The Daily Roxette

Roxette World Tour 2011 schedule

On-again, off-again for years... “official” fanclub appears almost lifeless

Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on March 13, 2006 to .

NEW YORK (UPDATED) - Roxette's "official" fanclub (ORFC), located in the Netherlands, seems to have come to a full stop. While there have been numerous other times over the years when the fanclub became dormant, only to spring back to life so it seemed to some when there was something new to sell or a series of concerts to attend… this time it appears that – as one of their members put it – "the lights are out and the door has been locked."
Even with the fanclub's history of sporadic activity in mind, many fans are once again expressing concern because there has been no outward communication from the ORFC "team" for quite some time and no news updates on their website since November.
One only needs to listen to the chorus of complaints and comments appearing in The Daily Roxette's SmallTalk section and on the Run to Roxette forum (a site operated in cooperation with TDR) to quickly understand that this lack of communication has been interpreted by many as the fanclub having gone out-of-business.
"We can't say anything about it yet," said Iris van der Staaij, one of ORFC's officers, when contacted by telephone yesterday by TDR. "We're negotiating with others who might want to take on a larger role."
The fanclub announced curtly in November that their "fanshop" was closed. No explanations were given, and apparently, no merchandise has been shipped since. Frustrated, angry and nervous fans have reached out to EMI, d&d Management and this newspaper to investigate what has happened, since they have already paid for their merchandise. For months now, no one has been able to get a response from anyone in charge, even though TDR has learned that some members of the fanclub staff have continued to regularly visit these online forums.
d&d Management sent out a message in response to some fans the other day, saying that they are looking into the matter but that the fanclub staff does not reply to mails, and that they therefore need more time to investigate.
"Unfortunately we are aware of the situation and are desperately trying to reach the people responsible for the fanclub to find out what's going on," the management firm wrote in an email to Sandra Muller of the Netherlands. Sandra is still waiting for Marie Fredriksson's "Kärlekens Guld" box set which she paid for back on September 6th. She says she feels "as if she's been cheated."
Tobias J of Sweden tells TDR "they owe me €20 that I probably never will see again, and I know for a fact that they owe many other fans a lot more. What makes me really upset is that they don't seem to care at all." Tobias ordered a video from the fanclub in May last year and paid for it in advance. He then received a mail saying that the video was no longer available but he would get "store credit" for the amount paid – something he says he really didn't want, but had no say in. Tobias ordered a few singles in September, and after that he has heard not a word from them. "I've mailed them lots of times, and looked for them in every forum I know they use, but nothing. Oh, I got one reply once, saying that they had had mail server problems. But if a mail server is down, the mail bounces," Tobias concludes.
Tobias' and Sandra's cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Many other fans report unfulfilled orders totalling 30, 60 – even 100 Euro.
Iris claims otherwise, saying that she thinks "the people complaining are quite a small group." She does, however, admit that the outstanding orders "have been delayed quite a long time."
"You can assure people that everyone will get what they deserve," she told TDR. A meeting is scheduled next month at the home of Eugène Commandeur, the group's current president, to discuss their future. "The only thing that's clear," Iris states, "is that the outstanding orders must be sent, of course."
Should the ORFC choose to disband, it wouldn't be the first time an "official" Roxette fanclub has done so. Running a fanclub can be a very time consuming process, and many such "clubs" are actually operated as for-profit businesses. Such an "official Roxette fanclub" in the United States folded over a decade ago when Roxette's star faded a bit in the U.S. and the club was no longer a profit center for the company running it. Some fans suspect that for a long time now, the perceived rewards no longer seem to merit much of an effort from the ORFC.
Eugène, according to Iris and Ronald den Ouden (with whom TDR also spoke), is currently on vacation, and was therefore unavailable for comment.
Update Jan 30: After this article was published, Official Roxette Fanclub released a message about the subject on their website.
Update Feb 13: The two weeks that the fanclub staff requested and promised to have news out have passed. However, there's still no news.
Update Feb 19: Three days after our latest update the fanclub posted a new message on their website. While the message doesn't give any new information about the fanclub's situation and future, customers with pending orders are promised all their items will be shipped "next week." This means, in some cases, more than six months of waiting for items ordered and paid for. "I won't believe it until I have my CDs in my hands," says a customer from Germany who prefers to stay anonymous, "I have received the same messages from the fanclub before and in the end they never shipped what I ordered. I hope this time it's for real, though."
Update Mar. 3: Not a single order has been reported as having been delivered yet (either directly to TDR or on our affiliate forum, R2R).
Update Mar. 13: According to a message from Sarah, a fanclub spokesperson on the R2R forum, they discovered today that two large bags of merchandise being sent out to fulfill pending orders have sat dormant at the post office for a week and a half due to "a strange miscommunication between the FC and TPG-post (dutch postcompany) about financial issues." Apparently, there was a lack of funds in their account to pay the postage. Sarah reports this issue is being addressed "as soon as possible."
Additional reporting by TDR News Editors Thomas Evensson and Judith Seuma.

120 comments

Kiwein1 said on :

Nice words and a good article, LEO! Actually I always thought being part of an official fan club must be something to be proud of. In times of internet it must be possible to renew the OFRC soon with new and fresh people who stand for it.

And I really hope that ppl get their stuff soon!

sleepingSingle said on :

Good that you picked up that topic...

I just wanna say that they owe me (and many other fans) the reviews we paid for, cause we are still members. I don´t expact ot get some money back...

Well, we don´t we create a “new” fanclub?
May be TDR could be the official rox fanclub?!?
I would not hasitate to be a part of the new fanclub, to be a part of the “headquoter”...

