Alternators Nemesis Prime availability furore

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:12 pm

A sandwich would be cheaper.

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:12 pm

Yeah, with the ease at which the page refreshed, nobody was looking at the product, and unless they had a grand total of 3 NPs, there's no way they sold out of them.

Seriously, was it necessary to jerk people around for half a day, like this? They might as well have just put the "Out of Stock" announcement up this morning and saved people the trouble. I might have actually bought the rest of the items that I was going to buy with it, but Primus can wait until he's on clearance, even if it means not getting the novelty Unicron head, and the custom-fodder joes that I was going to pick up can be acquired elsewhere.

Post by **TFArchive** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:12 pm

Hopefully they will come to their senses when they see they sold 3-4000 of them in 2 days and release them to the open market through retail stores. They'd be stupid not to, and they could easily keep the $25 price for the first little while.

BBTS is supposed to list some on the 24th but I don't know how many they will get

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:19 pm

Unfortunately, they'll probably come up with excuses and statistics as to why they can't do that.

Yeah, I'm frustrated that I didn't get it, but I'm even moreso, since I've been sitting around all day, just so they can be like "Oops. We actually don't have any of this product."

What really gets me is that no one is going to get one, unless they went to SDCC or decided to deal with thievebay.

EDIT: Response from HTS about my inquiry as to when it will be made available for purchase:

Dear Customer,

Unfortunately, the item has sold out. Please keep checking the website. If new stock becomes available the website will be updated.

We greatly appreciate your business. If you have additional questions, please visit our website, HasbroToyShop.com, or contact our Customer Service Center via e-mail at CustomerService@HasbroToyShop.com or phone at 1-800-408-0052.

Sincerely,

HasbroToyShop.com Customer Service Center

That was certainly helpfull. How about explaining why they were never for sale?

Nevermore · Post by **Nevermore** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:24 pm

Looks like a big screw-up.

http://www.tfw2005.com/hasbro-and-sdcc- ... -prime.htm

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:34 pm

Hopefully, they'll produce more of them. I refuse to go to a scalper for it.

EDIT: So, if they knew yesterday that it was sold out, why didn't they update their inventory before they put it on sale. Certainly, they could have called up someone, who post things on HTS to let them know it wasn't going to be in stock.

If it sold out as fast as they say, they'd have had plenty of time during business hours to update that, and they could have spared one rep for a few minutes to handle that.

Ford DeceptiFocus · Post by **Ford DeceptiFocus** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:56 pm

Originally posted by Brendocon
A sandwich would be cheaper.

Quit trying to make me laugh--it might work;)

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:47 pm

Originally posted by Brendocon
A sandwich would be cheaper.

Or you could get a wicked good sandwich for $30. I dig sandwiches too!

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:14 pm

Originally posted by Kickback
To say there's been a bit of contraversy regarding the SDCC Exclusive Alternators Nemesis Prime would be a bit of an understatement. Easily the most desired Alternators figure since Alternators Swerve

Nice bit of double meaning there... seriously, hardly anyone wanted this thing until it became an exclusive...

Brend, you should make back at least the pay-out on eBay.

Post by **Denyer** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 1:10 am

Apparently those who are aggrieved can send written complaints about the handling of website and phone orders to:

Susan Medieros
c/o Hasbro
PO Box 693
Pawtucket, RI 02862

Pun-3X · Post by **Pun-3X** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:08 am

Originally posted by Brendocon
I wish I'd spent the money on a sandwich...

So...you're saying you got a Nemesis Prime?

...

...I'll trade you a sandwich for it. I make very high-quality gourmet sandwiches.

Hey, I was at work all day--I get to respond late.

Notabot · Post by **Notabot** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:00 am

Originally posted by Denyer
Susan Medieros
c/o Hasbro
PO Box 693
Pawtucket, RI 02862

Susan, you're going to need a bigger box...

Ford DeceptiFocus · Post by **Ford DeceptiFocus** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:09 am

Originally posted by Denyer
Apparently those who are aggrieved can send written complaints about the handling of website and phone orders to:

Susan Medieros
c/o Hasbro
PO Box 693
Pawtucket, RI 02862

Dear Susan,

I was saddened to learn of your recent firing here at Hasbro by Human Resources. Please do not be discouraged. You are highly qualified for many careers including but not limited to: McDonald's burger flipper and substitute art teacher. While I'd love to offer you a recommendation, that would take more effort than you ever put into your position here, so I would have to decline your request.

We at Hasbro wish you the best in your future career path and may we humbly suggest customer service should never be considered by you again.

