Beware of Sister Ray in London

Post by **spzretent** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 3:56 pm

I have to relate this story.
When word spread of this 22-20's remix 10" I searched and found Sister Ray in London had 2 copies. i ordered both + a cd single. I was taken aback by the 12 quid s&h they charged but figured I wasn't likely to find these 10"s anywhere else so I ordered them. This was 12/16.
Once before Christmas and once again before New Years i emailed asking for an update. Nothing. I emailed yesterday. Nothing.
So I filed a complaint with Paypal, they have to be w/in 30 days, which got their attention.
I knew these guys were arrogant pricks whenI used to go to London in the early to mid 90's and i would go buy all the Fucked up Inside vinyl they had for 6 quid a pop. You have to be very leery of a shop who dont put prices on the rare records on their wall. Its like sizing up people to see just how big a sucker they are. Its flat out shitty.
You should read the email these guys sent back. Trying to make everything my problem.
SO: Beware of their shipping charges. Beware of the fact they say, in small print, you dont have to pay for your order up front. Beware of the fact what they have on line is not a stock list. Perhaps its a wish list i dont know.
I would just like to make those aware how they handle their business or lack there of.
Conversely Key Mail Order were great.

Post by **BzaInSpace** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:06 pm

Sounds familiar Spzretent - I recall having lots of hassle with those mothers, sending me the wrong discs (one my cheque had been cashed) and then unable to supply me with what i was really looking for...

Numerous complaints followed, I did eventually get what I was after but at great expense, they bumped the price up as well in the meantime.

I would never try mail order with those jokers again.

And the rare records thing is an absolute scam.

Starfish · Post by **Starfish** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:16 pm

I'm having the same problem with them right now. I tried ordering the 22-20s thing (along with a couple of other items) and got an email a couple of weeks ago telling me my order had been updated to the 'processing' stage.
it's a crock of shit.
And I can never log in to my account with them - it always tells me my password is not recognised, even after they send me a reminder of what it is.

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:22 pm

I had no trouble at all with getting my copy of the 22-20s record from them. It arrived about 2 days after I ordered it, in time for xmas and everything. The P&P seemed fair enough (although to be fair, I'd have no idea what 'fair enough' was!). I guess I was lucky though. I doubt I'll buy anything from them again, but that's nothing to do with either the good treatment I got, or the bad treatment you guys got, if it comes to that.

TheWarmth · Post by **TheWarmth** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 6:50 pm

I tried to order a copy of SFA's recent Man Don't Give A Fuck 12" from them only to be told a few days later that it was out of stock and no longer available. However, I also tried two other online record shops in my attempts to get this record and had the same thing happen. I don't know why they can't figure out how to update their inventory online.

I ended up buying a copy off of Ebay ... then saw it a few weeks later in a local shop here in Chicago!!! Damn!

Fuzzhead · Post by **Fuzzhead** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 7:28 pm

This is unbelieveable! I'm having the exact same problem with Sister Ray for the 22-20s remix.

Bought it on eBay with 'Buy It Now' on 15th December expecting to have it before Christmas.

Sent them an email last week and got home from work tonight to find this reply from them:

Hi - sorry for the delay - the itemn was limited and we had a rush on it over xmas and had to order more copies.....they will hopefully be in this week.

regards

http://www.sisterray.co.uk

They're a fuckin disgrace, excuse my French. The word should be put out as to what their so called business is really like.

Post by **runcible** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 7:48 pm

Throwing my lot in here. Sister Ray were a pair of twats when they ran a market stall in Camden Lock in the mid 80s - arrogant yet cheap enough for me to keep buying. Now they're a whole bunch of twats. That shop is horrible - the smug attitude of the staff has put me off and I avoid it if I'm in London. The point about not pricing collectable stuff is the icing on the cake.

Next subject: Music and Video Exchange in Notting Hill Gate. These guys make the Sister Ray people look like they've been to charm school...