Majdy said on :

Thank you for writing that news.

rox-kuryliw said on :

roxette themselfs should fund the fanclub to be honest. They make enouh money from us to be honest. Interent is the way forward for bands.

mbatalla said on :

I think it have no sense that the OIRFC is placed in Netherland. It would be easier that all it cames from Sweden...

And I think Roxette never had a real Fanclub. It was a Fanshop with some magazines that you know.... from time to time...And always with some rox and related activities..

that’s my humble opinion

Harplinge96 said on :

“We’re negotiating with others who might want to take on a larger role.”

How long they are already looking for that and why not telling us? Why was it quiet and calm around them all the time and only when the staff could meet Per they had time and there was a little bit on the net?

If I see that I don’t have the time etc. anymore I have to make things clear very soon and don’t wait until it is like it is now! Now everything is in a mess, fans are disappointed etc.

I really hope everything will be solved soon. I wish Roxette a good FC, whoever it will do it! The old staff or new ones. I don’t care as long as it is a good one again.

I quit my membership already some years ago as it wasn’t the FC I wanted to be part off (not enough ideas in my opinion and the reviews came to late or nothing at all, had problems with the shop etc. etc. etc.). If the new FC would be a good one I would also think about being a member again.... I want one who cares for the fans!!!

Have they ever did a review for the GT Tour? I think they were on the Gt birthday party and on the concerts....
What about Maries latest album, the exhibition etc... SOAP!!!!! There was so much you could write about!
What about competitions, meetings etc.???

camillarox said on :

@ Lars-Erik and team: it was about time you brought this to the light!

I can already hear the so-called meeting they are supposed to have next month: “Hey guys, SOAP international launch, Roxette’s come back and 20th anniversary.. we will have to sacrifice ourselves and work for a couple of months so we can get our freebies, then we forget about the FC for another year. All agree?” Of course they will be gone again as soon as everything is over. Sorry guys but nobody believes you anymore.

What I wonder is: will Per&Marie and Dimberg be stupid enough to fall for it and to be laughed at their faces again? Or will you be decent enough to admit you failed and that you don’t care anymore, and stop damaging Roxette’s image and cheating on the fans?

One of the best sentences:
Iris claims otherwise, saying that she thinks “the people complaining are quite a small group.” She does, however, admit that the outstanding orders “have been delayed quite a long time.”

Good customer-service-oriented thinking! You should feel sorry and bad and worried even if only ONE! of the members/customers is not happy with your services.

Pascal said on :

There’s no need for a Roxette fanclub.

TDR & official sites : news
CDON, CD-WOW, Amazon, ... : albums and singles

sandyam said on :

Very good article!
I am very happy that all this fanclub mess sees the light of day now. It’s been going on for too long.

daniel_alv said on :

why don’t they just make TDR as a official site instead?

per_mson said on :

@daniel: Because they don’t want it I guess. As long as they are independent they are allowed to write whatever they want, which is not the case with an official status.

Great article btw! :-)

steven said on :

“why don’t they just make TDR as a official site instead?”

Because that would mean certain Mods would have to clean up their act too.

Harplinge96 said on :

Daniel, I alos think the same as per_mson. But maybe the FC and TDR could coorperate together.

I’m sure the mamagement would take the TDR moderators for the FC as they are doing a good job otherwise they wouldn’t get emails and news from the mangement. But for me it is Ok that there will be still TDR with all the news and a FC on the other side.

Sparvogamarie said on :

Excellent reporting TDR, what a well informed article.

I know the guys who ran the Roxette fanclub, and they are all good decent people. However, they are also just regular people who are living their own lives and not terribly interested in running a fanclub. I know that a couple of the leading members have children now, and the girl who ran the fanshop for a while had a very busy career.

I always thought the fanclub should be run by professionals, other bands have management companies for that sort of thing. The big problem with fans running something like this, is that fans lose interest when “real life” takes over. They are also not terribly professional - during the Room Service tour they were in charge of handing out the backstage passes. Per and Marie specifically stated that they want only fans who have never met them to win the passes. But I happen to know certain people who HAVE met them MANY times won passes if they were friends with the FC. That really sucked because I have friends who never met Rox who missed out, while others got to meet them for the 25th time.

BTW, lol @ Steven.

Max-Tob said on :

@Sparvoga: best reply I’ve read in ages around here. It’s so definitely absolutely true what you’ve said about fans having ups and downs in their interest for roxette (usually a “down” doesn’t even become an “up” anymore) which sadly but truely leads to a chaos when it comes to “business”. Ppl there were running the fanclub because of their enormous personal interest in roxette&related stuff; when the personal motivation gets low, it’s probably difficult and quite embarrassing to tell the others “hey, I’m kinda of tired of per, i don’t feel like updating, writing, shipping, replying anymore...won’t you guys find someone else instead?”...Usually it’s very hard to admit the decreasing of interest even to oneself, so of course the outcome is awful sometimes because the others still having a high interest in roxette tend to blame you directly and indirectly for your “unfaithfulness”...
A fanclub runned by fans is indeed a business after all; but it has a different engine from any other organized and economically-motivated activity: huge and deep personal interest. It goes just fine as long as people are kind-hearted and motivated. It tends to go down when people do not feel like being themselves anymore in such a a circle...I don’t know anyone from the Official fanclub, but if you said they got kids, i guess their interested naturally decreased to 0...And once the problems appear (other fans complaining, other sites complaining, the rivals complaining, even d&d management complaining) it becomes a vicious circle: you can’t keep up, you don’t even feel like giving explanations on something that simply leaves you cold or even annoys you, you feel like being miles away from the problem etc. etc. Of course that from a reasonable angle these reactions are just non-sense...after all, fans all around the world have been cheated or delayed and no one can accept that, not even the guilty ones I guess, under some normal circumstances. But this is different: it happened because their commitment to the fanclub was dealing with fan-love, not with manager brains. In my opinion, they should have stepped out at some point and say to the world: “we can’t handle it anymore for some reasons; find someone else please”.

