When you put quotes around statements that implies that that is what we said. So Kickback, lets' just clear it up.

- When asked about the shipping rate to the UK, the answers are:

Yes, you need to ask Brian about that. Rik and I are advisors on creative, newsletter, convention activity issues, not how FP runs its business

- When asked about why Landquake was not remolded

I have answered that, never said people people would not care, I just did not realize it would create such a stir and once the decision was made the focus shifted to other projects. Just to clarify, once and for all, it was a mistake on my part to post that futures club give-aways would have new heads. While that was the intent, it was never a certainity within FP, and from my conversations I took it that it was. My error and I apologize for that.

- When asked about anything else that deals with unfair costs, with broken promises, with demanded explanations...

I think everyone has done their best to explain why things are they way they are. Just because you do not like the answer does not mean that we are not responding.

My last question -- I know Pete and Alvarez are gung-ho about their positions and that explains their presence EVERYWHERE, but where is Karl and Jon Hartman and Ben Yee?

The 4 of us are Advisors and Ben and Karl do an excellent job. Do not berate them for not coming on here and answering questions, that is not what they are expected to do. Also, it's not about us being "gung ho" about are positions. Rik and I post at times to just try and help with the information flow and to give people insight when concerns are raised that we can address (and it does not take 4 people to do that anyways). Mainly, we do it because we, the 4 of us, work closely with Brian and we see the amount of time he and Lanny put into the TF Club and the Convention and we see how committed they are to making this successful.

Everybody has a good deal invested in this and we all want it to be successful. I know Brian listens to everybody's concerns, and I am sure there is a trick to it all, but I would not assume to know how every aspect of it works. Feedback is always welcome, and if you have it, please provide it in a constructive manner. However, just because an "alternate solution" is offered up that one person may think works better, just because it is not implemented does not mean it has not been listened to or considered. It just means that it currently or may never be feasible.

Thanks, I hope this helps, maybe even a little bit, but again I want to stress that if you have concerns, comments, questions, stop by the Club boards and they will be heard
....Pete

 

Thanks for replying, Pete. However, I HAVE to raise this one point you made:

We keep trying to do that. However, every time we do Brian seems to either ignore us or tell us what a good deal we're getting by paying so much more than US members. And we are clearly not getting any kind of good deal. And it IS going to hurt membership when a lot of overseas members like me don't bother to renew because we don't see why we should pay so much more for the same thing. The price is ludicrous; cheaper shipping methods have been proved, and brian ignores them.
Clearly, Brian is not interested in the views of non-US members, or at least that is how it feels; and it's more than a little disconcerting, not to mention insulting, to be told that he has no plans to change the situation or even to look into it. If you have ANY way of getting this message through to him, PLEASE try; a lot of people would appreciate it.

 

Ha.

I tried that once, and was polite and everything.

I was told that I don't know what I was talking about. I was told that my opinion was wrong. I was told that I wouldn't understand.

And then I was told that if I was unhappy, that I shouldn't renew, because it wasn't going to change.

And all this was in reply to one single, politely worded email.

 

 

again I ask.... perks?!?! (see my previous post on last page)

 

Pete,

Thanks again for coming on to try to set the record straight. I only have one comment.

I know that you probably can't answer this, because it really is in the realm of "how Brian runs his business," but I really would hope to see a more complete response to the issue of international shipping costs. If the alternative methods of shipping (of which there have been many suggested, all of which quite a lot cheaper than what FP charges) are not feasible, we really need to know why. As it stands, it is a huge (arguably, the single largest) issue that many people have with the club not returning a fair value on the membership fees paid.

Thanks again for your efforts.

 

Did you ask this on the club forums d00d? If so, to reply in an email to a question asked in public is even worse.

 

Yes, if you go to the convention, you get a discount. This past year, it was a $50 discount, which in and of itself was better than the $40 paid for membership. However, if you don't go to the convention for whatever reason, that's not helpful.

The other main thing they're looking to provide that I don't see mentioned in your previous post is access to the club store, which promises further club exclusives in the hopefully-not-too-distant future (they really should have had something available before now, in my opinion).

If access to the member-only message board is a perk, we can add that, too.

 

No, I haven't been able to log into the club forums at all.

