Open letter of complaint about AU - please read/sign.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

Question about the dates in the letter. I ordered my DVDs from AU in February (around the 11th, I have records somewhere that I can check). That leads me to believe that the set was announced somewhere prior to the March date given in the first paragraph.

JRjr

I searched the forum and found somamoon's post dated February 9 that says she preordered with AU that day.

http://www.mscl.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=362

[Jessica Popsicles]

I ordered on February 11th, which if I can remember was 2 days after the pre-order was announced. Here is the original e-mail sent to all of the people who signed the petition to let them know about the pre-order.
Had to go digging in an old email account for this one.

=======================================
From : 
jasonR@mscl.com  
Reply-To : 
jasonR@mscl.com  
To : 
xxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx  
Subject : 
"My So-Called Life" DVD boxed set: PRE-ORDER NOW!  
Date : 
Sat, 9 Feb 2002 15:13:57 -0500

Hey Everyone!  It's Miller Time!

I am very excited (ecstatic is more like it!) to inform you that the
My So-Called Life DVD Box Set is going to become a reality.

"How soon," you ask?  You'll be amazed to learn that you can actually
place a pre-order now and reserve a copy with a $20 deposit.  BMG has
agreed to license the DVD to AnotherUniverse.com as the exclusive source.

I, too, am amazed at how quickly things have progressed.  To all those
who doubted this would actually happen, I say, "don't doubt the power
of prayer."

Here is a little information:
1) The complete set will be issued on DVDs with bonus material, special
   collector's packaging, booklet, etc.  Specifics will be coming to
   http://www.mscl.com/dvd soon!
2) There will be no region coding. It will play anywhere.  International
   shipping is available.
3) The DVD is available exclusively online, at
http://www.anotheruniverse.com/mscldvd
4) You can pay by credit card, check, or money order.
5) I believe that there is a phone number to order from (on their site).
6) For those who already own episodes 1-3, you can buy a set without that
   disc.
7) The price with all episodes is $99.98.
The price for episodes 4-19 is $89.98 (the set will be identical,
   minus disc one.  You can insert the old disc into the new set
   package – but not the holder).
9) These prices may go down given a high number of pre-orders, as
   production costs can be spread out over a greater number of units.
10) There is a lot more info at http://www.anotheruniverse.com/mscldvd .

Important: The number of box sets manufactured will depend on the number
of pre-orders received.  There is no guarantee that there will more after
the pre-order period.  There is no “evil” strategy behind this; it's just
that the set is being manufactured in response to our demand.  In fact,
we are the only reason it is being pressed at all. The estimated turnaround
time is 3 months.  However, if extra bonus material is located before
production, and it is worthwhile, it is possible that this could be
extended so that the extra material can be included.

This is pretty much the first time that I can remember that a DVD is
being made solely in response to overwhelming fan demand and believe me,
your signatures and hard work made all of the difference.  There were almost
4,500 pre-pre-order signatures, so AnotherUniverse.com is just trying to
make sure that they don't make too many or too few.  It would suck to make
4,500 copies, if only 2,500 bought the set.

Besides that, I will post more information as it becomes available,
including information on extras, sneak peaks of the packaging etc.
I know when I originally wrote to everyone, I had quoted a lower $ amount
for the DVD box set.  I had underestimated the number of discs that would be
needed for all of the episodes, as well as some of the costs for licensing
the material.  I still believe that the price is fair, and in line with
other similar sets.  The set will be made to have special features for
ardent fans and collectors… do I really have to convince you why to get
this?  It’s all 19 episodes of the show! 

Jason Rosenfeld
“The guy who used to work for BMG”

http://www.mscl.com/dvd

[Sammi]

Well I bought my set on February 17, and considering my normal buying patterns I thought about for a day or two. I just did some searching and here is the news site that I heard about the box set from. The news is dated 16-02-02. Here is the link: http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Tv/Scoop ... 0216c.html

[fnordboy]

Subject :
"My So-Called Life" DVD boxed set: PRE-ORDER NOW!
Date :
Sat, 9 Feb 2002 15:13:57 -0500

<sniffle>

Such innocence. Such hope.

Almost a year later there is nothing left but bitterness, busted bank accounts and an overwhelming sense of doom.

Thank you AU!

[Jessica Popsicles]

Also, I have an actual packing slip with something I ordered at the same time as the MSCL pre-order and that is dated February 11th so that's how I remember when I ordered. But then I do remember that I ordered 2 days after the email was sent to me(Feb 09) because I never really checked that account.

