Rough Trade Sale coming May 21 ...

There's a flash sale this weekend only at the RT site. Pretty good deals, but they seem to be going fast (About half of my cart sold out between the time I put the items in and checked out).

 

They have a lot of nerve, when they still haven’t shipped everything they sold during their last big sale back in January! Anything ordered from them now might not arrive until May at the rate they’re moving.

I looked through the sale today and most of the marked down items seem to be CDs. Or they’re already sold out. Not that Rough Trade is capable of accurately keeping track of their inventory these days.

 

as enticing as another sale sounds, the fact that their website is awful + they still owe me two records from the last sale = i will avoid.

 

The sale seems to have the same titles that have stayed on sale since the last one.

 

Same. And they still owe me SEVEN records. Grrrr.

 

Interesting. I never bought anything back when the sale first started because their website drove me crazy and I kept reading comments about how awful the service & delivery have been. But then about a week ago I noticed that a lot of stuff was still on sale, so I went ahead and spent half a day putting stuff into my cart. Only to come back later that night and see that my cart was suddenly empty. UGH! I wrote them off at that point I was so pissed.
But now I see the prices have dropped to a fraction of the list price and lower than the previous sale prices, so it was hard to say no. Sadly, more than half of the items I put in my cart last week were already gone, but I still managed to grab these...

1x
Birds of Prey: The Album, Various Artists, CD
CD 625006
$4.75

1x
//Physical//, Gabe Gurnsey, LPx2+
Rough Trade Exclusive. Limited Edition of 1,200 140 Gram Clear Colored Double LP. Includes Download Code. Comes with Bonus CD.
phlp10rt
$3.75

1x
Cross Record, Cross Record, CD
Digifile.
BING 150 CD
$2.75

1x
The Turning: Kate's Diary, Various Artists, LP
19439737041
$4.25

Cross Record's lead singer is the same for the band Loma. They are a bit more sleepy than Loma, but if you like Loma you might like Cross Record too.

 

I checked out the updated sale list yesterday afternoon with low expectations. Managed to put together a $45-ish order shipped. Pretty pleased with this assortment of 3 vinyl LPs and 4 CDs.

1x

CYR, Smashing Pumpkins, CD

CD 62683 S

$4.501x


Clear Language, Balmorhea, CD

WV150CD

$3.501x


Brazil, Hvide Sjel, Varg and F Valentin, LPx2

PI 173

$8.251x


Liverpool, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, LP

MOVLP1565

$7.501x

Babelsberg, Gruff Rhys, CD

CD 102 R

$3.751x

Natural Rebel, Richard Ashcroft, CD

CD 23846

$2.751x


Traces - Alternate Versions & Sketches, Steve Perry, LP

FAN00700

$6.75Shipping$9.51Total$46.51

 

Their interface really is rubbish. As far as I can tell, trying to search by CD format in sale items just brings up sale items that also have a CD version (which isn't necessarily in the sale). Gah.

What's up with that Acid Dad LP cover, by the way? Are they allowed to rip off Spiritualized artwork like that? I'm torn between thinking it's a spectacularly gauche thing for a psych band to do and thinking its brazenness is kind of charming.

 

since it's been about two months i reached out to ask when they might ship my two outstanding items. nobody bothered to reply to me, but they did cancel one of them and the other was marked as "shipped". i've never had this kind of trouble with them but i really will think twice in the future.

 

FWIW, I retract this email. I though I was on a Plaid Room thread, not Rough Trade.

And, FWIW, I’ve only had one dealing with Rough Trade and it was...suboptimal.

 

I'm more disappointed in them than anything. They were one of my go-to shops for pre-orders, and they always had fair prices.

 

I spoke too soon. I got a shipping notification last Thursday for the one item that wasn’t cancelled, and got a tracking number.

A week later, they still haven’t given the package to USPS.

For me, this was the first time and last time I will be doing business with this company.

 

They must be catching up on their backlog, because I ordered some stuff a little over a week ago, and already got it.

 

I got one more record from the big sale of the seven they owe me.

It was a record they had already sent me a month and a half ago.

RT has been a total fail on this.

 

Yes, this. Except I probably would order from them again, because I find myself more amused than aggrieved by their incompetence.

Of course, if I'd ordered a whole stack of stuff, that might be different...

 

I'm pretty sure that I'm done with them as well.

