ANOVOS just canceled my order!

BB8, Factory Entertainment and Hollywood collectibles are both in business.

Many people have already pointed out that Anovos is improving their methods.

My personal experience is knowing a few folks who currently or have in the past RUN replica companies. I, myself, have produced several runs on the rpf. I believe I could call myself a well-established member of this community. I have had every kind of experience selling and buying props from both members and companies.

Again, knowing what I know, it doesn't seem you really do have a great understanding of how THIS business works. No, I don't agree with having to wait so long but sometimes that is what happens. Someone else mentioned already that no company WANTS to make people wait. No one really WANTS angry customers but things happen. I personally have had issues with suppliers that resulted in long wait times. In every instance I have been able to correct course, and in one case, had to sell the run to someone else. Anovos is making adjustments and there is clear evidence of that.

Ultimately, we all have a choice; be patient, or ask for a refund. I always choose the former, but that's just me. Others are welcome to the latter. What doesn't make any logical sense is demanding the impossible(delivery of unavailable items).

Besides everything else that has been said already, there is nothing more to say.
 
I've seen people on this board grab pitchforks and torches for sellers on here taking orders for new items while still not getting items paid for out to other members. I still remember forever ago a big mess with Matrix coats being paid for and not made and people waiting forever for them. I don't get why an outrage exception is made for Anovos. Sure, maybe the stuff they make is amazing, but it doesn't really matter if they keep screwing their customers around making them wait years for items. They have a F Better business Bureau rating for a reason and it's not because someone is a butt hurt fan boy. People are waiting ridiculously long times for their stuff. A friend of mine waited a year for his item. It wasn't a suit of armor, it wasn't some overly complex full costume, it was an imperial officer hat. Yeah there are good ways and bad ways to talk to customer service reps. I've worked in retail and it's true that being nice can go a long way, but it blows my mind how many people excuse the delayed items of up to a year or more as some how okay. It's not. Especially not coming from a licensed company. If you got what you ordered and you're happy with it, that's awesome. I'm glad you did, but that doesn't make it "okay" that others have been waiting years.

yeah, it is a little weird. unless some people are hoping anovos will see their stick up for them and give them a free discount or something :/... why play back seat mod? just ignore the thread and move on.


Judging by anovos and their past history, it shouldn't matter if someone has 4 posts or not..... i feel sorry for anyone else who's run into shoddy customer service. or shady practices. especially for high end paid up front items. i feel their pain as i'm in that same spot right now for TWO orders....and one i was hoping would go a little quicker than three years :).

Of course, I'd feel sorrier for them if they where nice and un abrasive about it. it's not the customer service reps fault that their order was cancelled. that's just some poor schmuck that gets paid 4 dollars an hour to deal with grumpy people.
 
@besides everything else that has been said already, there is nothing more to say"


Agreed.
 
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First off, the said at the time, full suits to ship first. Helmets only, later.

My mistake, I wasn't aware this was the case. I thought the helmets went up for sale before the suits, hence my confusion as to why they have a finished helmet product with people waiting for two years, but people ordering suits afterwards are getting the same helmets before OP.

Second, the fact that newer things are going out faster is irrelevant. You don't hold up one product because another isn't complete. This isn't a case of one factory making everything. It's much more likely a different one is a making each item. In some cases multiple companies are making pieces for a single ensemble. So, if company A can't fullfill their Vader piece, yeah, you hold the whole thing back until all pieces are in. You DO NOT hold back your Deathtrooper helmet, for example, because the stormtrooper helmets don't exist. And, there are ample examples in this thread of why items get pushed back.
I can totally understand if there are push backs on different items, I wouldn't expect them to stop everything to push one product out - I fully understand that. My point was more outlined above, that if they're shipping exactly the same product with a full suit to customers who had purchased after OP and that they're also shipping new items alongside that - then I'd be upset. Sorry if I wasn't clear in that!

Most importantly, no one at all said that the OP didn't have the right to be upset. The case was, you don't take it out on the CS rep - whether directly or indirectly. That's what people are calling him out for. Not for being mad, but for how it was handled.
No exactly, and I'm sorry if how I worded my thoughts came across like that. As someone that has worked retail and hospo for a long enough time, I wouldn't excuse OP's actions, nor did I mean to infer that. In fact, I specifically said I would've handled it differently:
If it was me, I'd be mightily pissed, but would've handled the CS part differently.
Regardless, I didn't realize Anovos specifically stated either that the helmet + armour would be shipped first.
 
