seem to have gotten 3 or 3 pressings before getting a good one. It sucks because the pressing sounds SO good.
 
I'm just gonna leave this here. Re: vinyl production costs.

mojitomastering.com

Hot Wax: When Does It Make Sense For a Band To Press Vinyl Records?

We often hear artists talk about pressing their latest projects to vinyl. It's no myth that pressing vinyl records is expensive, especially when compared to the (essentially) free digital distribution possibilities that the internet provides. We decided to break down vinyl costs to get a better...
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MikeH said:
I have a feeling that some of Fiedler’s interview was blowing smoke up the interviewer’s ass. Yes they might be selling more but I bet their profit margins are shrinking. They are offloading stuff like crazy at big hits to profit. All the sales they have been running lately, Woodstock box set in swaps (they had to have taken a loss on that), the buy 2 get 1 sale...all of this is designed to get inventory off the shelves no matter the cost. On top of that, all of the coupons and store credits they have to give for fuck ups and coupons being posted online and being used by tons of people...and shipments randomly going out without all of your records in it. The amount of potential profit they are throwing away every month because they can’t figure out how to actually run the business smoothly is amazing to me.
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Yeah, I'm sure some of it was blowing smoke for sure. Or they're just looking at Gross Revenue as opposed to Net Profit for the year (which wouldn't surprise me at all considering their lack of business experience).

Regardless, there is no way they aren't bringing in new subscribers regularly. You can see the promotions of new ROTMs on Social Media and people excited about it who are unaware of how poorly run of a service it actually is. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. Since the only way they will actually fix these problems is by overall subs going down.
 
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