The Virts and Anaconda...

[paulyd]

I'd understand your point if you were the only person the shipping error happened to. I'm certain they would have gladly waived the $10. But it didn't happen to just you, it happened to hundreds of other people too. If word got out they they let you not pay, others would be marching with torches and pitchforks to get their $10 refunded. I work for a major corporation in their customer service and when an error like this happens we don't waive the fee, even it if was our mistake, we would take too much of a loss. We give the customer the option of paying or canceling their order. I certainly don't expect a few guys selling a DVD to waive the shipping fee.

Again, that's their fault for not checking the site they put up. I've had to eat the cost of my screw-ups at work. Hell, sometimes I'll eat the cost of something that really isn't my fault to keep the customer happy and coming back for more.

and furthermore, I still haven't received my refund.

As for it not shipping out until September, I felt like I had been had. I didn't pay the $5 to have it shipped sooner, but I did purchase the DVD download, which I expected to have right away. In the end it really doesn't matter because on september 1st, I'll have my download copy of anaconda and eye cut, without having to wait 2 weeks for the DVD. I'm more happy than ever that I purchased the download copy of anaconda, regardless if I had to wait a little while or not.

Well, you might be happy with it, but it seems like myself and other's weren't - yet no one really mentioned it until I did. I don't think it's too much to ask to tell us that it's shipping september 1st BEFORE I start doing things like entering credit card details. The fact that they waited until the last possible second was rather irritating.

 

[Darkfire2765]

I dont think you've considered its ONLY 4 guys running this entire thing. obviously customer service is gunna suck and if you just paid the $10 you wouldnt be in this mess Everyone who got an error in their transaction is upset. WE GET IT! Doesnt mean you have to say stuff like that. Just because you wanted a refund doesnt mean you will get it right away, like i said the entire thing is based on a few guys, i bet Huron is getting truckloads of emails from complaining customers like you. Dont expect everything to go your way when you want it. The world DOESNT revolve around you.

 

[Sinful07]

I dont think you've considered its ONLY 4 guys running this entire thing. obviously customer service is gunna suck and if you just paid the $10 you wouldnt be in this mess Everyone who got an error in their transaction is upset. WE GET IT! Doesnt mean you have to say stuff like that. Just because you wanted a refund doesnt mean you will get it right away, like i said the entire thing is based on a few guys, i bet Huron is getting truckloads of emails from complaining customers like you. Dont expect everything to go your way when you want it. The world DOESNT revolve around you.

It doesnt- but the fact that they can advertise like piss doesnt mean that their customer service should suck. It was them who said the DVD cost them $72,000 in production, so the least they can do is provide decent customer service.

If Huron got E-mails for complaints and ****, then that's the company's fault, not the consumer. If you bought a product and you're unhappy, its the company's fault for either advertising the product wrong, something ****ing up during the transaction or after the transaction. It is not the consumer's fault.

If i sold you an apple for $10 after delicately advertising its sweet luscious and crisp taste and you bought it, surely you'd expect that the apple would taste exactly as how i described it. If it doesnt, you have the right to *****. A product for sale is an invitation to treat.

This kinda thing pissess me off. Not the fact that Virts handled this pretty stupidly, but by the fact that people actually stand by the virts when they, in essence ****ed up.

 

[paulyd]

I dont think you've considered its ONLY 4 guys running this entire thing. obviously customer service is gunna suck

first, numbers have NOTHING to do with it. I've seen small operations provide outstanding service and large ones that provide anywhere from great to terrible service.

second, if "obviously customer service is gunna suck", then why should they be allowed to say they're delaying the DVDs to provide better customer service? Could it really get any worse?

and if you just paid the $10 you wouldnt be in this mess

excuse me? How about this - if they would have just tested their site before it went live THEY wouldn't be in this mess.

Everyone who got an error in their transaction is upset. WE GET IT! Doesnt mean you have to say stuff like that.

isn't that the point of a review? not all reviews need to be positive.

Just because you wanted a refund doesnt mean you will get it right away,

actually he's the one who said it was done, not me. the fact he outright lied is EXTREMELY irritating. and it's not like I paid with a bag of pennies and he's gotta count it out. all he needs to do is login to paypal and click "refund"

like i said the entire thing is based on a few guys, i bet Huron is getting truckloads of emails from complaining customers like you.

they should, they messed up. they wouldn't have this problem if they would have just tested their site first.

Dont expect everything to go your way when you want it. The world DOESNT revolve around you.

*smh*

 

[popchris3]

Dude, I figured it would go down something like this. That is why I didn't end up ordering, because I KNEW that nothing that is hyped THAT much can be THAT perfect.