Baby-C said on :

@ Tobbe and sparvogamarie:
You are both absolutely right. I can also to some point see the reason for the fanclub not working as it should for the last years. Sure they have personal reasons for not being able to, or even wanting to, keep the FC running. But, I can not accept the fact that they haven’t been honest with us from the beginning when they realised that they didn’t have the time to continue and said “hey, we can’t do this anymore for... some reason.. is there anyone else that want to take over?”
And.. a huge reason for them NOT to take the step and let someone else take over, I think must be that they still wanted the advantages that comes with running the official FC, because they propably still fans, just not that interested in commiting their spare time to make other fans happy.

camillarox said on :

@ Baby-C: “And.. a huge reason for them NOT to take the step and let someone else take over, I think must be that they still wanted the advantages that comes with running the official FC, because they propably still fans, just not that interested in commiting their spare time to make other fans happy.”

I think you hit the nail on the head here! :-)

It’s pretty obvious as well. The fanclub has been going downhill for at least 2 years, only to come to life when Per and later Gyllene Tider went on tour.

Harplinge96 said on :

Yes, of course they had personal reasons, too. Esp. the last 3 comments were very good in that point.

About winning meetings. I’ve heard (so I cannot tell you if it true as I wasn’t involved!!!) that they had also tickets to the concert in London 95 and instead making a competition under the fans they went to the concert themself...

Personally I like the idea more that Fans are leading a FC, but I think it is just fair that you give your responsibility to another person if you see that your interests have changed.... for which reason ever. Your are pregnant 9 months e.g....... Enough time in my eyes to find someone else....

And here it goes also about money and an image for other persons. That is a point I believe you just can’t say “I don’t feel like that... I just keep my mouth shut and see what is coming”.....

I don’t know the FC staff personally. Just met Iris and Ronald during a FC meeting for a second to ask something and the meetings were always great!!! So I can’t say anything against them and that is also not my intention, but the way all of them behave in case of the FC ist not OK.

Maybe one of them has a busy career now, but they can she go to the GT Birthday party, the GT Tour, the Interview with Per etc..... Why isn’t the career so busy at all then she can get such stuff?

If I see something doesn’t fit to my personal life anymore, for which reasons ever, I have to give the responsibility away. Everything else is not OK!

You are right, they are not professional, but they took a responsibility with taking that job. Imagine that would go to court how they react since month (or at least non-react), but take the money, stop inform people etc. I am not sure if in this case the court would say”You know their lifes changed and they are not professional. You cannot expect them doing a good work then. It is your own pity.”............

If there will ever be a FC leads by Fans again, I think the management shoudl control more what they are doing.

CRIZ said on :

Well, getting childrend is natural, loosing interest too. Life is changing all the time. But why didn’t they tell us???? That’s the main point I don’t understand. They just disappeared.

Harplinge96 said on :

True words in just one line!! I also think that is the MAIN question!

Kiwein1 said on :

Sad enough for those who still have to get some money back from the FC (amounts around 1-50 Euro)...

CRIZ said on :

@Kiwein > that’s right..
..and I was so stupid too and renewed my membership last year..Not my best idea it seems...

ngriffioen said on :

It’s a lot of hard work managing a fanclub and it’s all voluntary and not paid for. We shouldn’t forget about that. The freebees is what they got back in return of their efforts. And I know myself how many hours went into managing the FC. It has been good for years, and it’s true that the last few years it’s too quiet. I can imagine the fanclub is down now. Ronald and Iris got a daughter last year and Eugene and Marielle got a premature little girl! Life has more aspects than only the fanclub for them, people raising a family will know what I mean ;-). So it might be time to stop and Roxette’s management has to arrange that I guess. It’s hard to keep everyone satisfied when you run a FC voluntarily. And they were totally dependend on the cooperation of the management and EMI.

Besides, I know how much effort they’ve put in the fanshop and there are many happy fans who got exactly what they ordered. The stories we hear are of the things that went wrong. Logical, that’s how it usually works in life. And I know they do intend to give everyone the things they deserve. It’s sad that people paid money for something they didn’t receive. I hope this can be solved soon. But when the nagging and complaining of fans is the only thing you get back, I can imagine you are not really motivated anymore. And believe me there was always something wrong. It’s time to move forward, I hope for better times and a renewed Roxette fanclub who-ever will run it! I’m glad TDR is still up and running and providing us with the news whenever it becomes available. Thanks guys!!!

Harplinge96 said on :

Good and neutral words!!! :-)

Yes, of course they did also good things. No doubt about that. They had also good ideas and I believe a FC is hard work which takes a lot of your freetime. I think that can nobody ignore that there have been really good times as well.

And if you get a little family you have other priorities in life. For sure!!!

I just wished they would solved that problem earlier. But as it seems evertything will be worked out somehow....

Have fun! :-)

xarrrr said on :

wow.... its nice to see how two faced some people can be. yes, so the people running the FC may not have as much time as they used to (family etc... personal life!) but still, they have not had the same support from EMI etc... for a while now. its nice to see how people that the fanclub have let win meet&greets, release party tix etc... are showing their “support” right now. real nice.

klair said on :

Nice one Xarrrr & ngriffioen

Not defending or slagging anyone off, but there is ALWAYS 2 sides to every story

Just my thoughts

Harplinge96 said on :

Yes, every story has two sides... well mostly...