I'm guessing if I had asked in the forums, I would have gotten entirely different(or at least more polite) answers.

 

Assuming you are, in fact, a club member, I'd suggest e-mailing (or perhaps better, phoning) their customer service folks to see about getting your forum access set up.

 

I wouldn't bet on it.

 

At the time I asked, I was still a member. I'm not any longer though.

 

At this point, even the club exclusive would need, at the absolute least, an extensive remold. Anything less does not make membership renewal worth it to me.

 

I can understand mistakes. And I applaud you from being upfront about this issue.

My current gripe with this issue though, is that now I (perhaps I should use 'we') have to take everything posted by council members with a grain of salt; like if you say the BC06 set will be unique/not repeated molds, I shouldn't take that as fact because it hasn't been "officially" announced by FP, and because of that it's something that can change from now until its release date (like what happened with Landquake)

I think that sucks (for lack of a better term), because the council is supposed to be FP's channel with the TF fandom.

-airfox

 

Perhaps this means that a membership renewal isn't worth it to you, but what do you mean by "extensive" remold? It seems to me that a new head is the most the we have any reasonable expectation of ever seeing....

 

I asked them whether they could undervalue items and mark them as a gift on the customs form. They said sure. I placed an order, but they shipped only half of it. They marked it as merchandise and a triple value, costing me a small fortune in customs fees. They charge $50 extra shipping for me since I'm outside the US, even though and half the magazines I get are just classified ads of no interest to anyone with access to the internet. Brian's toys send me higher quality printed material all the time for free, probably because they have smart means of distribution - not single quantity global priority mail. I enjoy the articles and the comic, and the figure too. They're not amazing, but I'm a completist and I enjoy them.

But no - too much money for the stuff I get, and the store is not up to par compared to other online stores.

But something that I haven't seen here should also be mentioned: they charge very little for shipping toys internationally. Perhaps it is an error in their calculator or something like that, but they charge little or nothing in handling fees, even though it must cost a bit with the credit card fees, packing and so on.

 

Thanks for posting Pete. This was my biggest complaint was that we were apparently (wrongfully) told that the combiners peices and main body would be remoulded after Skyfall. This was a big reason that I joined, but I guess I can except that I'll be getting non-remoulded combiners for the next couple of years.

The only thing I have to say than is that the club exclusives had better be nice. I'm sure that they won't be remoulded, but I never expected them to be. I just ask that Brian actually gets on the ball with the store exclusives. Which was my second reason for joining the club.

The bonuses about the convention don't even come into play for me, because I won't be able to go for awhile. Recent promotion, plus newborn baby girl, plus putting a new manufactured home on my own peace of land... pretty much means botcon is out of the question for me. The only thing I'm interested in from Botcon are the exclusive figures, but I won't be getting them from the TCC because I've found that it's simply cheaper to get them from other sources. Cheaper at least, for someone like me would have to get the non-attendee package to get them. Online stores and ebay are great. However, maybe in a couple of years, who knows.

Personally, I do appreciate that you guys do attempt to talk to us, but forgive me when I say that alot of your answers seem like standardized HR receptionist answers. However, from time to time, you guys do put out the occasional response that makes sense. Like the one quoted above.

 

Except that Savage doesn't have Hasbro practically working AGAINST him.

But, you know, whatever.

-hx

 

I'm sorry, but I can't tell when you're referring to the club store and when you refer to Brian's toys. Just lots of "they"s.

 

By extensive, I mean more than a faction change ala Cybertron Sky Shadow or the pirate Cannonball. A new head is cool. Or a remold of another part, like the Armada BW powerlink posts or the new cyber power key slot on Dark Scorponok. Doesn't mean I'll buy it, but I'll consider it. The ideal would be a remold like Dark Crumplezone, or at least the new head, rims and trim on Alternator remolds. I'm *done* with non-show repaints. They're case filler and pocket liner.

As for what's "reasonable" to expect, if the club lowered prices, they could move more units, and have more changes to make a mold unique. If they continue to go high priced, like with this '05 Botcon set, continue to expect to see the club site trying to move the Botcon sets a half a year after the con. That's no way to recoup costs! And at the price, the remolds that *were* made stank in my eyes. No sale. And now, no membership.