Do you have direct links to these comments? These don't work if you've changed the default posts per page setting (which I have).
But yeah, I'd be pretty pissed off too. Changing them at all is bad enough, especially considering they were already altered from the original promo pictures for the exact same reason, but not even telling your customers ahead of time is just a plain dick move. Who the hell thought it was a good idea? Did they think people wouldn't mind?
Tetsuro wrote:But yeah, I'd be pretty pissed off too. Changing them at all is bad enough, especially considering they were already altered from the original promo pictures for the exact same reason, but not even telling your customers ahead of time is just a plain dick move. Who the hell thought it was a good idea? Did they think people wouldn't mind?
I think they're gambling that way more people would cancel if they were told ahead of time than will go to the trouble of returning and asking for a refund once they already have it in-hand. They might be right on that score, but this is such a terrible PR move that I can't help but think that they're costing themselves future sales by pissing off their customers. Pretty shortsighted, IMO.
And since the figure is easily-restorable and is presumably coming in the original packaging, Phillip Morris might still sue them anyway, just to cover their bases.
Warcry wrote: They might be right on that score, but this is such a terrible PR move that I can't help but think that they're costing themselves future sales by pissing off their customers.
The worst part about that is that it might not even lose them all that many sales. They're probably also gambling on customer loyalty - ironically as it may be - that people would also be too inconvenienced by having to find some other outlet to buy their stuff from now on to stop shopping with them.
Tetsuro wrote:The worst part about that is that it might not even lose them all that many sales. They're probably also gambling on customer loyalty - ironically as it may be - that people would also be too inconvenienced by having to find some other outlet to buy their stuff from now on to stop shopping with them.
They've got some rewards program, no? (So the banner ad here tells me) They're probably banking on people not wanting to lose the progress they've made on that
Tetsuro wrote:Do you have direct links to these comments? These don't work if you've changed the default posts per page setting (which I have).
That's about as direct as it gets when you don't have an account there I think.
I ended up coming to the same conclusion as the first comment I linked to ("I think they might possibly be banking on people not wanting to go to the trouble of sending it back once they have it in-hand") , and agreed with the comment underneath it which basically said they should have just cancelled the preorders and sold the product on eBay. Which is still screwing people over, but at least they don't come out of it looking like complete asshats. Unless they tell people that's what they're doing, of course.
From the looks of it, the alteration is easily scratched off. But people are still upset about it happening to begin with, which tbh I can understand. I'd have been as well if it had been me.
This is my signature. My wasted space. My little corner. You can't have it. It's mine. I can write whatever I want. And I have!
Tetsuro wrote:The worst part about that is that it might not even lose them all that many sales. They're probably also gambling on customer loyalty - ironically as it may be - that people would also be too inconvenienced by having to find some other outlet to buy their stuff from now on to stop shopping with them.
You're probably right. I refuse to have anything to do with them after the terrible way they handled their credit card info leaks a few years back (denying and obfuscating in the hopes that it blew over rather than admitting it so everyone knew to cancel their cards), but tons of their shoppers were all too happy to make excuses for them back then. And compared to the large-scale theft of customers' personal info, the Exhaust fiasco is small potatoes. I'm sure most of their customers will find a way to dismiss this as well, unless they were personally burned by it. People are all too willing to forgive when it's a business they're comfortable dealing with.
It might put off new buyers from shopping with them though, just like the credit card mess did for me way back when.
Warcry wrote:You're probably right. I refuse to have anything to do with them after the terrible way they handled their credit card info leaks a few years back (denying and obfuscating in the hopes that it blew over rather than admitting it so everyone knew to cancel their cards), but tons of their shoppers were all too happy to make excuses for them back then. And compared to the large-scale theft of customers' personal info, the Exhaust fiasco is small potatoes. I'm sure most of their customers will find a way to dismiss this as well, unless they were personally burned by it. People are all too willing to forgive when it's a business they're comfortable dealing with.
It might put off new buyers from shopping with them though, just like the credit card mess did for me way back when.
Kind of like that whole shemozzle with the one fan site that tried to add a store as part of it some years back. Big mess, incredibly long delays in people receiving what was ordered, if they ever got it, and yet the site persisted on and is still one of the largest fan sites. Hell, I don't even know how many people will acknowledge or even remember that problem at this point. (Deliberately not naming names)
People will overlook all sorts of things for varying reasons. Inertia being one of them.
