MSCL.com

Just wanted to share my experience in getting a full refund ...

First, let me give props to MBNA, my credit card company -- they're always polite, quick and responsive whenever I have a dispute with a merchant who fails to deliver.

I pre-ordered in June 2002. The order was for the set, the lunchbox, the bonus disc (and later the T-shirt).

(BTW, I too was the victim of a double charge, but that was straightened out in July 2002 through AU.)

I mailed in the dispute form this month (Jan. 2003), with copies of receipts (printed from the old e-mail receipt), updates from AU, a record of my calls to the company (that yielded the disconnected number message), and most important, my emails to the company that went unanswered.

My final email to the company warned that failure to reply within 48 hours would result in a complaint to my CC company and automatic forfeiture of any merchandise already shipped. Naturally, AU never replied.

Because of that, my CC company gave me a full refund within 2 weeks for the charge from June 2002, based on:
* failure to deliver goods as promised, by Dec. 2002, thus ensuring that even though the charge had been made in June, I had waited in good faith for all the merchandise. (I only received the box set.)
* lack of communication from the company, even when it would mean forfeiture of merchandise
* a track record of broken promises on delivery dates
* a track record of fraudulent double charges
* a fraudulent charge for shipping on the initial order (the original receipt showed that shipping was supposed to be free, but AU charged me anyway with no explanation)

The end result: a free set of DVDs, fair and square. I gave up on the bonus disc and lunchbox, because I truly believe they will never ship through AU. I can always buy them separately (if they ever show up) with the money I saved.

--Yippee

Congratulations on getting your refund. You did the smart thing in providing printed and dated information from the start, and I'm sure that made the difference in getting your refund sooner rather than later.

I can always buy them separately (if they ever show up) with the money I saved.

I have to play Devil's Advocate on this one; You're assuming that they will be offered separately.

The only reason to sell a bonus item is to supplement a set, and even if AU were to offer either the box or disc, it would have to waaaaay after the limited sets were shipped, simply to justify a separate release. Otherwise, you're going to anger a lot of loyal customers.

Case in point: "Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures", released almost two years ago as the bonus disc for the remastered Stanley Kubrick Collection. A two hour plus documentary about the director, narrated by Tom Cruise, and has interviews with as many people that were involved in an SK film as possible. It's a fantastic documentary, but I didn't have the cash to buy another SK box set. Still don't.

Fast forward two years, and the documentary that was never to be released separately is now going to be offered with the book of the same name, in a two disc form no less. Two years have passed, and nobody can say that they were burned by Warner Brothers.

AU never gave us the two years, and still haven't officially stated that the bonus items are still coming, and it's almost February.

Now if BMG, or even Buena Vista stepped in (after the rights revert back to them), and released them separately, I could see it happening... maybe. But as it stands right now, neither will be offered in such a manner by AU.

Gary

p.s. Welcome to the forum!