Would you pre-order from eFx?

[Kevin Gossett]

I have always been extremely happy with EFX products, and just take the waiting as a given for what's being offered.

If you don't want to put up with this don't buy their stuff!

I think the main argument is getting lost in the shuffle. It isn't the quality of the product being called into question. It isn't even the waiting that is bothersome. It is the lack of communication that is causing all the grief.

I will completely remove eFX from the equation here... Any company that ignores its customers will surely lose business.

 

[OldKen]

Good to hear back H3pilot.

I Hear ya, I'm just not sure what your doing is as productive to your cause as you think.

To most of us old timers... We see what has gone into this company. We see it is worth the wait and understand why...

Again... No magic wand. I too wish there was!

 

[PantheraGem]

I seriously considered one of the Vader helmets. If there were anything I was going to pre-order, it would have been that. I'm really glad I didn't though. I guess that makes my answer a no.

 

[dfchang813]

I've been buying and collecting for over 10 years.

Let me make this real clear.

For a major company to take that much money and not deliver product or detailed explanations for the delay after 1 year is unacceptable.

2 years infinitely worse.

It takes about 15 minutes to get on the Internet and tell your customers what is going on.

If you can't do that, don't take deposits.

If you can't go on as a company WITHOUT the deposits because you are using the deposits to fund other licenses etc then congrats you are Icons.

Lots of companies take credit card information and don't charge a deposit until product is literally ready to ship.

 

[wannab]

The fact that this is even brought up means there is a problem on EFX's end. They should read this thread and others related and take notes so they can improve how they communicate. No-brainer really. They can do a small adjustment and eliminate the issue all together. Just good business. Leaving it up to others to defend them is not the way to handle the situation, it is all on them to try and fix the issue. Leaving it to others does nothing but create bad blood between people as you can see here.




Doug

 

[OldKen]

I've been buying and collecting for over 10 years.

Let me make this real clear.

For a major company to take that much money and not deliver product or detailed explanations for the delay after 1 year is unacceptable.

2 years infinitely worse.

It takes about 15 minutes to get on the Internet and tell your customers what is going on.

If you can't do that, don't take deposits.

If you can't go on as a company WITHOUT the deposits because you are using the deposits to fund other licenses etc then congrats you are Icons.

Lots of companies take credit card information and don't charge a Tdeposit until product is literally ready to ship.

Do any of you read through the whole thread?

I too have found myself itching for new info!

But this repeating of "over 2years with NO updates" is completely false. The last update apologizes for the long wait and gives damn good reason.

Calling them icons? :rolleyes

Can't wait till the Vader ships and the few that get sold on eBay triple the original price!

All of you who are saying "I woulda bought the whole avengers lineup, but not now!!!". YOU WILL! :love



Here are a few updates In quotes from a post in this very thread...

"The Vader Helmets were delayed another week due to lack of delivery of the display bases by the vendor. Everything else is packed up and ready to go. As soon as the bases arrive they will be packed in as well, the boxes sealed and put into a container.

Just for reference the TIE's are being made at the same factory. A very good factory, but a very small one. So when the TIE tooling had to be redone it made sense to have them start work on the Vader Helmets since they can really only handle one project at a time. It also happened that we were waiting on the final sign off from the TIE model maker which I believe we got just this week. In a sense everything timed out well from a production flow standpoint, because time and production capacity were utilized to the fullest. I realize that is little consolation for those waiting close to 2 years for their TIE. It's unfortunate that it took as long as it did to get the tooling right in the first place, but when you are in the business of accuracy you can't accept close enough." [/QUOTE]

 

[MooCriket]

The lack of communication is a deal killer for me. I'll give Sideshow credit, sometimes it takes a while to get my orders, but I get regular updates...which makes me feel better about the high price I am paying along with the wait.

I would not reorder or feel too pleased to have a company that is all to eager take my order and money only to seldomly give a status update, especially with the cost of some of the items at efx. How much effort does it take to send an automated email anyway?

How much non communication are we talking about anyway? A month, six months? For me, more than a month without an update is too long. Then again I am Italian, and not always known for having the most patience.

Edit: ohhhhhh. Thanks OldKen for ruining my bitching.

 

[OldKen]

So the consensus is... If they would pop on forums every month or so and say... Hit a snag... That would make you feel better?

