Well, I guess I can respond to this.
Let's break it all down.
The first question is about using the money to fund the run.
(I'm going to pretty much ignore anything else that was said up there)
This is how every prop maker/hobbist works. It's simple economics . . .especially for forums like this one. You gotta get interest going, then get the cash, and then get going. In most cases, what happens is the builder wil get a prototype made up, and most likely get it molded, then start taking orders and getting the entire run supplied. Then the builder gets going on production. If all goes well, then the builder can get things shipped out on time.
Now, we all can grasp that simple concept. It what everything around us, from the Junkyard to the cargo Hold is based on for runs.
The concept of something going wrong is also very easy to grasp. Unless you're Fettdad . . .
Let's take for example the ROTJ stunt rifles. I had a great experience on BSN doing Scout blasters, and the response was huge. The master was just retired as a matter a fact, after four moldings, and five (I think) full runs. As you can expect from that number . .you can imagine how many blasters were sold with little to no complaint. So, after seeing a Fett at a con whack his blaster into a wall, and see it shatter . . .I figured foam rubber blasters for Fetts would be awesome!
Afetr a quick interest thread, I had my answer, and I started taking orders, and cranking them out in the same manner of the Biker pistols.
Then something went worng . . . .the first six blasters were not well liked by anyone.
So . . .I was stuck with a delema . .do I refund everyone, do I run like the wind, or do I try and redo the blasters.
After a long week of phonecalls, personal visits, and tests, I baically issued a recall of the six, and started alll over. The repsonse was positive and everyone got there blasters. Not bad for a guy who has a 'bad rep and 'weak moral fiber.'
Then I tried the ESB . . . at the same time I started a new job, which wasn't going to be longer than six weeks. Cool, quick cash in town AND online! Sweet!! So I pushed forward, and kept updating as fast as I could, as teh 'quick job in town' became alot harder and went beyond six weeks. Finally, a started molding parts, taking orders, (this time in the form of half pre-orders, since the ROTJ went soo long), and was generally happy with my work. I kept going, getting nearly every detail part eady to go . . . I started collecting teh other half of payments.
After three failed blasters pulls and two ripped molds . . .I fell drastically behind, and was ready to call it quits, but alot of folks cheered me on, and kept telling me I could pull it off. I was less than hopeful, knowing what a full redo would entail. I was not amused, and was ready to quit completly. I wanted out, badly. So did I run away and take everyone's money with me?
Nope, I rebuilt a new ESB master from scratch, remolded it, and started alllllll over again. I guess that makes me a bad guy too. Shame on me for using the moeny people paid to get them what they ordered. Oh, I should mention here that the job I took became permanent, and it was a retail position, and all of this was going on 'round about Black Friday. Boy . .I'm a jerk . . .
So, once everything was molded, and I was happy, i started getting the ESB made up, and even managed to get two into boxes!! I was estactic and went wayyy to nuts in telling people I was finannly getting them taken care of. Until the post office popped open a box and saw a giant gun in it . . .i havn't seen them since.
At that point I gave up completly, one because of being fed up, frustrated, and out of money. Two becuase of getting another prop related job that was simply unpassable. I had to move on.
I figured I should start getting out refunds.
I had done my best . .and failed. I guess I'm a terrible person and an awful seller with a bad rep because I used every cent to get the product made and shipped, and when that didn't work. . .started refunding folks as quick as possible.
Dang . . .what I jerk I've been!!
Now, as for Wendyfett, He had emailed me last week, and I failed to respond. As I'm sure anyone who's been in one of my runs has realized that I try to update and communicate even when the answer is 'sorry, not yet.'
I received an inbox full of emails today, including paypal notices, and when I read his reasons, etc. they were basically soft excuses, and it seems after sending one email this morning, he couldn't wait 15 minutes or so for me to respond until he filed the claim.
**in fairness, I should note he sent an email to a now clsed address, and after he received a FOD notice, he started to freak a bit, that would get any of us worried. Of course, on the other side of that, every forum I'm on, as well as Paypal, all use my current email address, which he also used, and could have just waited for a response.
