AU's Official DVD Update 28 oct

[janita]

I received it as an email last night.

[dTheater]

I didn't recieve the e-mail and I've had no problem recieving mass e-mails from AU in the past. Now I cancelled my order in the last few weeks, but that shouldn't matter. Unless of course they actually processed the request and took my name and e-mail out of their system. But, I mean...ha ha ha ha. Yeah right

[TessD1891]

I received it as an email last night.

For some reason I'm not getting emails, even though I know my email address in AU's computers is right, since I called to ask about that. So continued thanks to everyone who's been posting the emails, because I ordered by check so I'm staying with AU since I highly doubt I'll get my money back, but there's an extremely slight chance I will get the DVDs and, if I'm very very very lucky, I just might get the whole kit and caboodle.

[marquito]

Just got this in my mailbox:

This is a brief update for everyone who has the My So-Called Life DVD set on order from Another Universe...

So it finally looks like they'll be coming I hope..

blueone, thank you for posting this. Of course, I didn't receive this e-mail even after contacting both Dry Grass and AnotherUniverse to change my e-mail address. While it's nice to get some news, I reiterate what many have said before--I shouldn't have to come to a forum and go out of my way to receive updates. While not surprised, my disappointment at the lack of professionalism and poor business practices employed throughout the process of having this DVD released are exhausting and I really can't wait for it all to be over with. For the remainder of the time left between now and when my DVDs arrive, I'll have to continue to come back to this site for updates and go out of my way to receive information that should be coming directly to me. Exasperation doesn't begin to describe what I feel about all of this. Tedious is too mild a word. I just want this to be over and I can't believe a company is not capable of updating its e-mail lists in a timely fashion after making the customer wait a whole year for a product and charging them for it way before it was even manufactured or shipped. As the AnotherUniverse Bank, I should be entitled to my e-mail being updated and any of my account information being changed in their systems. As the AnotherUniverse Bank, I should have received my DVD many many months ago. As the AnotherUniverse Bank, I feel I deserve interest on the money that I loaned AnotherUniverse to put together this project. But no, I won't get recognition or remuneration. All I'll get is poor service, vague ideas of what's going on, empty promises, and I'll have to go to a forum to check and see if another "mass e-mail" went out with new information. AnotherUniverse will not bother to correct problems with bounced e-mails. They'll just ignore them and not give a damn. I'm incensed, outraged, angry, and disillusioned.

Of course, even after all this and having to seek out this forum to get any information at all because of the incompetence involved with not being able to update an e-mail address on an account, I also find MSCL.com disassociating itself with AnotherUniverse after all I've been through. Suddenly the rest of the world is blameless in the face of this horrible miscarriage of marketing and business practice. But no, I disagree. The customers, the fans who had faith in this project from the beginning--the people who genuinely wanted this to be a reality are the only ones blameless. We put up our money and we trusted everyone involved. And yet we are abused, misdirected, and even patronized. We are strung along with clues on the horrible things happening behind the scenes at AnotherUniverse. Information is withheld from us. We don't matter.

Should I allow myself to be treated like a bank account from which a company can draw upon to fund its transactions? Should I allow myself to be misguided and patronized and made to believe against my better judgment that only the distributor is at fault here? BMG did not even want to release the discs to begin with. "It scanned WAY low." If one is not going with a reputable distributor--and the other is changing the exclusivity of the project midway like an idiot--then nothing that is said by anyone in this equation to the customer, the fan, can be of any consequence, worth, or truth. And through all of it, everyone's trying to cover their asses so that they won't be called to account for the gross improprieties that have occurred in this situation. They don't want to be hit by the backlash of what they've helped create. I find this cowardly and dishonest. Cowardice and dishonesty are cowardice and dishonesty, no matter how you slice it.

