I remember sending away film to be developed. You had to choose wisely when you took pictures back then.
Die Cast Lighted 1/350th TOS Enterprise (TOMY crowd funded)
- Thread starter CessnaDriver
- Start date
1138sw
Sr Member
I think they did better with the BBF Delorean they are currently pushing now. It's the same guys in charge so maybe they learned a thing or two with their experience with the TOS.
Not sure if the BFF Delorean got the crowd funding it needed. Hope it did. I hope TOMY does more high end projects. My heart though is still hoping for a Shuttlecraft or Refit. Unlikely I know but still hoping.
Just checked it got funded...it got funded fast!!! I guess people still love that Delorean!
They stopped communicating about the Delorean as well. They had a FB page, but they turned it off. There had been a lot of fan input, but apparently that was overwhelming. They told everyone to go to the kickstarter page for commentary, but it's had very little traffic, especially from them. There have only been one-paragraph updates, mostly consisting of "fill out your survey" housekeeping.
1138sw
Sr Member
LOL man I think these guys underestimated the fanaticism of fans
weisshaupt
Active Member
Funny you should mention that . Waiting for Boba Fett -- with the missile launcher-- that finally arrived - 2 months later than promised (even with your 4-6 weeks) and then -- not as described-- wasn't the best experience of my life. Further, its no longer 1978. Even if you ship freight, they have a tracking number. I bought a hay baler from China about 8 years ago and I could track it from the factory, to the container, to the ship it was on-- all of the way across the pacific- to U.S. customs and to the domestic shipper. And all with the same F'ing code. Dates were-- in question. It took months. But on any given day I could tell you exactly where it was. If you have them in "lockdown" in a warehouse, moving them out in a reasonable fashion - and just sending an email with "hey we shipped it, the cheapest way possible, and there is no tracking number, but you should get it in X days" just really isn't too much to ask in 2023.
Something didn't go according to plan here folks. If it had, Australia wouldn't be seeing units until after they shipped from Iowa to a reseller who slapped new labels on them and shipped them back out. Wanna claim its pirates? That is as good as a theory as I have heard. In the end I am sure I'll get my money back.. Tomy is a decent standup company. Even if I don't get anything back- $600 isn't going to ruin me. But what I really wanted was a 350:1 scale die cast toy ship.. and before the world ends in WWIII. Yeah, maybe a nice giant box shows up tomorrow. I will be pleased and grateful. I will also be, no less, irritated at how this was communicated and handled..
Obviously we're getting a shipping notification. It said so in their email.
"We will confirm your address correction once we update our records. Once we ship the product, we will email a shipping notification to the email address on the order. This will include tracking information for your delivery."
"We will confirm your address correction once we update our records. Once we ship the product, we will email a shipping notification to the email address on the order. This will include tracking information for your delivery."
weisshaupt
Active Member
They say a lot of things like, the screw access and seams will be filled and sanded, that it can be displayed without the saucer stand, and " If the design detail leads you to be dissatisfied with your purchase, please contact TOMY Consumer Services at cs@tomy.com or 1-800-704-8697 before shipping begins on October 6th, 2023. "
Sorry, that was sarcasm.
JiminSTLouis
Master Member
No!
weisshaupt
Active Member
Correction: 7 days. They said the dead line to cancel was BEFORE shipping begins on the 6th.
JiminSTLouis has been suggesting he has direct communication with TOMY and has been providing alternate dates on this thread. That is where alternate dates like the 9th have come from. So far that information doesn't seem to be accurate. (I am NOTimplying any skullduggery here on JiminSTLouis' part. Only indicating that the information so far provided to him , hasn't panned out)
The Date officially communicated via TOMY email was Oct 6th.
Maybe TOMY has some big contractual order they have to get out of the warehouse before us.
Or they are opening the packages and finding that a large number don't work right, or have major damage, and they are trying to fix them before shipping
Or they are already shipped, on a "as we have extra space" basis , with 4-6 weeks on delivery, with no confirmation emails sent , 1970s style
Or they didn't receive the full order ( lost in shipping, in customs, pirates)
Or maybe some combination of above
I was concerned when Australia got theirs weeks ago - to be honest. There is no way a shipment bound only for American addresses should have gotten to Australia first. Maybe the resellers in Australia called up TOMY and made a deal - maybe they offered to pay shipping if TOMY would ship direct from China. Maybe after such a deal was made someone screwed up and all/many of the units went to Australia and shouldn't have. But something isn't right and TOMY isn't being upfront about what it is.
