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In the midst of all the SDCC celebrations going on, we've just received some bad news regarding our shipment of figures. Actually, more annoying than bad, but nevertheless (skip to paragraph 5 if you don't want the backstory)...
The factory completed our order over a month ago. At that point, the factory shipped our order to a warehouse in preparation for loading it onto a boat for the long journey to the US. Our factory rep is required to fill out the paperwork (customs, bills of lading, etc) to ensure everything arrives as it should. He supplies information from that paperwork to us so that when the shipment arrives in the US we can claim it as ours, receive it and get to the fun task of selling it to our customers (did I mention we've already paid in full for the entire shipment... including expedited shipping... months ago?).
Almost daily since our order was completed (again... over a month ago) we have been asking our rep to supply us with the information from the shipping paperwork. We also asked that a small shipment of samples be overnighted to us for display at SDCC. We received our samples last Tuesday and shipped them to San Diego the next day. Around that same time, we learned that our factory rep had been in the hospital for several weeks. That explains the lack of response. BUT, knowing that we received our samples... we assumed the bulk of our shipment was proceeding as planned.
Here's where the phrase "never ASSUME anything" comes into play.
This morning we received an email from a friend of our factory rep that said A) our rep is still in the hospital and things are not looking good, and B) our order is still sitting in the warehouse in China waiting to be shipped because the required paperwork was never submitted.
so... long story short. Our shipment has been delayed again. We have implemented a work around strategy to get this issue taken care of as soon as possible (oh yeah, here's another one... China only ships our products on Wednesdays. So if we don't get this fixed by Monday, it adds another week onto the process. But I digress...). So hang tight. Once the product hits the water it takes 4-6 weeks for it to arrive. We appreciate your patience. No one is more frustrated in this than we are.
why tell you all this? easy. In the past we've been accused of not communicating enough with our customers. We don't want to do that anymore.
Although this is not good news, we feel it's more important to let you know. And on the bright side, based on the samples we received this past week... our stuff is incredible. If you guys can hang in there a little longer... you'll see for yourselves.
The factory completed our order over a month ago. At that point, the factory shipped our order to a warehouse in preparation for loading it onto a boat for the long journey to the US. Our factory rep is required to fill out the paperwork (customs, bills of lading, etc) to ensure everything arrives as it should. He supplies information from that paperwork to us so that when the shipment arrives in the US we can claim it as ours, receive it and get to the fun task of selling it to our customers (did I mention we've already paid in full for the entire shipment... including expedited shipping... months ago?).
Almost daily since our order was completed (again... over a month ago) we have been asking our rep to supply us with the information from the shipping paperwork. We also asked that a small shipment of samples be overnighted to us for display at SDCC. We received our samples last Tuesday and shipped them to San Diego the next day. Around that same time, we learned that our factory rep had been in the hospital for several weeks. That explains the lack of response. BUT, knowing that we received our samples... we assumed the bulk of our shipment was proceeding as planned.
Here's where the phrase "never ASSUME anything" comes into play.
This morning we received an email from a friend of our factory rep that said A) our rep is still in the hospital and things are not looking good, and B) our order is still sitting in the warehouse in China waiting to be shipped because the required paperwork was never submitted.
so... long story short. Our shipment has been delayed again. We have implemented a work around strategy to get this issue taken care of as soon as possible (oh yeah, here's another one... China only ships our products on Wednesdays. So if we don't get this fixed by Monday, it adds another week onto the process. But I digress...). So hang tight. Once the product hits the water it takes 4-6 weeks for it to arrive. We appreciate your patience. No one is more frustrated in this than we are.
why tell you all this? easy. In the past we've been accused of not communicating enough with our customers. We don't want to do that anymore.
Although this is not good news, we feel it's more important to let you know. And on the bright side, based on the samples we received this past week... our stuff is incredible. If you guys can hang in there a little longer... you'll see for yourselves.
If it helps you to feel any better, what I've seen is certainly worth the wait. When they hit our shores, I'll be ready to funnel my cash your way. I wish your sales rep all the best!
I do hope that all is well with him health wise. 
Is there a plan B? Is there some one else that can take over as to not hold anything up? Just curious as I am trying to help you guys avoid any future headaches down the road. 
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