David J. Kearney

The Murfie Saga - Parts 1 & 2

PART I:  THE FIRST FOURTEEN MONTHS

I was a paying member/subscriber of Murfie, Inc. since since 2013 (Murfie was launched in 2011 by brilliant entrepreneurial spirit years before the onslaught of major streaming companies). Murfie was primarily a Compact Disc/music marketplace (buying, selling and trading music CDs) that offered music streaming services of this media and was headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Over the span of 6+ years I purchased 567 music CDs. That is a pretty significant purchase over six years. I am sure the legacy Murfie ownership and staff made money off of my purchases and membership fees during this time to put food on their table. I was a dedicated customer and huge fan of Murfie…and I believe it showed. 

In November 2019 Murfie ceased operations. Once Murfie ceased operations a small group of people were hired to return CDs from the climate controlled warehouse in Wisconsin to their rightful owner, for a fee. This group was called MCRS (Murfie Customer Return Services, LLC). During this time, I indicated immediately to MCRS that I wanted my collection returned (packed and shipped) to my home. Upon the request of MCRS, I paid $300.00 for this service on December 13, 2019. “The MCRS Team” stated to me “you must have been active in the Marketplace” when engaging to have my property returned. I was told my collection of CDs would be packed and shipped to me soon and I was in the queue. During this time, many other customers received their property via MCRS. Before I could receive my collection (from MCRS) Murfie ownership changed hands in late January 2020 (on or about January 27). Murfie was acquired (by a company also doing business as ‘Crossies’). The current business address for Murfie is 2622 West 17 Street, Pine Bluff AR 71603. 

REFERENCE ARTICLE (Read me):  Murfie’s Closure Leaves Members Waiting For Their Music

I did not wish to continue with Murfie under new ownership realizing this type of service was less enticing for me in 2019 as it was in 2013. It was a good enough reason to get my property into my possession. I didn’t want to pay for the service/solution that would stream and house a music collection when there were other options available in 2019. There was nothing personal against anyone in this decision.

During this transition period to the new ownership of Murfie I inquired numerous times about my collection and was given many reasons why it was so difficult to get my collection returned to me in a timely fashion. 

New Murfie Ownership was planning to move Murfie to Arkansas to their owned warehouse, but an **E-Mail dated 1/29/2020** from MCRS, that included New Murfie Ownership, stated the following:

“Crossies, LLC has just signed a deal with Murfie to acquire substantially all the assets of Murfie. [ Note: MCRS is not a party to that deal other than as a conduit to hand over the efforts it undertook to represent customer interests] Essentially Crossies has independently built a Murfie-like business. They operate a music locker for customers who want their collection safely stored but they also stream music from customer collections and they operate a buy/sell marketplace. All this is pretty much what Murfie did. For Crossies, Murfie as a major customer acquisition project and they very much want all former Murfie customers to become Crossies customers. As part of the deal Crossies has committed to re-enabling Murfie’s storage/hosting/ marketplace functions for all who become Crossies customers by transferring their collections to Crossies. Crossies will incorporate customer collections, history, credit balances and unused portions of customer subscriptions from the date Murfie shut down. Most significantly, Crossies is also committed to finish the job we started at MCRS. They will return collections to any customers who elect to receive returns under the same terms offered through MCRS. They will eventually move customer collections to their own secure facility but until the returns are completed for those so desiring, the discs will remain where they are here in Madison.”  This is not what happened.  Someone didn’t tell the truth here.

As stated above, “They [New Murfie Ownership] will eventually move customer collections to their own secure facility [Pine Bluff, Arkansas] but until the returns are completed for those so desiring, the discs will remain where they are here in Madison [Wisconsin].” This. did. not. happen.

On March 21, 2020 (prior to the Murfie move to Pine Bluff), I received 69 disks from my collection of 567 disks and was told the rest would need to occur after Murfie was moved. New Murfie Ownership was packing all of the Murfie compact discs into metal shipping containers and planning to leave Madison in April and move to Pine Bluff. I remained as patient as I could with my property in possession of New Murfie Ownership and the money spent to have my discs retuned to me before the move from Madison to Pine Bluff. I made an assumption that once the discs arrived in Pine Bluff that my collection would be on its way in a short time frame. I understand that the Murfie collection of customer-owned and Murfie-owned compact discs was somewhere in the range of 500,000 – 1,000,000. These disks were were moved in metal shipping containers from Madison, Wisconsin to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Due to Covid-19, I understand that the moving of these shipping containers from Madison to Pine Bluff was delayed a month or so, which is very understandable and no big deal due to the pandemic. During this delay the CDs were housed outside of the Madison warehouse in metal shipping containers until businesses were allowed to resume operations to get these containers to Pine Bluff.

