Adding to the confusion

[Michele]

This is my first time posting here, but I have been involved in this mess since the pre-order period. I was doubled charged in July....I e-mailed Jason (who was very helpful and got back to me right away), called AU and somehow got credited only a week later. I decided to finally post because after months of waiting I got fed up and cancelled my order the other day. I was glad I did at first, but then I started having second thoughts. I had held out for so long and still very much wanted the lunchbox and bonus disc (if there ever will be one) and decided that I made a mistake. I just "un-cancelled" my order after getting an e-mail from AU saying they received my cancellation request and if I wanted to un-cancel to note that in the reply. I also called AU and had them un-cancel my order and they said that my order was ok and back in the system. I hope that now, with all the confusion going on that I will actually receive my order. I should never have cancelled, I should have just waited it out, but for a while the whole situation was looking very bleek and I panicked.

I have been reading this forum every day for months and I finally felt like sharing my story.

[vapspwi]

This whole situation seems like it's a lot bigger mess than it should be. From the beginning, the idea of selling two versions of the set, one with the first three episodes and one without, seemed like a fairly substantial extra complication.

Then all of the credit card problems started (premature charges, duplicate charges, etc.), and weren't dealt with in a timely fashion.

Then there's all the different channels to report problems (phone, e-mail to several addresses, the Dry Grass site), which would seem to lead to a big problem in correlating all the information for a particular order number to find out what's been done and what hasn't.

And now there are people e-mail bombing AU with duplicate complaints and followups, and people cancelling and uncancelling, and stuff like that, which has GOT to be compounding the problem. AU brought this on themselves to an extent, both by not dealing with stuff in a timely fashion and allowing themselves to get this far behind, and by trying to be TOO flexible and allow people to do stuff like cancel and uncancel (which I've never heard of a retailer doing before).

Personally, I wish that AU could, with some credibility, provide us with documentation of exactly what they're doing to get organized and get everything done that needs to be done, so that people could feel confident enough to stop sending them duplicate complaints (which are probably just making the cross-referencing problem worse).

I've tried to show restraint in contacting them, personally. After I got a "report processed" from the Dry Grass site, I waited until I got my next bank statement and then sent a followup saying that my overcharge had still not been credited. Then I answered Ross' request for info here earlier this month. Now that I've received my next bank statement, I sent another followup to Ross saying that my overcharge has still not been credited. I'd like to think that this approach could succeed, because I can understand how they might legitimately be overwhelmed, but thus far, it doesn't seem to be getting me very far.

I suppose after they get the DVDs shipped out, I may throw my restraint to the wind and start bombarding them with phone calls requesting my refund. Grr. Frustrating.

JRjr

[fnordboy]

I suppose after they get the DVDs shipped out, I may throw my restraint to the wind and start bombarding them with phone calls requesting my refund. Grr. Frustrating.

Well i agree for the most part, this mess could have been avoided by not having do many ways to complain/request/etc. But you can't get down on people bombarding them. Its frustrating when a refund for a double charge takes over 2 months or more to get processed and returned to you. And you never know which email address is going to get the problem fixed, or if calling them will help or hinder.

That said I personally have not been hounding them. Until i get my set i figure to keep myself sane I will do the least amount of annoying them that i can do. Enough to make them know i am NOT happy and that i am still here and waiting for my second overcharge to be returned.

I always just emailed and called when i new charge appeared. Gave them a nice nasty message and CC'd everyone involved with the project as well as fillign out the drygrass form (which would have been the perfect tool if AU werent a bunch of fucktards).

All i know is once my s**t is fixed i am getting a new card so that those assholes cant get anything else from me.

[pirategraham]

All i know is once my s**t is fixed i am getting a new card so that those assholes cant get anything else from me.

I know that a lot of people are considering doing this but perhaps many do not realize that cancelling and starting a new one will negatively affect your credit rating. Age of longest active account and average age of accounts add to your score. If you have had the card you are thinking of cancelling for a while, you may want to reconsider. Opening date of newest account negatively affects your score if the account is less than 2 years old. If anyone thinks they might be wanting a new car within the next 2 years should probably risk the potential of disputing future charges from AU. The difference between a 0% loan and a 10% loan on $20000 for 60 months is $5496.40!! OK, getting rid of your best CC won't have *that* much affect but it could bump you into the next tier. If you get the above loan at 2.9%, that still $1509.40 more. Is trying to avoid future AU hassles woth that much to you?? Here's a better idea ....Report your CC as lost. They will give you a new account number that AU won't know and you don't hurt your credit history.

[fnordboy]

I know that a lot of people are considering doing this but perhaps many do not realize that cancelling and starting a new one will negatively affect your credit rating.

Well, actually it is a Debit Card, so it works out fine for me. But of course it just means that AU in fact STOLE cash out of my wallet instead of credit card space.