FED UP!!!

[OKCjonny]

I am close to losing all patience. This whole process has been a disaster and I am appalled at the piss-poor management of everyont involved in the project, even Jason. The reasons for my disgust are listed below:

1. I was double-charged over a month ago and I still have not received a credit. I have called numerous times and told "a couple weeks"..."shouldn't be more than a few more days" etc. Well, I still don't have my credit. I was amazed at first that a company could be so careless that this would happen, and even more amazed that it has taken so long to be credited.

2. I have not received my DVD nor been told when I can receive it. I assume that many customers don't even know this message board exists. They are probably completely in the dark, wondering where their DVDs are. What kind of company expects people to use a message board to check order status, get info on refunds, etc. It's totally amateur.

3. No one at AU seems to even care... and the ones that did, seem to be fed up. This is apparent in a lot of Jason's recent posts. I admit that Jason's situation sucks, but he chose to be in the position he is in and is even getting paid. I have no sympathy for him or anyone else at AU (contrac employee or fulltime). I am still waiting for a response on an email I sent Jason 2 months ago. Jason, you helped spearhead this operation and you were invloved from the start. AU sucks, and you should take responsibility for that. You set it up.

For all of you who say we need to quit bitching, then you obviously haven't had the problems many of us have had. I don't make a lot of money, and when I get charged $200 for a DVD that may or may not arrive this month or next month, it makes me angry. I have been double charged, and it wasn't a credit card...it was a check card. That double charge gave me a negative balance and caused other transactions to bounce. The customer service at AU is incredibly lax considering the amount of money they have effectively stolen. I am fed up and I would ask for a refund, but I know I wouldn't recieve it for another 2 months.

AU is a shady company to say the least, and I will file complaints with as many agencies as I can find.

[Jason R]

I wish I could disagree with you. However, I cannot. Your criticisms hit the nail on the head. I did not know what I was getting myself into with AU. I find the service and response from AU to be appalling. The absolute worst I have ever experienced, and I have seen some really bad companies.

Never thought I'd be playing the Pied Piper for one, though.

[southernfire]

I have been perousing the forum for a while, but never posted, but now i know that I want to. I too have been experiencing great difficulties with AU and plan to NEVER order anything from them again and to spread the word to everyone. But I really do feel for Jason. He has been right there with us in the anxoius wating we've been experiencing since Febuary. Unfortunately the project ended up being routed through a really shady company who has yet to respond to my 3 e-mails and 2 telephone calls. Jason has always responded promptly and I really appreciate it, so thanks for putting up with all the bullsh*t from both sides. and might I add, the special problem form was a total waste of time and did not expidite my refund any faster since I got charged in August and i'm still waiting...

[Natasha (candygirl)]

3. No one at AU seems to even care... and the ones that did, seem to be fed up. This is apparent in a lot of Jason's recent posts. I admit that Jason's situation sucks, but he chose to be in the position he is in and is even getting paid. I have no sympathy for him or anyone else at AU (contrac employee or fulltime). I am still waiting for a response on an email I sent Jason 2 months ago. Jason, you helped spearhead this operation and you were invloved from the start. AU sucks, and you should take responsibility for that. You set it up.

I agree that AU has been VERY unprofessional and unreliable throughout our experience with them, and yes Jason is a contracted employee for this project, but I refuse to put any blame on Jason. He was not hired to wipe AU's ass every time they s**t on us, yet he has tried to smooth things over time and again. He got paid to do his job, but he went FAR above and beyond the call of duty trying to help people get their money back on double charges. As far as Jason taking responsibility for getting AU to do this, everyone should be THANKING Jason for finding one company in the entire country who was willing to take on this project. No one else wanted to take the chance. Read that again: everyone else said NO. We can complain about AU all day long, but the alternative would be all of us posting "we want a box set" on this forum for another three or four years and possibly never seeing it come to fruition if it wasn't for AU agreeing to do this. Don't get me wrong - I am as mad at them as humanly possible BUT don't point fingers at the wrong people. We know who held up the music clearance. We know the lunchboxes are not being manufactured by AU. What has AU done wrong? Double charged (or NOT charged) customers, been slow as molasses to correct these charges, and been inefficient (okay nonexistent) at communicating delays to us. Jason could not have foreseen these problems so I don't think it's fair to blame him for what AU or BMG or people in Hong Kong have done.

[Bitterman]

"I don't think it's fair to blame him for what AU or BMG or people in Hong Kong have done."

