FED UP!!!

[Ross Rojek]

If we report AU for unacceptable service as far as billing (and can we expect reliable shipping out of the sets, even), they'll be screwed and probably won't even bother fulfilling our orders. With their poor financial state, they may even go out of business. If we don't report AU, they will be free to do whatever they want and abuse us further. It bites being between a rock and a hard place, doesn't it?

You can report us and we won't go out of business nor will we do any retaliatory measure like not shipping your order or anything else.

We want to get this out as badly as all of you want it. Right now I'm stuck waiting on BMG. And as soon as I have an update from them I'll update everyone else. I've talked to them twice so far today and expect I'll do it again before the day is over.

[Jason R]

I know you do. That's why I'm saying it!

Believe me, I wish Amazon had agreed to do this.

There are times when I wish it as well.

[marquito]

Believe me, I wish Amazon had agreed to do this.

There are times when I wish it as well.

Oh, no! Ross, then why did the folks at AU even take the project in the first place? If you have doubts yourself... can you really inspire confidence in any of us?

[pgh kenny]

You can report us and we won't go out of business nor will we do any retaliatory measure like not shipping your order or anything else.

Sir,

I think you would save yourself a lot of grief if you would not be so combative. If you can offer an explanation as to why a number of your customers have apparently had to wait more than a month for a refund of an overcharge, I think that would be appreciated. I think that most of us understand that actual delivery of the dvd is out of your hands. However, it certainly seems that a billing error should be able to be remedied within two to three weeks of the posting date. I am also a little unclear as to why the burden is on us, the customer to contact your company to receive a refund. I assume that you have a list of all the overcharges?

Anyways, thank you for reading my opinion.

kenny

[Jason R]

For the record, let me just state that I don't think a company should be blaming me for bringing them a very promising opportunity, let alone on a public forum. If handled differently, there probably would not have been many of the problems encountered. I don't feel sorry for myself and I don't feel sorry for AU.

Now it's time to deliver on the promise and get the discs to people. If you seek sympathy from your customers, you won't find it here.

[SanDeE*]

Is there anything that we, the customers, can do about BMG? Is there a number we could call to let them know this waiting is INSANE? I want to know if they are just taking their sweet time mailing the sets to AU, or if they are still printing the sets, or what. Thanks to Ross and Jason, for coming back to the forum today. Please let us know something as soon as you do, Ross.

One more question: I told my bank about the double charge on my order. Called Wade to let AU know, and he said my order is fine. Will I be charged again for the set plus shipping all at once when my set is shipped?

[Jason R]

The delay isn't BMG's fault.

[Bitterman]

"I assume that you have a list of all the overcharges?"

They very well should have. I don't know whether I've been overcharged - I haven't examined my credit card statements that closely - but I'll be checking, and if I have been, I will be taking legal action to recover the difference, because they should have investigated themselves by now, with so many having the same problem.

I'm sure that some laws have been broken anyway. Frankly I'll turn a blind eye so long as I get what I actually paid for.

Incidentally, apologies for incorrectly assuming Jason now owns his own copies of the disks. Fair enough; he doesn't, sorry. However, since the only contact I've had from ANYBODY is a letter as receipt dated April 12th, it is unsurprising that I'm not completely aware of what's going on. I've not even had an email from either BMG or AU to say "the discs are going to be released"... let alone "on this date"! This forum is the ONLY way of keeping up... and as my post count will indicate I've only just realised it exists.

[GordLacey]

No one at AU seems to even care... and the ones that did, seem to be fed up. This is apparent in a lot of Jason's recent posts. I admit that Jason's situation sucks, but he chose to be in the position he is in and is even getting paid.

I hope Jason doesn't get in s**t for me saying this, but I know he's selling off wedding items on eBay because he needs money. You guys aren't the only ones waiting for AU to deliver something they've promised.

Gord

[Natasha (candygirl)]

I know the phrase "Jason is getting paid" has been mentioned several times since this fiasco began, but I would like to point out that although I don't know anything about Jason's salary, I'm pretty sure he isn't getting paid a bonus every time he posts here or fixes another problem. Saying that it's his job is easy to say for anyone who isn't doing it.

Look at it this way - say you really wanted this bitchin' BMX bike and your mom said if you saved up half the money she would pay for the rest. So you look for a way to do it and find out your neighbor is going on vacation so you offer to housesit - water the houseplants, feed the dog, take in the mail. Sounds simple enough. Then the day after the neighbors leave, you try to do your duties only to find that they left you the wrong key, the dog has been crapping all over the rug after eating the houseplants and puking them back up, and UPS is trying to deliver a grand piano.