Once this is all over with, I know that I will not go with a no-name distributor to order my favorite shows that come back from the dead on DVD. I won't believe everything I hear. I will go with my instincts and wait until the project comes out from a reputable distributor that will not charge me until my order ships. I will not be made into a bank for bankrupt companies to exploit. I hope to God that these DVDs finally ship. Of course, I won't receive my trusty e-mail with the tracking number because my e-mail address hasn't been updated by AnotherUniverse or through their use of the Dry Grass Partners site. Of course, I am moving and will not receive my lunchbox or bonus disc because AnotherUniverse probably wouldn't be capable of changing my address so that when this lunchbox finally ships in from China or wherever the hell it's being made and materializes--by the time the mysterious bonus disc being made by AnotherUniverse staff becomes reality--I will actually have it sent wherever I am. I'll have different sources saying different things and make various different statements that conflict. One person will say, yes, your address has been changed. The other will say, no, your address is the same as before. How can a company do business like this? How can people putting together a project of this magnitude trust such a disreputable distributor with it? Out of desperation you make a deal with the devil to save your soul?? It shows a lack of respect for me, as the customer and the loyal fan, it also shows a lack of care or responsibility to me. I would not have pre-ordered or gotten involved with this mess if I had known that my money was being used to finance this project. The e-mail petition was enough. There was the interest, and a very great interest at that. BMG had enough clout to be able to go to an Amazon.com and make this happen. Why didn't they? Because this project didn't mean anything to them? Instead, the consumer was used to fund this project. We were taken advantage of. That shows a complete and total lack of ethics and morality to the point where everyone involved with bringing this to the fans is responsible for not taking us seriously enough to push until they got this done with a distributor who wouldn't screw us over. I don't like being treated like crap and I don't appreciate being seen as part of a niche. Perhaps the people who watched My So-Called Life weren't miraculously chosen to be Nielsen Rating families, but they watched and loved the show. It would only be fair then to treat the fans with the same respect and care that they had for the show. This obviously isn't the case. All of us who signed a petition and put our pre-order deposits down to make this happen have been treated as banks and used for our money. Most of us who were used as bank accounts don’t even have enough money to pay all our bills, let alone be double and triple charged to the point where all our checks bounce and our bank account are hit with multiple NSF charges. Does this seem right to you?

Never again is all I have to say. I'm a grown man and I know better than to trust things like this. "Oh, yeah, they're coming out with the DVD. Put down a deposit to reserve your DVD which you won’t be able to get anywhere else." This statement made for me only to find out that the set is being mass marketed through Amazon and other venues after the fact that I was promised exclusivity--after the fact that I was told that these discs would not be released to the public. I took the leap and at the other side of the chasm was an illusion, no real place to grab onto or a ledge to reach for to safety. Just a cheap illusion. This is unacceptable. While I thank blueone greatly for posting this update from AnotherUniverse, I find it inconceivable that I've had to go through this hell or that after all this bullbleep I must go through this to find out more about my order. And last, the hypocrisy of the sites and those who were involved in choosing disreputable distributors without researching their backgrounds and making sure this was safe for the fan base to invest in and then completely disassociating themselves from that same distributor is unimaginable. Why was this distributor chosen only to be shunned and completely blacklisted afterward? No, those involved in choosing a distributor did not know what would happen with the project in the hands of AnotherUniverse, but the previous history of CMI Holdings and the Chief Executive Officer of same was obvious. There were news stories about the company's impending bankruptcy, poor performance, and inability to pay its contractors and suppliers. How could this have been ignored? Would working on the MSCL project somehow absolve or erase these chronic problems that CMI Holdings companies were experiencing?? How could we have been treated like dog meat and unlimited moneybags? I find the exploitation of MSCL fans, myself included, too much to handle and can't wait for this nightmare to be over.

Thanks a lot AnotherUniverse and everyone else who didn't do their homework. I guess it was my job to find out for myself about AnotherUniverse's dirty laundry before placing my pre-order (which I did not do very unfortunately for me). I'm glad that because of my pre-order BMG made the discs and can now offer them to other distributors like Amazon.com through Ventura. I made that happen. Thank you very much. I appreciate that and being lied to (or having information withheld from me--which is the same as being lied to) by practically everyone involved in this. Thank you all so very much for all you've done to make my life a living hell the past year.

[Jason R]

For the record, I don't believe that I'm stringing you along with hints of information. I've pretty much said all I can say publicly, but can probably add a bunch more if called upon as a witness. The other thing I can think of is to just post all of my email logs. But that would violate customers' privacy.

Everyone involved, including me, BMG, etc, at some point, researched CMIH. Not everything was apparent from that research, and CMIH was not the only company with financial troubles. That describes so many retailers. In any case, with a pre-order system (note: not precharging system), the risk was supposed to have been greatly reduced. In any event, I am not so sure that Amazon's financials look so much better. (I am oversimplifying things here. Their revenues are way higher, but so is their debt load).

I think that the main problem was not the financial position of AU. The main problem was the lack of competition. I failed to apply the old saying by Lord Acton (quoted by Mr. Spock), that "absolute power corrupts absolutely." I suppose that human nature has not really changed.

Competition forces you to provide the best possible service. And that is why other retailers are currently eating AU's lunch. I think that this will be the last instance of an "exclusive" DVD.

In any case, in the upcoming Poop Shoot article, Ross promises refunds to all who want them. Cut that out and save it.

[marquito]

Competition forces you to provide the best possible service. And that is why other retailers are currently eating AU's lunch. I think that this will be the last instance of an "exclusive" DVD.