I'm almost sure that the $20 pre-order thing was taken out on February 12th, and then the remaining 79.98 was taken out on March 12th for sure. So they also took my money before actually getting permission. I must've emailed them 9 thousand times when that happened and of course I never got a reply, just like now. Since day 1 they never replied to anything I sent them except 2 weeks ago when I asked to have my order un-cancelled.

Anyway, hope these dates helped out.

[Jason R]

Because they precharged people without permission, I had to send out, at my insistence, an opt-in/opt-out email asking people if they approve or not.

I now have reason to believe that the double charges were intentional, btw.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

The reason being that they are lying bastards who steal from their customers?

[Jason R]

The reason being that they are lying bastards who steal from their customers?

i have more information on how their shopping cart works.

i happen to know that they are blaming me for not being able to refund money. they say i am encouraging people to cancel, so they don't have money to refund. first, i've never gone right out and told people to cancel. i just offered facts and let people decide for themselves. HOWEVER, if the decided to cancel, I wanted to help them see their money again, just like I want people who ordered to receive their product.

interestingly, though, if the double bills were accidental, they would have too much money in their account. whether people cancelled or not, they would still have money to refund for double bills.

have i mentioned that this does not even include the $25k that they owed me, which I ordered that they return to the customers? so that is an extra $25k they could have been refunding if they had the money.

i don't care if they are in financial trouble or not, it does not excuse potentially criminal activity.

[hollis27]

So.....What's the reason?

[fnordboy]

I now have reason to believe that the double charges were intentional, btw.

Jason your such a c(rooster)ck tease!

You are always dropping little tasty hints, always leaving us wanting more more more.

Spill it!!!

(we all know the double.triple charges were intentional, just what new evidence was unearthed by your roving team of investigators???)

[Jason R]

teasing? bwahahahahahhahahahahahaha. *cough*

if it wasn't so glaringly obvious, it would be a tease.

[Natasha (candygirl)]

i happen to know that they are blaming me for not being able to refund money. they say i am encouraging people to cancel, so they don't have money to refund.

That is such troll logic (henceforth to be known as "Rossed up")!

Even if you convinced EVERYONE to cancel their orders now, that doesn't explain why AU hasn't refunded double and triple charges from almost six months ago. The former is unrelated to the latter since the double/triple charge revenue was extraneous. Then again, I'm using linear logic.

Did I mention the lying and the stealing yet?

[vapspwi]

Please check - we did as much homework as we could but I'd like to make sure the facts are right.

February 9th, 2002: Received Jason's "PREORDER NOW" message. I have a copy of this saved.

February 11th, 2002: Received electronic receipt from Another Universe for $20 deposit. I have a copy of this saved. This was on a debit card, and was actually charged, not just authorized, at some point before March 26th.

March 14th, 2002: Debit card was charged the $79.98 balance.

March 26th, 2002: Received "We need to charge you the full amount" e-mail from Jason, via Another Universe. I have a copy of this saved.

July 25th, 2002: Debit card was charged an additional $115.

(Reading this, I notice that I was actually charged the full price of the set on my debit card BEFORE the "we need to charge you the full amount" message went out. I wonder if somehow my affirmitive response to "can we charge you the full amount" led to the $115 double charge in July...)

October 29th, 2002: Filed complaint with IFCCFBI.

JRjr

[Natasha (candygirl)]

AU charged my credit card for the balance of the order on March 15, which is obviously BEFORE they sent out that email asking for authorization. I don't know how many other people this happened to, but as AU has shown it usually isn't an isolated incident when they take people's money.

Thanks to everyone else who came forward and confirmed my hypothesis
that I was NOT the only one who was charged before the March 26 email was sent out.

(parenthetical aside:

Now, to review, an experiment must test a what? A hypothesis. And a hypothesis consists of several...anybody? Several assumptions. And true experimentation depends upon...guys? Precision, observation, and clear concise communication.)

Because they precharged people without permission, I had to send out, at my insistence, an opt-in/opt-out email asking people if they approve or not.

I now have reason to believe that the double charges were intentional, btw.

So let's see if I have this straight - AU DELIBERATELY pre-charged us the balance due without authorization. Knowing that, how can anyone believe that the double charges were accidental?

[Rickie Love]

Hopefully this letter will get some results - maybe shame 'em into paying/sending, maybe get 'em indicted. I signed, hope everyone else does too - whether you were credited or not. I have NOT been.

Splash this bad boy EVERYWHERE!! And I wish to thank all those who drafted this and took the time to gather info and who will be doing the actual splashing. Thank You.