ALTER BRIDGE BOX SET

[TremontiFan4Life]

I can't believe I actually did it but I ended up sending an email to their customer service inquiring about a refund. I think I worded it as nicely and professionally as I could have. I don't know what kind of reaction I'm going to get from them or the people on this board but for anybody that wants to read it here is what I said.


Hello,

I'm writing to inquire about a refund for the Alter Bridge 10th anniversary box set. I realize that your company has been inundated with a lot of people complaining about certain delays that were out of your control in the beginning of the year. I have been relatively quiet during the majority of the complaining, however as we approach the beginning of July I'm beginning to question whether or not the wait for this box set as well as the price justifies the content inside.

I realize that a general list of content was announced at the time of the preorder in October 2013. To be completely honest, had the box set been shipped in a reasonable amount of time I would not have had the opportunity to question my purchase. In light of all of the changes regarding content that had been announced since my preorder I would like to inquire about a refund.

Being a devoted fan of the band Alter Bridge, which in my opinion one would have to be in order to justify a $250 purchase, I already own multiple copies of all of Alter Bridge's studio albums, DVD and Blu-ray concert releases, signed memorabilia so on and so forth. I initially bought this box set because I wanted to be able to say that I own a piece of this bands history. In light of all of the delays I would honestly feel better going to a concert, meeting the guys in person either before or after the show and directly handing them $250.

If you would be able to send me a message giving me an idea as to how much longer I am expected to wait for this product I would appreciate it, I do realize that you by no means will be able to give me a date however in this particular case a ballpark figure would suffice. I am just curious if this will end up being another 2 to 3 month waiting period, if so I would appreciate a refund.

I have already received a signed Alter Bridge 10th anniversary poster. In the event that a refund is decided upon please let me know where to return the poster if that is a requirement.

Thank you for your time and consideration regarding this matter.


--
Sincerely
Mark H Schierloh Jr

[AllC392Was]

I respect that

[Andy92]

Don't blame you to be honest, and you have fair reasons.

[TremontiFan4Life]

Yeah Andy I finally just went ahead and did it this morning because I started thinking a lot about what you said about the content being worth it. When I sat back and thought about it things really don't make that much sense to me. They're selling a box set for $250, it should be common sense to them that the only group of people willing to spend that amount of money is hard-core fans, so why would you include things like studio albums in there when you know that 100% of your target audience already has them, now if they decided to include all of the albums on vinyl that would make sense, otherwise why would you include CD versions of albums that the people that are buying the box set already have.

The same thing can be said for the DVD releases, everybody that is willing to spend $250 on this box set already has live from Amsterdam and live at Wembley. I don't think you'll be able to find one alter bridge fan on this entire website that has bought this box set that is going to tell you they don't have a copy of those concerts already. I think Dan said something about having a few download Festival performances in there, he is right when he says that they have not been "officially released" but there are pro shot versions of a lot of those shows on YouTube that I already have. So really like you said all that I'm paying for is maybe a handful of exclusive material and that is not worth $250 to me, nor is it worth $250 for me to have my name in a coffee table book, I just don't need that kind of validation.

When this box set was first announced we were led to believe it was going to be something special. Now I'm only speaking for myself but to me it feels just like this turned into your standard box set that any other band releases. Like I said in the beginning had this thing gotten to us in a timely manner I wouldn't really have second-guessed things. Given the events that have taken place however, what are we supposed to do? I realize that there are people that have bought this thing that simply have the outlook of "when it gets here it gets here" hell, for a long time I was one of those people but they're just comes a point where continuing to wait just becomes unreasonable and in my opinion even with the weather delays that they could not control having happened, in my mind March or April would have been acceptable but to be seven months into 2014 I think anybody that may want to start questioning things at this point should be able to do so without people yelling at them.


I realize that this is a fan site so coming here for the sole purpose of bitching and moaning is pointless but coming here to have a discussion about the circumstances that surround this thing should be acceptable. I was honestly willing to hang in there until this thing finally got released but when I heard about the live in Milan delay it kind of put me over the edge. I want to continue to buy Alter Bridge's merchandise but I don't think there's any level of explanation that can be given at this point so that Dan or his company can save face. I was all ready to buy live in Milan on Blu-ray when it came out now we hear about the TV deal that nobody knew anything about and we also hear that the band were unhappy with at least a quarter of the concert and we will now be lucky if the thing gets released next year. That was the end of it for me.