In any case, in the upcoming Poop Shoot article, Ross promises refunds to all who want them. Cut that out and save it.

Regardless of your justification or attempted defense (which you shouldn't attempt because at this point it hardly matters, the damage is already done), the fact remains that I was used as a guinea pig and a bank account in this. I was not treated by anyone involved with the least bit of decorum or professionalism. I think I deserved that. The fact is Ventura is distributing a disc that would not have been made without my (and several thousand other peoples') monetary deposits. BMG would not have pressed those discs without the promise of payment and orders from the fans. As not only banks, but also the force that made this project happen, we shouldn't be tossed to the wind once you or this site or anyone else abandons AnotherUniverse as sole distributor. We shouldn't be used and abused and then expected to swallow everything that is said as truth like idiots without brains. I'm not anyone's guinea pig and I will never, ever again be a bank account. My signature to the e-mail petition was enough to make this happen. The fact that I was encouraged to trust AnotherUniverse and place my exclusive order through them was unfair and led me to go through this hell. AnotherUniverise isn't accountable for that. Who would you say is? I will tell you AU is accountable for how horribly they've handled this, but I wouldn't have known or ordered from them without the initial contact and e-mail to preorder. Despite whatever "numbers" Amazon has, they are reputable and they are selling the DVD now and it's not fair to the people who put the money down in the first place to make this happen.

And, Jason, you say you don't string people along or withhold information when in reality you didn't come right out and say that Ross Rojek had not paid BMG. (see thread) You did so in a Wheel of Fortune/Hangman game. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E_ _ _ E _ _ _ E _ People had to guess until finally one person did. "B M G D I D N O T G E T T H E M O N E Y!" If that isn't stringing people along, I don't know what is. I, for one, don't think it's funny or a game when people are deceived and do not receive a product they order as promised and paid for. This hangman trick might have been cute at the time, but it typifies what I've come to expect from this entire mess.

Don't blame me for not trusting you or AnotherUniverse or BMG. I've been lied to and misled by all of you. The original promise was that I would have to order this through AU or not be able to get it. Based on that, I ordered and put down my deposit. That's very clear and there was no lie involved in that. I put down my money based on a contract and I fulfilled my part of the bargain. Why hasn't anyone else been as faithful to the original terms or told the truth as many of us fans have by putting the money up for this project? With Amazon distributing it now, I feel like this was all a lie. No, it's not your fault that Ross supposedly chose to waive exclusivity by making a deal for cheaper DVD sets. But if a contract is made with several thousand people promising exclusivity and AU is made to seem like the only place we can get our DVD sets, then it is not right to allow this to happen. Ross should ONLY be the distributor. He shouldn't be able to make decisions about saving $2 on each set and siphoning some off to Amazon. (Who gave him the right?!) That is a breach of the original contract that named AU as the sole distributor and forced us all into pre-ordering from him. There is no way to justify or defend against that in my mind. I only see the facts now. The dazzle and promise of the DVD set has vanished and has been replaced by the reality that I was used to fund this project and then dumped once it was completed. No one deserved all of this.

[Jason R]

I did not realize you referring to where someone suggest hangman. I guess that is stringing along. For the record, I had already said quite a lot. I was just trying to say it without saying it. I had been asked by BMG not to mention it, but it was really important enought to say despite the instructions to keep quiet.

I was lied to by AU and finally I had incontrovertible proof. And I quit because when they lied to me, and I passed along the lie, it made me look like I was a liar. Just like you complain that you submitted an address change to DryGrass.com and nothing happened. My site is only a go-between. If they don't do their jobs, the site isn't going to help them.

In any case, your points are well taken. Hindsight has made a monkey out of me and a lot of other people involved with this project. However, hindsight is not a gift. We all have it. Was my foresight lacking? Sure as f--- seems like it. When I originally pointed out problems and inconsistencies, people thought that I was being paranoid. Hindsight demonstrated that these inconsistencies were part of a bigger problem. I still can't even get the merchant account company to do anything, despite the fact that I have emailed them incessantly since July. Despite the fact that nearly 1,000 are waiting for refunds of double bills or cancellations.

So anyway, I agree with a lot of what you wrote and I am not making excuses. I asked myself a question early on and I suppose I never answered it properly:

"If you can make a lot of money on a project legitimately, and have a monopoly as the exclusive retailer, and you will, in fact, will make people angry if other people end up selling for cheaper, then why do you want to screw that up?"

I don't know. I have already discussed my role with Ventura on this forum. Perhaps not ad nauseum, but a pretty detailed account. I was working on numerous deals with them. If you want more answers, you can ask them and I will answer. My only attempt at a guess is to say that the lack of competition made them careless. Perhaps they figured that customer service was not important since customers did not have a choice.