Post by **spzretent** » Tue Jan 04, 2005 8:09 pm

MVE?
That was my classic record shop meltdown of all time!
I used to go in there at the end of every record swapping/buying trip to London from 1984 thru 1995. 90% of what I traded was stuff everyone else passed on. Yet it was till rare enough to be sent upstairs to the deletions dept.
One day i walked in there with the remaining pile of records and cds and the guy behind the counter downstairs offered me 5 quid or 6 exchange. I politely asked whether or not this stuff should be going upstairs. He then remarked "we are not in the business of paying good money for shit records". I replied oh yeah? Watch this as I walked up stairs. He tried to block me. I came down stairs with a credit slip for near 60 quid.
This guy wouldn't stop. He kept making comments, at which point I said You have insulted me enough. First by offering me 6 quid exchange for records I got 60 quid upstairs for. Now you wont leave me alone. The only thing left to do is take a shit on my head you asshole.
Then someone made him go on break.
And I am not the only one with stiories like that.
Another thing about that shop is when Krautrock was at its peak you would find NEU! records in there that would struggle to get a "poor" grade selling for 80-100 quid. Not to mention all the dubious autographed shit they had. I'm not an autograph person but that is the last place on earth i would even think of buying something like that.
i did however find a Big City test press for 20 quid and it had been marked down at least once.

Post by **sunny** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 12:39 am

Starfish wrote:I'm having the same problem with them right now. I tried ordering the 22-20s thing (along with a couple of other items) and got an email a couple of weeks ago telling me my order had been updated to the 'processing' stage.
it's a crock of shit.
And I can never log in to my account with them - it always tells me my password is not recognised, even after they send me a reminder of what it is.

The exact same thing happened to me.

Post by **spzretent** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:48 pm

It was only my haste in trying to get an answer out of Sister Ray that precipitated all this. I paid w/Paypal and only have 30 days in which to make a claim.
They should be made to change their name because they dont deserve Sister Ray. More like Twat Central.
Figures from a shop that was spawned by, and catering to Depeche Mode fans.

Fuzzhead · Post by **Fuzzhead** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 5:59 pm

If this was such a limited release, I don't see how they are gonna be able to order so many more copies in?

I hope anyone who 'bought' if from them on eBay will be leaving negative feedback.

Post by **BzaInSpace** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 7:34 pm

spzretent wrote:
Figures from a shop that was spawned by, and catering to Depeche Mode fans.

That makes sense...

I read a hilarious interview with Dave Gahan recently in which he claimed that Sigur Ros had changed his entire way of thinking about music....yeah, you and every other has-been wanting to namecheck something supposedly cool....clueless wanker.

jb · Post by jb » Thu Jan 06, 2005 10:05 am

I wonder if Nick Hornby went to Sister Ray and was so pissed off he based his character of Barry in High Fidelity (the one played by Jack Black) on their members of staff?

Sisterray · Post by **Sisterray** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:04 pm

Hi everyone - Happy New Year to you all.

We have been notified by a customer about this thread so we've come to have a look. Everyone seems a bit tense...

Sorry if you are unhappy with the price but it's a rare item and we're in the record selling business so if you want cheaper records, get a job in a record shop

All the best for 2005 and thanks for bearing with us.

spliffboy · Post by **spliffboy** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 1:38 pm

Shouldn't the Sister Ray message be reomoved?

it's little more than an advert!!!

I know this is a little picky but i'm giving up smoking and grumpy as fuck!

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:11 pm

Well (and i'm not a moderator...) i'd say that they didn't START the thread, and there should be right to reply if they're under attack...

(besides which, I seem to be their only satisfied customer)

That 22-20's record was pretty good by the way; it reminded me of Walking in my Hoodoo Dream 12" which i got many many xmas's ago.

Post by **spzretent** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:19 pm

The post has every right to be there. It just needed a bit of tidying up.
I especially like the line about not liking the price of the record which no one was complaining about. And here I was accusing them of being arrogant pricks.

