Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
The Official "WTF MERCH!" Thread
Kragit:
--- Quote from: hyperboy on 17 Nov 2008, 13:24 ---It's not about how long it took, it's the fact that I waited that long (patiently) and got the wrong order. And to add onto it, if I'm gonna allow for these kinds of mistakes, I'd like for there to be some kind of customer service, so that I feel like my money is going to a safe place. Considering that I'm going to college full-time, I can't say I have tons of money to throw around. So, getting what I had paid for would have been nice.
--- End quote ---
I waited a while too, and now I may never see the shirts I ordered. I'm a freelancer, so I feel for you when you say you don't have a lot of money, neither do I.
--- Quote from: hyperboy on 17 Nov 2008, 13:24 ---I think at this point, they should switch to some kind of automated site, that does all the hard work for them. Stuff like http://www.topatoco.com/, that's not cafepress and not done entirely by hand. Either way, I'm sure there are simpler alternatives to whatever system they have now. I think customer satisfaction should always be No.1 on any business' list, and judging by this topic, a lot of people are not satisfied. I think Jeph and Cristi are losing a lot of return customers by ignoring people's complaints.
--- End quote ---
Switching to something else is for them to decide. There's reasons they're doing it the way they're doing it, we just may not know those reasons. I agree that customer satisfaction should be #1, and I think Jeph and Cristi are doing the best they can.
Keep in mind that this topic does not represent 100% of their customers, just the ones who have a problem or feel like complaining. That's not a bad thing, that's what this topic is here for. It's just that some people take it personally, or to an extreme.
They're 3 people creating, organizing, packing, and shipping these orders as well as drawing comics each day and trying to respond to the thousands of emails I'm sure they both get each day.
I appreciate you not being unreasonable like some others in this thread, but just hold tight and I'm sure you'll get the correct shirt soon enough.
hyperboy:
Fair enough. You have some valid points. I'm glad we're on the same page, more or less.
alexisdanaan:
I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass here but there seems to be a logical solution to me:
Jeph and Cristi should get people to help them on a regular basis with shipments because, afterall, they are trying to run a business here and it's being poorly done.
If they cannot afford to hire people to help them they can do one of two things:
find another way to suppliment their income so they can afford it OR on the merch page they should specify that the order WILL take a LONG ASS TIME
Also, I don't care what anyone says, a response to an email would be nice. Yes, they probably get hundreds a day but... well such is the price of popularity.
Kragit:
--- Quote from: alexisdanaan on 17 Nov 2008, 18:39 ---I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass here but there seems to be a logical solution to me:
Jeph and Cristi should get people to help them on a regular basis with shipments because, afterall, they are trying to run a business here and it's being poorly done.
If they cannot afford to hire people to help them they can do one of two things:
find another way to suppliment their income so they can afford it OR on the merch page they should specify that the order WILL take a LONG ASS TIME
Also, I don't care what anyone says, a response to an email would be nice. Yes, they probably get hundreds a day but... well such is the price of popularity.
--- End quote ---
That's like saying, you got a B on this paper, go find a new school to go to....
I agree they should update the Merch page, heck, I'd be more than willing to change it for them. Pop in, change a line of text, save, bam. I'll also agree that an email would be nice.
Thing is, it's very possible that they simply don't have the time to do these things. I know it seems trivial to us, but they could be so busy or have more important things to deal with.
If they can find people who they can trust, who'd do it for free, that would be great. Sometimes it's harder than it sounds though.
My beef isn't with complaining, or telling your story. It's with the people who are being unreasonable or ridiculous. The one's who say Jeph and Cristi simply don't care, or seem to take it personally and say "I'll never order anything else ever again". Seriously, at most, you know the approximate time you'll have to wait and you can plan ahead next time. In my opinion, these people are acting immature. Seriously, it's 2-3 people attacking a shit load of orders while suppling us with comics every single day....
MightyMouse:
--- Quote from: Kragit on 17 Nov 2008, 11:07 ---There's a total of 2-3 people working, trying to get hundreds, maybe even thousands of orders out (some with multiple shirts). There's bound to be delays. Just have some patience.
My order was shipped after more than 2 months, and because it took so long to ship, it was sent to the wrong address. Now I may never see the shirts I ordered because they very well could have been stolen. Such is life. Just email Jeph and Cristi (or IM Cristi) every now and then until you get a reply and then work something out to get your correct shirt. If you can wait to see your girlfriend, I think you can wait for a shirt.
Seriously, why be such a jerk? There's ONLY 3 people working, creating, packing and shipping EVERY SINGLE SHIRT ORDERED. Give them a break. They reply to IM's and emails when they can, and I'm sure they can only respond to a limited number without getting too far behind.
Would it be nice to get our merch sooner? Sure, but sometimes it's not possible. I think they're doing a damn good job for having only 3 people working. If you want them to go faster, why don't you front the money to hire more people?
Why can't people have patience? Seriously.
I completely realize this is the thread to voice your concern, but some of you are being ridiculous....
--- End quote ---
I don't quite agree.
Yes, it's only a two person business - until resently, at least. Let's assume that they got a third person on board now. The getting-a-third-person-on-board is a good thing, because to me, it seems that this is the closest QC has come to admitting that there is a problem with the merch and shipping. What everybody here seems to be missing from QC isn't just their shirt, it's for QC to take townershio of the problems. Taking ownership of the problem can be as easy as an email stating "That's not great, we'll look into it/t-shirts were ordered at the press yesterday/your shirts are up for shipping this weekend".
You ask us to be merely patient and understanding, but that is not quite right. We are not supposed to know about the structure of the company, not more than they tell us when we order (ie. " all shirts are sold on a pre-order basis. All orders should ship within 2-4 weeks, although times may vary.").
So, what pisses me of a bit, is that while quite a few people are more or less desperatly trying to make contac witht QC (=getting a response) the QC page still advertises about new shirt design, deadlines for christmas orders, as if there are no problems. If they are so far behind that they can't keep up (catch up) with the emails and the gone-wrong shipments then they need to at least make a note of it somewhere to inform us, ie. "Sorry, but we're *3* months behind on our emails. Plase don't rewrite to us, but give us *4* weeks to catch up" and/or "We realise that there are problems with some of your orders, but we ask for your patience. Right now we are fokusing on the pre christmas orders, so nothing goes wrong with those - we'll get to yours after the christmas shippings are done." They need to inform us of them being in charge of things (or at least telling us that they know they ought to). We don't need a random customer (who, imo, shouldn't be that understanding about someone delaying their order to the extent of you moving in the meantime) telling us about his assumptions about the business (ie. numbers of employees, orders and mail) and asking us to be patient and understanding. Most of us are patient and understanding, we just need a bit of understanding from QC as well.
You're suggesting that we put up the money for hireing more people - but hey, that's what we do! I am already surprised that they don't do combined shipping for multiple t-shirt, I bet they get a little extra cash on that account . But regardless, it's up to them to sort out their business (incl employees) and set their prices accordingly.
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