There are times I think ANOVOS should have one person on the payroll whose sole job is to collate all the business info of the preceding week (updates from Chinese factories, latest feedback from LFL and/or Disney approvals teams, unforeseen snags from the local soft-goods assembly shop, having to send a batch of fabric back because th emill screwed up, whatever) and post a non-commentable blog entry summarizing what has moved to the next stage of the process, what has been delayed, and only giving delivery projections for those items/ensembles that have cleared all the manufacturing and approval hurdles and are on-hand in the warehouse just needing finishing and packing work.

Then there are times I think "We wouldn't ask that of, say, Hasbro..." Lord knows how many of their things have been delayed or cancelled over the years. Unless you go to every trade show and note all their estimated shelf dates and compare to what ultimately happens... And even then I have issues with their business model. Not making/packing more of the high-demand figures like Black Series Revan? Doing Nerf versions of the blasters and putting Nerf launchers on the vehicles -- just because they also own Nerf? Randomly changing the entire aesthetic of one of their lines for no clear reason (Galactic Heroes)?

So my only two serious "things ANOVOS needs to address" are: 1) Items should go out to the people who ordered them in chronological order (I mean same item, same finish level, same solicitation, etc.); and 2) Clearer wording of their delivery projections, e.g., "[This thing that we only have at the prototyping stage], barring difficulties (and after our steep learning curve with early products' approval), we are hoping to have on hand for shipping by [this quarter/year], subject to unforeseen delays"; "[this thing that has been in development] we were projecting [this quarter/year], but [manufacturing/approval] difficulties have pushed that back to [this other quarter/year]"; or "[this thing that has been in development] has arrived at our warehouses, samples have been approved, packaging has been approved, and we will begin shipping to those who ordered [within this date range] by [this date] -- if you haven't received a shipping notice by [this other date], let customer service know".

They are mostly doing the second, but a bit of refinement would go a long way, especially in combination with the first. Now that they're not doing preorders any more (because they also saw how problematic that was), this mostly applies to items/ensembles dating back to when they were. Once those are all cleared, their current model seems to be working okay. But especially make clearer the distinction between "projected" and "locked in" dates.

--Jonah
 
There are times I think ANOVOS should have one person on the payroll whose sole job is to collate all the business info of the preceding week (updates from Chinese factories, latest feedback from LFL and/or Disney approvals teams, unforeseen snags from the local soft-goods assembly shop, having to send a batch of fabric back because th emill screwed up, whatever) and post a non-commentable blog entry summarizing what has moved to the next stage of the process, what has been delayed, and only giving delivery projections for those items/ensembles that have cleared all the manufacturing and approval hurdles and are on-hand in the warehouse just needing finishing and packing work.

Then there are times I think "We wouldn't ask that of, say, Hasbro..." Lord knows how many of their things have been delayed or cancelled over the years. Unless you go to every trade show and note all their estimated shelf dates and compare to what ultimately happens... And even then I have issues with their business model. Not making/packing more of the high-demand figures like Black Series Revan? Doing Nerf versions of the blasters and putting Nerf launchers on the vehicles -- just because they also own Nerf? Randomly changing the entire aesthetic of one of their lines for no clear reason (Galactic Heroes)?

So my only two serious "things ANOVOS needs to address" are: 1) Items should go out to the people who ordered them in chronological order (I mean same item, same finish level, same solicitation, etc.); and 2) Clearer wording of their delivery projections, e.g., "[This thing that we only have at the prototyping stage], barring difficulties (and after our steep learning curve with early products' approval), we are hoping to have on hand for shipping by [this quarter/year], subject to unforeseen delays"; "[this thing that has been in development] we were projecting [this quarter/year], but [manufacturing/approval] difficulties have pushed that back to [this other quarter/year]"; or "[this thing that has been in development] has arrived at our warehouses, samples have been approved, packaging has been approved, and we will begin shipping to those who ordered [within this date range] by [this date] -- if you haven't received a shipping notice by [this other date], let customer service know".