Nope, nor for the failure of World Peace, the fact that S-Club 7 keep getting to number one and the fact they cancelled the series. However, he has his discs; where are ours?

AFAIK nobody has their discs yet, though they were supposed to ship a week ago. There's been delays and excuses and cancellations, double orders and triple orders and more cancellations, cockups and excuses and broken promises.

I don't want to get on somebody's back for things that aren't their fault, but as I learned when I was working in the customer service industry, there is NOTHING more annoying than someone who says "It's not my fault, blame them." I don't care. I, as a customer am being badly treated; the SINGLE most irritating thing is for the only person involved who I can actually get hold of to pass the buck. I'd like nothing more than to spend some serious time haranguing AU and/or BMG but since I live in the UK I'm not about to dial the USA for an enquiry like this, and I've sent them emails and got no replies. (In fact, the only contact I've had this whole time is the letter I got sent as a receipt six months ago). So who do I turn to? Someone I know to be in contact with the companies involved and who was instrumental in setting up the whole thing.

And the attitude that appears to be coming across is, "I don't know. Ask them. I'm going to go watch my DVDs now."

I am more than 100 dollars out of pocket with no sign that this situation is likely to change. I don't want to hear "I asked them, they don't know," I want to hear "Can do, will do, doing it NOW." That might mean that Jason has a lot of work to do at the moment. Well, that's what happens when you take on a position of responsibility; sorry, but there it is.

Doubtless when I get my DVDs I'll feel ashamed at putting the pressure on like this, but right now, I can't help being suspicious that this is all a big con, and until I see otherwise (ie. I get my DVDs) I have questions to ask, and the answer "not my problem" is intensely frustrating.

All I want is for someone to say "Ths discs exist. I have one. Yours is on the way!"

[Jason R]

The answer from me has consistently been that AU have fucked this up big time. I have tried to keep pressure on them, and they resent that and, as a result, they are much less forthcoming with information to me now.

Then they started to accuse me of turning opinion against them, and they also accused me of making anonymous posts. My communication with them has been extremely limited since then.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

However, he has his discs; where are ours?

And the attitude that appears to be coming across is, "I don't know. Ask them. I'm going to go watch my DVDs now."

If you read the rest of the posts where Jason reviewed the discs or estimated the amount of time it would take before BMG delivered them to AU, you would know that Jason does NOT have the discs anymore. Those were not his personal copy. He watched them to make sure there weren't any problems with them before OUR copies were pressed and then Fed-Exed them back.

I love that people are now imagining Jason sitting at home just watching MSCL over and over again while we twiddle our thumbs.

[Jason R]

I had to return them the same day I finished watching them. And I had to do it to test them out. It will be much more enjoyable to actually watch them while relaxing, at my leisure.

He is absolutely correct about everything else though. It simply is not useful for me to act as a go-between when AU tells me something is fixed, I pass the message back to the customer and then I find out a month later that the problem wasn't fixed. You can't help someone if they don't want to be helped (referring to AU here, not the customers).

The form that Gord built allows me to keep tabs on how long it takes AU to respond to a problem, and who actually clears it from the queue. It is kind of like a babysitting service. I can tell you exactly how many days it takes, on average, for something to be cleared from the queue, for example.

[pgh kenny]

The way I see it, my issue is with AU and not anyone else. I ordered the set from AU, not from Jason. It is nice of him to try to fix our problems, but customer service is the obligation of the retailer, not Jason. If the dvd is to be delayed, that information should come from the retailer.

I find this quote, from the AU "Bill of Rights" to be especially amusing:

"None of the thousands of customers who have ordered from us have reported fraudulent use of their credit card as a result of shopping at Fandom Shop." - http://www.anotheruniverse.com/help/au/security.asp

Well, if an authorized charge followed by a refusal to refund the overcharge in a timely manner isn't fraud, I don't know what is!

[I am editing (actually, deleting) part of my post here. I was just reading through all of the old posts and have decided to reconsider what I had written. -pgh_kenny]

When I order online I always use a credit card, not a debit card. Many online ventures have and will failed. I am giving AU a chance to refund my double charge (2 weeks). If that doesn't happen, then I will sign and fax the paper work my credit card company sent me to dispute the charges. It is not an emotional issue for me - it is just like a business transaction.