Unicron wrote:Kind of like that whole shemozzle with the one fan site that tried to add a store as part of it some years back. Big mess, incredibly long delays in people receiving what was ordered, if they ever got it, and yet the site persisted on and is still one of the largest fan sites. Hell, I don't even know how many people will acknowledge or even remember that problem at this point. (Deliberately not naming names)
I remember, though I think you and I are part of a shrinking number of people left who've been around the fandom long enough to have seen it first-hand. It was the big fiasco of the day when I first started posting here. But as ugly as it was, it still came down to a (probably well-meaning, as much as we hated him due to silly inter-site rivalries) fan biting off more than he could chew and having things spiral into catastrophe. TFSource are an experienced company that's been around for, what, a decade now? They really should know better, so I for one am a bit less forgiving when it comes to them.
(Though it could be worse. At least they're not FunPub!)
Warcry wrote:(Though it could be worse. At least they're not FunPub!)
True...
And to kick this back to topic, since no one mentioned it yet despite it being week old-ish news, the Takara version of CW Ultra Magnus manages to be both more and less comic accurate than the Hasbro version. The color layout is more accurate to IDW (red thighs) but the little Minimus Ambus is instead painted up to be Alpha Trion
Yeah, I saw that when I went to Kapow toys to check their inventory - I saw two Ultra Magnuses (Magnii?) on the front page. Didn't see that one coming.
Does this mean Ultra Magnus is Optimus Prime's brother and father?
The annoying thing is, with TFSource as one of the main Western suppliers of this toy, these are the Exshausts that are most likely to wind up on Ebay in the future (whether because of people wanting to get rid of them, TFS wanting to shift stock themselves or the natural process of moving things on), I wonder how honest sellers will be about this in the future?
The Seibertron thing (I don't think it matter about naming names as we're not mud slinging or angry here, just making a valid comparison) just about pre-dates my time in fandom, so yeah, that must be ancient history if only an old, old man like Warcry can remember it.
OK, a little mud slinging, but aimed in a different direction to what you were expecting.
As for Magnus, I can understand Takara not going for Minimus, but I'm surprised they didn't take this cast iron opportunity to do a Dion toy.
RE: Exhaust, it's not unprecedented for stores to have to modify figures themselves to comply with regulations or avoid potential litigation (Masterpiece Megatron got an orange plug), but it's always been done with notice to the customer far in advance both in writing and in pictures to show what they were changing. Changing Exhaust's deco without telling anyone until it arrives on the doorstep is a scuzzy thing to do.
Clay wrote:...but it's always been done with notice to the customer far in advance both in writing and in pictures to show what they were changing.
You say that, but my MP-05 Megatron was meant to be unaltered yet arrived with the orange plug anyway without warning (after e-mails assured me it would be an unaltered version). The best complaining did was give me £5 GBP refund. I have never ordered from EpicHeroes since. It feels crap when you get something that has been modified when you were not forewarned - after all, it's not what you actually thought you were buying. I feel very sorry for anyone stung by this Exhaust fiasco.
New sale thread added with a range of Transformers including Masterpiece, Botcon, CHUG, RID, Movies etc.
Looking for MP-11T Thundercracker and MP-9 Rodimus v2 (Takara version with as few QC issues as possible).
May be dodgy translation or bad info or something, but it seems that Unite Warriors Defensor is going to be a TakaraTomyMall exclusive. Not sure if that means exclusive like Blue Bluestreak (TTM exclusive in Japan, sold by Hasbro Asia outside of Japan) or truly exclusive. There's supposed to be something in the info about Groove not being available overseas, whatever they precisely mean by that.
I refuse to have anything to do with them after the terrible way they handled their credit card info leaks a few years back (denying and obfuscating in the hopes that it blew over rather than admitting it so everyone knew to cancel their cards), but tons of their shoppers were all too happy to make excuses for them back then. And compared to the large-scale theft of customers' personal info, the Exhaust fiasco is small potatoes. I'm sure most of their customers will find a way to dismiss this as well, unless they were personally burned by it. People are all too willing to forgive when it's a business they're comfortable dealing with.
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