By February, I still hadn't received any word on the shipping date despite Bandcamp telling me it'd be shipped by January, so I sent the contact address on Bampcamp's page an email just to inquire what was happening. I received a perfectly polite email back from Meredith Yayanos, simply stating there'd been an issue with the factory and it was taking longer than expected which is completely fair enough and I have no issue with at all. I'm a creator myself, I know full well that these things are out of our control sometimes, and I responded that I understood and was happy to wait (all emails can be clicked to enlarge, I use screenshots so it's clear no tampering is involved)
June rolled round, and I still hadn't heard anything and was getting anxious as I was going to be away from my address over summer and was worried it might ship while I was gone and I wouldn't receive it. So I sent Meredith another email stating that fact, and asking for her advice:
I received another perfectly polite and professional email in response that very same day, apologising for the delay and that it was due to "hopefully ship some time in July, with some extra bells and whistles, it will have been worth the wait". She very kindly offered to put a note on my order to hold it until later in the year, or alternatively gave me the option to cancel the order and receive a refund. As I'd been wanting this vinyl for years, and had been waiting for it for 8 months at this point, there was no way I wanted to cancel the order and from her communication with me had every trust that Meredith was honest and true to her word. So I asked her if she could please put a note on my order for it to be shipped in September so I'd be back.
On 12th July, I received a shipping notification from USPS that the vinyl had shipped. I panicked and sent Meredith an email with the tracking number I'd been sent. She responded the same day saying that it was a mistake, and that she'd send another, with a second email immediately after promising that I'd get my copy. My mind was put at ease.
I returned in September as expected, and checked the tracking to see that it had been returned and delivered to sender. I waited until October to contact Meredith again with the following, just in case she was going to send it out late September. I suffer with severe mental illness and I constantly worry about causing possible offense and being polite, so I always give people as much time as possible and try and assume the best.
On October 6th, I sent the below:
And I received absolutely no response. No more same day emails, no later in the week emails, just radio silence. At first I assumed maybe she was ill, on vacation, or just plain busy, but after a while I grew anxious and searched for her social media only to see that she was updating it regularly several times per day. I still waited a little longer, and on 21st October I could see that I clearly wasn't going to get any response and sent the following:
2 days later on 23rd October, she sent me this:
Although bitterly disappointed to have waited a year for absolutely nothing, I would of accepted this, if it wasn't for the final paragraph which I read several times over and couldn't understand why she was saying it.
"I would like to remind you that I'm a human being, not a malfunctioning robot who exists to serve you, and you're probably not a saint. Have a nice life."
I couldn't understand the passive aggression, and what I was being blamed for. I'd emailed her two inquiries for updates throughout the year, and then sent an email asking her to send the item I'd paid for as she's previously promised I'd receive. When did I make demands? It was she who offered, twice, to send it to me at a later date, why am I considered demanding and treating her like a robot to take her up on her own offer? When did I assume she served me, other than by asking her to send the item I had paid for over a year earlier? I was hurt and confused at receiving that email, and so sent the below response:
I received no further response from her until 15th November, when out of the blue she sends me two emails:
Shaking, I sent the below response:
To which she responded:
At this point I felt harassed, and couldn't understand why she was using vulgar language, being so nasty for me for simply trying to support her art by buying it through herself, and seemingly blaming me for her woes.
I cannot forgive the contempt and rudeness she's treated me with, which is my motivation for publicly sharing this. Despite my initial hurt, I had previously decided to let it go, but after being told to "go fuck yourself" for doing absolutely nothing wrong, I felt it was time I made this public.
I do not assume to tell you what to you with your own money, but simply advise you to beware.
My final email read as follows (and I include my own side of the conversation just for full transparency, I've never pretended to be perfect but I'm certainly not rude either). I hope this will be the final email on the matter, and that I will not be harassed by Meredith any further.
