Fandom Card Issues 2/2012

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by Lumpy, Feb 3, 2012.

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  1. LamboTwinLove

    LamboTwinLove Lambo Assassin

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    I work for a direct mail firm, however I am a layout programmer so my comments here are speculation and from what I have over heard. Shipping in all areas is getting out of control. I don't know what the club might be able to do in this area. Especially international. Again, I don't know the ins and outs with the shipping.

    I have been wondering if they ever thought to form an overseas office and maybe even have an overseas botcon. I for one would jump at the chance if say botcon2 might be in England or something like that. Could be fun and it gives international members a chance at the con and a chance for the club to grow in a good direction.
     
  2. 03Mach1

    03Mach1 Logic has been replaced with blind ignorance.

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    If they sent out a form asking just for my name, date of purchase and how many cards were affected, then I would fill that out in a heartbeat. But not that other joke of a form that required superfluous information.
     
  3. Sludge

    Sludge Well-Known Member

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  4. LamboTwinLove

    LamboTwinLove Lambo Assassin

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    Yeah, but I know if I was someone who had to bubble wrap those packages I would want a little extra in my paycheck for that mess. Just saying. I doubt that is in fact the reason why it costs $3. Just saying I would need a little bit of padding in my check for me to do that.
     
  5. LamboTwinLove

    LamboTwinLove Lambo Assassin

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    There's no saying you can't modify the form and what you don't want to fill out omit or something. I agree the one about stating all purchases on the card for the last 6 months is bs. To me I think they need the basic info and the fraud purchase details like date, where the charge was to and if you have shipping info for a fraud item purchased that might be useful. To me that would be the best info for them to have, not knowing how many times I go to McDonalds or buy smokes in 6 months.
     
  6. Waverider

    Waverider Supreme Dude

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  7. Sludge

    Sludge Well-Known Member

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    Say what? They have to throw the exclusives in a shipping box anyway. The bubble wrap comes perforated. They just tear off a 12x12 section, no cutting involved. What lazy piece of shit needs extra pay to put two pieces of bubble wrap in a box?

    I don't buy that either. I work in the mailing industry. One 12x12 sheet of bubble wrap probably weighs a tenth of an ounce. There's no way it would tip the shipping price.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2012
  8. Waverider

    Waverider Supreme Dude

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    I'm being sarcastic since bubble wrap weighs almost nothing. :D 
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2012
  9. Sludge

    Sludge Well-Known Member

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    Damnit I need to calibrate my sarcasm detector! :eek: 

    My bad, with all the excuses I see being made for Funpub I actually thought you were serious.
     
  10. LamboTwinLove

    LamboTwinLove Lambo Assassin

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    If it's not my normal job function. I'm assuming because people have said the club cuts corners at botcon I'm assuming they would do so here and people come in and do the shipping prep either as over time or something. Of course I could be wrong and they have a whole department that does nothing but package. I dunno. I'm just going with the cutting corners assumption.
     
  11. Roufuss

    Roufuss Shots

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    You do realize that the people that are "blasting" you were, at one point, buying subscriptions and club figures, right? That they were paying customers? Everyone in this thread has either been a former or current club member.

    It was due to the action (or inaction) of your company that has made them be this way. No one on here is just being a TFCC hater for the hell of it. Some of the discussions have been heated, some people took things a bit too far, but people tend to get angry when it comes to credit card theft. If you guys had been doing a great job beforehand, I highly doubt that the levels of anger we see here would have happened other than the odd man or woman. The credit card fraud issue was just the straw that broke the camel's back for many members and I hope you understand that.

    Maybe, instead of just pretending those people don't matter because "they want to see you fail no matter what" (which is absolutely ridiculous, I might add), you should actually start to work on the problems they are addressing? Instead of just writing people off when they dare to criticize your club, you can prove them all wrong by offering things like:

    - A better website
    - Better options for international members
    - Additional payment options
    - Forums that you actually use rather than relying on TFW's forums exclusively (unless you also post this news at other TF fansites for their readers?)

    And that's just for starters to bring your club up to 2012 standards. I guarantee if you guys gave a damn about your presentation it would go a long way towards showing people you want to improve. Actions speak louder than words.

    I was someone that, like RustyMuffler, joined this year despite the above mentioned issues, and I've not seen one change this entire year. In fact, things got worse in the time I've been a member. I won't be renewing because Fun Pub has not shown improvement in any areas in the past year. (Perhaps Botcon has been getting better, but Botcon doesn't affect me... your website does.)

    In fact, while I've seen you bring up PayPal and why you can't use it, I've seen you address the fraud issues, I don't think you've ever addressed the website and why its in such a poor condition.

    Fans have been asking you to update it for years... why is the club being so stubborn about this? At this point, they seem unwilling to change the site at all, like Brian Savage or the rest of TFCC have some kind of personal stake in it. You want to start winning people back? Let's start right there: Why has Fun Pub allowed the TFCC website to languish in such a poor condition? Why won't you update the website?

    To me, TFCC feels more like a third party toy company than an actual club, because there are no club elements here -- I give you $40, you send me a figure, then one other time during the year I give you $50 - $100 for one or two more figures. The rest of the year, I forget I'm even a member at all because there's never a reason to check your website and no participation whatsoever.