They are mostly doing the second, but a bit of refinement would go a long way, especially in combination with the first. Now that they're not doing preorders any more (because they also saw how problematic that was), this mostly applies to items/ensembles dating back to when they were. Once those are all cleared, their current model seems to be working okay. But especially make clearer the distinction between "projected" and "locked in" dates.

--Jonah

The funny thing is like a year ago they did exactly what you are suggesting. They sent out emails with status updates on each project even adding photos and etc sometimes of incomplete projects. Then it all just stopped with no explanation from anyone and they went back to being radio silence, other than trying to sell you more products that is.

You say we wouldn't ask that of Hasbro, but you don't pay Hasbro thousands of dollars ahead of time. You go to the store, online or in person, and buy what you want from there. So when you have MY money for years on end, I expect more out of you than a company I have no interaction with other than buying your products in a store.
 
Actually, they did give an explanation. They were told it was forbidden to post in progress shots for one. I think saying 'we're waiting on so and so to approve this part of it' was also supposedly something they weren't supposed to be discussing externally. It's just the way it is.

People told @GotMaul (i wish i could make that work....) they'd like the old update format and he said he'd look into it. My guess is they were told no.

We all feel better when he have that aspect, plus it's interesting to see the progress/changes/whatever along the way. The mouse doesn't play that way.
 
I'm curious where GotMaul stands in all this conversation. He's been remarkably absent as of late. GotMaul, what's your stance?
 
Ultimately, we all have a choice; be patient, or ask for a refund. I always choose the former, but that's just me. Others are welcome to the latter. What doesn't make any logical sense is demanding the impossible(delivery of unavailable items).
I think this argument becomes a problem when the lead times exceed a general expectation. There is no reason that pre-orders should take as long as ANOVOS takes. That is a fact. If you are a company, who is legitimately licensed to carry the brands that they are carrying they should not only have a proper supply chain but quality customer service.

Almost every major replica company(past and present) funds its products using pre-order commitments
There is such a huge difference in funding your startup with pre-orders and making pre-ordering your business model. If it becomes your business model you are doing something wrong. It's not like ANOVOS is a new company. It sounds to me like they just can't figure out how to be a company
 
I'm not sure what you want them to do about. They have apologized. You can't expect them to do so over and over. They admitted they went in a bit unaware as to how producing everything would work out. Then you have to work out tooling, time frames, etc. They don't like the fact that it took as long as it does/has with the original things anymore than those who waited or are still waiting. They've taken steps to correct it going forward. The key there is 'going forward'. Some older things are still caught up in the old ways and you cannot simply shift them over to the new track without starting from scratch more or less.

If they have 6,000 helmets to ship out and they recieve 6,000 helmets, it sounds perfect, right? Well, maybe 300-600 of those don't pass QC - that's 5-10%. So, 5,400 people are now served, but 600 are still upset. Now you have to book more shop time (as it's available) to get the remaning helmets and odds of it being available immediately aren't usually very good. So, you have to wait for the shop time, run the order, ship back via ship (weeks) and have another go. It starts to turn into a vicious cycle.

People seem to be under the impression that they call the shop that makes the helmets (or suits, or whatever), place an order, and it starts first thing in the morning. Doesn't work that way. My guess is the suppliers they're dealing with usually see 10's of thousands per order, or hundreds of thousands. Not 10k period. So you have to wait for your opening and take it.

Admittedly, that should not be the customer's problem. But that's what tends to happen when you try and do all the orders first. Then place your order. Lesson was learned (i hope) as the later stuff has been produced first, then with totals in hand - that number was sold. The proof is in the pudding but only the new pudding so to speak. So far, so good. We'll see how the next couple things go.
 
I'd imagine some of their difficulty with some items is the factories ability to produce the item up to snuff. If they wait months to get a sample in and it doesn't fit the bill, you'd have to imagine that it's going to take even more time to start the process over. I'm not saying they did or didn't handle their business properly, but can't imagine they'd be doing this in an attempt to push newer items. Most preorder stuff in this fandom carries some risks, but at the end of the day here you at least have an option for a refund. You didn't get your toys?! I'd get it if this were in limbo with no refund available.
 
