Yeah, that's a fair enough idea Tim, only it would be better if they sent a list of like 5 movies in order of preference, in case one is out of/low on stock or whatever, and I can try and have one or two of those sent along with the order. But please please only send them with outstanding orders, as I really can't send free DVD's to people who have cancelled their orders and whatnot. I'm sorry about this, and I'm still trying to make sure I make it up to everyone out there.

Thanks,

Steve

Do I get any for planting the seed for this?

regards, Tim...

Steve's attitude that "It's not my fault, I just started" is typical irresponsible Troma mentality. I personally don't give a flying f**k who is in charge. I don't want to hear about internal personnel issues. Troma is to blame and you are Troma so it is your problem. As to your controlling the present, I have not seen any action taken on my order in the six weeks since you started. The e-mail address you gave "[email protected]" is not listed anywhere on the website, so I don't know how you expect people to contact you with their problems....Oh wait, I see... you don't want people to contact you.

----------> DON'T ORDER FROM TROMAVILLE MAUL <-----------
----------> CROOKS & LIARS & CHEATS, OH MY!!!!! <--------

[email protected] is an address I made especially to get directed to my mailbox. I THINK i've taken care of everyone that's responded, but unfortunately I can't be sure because no one has told me 'yes, i've received it', not that I expect people to have to say that, but I mean, I have no proof otherwise.

I've been trying to deal with every problem here and I think I've done OK in doing so. Please, if I haven't, email me and tell me that I haven't because otherwise I don't know.

In the meantime, I want to thank everyone that has dealt with me and been courteous and helpful in allowing me to try and resolve the problems... it's been rough going and your patience is MUCH appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

Thanks, Steve, you did fix my order immediately after I e-mail you about the problem. Sorry you're catching all the s*** from all the disgruntled buyers, but I guess you kind of expected it (and I guess they have a pretty good reason to be upset from reading some of the posts). Anyway, you're a "Man Of Your Word" in my book.

Thanks Franchot,

I don't blame anyone one single bit for being pissed off and impatient with me. Like I said, everyone for the most part has been very kind and understanding and patient (much to my surprise and appreciation) But I'm trying to take care of anyone so if someone out there hasn't received a shipment, please email me at [email protected]!

Thanks,

Steve

It’s late here and it’s the weekend, but early next week I’ll piece together the whole shambles of how these losers have been stringing me along for four months - the reason I have not posted up until now as I was faithfully promised by SteveDeBono that he would personally see that my problems were dealt with. However here’s a taster - according to the half-wits at Troma, my order has been shipped four times and at the last count I had been refunded twice - once by CyberCash and once by Authorize.Net.

I have received nothing and I have had no refund.

I will be repeating this often (and in the other thread) but this company and it’s employees are without a doubt the most shambolic, deceitful and evasive I have ever dealt with on or off the net. DVDWave, CDUniverse are models of efficiency and honesty compared to Troma.

Do not ever shop at Troma - they’ll debit your card, send you nothing and then lie to you.

Was that clear enough Steve? More to follow

Uh oh. I usually enjoy jonathan.e's posts, but "More to follow" in this case does not sound good.

I emailed whenever Steve posted first and I got one of my DVDs. However, he misread my email and thought that was all I was missing. I sent another email and he said something along the lines of "all right, I'll ship the others out, but I've already shipped the first one." I did get the first one, but I never got the others.

Steve, if you're still there, does the [email protected] email still work? Is it still possible for me to get the others?

I've basically written this out as a loss, but hope maybe I can still get my order finished.

For what it's worth, I placed two fairly small orders for Roan disks within the last two months. Each order arrived (complete) in a little over a week. I was surprised given the reaction to Troma on this forum. I know people have had a lot of trouble with Troma. Maybe Roan disks are handled in a different way. I really don't know.

Crazee Donkee, I will be sure to take care of it ASAP (Monday). I remember your order and I thought it was settled, and it will be.

Jonathan E., I hope you post the information that I sent re: authorize.net. I even phoned their customer service and they told me it's been credited to your account. I just hope what you post includes my side of the correspondence.

Troma knows they messed up. I'm doing my best to remedy everybody's problem. Jonathan E is not happy about the way I've dealt with it and I'm sorry about that (and I don't blame him considering how long it's taken)... all I can say is I'm trying. If I wanted to be 'deceitful' and 'evasive' I'd just ignore these posts. And despite calling me a 'halfwit' and a 'loser', I'm still going to see to it that his order gets settled as promised and with the conditions I had promised.

Thanks,

Steve

[Edited by Troma Entertainment on 06-22-01 at 10:29 PM]

What's funny/ironic (or not as the case may be) is that the founder and owner of DVDTalk (the lovable Geoff) is encouraging the members of this forum to patronize Troma through the links that he has posted, while jonathan.e (one of DVDTalk's esteemed moderators) is vehement about putting the place out of business for bad business practices. Am I the only one seeing the humor in this?