At some point in the May/June 2020 timeframe my compact disc collection (the remaining 498) was on the way from Madison, Wisconsin to Pine Bluff, Arkansas. A YouTube video on July 4, 2020 by New Murfie Ownership stated that the shipping containers arrived at the new Murfie owned location at 2622 West 17 Street, Pine Bluff AR 71603. At this time I believed that my compact disc collection would be unloaded, along with all of the others, and my discs would be returned to me within a reasonable timeframe (a month or so). Unfortunately, as of today (January 2021) to the best of my knowledge, the shipping containers that house the Compact Discs are still outside of the building at 2622 West 17 Street, Pine Bluff AR 71603. These containers have been pretty much sitting in the direct sunlight and climate for over six months at 2622 West 17 Street, Pine Bluff AR 71603.

If you are unaware, compact discs are very sensitive to heat over an extended period of time and I believe that my property (along with everyone else’s) has been degraded or worse, physically damaged, by remaining in metal shipping containers that were exposed to direct sunlight all summer long (roughly a couple of months in Madison and now over six months in Pine Bluff). Also, the liner notes/CD booklets are also vulnerable to the heat and moisture that would be in and around the shipping containers they have been stored in. Shipping containers have a tendency to sweat inside in high heat and humidity, unless they are well ventilated and maintain some sort of climate control (which I do not believe to be the case). This combination could potentially lead to the growth of mold spores on the organic/paper surfaces/CD booklets (to which I am also very sensitive). Mold/mold spores can also be very damaging to one’s health and damage the layers of the compact discs.

I estimate the 498 CDs to have an average replacement value of $5.00 each, which I would expect to pay on on Amazon or at a local music store (the few that remain). This reimbursement/replacement value for my personal property would total $2,490.00 plus the $300.00 (from my family’s emergency fund) I paid in December 2019 to have my collection returned to me for a grand total of $2,790.00. 

I am not wealthy, so my Murfie story exacerbates the impact for me and my family.

I was told on multiple occasions when I would be getting/or could expect my collection back since December 2019. The list of times I was told by MCRS and New Murfie Ownership is as follows:

December 22, 2019 From The MCRS (legacy Murfie related) Team – “Hi David, Thank for your patience. We know that your collection is on the current pick list but we have to check with the team to see how far along they are. We will get back to you”. “… a deal is in the works…”, “… Since we are well along the way with picking your collection I would guess that you will have your collection before any deal is struck [with new ownership].” – This is not what happened

January 30, 2020 From New Murfie Ownership – “We will do everything we possible to get you your CDs as quickly as we can”. “I am working as quickly as I can, and I will make sure you get what you need.” “If you need your discs back, we’ll get them back to you. I’m working with the landlord to restore access [to the Madison warehouse], then I’ll have the time I need to return discs for anyone that still wants them back. I understand that you are still anxious to have your discs back, and so far there is only one other customer that has been adamant about wanting their discs back, so you’ll either be first or second in line depending on what happens.” – This is not what happened

February 17, 2020 From New Murfie Ownership – “You’re still first or second in line, as I have not processed any returns yet. I have to figure out how things are organized here in order to even start.”

February 20, 2020 From New Murfie Ownership – “All your discs will be marked as return only, at my cost, before the move, but on my timeline.” “Your user will be deleted from the site, and you will receive a full refund.” - This is not what happened

Finally, during an E-Mail exchange on February 25, 2020, New Murfie Ownership and I both agreed that New Murfie Ownership could pull all of my disks out of the boxes as New Murfie Ownership was staging them for the move to Arkansas. At this point, once again, I thought my entire collection would be on the way (How exciting is that!). – This is not what happened

March 21, 2020 – From me to New Murfie Ownership – “First 71 [ended up being 69] discs of my collection received today (just now).”

March 21, 2020 – From New Murfie Ownership – “The rest will have to be after the move, I’m sorry.”