And I’ve never won anything from the FC so you can count me out ;-)

Baby-C said on :

@xarrrr:
I feel a little bit guilty here. Sure, I have won my share of meetings and tickets from the FC and ofcourse I’m happy about that. No question about it. They’ve done a really good job with that. Ofcourse they did.. they got free tickets aswell, and a meet & greet contest only means that they get to meet P&M or Gyllene Tider at every time the m&g was to take place.

But the fact is still there... they could have communicated a lot better with it’s members, they could have found someone else that could take over a long long time ago, before the ship started to sink on it’s own. Then maybe the FC could have been saved. Now.. I think it’s hard for anyone to take over and get the water out of the boat.

And.. there might be a good reason for the management, or EMI, or whatever, to not be as supportive the last years. Ever thought about that?

camillarox said on :

@ xarrr: a fanclub is supposed to organise such contests, meet & greets, arrange tickets, et cetera for its members. They haven’t done any special favour to anybody, just their work.

klair said on :

@ camillarox : yes of course a fanclub is ’supposed’ to organise such contests, but many people are saying that there is no point to a FC. If there is no FC, then no contests - the other emi sites only concentrate on Swedes (such as the recent M&G london trip with Per was for Swedes only) and that is not fair on everyone else in the world. At least the FC contests are for everyone - and if that isn’t ’special’ or worth keeping, then, well, I think there is something wrong in your thinking.

And on your earlier post - the FC *DO* care, they are just struggling to sort the problem out. But it *IS* being sorted, and the management *DO* know, even before TDR decided to have their say.

LittleSpooky said on :

Lemme know if the US will be included in the future?

Oh... and I know this is a pain in the ass, but for example:

When you mail out the little mags... get them all printed up well in advance of a contest. Then the ones that have to travel the furthest (ie: The US and South America and other places) send those out FIRST. Then send out the European ones. It sucks when you can’t participate in a contest because you receive the mag WEEKS to MONTHS AFTER the contest.

That’s been my biggest bitch to date. I know that it takes about 2 weeks to mail something between the US and UK (it did when I was part of an international mailing list and a lot of my pen pal friends were in the UK. And that was just using a couple of stamps on an envelope to mail letters).

Stuff to keep in mind. Cheers!

japeke said on :

It’s very nice to read all the comments here. I can agree with almost everything what’s said.
It is also very good to read reactions from people who were in the FC.

I hope that the FC will soon communicate about what is going to happen, and not in a defensive way. That defensive way is what I taste a bit in their comments to TDR.

edit: I just read on roxette.nl that they have an article about their situation. Still nothing new... more patience, newspaper aren’t always writing the truth (althought they DO write :-) and all problems will be solved soon... hmmm... ok, i’ll have patience for the coming two weeks. But now I read this my credit for the FC is almost gone...

L00kSharp said on :

I live in the US, and I started ordering items from the FanShop 11-12 years ago. reliability was up and down back then, and the last time I ordered was probably about 7-8 years ago now. I was a member for three years and ordered hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise. When my last order took 12 weeks to ship, I gave up for good. Thank God for eBay!

I don’t pretend to know what’s going on behind closed doors, but from the outside, this enterprise is poorly run, and managed by people who don’t care about anyone else but their own problems. And don’t believe the hype of this being a “non-profit” operation. I’m not saying it made them rich, but they have been compensated for their time in both proceeds and perks.

Outstanding shipments from September??? SHAME ON YOU, Eugene, Ronald, and Iris. SHAME ON YOU! In five months you should have the courtesy to other people to tie up your loose ends and handle things properly. There is no excuse. I nearly lost my wife and daughter last year and spent 2 months in and out of the hospital (mostly in) with them... I met my other commitments to family, friends, and work clients. There were some delays for some work things, but I kept everyone aware of what was going on, thanked them for their patience, and took care of business.

japeke said on :

Besides of getting rid of your frustration I see no point in becoming personal (is that the right word in english?) to the FC-staff.
Besides that, you are comparing it with your own life. How can you compare your life to the life from one other when you don’t know them?

And besides of that, I understand that you aren’t happy anymore with the FC. that’s the only point which i can fully understand.

L00kSharp said on :

It comes down to one simple thing: they are not doing what they have promised to do, not doing what people pay them to do, and they are not being honest about it. I made it personal because if you’ve followed this situation, there are really only three players, and I named them. Between the three of them, you would think somebody would stand up and say “we need to fulfill our obligations.” For FIVE MONTHS that has not happened. There is no excuse for that, my personal circumstances or their personal circumstances considered. That is my point. There is no set of circumstances besides outright dishonesty that lead to hundreds of Euros being taken from peoples’ pockets and no merchandise being sent, no emails being replied to, etc. There is no excuse for this! Holding someone accountable for this is not wrong! It’s not a big faceless corporation, it’s a handful of people, and I hope someone finally holds them accountable to fulfill their obligations!

japeke said on :

You’ve got a point there...

ally77 said on :

At least now they have said something on it officially which is good of them, as said on the site, they are only human and everyone makes mistakes....

The three people I know who run the FC have been very busy this past 12 months, people’s lifes change and people move on, you can’t blame them fully for this, perhaps they needed a little more support from the management.

Just as an example here.... Iris is now a mother, what should she do, give up her daughter in order to run the fanclub! Be relistic here.....

I can understand the people who are upset over not getting the stuff order, but they now have it from the management that they are working on something, give it time....

ally77 said on :

I can’t also help to think that this article on TDR is nothing but one upmanship on the FC, as we know there was no love lost between them.....