BloodThirst
New Member
Not much to add, but I emailed them this morning and just received a reply, with more of the same.
"Thank you for your email.
We are starting the process to start to ship with UPS the Enterprise.
When your Enterprise actually ships, you will receive an email confirmation with tracking information.
Thanks Dan"
"Thank you for your email.
We are starting the process to start to ship with UPS the Enterprise.
When your Enterprise actually ships, you will receive an email confirmation with tracking information.
Thanks Dan"
Phoenixblazes
Active Member
Haven't been here in a while, but I was expecting to see all of your pics and impressions by now.
I would've thought with the expected/unexpected release to the Australian market, when we weren't even backers, Tomy would've rushed this out as fast as possible.
I've had this for almost a month now, and I still very much like the piece. As over time, you can get used to almost anything.
I would've thought with the expected/unexpected release to the Australian market, when we weren't even backers, Tomy would've rushed this out as fast as possible.
I've had this for almost a month now, and I still very much like the piece. As over time, you can get used to almost anything.
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1138sw
Sr Member
Everybody should just chill. After dealing and hearing about horrible vendors sellers and bankruptcies this situation is a cakewalk compared to what has happened to many of us in the past years of collecting.
We will get our Enterprises. People who have gotten them are plenty happy. That to me is a definite plus. This is TOMY's first big attempt at offering a high end product at a mass produced quantity and price. Obviously mishaps occurred and still continue to occur but I am sure we will get our products in due time. If not we'll all get refunds...and TOMY was good enough to offer us refunds and many took them...and that will be that.
But for the ones who stayed, like me, be patient. They'll get to us. And once we ALL DO, I am sure many of us will be plenty happy! : )
Like I said this is TOMY's first attempt at this so give them some slack. I for one will love to see more high end die cast products from them warts and all. Because no. 1 TOMY, makes HIGH end die-cast replicas at decent AFFORDABLE prices unlike other replica makers. Not all of us are millionaires/billionaires. : )
We will get our Enterprises. People who have gotten them are plenty happy. That to me is a definite plus. This is TOMY's first big attempt at offering a high end product at a mass produced quantity and price. Obviously mishaps occurred and still continue to occur but I am sure we will get our products in due time. If not we'll all get refunds...and TOMY was good enough to offer us refunds and many took them...and that will be that.
But for the ones who stayed, like me, be patient. They'll get to us. And once we ALL DO, I am sure many of us will be plenty happy! : )
Like I said this is TOMY's first attempt at this so give them some slack. I for one will love to see more high end die cast products from them warts and all. Because no. 1 TOMY, makes HIGH end die-cast replicas at decent AFFORDABLE prices unlike other replica makers. Not all of us are millionaires/billionaires. : )
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weisshaupt
Active Member
It is waaay easier to cut them slack and be patient when they communicate accurately and in a timely manner . i.e. "We expect to ship on Oct 6th, but please treat that as a tentative date, as there are still some variables that are outside our control. If we end up not being able to meet the target date, we will provide a new estimate shortly thereafter."
I do have complete faith we will eventually get them or a refund. If we get them I expect to be "plenty happy." But there really isn't any reason that they can't be communicating with customers more clearly. I work a support job, dealing with very unhappy customers, most of whom are suffering large impacts to their businesses when I get involved, and 90% of my tickets is managing expectations . Keeping customers updated as to what progress towards a fix there is, notifying them of any delays , and setting expectations to appropriate time frames is often far more important than getting them a fix. They understand things break. They understand it takes time to fix them. But not communicating with them clearly... especially if its bad news, makes a bad situation worse every time.
A group Email sent on Monday explaining the situation - or at least setting a new expected ship date - would have done wonders. Maybe they run every communication via a PR/Legal dept. Maybe that email comes on Wednesday because of that. But even those contacting Tomy directly are not being given such a date.. and one can only presume that is because they really don't know when they will ship - not even well enough to say " within two weeks" or "before Dec 1st "or whatever they feel they can commit to. Hence we know there some large unknown at play. It could even be something very good, like - "we are investigating replacing every stand with one that displays the port side, or providing an option to do either side, and we are waiting on those bids and timeframes. We heard the complaints and understand that this is causing an unwanted delay, but felt this was the required to provide you with the best quality product." Its not so much the lack of shipping product that is the issue. It is the lack of communication .
Good communication is always the key to success!