12 quid to post two 10"s and a CD the US was a bit over the top(to say the least).

spliffboy · Post by **spliffboy** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:12 am

you're right....I qworded my post badly, i should have said edited.

I'm not a collector and not particularly interested in rare records so yesterday was the first time i paid sister ray and attention and that was only cos the link was there to follow.

it doesn't seem right that they use their right to reply to gather more customers.

Post by **spzretent** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:24 pm

they probably, hopefully lost more from this thread than they ever would have gained with their reply.
I hope everyone who orders the 10" gets in in a timely manner. i'll have to sit this one out I guess.

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 4:34 pm

I'm a bit uneasy about this. I don't know why; the fact that they put their address on their post shouldn't bother anyone; we all know "other record shops are available". I think there's a hyperlink to them on the original thread about the 22-20's.

So they're arrogant because they defended their policy? You thought they were arrogant beforehand. I've got no axe to grind, really, but I when I went to their site, found the record I wanted, saw the price (which I figured was what it cost), saw the rate for P&P (which I figured was the price they wanted to charge), plugged in my details, pressed the button and went downstairs when I heard the postman knock two days later. I gather I was lucky, and I've never been there personally. Perhaps they are rude. Perhaps they are a bad record shop, with high prices and obscure hidden delivery charges and poorly maintained stock inventories.

And perhaps they are sorry they didn't have enough copies of this record to meet demand, and they have to charge a lot to post them to America.

(Edits:) Also, have you deleted more than just the address? ie an explanation why they ran out in the first place?

Post by **spzretent** » Fri Jan 07, 2005 7:25 pm

No I only edited out the advert-ish part.
The problem wasn't defending their policy. After 3 emails from me they never responded.
Its not an axe to grind. They are assholes. You should read the emails I finally got back. Only after I filed a complaint to Paypal. That is the only thing that got their attention.
I just thought people should know since they are linked elsewhere on this message board.
Maybe I get a little carried away but i used to own a record shop and if I treated my customers like that I never would have lasted the time I did. And if my employees treated customers like that they would heve been fired. No question.
You do realize you seem to be the only one who has posted here that had a positive experience with them?

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 9:28 am

Yes, I do *realise* I am the only person posting on here with anything other than negative remarks (with the notable exception of themselves).

I don't suppose I'm the only satisfied customer they've ever had though (and even here in Britain, companies with more dissatisfied customers than satisfied ones generally go out of business quickly)...it is an axiom of customer care that a dissatisfied customer will tell everyone he can think to tell why he's been greviously wronged by the evil corporation ect ect...whereas the satisfied customer just walks away whistling happily. I thought I'd just remind people, probably fruitlessly, that they do occasionally manage to send people the records they ordered, in a timely manner, without contriving to insult me or members of my family.

Of course Today we all know that the folks who shout loudest are all right though, so carry on.

clewsr · Post by **clewsr** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 10:50 am

Just got my credit card statement, I didn't realise it was sister ray I got my copy from until then. The order came very quickly, it was on the pricey side, but I chose to pay that much for it.

Spzretent still has right to moan about crap customer service tho, it might make them respond more effectively to other people in future. I'm all for people power, although maybe we should praise really good service as well - CD wow are great, limited range, but what they do sell always arrives quickly, and they are cheap as chips. No, I'm, not on commission.

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:20 am

clewsr wrote:
Spzretent still has right to moan about crap customer service tho,

'course he does. I wouldn't have wanted to stop him, or anyone else from so doing...I know balance is boring, but thought it wouldn't do any harm to have my say too.

Post by **spzretent** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:34 pm

For a change of pace here are some absolutely brilliant record shops.
All in the North of course because I dont usually travel through London anymore.
Piccadilly Records Manchester
Vinyl Exchange- both shops in Manchester
King Bee- Chorlton
Fopp- Sheffield and Manchester
Record Collector- Sheffield
Forever Changes- Sheffield
Key Mail Order
I will give credit where credit is due. All these shops had good selection, fair price and more importantly very good customer service. Yes, even a big shop like Fopp.
Maybe I should get out more

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:03 pm

There now...that feels better, don't it?