Unfortunatly, folks like Wendyfett as well as BoomerFett, seem to be exceptions to the rule; that members of TDH are, in general supportive, patient, and follow through with feedback, ideas, and tend to stay in touch on other boards. I'm very proud to be a part of this community, even when I can't function as one . . .
WendyFett and Boomer have acted like Pains in the butt and shown me a pattern of constant spoiled brat behavior, touting their experience in and around the communtiy as something to be feared and respected. That ain't waht it's about around here . . .
I find that it's best to deal with members like this by simply shipping their items and ignoring them after their tracking number clears.
Now, before you get all mad at me for being that honest, please don't forget that I've been just as honest a few sentences above about myself.
And just in case you've forgotten, let's go back over it.
ROTJ RUN:
I made a bad call in my execution of the first six rifles, took everyone's advice, recalled all six, and made 15 more the way people wanted. The modl has finally kicked after cleaning out the last of my rubber supllies, and I beleive the final tally was just under 45 of these made. Boomer and Wnedy have been the only trouble. Everyone else was awesome, and was really great to deal with. Thanks guys
ESB RUN:
I took on too much during the ESB run, be it unintenional or ignored. I made too many stupid promises when I should have just taken my time and updated appropritaly. After a first and second attmept at completion, I've issued 11 of 15 refunds. Not one ESB buyer has been a problem, everyone has been supportive and many have insisted that I try again one day.
I should note WendyFett bought a ROTJ, but in his haste to creat a mail trail for Paypal, he posted in the ESB thread. I would think a guy with 14 post would know the difference by now**shrugs**
So there's my response. Sorry I've caused so much trouble. But before anyone else hops on anything resembling a bandwagon . . .read through this and the other threads carfully. You'll sound alot smarter in you next post.
Thanks TDH. As smarmy as I've come off in this thread, the moajority participant in this community should give themselves a pat on the back, because my stupid words and rants would never be able to express how great most of yuo have been throughout my current failings.
Let's break it all down.
The first question is about using the money to fund the run.
(I'm going to pretty much ignore anything else that was said up there)
This is how every prop maker/hobbist works. It's simple economics . . .especially for forums like this one. You gotta get interest going, then get the cash, and then get going. In most cases, what happens is the builder wil get a prototype made up, and most likely get it molded, then start taking orders and getting the entire run supplied. Then the builder gets going on production. If all goes well, then the builder can get things shipped out on time.
Now, we all can grasp that simple concept. It what everything around us, from the Junkyard to the cargo Hold is based on for runs.
The concept of something going wrong is also very easy to grasp. Unless you're Fettdad . . .
Let's take for example the ROTJ stunt rifles. I had a great experience on BSN doing Scout blasters, and the response was huge. The master was just retired as a matter a fact, after four moldings, and five (I think) full runs. As you can expect from that number . .you can imagine how many blasters were sold with little to no complaint. So, after seeing a Fett at a con whack his blaster into a wall, and see it shatter . . .I figured foam rubber blasters for Fetts would be awesome!
Afetr a quick interest thread, I had my answer, and I started taking orders, and cranking them out in the same manner of the Biker pistols.
Then something went worng . . . .the first six blasters were not well liked by anyone.
So . . .I was stuck with a delema . .do I refund everyone, do I run like the wind, or do I try and redo the blasters.
After a long week of phonecalls, personal visits, and tests, I baically issued a recall of the six, and started alll over. The repsonse was positive and everyone got there blasters. Not bad for a guy who has a 'bad rep and 'weak moral fiber.'
Then I tried the ESB . . . at the same time I started a new job, which wasn't going to be longer than six weeks. Cool, quick cash in town AND online! Sweet!! So I pushed forward, and kept updating as fast as I could, as teh 'quick job in town' became alot harder and went beyond six weeks. Finally, a started molding parts, taking orders, (this time in the form of half pre-orders, since the ROTJ went soo long), and was generally happy with my work. I kept going, getting nearly every detail part eady to go . . . I started collecting teh other half of payments.
