Why I won't be watching Slumdog Millionnaire in this lifetime

First of all, I hate the title, and the premise. I could probably have worked around both, however, in light of all the positive reactions I've heard about it.

Then we found out that 20th Century Fox Searchlight released the DVD without the correct Extras stuff. [two links among many others] OK, so we called the toll free number that Amazon provided--note that Fox never contacted us, and neither did Amazon, so woe betide you if you don't read the news or have friends who do! In any case, there is a note on the Amazon page which I will quote verbatim because it's an indication of what I would call Good Customer Service:

DVD Alert: Fox apologizes that the special features are missing from a portion of the Slumdog Millionaire DVDs ordered before April 2, 2009. Fox has set up a hotline telephone number (1-888-223-4369) for those consumers who may have been affected. Upon calling the hotline, these consumers will be able to have their disc replaced for one containing special features. This issue does not occur on the Blu-ray version. Fox regrets any inconvenience this may have caused and is making every effort to expedite the replacement discs as quickly as possible.

Clear, concise information, courteously worded. Great.

So I called the number on or about April 8. Other libraries I'd talked to had gotten their discs replaced as quickly as overnight. Wow! GREAT service, eh? The dozens of patrons waiting to view one of our library's copies won't even notice that there was a switcheroo.

Not so fast. On April 14, when our new discs had not arrived, I called back and asked for help. Got disconnected. About 10 minutes later, I received a call that was ostensibly a rep calling from a list she had been working on before I called. And...ah...now I was told that because we purchased more than one of the movies, I need to find the invoice and fax a copy to Fox to prove that we really had bought three. And that will take another few days. So, I complained a little and said it would have been nice to know that LAST week. The voice at the other end said that the call desk wasn't told about multiple copies. They clearly weren't told to ASK about multiple copies, either, or we could have started this whole faxing thing then! So I was...ahem...disgruntled. I found the invoice, a miracle in itself since it was bills week and usually would have been outside the building being paid. I faxed the invoice to the number I was given. It went through, and I put it aside to wait for the @$&*ing discs to arrive.

They have not arrived today. I called and the operator eventually came back and said he'd have to 'research' this and he would call me back. I just got off the phone with his supervisor--the same woman with whom I spoke last week. Their story has changed yet again! They insist that the procedure has only changed once, but since this is the third and different thing I've been told, to me it feels like every time I call I get new directions. NOW, the rule is that they have to seen me mailing labels and I have to mail BACK the incorrect discs FIRST instead of after we receive the correct ones.

Frankly, this should have been the way it was handled from the beginning, for everyone regardless of how many copies were purchased. Even better : send out addressed return envelopes, but I can't complain about that since we are usually drowning in media mail envelopes. However, the issue here is that they had no record of my fax. They had no record of me calling. The whole angsty conversation last week apparently never happened.

And then...

...sigh...

...there was the clear insinuation that I had not actually faxed anything to start with. There have been several claims that we are the ONLY customer who has had trouble with this procedure, and absolutely no Customer Service. Just "here's what to do" and when I questioned why, was stonewalled and told "corporate told us to" handle it this way (last week and this week). The best part is that in the process of emailing me (another story in giving her my email address: said it, spelled it, said it--she'd screwed it up when she read it back) three mailing labels, and claiming to send 'two' ("Why two?" "Because I already sent one, so now I'm sending two more." "When did you send one?" "Just now." Really? Cuz there's nothing in my email...) which was confusing--and I'm an idiot for thinking so--I ended up talking to her supervisor. I said I'd gotten two emails and two labels and asked if I should just copy one; "NO! YOU HAVE TO HAVE THREE DIFFERENT ONES!"

All righty then. I only got two. So she says she'll have the other woman send me another and I said, "Right. I'll wait on hold while you do that." Big sigh from the other end, but when she came back she immediately said, "You have it now." Uh, no...see, email = not-instantaneous. Believe it or not.

Can I possibly be the only person who got tangled up in this nightmare? And what proof, really, do I have that I have mailed these discs back when I call next week because we STILL haven't gotten the damn things?

I did say several times that really, treating me with contempt and discourtesy wasn't really Customer Service, when actually it was YOU GUYS at Fox who screwed up. An apology, a real one without nasty eye rolling sounds, would have been nice. Really, one of these people thought I was blaming her personally for everything. omfg--'you' is a plural pronoun, you (singular, I hope to God) cloth-eared bint!

In any case, I have lost ANY inclination to watch this stupid movie, and I will be boycotting all 20th Century Fox products herewith (not such a big deal since I rarely see movies). Shit, if people can boycott WalMart for lousy customer service--someone with whom I work--I can boycott everything with "FOX" in it for being subhuman fucktards.