The Demo-Man screw up - after a year+ of blunders, is this one time too many for you?

[bamf1980]

I'm quitten teh lien!!!

Just as soon as they cancel it.

[jackstatic]

First of all I wouldn't characterize this as a screw up, unortunate event yes, but screw up no, delays happen, for numerous reasons beyond amyones control. This has also happened before and we have all lived thru it just fine, teela, the royal guards, even the wind raider was delayed 2 months. Second of all this works out for me as it being the holidays and my tight budget and new job that pays less than my less job, my wallet will have a little extra breathing room now

[Prahvus]

Actually, YES. This is getting boring, tiresome, stressing and it's just ridiculous, now.

Please hear me out : I'm a die hard MOTU collector. I have the whole 80's collection, almost all NA characters, most of the 200x collection.

I also have some DVDs, the 1987 movie etc.

But honestly, Mattel gets on my nerves. They manage this line (and I'm not talking about Toyguru here, but about all the higher-ups at Mattel Corporate) like amateurs and beginners.

They never cared enough to improve quality control. A big percentage of the more uniquely sculpted figures is yet to come, and we see lots of the easiest figures produced, based on parts reuse. Although MOTUC is the most successful brand sold on Mattycollector, there is a constant lack of ambition. Even the universally requested Castle Grayskull takes forever to be released and hasn't seen the line of the day yet (and as far as we know, it's not even in the plans, except MAYBE "in a movie year")...

I don't even want to start detailing the huge mess of the stupid website, or reviewing DR's incompetence... Heck, they're not even able to honor the subscribers' and customers' orders anymore !

Nothing has been done for the international fans either, despite numerous and repeated requests.

The screwups keep coming, especially every time there's a new buck or a new significant tool/part. This whole line is mainly "managed" during the brand's manager sparetime, during the weekends, for goodness sake ! How could it possibly be made and marketed properly this way ?

So my point of view is that everything at Mattel is done in a manner that allows screwups, delays, QC issues etc. to keep happening again and again, which will cause the fans to be bitter, disappointed or angry.

We really can't say we didn't do our part : we supported the line, we chewed on our bit when the first mistakes occured, and we even went so far as to give a detailed list of what needed to be improved on the figures. The thing is : Mattel just didn't want to listen, and was not willing to "deliver" (at least, not on the whole QC and CS aspects of the line).

Right now, I'm way past disappointed and bitter, I'm just plain furious.

I really hope MOTUC will be able to resist for 2 or 3 more years, but in all honesty, I'm not sure it will survive that long.

I really hope that the Mattel team (and TG) will make huge efforts. If not, I'll just have to stop collecting. It'll break my heart, but that's what I'll do if I see no improvement. It's not worth the hassles, the headaches and the money anymore... Today, I feel that if MOTUC fails, it will be entirely Mattel's fault. They have a loyal fanbase, they have some of the most talented sculptors out there (the 4 Horsemen), but that's about it. They really need to enhance the fans experience with Mattel/Matty (improve quality control, create a REAL customer service, be more fan friendly about the ordering and the shipping, etc.).

[Penny Dreadful]

Nah, I don't really care that it's delayed a couple of weeks. No biggie as far as I'm concerned.

[Marvelous0ne]

I don't think this a "straw that broke the camel's back" situation. It was an unforseen event. Yes, Matty should have been a little more aware of it, but it happened. I'm more ticked off at the Swiftwind Fiasco more.

Oh that pesky Swift Wind issue. Just talking about that with another Org member. Where basically he says it's not a real issue. We're being nit picky when it comes to QC issues! Besides that poll states that there is only like 12 here who had the issue anyway. Mind you that's not the Official poll that Val posted on the main page. But it counts!

