Unshipped merchandise confirmed at AU.com (**OFFICIAL**)

[Jason R]

My post was not intended to sound like an attack. It was addressed to a company and not an individual.

1) Only AU.com can release the product to a third party.
2) Only AU.com can determine who is still owed product.
3) Only AU.com can determine what to do with its property.

I don't want to shoot the messenger, because Justin has been extremely helpful, has been doing the right thing, and shouldn't stop now. But just because I don't shoot the messenger doesn't mean that I have to gloss over the facts.

For the record, Justin just told me that he is going to let the landlord take them and destroy them. I tried to help find a viable alternative. I am not trying to sound like a dick. I just want everything on the record that is relevant to this situation. Justin might have been fired but he is still meeting with Ross and taking directions. If he is not an employee, he is still working as an agent of the company.

There is definitely a viable alternative to allowing the merchandise to be destroyed. I'd think twice before abandoning the merchandise. But that's just me talking.

Justin is a good guy and I am sure he will do the right thing. I just believe that AU.com and its agents should call the shots. I resigned from the project in 2002 due to the way AU.com was run, and I am more than a little wary about putting my name on any official AU.com emails.

[Justin at AU]

After speaking with his attorney Jason has decided he can;t take the product or the responisbilty. The compnay has until May 10th to move product out of the warehouse or forfiet it to the landlord. Jason did provide me witha fufillment compnay but without a master list which only one person seems to have, and they have become unreachable, I dont see getting a shipping list in time and without it their just arent that many options.

I tried to see if Jason would be willing to help and he had to decline on legal advise. I will keep looking for a shipping list but if i do not find one, the fufillment compnay has nothing to work with, if they have nothing to work with they can't pick up the product. Without options or time i see no choice but in just letting the landlord seize the product.

The reason I am still atthe warehouse and talking with Ross isnt because i am still an employee, it is because I am the step-father of his children and I am helping to support them and try and get paid for my last few weeks worth of work so I can feed them and help pay for my sons brcaes that ross can no longer pay for. Find some place to make up the child support payments he was sending us, file for unemployment, look for a new job, maybe try and start my own little comic book store with no worries anymore and just be my own boss.

I tried to make people happy and I just guess i cant and I am sorry i failed you so far. I will try and find a solution, but it just doesnt look good.

[Jason R]

Release the product to someone else to send what AU.com couldn't send. Put it in writing. Can Ross sign a document authorizing the release of the merchandise? I assume you have some authority there. You are selling the fixtures and winding down the business.

After that, the third party should make a reasonable effort to get the product to the correct people. Give 60 days for people to claim their merchandise. I can help verify order number from the original list.

I can try to help a third party, and can provide some of the complaint data I received, but I am not putting a stamp of approval on anything that AU does. Getting involved with my paypal account is something else I want to avoid.

[GaryEA]

In the interest of everyone who is still owed materials from AU, could both Jason and Justin please clearly state your positions on the matter, including what actions, if any, you will be taking in regards to the bonus materials and whether or not you will be involved in retrieving them.

I'm sure many people, come morning, will want to know exactly what has transpired overnight.

There has been a lot of editing of posts, and a large amount of emotion that may not present itself as clearly as you intended. What remains is both personal and confusing at times.

Thank you very much.

[danorte]

"Without options or time i see no choice but in just letting the landlord seize the product."

Hello, I know I'm thrown into this out of nowhere and have no business medling anything...

Still, a try is always a try:

Did anyone try to reason with the landlord as to either keep the products to himself until an official list appears or maybe to work something out with him as far as the fufillment company is concerned?

If the landlord is willing to throw everything away or take possesion of them all, maybe you guys could reason directly to him? Who knows?

Maybe I'm just naïve?. We here down south solve lots of things out of conversation. That doesn't mean we are more civilized but rather less formal and more disorganized.

As for you Justin, all the best for your step-kids and finding a new job!

Keep the faith and the heart where they belong, folks!

Peace and love.

[]s

Daniel

[Jason R]

My position:

1) Only AU.com can decide what to do with the lunchboxes. Handing me 2,000 lunchboxes and 2,500 bonus DVDs and no list of who is supposed to receive them is like me walking into a minefield (again).

2) I can't help but be a little suspicious of Ross, even when he's locked away. I don't want to walk into heap of trouble.

3) I cannot be sure that these lunchboxes and DVDs were paid for. I dont' want to take something and have a DVD authoring company come after me. I don't know if AU.com owed money for freight, etc. on the lunchboxes.

4) I don't want to receive any money on my paypal account for anything related to AU. At the same time, I'm pretty sure most people don't want to pay anything to AU via credit card. Someone has to receive the payment. Some fulfillment companies can do this for you.

5) I maintain that this is stolen merchandise. As such, it is in their interest to give it to its rightful owners. Stolen merchandise is caled "hot" for a reason. I don't want to possess or control (even temporarily) the things that AU.com should have sent to customers.

That said I feel a responsibility to help out. I did locate http://www.jetxpressmail.com, within a few miles of AU.com. I also found a company that can store the merchandise temporarily. They already stopped by AU.com to scope out the quantity, weight, size, etc.

That said, it's not up to me to take possession of the merchandise. I do have order numbers for a lot of people, and I can turn that over and try to sort through it, but I don't know what was already shipped.

