MSCL.com

Please help me write my mass mail to the MSCL customers.

SUBJECT: Jason Rosenfeld following up on customer service problems.

Dear <Name>

On October 16, 2002 I pulled my company out of the My So-Called Life DVD project to protest AnotherUniverse.com's mistreatment of customers and overall mishandling of the project. My primary concern is that hundreds upon hundreds of customers have been double or triple-billed since July 2002, and that in the vast majority of cases, AU.com has not refunded their customers' money. On October 17, 20002, MSCL.com sent out a newsletter (click here to view) stating that "MSCL.COM does not recommend doing business with AnotherUniverse."

As AnotherUniverse is no longer the exclusive retailer, the newsletter also included a list of other internet retailers (link to FAQ) selling the DVD Box Set (sans bonus disc and lunchbox) for a prevailing price range of $60-$70. Additionally, many customers are not aware of the fact that Another Universe is not shipping the DVDs with the lunch box or bonus disc (they are promising to send them at a later date). I have long argued that they should mention this on their site to allow potential customers to make an informed decision.

Finally, many MSCL DVD customers have written to me to ask me why I removed myself from the project or simply to ask me for help in obtaining a response to their customer service requests to AnotherUniverse.

I withdrew from the project because I cannot work with a company that I do not trust and which, throughout the project, has had a history of mistreating vendors and customers.

However, although I have withdrawn support for the retailer, I must remain engaged in this project until all overcharged customers receive a refund. I must ask you to PLEASE do the following.

IF YOU HAVE SUBMITTED A CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUEST TO ANOTHERUNIVERSE, AND YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FROM THEM, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR REQUEST TO http://www.drygrass.com/mscl.

Even if you have previously attempted to submit your request by phone or email, it is EXTREMELY important that you submit your request to http://www.drygrass.com/mscl, especially if you requested a double bill correction or an order cancellation. All submissions are logged, and unlike an email or phone memo, it cannot be misplaced by a customer service representative.

NOTE: If you previously filled out the customer service form, there is no need to do it again for the same complaint. However, if you have a different complaint to report, please fill out the form again.

My company will continue to exert pressure on Another Universe until all customers receive the necessary credits to their accounts. However, please understand that we are not sending this email in coordination with AnotherUniverse. Only they can take the appropriate actions to correct order problems or process refunds.

Sincerely,
Jason Rosenfeld
Dry Grass Partners, LLC

Email reads well. I was wondering if you might want to think about a way that people could indicate to you that their cancellation refund had been processed, similar to the form that can filled out concerning double/triple charges. That way, as time goes on, you could narrow the universe of people down to just those that still are waiting on something. I was thinking of either email links with different subject lines (order number + status) or a form. I think people are more likely to click an email link.

Looks great to me, Jason!

We will regularly poll people who submit cancellation and correction requests.

If they respond that they received a refund, they will be removed from the mass mail list.

Jason Rosenfeld wrote:We will regularly poll people who submit cancellation and correction requests.

If they respond that they received a refund, they will be removed from the mass mail list.

Just to add to this...

I created a new field in the database to track if this was done of not. If someone hasn't answered yet their name will come up again. If someone answered that they hadn't received a refund we can send out another email just to those people to see if they have been refunded at a later date. I think it's the best way this could have been done given the patchwork of code. In the future I plan on having a much better system in place, but hopefully it'll never be used.

Gord

Just wanted to ask if you have already started polling people. I cacelled 2 weeks ago, but didn't actually put my info on drygrass until about a week ago, and have not received any email other than the ones from Mike@anotheruniverse.com.

those emails are automatically generated by the drygrass site. i will see if we can make that more clear in future emails. "THIS IS AN AUTOMATED EMAIL."

Jason Rosenfeld wrote:On October 17, 20002, MSCL.com sent out a newsletter (click here to view) stating that "MSCL.COM does not recommend doing business with AnotherUniverse."

Umm... there are one too many zeros in the year. Otherwise, a good e-mail.

It IS a good e-mail. I've taken your request seriously, Jason, and attempted to improve it a bit. I don't have a "roster" of the changes I just made...I wasn't keeping track. For the most part I tried to remove any assumptions that the recipient has prior knowledge of any events since they placed their order a zillion years ago. I also tried to simplify a few areas, since not every customer is necessarily a grade A student.

Whether or not I was successful in either attempt, I'll leave for you to judge. I enlisted the aid of a coworker, who is a former article editor, to proofread my changed version. However, if you prefer to use your original version, I understand and won't be upset or anything!

Check it out:
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SUBJECT: Jason Rosenfeld following up on customer service problems.

Dear <Name>

The purpose of this note is to update customers of the My So-Called Life DVD set. There are numerous customer service problems with my former client, AnotherUniverse.com. Many of you are not yet aware of these issues. This is to ensure you are informed of the situation, and are made aware of the alternatives available to you.