Pity guys you could not be as good advertising the UK fan meet I asked you to 3 weeks ago!

Sparvogamarie said on :

I think the article was fair, the fanshop has left some fans high and dry and TDR had a right to report it.

Like I said, the FC are really nice people who are just busy with their own lives. Ronald is the funniest guy you’ll ever meet, Iris is a sweetheart who always takes time to talk to you, Cisca is the coolest chick on earth and Chantie is a real cutiepie. I don’t know the others so well, but Eugene was very kind to me via email when I was very ill once.
I can personally say that they are not the kind of people to run off with money, I’m sure they will find a way to get it back. As Ngriffioen and I both said, they are just busy with their kids and jobs etc etc, they’re not trying to be jerks. That said, I do think then it’s time to hand over the fanclub to people who CAN do something. I think it’s just time for these guys to say “Hey, we had a great time but we just don’t have the energy for this anymore, let’s hand it over to someone else!”

As I said before, I really think the FC should not be run by fans. Max-Tob rightly pointed out that fan interest can go up and down. Fans also tend to be terribly biased, and I’d hate to read a Roxette Review that constantly trashed Marie for example, or only wrote about GT. Fans also want to keep prizes and privileges for themselves, it’s human nature. If I had a pass to meet Rox, could I just give it away? Rox need to get a PROPER fanclub company to run things. Per are you reading this? ;)

ally77 said on :

I think Per busy having a beer and counting his pennies! lol :)

Harplinge96 said on :

“Just as an example here.... Iris is now a mother, what should she do, give up her daughter in order to run the fanclub! “
C’mon, nobody said that! :-) Being a mother is the most wonderful gift and it is wonderful she is a happy mother.
All what was wanted is that she had given away her responsibility in time or quit in time or inform in time....
I can only say she is a polite and friendly person and I love to read and see pix from her and little Em at the R2R Forum.

But to be honest... the Fans wake up, the management wake up and the FC wake up. They told us about a meeting in two weeks and I will lean back now and see what happens when.
The things will get to be solved and that is most important I think. So we will see what happen...

See you when! ;-)

AURYTE said on :

Of course, the fanclub leaders deserve to have some freetime, that’s for sure. Nobody says they should work for the fanclub 24 hours. But still there are tasks that must be completed. If you feel that you don’t have time enough for everything, i.e. job, family, children, hobbies and the fanclub, then you have to make a choice :) For instance, Chantie has left the fanclub...

And to be honest, it doesn’t take so much time to write an e-mail and to keep people informed. On the other hand, I’ve always got replies from Eugène. Well, maybe I was just lucky ;)

PS A great article :)

sommartiderhejhej said on :

And that is exactly the problem:
Why didn’t they inform us they didn’t have time to run the fanclub anymore?

Nobody will have a problem with the fact that you have to spend more time to your family / work etc. then to the fanclub. But if you don’t have enough time for it, then tell that, so somebody else can take over.

Now it looks like they were to proud to give up working for the fanclub, meanwhile doing more harm then good for the FC.

coyboyusa said on :

i thin this should teach everyone a lesson. As much as I would want to support a new club I don’t think I’d ever buy anything from them, I’d rather help fans buy stuff elsewhere thna make them go through this again

Baby-C said on :

I’ve been thinking about this fanshop thing... and I’ve come to the conclusion that a fanshop, or merchandise shop, would be best run by a real company. Sure, they’d do it for profit, but I think it would be for the best anyway.
I can see some sort of co-operation between a fanclub and that merchandise selling company though.

ally77 said on :

I’ll run it from Sweden!

I was looking for a business opportunity to move out there, if EMI support me to run it, I’ll cover my own moving out there costs!

Trust me I am serious! :)

Baby-C said on :

@ally77: Want a swedish business partner? *smile* I’d love to be a part of a fanclub, though as I’ve said before, I don’t wanna do it alone. I cannot do it alone.

tifosi said on :

I would be interested in running a Roxfanclub H24 if the Management would approve that I’m one of the chosen ones in the new set up.

Sparvogamarie said on :

I wouldn’t want to run the fanclub in a million years, but I’d love to be able to help. I offered so many times to do something but I was only ever allowed to write one or two articles. If the fans were allowed to run a fanclub, I’d want to see - a) Someone extremely professional running things and b) the opportunity for any fan who wants to be involved to do so, and c) Someone independent watching the FC to make sure privileges are not abused and money is handled correctly.

Harplinge96 said on :

Think the same. Would be a great deal.

alpy said on :

Sparvogamarie - i heard a story once about you that used fanclubs name to get into a certain helsinki concert? ........... so i certainly think your the last to talk !

Sparvogamarie said on :

Alpy - I KNOW WHO YOU ARE...and you have the wrong story. Let’s get the story straight, since you posted this in public and nobody knows the real story - first of all, it was Tallinn not Helsinki. I arrived at the hall and found out the tickets were sold out, it was minus degrees outside and I was going to have to sit out in the freezing cold and wait for my friends. My friends called a girl in the FC who said she would try to help. She tried to call the woman who organises such things but her phone was not answering. I found the woman and told her to check her phone because my friend was trying to call, and she asked what it was about. I explained the situation, and the woman became angry at my friend because she thought the FC was offering free tickets to their friends, which was NOT the case, my friend only said she would ask if it was possible.

