couldn’t have said it any better.
ANOVOS issues (ANOVOS ONLY discussion)
- Thread starter Art Andrews
- Start date
I have been trying to get through to Anovos since early July due to a damaged At-At pilot Helmet being delivered to me. I got the usual auto replies and kept going until I heard from a person called Jim who would be taking care of it. He wanted to send me a label so I could send it in for repair! I said I wanted a brand new undamaged helmet which is what I paid for. I heard nothing after that.
The difficult thing is, I also got a shipping invoice for The Royal Guard helmet while all of this was going on. I refused to pay it until I sorted out the first issue with them. Now I’m worried I’ll never see that helmet either!
Has anyone had any luck with communicating with them at all? The only emails I have received in recent months have been the Star Trek ones, this is despite me stating in the preferences for marketing emails that I didn’t wish to hear about Star Trek merchandise.
The difficult thing is, I also got a shipping invoice for The Royal Guard helmet while all of this was going on. I refused to pay it until I sorted out the first issue with them. Now I’m worried I’ll never see that helmet either!
Has anyone had any luck with communicating with them at all? The only emails I have received in recent months have been the Star Trek ones, this is despite me stating in the preferences for marketing emails that I didn’t wish to hear about Star Trek merchandise.
Stop worrying. You'll never see that helmet...
Just kidding. You might not see that helmet ever.
All kidding aside, the last few thousand posts have been all about "any luck communicating with them?" and individuals coming to grips with that fact that Anovos is poorly run. A mix of bad management and bad process sprinkled with a pinch of bad luck.
Good for you for not having paid for the Royal Guard helmet. A lot of us already paid for our stuff years ago (multiple item$) and are still waiting.
Of course, we hope you can resolve this quickly. But if it doesn't happen soon, just sit back and enjoy the ranting.
cboath
Master Member
That have not delivered all of them, though. THAT is still an issues.
darthjones
Sr Member
I'd put money down that Anovos, via loss of license and basically losing the court case, has directed its employees to never discuss Star Wars items of any kind. They are abiding by some truly irresponsible legal confinement in my opinion.
They are prevented from communicating, possibly by LFL and Disney - so even if the court decided that LFL and Disney are not complicit in the Anovos scam, they are at least in tacit agreement that Anovos ignore all their most dedicated fans.
It's almost as if they have been allowed to forget about us completely.
I truly truly truly truly do not believe in protecting them in any way (LFL, Disney, or Anovos) - be it personal or professional finances. Yes, they all have rights of some kind but at the expense of ours.
SO - if anyone gets a shipping label or anything like that, continue to post the news here. That will be the only way to follow this all but dead and quivering company.
ggriffaw
Sr Member
If they have not delivered paid for Royal Guard helmets, that is bas as well. Quite a few appeared to get them on the RPF, so I assumed Anovos actually came through on those.
I haven't received responses about Star Trek items either lately. Has anyone received a response from Anovos about anything in the last few weeks?
darthjones
Sr Member
Well if they are shut down somehow in the Star Trek dept. too that does not bode well at all.
Not to let them off the hook in any way, but the SW license does seem to be a serial killer of companies. I know they probably think they are protecting their brand, but something about what's been going on for years now is just sending the message that you're going to be a lot better off just selling the stuff unlicensed.
Serial killer for high-end props and costumes.
Yet, something tells me it's more incompetence than anything else. Near 4-year delay for something like a X-Wing pilot helmet is....difficult to process.
I don't work for a militi billion dollar company, but I do work for a multi million dollar one, and in my current job I design things. (bear with me there's point to this). Currently I'm building a new powerpoint template. This is basically a half hour job for me, tops. Except it isn't. It's taken weeks and we're basically nowhere still. See someone will have the idea that we need a new one, then it will be discussed. Eventually I get tasked with it, so I build one based on the parameters I'm given and send it in. Then a few days to a week go by and someone will ask me how it's going. I'll say I sent it. SO there will be a meeting...we will look at it, discuss it, and ultimately decide nothing. SO I'll build a new one based on the idea that the previous one didn't get rubber stamped so...change...something. Eventually we'll reach a point where the boss looks at one and says "what's wrong with this one? Why is this taking so long? Just put this one in the shared drive and send out instructions for it!" and that will be that. it'll be a half hour job..from that point. But the whole process took a month minimum, most likely more. And that with a production process of just me by myself.