On October 16, 2002 I pulled my company, Dry Grass Partners, out of the MSCL DVD project to protest AU.com's mistreatment of customers and overall project mishandling. My primary concern is that hundreds upon hundreds of customers have been double or triple-billed since July 2002. In the vast majority of cases, AU.com has not yet refunded their customers' money. On October 17, 2002, MSCL.com sent out a newsletter (click here to view) stating, "MSCL.COM does not recommend doing business with AnotherUniverse."

AnotherUniverse is no longer the exclusive retailer, and to that end the newsletter had also included a list of other internet retailers (link to FAQ) selling the DVD Box Set (sans bonus disc and lunchbox) for an effective price range of $60-$70. Additionally, many customers are not aware of the fact that AnotherUniverse is not shipping the lunch box or bonus disc along with the DVDs (they are promising to send the extras at a later date). I have long argued that they should mention this on their site, to allow potential new customers to make an informed decision. Alas, their wording has not reflected this change yet.

Finally, many MSCL DVD customers have written to me to ask me why I removed myself from the project, or simply to ask me for help in obtaining a response to their customer service requests to AnotherUniverse.

I withdrew from the project because I cannot work with a company that I do not trust and which, throughout the project, has had a history of mistreating vendors and customers.

However, although I have withdrawn support for the retailer, I must remain engaged in this project until all overcharged customers receive a refund. I am obliged to ask you to PLEASE do the following.

IF YOU HAVE SUBMITTED A CUSTOMER SERVICE REQUEST TO ANOTHERUNIVERSE, AND YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FROM THEM, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR REQUEST TO http://www.drygrass.com/mscl.

Even if you have previously attempted to submit your request by phone or email, it is EXTREMELY important that you submit your request to http://www.drygrass.com/mscl. Please do so, especially if you requested a double bill correction or an order cancellation. Those submissions are automatically logged, and (unlike an email or phone memo) a customer service representative cannot misplace it.

My company will continue to exert pressure on Another Universe until all affected customers receive the necessary credits to their accounts.

Sincerely,
Jason Rosenfeld
Dry Grass Partners, LLC

MUCH better after your changes, Dave. I also added 2 short paragraphs to the end of my email. how do those fit in? I am sending with a verticalresponse account, which is the same method currently used by AU for mass mails, and I am emailing to athe first 3,200 customers. I don't have the addresses of later customers.

Jason Rosenfeld wrote:those emails are automatically generated by the drygrass site. i will see if we can make that more clear in future emails. "THIS IS AN AUTOMATED EMAIL."

Jason, I had already understood that those emails were automatically generated, but that was not my question. I wanted to know if you had already started polling people who submitted.

I know I was polled when i submitted on getting a double charge refunded, but I have since sent a cancelation request, and have not received any email asking if I had been refunded.

Eliott wrote:

Jason Rosenfeld wrote:those emails are automatically generated by the drygrass site. i will see if we can make that more clear in future emails. "THIS IS AN AUTOMATED EMAIL."

Jason, I had already understood that those emails were automatically generated, but that was not my question. I wanted to know if you had already started polling people who submitted.

I know I was polled when i submitted on getting a double charge refunded, but I have since sent a cancelation request, and have not received any email asking if I had been refunded.

Yes, emails have gone out but you wouldn't have been included in that first batch. We'll be sending out another fairly soon so you should get that one.

If you don't get it, you probably have a hotmail account, or another account with a spam filter. There's no way for us to control that.

Gord

Jason Rosenfeld wrote:MUCH better after your changes, Dave. I also added 2 short paragraphs to the end of my email. how do those fit in? I am sending with a verticalresponse account, which is the same method currently used by AU for mass mails, and I am emailing to athe first 3,200 customers. I don't have the addresses of later customers.

Thank you! Glad to help.

As for your last-minute changes to the end, I'd just revise the last two paragraphs in my version to read as these three paragraphs instead:

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Even if you have previously attempted to submit your request by phone or email, it is EXTREMELY important that you submit your request to http://www.drygrass.com/mscl. Please do so, especially if you requested a double bill correction or an order cancellation. Those submissions are automatically logged, and (unlike an email or phone memo) a customer service representative cannot misplace it.

NOTE: If you previously filled out the customer service form, there is no need to do it again for the same complaint. However, if you have a different complaint to report, please fill out the form again.

My company will continue to exert pressure on Another Universe until all affected customers receive the necessary credits to their accounts. However, please understand that we are not sending this email in coordination with AnotherUniverse. Only they can take the appropriate actions to correct order problems or process refunds.

Sincerely,
Jason Rosenfeld
Dry Grass Partners, LLC

David Lambert wrote:
to that end the newsletter had also included a list of other internet retailers (link to FAQ) selling the DVD Box Set (sans bonus disc and lunchbox)

Just a small point, but I'd change the word "sans" for the word "without". Just to avoid any possible confusion ("Sans bonus disc? What the hell is a sans bonus disc?!" etc). Most people probably know what you mean, but you can't assume that when you're sending to such a large number of people.