Anyway, in the end it was MARIE herself who actually gave out tickets to me and a group of fans who didn’t have any, NOT the fanclub!!!!!! I did sort it out with my FC friend, I went to the woman and explained that it was not my friend’s fault, and even gave my friend MY OWN personally signed CD from Marie and Per to make up for the trouble I caused her, so perhaps check your story before you start rumours. If you read *all* my posts here, I have mostly been defending the FC guys!! I don’t agree with everything they have done but you will not find me saying a bad word about any of them!! I travelled with them for a month and they are all sweethearts!!

tevensso (moderator) said on :

roxette.nl is down and has been for quite a while now??

ally77 said on :

Goes to look.....

ally77 said on :

Oh yeah so it is..... I wonder if that is THE END!

Jud (moderator) said on :

it’s been like this for more than 24hours...

NigelBarnes said on :

@ ally77 - I seriously doubt that the Fan Club itself would support a business. There again, if it would I would be near the front of the queue!

Kiwein1 said on :

The page is back again..

Baby-C said on :

So... it’s been 2 weeks since their last message telling us to have a little more patience for 2 more weeks. Therefor my question is... what’s happening?

marcusvandeursen said on :

just had a look at roxette.co.uk, which hasn’t been updated for quite a while either... according to the msg that site is being reconstructed at the moment...

CRIZ said on :

got an e-mail from the FC last Wednesday...at least a sign of life

purplemedusa said on :

Pathetic!

marcusvandeursen said on :

indeed

AURYTE said on :

And it seems Fanshop disappeared “The page cannot be displayed”...

ally77 said on :

Give them chance.... two weeks it’s only just over... they are perhaps still dealing with it!

Jud (moderator) said on :

well then they should not have said they will have more information in 2 weeks but maybe 3 or 4, it only makes people think they were only coming up with an excuse and that nothing has / will change..

klair said on :

Its only 2 weeks and 2 days since the message was put up, and don’t forget that they have to liase with roxette’s management (who may be busy - ever think of that?) before issuing a statement.

There are more important things in the world....

@edit to say: http://www.roxette.nl/

Everyone is getting their stuff....so chill....

alchemiste said on :

It would be fair to report about the new message on www.roxette.nl as well...
Or is this something too positive to report on?

alpy said on :

nah , good news on the roxette.nl is no news to the daily, they are only prepared to report on negativity, its way more juicy and good for their ego.... ego.... wrong word..... esteem... wrong word again.... bodies!

tevensso (moderator) said on :

So “Alpy” is back again. Sorry, but your comments are no good here. (To create an account only to complain is considered pathetic in my book.)
And whether this announcement is good news or not, time will tell, won’t it?

Jud (moderator) said on :

For now to us and many others (whom I talked to) this is only “bla bla” - we will have to wait and see if people get their stuff in these 3 weeks. As some told me, they won’t believe it until they have it in their hands, as they have been promised the same (“Your items will be shipped next week”) many times before. And this, after all, won’t be any big news or big favour because these items should have been shipped at least 6 months ago, so don’t think people have to get down on their knees for this.

Regarding the future of the FC, what’s there to write that wasn’t reported before? We know they had a meeting, we know they are dealing with management.. So we’ll have to wait and see.

Alpi, AnnaG fine?

HummingBird said on :

Well...if you consider the passing of two weeks with no message from the fanclub as exciting enough to be “news”, then I believe it might qualify as news when there IS a message a couple of days later.

But I’m sure everyone who’s interested in what the fanclub has to say has read the message anyway, whether it was on TDR or not, and been able to form their own opinion on whether it’s “bla bla”.

Sparvogamarie said on :

*Kisses Tev* See Tev, this is why I love you! (Even if I do love to argue with you LOL!)
I also noticed that Alpy created a whole new account to complain, his first post was to drag up a 5 year old story about a mix up in Tallinn and make me look like a greedy b**ch. Then he was too cowardly to answer me when I shot him down with the true story. My friends and I on another forum have figured out who he is, if you can find another post by this person you may be able to match the IP addresses...

Baby-C said on :

“has been reported”... I suppose that means that TDR has not got any reports from anyone that they have received their order. So, if there is anyone out there that HAS recieved their order... they either don’t have internet access, or don’t visit this or any other forum that the TDR staff visits regularly.

RobS said on :

Could this thread have something to do with it?
http://www2.dailyroxette.com/smalltalk/thread.php/15094

Roxfever said on :

I am not an FC-fan either but sorry, this update is really childish :-/

alchemiste said on :

No update when there´s good news on the FC website...
But an update *before* the promised date of delivery?
Remember: The message said “everything will be sent out next week” = week ending Friday 02-24 - and we were asked to give the orders three weeks to arrive...

One week is over, and you are here reporting on nothing. Someone seems to a massive interest of doing bad reports on the FC here...

Besides that, two weeks ago, I have been waiting for an order from the FC as well, but I definitely will NOT tell TDR whether or not I have received it yet...

Kiwein1 said on :

I also think that LEO’s really neutrally written article turns into something that looks like a chase or something.

purplemedusa said on :

Come on guys - I support TDR’s views on news-worthiness... people’s NOT getting their goods and something SHOULD be done or SAID in this case! Remember fans ain’t the only readers of TDR, you know!! The fanclub had this treatment coming by not fulfilling the duties! It’s VERY simple!

japeke said on :

I agree with the last comments over here.
This news article started neutrally, but is now getting a bit annoying. the 3 weeks aren’t over yet.

I can understand that ’the fans’ are putting some pressure on them, but I don’t think this is the right way. This smells like an ordinary flaming of the OIRFC.
As most of the TDR-writers can guess: The items won’t be all delivered on time, within the 3 weeks. Can’t you wait until then with writing about it?

And I also read comments by moderators which are just defensive. You can also try to read between the lines, what the readers really think about this, and do something with it, to keep your readers satisfied. Even if you are all voluntary, tdr would be nowhere with 0 visitors.

