There is an update on the Better Business Bureau for NPGMC
http://www.mnd.bbb.org/co...d=21003796

korin said:

Interesting...very interesting!

I am surprised (I guess) that people really complained to the BBB, but good for them! I hope Prince realizes, he needs better peeps running his business. Not a bunch of amateurs! I hope things get back on track soon. I guess he faced a lot of 'penalties' from last year. If you attended the last Celebration, how much you wanna bet the Fire Marshall wasn't too happy?

i think the NPGMC is history, because of unselfish so called memebers that bitched to the BBB

I cannot believe that anyone took the time to complain to the BBB about a Prince fan club.

Prince has always done way more than other artist for his fans and now there is nothing.

korin said:

Does this tell us anything we didnt already know?

Wouldn't it be nice if this meant that everything is now resolved, and the club can now proceed with the new year?

Wishful thinking, I know.

Reading this it sounds as if NPGMC made CNOTE and X available to save face. Do you think we would have got CNOTE and X if the complaints weren’t registered?

For the record I was not a BBB complainer, just wondering if it actually did some good and benefited us all?

Soapstone said:

Only NPGMC would have this answer, the rest would be pure speculation.

For example, some say the NPGMC has been closed DUE to complaints... so, if the extra music came from it, then the club closing could have too, you know? Who wanted the club to not exist? I'd rather the club had kept those tracks (although I love Xpectation), and remained open.

LaVisHh said:

That’s true enough although I don't think they closed because of this! My guess is they are trying to work out how to promote this year - and make everyone join again - without making promises they might not be able to keep! Probably have the lawyers pouring over the intro e-mail as we speak.

"High,

Welcome to NPGMC 2003, the day you have all been waiting for. This year you can expect nothing for your money! Prince may, or may not, go on tour, if he does you might get a chance at privileged seating, that is unless our servers go down in which case you may not! We WILL definitely get you some music over the next 12 months, hopefully this will be new music by Prince and the NPG. But, if for some reason we don't we can always send you some old stock CDs that we haven’t been able to shift instead. We would like to give you a DVD too but can't promise anything because some moaning gits decided to file a complaint to the BBB last year, so you will just have to wait and see.

Please make any contribution you see fit, we suggest $100.

MattUK said:

Perhaps not, but we were anticipating the wording of the account and how it may possibly affect the future of the NPGMC. The club was a new experience, and a learning process as they went along, obviously trying to fix any kinx that might occur along the way. In the report there was acknowledgement and hope.

I AM ONE OF THOSE WHO COMPLAINED TO THE BBB, AND LET ME TELL YOU I AM SO DAMN HAPPY THE CLUB IS NO MORE!!!

ivdf said:

There is no gain to convince you of the benefits of the NPGMC, the real questions is what is your gain in trying to gruntle your complaints. The club was a wealth of opportunities, not everyone was to benefit from everyone of them. Surely not every member attended the celebration or every concert, but the ability to have access if they were able to was unprescedent. If you did not benefit from the club to it's full advantage, that a personal choice. But I don't think it was intended for everyone to receive the exact amount of benefits, but to ones personal choices. Incidently, the CDs we received in the mail, I considered as a pure gift and not an obligation on their part.

Soapstone said:

I'd still join. To me, the $100 was for the membership.

Soapstone, your thoughts pretty much sum up my thoughts on the NPGMC.

i wonder if you are just plain crazy... so, you mean than paying 100$ upfront for certain benefits, being entitled to new music we did not received as promised, etc, was our personal choice? is it a personal choice to pay 100$ for a non-existent tour in my country? is it a personal choice paying 100$ for no downloads? is it a personal choice not receiving the cd's we were promised? is it a personal choice having had to pay another 100$ if i had wanted to "enjoy the benefits" of a soundcheck and reserved seats? is it a personal choice to pay a couple of hundreds more if i had wanted to go to the pathetic graceland-like celebration? all thsoe were not personal choices: in the real world outside paisley park those are called thefts, robberies, and price would be consider a fraud and a fraudulent perpetrator. it is my personal choice to try not this to happen again and to wish prince not to steal money from his fans again.

korin said:

I think it's a matter of separating the artist from the business entity. You can be disappointed - even livid - about NPGMC's service, but does that make Prince any less brilliant as an artist? Not at all.

