Update 12/30/05

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I'd like to kindly clarify

Hi Everybody! Thank you so much for your loyal support. It really means the world to me. Reading your responses put a warm smile on my face. After reading your kind responses, I was feeling that perhaps maybe some of you felt that filming was delayed so that I could focus on Christmas with my family. While you were generously supportive and quite kind regarding that thought, I just wanted to point out that this was not the reason filming was delayed.

Perhaps my mention of this in the update was overlooked and thats so understandable of course, but the actual reason I was able to have a fun magical Christmas with my family was a result of being less active on the forums. With all of the filming preparations actively underway, plus the addition of the holiday hustle and bustle I had to make a choice to let something go a bit. I felt the smartest choice was to pull back on the forums since the filming must remain a HUGE priority. So that was why I apologized for not being more active on the forums.

Sorry for the confusion and thank so very much for your kind wishes....you are all so special!

Happy New Year!
Cathe
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

Thanks for the update Cathe. I can surely understand your being too busy to post...hey IF I am too busy to post during the holidays, we all KNOW it's a busy time! Ha! Glad you could spend some well-deserved time with your family this special time of year. We look forward to seeing you here more often when things start to slow down for you. Best Wishes!!
Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie") http://www.clicksmilies.com/s0105/aktion/action-smiley-066.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

Hi Cathe,

Thanks for pinning the update. I am looking forward to the new workouts. I hope all goes well.

I am glad that you had a nice Christmas. I know that I spent more time with my family over the last week. I enjoy the forum but my family takes priority over forum chatter, sorry guys :D .

Sorry to hear about your injury. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

jordan
 
Thanks for the update, Cathe. For a person who is normally not so patient at times, I have learned from my last two pre-orders to just sit back, relax and expect to receive an excellent product when it's ready. I do believe SNM is the only company I would this this for.

Also, I am am glad you did take advantage of the extra time to have a wonderful Christmas Holiday. Lord knows, I myself, was unusually busy too. There just seemed like more hustle and bustle this season than last.

Thanks again!
 
Thanks, Cathe,
I hope your holiday was filled with making memories for those 2 little kiddos. What better gift can we give them but our time and love? And do it now, because you need that investment to carry you all through the teenage years!! :D
Have a blessed New Year and I look forward to busting my "Butts and Guts", drilling to the max, taking it "low" (but I'm sure it won't be taking it easy!) on low impact circuit, and enjoying my first challenge of Body Max. :D Until then, I have plenty to keep me busy! My New Year's plan includes maxing out the gym styles and running a half marathon.
Happy New Year!!
Amy
 
You are a class act, Cathe (and so is your crew)! I'm looking forward to the new workouts. Patience always has its rewards! Happy new year. :)
Diana
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

Just wanted to let you know that I am really looking forward to these new workouts! I am sure they will be absolutely fabulous and give me many hours of sweat time and fun!! I also am very happy to hear that you have taken some time with your family. I think your young men deserve and need your time just as much and even more so than the rest of us. Thanks again for all your hard work Cathe. Helen:)
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

I am glad you "clarified", but clarified WHAT?

Still the announcement was in September that the videos would be shot in the fall...Fall has come and GONE...

Still no firm date on anything.....

You made an announcement on Dec 8th that it would be a few weeks, and that things are being tweeked or firmed up...but a few weeks is WHAT??? A week, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10? What?

And finally, no date for shooting?

I don't know about anyone else, and I am sure tomatoes will be thrown at me, but this is the LONGEST pre-order of "NOTHING" I can remember. Nothing, as in NO PHOTOS (at least?)???

Yes, Cathe Happy New Year to you and yours, but as a consumer of your product, I will not be pre-ordering again.

You have never been this vague with us before and to be honest, we deserve better.

And pls, folks, don't come with she is on vacation, family, etc.

I work and have a family, this is her BUSINESS, and we are her customers. We have been in the trenches with her and deserve a REAL ANSWER TO QUESTIONS, and not this vague BS.....and this is REAL....

Since this is her livlihood, she/SNM owes it to her committed customers to be upright and truthful. And remember we STILL have not heard NOTHING about the relationship with CCTV....maybe this would explain EVERYTHING...

And lastly, thanks to videofitness.com....at least some UPDATES WERE POSTED.....


Linda

not hatin'...but need REAL information....;
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

As with all of our presales, we start our updates after filming has started. Cathe shares many things with her customers and members of this forum, but not every detail. We are always vague on our release and film dates because we know that unexpected things can and will happen. Cathe is human, she can get injured, have family emergencies or even have to delay a shoot because of something as simple as a bad cold. This is why we say on our presale page that we don't guarantee a release date. It has only been 3 1/2 months since our presale started. We didn't start filming the Hard Core series until 4 1/2 months after the presale start date and then took a two week break before finishing it.

