Short post tonight., just wanted to get one more up before the end of the month.

Tolerance?

Coming home from work I listened to the first lady wobble through her speech and found one idea she espoused to be, well, paradoxically intriguing. Like a toilet water vortex in the southern hemisphere spinning to the left.

Laura Bush says, “that our country is more vulnerable than we thought, that some people hate us because we stand for liberty, religious freedom and tolerance.”

Yikes. Tolerance for whom?

I keep reading that many of the swing states in our country are coming down to the the 3 G’s- God, Guns and Gays. It seems that this notion of tolerance that Laura Bush speaks of might extend to fellow Americans who are collectively grouped under the Gays heading.

But I get confused, and want to get this straight (heh); it’s okay to hate gay people and take their liberties away because you’re an American, but it’s not okay for people to hate the United States because “we stand for liberty, religious freedom and tolerance?”

Riiight.

The transcript of RNC speech .

Here’s how Real Networks is making it work for $.49 a song.

You will not find the message posted below any where on their website, nowhere. Below is the true way to run a scam, excuse me, legitimate corporate enterprise, that dupes customers into paying for a service, I mean joining a service that will continually bill them as a subscription to a service.

I guess Real Networks is following the AOL and mobile phone industry model. . . if the customer doesn’t know that were charging them they can fight it later but in the service agreement make sure that it states no refunds.

Glad I only lost a $1.00, but these fuckers owe me a $.

Anyway here is the skinny on their $.49 a song scam.

———————————————————-

Response (RU) - 08/24/2004 09:30 PM
Dear Mr. Smith:

Thank you for contacting RealPlayer Music Store support.

It would seem that your purchases have resulted in a ‘pended’ status. These transactions have failed to successfully charge your account. This is due either to a temporary error within our billing system or an issue with you payment method. In either case, we recommend waiting 48 hours before attempting another purchase and also ensuring there is at least $30 available within your account.

When you first register for the Music Store, your credit card is authorized for $20. This $20 authorization is not a charge to your account. However, it does reduce your available credit by $20 until your bank’s next processing cycle.

Warning: Depending on your bank, a new $20 authorization charge may be incurred for each day that you purchase a track. This $20 should fall off at the end of the day. However, different banks keep authorizations pending for different periods of time. This may affect your available credit or debit-card funds.

This initial authorization is designed to make the transaction easier when you make your first purchase. If you decide not to purchase anything, your credit card is not charged.

Note: If you do purchase over $20 of tracks or albums from RealPlayer Music Store, your credit card will be authorized for another $20.

We hope this information helps and if there is anything else we can assist you with please let us know.

Regards,
RealPlayer Music Store Support

Auto-Response - 08/21/2004 02:29 PM
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Here’s the part of the EULA or “REALPLAYER MUSIC STORE SERVICES AGREEMENT” that will probably cover their ass when you complain about being charged an extra $20.00 when you get your credit card statement . The short of is that by pressing the “Buy” button you sign on for automatic subscription renewals, modification of fees and billing at “anytime", and if you have an unauthorized charge of say $20.00, you get up to 60 days to dispute the charge and after that the money belongs to Real. But the part “(b) No refunds” should cancel that right out. Enjoy!

Oh yeah I don’t see the $20.00 charge listed anywhere on their site.