So, keep up all the good work you are doing, but don’t drown in this negative spiral! (that’s not so very good english :-)

L00kSharp said on :

I think it’s time for those of you who have been waiting for PAID orders to ship for 3-6 months to file credit card chargebacks, refund requests, and if those are denied, fraud complaints.

I’m sorry if that sounds “low” or “impatient,” but let’s be honest here: these people have stolen your money and disappeared. It’s very simply fraud.

Kiwein1 said on :

Yes, of course - but they said that they’d need another three weeks to get everything done. So where’s the problem - what are three weeks compared with six months?

per_mson said on :

I personally really wonder what can be so hard to put some stuff into a padded envelope and run to the post office and post them?! If I said I needed three weeks of time to prepeare myself for that I wouldn’t have anything but negative comments on both Ebay and Tradera. So I think TDR are doing really right writing about it here and I am sure they have asked some people if they have gotten their orders or not. If you now have taken the responsibility to run this whole thing in the first place, then you simply have to be a bit more caring. If you see you don’t have time for that or whatever, well, then don’t be so damn greedy with your official status and pass it on to other people who would love to do that job!!! So I think the FC should be really ashamed of themselves for acting like this. They are a disgrace to the Roxette community handling things the way they’ve done the passed years.

ally77 said on :

@ Colin....

Please, I am guessing the news article I submitted LAST SUNDAY... was not good news.... personally I thought the words, AUCTION, CANCER UK, MARIE DIMBERG & FREDRIKSSON would have made excellent news for TDR.... but of course don’t worry we all know how you and pick and choose what to publish!

Perhaps I get Steven to put my news over on his site....

I agree with with others on here, there was no need to publish this again.... if it had been 6 months since the promises where made then fair enough....

Jud (moderator) said on :

Ally: you might want to add that I replied to your email almost inmediatelly (I got it at 13:37, my email to you was at 13:59) asking for some additional information.

I am working on the piece of news and I thought that it would be better to publish it a bit later, the closer to the meeting date the better, because if not the article will sink to the middle/bottom of the page soon. But if that’s your wish, it’ll be ready this weekend, I didn’t ask you for the information just for fun.

ally77 said on :

Yeah I am aware of that, but for it not appear makes out it’s not worth the news, perhaps an email back telling me your plans might have been better than letting me think it was not going to be published....

stanislava said on :

i just wanna say that im totaly disappointed from Roxette.nl!!!i ordered a CD from there, sent the money and didnt get the CD!!they even dont back my money!!!no CD,no money!!very disapponted..

Kiwein1 said on :

Some people don’t seem to separate the things as they are. Of course, the fanclub did things wrong. Of course, the fanclub disappointed its members again and again. Nobody has doubts about it.

Now they were telling us that they need another three weeks to clear things up and to wait and see what will happen isn’t the problem. But the update - and especially how it is written “Unsurprisingly not a single order has been reported delivered yet, and this after more than enough time has passed.
” isn’t neutral anymore.

roxann said on :

lol, sorry but this is just funny, as the article was never very neutral, even the image used is shredded.

purplemedusa said on :

There’s no such a thing as ’neural’ news...!

This is an investigative story and the rule is always to follow such an open-ended article... and to share the lastest updates; if you aren’t interested don’t bother reading then.

Ally & Steven; Am I missing something, my friends?

Kiwein1 said on :

@roxann: this is a journalistic thing. Either you make a report or a news. Words like “unsurprisingly” devalue Leo’s article which was written with words that don’t base on a personal opinion too much.

Hard to explain in a foreign language. But, after all, I can see that the sentence has been changed finally. Thanks for that! Looks better now and truly like a simple update.

Roxfever said on :

Yes, the article wasn’t neutral from the very begining but the dregree of subjectivity was acceptable, at least to me. The last update reveals that TDR isn’t interested in a peaceful solution at all but is hungry for publishing bad news about the FC. IMHO this has nothing to do with serious reporting. I wouldn’t care at all if TDR didn’t claim to be a respectable newspaper that usually disassociates itself from this kind of reporting. Several people have tried to point out to TRD that this is not the standard they are used to, that’s all. But TDR doesn’ seem to take their commets as constructive criticism as one could expect from this kind of newspaper. If you don’t like our news don’t read them... You don’t pay for us, so don’t criticise us... That’s what I call profssional. If this is an adequat reaction it’s fine by be. I won’t criticise TRD anymore. But don’t expect praise.

Jud (moderator) said on :

Ally: in my initial email I asked you for the additional information because we were doubting between a) updating the initial article or b) writing a new one. That in my book means that we will write something? Or? :)

@ Colin: welcome to the club ;)

And now please, back to topic. Thanks :)

ally77 said on :

Fair enough Judith.... my apolgies....

@ PM, you’ll have to wait and see! :)

purplemedusa said on :

Jirre ma van julle is fokken dom, hoor!

ally77 said on :

................ I ain’t guessing!

purplemedusa said on :

I’m just frustrated by the fact that some people cannot think for themselves and i do NOT feel like spoonfeeding people with a lesson from Media Theory Lesson 1!

(Not directed to Ally or Steven - but i’m oh so curious...! LOL!)

L00kSharp said on :

“That’s what I call profssional.”

Kind sirs and ladies... The Daily Roxette is taking a stand (and for the record they are a blog, not a serious journalist outfit) in pointing out that a good number of people have had their money stolen when trying to purchase Roxette merchandise. Regardless of any personal animosity between the parties, the facts remain:

1) Money was taken, and no product was shipped
2) Nobody has stood up to say they have received their outstanding order.

