The Con Artist Known as Prince

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Reply #30 posted 05/05/06 2:02am

Rebeljuice

Aerogram said:

Rebeljuice said:

Ok, its an amusing read and I agree the guy has obsessed about it a bit long. But think about all those individual 76 bucks that NPG Corp never refunded. It could be a collosal amount of dough which, if exposed, could prove to be an unethical and illigal business practice.

As much as I like Prince, we do need people in this world prepared to stand up and be counted so that ANY business in this world has to be accountable and above board. Otherwise im opening a business right now where I can ask for money and just keep it without delivering.

There was no real crime committed here. If there are some people that didn't get their order, that is a definite case of bad service and business practices, but in the case of this fella, he decided to buy the product in store even though he had ordered it, "assuming the deal was off". When the product arrived, he refused to accept it and had it returned. Even though the product was considerably pricier coming from New Funk, it was not an identical product and five cds for $76 isn't terrible at all. The $35 price at the record store is not necessarily Prince's idea.

Even the fact the whole set wasn't exclusive to those who ordered is shaky due to the inclusion of Kamasutra and the packaging.

In other words, it was not a great deal when all was said and done, but I don't think any crime was committed, technically or otherwise. Just really poor business practices.

I agree. I was going off on a tangent somewhat. All Im really saying is some people are really digging into this guy because he's having a rant at Prince. Im saying that if he was having a rant at Ebay would those same people be so quick to give him him shit and dismiss the guy?

I wasnt saying Prince's business was illigal but trying to make the point that we do need people that do take things further than most and make noise about it. If no one ever complained and made lots of noise about being wrong-done by, then we would be giving licence to any business to rip us off without recourse.

And anyway, it was a good read.

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Reply #31 posted 05/05/06 2:09am

Rebeljuice

padawan said:

TheBigBang said:

For anyone who wants to know why someone would still carry this kind of a grudge after so many years, allow someone who also got stung to elaborate a little more:

I was a true fam, in every sense of the word. Willing and able, at a moments notice, to drop all of my cash on everything and anything that had to do with Prince. So, when the opportunity to get The Crystal Ball arose, I jumped at it. I thought it was the perfect reward for Prince to give his hardcore fans who had stuck with him through ALL the bullshit. I eagerly got out my plastic and preordered it, even though my wife, who had grown tired of Prince two years prior, laughed at me and told me I was going to probably get screwed. Imagine her glee, as she strolled into our place of work a short time later, holding in her hand a store bought copy of CB. I hadn't even gotten mine yet, and she had picked it up at Sam Goody just to spite me and show me she was right.

I canceled my order, they said fine. Yet, they still managed to charge my account TWICE. It took weeks of phone calls, to my credit card company and New Funk, to get it straightened out. The worst part was that not one time, through all the correspondence, did Prince's camp ever issue an apology. I ended up leaving it to my credit card company, who refunded me themselves.

Going through that type of thing when all you were doing was being one of the faithful is kinda depressing. That shit will never happen again.

See, this was a well composed story about being stiffed. In the end, it really wasn't about the money, but professionalism and basic human decency.

The other guy, way too involved emotionally. He was so wrapped up he failed to recognize he had a legitimate gripe.

I think you will find he was just telling his story in a funny, anecdotal way as opposed to being factual and to the point. I doubt very much he is genuinely that obsessed and down-trodden by it.

At the end of the day, the two stories are about the same thing... And I bet you there are thousands of people in the world who have exactly the same gripe. how they choose to vent the frustration is up to them. Either way, Prince got this one wrong and deserves the stick he gets for it.