As for Demo-Man, I seriously do not believe that they did not know way ahead of time that there would be a delivery issue. A couple of people who I know who works in retail said that his excuse was very lame. And said what kind of company always wait to the last minute to wait for their shipment? When you always have it come with in a reasonable period of time. That way if there is a issue that arises. You have time to notify their customers of the delay. Not 3 days before! That's poor business! And it is part of the growing issues that has plaguing this line. Despite how some look over cause they feel that if you say anything bad about Toyguru. Your bad mouthing the line and he will make the line go away.

Uh oh! This might make some think that there's another conspiracy brewing!

As for the figure itself, could care less.I didn't vote for him! I do however want the Skeletor head. That is what matters!

[TechTrek]

this is one too many, one too many threads.........




the straw for me was the shoulder shruggs at the backwards shoulders thing.

that is the main reason why i didnt get next years sub.

as much as i love fisto

this is just one of the handfuls of validations that make me think, "dang techtrek, you did do the right thing"


i can honestly say, i wouldnt feel bad at all if i lost business, if this was my business practice. personally i think its a joke. they have these things so far planned out, there is no WAY that the dec figures shouldnt have been where they needed to be 2 months ahead of time. thats just my thoughts..

[Uki]

What blunders? I'm a Happy Camper.

[phnx75]

I wouldn't really consider this particular thing a blunder. Some things are out of Mattel's control. Digital River leaking the SDCC reveal list...that was a blunder. If they haven't received the product then there is nothing they can do about it , except make stern faces and make a few angry calls. If you don't have the patience to wait a few weeks for a couple figures then maybe it is time for you (not pointing to anyone in particular) to get out of the hobby and relieve this stress point. Save your anger for things Mattel does have some control over...sculpts, swapped shoulders, or excuses why they couldn't give a proper update to Evil-Lyn.

[fball13z]

God really do we need a thread about this? Its a shipment delay it happens all the time in the shipping world. deal with it.

People stress themselves out way too much over these toys. Its like the hobby has turned into how many can people complain about Mattel/TG/Toys/ETC

[Uncle Jake]

Some people really need to chill out.

A shipping delay is completely different from selling defective products or bad websites.

[phnx75]

God really do we need a thread about this? Its a shipment delay it happens all the time in the shipping world. deal with it.

People stress themselves out way too much over these toys. Its like the hobby has turned into how many can people complain about Mattel/TG/Toys/ETC

Totally agreed.

[citizens_X]

Mattel isn't forcing anyone to buy the line, it's really not worth getting bent out of shape over.. it's a hobby..right?... meant to be enjoyed.. if it's bringing so much stress and heartache, perhaps you need a change.. stamp collecting.

[Captain Atkin]

I could care less. A few weeks means nothing. Just a minor delay in my eyes.

[Count Marzo]

Not a big deal/getting blown out of proportion.

Delays happen. **** happens. So we wont have Demo-Man for a few weeks...whatever.

Everyone's gotta buy the Wind Raider anyways. Sub-Or or not.

[Skeletortilla]

Not hardly. Product delays are hardly a new thing.

Anyone who collects Bowen statues and busts will tell you, they can run 2-6 MONTHS behind, they cost hundreds of dollars, and you have to pay when you order.

[Chuck Bowlz]

I feel like this happens with any toy lines, or any product...just with Mattycollector we get specific release dates months in advance so it's noticable if they don't hit them.

As for me, I never know what figure is coming until I get it in the mail...I wouldn't of even noticed if I hadn't of seen this thread.

[Jean]

I don't see this as a screw up at all. If there was a problem and they corrected it, all the better. If it's because they got behind in shipping things from China, hey, it's no biggie.

I seem to recall a time when the talks of a subscription were in place, one thing people said was it wouldn't matter to them if there was a slight delay in receiving a figure, so long as they received it and didn't have to fight the WSOD.

Honestly, I think people are splitting hairs over nothing. Especially when people are always going on about how they'd be happy to pre-order and pay in advance say for a Castle Grayskull, yet here we are with a $20 figure being delayed at most a month and it's the end of the world for them.

This is the furthest thing from a blunder in my opinion. It's simply a slight delay, nothing else.