My main takeaway from this & the many threads like it about companies like ANOVOS is that whether by design or by accident, they are taking advantage of people in the prop collecting community who will spend big & wait longer than any reasonable person would for any other product or service. The fact that it seems to be almost entirely accepted that pre-orders from these people have a lead time of "maybe a year, maybe two, maybe more" (despite what they originally claim) is amazing if you actually think about it. Being told "that's just the way it is" doesn't make it right.

They are an official license holder & purport themselves to be a legitimate company, yet they regularly blow through deadlines, offer little by way of explanation for delays, and fulfil orders in an arbitrary way that certainly looks to benefit people who spent more, rather than those who ordered first. All this, and they are defended here as if ANOVOS was one guy working from his garage who's taken on a little too much & could use some understanding. Quality control & supply chain issues are things that an actual business should have a handle on and account for, I don't see the need to defend them just because they come good on occasion & produce nice stuff.

People in the collecting community need to learn to be better consumers when dealing with companies like this, not rationalise & defend their poor business practices.
 
Even if they gave a deadline and later they created a new one ....... don´t complain. There is always the possible refund from them.

If you are a adult consumer and no whiny girl, be OK with it and wait, or say at one point "enough is enough" and have them refund your money.

One way or the other, but don´t wait endless and keep complaining, cause that is ridicuolous.
 
Every time i see a thread about this company it has nothing nice in it. While the way the OP let them have it could have been handled better the company has a crystal clear inability to handle the amount of items people are ordering and shouldn't be making new stuff until they fill the orders. They come off as shady as the rip off artists in the junk yard.
 
Every time i see a thread about this company it has nothing nice in it. While the way the OP let them have it could have been handled better the company has a crystal clear inability to handle the amount of items people are ordering and shouldn't be making new stuff until they fill the orders. They come off as shady as the rip off artists in the junk yard.
I'll say something nice: I've ordered from them once. Couldn't be happier with the quality and price. They do some nice work.

I do sympathize with those who have waited so long though. I don't think I could handle a wait like that. I'd go crazy. Supposedly they are working on that problem, but for now it does suck.

But I don't think they are ripping people off. The goods do come through, they are just still sorting out HOW to actually do the things they are trying to do in a timely manner. They'll get better as they go I think.
 
But I don't think they are ripping people off. .
There have been cases here on the rpf and elsewhere, where people get an item like a Stormtrooper kit or the Han Solo Belt rig that are missing parts and Anovos never sends those missing parts out.
Also there's the case of the standard FO Stormtrooper helmets. An entire thread was devoted to the shotty workmanship of those helmets and how Anovos ignored people's requests to return and get a refund.

So yes, they are shipping a few product items out, but they are in some way ripping people off. If a vendor in the junkyard was shipping product that wasn't what was promised, was missing parts or the workmanship didn't match the pictures shown. I'm positive the pitchforks and fire would break out, but somehow Anovos gets a pass.
 
If a vendor in the junkyard was shipping product that wasn't what was promised, was missing parts or the workmanship didn't match the pictures shown. I'm positive the pitchforks and fire would break out, but somehow Anovos gets a pass.

Others too.

I had a really crappy experience with my TFA saber from Anakin Starkiller, and i have seen the same shoddy workmanship (maybe not that bad, but still) on many shown pics.

Non existent customer care - and there are still a lot of people, i assume without machining background so they don´t know any better, who praise the "workmanship" - making others to jump on his runs.
 
There have been cases here on the rpf and elsewhere, where people get an item like a Stormtrooper kit or the Han Solo Belt rig that are missing parts and Anovos never sends those missing parts out.
Also there's the case of the standard FO Stormtrooper helmets. An entire thread was devoted to the shotty workmanship of those helmets and how Anovos ignored people's requests to return and get a refund.

So yes, they are shipping a few product items out, but they are in some way ripping people off. If a vendor in the junkyard was shipping product that wasn't what was promised, was missing parts or the workmanship didn't match the pictures shown. I'm positive the pitchforks and fire would break out, but somehow Anovos gets a pass.

Yup my FO Trooper helmet was full of problems but I saw the lack of response and just gave up trying to bother with it and stuck it on display so that you can't get close enough to see the dents and places things don't line up.
 
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