Pete is happy to address concerns about any actual and perceived missteps by Funpub

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by hardreturn, Sep 6, 2014.

  1. hardreturn

    hardreturn Ian Reid

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    overall you're happy with how he turned out or happy with how the head turned out?

    in cases where you do not see samples, why not? how often does it happen and what has been done to address this? it seems as if hasbro, takara and most unofficial transforming toys have people on site to oversee production. when will this be the case with fun pub? at what point, when things differ from what was advertised do you feel it necessary to inform customers?
     
  2. Dr. Prime

    Dr. Prime Dr. Prime

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    This thread is going to be a "can-o-worms" for you Pete, so instead of adding to "missteps" I will try to offer some constructive criticism...

    -If you take nothing else from this thread, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, take this: Your entire entity of FunPub needs to take lessons in public relations and customer service. And I mean actual CLASSES/COURSES. Many, if not all, of the perceived problems with Funpub are simply incorrectly handled from a PR perspective.

    I'm sure I'll take a hit for this in the thread, but a lot of the angst from folks is the perception that YOU, as a group, have handled things wrong. People can complain about mold choices, head mold sizes, and box set themes (i.e.- like Machine Wars....a set I like by the way) all they want. Some of us fans actually realize that you can't please everyone, and I am willing to accept that the club will have toys sometimes that I have no interest in...that's life. The real problem is in how you guys respond to the fans, including Brian, who quite frankly, is absolutely inappropriate and condescending most times.

    In person, at Botcon (I have attended the last 6 years), you have a "don't approach me, I am too busy" attitude. When you are asked a question about a figure or mold choice, or even a QC issue, we get the "you are just going to have to deal with it, they are just toys" attitude.

    I truly believe you have limited control about what comes from the factories. Personally, many QC issues don't bother me, but the way you guys respond to it is just unprofessional.

    Oh and one last thing....the e-mails from Brian stating "Do not call us about this or that issue" has just got to stop :2c: 

    No response needed to this post. Again, it is meant to be constructive.
     
  3. hardreturn

    hardreturn Ian Reid

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    approved by who and, again, at what point was the venue booked? how was it made public if they venue wasn't booked?
     
  4. Macross7

    Macross7 Well-Known Member

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    When it comes to the add-on figures, why not reveal what they are earlier and allow people to pre-order at least 1 set and pick it up when they pick up their box set.

    Letting people know what it is before might get more people to come to the convention if it is something they want.

    Allowing people to pre-order them might cut back on the insane store line since many people that just want 1 of each could get them when they got their box set and do not need to go through the store line now.
     
  5. Sammael

    Sammael MightyMegatron from ATT

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    Let's talk international club subscriptions. Currently, a regular club membership costs $42, while international costs $82. That's an ENORMOUS, COST-PROHIBITIVE difference. Now, I am sure that a part of that cost comes from shipping, but shipping 1 deluxe from US to Serbia (for example) costs $20 - and you already include some of that $20 (whatever the cost of shipping within the US is) into the US subscription price.

    If it's the magazine, you can always offer an option without a magazine. Because by the time it reaches us, it's completely out of date anyway (and I only ever received 3 out of 4 I was supposed to receive back when I actually had a subscription).

    Any ideas?

    Next, provided I rejoin at some point, I may want to get a figure subscription. What is the international cost for the subscription? I can't find it anywhere on the site, and I can't log into the page where orders are made because I am not currently a member.

    And finally, is the website ever going to be updated to be more modern, scalable, and easy to navigate? It's embarrassingly out of date, and practically screams "we don't give a damn" at any visitor. Seeing its design also doesn't inspire confidence in me when it comes to personal information security, particularly payment data security (which was compromised the last time I was a member).
     
  6. Risko_Vinsheen

    Risko_Vinsheen Well-Known Member

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    This saddens me a bit as I feel like my Botcon Machine Wars collection isn't complete without, say, a black and white F1 racer named Prowl or some others.

    Is there really no hope of seeing them pop up in the subscription service or something? I mean this year you have an homage to a Japanese toy that never even released (Zap) and a character who only appeared briefly in a novel (Nacelle). How is that less niche than something that actually made it to shelves at one point?
     
  7. hardreturn

    hardreturn Ian Reid

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    i guess specifically:

    at what point was it seen how different devcons face was from advertised and at what point was it seen how different metalhawks face was from advertised and why was it not announced and shown immediately when that was seen?
     