[marquito]

For all of you who say we need to quit bitching, then you obviously haven't had the problems many of us have had. I don't make a lot of money, and when I get charged $200 for a DVD that may or may not arrive this month or next month, it makes me angry. I have been double charged, and it wasn't a credit card...it was a check card. That double charge gave me a negative balance and caused other transactions to bounce. The customer service at AU is incredibly lax considering the amount of money they have effectively stolen.

Jonny,

I totally understand your bitching and moaning. I would be pissed off, too, if my check/debit card got screwed by AU. Thank God I used my credit card! Regardless, I say relax only because bitching and moaning won't solve anything. Action will.

As you aren't willing to cancel your order (I know, why ever bother when you may not even get the refund for months, if at all), complaining really doesn't make sense. Let's wait it out and see. If and when the DVDs come, it will hopefully all be worth it. We all took this leap of faith together and hopefully soon either we'll be rewarded for our trouble or we'll all converge on the source of our collective lament.

The main thing is you shouldn't be quick to generalize and say people who say 'quit your bitching' haven't gone through the problems you have. I, personally, almost had a second charge go through to my credit card. Luckily I caught the charge while it was still only an authorization. On top of that, we've all been waiting for our DVDs. ALL OF US. And most of us are suffering because we've been waiting long enough. Having you come here and basically say you and a few others are the worst off is really selfish and ridiculous as we are all going through the same thing. Again, since you aren't cancelling, join the rest of the mob and wait and please do quit your bitching and genuinely do something about the double charge.

Despite all this, I sincerely wish you good luck getting your money back and I hope all of us get our DVDs soon. In parting, all I can say, and rather weakly because I'm tired of coming back to this forum to see what's going on and having to endlessly check on status and rumors of rumors on shipping dates and turnarounds, is: I want my My So-Called Life.

[marquito]

If that doesn't happen, then I will sign and fax the paper work my credit card company sent me to dispute the charges. It is not an emotional issue for me - it is just like a business transaction.

You're right, Penny. For a lot of people this has become an emotional issue. Not for me, though. And--I'm glad--not for you. The only thing I'd add is that this is a business transaction. It's not like one. While I'm thankful for all the efforts of the parties involved, even AU for taking on the distribution of the set, someone needs to be accountable for the billing problems that some are experiencing. And as distributor and entity that is intitiating the charges for our sets, you're right, AU has the sole responsibility of making this right.

However, why was AU chosen? Why didn't the project planners for this choose a more reliable distributor? Amazon.com? I mean... what was the agenda behind using AU? I wish I knew.

[Jason R]

Believe me, I wish Amazon had agreed to do this.

[pgh kenny]

However, why was AU chosen? Why didn't the project planners for this choose a more reliable distributor? Amazon.com? I mean... what was the agenda behind using AU? I wish I knew.

I have always assumed that CMIH was one of the only or maybe the only retailer willing to take on the project. At the beginning, no one knew what the demand for pre-orders would be. Many of us signed a petition, but there was no guarantee that people would actually commit to a pre-order deposit.

[marquito]

Believe me, I wish Amazon had agreed to do this.

Ok, Jason. I read above and AU appears to have been the only distributor willing to take the project. Was there research done on AU before making the agreement to work with them? I know it doesn't make sense to say "what if" or "we could have", but seriously--wouldn't have other distributors have taken an interest if they saw how many orders would have come through? If AU was already in bad shape, why would the team working on this (or are you 'the team'?) choose to work with them? Couldn't a pre-order site have been set up independently of a distributor (and then a distributor could pick up the pre-orders and do fulfillment)? Maybe a group of MSCL fans would have been up for getting paid something to package these sets and get them out to everyone. I mean, it's that simple. The mystery that AU is pulling out of their arse is beyond me. Receive the discs from BMG, package and ship them out.

It's very simple, the distributor charges each person ONLY for the number of sets ordered, BMG presses the sets and ships them to the distributor, and the distributor ships them out! (GRRR) When pre-orders are up on Amazon, I pay and they ship to me when it's all ready. They DON'T charge me prior to shipping my order. NEVER. No hassles.

Right now, we're all stuck in this Catch-22. If we report AU for unacceptable service as far as billing (and can we expect reliable shipping out of the sets, even), they'll be screwed and probably won't even bother fulfilling our orders. With their poor financial state, they may even go out of business. If we don't report AU, they will be free to do whatever they want and abuse us further. It bites being between a rock and a hard place, doesn't it?

[Ross Rojek]

Believe me, I wish Amazon had agreed to do this.

There are times when I wish it as well.