I've spent WAY too much money on this guy over the past 20 years. More money than I've ever spent on anyone I've actually MET, I'm sure. How is he gonna ask me for a hundred dollars a year on top of all that, without delivering?

You bet I'd complain about it. Nothing personal, nothing against the legacy of his work. Shitty business, that's all there is to it.

Fortunately, after very nearly going over the edge with NPGMC's crappy customer service, the year ended with my getting everything I was supposed to get (FINALLY), and I'll go so far as to say CNOTE and Xpectation were redemptive in that I think they're amazing pieces of music that I otherwise wouldn't have had access to.

For those who still don't have their box sets or their ONA sets, and for those who feel slighted for various other reasons (and there ARE good arguments to be had), more power to ya. I just hope they can come out of the experience able to separate the questionable business from the unquestionable brilliance of the artist whose business is in question. Not that he isn't arguably "at fault", but money's no reason to alienate yerself from so much good music. Ya know?

trying to gruntle your complaints

I love the use of "gruntle" as a verb.

7IS4ME said:

We're not "so-called members" when we payed our 100 bucks.

A BBB complaint doesn't prevent a company from operating, it's simply a notice to potential customers. The BBB is more diplomatic than angry NPGMC members, and if they felt this information need be posted, then that only adds more validity to some of our complaints.

Prince is free to continue running his club. It's his choice to reopen it. Perhaps he doesn't think it will be worthwhile/profitable based on the number of anticipated signups.

I've been purchasing stuff from 800newfunk and NPGMC for nearly 10 years now and there has been an unusually high number of screw ups, delays, and misleading advertising. 10 years is a LONG time to give a retail operation the benefit of the doubt, and more than enough time for it to pull its shit together and stop dicking fans around. I'm very glad some people spoke up instead of just going "oh well".
[This message was edited Tue Apr 1 10:08:42 PST 2003 by Tom]

Yes there has been cock ups, but has anyone realised what Prince is trying to do here? He is a bad business man, but his intentions were fantastic, I have been to two sound checks, two shows and an aftershow, as well as being very happy with the CD's I did receive for 2003, for that I am willing to put his business practices to one side and give this man time to evolve his system, if he should chose it to evolve, which I wont blame him if he closed the club. Too many bitchers and winers posing as Prince fans, I give up.

Anxiety said:

"I love the use of "gruntle" as a verb."

i prefer the word GRUNT as a verb, mr. flatula lee COCK. i got the butter for ya muffin, yo. the mash-up of thriller and come on is seriously FONKY, and it makes this freak bop hizz head. it makes my dizzick dizzrip. you RAWK.

*can't you hear those cavalry drums
hijacking yer equilibrium?*

yer love is soft and wet,

-(iw)a(nnabeyerlover).

GoldiesParade said:

sounds like prince got a nice chunk of money off you last year.

To ALL that complained...



NOW GO GET A LIFE !

Prince usuallly changes HIS mind on HIS projects.

"OH you did'nt know that???
then you should NOT HAVE JOINED!"


I feel sorry for NONE of you !

NOW WE ARE ALL S.O.L... SO THANKS!

FISH!!

funkyfish said:

would you like a tissue?

No thanks SPUDBOY!

no one's crying here!!

I got MY $'s worth!


FISH

It's also a personal choice to wake up early, go to a ticketmaster, wait in line, pay $100 and get upper balcony seats (with no other alternative before the NPGMC). But we can't complain here because it is an legitimate company with ethical standards, (definitely not called thefts, robberies, and a price considered a fraud and a fraudulent perpetrator). If you rather purchase a concert ticket from ticket master directly and find it to your advantage,that right is in no way deprived from you. In actuality, your not saving fans from getting ripped off, your rambling for a cause that is inconsequential.

If you did not receive downloads, I don't know why- The Club has acknowledged that people overseas difficulties receiving downloads. Was there a tour promised in your country? As far as I recall, tours places and dates were given only in short advance notices, why would you assume a concert in your area?

ivdf said:

it seems that if a Business DOESN'T have a complaint @ the BBB that they're NOT a valid company... but as Lavish said: i'd join again when The NPGMC decides 2 set up again

funkyfish said:

Exactly. Ive been a fan for 15 years and last year was a dream come true, its not about the money or the service its getting an experience you could only wish for. I got row 2 (centre) of an ONA concert, an aftershow and soundcheck and some wonder if that is worth a $100 ticket. I went 2 nights and still I thought it was cheap for what I experienced.