• Ordered on 1/3
• Shipping label printed on 2/21
• Actually shipped on 2/26
• Reached my regional facility on 3/6, which is a ridiculous amount of time shipping from NY to DC. I've gotten LPs shipped from the UK faster!
• Inexplicably ended up at a more distant regional facility the same day, and hasn't moved in four days now

The long trip it's taken through the ever-incompetent USPS probably isn't their fault, but at this point who knows if it wasn't labeled sloppily, thus causing delays? Needless to say, I'm quite fed up with the whole experience.

 

For another perspective, I ordered 7 records:

Live At Knebworth 1990, Robert Plant, 12"
Joni 75: A Joni Mitchell Birthday Celebration, Various Artists
Crossing Muddy Waters, John Hiatt, LP+
Our Back Pages, Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, LP
The Natural (Original Motion Picture Score), Randy Newman, LP
Elasticity, Serj Tankian, LP
Still Woman Enough, Loretta Lynn, LP

Ordered 2/26
Label created 3/2
Pre-info send 3/3
Received by USPS 3/7
Delivered 3/8

Packed well too.

I know I got it super fast because I’m located near their warehouse, but the package still had to travel in the local USPS system for a few stops before it got to me. Even if one adds a couple of days if I wasn’t so close, overall I have no complaints. Wouldn’t have any problem ordering from them again.

But that’s just me…

 

My stuff just arrived. 12 days from purchase date. Sadly, one of the items was supposed to include a bonus CD which is missing. Sent an email, but my hopes aren't high that I'll ever get it.

 

O frabjous day, my order is complete.

 

(Bit miffed it's the late 90s remixes on Virna Lindt. Ach well. I used to have a Japanese comp ("The Dossier on..") that had the original versions, but I stupidly sold it years ago).

 

Ah bummer man. I don’t feel so bad about missing out now.

 

Well, I'm happy to say that the customer service I received from them was much better than expected. Unfortunately, the RT-exclusive bonus CD that I was supposed to receive is out of stock and won't be reprinted, so they sent me a full refund for the item and said I could keep the record (sans CD). And they promised to correct the website to note that the bonus CD is no longer available.

 

I'll give Rough Trade a recent thumbs up as well--
Ordered the below during the last flash sale, it showed up packed well, two weeks or less following.
They did miss packing one of the CDs (Chali 2na) so I emailed in asking for a replacement or refund, and they replied by the next day that no more were in inventory and a credit was issued.

Like another poster said, a lot of things (newest Springsteen, Macca CDs, etc) sold out between In My Cart and Checkout, so guess I will have to look earlier if/when they do another flash sale.
Prices were good though and I found more than enough, to qualify for free (over $100) shipping.

Jade Bird, Jade Bird, CD $3.25
Eat the Elephant, A Perfect Circle, CD $4.00
Father Of All…, Green Day, CD $4.75
Gaslighter, Dixie Chicks, CD $3.25
Black Panther The Album , Various Artists, CD $3.75
Doom Days, Bastille, CD $4.25
Everyday Life, Coldplay, CD $4.75
Shiny And Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / Smashing Pumpkins, CD $3.50
No Shame, Lily Allen, CD $3.75
Positions, Ariana Grande, CD $3.75
Such Pretty Forks In The Road, Alanis Morissette, CD $3.25
Modern Art, Ted Poley, LP signed Splatter colored vinyl. $8.00
some kind of peace, Olafur Arnalds, CD+, signed , $5.25
CYR, Smashing Pumpkins, CD $4.50
Tiny Changes: A celebration of the Midnight Organ Fight, Frightened Rabbit, CD $3.50
Hypersonic Missiles, Sam Fender, CD $4.00
Reduxer, Alt J, CD $3.50
Adventures Of A Reluctant Superhero, Chali 2na, CD $3.25
Standards, Lloyd Cole, CD $4.50
Tracyanne and Danny , Tracyanne and Danny , CD $3.75
Living Mirage, The Head and The Heart, CD $3.50
Let's Go Sunshine, The Kooks, CD $3.75
Monovision, Ray LaMontagne, CD $3.75
La Vita Nuova, Christine and the Queens, CD $2.75
Gold in a Brass Age, David Gray, CD $4.00
As Long As You Are, Future Islands, CD $4.25
Amorino, Isobel Campbell, CD $3.50
Milkwhite Sheets, Isobel Campbell, CD $3.50
Cuz I Love You, Lizzo, CD $3.50
Total $115.00

 

Just got 5 more records from the January sale. One of them was the wrong item. Always great to wait two months and then get something completely different than what you paid for.

EDIT: just went to the site to see if I can still find the thing I actually ordered and I saw that they also charged me shipping on this, even though my total order was well over $125.

 

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