To look at things from another perspective:

The sale prices were so FANTASTIC that a lot (and I mean, A LOT) of people probably tried to take advantage of them.

(Remember when Checkout.com (no longer in business) had those incredible sale prices when they first opened and many overzealous buyers practically shut down their web site since the web traffic was so monsterous.)

Well, I'm thinking that there were also many overzealous buyers during Troma's bargin sale, and, unfortunately, some newbie, uninformed clerk (since fired) was in charge and screwed up a ton of orders. It's been taking a LONG time to reverse and correct all of that damage, and like everything in life no-one is perfect. (I imagine that there are several channels of people that have to be contacted to reverse charges, etc. and maybe all of those people do not function at a 100% PERFECTION scale.) There are bound to be mess-ups that have slipped through the cracks.

Maybe if my order hadn't been fixed, maybe I'd be singing a different tune, but it seems to me that Steve is TRYING to get things repaired as best as he can. People do make mistakes...often repeatedly...but Steve has admitted there were terrible mistakes and he is DOING something about it.

Jonathan.e, I can see your point of view, but I don't imagine that the people who PROCESS DVD orders are getting paid millions of dollars to check and recheck every single order and probably don't give a rat's ass about their low-paying job. (Hell, I'm lucky if my local Burger King gets my order right 50% of the time. And they claim I can have it MY WAY!)

In perspective not everyone who deals with DVDs are fanatics like us on this board. (Just take at look at MGM studios!)




[Edited by Franchot on 06-23-01 at 12:24 AM]

Geoff’s post was made without awareness of the farce that the whole situation had become. Also perhaps it’s worth clarifying that as a Moderator I’m happy to help Geoff in the day to day running of the board but that does not mean I deny myself the right to a voice and particularly in this case I feel it is important to highlight the appalling way Troma has treated it’s customers. Check the date I joined this board; I was buying on line for about a year previous to that date and can honestly say in all that time Troma are without a doubt the worst company I have had the misfortune to encounter (their own films are lousy also but that’s a subject for another forum).

Ah, yes. The "it was some stupid new guy that charged the cards and he‘s since been fired". People who believe this story should maybe also check their windows for hovering pigs. And pray tell why it takes so long to refund an incorrect charge? Amazon are capable of doing it within a couple of days, same day even. And what is their response to product that doesn’t arrive - they ship out another copy, and in the case of overseas customers tell you to keep the additional one if it the first arrives. Troma have been BSing us for 4 months with a whole range of crackpot stories as to why people are still having problems. I personally have sent over 30, that’s right THIRTY e-mails to Chip, Millie and now Steve attempting to get this lousy company to ship my order or refund it. That I am writing this now should give you an indication of how successful I’ve been and how furious I am about all this.

Good customer service costs nothing, apart from a willingness on the part of the company concerned to recognize that their customers are a long term assett who, if treated respectfully, will keep coming back and enhancing the bottom line and spreading the word of mouth (the single most important recommendation) about said store. Troma however could care less if you come back, in fact they’d rather you didn’t because you’d be wise to their tricks. Much better that you think they’re straight shooters so they can rip you off blind. I was not part of their $0.99 sale but I’m sure there are many members on the board who will tell you they never got their goods from this sale either.

No, what Steve has done is string people along preferably past the point when they can query the charges to their cards. UK law is however different to US so I personally am able to still get these charges reversed and at the same time I will be pointing these threads out to my CC company and asking them to take the harshest action possible against Troma. A company that is not able to charge orders correctly, ship product paid for and in the final analysis unwilling to give refunds should not be allowed merchant credit facilities.

Fine, let’s say I believe the fairy-tale about some lowly employee charging all cards in advance - what’s the excuse for the subsequent 3 and a half months of obfuscation, deceit and excuses. Why do I not have my order that I paid for mid February? That would mean that everyone who has "dealt" (ha) with my problem subsequent to the CC foul up has either been A) incompetent, or B) out and out deceitful. There’s no grey areas on this - I have neither a refund nor product after four months: What conclusion would you come to after all this time?

Everything you said was exceptionally well stated! Bravo! In my earlier posts, I described similar issues with Troma. However, Steve "fixed" the problem with a combination of "offsets" and I let it go. Regardless, Troma has to understand that the membership of DVDTalk stands together! You cannot rape one of us (or in this case many of us) and expect the rest of us to flock to your store like a bunch of sheep. One for all and all for one! Unfortunately, I too, could not recommend Troma to my friends...not after how most of us have been treated. Troma has to understand that the primary issue is not the DVDs or a few dollars, but rather the total disrespect, lying, consternation, they have inflicted on us. It is painful to take time out of our lives to write these messages, contact banks, send multiple e-mails to Troma, countless phone calls to Troma, and all of the other BS just to get their attention. Most folks don't do it. They just give up. I commend johnathan.e for being a fighter! Like Dr. Van Helsing, we must pursue these corporate vampires and drive a stake through their hearts! I say, "jonathan.e, you are absolutely right in everything you said. But be careful. Don't let these vampires destroy you with anger, stress, and revenge.

