seam splits etc.

February 5, 2016February 7, 2016 mugwumb Uncategorized

Great example of lousy packaging etc..

It’s me here, whining again about my favorite subject. Packaging. Got this package few days ago containing three records from my so-called “wantlist”. When ordering records I add note like this to seller:

Could you please send this item vinyl (in inner sleeve) taken out of the cover, and please pay attention on securing those corners of the mailer.
Sincerely, xxxxxx xxxxxx (www.mugwumb.com)

I’m quite sure that I did this same thing with this order even though I can’t find any trace of it from order confirmation/receipt. In this case each record were shrinkwrapped and fortunately only one record had seam splits. Anyways, let’s concentrate to the packaging first. Mailer was.. well, you can see what it’s like from the picture, worst kind. If you look little closer you can see how nicely corners are smashed. In the next picture you can see what worried me more than those corners…

And this reflected straight to one record wich was inside..

Dent that is more like a hole and it goes through the cover. So here we have one badly damaged record in the eyes of collector, that’s 1/3 of the order. This is not all, in the next picture we can see other kind of damage (those usual ones).

Corner damage, and damages like this can be found from 2/3 of the order. Dents & dings could have been prevented using different kind of mailer, bubble-wrap, stiffeners etc. and that one seam-split could have been avoided by shipping vinyls & covers separated.

I contacted their customer service with few photos and result was £20 credit for the next order.. seriously, you have to be kidding (do they really think that I’m going to place another order after this?). I paid nearly €62 for these three records and only one of them was in condition I assumed all of them to be. Forget it!

Thanks, Juno!

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February 8, 2015 mugwumb Uncategorized

“Please feel free to not order from us anymore!”

Short correspondence about tiny, tiny seam split on the cover of the purchased album.. and how it escalated to something else. Starting with my note to the seller when I purchased the album:

Could you please ship this record taken out of the cover just to avoid possible seam splits during transport and please secure the corners of the cover..

With this I obviously meant that I would like the album shipped record (in inner sleeve) separated from the cover. I got this mail from the seller:

Thanks for your inquiry about the shipping. We do not recommend to separate the record from the sleeve. The record is completely sealed with the plastic cover to keep the whole package safe. So please do not worry about the seam splits during the shipping.

If you still want us to unseal the record, please let us know.
Be aware that unsealed records can’t be returned.

Well, in this pont I made a big mistake and allowed them to ship this album the way they thought was best. Result can be seen on the picture below (album is still sealed in shrink wrap).

I sent a picture and this note to them:

Well, here’s the reason (in the picture attached) why I asked to sent cover & vinyl separated. Seam split, on the top seam of the cover. Removing vinyl (in inner sleeve) from the cover prevents these things to happen :(

I should have kept my mind in this case but I trusted on You. My bad. Now I have to try to purchase this album somewhere else to get a pristine copy (without damaged cover)

Note that I did blame myself, not anyone else. Then I got the answer to my mail which was understanding and apologetic:

We are sorry to hear about the seam split.

We mostly get positive feedbacks from the people purchasing through our web shop. More than 99% of the orders we sent out arrive in perfect condition. And we could firmly say that we did our best to fix it as much as we could after receiving your email. But unfortunately, it must have been mistreated somewhere on the way to you. This seems like a very unlucky coincidence.

We are definitely aware of the possibilities of damage on records and therefore, a lot of time was spent on looking for the best LP mailers that protect the records as good as possible.

Again, we apologize for what has happened to you and we will continue to deliver the best quality of music.

I should have stopped here.. but I was stupid enough trying to explain what causes these splits on the cover. Seems that I was too offensive or something..

Hi!

There was nothing wrong with the mailer used (one of the best mailer type available). The problem is that the vinyl record itself is moving inside the cover during the transport causing these splits on the cover. That’s why I always ask to ship records & covers separated (trust on me with this one, I have ordered hundreds of records from overseas and I’m very aware what is causing seams to split). This is a good reminder that I should keep my mind.

For example, HR Records have this really nice announcement on their
webstore:

“NO SHIPPING OF SHRINK WRAPPED LPs!
All shrink wrapped LPs will be taken out of the foil and the record and the cover will be separated to avoid transport damages like seamsplits!”

Well, still my bad.

Then the tone of this conversation turned to this following & last message:

Hi,

obviously you are the only one here who has a problem with this. We get a lot of great feedback that the records arrived in perfect condition, even if the vinyl is shipped inside the cover. Also on your picture I can only see that the inside sleeve has a little split. So what do you want us to do? Ship the vinyl without any protection around, so that you can then complain that you have scratches on the record and can’t listen to it, because it was moving in the mailer?

Please feel free to not order from us anymore!

Yep, this was just what I was after.. & some seems to have X-ray vision because in the picture, album is still sealed and I can’t see if the inner sleeve has any splits (even thought I would care).. It was time to blow the whistle. I learned my lesson.

Still my bad but Thanks!

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June 3, 2014June 3, 2014 mugwumb new ones

…Groundhog day

Got this nice blues rock LP by Lonesome Shack today. Yeah, it’s limited & colored, but..

first corner..

second corner..

third corner.. Oh, carton stiffeners were used..

usually these are at least size of the cover.. not this time..

and of course we have one tiny seam split. This is reminder for me why I usually note the seller that I would like my purchases sent records & covers separated..

Finally, these words printed on the mailer, they do not mean nothing to postal services at the end.

blaaah..