Remember too, you can always cancel your preorder and we will promptly refund your money. I could understand a person being upset if we didn't offer a no- hassle cancellation policy, but since we do it makes no sense to be so angry. In your case you should definitely cancel and if you send us an email we will do this for you tomorrow.
:)
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

I think that continuing to tell people that they have the option of cancelling their orders misses the point entirely and only serves to inflame the situation. No one here is demanding delivery of a finished product next week. All people are asking for is regular updates, EVEN IF THERE'S NOTHING NEW TO REPORT. I'm a graphic artist with full-time job as well as a freelance business. In both cases, I provide my boss and/or my customers with weekly and in many cases, daily updates. It's mostly just a sentence or two--I'm researching art, I'm waiting for text files, your first proof will be delivered on Thursday, and so on. If there's a hang-up for whatever reason, I let them know right away. They NEVER have to beg me for information and they've never complained about the process because they're in the loop every step of the way.

A weekly post from SNM isn't very much to ask for, again, even if there's not much new to report. Just a little customer stroking that wouldn't require a lot of effort. And it would be a PROactive move, rather than a REactive one.
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

Sparky, I agree with you completely.

I also think that being vague is one thing, but I really feel like we're being strung along. First, the workouts were supposed to possibly film in November. When there were no updates by the beginning of December, people started to complain and were finally told that filming would take place in a few weeks. A few weeks went by and still there was no communication from SNM so there were more inquiries by customers. Finally, after people started getting upset and forum members started turning on each other, we were told that there will be another update coming up. That's obviously longer than the few weeks we were told it would be before filming would begin.

If we just had updates to let us know that things were going to be later than anticipated, then none of this bickering between members would be going on and I think SNM would have more satisfied customers.

Erica
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

Thank you for NOT answering any questions. I guess arrogance, precedes everything, as in SNM really do not care what or how their customers think or feel about any of this.

I do not think you understand the frustrations, which YOU are primarily responsible for with your customers. It was SNM that made "the announcement" not your customers. It was SNM that stated the relationship with CCTV will be made clearer for everyone to understand within days, not your customers. Don't you think that you do share a brunt of miscommunication with your customers? Remember, we did not pluck times, dates and announcements out of the air? This was all done by you.

We understand the human nature of things, SH!T happens and that is understandable, but this is a business and communication is key with your internal customers to your external (us) customers. A paragraph of what is happening is not asking much, as many have suggested you do.

Lastly, this is a message board that was created by you for your customers to communicate. Whether good criticism or bad, it is something that needs to be looked at and addressed. Maybe the Ask Cathe needs to be disbanded until everything is in place to address specific questions, that is up to you, but I have never been addressed by a company so blatant as you have addressed me just for answers to specific questions.

Linda D. Robinson
Chicago, Illinois
 
This pre-order isn't any different than the Hardcore series. I went back through my receipts and found that it was 6 1/2 months between my pre-order date and the delivery of my Hardcore dvds -- and I waited until the last day to preorder, so for those who jumped on it immediately, they waited even longer. This preorder only began mid-Sept.(according to my receipt) so it's only been 3 1/2 months.

We didn't see any photos until Cathe started filming last time. If Cathe were to post a weekly report saying, "Still working out details, nothing new to report," I'm guessing the discontent would remain. And we don't need her to hold our hands through the process, do we? For goodness sake, Cathe has a wonderful reputation and track record.

Cathe did a wonderful job of posting descriptions & photos last time, even including clothing details, once filming began.

I really wish this would all stop. Honestly, if it's a source of anger for anyone, I would hope they would cancel their order and let it go. Why continue to be angry and complain when you can easily opt out?

This series will be awesome, and I'm hoping all this strife will be shelved and we can all move on.

Warm wishes for a Happy New Year,
Marla
 
RE: I'd like to kindly clarify

> It has only been 3 1/2 months since our
>presale started. We didn't start filming the Hard Core series
>until 4 1/2 months after the presale start date and then took
>a two week break before finishing it.
>
>

SNM,
I just did a search on your forum and found that Hardcore Presale began on July 4th, with pictures of Muscle Max and High Step Challenge posted in Oct. That is three months. Filming was FINISHED four 1/2 months from presale date -- Nov 19 (post title "Cathe back on the forum tomorrow", explaining that filming was finished AND the editing of 6 workouts was completed and authoring would begin.
 
I know this thread will be locked soon and possibly deleted but I have to say that I love Cathe and I love her workouts. I think that home excercisers are a different breed. We don't go to the gym and for many of us, me for sure, this website is the only connection we have to the fitness world other than the workouts we do, alone, at home. Because of this I sometimes feel I need motivation and this website is where I get much of it. Much of that motivation comes from knowing that new workouts are on the way.

