Morning update 10/16/2002

[Jason R]

I took the night off from posting here, but the following are confirmed facts:

1) GWhizOnline.net (the lunchbox manufacturers) are saying that they are not going to do business with AnotherUniverse.com. The issue, they say, is that they have not been paid and have been lied to about receiving payment.

2) The CEO of AU stated that he would post here on Monday after meeting with BMG. There were no posts and there were no meetings on either Monday or Tuesday. In addition to this, as of yesterday, BMG had still not been paid for the DVDs.

3) It appears that today and tomorrow might be big press days for AU.com and the MSCL DVD. There is to be an article carried by the Associated Press which still lists AU.com as the exclusive retailer.

4) If BMG is not paid by today, the discs intended for AU.com might go to the other retailers who have been taking preorders. This would mean that customers who preordered from the petition could actually end up getting the DVDs after anybody who bought it from other sites.

5) To clarify my intentions, if BMG is not paid by the end of the business day EDT (GWhiz appears to not be an issue now, at the very least I will have to email people about the fact that there will not be a lunchbox), I will email the MSCL petition signers about the non-payment and how this impacts their order.

I am still hoping that, perhaps, AU.com will have some last-minute plan up their sleeves to salvage this project. If there is one, I would appreciate some contact from them before I send out any potential mass mails.

Jason Rosenfeld

[MartinPierre]

This is really sad...

We all hoped everything would be allright, but apparently, Ross is too busy touring the US to solve the problems.

What's wrong Ross ?

Do you have the money ?

If not why ? We all paid you !

[kenickie]

I already cancelled my AU order and have ordered with Amazon.
I used to be defensive of AU and now I feel cheated.

This whole thing is dirtying the name of one of the finest TV shows ever made.

I have a feeling that things wil get worse.. not for us though...

[gizmodvdx]

Looks like alot of us will be out of money. Time to start that lawsuit.

[Cate]

I took the night off from posting here, but the following are confirmed facts:

1) GWhizOnline.net (the lunchbox manufacturers) are saying that they are not going to do business with AnotherUniverse.com. The issue, they say, is that they have not been paid and have been lied to about receiving payment.

2) The CEO of AU stated that he would post here on Monday after meeting with BMG. There were no posts and there were no meetings on either Monday or Tuesday. In addition to this, as of yesterday, BMG had still not been paid for the DVDs.

3) It appears that today and tomorrow might be big press days for AU.com and the MSCL DVD. There is to be an article carried by the Associated Press which still lists AU.com as the exclusive retailer.

4) If BMG is not paid by today, the discs intended for AU.com might go to the other retailers who have been taking preorders. This would mean that customers who preordered from the petition could actually end up getting the DVDs after anybody who bought it from other sites.

5) To clarify my intentions, if BMG is not paid by the end of the business day EDT (GWhiz appears to not be an issue now, at the very least I will have to email people about the fact that there will not be a lunchbox), I will email the MSCL petition signers about the non-payment and how this impacts their order.

I am still hoping that, perhaps, AU.com will have some last-minute plan up their sleeves to salvage this project. If there is one, I would appreciate some contact from them before I send out any potential mass mails.

Jason Rosenfeld

Confirmed by whom?

I notice that you are now saying that the discs intended for AU *MIGHT* go to other retailers. You have lead people to believe that they WERE definitely going to other retailers.

Just one more thing - there are three hour flight delays out of NY today due to weather (info from CNN). Depending on when Ross' flight was due to leave this may affect your EDT deadline. (I doubt very much that Ross is responsible for the weather and resulting flight delays but you may have another opinion )

Oh and Jason, to be quite honest and blunt - if I were Ross, and saw what you've managed to do on this forum over the past few days, there is no way in hell I'd be answering to you. And my lawyer would be having a damn good look at what has transpired here.

And if I'm wrong, and just a silly hopeless idealist, then I'll be the first to eat my words - but for you to see it, you will have to pay my airfare to NYC. And if your unwilling to do that - then you will just have to take my word for it. Maybe I can have someone confirm it for you. I'll make sure they put "Authentic" in the subject header.

[Hardware]

Cate - just why are you being so agressive? Jason is putting his point across and if Ross disagrees, he is just as able to put forward his view as well.

The fact of the matter is that the last time Ross posted a message here was last week, and he promised to give us an update on Monday regarding his meeting with BMG. He hasn't done any of this, so how can you continue to accept his side of the story when even he won't tell his customers what's happening?

If Ross can afford to ignore customers who've collectively paid him several hundred thousand dollars then he can certainly afford the few minutes to come here and post a short update every day.

This project is now so over time I don't think that this is an unreasonable request - do you?

[Jason R]

Cate,

I had a choice of saying nothing or telling customers what I know.

I could be faulted for doing either, but it appears that telling the truth is what I had to do. It was the only thing I could do.

I am not calling this fraud. However, that is not for me, but for a trier of fact, to decide. And to that end, I pledge 100% cooperation.

Jason

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Oh and Jason, to be quite honest and blunt - if I were Ross, and saw what you've managed to do on this forum over the past few days, there is no way in hell I'd be answering to you. And my lawyer would be having a damn good look at what has transpired here.

Ross doesn't have to answer to Jason regarding this matter.

That said, Ross owes it to us, the paying customers, to inform us of WTF is going on. He wouldn't have to reply to the posts on this forum if he would tell what is going on in any form of his choice.

Ross CHOOSES to post and reply here, at an unofficial forum, and, consequently, to communicate with a very limited number of customers rather than send everyone an email, a snail mail, call us all individually, even post an update on the AU website.

If he would give everyone concrete answers instead of generic promises ("everyone will get some kind of bonus but we're working on it"), then people wouldn't work themselves into a frenzy. If he would tell ALL his customers (not just people who know about this forum) what is going on, then he wouldn't have as many people "bothering" his staff with calls and emails asking where their orders are, cancelling their orders, calling to confirm that their orders were in fact cancelled, etc. thus freeing up more time for the staff to actually process cancellations and refunds.

It is AU's responsibility to contact their customers regarding long-term delays. The September deadline has come and gone, but have we received any info directly from AU about the most recent delay? No.

If we are clamoring for Ross to reply here, it's because we have assumed from his past communiques that this might be the ONLY place we get any info from him. He can change that at any time. Like I said, snail mail, email, phone calls, or updates to the AU website work like a charm.

[hollis27]

^ Well said.