Me, HMV, Maidstone. That's my choice

Rock Bottom, Whitstable used to have a brilliant lot of 7" singles 2nd hand.

Back in the day, Parrot in Cambridge was good (odd staff though), used to get pretty short shrift in there, but the stock was aces, so fuck it...(there were all sorts of good record shops all along King Street - don't know if there still are)

And there was the over priced overly neat and tidy world of Andy's Records 2nd hand dept (where did all those copies of Ringo Starr solo lp's come from?).

Even Our Price was pretty good, some real good guys working there in about '92.

Post by **spzretent** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 4:11 pm

Back in the day, when I went nowhere but London, Vinyl Experience was the place. I almost exclusively traded US rare stuff with them. They are gone now. I always thought Selectadisc in Berwick St was pretty good. There was that shop in Camden High St w/the spiral staircase in the middle, just before the lock if you were headed to the market, which was good. Some shops opened later in Camden that were good. Halfway between the tube station and the lock on a the outdoor market side street. Next to a comic book shop. Ironically, The MVE in Camden used to be chock full of goodies. And the staff was okay. For that chain thats a huge compliment.

clewsr · Post by **clewsr** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:32 pm

does Spinadisk still exist in Northampton? that used to be was one of my favorates.

a beautiful noise · Post by **a beautiful noise** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 8:02 pm

i think i saw the glasto programme at that same shop.

xxxbastardxxx

Post by **runcible** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:38 am

spzretent wrote:There was that shop in Camden High St w/the spiral staircase in the middle, just before the lock if you were headed to the market, which was good. .

You are talking about Rhythm. I agree with all your other suggestions but completely object to this one. I lived in Camden for a while and would say that the staff in Rhythm are some of the rudest and most vile people I ever encountered. Smug, stuck up and with serious attitude problems. I should add that it was this shop that inspired me to start Runcible Records. After an endless series of terrible experiences in Rhythm I decided there was space for a retailer who was polite and friendly and as well as having good stock and being knowledgable. If you're talking about shops like that, what used to be Zippo and then became another shop in Hanway Street was brilliant (forgotten the name). Run by a guy called Pete and with an incredible bonkers Texan nutcase we used to call 'Gibby Haynes dad'. Great people, but gone now. The rest of the people I used to deal with were at record fairs and mail order - Round Ear were brilliant (mainly punk and hard core), Star Side (my old Runcible partner) for reggae, Norman Records, the fantastic Chunki Records run by the wonderful Andi (now gone also)... Add my vote for King Bee is possibly my favourite shop - lovely people, compact but quality-driven selection. Oh - throw in Play It Again, run by yourself, I loved that shop (ALSO gone), plus many others in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Windsor.

Post by **BzaInSpace** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:40 pm

Yeah, thats the place i was thinking of. Been there a few times, both times spending a serious amount of ca$h, and was treated with blatent arseholery. Not a bad selection though - although some of the 2nd hand gear is way overpriced. Got a lot of good funk and reggae in there...and some crappy rule about listening to 'more than 5 records'.

Bastards whined about taking a scottish ten too.

a beautiful noise · Post by **a beautiful noise** » Tue Jan 11, 2005 10:44 pm

is that the place that down stairs they had a ridiculously massive GOTH section of cd's? if so i agree, they whined at me to stop listening to the cd's for so long!

what a laugh that day was.

xxxshonnxxx

Post by **spzretent** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 6:08 pm

I never asked any questions in Rhythm. I used to pick up loads of limited releases downstairs there. The prices were good too. I did notice the second hand stuff on the over priced side. Maybe people didn't want to deal with the spiral staircase.

Post by **runcible** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:23 pm

Yup, Bza and beautiful noise - that's the place. Total fuckers. Add it to the shit list.

ORBITAL · Post by **ORBITAL** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 12:55 pm

Shonn, what the fuck were you doing downstairs listening to a 'ridiculously massive' selection of GOTH cd's?