Anyway that's just my thoughts, I guess I'll wait and see what the response is to that email. I think I wrote it in the nicest way I could so hopefully I don't get a condescending response.

[prowler5150]

I'm right there with you Mark. I haven't asked for a refund yet (I'm close), but I did send an email yesterday asking if there was anything in the box not listed on the website. As more time goes on, the more this whole thing stinks, from the delays (some of which were understandable) to the ambiguity around what we're actually getting. Like you, I wasn't spending $250 on the stuff I already have multiple copies of. But it looks like that might be all that's left (and a coffee table book).

My email wasn't anywhere near as eloquent as yours, so I'm curious to see the responses we get, if any.

[TremontiFan4Life]

It looks like I just was given a pretty standard run-of-the-mill response this is what was said

Hi Mark,
We completely how you feel about the situation. However, the books are expected any day now but are not in yet, hence why we have not given an update recently. It certainly will not be another 2 to 3 months. The second we have some news, we will report it right away, but it literally will be any day now. If you are still interested in pursuing a full refund, please let us know and we can arrange it.

Sincerely,

The City Drive Group Team

It was written exactly like you see you as well. I love how they made no mention about what I said regarding the contents of the box. I've got to sit here for a second and figure out what my response is going to be

[TremontiFan4Life]

This was my response

I appreciate the response. However, with all due respect, you just relayed the same piece of information that we were given publicly more than 10 days ago. Can you speak towards any of the contents of the box set? As of right now it feels like the majority of the box set is going to contain things that we as dedicated fans of Alter Bridge already have.The majority of this set consists of all of Alter Bridge's studio albums and concert DVDs which 100% of your target audience already owns. I understand that the argument can be made that this box set also includes content that has not been officially released. However things like festival appearances so on and so forth are readily available on YouTube and have been pro-shot.

My main goal in pointing this out is not to get into a back and forth over the contents of the box. It is solely for the purpose of determining whether or not I feel this product still warrants my $250. I do not want to pay for a box largely consisting of material that I already have and given the information publicly available it appears as though the box set is made up of 50% or more material that is already owned by the majority of your target audience.

If you could please respond promptly with a reply I can guarantee I will make the decision by the end of your business day today. As a matter fact I can guarantee a decision will be made in the next hour provided I receive a timely response.

Thank you very much for your consideration


and the reply

There is over 20 hours of unreleased content included in the box set. The 2 hour Fortress Tour documentary, 4 hours of Bonus Content from the Fortress Tour, plus more which adds up to 20 hours. Please let us know how you would like to move forward


my response

So basically the box set consists of all of the band's previously released material in addition to the 20 hours of additional footage you have mentioned is that correct?

Just to make sure I understand, for a fan such as myself who already owns all of Alter Bridge's previously released material I am basically paying $250 for the coffee table book and the 20 hours of unreleased content. Would that be a fair way of looking at the situation?


and the last reply

Yes that is correct.




Any thoughts on what I should do? I'm thinking refund city myself

[Ryan]

It's ultimately up to you. Even though you already own the albums and DVDs, that doesn't mean you can say your $250 is going only to 20 hours worth of unreleased stuff, because it's not. You're still getting the albums and DVDs you already have. You might not need them, but you're still getting them. You're also getting the vinyls which won't be available anywhere else. Even though you may have the content on cd, you don't have it on vinyl. To some that's not a big deal, to others it is. You're also getting the custom engraved plaque, your name in the thank yous in the box set as well as on the documentary.

Maybe you could sell your other copies of the DVDs on eBay and off set the cost a bit since you don't need them?

[TremontiFan4Life]

Ryan that's an idea, I think I like it, I'll think about it

[RoelSmoel]

Don't. Just don't. You're going to regret everything after everyone else has theirs. Plus the vinyl versions of LfA and LfW are in it. No one else, except the people with the box set, has them.
On the other side, when we're meeting in the future, you can say: oh dude, YOU are that guy from the box set documentary!