Those of you who are saying “wait three more weeks like they said, it’s only fair” are naive. You are going to be disappointed when the fanshop comes back with “so sorry, just two more weeks, please.” You have been defrauded. Standing up for the fanclub and calling TDR “unprofessional” because they are reporting on fraud in the community is an irrational position!

ally77 said on :

This kind of argument could go on forever... some people agree others don’t....

purplemedusa said on :

Agree with Ally - no need to do harm to friendships that was moulded for years; let just all agree to disagree!

japeke said on :

@ l00ksharp:

1st: I am not going to be dissapointed about the upcoming message of th FC (if it will be), because i personally expect that they are going to show up with such a message. but tdr was just tó early by releasing this message.
2nd: nobody calls tdr unproffessional because they report fraud, they call them unproffessional because they report it tóó early! I personally will never call TDR unproffessional by the way. In this case only too much driven by emotion :-)
3rd: So you call TDR a blog because of the design of their website? Well, I will call them a journal because they are very proffessional in their work for TDR as volunteers. more than the OIRFC!

Sparvogamarie said on :

To defend the FC a little (and lord knows they need it) perhaps they don’t physically HAVE the items that people ordered and are waiting on them to arrive, so give them some time to send out the orders.

To the people criticizing TDR for bumping this article, it is their website, let ’em bump it if they want. I’m guessing the people waiting for outstanding orders are pretty interested in what’s going on and appreciate the update. And why are the only people defending them the people who are directly involved with them?

To Alpy: where are you, you big coward? Come and play with me!

sandyam said on :

Maybe TDR’s report was a little too early for some foreign customers but still, if the fanclub had sent me my Marie box at the time they said they would ship all oustanding orders I would have had it already some time ago. You see, I live in the same country as the fanclub is located and the Dutch mail is always quite fast. So in this case, TDR’s report is not too early at all!

By the way, people who are at this time still saying that the fanclub needs time, that we need to be patient and so on JUST DON’T GET IT!!
This promise of: ” In three weeks everyone will get their order” I have been told this so many times before! And you know what? It’s been more than 6 months (A HALF YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!) since I paid for my box so please don’t come to me and talk about being patience.
I have just lost all my appreciation and respect for the fanclub and although I really think it’s a shame, it’s just what they have caused themselves.

Floepie said on :

Sandyam: I couldn’t agree with you more.

HummingBird said on :

So everyone can calm down – all orders have been sent: http://www.roxette.nl

Harplinge96 said on :

Just read it also. The FC is closed and a new one on its way. I am sooo curious about it. !!!

Godd luck for all of you.

ally77 said on :

OMG! TDR has not updated the news yet... shame on them! lol ;)

sandyam said on :

So, what does the fanclub staff have to say about this?

purplemedusa said on :

LOL!

>—————————————————–

Starrox said on :

*reads latest update* That’s... uhm... interesting!

(And no, I wouldn’t define “interesting” as “Oh god, oh god, we’re all gonna die?” in this case. *g*)

ETA: Just read the thread over on R2R - is it me or does that sound like a bad joke?

Sparvogamarie said on :

I agree with you Purple, it’s not possible to run a FC as a hobby project. Something like TDR can be a hobby project, the guys here can do what they like. But a fanclub that deals with money has to be professionally run. As I’ve said before, the guys who ran the fanclub are all GREAT people and they did the best they could with what they had. I know for a fact they worked really hard, I saw the hard work they did on the RS tour. I don’t think I could have done a better job. But I really really don’t want to see a new fanclub run by fans, it just doesn’t work and the same problems will only happen again. Too bad Roxette’s management doesn’t give a damn.

AURYTE said on :

I just wish this mess to be sorted out as fast as possible.

sandyam said on :

I really don’t understand how two postbags full of items can stand at a postoffice for more than a week without anyone of the postoffice getting in contact with the person who brought them if it comes clear there’s a lack of funds to pay for the postage! I find that hard to imagine. But hey, I am just a humble customer who in fact has no right to complain at all as all those people are working so hard to get thing sorted out......

ally77 said on :

I have to say something as reading this and R2R I think what might have happened is that maybe the postoffice in Holland have a credit card they bill automaticaly for the postage cost to the FC or something and perhaps this was stopped because the fanclub has ceased without perhaps EMI Sweden (who I imagine support the FC) not remembering that perhaps there were still parcels to be sent etc.... of course it might not be a CC it might be a simple bank error... but I am sure it will be resolved soon... fingers crossed for you.

per_mson said on :

I think this comment by Per says a lot about the FC situation (taken from the Swiss chat before today):
———————–
Ellie can you comment on the fanclub situation? SO many disappointed fans... the team used to be so great like 10 years ago...

Per Sorry but it’s beyond our control. There are two websites we support these days www.sonofyouknowtherest and www2.dailyroxette.com
————————

AURYTE said on :

So after all Fanclub didn’t have a lot of support...

Jud (moderator) said on :

Ally: EMI isn’t the responsible to cease the FC, which is registered as an organisation in Netherlands, their “owners” have to go and cease it, so I doubt EMI Sweden has anything to do with this :)

At least the bags didn’t get lost and as Cisca explained on R2R, she is working on it, might have been solved yesterday or today...

tevensso (moderator) said on :

The fanclub has had lots of support, but how do you support something that doesn’t seem to care anymore? “It’s out of our hands” means to me that they’ve given up.

sandyam said on :

I finally got my Marie box yesterday after 6 months and 12 days. Hopefully all fans from abroad are getting their stuff soon as well.

sandyam said on :

After reporting about the problems concerning the fanclub I think it would be fair enough if TDR now reports that several fans have finally received their orders.
(check R2R forum)

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