  8. Agent Adam

    Agent Adam Well-Known Member

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    So we're barking up the wrong tree directing complaints of this nature to Funpub? Who do we direct our concerns to?
     
  9. kaijuguy19

    kaijuguy19 Keyblade Wielder

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    For your Machine Wars set for Botcon how come you weren't able to make a Machine Wars Optimus Prime repaint of the PRID Voyager Ultra Magnus mold to go along with the set as either part of your subscription service at least?
     
  10. Pete Sync

    Pete Sync Well-Known Member

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    Overall happy. He sits on my shelf proudly. Punch is still in his original box. So, there's your answer.

    As far as samples, there is always growing pains when things get restructured. Adding in the TFSS added some confusion with the factories, and deadlines got missed. We have fixed all that and we should always see samples going forward. The production window is very small for these so no way for us to be onsite, and that's not even an option since we are a licensee. But we do have contacts both in RI and in China, and we work very closely with all of them...
     
  11. Pete Sync

    Pete Sync Well-Known Member

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    We could. We can. Maybe we will? Would there be enough demand for another MW guy? Consensus seems to be no...
     
  12. Pete Sync

    Pete Sync Well-Known Member

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    We always advertise with the mock ups and we try to switch out for the final product as soon as we have it. We didn't do that a couple times, but we did get final Rampage out there pretty soon after we got him. The concern always was that he didn't seem to photograph well lol...
     
  13. Taziir

    Taziir Well-Known Member

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    Hi Pete, I know you'll not be directly involved, but can you get your dispatch people to look at ways to ease the pain for UK fans? We have to be careful of some of your exclusives because of high postage & subsequent customs charges.

    Honestly, it's sometimes much cheaper to wait for the figures to go on to ebay :( 
     
  14. Pete Sync

    Pete Sync Well-Known Member

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    I will need to look in to the payment stuff Monday and I can address that then...

    Security, we have taken the necessary steps to make sure this HOPEFULLY never happens again. There are people out there that spend all day, every day trying to figure out new ways to steal data. You see it on the news constantly. So we have to stay diligent to make sure our customers data is not compromised again.
     
  15. Pete Sync

    Pete Sync Well-Known Member

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    TFSS and souvenir sets are the best chance to see items like that going forward...
     
  16. allew

    allew Well-Known Member

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    Props to you Pete for wading into the fire here, hope you don't get too burned out (no pun intended). I apologize in advance if this question has been answered by you before on the boards or elsewhere but I was wondering why it is currently not possible to have a "fans choice" type of selection process for the club freebie/exclusives/botcon/subscription figure. Maybe give out a list of available molds, then have club members vote on deco, accessories, bio, headsculpts, etc. I think it worked out well for the upcoming Windblade, some fans will disagree of course but it would allow for more fan involvement.

    Not a concern/misstep but I was hoping that the news of MP Exhaust (Marlboor Wheeljack) makes it a bit more likely a Classics versions could be made (I know from the Botcon 20 year retrospective panel this year you guys tried to make one using the movie Lockdown mold)?
     
  17. Pete Sync

    Pete Sync Well-Known Member

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    We have been asked this many times. We always have quantity available on Friday, so if people want to wait until there is basically no line, they are free to do that. They will still get their souvenirs.
     
  18. Soundblaster1

    Soundblaster1 The Heisenberg of Toys

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    In my particular case it was a 2010 Clench with two of the same headlights. I've pretty much dropped out of the Botcon/club game after that (It wasn't a customer service or $ thing, it was the lack of offering anything that I wanted to buy) except for a couple older pieces that found their way here and some creative trading that landed me Flareup and Ginrai from 2014 (Since I'm in a position to do so, I just wanted to say that Ginrai looks absolutely amazing). Things like Hoist and Cannonball are non-issues to me since I haven't touched the stuff, but it does make me extremely cautious in terms of anything Botcon/club that gets offered in trade.

    I'm glad to see these issues being addressed. I can't say for certain that you can count on my membership again (the Joe crossover stuff isn't doing anything for me, but I appreciate where it's coming from and how many people are glad to see it) but I have no problem at least opening myself up to being an end-user of some Botcon/club stuff if I know I don't have to be so paranoid about buying it. :thumb 
     
  19. hardreturn

    hardreturn Ian Reid

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    so how long did you have devcon and metal hawk in hand before revealing them?
     
  20. Pete Sync

    Pete Sync Well-Known Member

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    Those type of contests can be tricky BUT with the success of Windblade, you know, that may be something worth looking at!