Batman Life Size Bust Sideshow

[csi]

The factory could've packaged the busts before they were ready. Maybe they should've put those little package of pellets that come in shoe boxes for moisture.

and how exactly is that Sideshow's mistake? The factory packages the busts before they are supposed to, Sideshow reps do a spot inspection as any company would, don't see any problems, and as the busts are making their 2 month or more trip to the US in cargo containers, moisture starts to mess with the paint. Again, I don't see how any of that can fall back on Sideshow.

 

[intothevoid]

Ultimately it's Sideshow's product though so they bear all responsibility of what happens, good or bad.

You can defend them to some degree but ultimately it's up to them to make sure their suppliers are doing a good enough job.

In this case, the supplier screwed up, SS didn't catch the problem before the product went out. BOOM.

 

[csi]

Ultimately it's Sideshow's product though so they bear all responsibility of what happens, good or bad.

You can defend them to some degree but ultimately it's up to them to make sure their suppliers are doing a good enough job.

In this case, the supplier screwed up, SS didn't catch the problem before the product went out. BOOM.

but how were they supposed to catch the problem if it didn't occur before they were put into shipping containers? I get they have screwed up with products like Rogue where the horrible paint job should have been caught long before the product left China, but I don't see how they could have caught this without some kind of psychic powers.

 

[Darth Waller]

and how exactly is that Sideshow's mistake? The factory packages the busts before they are supposed to, Sideshow reps do a spot inspection as any company would, don't see any problems, and as the busts are making their 2 month or more trip to the US in cargo containers, moisture starts to mess with the paint. Again, I don't see how any of that can fall back on Sideshow.

Nowhere in my post is Sideshow mentioned. I said it could have been something the factory did wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

[IrishJedi]

I've been saying this for years, but it's really Sideshow's business model that is to blame for QC issues like this.

Until they suck it up and have paid Sideshow personnel at these factories full-time these things will continue. It's either that or they have to put a stage-gate process in place that prevents product from proceeding to each step of the process without PROPER inspection from someone at Sideshow first. They've never done either of these, and it's now come back to bite them in the ass several times.

No... they could not foresee this problem with the Batman bust. But I guarantee you with a better business model and proper QC situations like this would be mitigated to a point where they would be ultra rare, much less regular occurrences.

The responsibility IS theirs.

 

[intothevoid]

Yupp

 

[csi]

No... they could not foresee this problem with the Batman bust. But I guarantee you with a better business model and proper QC situations like this would be mitigated to a point where they would be ultra rare, much less regular occurrences.

The responsibility IS theirs.

explain this to me, if they could not foresee this particular problem, how could another business model, or other QC situations have prevented it?

I am only talking about this one problem, not others that they have had. I agree that they have completely dropped the ball on other products, but I can't see how they could have done anything different on this one problem. Seem to be more of a freak occurrence then anything else. The sad thing is, other then the oily stuff, the paint job on these look amazing. I wonder if the new ones will be as good considering they will probably be rushing them through production.

 

[ecanes09]

If SSC didn't consider the possibility of this issue occurring then that's their own fault and they deserve it. When dealing with manufacturing overseas a company must take preemptive measures to protect itself from loss of product and money. SSC didn't need psychic powers to see this coming all they needed was common sense, someone dropped the ball. 99% of their products come from oversea so I'm pretty sure they known the ins and outs of what may occur during the transport of a container especially during the summer. What could have been done as mentioned before was to add moisture pellets or even better just have someone in Thousand Oaks, Cal open each bust and check for any issues before it ships out to the customer. That should be the last QC check which would have save them money and the embarrassment of shipping out a mediocre product that buyers are paying over $500 for.

 

[Wanderer]

explain this to me, if they could not foresee this particular problem, how could another business model, or other QC situations have prevented it?

I am only talking about this one problem, not others that they have had. I agree that they have completely dropped the ball on other products, but I can't see how they could have done anything different on this one problem. Seem to be more of a freak occurrence then anything else. The sad thing is, other then the oily stuff, the paint job on these look amazing. I wonder if the new ones will be as good considering they will probably be rushing them through production.

They were aware of this from the off. They admitted that their QC let them down and the batch that was sent out wasn't properly checked.
Top marks for wearing your Sideshow blinkers but you're defending the indefencible

 

[csi]

They were aware of this from the off. They admitted that their QC let them down and the batch that was sent out wasn't properly checked.
Top marks for wearing your Sideshow blinkers but you're defending the indefencible

first of all I am the first one to call Sideshow out for crappy QC like the Rogue PF. Second, where is this statement from SS saying they screwed up in their QC? I have not seen it.

 

[IrishJedi]

explain this to me, if they could not foresee this particular problem, how could another business model, or other QC situations have prevented it?

I said mitigated, not prevented. Of course we can't be 100% sure this particular issue would have been prevented. However... there are obvious gaps in Sideshow's QC process, which is symptomatic of their overall business model. You fix that then you absolutely mitigate the possibility of issues like, because proper QC will be wholly integrated. You tremendously diminish the chances of QC fiascos with a true, proper process. As it stands, Sideshow plays Russian Roulette a lot of the time. In fact, they themselves often aren't 100% sure of the final production product until it's too late. This is simply not a viable model for proper Quality Control.

