Come share the lies you've been told

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Did Ross Rojek and AU lie to you?

Yes
12
46%
No
1
4%
In fact, now that I think about it, I was never told the truth.
13
50%
 
Total votes: 26

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ducksqueak
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Come share the lies you've been told

Post by ducksqueak » Dec 16th 2002, 1:57 pm

I know I received a refund and I should stop complaining or whatever. I just wanted to let you all know about a major lie I was told about that refund. When Ross finally said that he was going to give my money back (after 3 months of waiting for cancellation refund), he gave me a totally fake reference number. He said that this was the number my credit card company gave him. Here's what's wrong:

1. I never used a credit card. I used a debit card. My bank has never ever given me any sort of reference number for refunds or things like that. (Don't give me the speech about how stupid I was about using my DC online. I have learned my lesson well.)

2. My refund came in the form of a money order. (Btw, the money order looked fake, but somehow most of the money is cleared. I'm waiting for $26 more. It also came from, what appeared to be, Leslie's personal account with the name Another Universe hand written in. The whole thing is too fishy for me.)


Kinda makes you think twice, doesn't it? I knew that refund took a long time to go through with my bank, but when I got the money order my suspicions were right. Ross had told me a fake reference number to stall.

BEWARE of anything he tells you. Sometimes you're not even safe when you think you are getting your refund.
"Gee, you're beautiful when you're unconscious."
---Link in "Hairspray"

Jason R
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Re: Come share the lies you've been told

Post by Jason R » Dec 16th 2002, 2:19 pm

Not that I don't already think there is a conspiracy going on, but is it possible that he was giving an internal tracking number?

Not that they employ any of those either, and not that I don't agree with everything you say, because experience taught me a difficult lesson. The world would be a better place if people like AU were behind bars,

ducksqueak wrote:I know I received a refund and I should stop complaining or whatever. I just wanted to let you all know about a major lie I was told about that refund. When Ross finally said that he was going to give my money back (after 3 months of waiting for cancellation refund), he gave me a totally fake reference number. He said that this was the number my credit card company gave him. Here's what's wrong:

1. I never used a credit card. I used a debit card. My bank has never ever given me any sort of reference number for refunds or things like that. (Don't give me the speech about how stupid I was about using my DC online. I have learned my lesson well.)

2. My refund came in the form of a money order. (Btw, the money order looked fake, but somehow most of the money is cleared. I'm waiting for $26 more. It also came from, what appeared to be, Leslie's personal account with the name Another Universe hand written in. The whole thing is too fishy for me.)


Kinda makes you think twice, doesn't it? I knew that refund took a long time to go through with my bank, but when I got the money order my suspicions were right. Ross had told me a fake reference number to stall.

BEWARE of anything he tells you. Sometimes you're not even safe when you think you are getting your refund.

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ducksqueak
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Post by ducksqueak » Dec 16th 2002, 2:49 pm

This is exactly what Ross said in the e-mail:

"That was the reference number that our merchant processor gave us for your credit"

I'm still not sure what that means. Is that internal? Is is a credit card company thing? I'm unsure. But Jason I should tell you that Ross said

"In the last couple of weeks before we got the sets delivered, one of the contractors began encouraging people to cancel their orders and chargeback their order. That has left us with ongoing cash flow problems (as the credit card companies just take the money from our processor) and we have to sell the inventory we've pre-paid for to create a credit balance to be able to process new credits."

I think that he's referring to you and that's really unfair to say. I know it's a lie. I called AU in October over the 888 number. ANOTHER UNIVERSE told me to charge back the order because they did not know how long it would take to resolve "accounting problems." The only thing you ever encouraged me to do was notify the FBI if my refund have taken more than 2 weeks. I use the word "encourage" loosely. All I did was read your posts and take action. I didn't cancel my order because of you. I did it because I could get it much cheaper @ amazon.com I was not about to pay double the price. (Well I guess I already had paid.) When I purchased those DVDS, I was willfully deceived into beleiveing that AU was the sole distributor of the product. I also beleived that I would be receiving a lunch box and extra DVD with bonus material. It was not until after AU stole my money that I found out I would not be receiving those extra items. Yes, I authorized the charge, but they did, in fact, steal from me. How many of you out there have ordered from an online merchant and that merchant charges your account before the item ships??? This has never happened to me online and I have ordered from hundreds of online stores. This was the first thing that made me realize there were some devious forces at work. I know that Ross and AU were holding my money so they could use it to fund the rest of the project. All I have to say is this: It was not my responsibility to pay for this project.
"Gee, you're beautiful when you're unconscious."
---Link in "Hairspray"

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Natasha (candygirl)
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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Dec 16th 2002, 3:02 pm

Ross lied to EVERYONE by charging us for the balance without permission. When we initially ordered, we were told that we would be charged the balance in June when the set shipped. Instead, he had his employees deliberately charge our cards without telling us. When Jason found out, that FAKE-ASS email was sent out claiming that they couldn't keep our cards open that long, pretending to give us the option to have our cards charged. What was our other option? Cancelling our orders. No, he didn't hold a gun to my head, but I wanted the set badly enough to acquiesce. Gawd, that is called STEALING.