    Sure, you send me a five page magazine, but FansProject sends me a comic when I buy their figures as well. Maybe you guys could start getting exclusive news and reveals from Hasbro? That's just a thought.

    I sincerely hope that when you say "The club will be better than ever" you're actually talking about the club itself, and not just the figures, or else you might as well be called the Transformers Collectors Exclusive Figures Dealership.
     
  12. wolfe

    wolfe Well-Known Member

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    Part of this post is inappropriate for someone that is the face of FunPub. I'm not going to say much more about it because I dont wan't to be viewed as blasting the club. /sarcasm

    Combine what MMM said with more transparency and there would be a lot of happy fans.
     
  13. phoenix88

    phoenix88 Well-Known Member

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    And i was just hit. well as of March first. Thanks to my Bank though for being incredibly classy about handling the fraud and issuing me a new card. Here that funpub? there's good customer service out there, you might wanna look into getting that.

    Anyway, i had a declined $3.09 walmart charge and that infamous $1 google charge on my account as of March 1.

    Honestly, i got lucky, this doesnt mess me up this month at all and i'm thankful for that. All that said though, i'm done with funpub and their poor form. I wont be renewing after this year, not even for the discount, which isnt that much from what i remember.
     
  14. cheapdate

    cheapdate Banned

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    Pete, did you get an education in PR? I'm not trying to be rude but it baffles me that you are the "face" of the company.
     
  15. shibamura_prime

    shibamura_prime Food Truck or BMW Moderator

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    Well, add me to the list of cards who got doinked with their pants on. I just hit with a $300+ charge for some Spa in California. The last time I used this card was to register for BotCon and the time before that was to sign up for last year's con.
     
  16. guard convoy

    guard convoy The Big Daddy

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    Pete:

    I have been wanting to go to botcon since 2005 when i first learned of it. Its been a dream of mine for a good chuck of my life. This year was finally the year I get to go, and instead of being excited, my excitement is colored by just how bad this situation has gone down.

    chop it up with a lackluster botcon set, the whole issue with trying to order over-run, and now this, Its just not good.

    It just sucks that the one year I get to go it all goes to hell. I still plan on going, nothing is gonna stop me, but you guys GOT to do something to bring back my faith and many others in the club, be it update the website or take paypal, but i'm sorry, this year, being a first time club member, unless things change, i'm never coming back.

    I never got hit by the credit card fraud, but, that's only because I cancelled it before it happend. You guys know that every single credit card basically that the club has taken at any time is basically compromised, I ask, why did you lie to hasbro about it being not so widespread, when you know for a fact it has? Its stuff like that that further makes the point of people wanting funpub to lose the liscense justified, and while I am angry as well, I really wished you guys could make it right, but its gonna take honesty, or else you guys are further gonna destroy your image with the fandom, which is basically at a breaking point right now

    like i said, the one year I get to go to botcon, shit hits the fan, and its coloring how I enjoy the convention. You bet your ass I'm gonna be at the club roundtable, but funpub's actions dictate if I'll be angry during it or not
     
  17. Razor24

    Razor24 Well-Known Member

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    OK so an update on my renewal saga.

    I posted a dozen or so pages back that my renewal discussions with Karen from FP on the phone and email ended with her instructing me to send my CC info to her in 3 separate emails.

    Well I called her at 2am (Australian time) again last night to see if it could be done on the phone instead of emails and she informed me that the situation at the moment is that they are manually processing CC renewals.

    So their admin staff process a few cards in one go (hence why Karen wouldn't process my card over the phone). Anyways I relented and emailed her my prepaid VISA card details in 3 emails.

    So my question to Pete is whether FP is any closer to getting their store security fixed and back online as the 16th cut-off date is creeping ever closer. I can’t see it working for you guys if every international member looking to renew does what I did with 3 emails?

    Also how will I know when my card has been processed? Karen said my membership would be updated as soon as she got my emails but I haven’t received any notifications as yet?

    Oh and just to confirm with my international buddies, renewal is definitely $82US for foreign members as I checked it with Karen when I spoke to her on the phone.

    BTW I got my Over-run shipped notification the day before... So finally some positive to come out of this disaster at my end at least.
     
  18. wolfe

    wolfe Well-Known Member

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    I'm not sure I would be comfortable supplying a credit card number and personal info to them even if they are manually processing the cards. Seems that would work for the people who are using prepaids and such, however! Now if they would let all the international members know to contact funpub so they can help them out.
     
  19. bradforj

    bradforj Well-Known Member

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    Agree 100% on all points. I've been vocal in my displeasure with the whole mess because the club could have avoided this if not for acting like the year is 1999. The website was old with lax security and the forums pointless. If they get their shit straight I will be happy to see them do well. Hey, it beats breaking in another bunch of newcomers to the license. I just don't see them being able to get with the program and join the rest of us in 2012. They seem to enjoy doing business with everything being outdated.
     
  20. haha

    haha Well-Known Member

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    @Pete@botcon I'm not certain I've mentioned this yet, but I do appreciate you dropping in and answering what you can. So for that, thank you.

    So, do you visit any other fansites? Are Club forums something that will be upgraded during the... upfit? Is there a timeline for when the improvements will directly benefit Club members?
     
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