[zodak74]

Actually, YES. This is getting boring, tiresome, stressing and it's just ridiculous, now.

Please hear me out : I'm a die hard MOTU collector. I have the whole 80's collection, almost all NA characters, most of the 200x collection.

I also have some DVDs, the 1987 movie etc.

But honestly, Mattel gets on my nerves. They manage this line (and I'm not talking about Toyguru here, but about all the higher-ups at Mattel Corporate) like amateurs and beginners.

They never cared enough to improve quality control. A big percentage of the more uniquely sculpted figures is yet to come, and we see lots of the easiest figures produced, based on parts reuse. Although MOTUC is the most successful brand sold on Mattycollector, there is a constant lack of ambition. Even the universally requested Castle Grayskull takes forever to be released and hasn't seen the line of the day yet (and as far as we know, it's not even in the plans, except MAYBE "in a movie year")...

I don't even want to start detailing the huge mess of the stupid website, or reviewing DR's incompetence... Heck, they're not even able to honor the subscribers' and customers' orders anymore !

Nothing has been done for the international fans either, despite numerous and repeated requests.

The screwups keep coming, especially every time there's a new buck or a new significant tool/part. This whole line is mainly "managed" during the brand's manager sparetime, during the weekends, for goodness sake ! How could it possibly be made and marketed properly this way ?

So my point of view is that everything at Mattel is done in a manner that allows screwups, delays, QC issues etc. to keep happening again and again, which will cause the fans to be bitter, disappointed or angry.

We really can't say we didn't do our part : we supported the line, we chewed on our bit when the first mistakes occured, and we even went so far as to give a detailed list of what needed to be improved on the figures. The thing is : Mattel just didn't want to listen, and was not willing to "deliver" (at least, not on the whole QC and CS aspects of the line).

Right now, I'm way past disappointed and bitter, I'm just plain furious.

I really hope MOTUC will be able to resist for 2 or 3 more years, but in all honesty, I'm not sure it will survive that long.

I really hope that the Mattel team (and TG) will make huge efforts. If not, I'll just have to stop collecting. It'll break my heart, but that's what I'll do if I see no improvement. It's not worth the hassles, the headaches and the money anymore... Today, I feel that if MOTUC fails, it will be entirely Mattel's fault. They have a loyal fanbase, they have some of the most talented sculptors out there (the 4 Horsemen), but that's about it. They really need to enhance the fans experience with Mattel/Matty (improve quality control, create a REAL customer service, be more fan friendly about the ordering and the shipping, etc.).

You can't really argue with any of this. Well said! When this particular line goes ka-put, it's ALL Mattel's fault. Not Cartoon Network's for putting the cartoon in an undesirable slot, not the brick and mortar stores for not ordering product, certainly not the fans- as we've been vocal not only with our constant suggestions, input, requests... but with our wallets as well. We'll stop spending eventually because of the Mattel screw-ups, not because we don't want great action figures to keep coming. I hope MOTUC goes strong, but Mattel needs to show a LOT of improvement in all sorts of areas. Otherwise...

Kinda makes you wonder... what problems is the Wind Raider going to have once we get 'em in hand? LOL (or Cry Out Loud?)...

[Canada-Man]

Wow, I wouldn't clasify this as a fiasco. The great things in this line far outweigh the hiccups we've had.

I completely agree....they are toys...I can wait a few more weeks. Gotta say its not that big of a deal to me and people love to blow things out of proportion.

[Brian Ozone]

I'm beyond mad about this. My wife gets me my 2 subs a year. And I save the last three months to open on Christmas. And now I won't have these two.

[MossMan710179]

I don't mind the figure being delayed, it's the getting charged now and it will ship later for it that bugs me along with half the paint apps that are on the original prototype are missing on the final figure...

[Dynamo of Eternia]

The Demo-Man screw-up, itself isn't really bugging me (honestly it's just a slight delay, not that big of a deal). But something else happened today that REALLY irks me. I already posted about it in another thread, so I'll just quote that here...