That said, I definitely appreciate Justin reaching out. A number of former AU.com people did the same. I think that now is a time where these folks can really demonstrate what they are made of.

Search those computers for lists and do the right thing with the unshipped merchandise.

In the interest of everyone who is still owed materials from AU, could both Jason and Justin please clearly state your positions on the matter, including what actions, if any, you will be taking in regards to the bonus materials and whether or not you will be involved in retrieving them.

[Justin at AU]

The landlord gave us until the 10th he wanted us out last friday. He has people looking at the property and doesnt have the room to store this stuff till we figure it out.

I am working on tracking down a list. The bookkeeper i am told had a list but she has been hard to track down. However the FBI might have a copy of her files and if so they may have a copy of the list. I have a call into them, and the only number still working for the ex-bookkeeper.

If i find the list i can have them turned over to the fufillment company. If not I just dont know. I am a bit out of my depth here, this is a situation i was thrust into and trust me i dont want to be here.

I still have a few more computers to go through, one i am told may have the info has a burned out power supply, i will replace ittomorrow and hope for the best.

I am sorry i made the comment to Jason about how it would just be easier to destroy the product. I was mad and disappointed. It was a heated comment and I am sorry i made it, I was just frustrated with this situation and the countless others i have to take care of for ross in his personal and business life.

I will try my best and thats all i can do at this point.

[Jason R]

I would like to recommend storage as a last ditch effort if fulfillment cannot be decided upon.

I would not put it in my name, but I would be happy to kick in to help cover it until other plans are made.

[crispy]

Just want to say... I understand your position, Jason, and I don't blame you for being suspicious after everything you've been through. But it's a shame you won't get too involved in all this, because at this point I'd really only trust you with my money. Or Bedford Falls.

No offense to Justin... he probably is a nice guy.. but I don't know him. And I guess I'm wary of sending money to anyone who worked for AU/Ross.

It's probably a moot point anyway since I doubt my name and order number will be found on their lists. Considering how disorganized and dishonest AU was.

Maybe this is a dumb question but... why not get the people who pre-ordered MSCL DVDs to forward you ("you" being Jason or Justin or whoever ends up being in charge of this bonus material) copies of the emails we sent/received to AU, confirming our orders/cancellations?

Or maybe people could fax those order confirmation form thingys we received in the mail long before the box set shipped. Or bank/credit card statements of the over-charges (thus proving we ordered from AU in the first place).

There must be some way to compile a list of people who should get the bonus DVD and lunchbox....

I'm still wondering if I'm even entitled to these things, since I cancelled my order with AU. But in my mind, that cancellation doesn't even count, since I never received a refund. But how can I prove that to the person who'd be sending out bonus materials? I'm not sure I have the energy to even try.

Jason - if you ever do decide to contact Bedford Falls after all about making the bonus interview available in some other way, I'm still all for that. After reading your discussion with Justin, I'm feeling pretty pessimistic about receiving one of the existing bonus DVDs. Although I hope they find their way to some of their rightful owners.

[crispy]

P.S.

The more I think of this whole mess, the more I feel this righteous anger... I almost feel like, since we had to pre-order the MSCL dvds and pay in advance of production... and pay... and pay some more... and not even receive what we paid for in many cases - these bonus materials should just be sent to us. Hassle-free. And we can be charged (a fair price) after we receive them. Wouldn't that be nice?

Sorry... feeling bitter at the injustice of it all. I know I'm only dreaming.

I gotta go back to blocking out the whole horrible AU experience. I was a much happier person. Damn bonus DVD keeps me coming back. But hope only leads to disappointment so I should just let it go. Pardon the melodrama.

[Justin at AU]

I will know more tomorrow. Once I do I will post an update. The list is the key, but as others have stated the record keeping at au was horrible.

There is some hope. I did find a partial checklist the other day. Just 200 order number with numbers crossed off that had already been shipped the bonus disk and lunch box. That list had to come from somewhere.

I have alot of things to work on tomorrow, so I might now get to post till late, but Iwill post with an update tomorrow.

Storage is an option, but it is expensive and the product would have to be moved to the facility it is being stored at. I do like the idea of the fufillment group and will do my best to make that one work.

Again thank you Jason for tracking them down for me.

[starbug]

Jason, I completely understand your position and obviously you'd taken legal advice between your initial ideas and your latest postings. If I were your lawyer I'd have told you the same thing...

Justin, let me get this right... you're married to Ross's ex-wife? jeez. what a situation.

[Jason R]

My feeling is that AU.com can do some of the things I've recommended without transfering the responsibility to me and it would have minimal impact.

AU would have to email the customers. I could help spread the word, but I'm not signing the email on their behalf.

As for charging cards, the fulfillment company said that they do have a paypal account that they could use. As paypal hides the credit card number and prevents additional charges, I'd say this is probably a good option.

[Jason R]

Justin, I want to add that I know your server is offline because of the payment issues and some data was there, but I also know Ross used some outside services, such as verticalresponse.com, to send emails.

If he can give you the password, I can donate funds to get an email out.

[Justin at AU]

Just an update-

I brought the dead computer back from the grave, but no dice it had nothing useful on it.

The good news is I talked with the bookeepers husband and he said he will relay my message to his wife that I need the shipping list files if she has them. I have to assume she does after what others have told me and hers is the only computers except for Ross's that I havent checked. In case anyone wonders I can't check Ross's because it was taken in the search.

Justin