I absolutely do not want to cancel by order. BUT I want to voice my opinion that I very much agree with those who are complaining. Especially because we were intially given a tentative date and later told that filming would begin in a few weeks, we have a right to get updates, even if the update is only to let us know that there will be a further delay. We shouldn't have to ask for these.

Since Cathe said several weeks ago that filming would start I've been anxiously waiting to see some pictures or hear about something. BUT nothing. Maybe even if we got updates to say there would be a further delay there would be people who might still be annoyed that filming is delayed in general. You cannot always please everyone, I know that. BUT I think that much of this whole arguement, as someone already stated above, probably could have been avoided had we been getting some regular updates, or even nonupdates, just something!! That would have pleased me very much.
 
I've not chimed in on these discussions at all, but I need to share my concern.

1. Several months ago there was a New York Times article about weight lifting and weight loss.

2. Shortly after the NYT article there was an article in Prevention magazing about some exercises being contra-indicated for most people.

Many of us had concerns about these atricles and sought Cathe's input. She said she wanted to put some thought into these more serious workout issues and would post soon.

3. When the clear channel announcement came, many people had thoughts and speculations all over. Cathe advised that she would share more details very soon.

I KNOW she has a life - so do we all. But fitness is a part of our life, and Cathe fitness is central to it. Yes, we may have been spoiled by her past involvement, but we had come to relish and rely upon it none-the-less.

We have not had any of those promised communications.

I hope it's not the same at all, but many of us recall how things went straight to he!! when GT took over The Firm. I was then lucky enough to find Cathe and her superior workouts. I'm so hoping that the recent streaks of silence when she had given assurances that she would comment are not indicative of a new direction.

But IF they are, then that's a business decision that I think we would have to accept. We may not like it, but it's not our decision. There will always be more and other fitness businesses and we will always keep looking for a niche that we like. (Hey, Tracie Long's 4 new workouts with past Firm instructors are ready to roll, and her forum is up and running with those instructors on-line.)

I don't think we should all be arguing amongst ourselves over somebody else's business matters. I hope this gets all straightened out and things remain the Cathe I've come to love, but if not, I've got her excellent workouts and there will always be another instructor waiting - perhaps not as good, but waiting just the same.

I love you all: Happy New Year.

Lorrie
 
RE: The reason we..

The reason we keep stating our cancellation policy is that the only reason for a customer has to complain is they have paid in advance for the presale. Most of our presale orders are from what I would call our loyal following that is quite familiar with our presales and are willing to wait as long as it takes to get their DVDs. They want quality not speed. Still, there are also new customers who may not be familiar with our presales and may feel cheated in some way. This is why we offer to refund any presale customer promptly who is not happy. We do this not to inflame the situation, but to diffuse it. I can’t understand why anyone would be upset by getting their money back. As we all know there are several other companies that have had presales and never delivered their product or refunded their customers money. These are the companies you should be mad at, not companies that do the right thing.

We certainly understand that customers are excited and anxious to get the new DVDs, but we don’t want to be held to an artificially imposed deadline and have to rush our production before we feel we’re 100% ready. We understand the freelance graphic artist business very well and currently employ several. But there is a difference in keeping a business client informed by email and a public forum. We have thousands of members and customers and everyone probably interprets our post on this forum differently. In your case your dealing with a more one to one relationship and it is easy to avoid any misunderstanding. In our case, every word we say can and will be analyzed and twisted… and by the time it runs through the various fitness forums it will be totally out of context and have a completely different meaning than our intent. As an example, many years ago we had a presale where we stated what our best “guess” for a release date would be. We also stated that this was only a guess and could easily change to do unforeseen circumstances. Well, things did happen and we had to push the release date back. Even though we had kept everyone informed and warned them in the beginning that this was not a firm release date, only a guess…we had customers who were angry because they had read or thought they had read that we had “guaranteed “the release date. We learned from this experience and since try to be as vague as possible until the workouts have been filmed.

As for weekly updates, there really isn’t anything of interest we can tell you until we start filming. Cathe and most of our staff have been working on this project 7 days a week for several months, but it would be very difficult to describe on a forum all these daily details. For example, we thought about telling and showing you our new set that was installed a few days ago. The problem is it is nearly impossible to paint a picture in your mind with words about what our new set looks like. Yes, we could take a picture of it and post it on the forum, but it will not look anything like what you will see on the DVD until the lighting director has finished his job. Unless you have video or broadcast experience you’re not going to realize this. Thus, we feel showing the set now is not a good idea at this time.
 
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