BTW I came across that purple vinyl phalis shaped sisters of mercy 12'' you were lookin for.

a beautiful noise · Post by **a beautiful noise** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:49 pm

WHAT!!!!!!!!

ohhhh thats fucking low orbie, even for you.

xxxshonnxxx

Fuzzhead · Post by **Fuzzhead** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:48 pm

My copy of Jason's remix finally arrived from Sister Ray today. It's definitely been worth the wait.

Blown me away. And it's been a while since Mr Spaceman has had that affect on me.

Hope this is a sign of things to come...

ORBITAL · Post by **ORBITAL** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:17 pm

Heh heh Heh

Starfish · Post by **Starfish** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:37 pm

the wizard's sleeve, eh? So you are trying for another sprog.

a beautiful noise · Post by **a beautiful noise** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:42 pm

heh heh heh, just what you need, another wee bairn running around!

xxxshonnxxx

Post by **sunny** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:00 am

My record finally arrived today from Sister Ray!

Rhythm Records has shut down. I miss it actually, my only local options now are (gasp) Virgin and the exchange shops. I guess Reckless is OK.

andyblacktoo · Post by **andyblacktoo** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:49 am

clewsr wrote:does Spinadisk still exist in Northampton? that used to be was one of my favorates.

its still there, its spinadisc though, they've opened a shop in rugby as well.

rockaboom in leicester was excellent but seems to have dropped in recent times as it has been forced to move away from the CWNN side of things, and more towards the commercial charts.

Sonic Sounds in Lincoln is probably the best record shop I know of these days, for their ability to stock everything decent that I can never find in other CWNN stores,

oh and the left-legged pineapple in loughborough deserves a mention as well.

candy-cane-girl · Post by **candy-cane-girl** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 9:20 pm

Sisterray wrote:Hi everyone - Happy New Year to you all.

We have been notified by a customer about this thread so we've come to have a look. Everyone seems a bit tense...

Sorry if you are unhappy with the price but it's a rare item and we're in the record selling business so if you want cheaper records, get a job in a record shop

All the best for 2005 and thanks for bearing with us.

Im normally quite apleasant chumly person when it comes to dealing with ebay sellers, I am one yes we deal in rare finds (sometimes!)

But what a tosser.

If he was from sister ray this is so not the message i would like to deliver to the poepl waiting on orders from me, not acknowleding the demands for records, but pissing me off more by telling me the only way to get cheap records is by working for a record shop, no one was really complaining about the price, they wre complaining about the service, and from reading your message it appears you dont even LISTEN to them in the first place.

Everyone who has not received thier order via ebay should report them as a non performing seller, and hopefully a few reports will at least get them booted of there.

The worst sort of business there is.

rant over sorry.

Fuzzhead · Post by **Fuzzhead** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 10:03 pm

I got my order in the end. Perhaps I was a bit hasty with them, but if they had of simply let me know sooner about the problem I would have been cool with them. No problem whatsoever.

After 3 weeks I still hadn't got my order nor heard from them, after apparently 'Buying It Now' on eBay! That's what pissed me off.

They got their act together after I had a gripe at them and kept me in touch, so I hold nothing against them now. Shit happens...

veiko · Post by **veiko** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 6:30 pm

No, Fuzzhead, shittake happens. only that happens.

thats really really very awful if a shop has something on their webpage for selling and then it turns out to be sold out.

if a shop is the small, then they really must not bother with the webpage and selling online!

what there is to compromise?

Sister Ray sold me a the SPZ gig-only seven-inch for 15 pounds, no the price was not on the vinyl (they asked 20 for it, i sayed i have to eat something for the rest of the week and perhaps they a knowledged my bad english and then give it for bloody 15...).

it's very sick to read that a musicshop is so headless.

ORBITAL · Post by **ORBITAL** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 6:38 pm

Theyre opening a branch in Dallas Sister Ray Krebbs

Spiritualized

Beware of Sister Ray in London

Beware of Sister Ray in London

I dunno