Six Months Later with no E-Mail or other shipments or direct correspondence to me from New Murfie Ownership…

September 21, 2020 – From me to New Murfie Ownership – “It has been six months since I have received any more of my collection from you, so I thought I would check in. Please let me know when I can expect to receive the remainder of my collection (498 discs).”

September 21, 2020 – From New Murfie Ownership to me – “It’s been much more of a challenge here in Arkansas than I thought it would be. I still haven’t been able to break through a bunch of red tape from the city here. The CDs are here, but I can’t unload them to begin processing them. These problems also mean I can’t get the power turned on here. I regret this more than you know.”

September 21, 2020 – From me to New Murfie Ownership – “That doesn’t sound encouraging. I figured once you packed up in Madison and got to Pine Bluff that you would be golden with the warehouse you purchased. Unless you are getting close to a resolution with the city to begin processing the CDs I am open to other options, such as a reimbursement cost for the 498 discs and a refund of the shipping/CD return costs I paid in December so I can go re-buy these discs at another outlet. I don’t think this is an unreasonable request. Think about it.”

September 21, 2020 – From New Murfie Ownership to me – “I am getting close I hope.”

I never asked for or wanted any of this.

I have made numerous additional attempts to be made whole and have had E-Mail exchanges with New Murfie Ownership and other third-parties about the return of my property since Murfie was acquired. Although New Murfie Ownership did send me 69 discs (12% of the entire collection) prior to the move in March, the remainder of my CD collection that I own has been in shipping containers in Pine Bluff, Arkansas since at least July 4, 2020. From December 13, 2019, when I made my payment in full to have my collection returned, until present there seems to have always been some type of reason or excuse or whatever other more self-justifying term that is preferred as to why the delivery of service I paid for in 2019 could not be accomplished. It has now been 12 months and I still don’t have my property in my possession.

This debacle, for me, has now spanned across three years…2019, 2020, and 2021, when it should have been a month or two…maybe three months at the most. My property should have been returned no later than March 2020.

Not only that, I was insulted by New Murfie Ownership for only wanting what I was told and paid for…

“You are currently the most toxic customer I have.”** – New Murfie Ownership to David Kearney

“You are not worth my time.”** – New Murfie Ownership to David Kearney

Not a professional way to treat a paying customer. When a customer pays for a product or service that is agreed to by both parties it is expected that the product or service be delivered as agreed OR another solution to make the customer satisfied, at a minimum, is delivered. I never agreed to anything else other than what I paid for (I did not pay for endless delays and endless excuses) nor was a satisfactory alternative solution ever proposed by New Murfie Ownership.

**I NEVER insulted or verbally attacked anyone at Murfie (legacy or new) I only presented facts. Also, I have never told anyone at Murfie (legacy or new) one thing and then did another.

I cannot believe I am in this position.

Had I known in 2013 what I know now, I would have never have joined Murfie. The money and time I have invested was not worth it and the way I have been treated over the past 18 months was definitely not worth it.

The Ending of Part I

Will David Kearney ever be made whole?

Will the saga end as promised?

Will a fair and equitable solution be spread across the land?

Will companies and owners of companies ever do what they say they will do when they say they will do it?

Find out in…

PART II: THE CONCLUSION OF THE MURFIE SAGA

STAY TUNED FOR THE CONCLUSION OF…

THE MURFIE SAGA

COMING SOON!

But still nothing as of…

January 1 – 2021
February 1 – 2021
March 1 – 2021
April 1 – 2021
May 1, 2021
June 1, 2021
July 1, 2021
August 1, 2021

September 1, 2021

**629 days since I paid to get all of my property returned..still not all returned**

What a complete disappointment.

**With a very, very “Special Thanks” to Allen Dines (legacy Murfie), Cheryl Connor (MCRS), and ‘The New’ Mr. Murfie himself (new Murfie) for making this all possible.  None of what they told me was true.

Just a friendly reminder…

When a company tells YOU that YOU are not worth their time…BELIEVE IT!

If you want your property taken care of as you would take care it…this is not the company for you…move on.

If you want a company to take care of you as they promised they would…this is not the company for you…move on.

If you are at all questioning doing business with this company…go with your gut…move on.

However, if you like excuses, being belittled for insisting on what was told to you, enjoyed being lied to, told that everything is always someone else’s fault, and generally like to gamble with your money and property…this is the company for you. Good Luck!