First off the TIE delay and vader are connected. As stated in the quote in my last post... they had a hard time getting a factory that could and would understand the concept of making something wonky and exact... On purpose!!! I really think the TIE situation was unavoidable, and hate to say it... But thanks to it being delayed to nail down the right people for the job... That piece will surely be the longest delay we will see from them.

eFx was a BRAND NEW company at the time... and still not cutting corners? To me that is impressive... Not repulsive! You will now get a superior product!

I understand where you guys are coming from! I hope we can make this a positive constructive criticism that may help with future products. Too many of you are DYING to stick a fork in them. I really want to see them succeed!

I can't imagine all the stress and problems that producing this level of accuracy, coupled with quality, multiplied by a bunch of pitchfork waving angry anonymous forum posters can bring

The TIE agreeably is unfortunate in it's delays...

But you want accuracy, quality, and quantity... Unforseeable crap happens! Unfortunately it was necessary to get it done right. Sometimes a motor needs to warm up... Then it ticks like a Swiss watch!

Have some patience. Have some faith. No one has ever tried to tackle this level of awesome! If the whining from the penut gallery affectively harms their business...

I guarantee... No one/company will ever try again.

 

[Boogeyman13]

Do any of you read through the whole thread?

I too have found myself itching for new info!

But this repeating of "over 2years with NO updates" is completely false. The last update apologizes for the long wait and gives damn good reason.

Calling them icons? :rolleyes

Can't wait till the Vader ships and the few that get sold on eBay triple the original price!

All of you who are saying "I woulda bought the whole avengers lineup, but not now!!!". YOU WILL! :love



Here are a few updates In quotes from a post in this very thread...

Except that that info had to come from a friend of the source, rather than the source itself. And it should have been e-mailed directly to everyone that has given them money. That is poor customer service, and poor customer relations management. Does the consumer need to have their hand held? No. But missing multiple shipping dates without explanation, and AFTER you've already taken money, is poor management. It doesn't matter if it's been one year or one week. People are a lot more forgiving if you talk to them, even if it's just to say sorry and it's being worked out. And if you're a legitimate company, saying you're too busy is inexcusable.

That's great that they do quality work. But it sounds like they need to seriously re-think their operations model. And because it appears that they cannot properly handle the first rule of customer service, and because I have no prior experience with them, I have zero faith in their ability to deliver products on a timely manner and resolve problems successfully. Consequently, I have no intentions to pre-order anything. As others have mentioned, if anyone ran business like this on the board here, they would have been banned long ago.

First off the TIE delay and vader are connected. As stated in the quote in my last post... they had a hard time getting a factory that could and would understand the concept of making something wonky and exact... On purpose!!! I really think the TIE situation was unavoidable, and hate to say it... But thanks to it being delayed to nail down the right people for the job... That piece will surely be the longest delay we will see from them.

eFx was a BRAND NEW company at the time... and still not cutting corners? To me that is impressive... Not repulsive! You will now get a superior product!

Being new is not an excuse, I'm sorry. If anything, you should be bending over backwards to your paying customers to help build a good relationship.

 

[thd9791]

Outside looking in, I'd have to agree with Kevin and MClass - I also support efx's product, but not their communication style. I hear other sides of the story and I'm hearing that one shouldn't be worried or concerned when 1) your order is pushed back - a time stamp would be normal responsibility, im not sure why extensions are so easily taken - and so often...that should be kept to a minimum.

2) shouldn't be concerned with the lack of communication. - In the end it is the same product - but in the meantime there is no way to tell an honest "hold on" from something worse. that's sort of taking advantage of the customer's trust.

everything from college papers, to loans, official projects, local favors, all work on the basis of trust on both sides. "Take my word for it" is not a way to handle a transaction...

 

[OldKen]

I see what you are saying, and good level headed post thd9791.

I'm just trying to say... They coulda rushed out some craptastic TIE fighters... They could have.

It's a matter of this situation in particular as far as the delay, Obviously some type of communication... No matter how trivial or repetitive is... Would comfort a lot of you.

Some would complain no matter what.

I really believe, while inconvinient... It is working out for the best.

I have faith in all involved.

 

[Apollo]

Another bash efx thread :unsure

I have and will continue to pre-order from them.

