I think some people are being a bit harsh on Stuart, he's obviously in a
bit of a mess at the moment what with breaking up with his partners and
starting the label. Starting a record label a few weeks after splitting
up with his partners may have been biting off a bit more than he could
chew though.
I haven't ordered all that much from him but in all my correspondence
with him (before he stopped replying to emails) he's always come across
as a good bloke. Definately not someone who'd intentionally rip people
off or debit their credit card without overriding reasons for doing so
(absolutely skint / really needed to pay off debts / fully intended to
send the goods out... eventually).
I ordered a few discs from him at the end of August which I've mailed
him about several times over the past weeks to which I've had no reply.
Apart from one message in which I swore at him a bit because he still
hadn't sent me a CD he'd forgotten to put in the last parcel he'd sent
me. I got a reply to that and a parcel arrived a couple of days later
with the forgotten CD and one of the discs from my last order (makes me
wonder why he didn't send the entire order in one go really). I've
emailed him a couple of times since then but haven't received a reply.
I can fully understand Stuart not being able to send goods out if he's
got more work on than he can deal with but the one thing I think is not
merely very bad business practice but rude as well is not replying to
peoples emails. A simple, "I've received your order but I'm totally
snowed under and won't be able deal with it for a few of weeks," would
have put a lot of peoples minds at ease and stopped them emailing him
asking him just what was going on. Thinking about it from his point of
view though, if people realise it's going to take ages for an order to
come through they're going to buy their music somewhere else which means
less money coming in and less ability to pay off any debts / whatever.
Well, the shit's hit the fan and people have started openly complaining
on the list so I think it's about time Stuart told everyone just what's
going on and what we can expect in terms of service in the near future.
Fair enough that he hasn't said anything because he thought there'd only
be a brief interruption in his service but it's gone way beyond that.
I've been waiting for a copy of the Skampler and 0161 compilations for
ages and I'm not going to wait much longer (especially when I see
messages on the list saying how excellent they are).
It's the lack of communication that's getting everyone worked up Stuart.
Tell us what's going on mate.
Bye,
Steve.
PS. Don't start swearing at Stuart in an effort to get your orders just
because it worked for me. I don't want to be held responsible for
Stuart receiving a torrent of abuse in his mailbox :-)