“4. PURCHASING DOWNLOADS AND PAYMENT
(a) General
You can purchase individuals Downloads by clicking on the “Buy” button next to the Download you wish to purchase within the RealPlayer Music Store and logging into your account. Your credit card will be charged each time you purchase a Download. Downloads must be purchased from a computer registered to your RealPlayer Music Store Account (you can register up to 5 computers to your account).
(b) No Refunds
All fees and charges, including charges for automatically renewed subscriptions, are nonrefundable.
© Methods of Payment and Credit Card Terms
All payments must be made by Visa, MasterCard or American Express. We do not accept cash, checks or any other payment form. AS BETWEEN YOU AND REAL, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING ANY AMOUNTS FOR PURCHASES BILLED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD BY A THIRD PARTY WHO HAD ACCESS TO YOUR CREDIT CARD OR CREDIT CARD NUMBER, WHETHER OR NOT SUCH AMOUNTS WERE AUTHORIZED BY YOU. You agree to pay all fees and charges incurred in connection with your RealPlayer Music Store Account and its password (including any applicable taxes) at the rates in effect when the charges were incurred. If Real does not receive payment from your credit card issuer or its agent, you agree to pay all amounts due upon demand by Real.
(d) Unauthorized Charges
Unless you notify Real of any discrepancies or unauthorized charges within sixty (60) days after they first appear on your credit card statement, they will be deemed accepted by you for all purposes, including resolution of inquiries made by your card issuer. You release Real from all liabilities and claims of loss resulting from any error or discrepancy that is not reported to Real within sixty (60) days of its first appearance on an invoice or credit card statement.
(e) Taxes
You are responsible for paying any governmental taxes imposed on your use of the RealPlayer Music Store and your purchase of Downloads, including, but not limited to, sales, use or value-added taxes.
(f) Modifications to Fees or Billing Terms
REAL RESERVES THE RIGHT, AT ANY TIME, TO CHANGE ITS DOWNLOAD FEES AND BILLING METHODS, INCLUDING THE ADDITION OF SUPPLEMENTAL FEES OR SEPARATE CHARGES FOR CONTENT OR SERVICES PROVIDED BY REAL, BY POSTING SUCH CHANGES IN THE REALPLAYER MUSIC STORE. If any such change is unacceptable to you, you may terminate your use of the RealPlayer Music Store Services and/or terminate your RealPlayer Music Store account by clicking on the Manage Account button on the RealPlayer and selecting the appropriate link under Account Management. Your continued use of the RealPlayer Music Store Service(s) following the effective date of a change to fees or billing methods shall constitute your acceptance of such change.” - Real.com, retrieved August 21, 2004 from http://musicstore.real.com/music_store/help?tab=terms

I just signed up to test out the new service by Real to buy songs for $.49 and albums for less that $5.50. So far things don’t look so good. Good thing this was a test with one song and done with an account that I keep less than $5.00 in for PayPal store development testing.

Here’s what happened. . . I picked out a tune from Soundgarden, filled out my information, entered in my info from my PayPal debit card, and Real’s download process or scripts fail and say that they cannot complete transaction and I need to edit my card info. Before I edit the info I wanted to see the charge that Real put on my card.

GET THIS!

I just paid $1.00 for the song which was advertised at $.49 (and did not receive because there was a problem with my transaction, like I mentioned above “Couldn’t be processed"). So no download. No song on my hard drive.

GET THIS EVEN MORE!

The next thing I see on my account is an attempted charge for $20.00. What? Are you serious? You sneaky fuckers are going to charge me an additional $20.00 for what? You already overcharged me $.51 over double the price of the product that I wanted to purchase. WTF is the $20.00 for? My guess is that it is buried somewhere in the license agreement and that it covers the cost of upgrading the free RealPlayer to whatever they are calling their subscription, premium version.

So I should read closer to the EULA for using the service, maybe. I have to go and find now where that little bit is hidden. I hope it is hidden. But there is the possibility that these sneaky bastards are making this charge without notifying customers. I doubt it because that would be pretty unscrupulous, but one never knows. Maybe the only people that would be refunded after the fact are those who complain after noticing the $20.00 unauthorized charge.

If there a millions of people who intend to now use this service like Real hopes that $20.00 per user will add up to millions. I would imagine this would help to offset the losses of selling on song, well, for a song and dance. I’ll admit it. I tested this service because it sounded too good to be true. And as the adage goes, this service seems to be. As much as I despise Apple and anything they do, if you already use their service stick with it. If you are already using another service to buy music and you like it, recommend it to me, so I can go and tell Real that I am using another service and they won’t get another $.01 from me.

Here is the message that I sent to Real Support:

“I set up account. Buy song. Enter information for billing. Get error transaction could not be processed. Look at my PayPal (test account that I use for my online store which has less than $5.00 at all times) to see debit of $1.00 for a $.49 song. Then another attempted debit for $20.00. Please explain this to me. Also an explanation of what I have received for my $1.00 of patronage to your company. Is the problem repeatable? I bet it is but I am not going to find out.”

I’ll keep you up-to-date on this as it develops.