 

[Simon_Magic]

I must have been one of the few people to have a good experience with The Virts.

When I ordered, I was slightly miffed that I wouldn't even get a download till the 1st september, but who cares. You should just be glad that you are one lucky person to actually get it. Think of all the people who are just getting into magic that will never have a chance to get this DVD.

The email sent did say that the reprint would just be for their friends and if they had spare then they'd sell them.

I am sorry that you had a bad experience, but just leave it. Whats done is done.

I think that this should have been kept between you and Huron. When I have bad experiences with companies I don't tell everyone about it cause its between me and the dealer, not the whole world.

Anyway, be happy. Everything is sent in 2 days!

Simon_Magic

 

[JetEyeNight]

Yeah, they messed up, SO WHAT? You've never made a mistake in your life? Why don't you just forgive them, you'll feel better, everyone will feel better. I'm sure they tested the site over and over, but you're still going to have some errors. The corporation I work for just launched a new site after months of testing, and it's still ridden with errors! Don't expect a site that's only been up for a day to have NO errors. Some errors only get detected after it's launched in the real world. Something very similar to this happened at Ellusionist, over the holiday season, the orders got processed with free NDA shipping. Guess what? Did they didn't waive the shipping? NO! They gave everyone the opportunity to either pay for the shipping, change the shipping and pay for it, or cancel their order. Was it their mistake? YES, but don't expect a company to take a huge loss, because of a simple computer glitch. You're expecting the refund immediately? Stop living with an instant gratification attitude. You expected instant gratification when you purchased it, now you're expecting instant gratification to get a refund. Things take time. With my corporation that I work for, if you cancel your order, you don't get a refund the next day. It takes up to 3 weeks to get a refund! You need a serious reality check. We don't live in a perfect world. Not everything is going to go exactly as planned. I have to deal with delusional people every day in customer service. I'll tell you something, the customer IS NOT always right. In fact usually the customer is wrong 90% of the time. And the people in this thread critiquing something that isn't out yet, WTF? PopChris said something like this, "I didn't order because I knew something hyped this much can't be that perfect!" What is being hyped hasn't been released yet, so how can you say it's not? I'm not saying it will be, but put your gavels back in your robes before the product is actually in your hands. I'm getting really sick of all this negativity.

 

[jpmorganjeromy]

i think hes totally in his right to complain and to spread the word especially since there going to sell more soon, get the word out and hurt their business, thats why good business's do well and others fail. People talk and bad word of mouth spreads way faster and you always tell more people...

People who are saying, get over it and its no big deal, if your happy, buy the product, if not, he has the right to say anything he pleases.... and i totally agree with him ... he did something, they scammed him to some extent, let the kid feel how he feels... especially because of all the things afterwards, not refunding him timely, not doing anything to please a customer, thats terrible business and i hope this hurts them in the future.

On the other side these kids are extremely talented and probably meant no maliciousness behind it but still it will help them in the future to learn from the mistakes they made with this dvd they made... believe me they will do better next time or else it will really hurt them again

 

[RikAllen]

The email sent did say that the reprint would just be for their friends and if they had spare then they'd sell them.

Actually, to make up for production costs probably. Or was planned from the beginning.

If they wanted their friends to have copies, they would have saved some from the first print. Their intake wasn't what they expected, not as many people signed up and bought it. There might not actually be a second run and in fact they're pawning off the remaining stock to break even or gain more profit on something a lot of people are now complaining about.

Just a thought.

 

[paulyd]

Yeah, they messed up, SO WHAT? You've never made a mistake in your life?

So you're saying I should just cover this up for them and let no one know about how they treat their customers? You're telling me you've never been on the flipside of this and dealt with poor customer service?

Aside from that, like I said earlier - I have made mistakes, everyone has, and they pay for them one way or another. If no one ever says anything they could get the idea that's an acceptable way of doing business and they'll keep doing it.

Why don't you just forgive them, you'll feel better, everyone will feel better.

I'll feel better when I get my refund. I tried to go the diplomatic route and gave them quite a bit of time to handle it. Fact is that they didn't despite saying they delayed the DVD to provide proper customer service. I dunno about you, but doesn't look like they provided here....

I have to deal with delusional people every day in customer service. I'll tell you something, the customer IS NOT always right. In fact usually the customer is wrong 90% of the time.

I've worked as a CSR multiple times. And guess what. At every place, when we screwed up, we fixed it at our cost. Lots of the time we even fixed it when it wasn't our fault.

I'm not sure about where you live, but even around here, if you go to any store and buy something and you get to the cash register and it rings up differently, you get it for the lower of the two prices. Obviously a manager comes to fix it before it can happen again, but it's considered the cost of having someone find a mistake. It's called a service recovery.