I have never met Jason, but I get the feeling he is a good guy. I'm pretty sure he didn't go into this project with the intention of spending every waking moment cleaning up someone else's mess. Yes, he took this position but come on people. Cut him some slack and stop blaming him for what has gone wrong. That's like someone blaming ME for American foreign policy simply because I am an American citizen. Yes, I vote, yes I live here, but it's a bit of a stretch to say that I am personally responsible for everything that the American government does. Give credit where credit is due - Jason has worked his tail off and does not deserve to be the DVD scapegoat.

[Jason R]

Before I say anything, I just have to preface with the fact that I am not here to bad mouth AU all day. However, I am also not here to gloss over real or perceived problems, and I am not here to sweep them under the rug. I am a marketer. I am not here simply to market MSCL DVDs. (You'll note, that my posts are pretty much sales-pitch free).

I am in business to market a concept of companies listening to their customers and achieving extraordinary results.

My case study is as follows:

BMG listens to MSCL customers and is rewarded with a very successful DVD product.

It goes beyond listening. A company cannot remain in business if it does not fulfill its minimum obligation to its customers. I am not getting paid for each post on this forum, or for each problem I try to fix. I was not paid for the drygrass site, and Gord was not paid by me (I owe him big-time, though). We just feel very strongly about two concepts:

1) As above, listen to your customers
2) Reputation is everything

I stand by my assertion that if a company obeys these rules it can be very successful in selling niche product to customers. So, although AU might be expressing that my model does not work for them in messages on this forum, I feel otherwise. I feel that the only way I can protect my reputation is by being honest in my posts. It is not like I am out to get AU or BMG or anybody else. However, I just think that for a customer to be told that a refund will take several weeks is beyond comprehension. (I have no proof of this other than the fact that this is what I am reading in my emails from customers).

Jason Rosenfeld

[DoubleBilled]

I would like to add that I FINALLY got through to AU this morning, and this is what I was told by Wade.

The are shipping soon, and the accounting dept. will go through EVERY account opened for this sale to see what to do with it.

Either:

Bill it once, because some people havent even been billed once.
Remove it, because people have cancelled and they don't want to send someone a set who cancelled.
Credit over charges, because there were over charging problems.

My account was noted to be credited, they even got the amount right because it was a weird amount.

So, the accounting dept is severly backlogged due to the problems, so when they get to my account, they no what to due. I accepted this, and will wait until I get the credit on the card.

I assume all of us with problems are in this same boat. Our accounts are noted, but we just haven't been "gotten to" yet. I'll bet this is why the sets haven't gone out yet, they want to have everything squared away first, especially the "don't want to send someone a set who cancelled" part.

I will repost this sentiment as a main thread later tonight to help placate us natives.

DoubleBilled

[lance]

Hey gang,

Honestly don't care whose fault is what. Grand scheme of things this doesn't mean much to me, I just want my DVDs that I ordered back in February.

Jason, Ross and Gord thanks for the updates on the current progress (or lack there of) on the DVDs. Please keep them up. Any information at this point (BMG has the discs, AU has the discs, no one has the discs, etc.) is better than no news.

Thanks,

Lance Man

[pete]

It honestly baffles me that this is still not taken care of. I was double-charged almost 2 months ago and still have gotten nothing....no email, no apology, and certainly no refund. There are only 5000 orders...that is really not a lot compared to what most online vendors probably deal out everyday. I don't see how it's possible for TWO MONTHS to not be enough time to go through and check over every single order...twice.

And a mass email is the very least common curteousy i would expect... =/ Oh well, I'll just be glad when I've got my DVDs and $80 in my bank account.

[Ross Rojek]

Oh, no! Ross, then why did the folks at AU even take the project in the first place? If you have doubts yourself... can you really inspire confidence in any of us?

We'll get it done. The issue is more that we were unprepared for what it turned into. If it had come out when BMG first said they could have done it, it would have been ok. But the longer it dragged out, the more difficult and expensive for us its become.

I'm glad to be doing it (often). But I'm hoping that we'll learn enough from this that then next time we do a project, we'll do a better job. And we'll finish cleaning up all the problems we've had, make sure everyone has gotten any and all refunds/credits due them, and everyone will get the DVD set. Finally.

And after they all ship, I'm taking a day off.