Think on the plus side, not the bad side. You're making a choice which can change everything.

[HappyHogJens]

Don't. Just don't. You're going to regret everything after everyone else has theirs. Plus the vinyl versions of LfA and LfW are in it. No one else, except the people with the box set, has them.
On the other side, when we're meeting in the future, you can say: oh dude, YOU are that guy from the box set documentary!

Think on the plus side, not the bad side. You're making a choice which can change everything.

I don't really understand DC3's choice to add vinyls to the box set. I mean, were they out of ideas for things to put in the box set? We already have the albums right? Plus, I think there's very, VERY little new stuff in the box set, regarding the fact that, apart from LfA and LaW, the other gigs which DC3 call "unreleased material" are already on Youtube or download websites, like Pinkpop, Rockpalast, Greenfield, Download and Astoria. (Yeah, that's actually every gig in the box set)
The documentaries and music videos are on Youtube too, and so are the interviews and webisodes.

That makes the only actually new thing/unreleased content the coffee table book, which will probably be a cool thing to read and own, but will likely be filled with information we already know.

I'm not paying 250 bucks for a box set filled with nothing new.

[Ryan]

A box set has traditionally always been a collection of everything a band has done. Sometimes there's new stuff, but not always.

That's what this is. It's not a set of all new stuff. It's a collection of what the band has done so far. There's also unreleased stuff. Those concerts are being released on DVD now. Not a shitty quality YouTube stream. The vinyls are something special for collectors that aren't available anywhere else. The interviews online are just a small portion of what he's releasing in the box set. There's a new documentary that's not available online and hasn't been released yet.

The idea of the b-sides has always been more of a hope from fans. Dan tried to get them for us, but the labels won't give them up.

Bitching about the content of the box set being nothing new seems really silly to me.

[austinjhnsn]

Im still bitter about Wind-Up not letting them have those b-sides.

[Andy92]

IMO you either think the content is worth the money or you don't. If you think it is, buy it and enjoy it. If you don't, that's fine. I didn't think it was worth it and decided not to buy one. I think a lot of people (not everyone) bought one because they just wanted to say they owned it for the sake of owning it.

[Ryan]

Im still bitter about Wind-Up not letting them have those b-sides.

Me too. I don't get what they gain from it. They're not releasing them so it's not like they're losing money.

[austinjhnsn]

Exactly, thats just a dickish move, but its just another bs record label move.

[Andy92]

This is awful to say, but when you see the way demoes from guys like Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, etc get packaged and sold today, those b-sides will be more valuable to the label of they don't release them until after Myles either gets a lot bigger as a musician or passes away. I know it's kind of awful to think that way, but I'd bet that's part of the reason labels hold b-sides and demoes in the vault. A lot of musicians make more money after death.

[zazthespaz]

This is awful to say, but when you see the way demoes from guys like Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, etc get packaged and sold today, those b-sides will be more valuable to the label of they don't release them until after Myles either gets a lot bigger as a musician or passes away. I know it's kind of awful to think that way, but I'd bet that's part of the reason labels hold b-sides and demoes in the vault. A lot of musicians make more money after death.

I can't believe you just suggested we kill Myles for the sake of a box set. That's disgusting Andy92.

Edit: waste of 9000th post

[anguyen92]

This is awful to say, but when you see the way demoes from guys like Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain, etc get packaged and sold today, those b-sides will be more valuable to the label of they don't release them until after Myles either gets a lot bigger as a musician or passes away. I know it's kind of awful to think that way, but I'd bet that's part of the reason labels hold b-sides and demoes in the vault. A lot of musicians make more money after death.

I can't believe you just suggested we kill Myles for the sake of a box set. That's disgusting Andy92.

Wait, what???? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO. If that's the case, then it's best that we should never hear those B-Sides or maybe the band should do something to further kick sand in the eyes of those record labels for holding those tracks.

[Andy92]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Cam lol.

I could be wrong but that's kind of how I see it. There's a bunch of Freddie Mercury demoes floating around too that I think might come out sometime. Record companies are spineless like that.