Bryan is a good man and i trust him implicitly

If you don't like the way they do business it's really simple, don't do business with them. :rolleyes

 

[Apollo]

No not at all.

Icons was an entirely different situation.

Maybe we will be lucky and the serial predator himself will come on and put his spin on things.

Oh wait that's already happened. :rolleyes

Before my time also. You don't have to give me a history lesson, but is eFX displaying any of the same warning signs?

Thanks

 

[ghostryder]

Love eFX and will continue adding their products to the collection.

 

[BoboFatt]

From 1am this morning on another forum:

Hi All!

First I would to thank everyone for their patience with me. It has been a very difficult 3 months for me. (Now I understand why they call it “practicing” medicine!) I would also like to thank everyone for their e-mails and telephone calls to see how I was doing. It was an odd coincidence that a lot of the people that I work with have been experiencing health issues at the same time! I guess we are all getting old together!!

I have not been keeping up with the forums (all of them, not just Rebelscum), so please give me a little time to read through the threads. I am sure there is a lot to catch up on.

Chris has passed the question on to me and I will be posting the answers shortly (there are a lot of questions!). And as I had discussed with Chris, we will be scheduling a live Q&A session in the next few weeks to make sure everyone is up to date on our projects.

I am trying my best to catch up on all customer service issues. As some of you have probably noticed, I have been trying to keep you up to date on the status of the Vader helmets. I will also be sending out an e-mail to those who ordered a TIE Fighter directly from us on our website on the status of that project.

Once again, thanks to all of you for your patience and apologize for the inconvenience and especially the frustration caused.

Bryan

 

[Alan Castillo]

I own this :

That is my disclaimer to emphasise that I am not fixated on Star Wars, Helmets, eFx, and have no dog here :lol

Having said that, I must agree with everyone who has said that taking deposits and not communicating with customers thereafter, especially if delays are involved, is absolutely the worst possible form of business and customer service practice that can exist.

Some may be willing to live with that, but nonetheless, it is still extremely poor form from a seller, and sends out the worst of signals, even if they are not reality.

Sorry. It's a fact.

 

[teecrooz]

I have been satisfied with previous pre-orders and will continue to order from them. The payment lag from preorder to final payment has actually been a good thing for me because I was able to do a lot of R2 purchasing in between.

 

[Jay1138]

I've ordered from eFX, and I like them. They make a great product despite the lack of communication and massively late products. I really think they're in over their heads, which is why things are running late and there's little word from them. They can't get anything done with the Mupperts license, and I think it was a mistake for them to take on the Marvel license -but it is good for them to take it on as a method of company survival.

I've accepted that any eFX product will have a 2-3 year wait period. So I'm fine with ordering from them.

 

[Cenobyte]

What the point is that there is a long time between updates, and for some that is unacceptable.

I know some people save up to be able to buy these things. even a year could have earned them something, or bought something else.

How many times has a person on here taken "Pre-payments" on items, took months and even an update that takes longer than 2 weeks gets the pitchforks, yet a licensed company gets a pass?

Trying to play devil's advocate here as I personally love eFx and their products.

When there is a chance that something comes up that I really want, I will absolutely pre-order with them.

I have had the pleasure of talking and spending time with Bryan at conventions.

Do I think that they will go the way of Icons? NO WAY.

They are fans like us, they want quality and not crap to go out to their collectors.

It just looks like there is a double standard with a licensed company -vs- a private person that delays on updates.

 

[Lichtbringer]

No orders from me, sorry.

Pre-order and waiting a longer time would be OK for me - pre-paying and waiting for such amounts of time ..... no way.

I can accept such a behaviour from a hobbyist with a regular job and a real life, if he needs longer than estimated ..... well that can happen. And as he stays in contact and keeps the buyers informed about the run, that´s understandable, to a certain degree.

But a company that takes money upfront , before having done the work to have their stuff in line to deliver, that´s a joke.

Make a pre-order list, OK. Then get your stuff done until you are sure the customers will be satisfied and you can deliver in a forseeable timeframe, after that ask the pre-order guys for first part payment. If they don´t pay, they are off the list and the next in line is on it. And directly before shipping, with the goods in your warehouse, then ask for the final payment. Not the way it´s now.

Just my 2 cents for the original asked question.