 

[Wanderer]

first of all I am the first one to call Sideshow out for crappy QC like the Rogue PF. Second, where is this statement from SS saying they screwed up in their QC? I have not seen it.

Oh really? First of all have you ordered the bust? Secondly their admission to this feck up came via email from their customer service aftet I asked the question. Now shush

 

[IrishJedi]

How could this not be a QC issue? What on Earth else would it be?

 

[csi]

I said mitigated, not prevented. Of course we can't be 100% sure this particular issue would have been prevented. However... there are obvious gaps in Sideshow's QC process, which is symptomatic of their overall business model. You fix that then you absolutely mitigate the possibility of issues like, because proper QC will be wholly integrated. You tremendously diminish the chances of QC fiascos with a true, proper process. As it stands, Sideshow plays Russian Roulette a lot of the time. In fact, they themselves often aren't 100% sure of the final production product until it's too late. This is simply not a viable model for proper Quality Control.

agreed that there are gaps in Sideshow's QC and that they have had monumental screw ups. However, I don't think this particular problem was one that could have been prevented.

How could this not be a QC issue? What on Earth else would it be?

crap happens, no matter how great QC is. They can check product at the factory and again when it gets to the US, they however cannot control what happens to it on the months long boat ride from there to here.

Oh really? First of all have you ordered the bust? Secondly their admission to this feck up came via email from their customer service aftet I asked the question. Now shush

please show me where they admitted they screwed up in their quality control? From what I can see, they did both their inspections and "found" the problem and then took measures to fix it. That would seem to be good quality control wouldn't it?

Here's the email I got for my bust which was in transit to arrive today but was recalled.

The Customer Service staff at Sideshow Collectibles wanted to update you on your order for the Batman Life-sized bust. Since this is our first DC release, we wanted to make sure that everything was as perfect as possible for our collectors and therefore put the piece through additional quality control. We did QC inspections in China and again with the first shipment into our warehouse. What we discovered was an unusual amount of moisture within the shipping container that adversely affected the product. Unfortunately, your item was mistakenly shipped during the review process. Therefore we have rerouted the bust back to us. As such, you may receive email tracking information that displays activity of 'Returning Package to Shipper' or 'Unable to Deliver Package.'

We are going to have to go back and re-manufacture the pieces that shipped first. We do not want to inconvenience you by holding your payment during this time so we will be refunding your payment in full and will reprocess your order when the new busts arrive. There is no need for you to do anything. We will email you an update on the status of the new Batman busts within a few weeks but we expect the replacement pieces to take several months to reach us.

We dislike conveying disappointing news to collectors and hope that you understand that as collectors ourselves we want to make sure that this item is everything you imagined it would be. There's nothing like opening your package and yelling 'Holy C@#%! That's Cool!" As a token of our appreciation for your patience and understanding, we'll be applying a $15 shipping credit to your account that you can use toward the Batman bust or another future order.

Apologies for the need to send this email but we value the relationship we have with each and every one of our collectors.


Best Regards,

Michael Tolentino
Customer Service Manager

 

[IrishJedi]

crap happens, no matter how great QC is. They can check product at the factory and again when it gets to the US, they however cannot control what happens to it on the months long boat ride from there to here.

But here's the point: You don't get to use the "crap happens" excuse when there is not a proper QC process in place to begin with.

And this particular issue is almost surely do to either improper curing of the paint, or the way it was packaged, or a combination thereof. All are QC issues that would've been mitigated with proper control and QC management in place. People whose jobs are on the line to prevent this type of thing from happening.

Sure, "crap happens". And will at times even with true QC. But the fact remains that it would be a lot easier for people to swallow if they felt proper effort was going into Sideshow's QC and that there was even a real process in place, which apparently there is not. Issues like this are not an exception anymore. They're far too common for a company that isn't mass-producing product in the hundreds of thousands and millions.

This is one of the great dichotomies with this company. Their Customer Service is awesome... second to none. But the QC is a wreck, which ironically makes life tougher for their CS reps.

 

[SixMillionDollarMan Guy]

This is one of the great dichotomies with this company. Their Customer Service is awesome... second to none. But the QC is a wreck, which ironically makes life tougher for their CS reps.

Beautifully stated!

 

[Skiman]

Test .

Ski

 

[ecanes09]

This is one of the great dichotomies with this company. Their Customer Service is awesome... second to none. But the QC is a wreck, which ironically makes life tougher for their CS reps.

Great point and people wearing SSC blinders will continue to ask what ssc did wrong ?

 

[JBElliott]

So has anyone else gotten an e-mail saying their order was cancelled?

My order was one that was shipped and in transit, but reversed after the problems were found, so it never showed up at my house.

I got the e-mail about the problems and was told I didn't have to do anything more but wait.

A few days later I got an e-mail saying the order was cancelled and that's the status shown on the SSC web site. When I check my credit card statement online, the charge is still there when it went through a few weeks ago, with no sign of credit back or anything.

I've e-mailed SSC customer service and a few other places, but I wondered if other people had the same thing happen.

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

How could this not be a QC issue? What on Earth else would it be?

The damage happened in the shipping container on the water did it not?