After three failed blasters pulls and two ripped molds . . .I fell drastically behind, and was ready to call it quits, but alot of folks cheered me on, and kept telling me I could pull it off. I was less than hopeful, knowing what a full redo would entail. I was not amused, and was ready to quit completly. I wanted out, badly. So did I run away and take everyone's money with me?
Nope, I rebuilt a new ESB master from scratch, remolded it, and started alllllll over again. I guess that makes me a bad guy too. Shame on me for using the moeny people paid to get them what they ordered. Oh, I should mention here that the job I took became permanent, and it was a retail position, and all of this was going on 'round about Black Friday. Boy . .I'm a jerk . . .
So, once everything was molded, and I was happy, i started getting the ESB made up, and even managed to get two into boxes!! I was estactic and went wayyy to nuts in telling people I was finannly getting them taken care of. Until the post office popped open a box and saw a giant gun in it . . .i havn't seen them since.
At that point I gave up completly, one because of being fed up, frustrated, and out of money. Two becuase of getting another prop related job that was simply unpassable. I had to move on.
I figured I should start getting out refunds.
I had done my best . .and failed. I guess I'm a terrible person and an awful seller with a bad rep because I used every cent to get the product made and shipped, and when that didn't work. . .started refunding folks as quick as possible.
Dang . . .what I jerk I've been!!
Now, as for Wendyfett, He had emailed me last week, and I failed to respond. As I'm sure anyone who's been in one of my runs has realized that I try to update and communicate even when the answer is 'sorry, not yet.'
I received an inbox full of emails today, including paypal notices, and when I read his reasons, etc. they were basically soft excuses, and it seems after sending one email this morning, he couldn't wait 15 minutes or so for me to respond until he filed the claim.
**in fairness, I should note he sent an email to a now clsed address, and after he received a FOD notice, he started to freak a bit, that would get any of us worried. Of course, on the other side of that, every forum I'm on, as well as Paypal, all use my current email address, which he also used, and could have just waited for a response.
Unfortunatly, folks like Wendyfett as well as BoomerFett, seem to be exceptions to the rule; that members of TDH are, in general supportive, patient, and follow through with feedback, ideas, and tend to stay in touch on other boards. I'm very proud to be a part of this community, even when I can't function as one . . .
WendyFett and Boomer have acted like Pains in the butt and shown me a pattern of constant spoiled brat behavior, touting their experience in and around the communtiy as something to be feared and respected. That ain't waht it's about around here . . .
I find that it's best to deal with members like this by simply shipping their items and ignoring them after their tracking number clears.
Now, before you get all mad at me for being that honest, please don't forget that I've been just as honest a few sentences above about myself.
And just in case you've forgotten, let's go back over it.
ROTJ RUN:
I made a bad call in my execution of the first six rifles, took everyone's advice, recalled all six, and made 15 more the way people wanted. The modl has finally kicked after cleaning out the last of my rubber supllies, and I beleive the final tally was just under 45 of these made. Boomer and Wnedy have been the only trouble. Everyone else was awesome, and was really great to deal with. Thanks guys
ESB RUN:
I took on too much during the ESB run, be it unintenional or ignored. I made too many stupid promises when I should have just taken my time and updated appropritaly. After a first and second attmept at completion, I've issued 11 of 15 refunds. Not one ESB buyer has been a problem, everyone has been supportive and many have insisted that I try again one day.
I should note WendyFett bought a ROTJ, but in his haste to creat a mail trail for Paypal, he posted in the ESB thread. I would think a guy with 14 post would know the difference by now**shrugs**
So there's my response. Sorry I've caused so much trouble. But before anyone else hops on anything resembling a bandwagon . . .read through this and the other threads carfully. You'll sound alot smarter in you next post.
Thanks TDH. As smarmy as I've come off in this thread, the moajority participant in this community should give themselves a pat on the back, because my stupid words and rants would never be able to express how great most of yuo have been throughout my current failings.