I emailed Steve about a title that I never received from my February order but was charged for, The Big Lift. He replied that Roan's rights to the title had lapsed and that it was no longer available. (How's that as an exmple of how long this has dragged on? Sheesh!) He said he would settle it all up if I would simply reply with what titles I would like instead. I replied with three--any or all. That was a month ago, and I've still received nothing. Meanwhile, I let my CC complaint lapse because I was led to believe it would be fixed. Still waiting...

As one of the many that went through this, I fully back jonathan.e on his feelings. In my case I was frustrated after I sent email after email and left five messages at the customer service answering machine only to be ignored. I have never dealt with a retailer this bad. The story about a bad employee is simply nonsense. I left messages and sent emails after he was fired and never got a response. The worst part of all of this is the great Roan library is now lost to me as I refuse to buy any Troma products. If only Roan would have had the sense to sell out to someone more respectable like Anchor Bay. I hope most of you will eventually get your orders, but I refuse to ever deal with this company again.

jonathan e.,

I can TOTALLY see your point of view (and I'd be as pissed off as you if this had occurred to me) and I agree with your rancor. I'm just trying to logically understand how all this can happen. I mean, if I ran a business that defrauded so many people out of so much money, I would think that the police/government would shut me down.

If I'm recalling this correctly, this is not the first time there has been a problem with a Troma sale. Does it really take the govenment that long to investigate and act upon complaints of consumers? Are Internet businesses somehow exempt from certain laws? Is Troma "buying off" the police so that they can continue to stay in operation? By posing the scenerio that I did, I am trying to enlighten myself as to how a business can stay solvent by offering nothing to so many of its customers.

Heck, if this is the case, maybe I should open my own Internet business and offer "50% Off DVDs!" and take thousands of orders and never ship out any product. Then after three months, quietly close my shop and retire with my windfall. What I'm trying to say in all this is that there surely must be another side to this story. Otherwise, Troma would have been out of business long ago.

Any lawyers care to chime in?

Franchot, apologies if it seemed I was directing my comments toward you. I was merely using the points you raised to demonstrate how badly Troma have treated their customers and the level of contempt they have for our intelligence. Recovering my payment is no problem, however they have lied to me for months now and for that I am going to do everything I can to see that the proper authorities are made aware of their practices. I will also be posting to other forums (ones in the UK as well) directing their attention toward these threads & hopefully no one will ever be foolish enough to order from Troma again. Foreign language forums may be a problem as the on-line translation programmes tend to be too literal for comfortable readability but if any international members want to translate the gist of my and others posts, or even pass on your own experiences, I urge you to do so.

I am aware of the Better Business Bureau in the States but please post here if you know of other bodies that represent the consumer when dealing with companies like this one.

There may come a happy day when Troma are no longer trading and I hope that day arrives sooner rather than later.

jonathan.e,

Thanks!!!!

I never bought from them- However, send copies of this thread and the responses from troma showing that they were promising to fix this. I do believe in the case of a merchant committing fraud (purposely not shipping then promising to solve the problem and not doing so)might be cause for your credit card company to review you charges even after the period to dispute has lapsed.

It is worth a try.

good luck everyone. if we can help let us know!

Just to note that Mastercard has already viewed my situation and found Troma at fault. Anyone that is still waiting may want to bring their credit card company in on this and dispute the charges. I got fully refunded by Mastercard.

Wow, I am glad I missed the 'sale'.

I remember it took three months, numerous e-mails and several phone calls to my CC to deny extra charges they tried to put on me during the last $.25 sale for them to deliver. Yeah, I ended up with about 20 DVD's for under $50 but so far I couldn't even finish watching one of them.

Oh yeah, last time they blamed it on the earthquake in Tai Wan or China somewhere, I think.

Good luck folks and I am all for banning Troma!

PF

[Edited by pmf on 06-23-01 at 10:30 PM]

That's right! I had forgotten that one of the many delays after the 25-cent sale was blamed on an earthquake! The excuses got better and better back then...

I made the mistake of ordering 2 copies each of 13 DVDs. The inept packing clerk only sent one of each. I called Troma's customer service person (Millie), who promised to get them rushed off to me with an extra or two to make up for the problem.

4 weeks later, when I hadn't received them, I called and left a message for her.

A week later I called and left another message for her.

A week later I called and left yet another message for her.

A week later, I called and left still another a message for her -- this time with a guy who picked up when I tried to get the operator (so they can't blame an equipment failure).

Still no callbacks. 3 days later, I called, gave the automated system just my first name (in case Millie was screening for callers with previously reported problems), and sure enough, this time she actually picked up -- and she said she would personally pack them up and get them out to me by certified mail. (Which she did -- my order is finally complete 6 phone calls and 2 months late.)

I'm relieved to be done.

-- John

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