In addition, he lied to us about delivery dates and bonus materials. When the truth came out about how AU hadn't paid BMG or GWhiz, he hemmed and hawed. Sorry, but anytime someone isn't forthright is automatically a lie in my mind. Lying by omission isn't any better than baldfaced lying.

Then he pretended to agree with Martin Pierre's idea that letting customers use their gift certificates so that all their merchandise would ship together was a good idea. But did he ever follow through with that? Now we're supposed to get the gift certificates with the bonus materials. Riiiiggghhhtt. And what about Ross's promise to get sizes from everyone who is getting a free t-shirt? That is going nowhere either.

Remember on Seinfeld when Elaine told Jerry, "Fake, fake, fake, fake"?

Lie, lie, lie, lie.
Natasha aka candygirl :: MSCL.com

Look, if this is weird for you, being tutored? I don't mind helping you a little longer.
You could have sex with me if you really want to help...I guess that's a "no"?

Jason R
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Post by Jason R » Dec 16th 2002, 6:42 pm

What Ross said about contractors encouraging cancellations is bullshit.

I told people:

1) Don't *not* cancel on account of me, because I was getting royalled f----ed anyway by AU, and wouldn't see a penny, so if that was your only reason for keeping your order, forget about it.
2) I also severed ties with the retailer citing lack of trust.

It was the entire leadership of the MSCL.com site that told people it could not recommend doing business with AU.com.

HOWEVER, even when they gave a list of other retailers now carrying the DVDs, they did not EVER tell people to cancel.

So what happened?

1) Customers were tired of being dicked around by Ross and his piece of crap company, and I mean that is an understatement. I have never, ever, ever, witnessed such CONTEMPT for customers, investors and vendors.
2) People said "hey, I don't want a lunchbox that I won't see in this millenium, and Amazon and DDD.com are selling the DVDs for 1/2 of what I paid, so I am going to cancel.

So let's call things as they are:

1) From Ross's email, it is clear that he does not have the money to refund to you, despite the fact that these were mostly DOUBLE charges anyway, and not rightfully his money.
2) Cashflow problems are not YOUR problem. The customer's concern is not the cashflow of the retailer. He is holding your money against your will and breaking the law. For each incident of this, the FTC can fine his company about $10,000, and I wholeheartedly recommend reporting him to http://www.ftc.gov if you have not already done so.

Best
Jason

Jason R
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Posts: 1627
Joined: Jan 30th 2002, 1:42 pm
Location: New York

Post by Jason R » Dec 16th 2002, 6:58 pm

Ducksqueak, also, they were not using your money to fund their project. They were using your money to fund their failing operation.

They had virtually no costs in selling these DVDs other than the cost of goods, and as you can tell from the Amazon and other prices, there was quite a bit of margin.

+Lunchboxes? 12-14K including delivery to port in LA, with extra added to cover Dan's design+
+Bonus interviews at Bedford falls? Free. Done for the fans (and Bedford falls did NOT know that AU was not exclusive on this) Also, AU was supposed to pay $2k to send Dan to interview them, but his old company was never paid anyway)
+DVD sets? $38 from BMG
+Manufacturing the bonus disc? Probably about $1-$1.50 apiece. Not rocket science here, just giving prevailing prices.

There simply were very few costs. Not enough to justify precharging you anyway.

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Natasha (candygirl)
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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Dec 16th 2002, 7:20 pm

Just to break it down a little more, even if we use the high number for the lunchboxes $14,000 divided by 3,600 orders (before cancellations) = $3.89/order

Heck, even if we use the new low number of orders $14,000 divided by 2,000 orders (after cancellations) = $7/order

The Museum of Television and Radio footage cost $10,000 divided by 2,000 orders = $5/order

$38/DVD set (BMG)
+ 7/lunchboxes (GWhiz)
+ 2/bonus disc production
+ 5/MTR footage
----------------------------
$52 total

When you consider the fact that they haven't paid for the MTR footage or produced the bonus disc yet, their actual material costs are $45/set. If they had ONLY charged our cards for the balance due in March, they still had enough money to fund this project. All those double and triple charges? Like Jason said, they stole that money from us to fund their miserable company.
Natasha aka candygirl :: MSCL.com

Look, if this is weird for you, being tutored? I don't mind helping you a little longer.
You could have sex with me if you really want to help...I guess that's a "no"?

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phelix
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Re: Come share the lies you've been told

Post by phelix » Dec 17th 2002, 6:09 am

ducksqueak wrote: 2. My refund came in the form of a money order. (Btw, the money order looked fake, but somehow most of the money is cleared. I'm waiting for $26 more. It also came from, what appeared to be, Leslie's personal account with the name Another Universe hand written in. The whole thing is too fishy for me.)
If you have a photocopy of the money order, you should inclue it with any complains to file with gov't agencies. CMIH is a publicly traded company and thus must follow certain accounting practices. All this crap about money coming from different accounts must run afoul of some SEC regulations.

BTW, could someone please explain how a money order can only partially clear?

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ducksqueak
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Post by ducksqueak » Dec 21st 2002, 7:04 am

In case any of you care, my money order from AU did clear in full. So I got my money, but I still feel unsatisfied. I still feel uncomfortable about the whole situation. If anyone else gets any sort of refund, please tell me what happened to you. I still think there's a lot of illegal activities going on.
"Gee, you're beautiful when you're unconscious."
---Link in "Hairspray"

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