Kind regards,

Your ex-boss

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:00 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
Apparently those who are aggrieved can send written complaints about the handling of website and phone orders to:

Susan Medieros
c/o Hasbro
PO Box 693
Pawtucket, RI 02862

Ah, a scapegoat, then? Poor girl's gonna get a lot of undeserved flack for this. Honestly, I blame the reps at SDCC for not sparing a moment to pull out a cell phone and calling HTS to say "Hey, you know that figure you're selling tomorrow? It's sold out. You should probably just set the status as out of stock when you put it up."

All in all, if a response is given, it'll be something along the lines of:

Dear Valued Customer,

We would like to extend our apologies. The item in question sold out at the SDCC relatively quickly and due to the high volume of visitors on our website at the time, we had no means of updating it. We are aware that many of you were checking the website all day[, and we should have updated either when they sold out at the con or as soon as the website was able to be updated. However, we are going to skirt around this issue, and not explain why we kept you waiting for a figure that we knew was sold out]. We apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused.

Please note that we may get more in stock, so please keep checking our website. [We probably won't but we don't want to tell you that because it's funnier this way. Kinda like when you write "How do you keep an idiot in suspense. (Turn the paper over)" on two sides of a paper.].

Please know that your business is important to us. [Well, not really, given that you're one of those geeks in the fandom, which can't possibly support our product line, so are of no profit to us. In fact, go **** yourself.]

Pleasantly Yours [More like "Kiss our Collective Ass"],
Hasbro Toy Shop Customer Service Dept.

Regular text being the pleasant patronizings and red, bracketed text, being what they actually think.

Edited for spelling.

EDIT: Looks like TFW 2005 says that if you'd clicked on "Coming Soon," it would have appeared in your basket. Had I known that, I would've done that almost immediately. That makes it slightly a bit more annoying, as I feel like I've tried clicking on those indicators before, so wouldn't even think to do it in this case. Hopefully, they'll produce another set.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:35 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
seriously, hardly anyone wanted this thing until it became an exclusive

Spot on. A lot of people are just jumping on this mishandling to beat their drum on any general problem they've had with Hasbro (the toy store, distribution, the club, exclusives, etc.). If Hasbro were to turn around and say "okay, we'll give it a full release", not only would the thing be a shelf-warmer, but Hasbro would have to deal with a bunch of tossers upset that they aren't the only one on their board to own the thing.

It'd be hailrious if that's what happened and it was all a publicity stunt, and somewhere there's a warehouse chock-ful of the bastards they're trickling out a hundred at a time, and dotting around the country.

RID Scourge · Post by **RID Scourge** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:41 pm

I'd certainly buy one for reasons that should be obvious, due to my handle.

Well, at least I know that it wasn't that they didn't have any for HTS that caused the "Sold Out" fiasco. Just that they sold them all sneaky-like.

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
but Hasbro would have to deal with a bunch of tossers upset that they aren't the only one on their board to own the thing.

Yeah, never liked people, like that. The way I see it, if you get pissed about something like that, then you're selfish. I say they give everyone that wants it a chance to get one.

Nevermore · Post by **Nevermore** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 4:51 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Spot on. A lot of people are just jumping on this mishandling to beat their drum on any general problem they've had with Hasbro (the toy store, distribution, the club, exclusives, etc.). If Hasbro were to turn around and say "okay, we'll give it a full release", not only would the thing be a shelf-warmer, but Hasbro would have to deal with a bunch of tossers upset that they aren't the only one on their board to own the thing.

Look what happened to Alternators Tracks and Meister. They were one-wave-wonders when they were first released (Meister might have actually been in two waves), so people kept begging Hasbro to re-release them.

So what happens? Tracks is a shelfwarmer everywhere, and Meister will most likely share his fate.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 5:08 pm

Exactly... in a way, we've all probably done something a bit similar - we have the money for one of two Transformers in the store, and there's one of Figure A and a shelf of Figure B, and you go for Figure A simply because you can pick up Figure B any time. Figure A is more desirable (this is all assuming both toys are roughly equal in all departments) because there are fewer there.

Give the thing a conventional release and most people would be focusing on it being yet another unimaginative recolour of an underwhelming Prime mould, and be saying things like "I went down TRU, and they had a shelf of Alt Nemesis Prime. He's not that great now I've seen him in the box, so I'll wait till he's in clearance."

I'm not saying that Hasbro haven't made a bit of a foul-up with the Club Store thing, just that I don't think most people care aside from the chance to put the boot into Hasbro for all sorts of other grievances.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:36 pm

Originally posted by Denyer
seriously, hardly anyone wanted this thing until it became an exclusive...

I wanted it because I'm a completist whore and spotted it on eBay whilst I was looking for a Decepticharge...

I bet Decepticharge's right fist actually opens...

Ford DeceptiFocus · Post by **Ford DeceptiFocus** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 6:42 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Spot on.

Not at all...I've rarely given Hasbro 2 thoughts...but I am a completist for the Alternators. Simple as that.