Up until today (more on this shortly), my biggest beef with Matty was the difficultly in getting results through their customer service line. And ever since I discovered it, when/if an issue arises, I've been using the direct number for Digital River to get to their escalation department to get things resolved.

And I'm really not all that upset over the delay with Demo-Man and the December subs shipping out. I'm not thrilled about it, but I know that I'm going to get my order.

While things like the reversed shoulders on an entire run of figures has certainly sucked, I've only had a couple of previous occasions where I've had to call about a problem/defect with my figures, and in those cases they promptly sent me replacements, and didn't even ask for the original figure back.


But here's what I am upset about now, which may end up being the straw that broke the camel's back for me if they don't create more options for the future...

I received my Cyber Monday order a few days ago which included a set of palace guards. 1 of the guards, instead of having the proper armor for his left and right legs, has 2 sets of the left armor (the issue, itself, is not the problem). Similar to what is happening with many people with the Swiftwind problem, they are wanting to get the set with the problem back first before sending a replacement. And that, in-and-of itself, is reasonable. I'm not entitled to an entire extra set of guards over incorrect leg armor on one of them.

However, the ONLY option that they offer is to have UPS pick up the package. They will not (or I guess cannot) just send me a label my mail or email to put on the package and drop off at a UPS store, which would work about A MILLION TIMES BETTER for me!

The problem for me is that I live in a condo and trying to meet up with UPS to sign for a package (due to our security door and the local UPS driver's incompetence) is damn near impossible unless I get lucky. On 2 occasions my wife and I had to drive to the "local" UPS facility to pick up packages after UPS made their "three attempts" to deliver it, and that's about a 45 minute drive from where we live. So because of this, we have all of our packages sent to a relative's house.

From what another .orger said in the Swiftwind problem thread, with a pick-up, UPS make a similar 3 attempts. After said board member missed the first attempt and talked to customer service again, they were told that if they miss all 3 attempts, that they would have to pay to ship it back!

This means that I'm pretty much screwed! While I have my packages sent to a relative's house, I really don't want to burden them with the hassle of dealing with a pick up. And there's about a 99% chance that any attempt to have UPS pick up the package here is going to fail.

I know that I can't be the only one in this kind of a situation. It tends to be a fairly common problem with condos and apartments.

I can deal with the defects and problems if there is a REASONABLY CONVENIENT WAY TO GET THEM RESOLVED! But if the only options that they can offer me is a bunch of catch-22s, then they can go **** themselves!

You know, I've been on board with this line for the long-haul, but now I'm really thinking about not subscribing for 2013.

I also posted a rant about this on the Matty forums.

[Crusader]

You can't really argue with any of this. Well said! When this particular line goes ka-put, it's ALL Mattel's fault. Not Cartoon Network's for putting the cartoon in an undesirable slot, not the brick and mortar stores for not ordering product, certainly not the fans- as we've been vocal not only with our constant suggestions, input, requests... but with our wallets as well. We'll stop spending eventually because of the Mattel screw-ups, not because we don't want great action figures to keep coming. I hope MOTUC goes strong, but Mattel needs to show a LOT of improvement in all sorts of areas. Otherwise...

Mattel doesn't need MOTUC, they are just keeping it around long enough for the live-action movie to get developed and then they'll go to retail again with an all new movie-based line directed to children, which is where the real money lies (and because children don't complain about paint apps, backwards shoulders or veins in a horse's legs like adult collectors do)

[He-Dude]

It's not over yet... if they are JUST NOW talking about the Sorceress' new wings... I doubt we will get her in time next month.

[zodak74]

Mattel doesn't need MOTUC, they are just keeping it around long enough for the live-action movie to get developed and then they'll go to retail again with an all new movie-based line directed to children, which is where the real money lies (and because children don't complain about paint apps, backwards shoulders or veins in a horse's legs like adult collectors do)

Did you just come out of a Mattel board meeting? LOL! That last part sounds exactly what I imagine them sounding like!