If the Virts were savvy marketers and were actually tryint to provide the customer service they so loudly trumpted, they'd say something like "Hey we messed up, so we'll split the difference" or "Hey we messed up, so we'll give you the download for free" or something like that. Their response was rather unremorseful, and they still haven't made it right (even if that meant a refund). I think it's fair people should know that before dealing with them.

 

[paulyd]

If they wanted their friends to have copies, they would have saved some from the first print.

yeah, pretty much.

they basically took their marketing plan from guys like Eben Pagan (aka David DeAngelo) and Frank Kern - web-based, targeted, hype marketing. "limited quantities" and then more "limited quantity" re-releases.

I work in advertising/marketing and I knew that. I was buying the DVD not because I fell for the marketing but because I wanted to support the community and that's actually a flourish I've been wanting to learn so it was convenient.

Still though, says alot about their credibility.

 

[Nino]

I think this thread should be close because people are going back in forth, so just stop this already. Dude I feel sorry for you becuase you lost your hard earn money. He has the right to complain about them, so the website can grow form their mistakes. Basically everybody has different opinions on this, But they need to close this thread already because the damaged is already done.

 

[VagueTheory]

Everybody is entitled to their opinions.

I completely understand your frustration.

However, there are people out there (such as I) who don't have a problem with this at all.

I mainly bought the DVD and download because I wanted to support the Virts and Bone. They are the ones who inspired me the most.

And besides, having a little patience wouldn't hurt either would it?

 

[JetEyeNight]

I agree VagueTheory.

Just a quick question PaulyD.... have you posted any of your complaints on any of the threads at wld2009.com? I've looked through all the comments of pages, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any posts from you asking these questions. They have a comment section so you can ask questions.

 

[DLeerium]

"The Customer is always right"

 

[FadedTemp]

I agree VagueTheory.

Just a quick question PaulyD.... have you posted any of your complaints on any of the threads at wld2009.com? I've looked through all the comments of pages, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any posts from you asking these questions. They have a comment section so you can ask questions.

Anything negative that you comment on - they delete. I've seen it happen and had it happen personally.

 

[JDENredden]

What is with everyone saying they only bought it for 'supporting' TheVirts/Bone. That makes no sense, you bought the DVD the learn stuff. Not support them. WHy do they need support? IF you are going to support them go pat them on the shoulder, not buy a DVD for the sole reason of 'supporting' them. LEt someone else who needs the DVD get it.

J.

 

[JetEyeNight]

PaulyD, please keep us updated on the progress of this. I'd like to know how they make it right, because I know they will resolve it eventually, going above and beyond your expectations. Since you are reviewing their service, we need to know how it went from beginning to end.

 

[paulyd]

I agree VagueTheory.

Just a quick question PaulyD.... have you posted any of your complaints on any of the threads at wld2009.com? I've looked through all the comments of pages, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any posts from you asking these questions. They have a comment section so you can ask questions.

Anything negative that you comment on - they delete. I've seen it happen and had it happen personally.

that would have basically been my answer. Everything on that site is very fanboyish, and I had the impression it would get deleted pretty quick. Besides, i figured direct e-mail with an address where he has contacted me before would get the job done - The only reason I made this public is because of how long and drawn out they're making this. Had they just refunded my money in a more timely fashion, I probably wouldn't have cared as much. I mean, they were relatively quick to respond to e-mails, and I doubt I'm the only person to refund.

What is with everyone saying they only bought it for 'supporting' TheVirts/Bone. That makes no sense, you bought the DVD the learn stuff. Not support them. WHy do they need support? IF you are going to support them go pat them on the shoulder, not buy a DVD for the sole reason of 'supporting' them. LEt someone else who needs the DVD get it.

J.

They seemed like good guys and have released some really nice free stuff, so I figured the Anaconda DVD would be the same. I've been wanting to learn a good dribble too, and this DVD looked like it would focus a lot of attention to that, so that's why I was going to pick it up. I'm much more likely to buy stuff (even if I don't absolutely crave it) if I think the people are cool.

PaulyD, please keep us updated on the progress of this. I'd like to know how they make it right, because I know they will resolve it eventually, going above and beyond your expectations. Since you are reviewing their service, we need to know how it went from beginning to end.

Will do, but from Aug 20th (the day I gave him the option to either refund or cover the shipping) till now, I still haven't seen a refund. I'll absolutely keep this thread active/updated as long as it doesn't get locked and until it's resolved. Whatever they do/ choose will be posted honestly. I leave their reputation up to them.

 

[Sinful07]

"The Customer is always right"

Zing.

Wordcount.