What's that have to do with Disney? I can EASILY imagine getting a prototype approved, then sending it out for manufacture, waiting months for it to get made, then sending in the first batch for rubber stamp only to hear nothing for weeks or even months while it vanishes into the bureaucracy. Then eventually getting something useless like "can we make it more effervescent?" because someone out of their depth wants to "Make a Contribution". and you're basically back to square one after a year of production and you're margin has now vanished but you still have to deliver even though the guidelines for approval are still not clear and you've used up the run and are supposed to be working on something new by now.
edit: that still doesn't excuse going full silent and definitely doesn't excuse flat out lies...although some of the lies...I can also imagine in a bureaucracy. You might think it's done and ready for shipping, only to find out...nope...back to redesign and prototype only this time, without money.
darthjones
Sr Member
Awesome write up about how so many companies "work" - I've run into all of this and that is well laid out.
With Anovos though I will never waver from Anovos being 100% perpetrator and us, 100% victim. Never. We paid them to navigate all of this and they were only talented enough to have duped the college grad larva at Disney and LFL into granting them a license.
The difference here is that they have to do it - without money - and are not doing it. I'm sure that running out of money is not an excuse at your company or anyone else's company so why is it an excuse for them?
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While I totally agree with you and fully expect Anovos has been subjected to a similar bureaucratic process, there is NO acceptable excuse for taking 4 years (and counting) to deliver the Kylo ensembles. And if there was an acceptable excuse, it should have been communicated.
My issue with this entire situation is a lack of comms. I’ve purchased preorders before (and still do) from other makers. The difference is, they are frequent, open, and honest about communicating updates.
At their start, I gave Anovos a lot of grace figuring they were finding their footing, dealing with processes and politics they were learning how to deal with.
After all this time, the only viable explanation is pure incompetence...
Sean
RVeldhuyzen
Active Member
Even if there was an acceptable excuse why it would take over 4 years to produce the item. There is NO excuse to continue offering more items knowing you don't have the ability to deliver.
It is expected for new companies to run into unforeseen issues. You learn, you figure out what you can and can't do. If you figure out in your first year that you simple can't produce what you want to produce, or it takes way longer to produce, you scale down your catalogue. You don't expand it with empty promises.
If you keep making random prototypes and sell those items knowing full well that you can't deliver, that's fraud. Plain and simple.
Adding to AJTaliesen, masterjedi322 and RVeldhuyzen - another factor to keep in mind: Anovos isn't designing anything. They replicate. Well documented, existing designs. Some of which are 45 years old and not that complex, in comparison to certain other items. This is where I get annoyed by their failure [to delivery what I fully paid for].
Last year (in this thread) someone seemingly in the know walked us through the process of dealing with overseas manufacturers, and it does sound like it can be a major pain in the behind. But despite those insights, none of it justifies Anovos' failings in the last few years.
No serious business owner or operator, regardless of their experience, would ever allow products to slip the way Anovos did. None.
Last year (in this thread) someone seemingly in the know walked us through the process of dealing with overseas manufacturers, and it does sound like it can be a major pain in the behind. But despite those insights, none of it justifies Anovos' failings in the last few years.
No serious business owner or operator, regardless of their experience, would ever allow products to slip the way Anovos did. None.
JetSetWilly
Well-Known Member
Charlatans.
ggriffaw
Sr Member
Unfortunately Anovos isn't the only licensed company that has had issues with delivering Star Wars replicas in a reasonable amount of time. There must he more to it than just the company not knowing what they are doing.
Anovos has made plenty of mistakes on their own, but they aren't alone with having issues delivering licensed Star Wars replicas recently.
They're not [alone having issues delivering], but at the same time the majority of other companies do deliver. Either on time or with slight delays.
Most offer simple, low-end/low price point items, sure. But others, like Hot Toys for example, have barely skipped a beat. Their products are different from 1:1 replicas or costumes, but they're still highly detailed, very intricate, high-end items. One can argue that they're based in Hong Kong which could make things easier, I won't argue against that. But still.... 54-month delay (and counting) for a pilot helmet.....that hurts my feelings.....
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