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19th April 2008
Production samples of the shipment we organised ourselves (with no help from a Quality Controlish Company!!) have arrived and they look fabulous! In fact I'm so pleased with the samples that I cried. Manufacture is almost finished, they are now packing into boxes and we expect them to be on a cargo ship within the fortnight. Things are still on target to have stock here by mid May. We are STILL wading through mud to get our November 2007 "dud shipment" replaced. At last word they too have started production, they still haven't signed a contract and they won't be finished until at leat the end of May. Geez! If you want something done properly..............
3rd April 2008
Well we are finally beginning to see the light! It's ironic that it was exactly 1 year ago that we contacted the Quality Control Company to begin organising a new shipment. There is no way I would have expected to be trying to re-stock 1 year later because the initial delivery was faulty! Enough of past woes... our shipment with the new factory has started production and we have tentative arrival dates in mid May. These dates often change with shipping delays and lag times in manufacture. My brain is calculating about 6 weeks until we are back in business, but they may stretch to 7 or 8 weeks if history plays a part. The factory that produced the "faulty" shipment has finally agreed to re-manufacture our stock. We have seen 3 sets of samples and on Monday we gave final approval to go ahead with production. We have decided to temporarily drop the Nuovo Modo Album from our range until we can source a factory that can make it to our standards. The short story is that we will have plenty of stock coming in the next few months and when cash flow improves we'll re-introduce the Nuovo Modo Album or something similar. Paul will be flying to Asia to personally quality check the stock from our "faulty factory". We are not pushing them to complete their production in a hurry as we'd prefer better quality. Once BOTH shipments arrive there will be no stock worries for a very long time. It will be nice to lose that tight feeling in my chest.
4th March 2008
We have placed a new order with a different factory. It takes time to manufacture and ship these products to Australia, so we are expecting to have new stock by about May. We are still arguing with the original factory who have used every excuse short of "their dog ate it" to avoid compensating us for their horrendous workmanship and massive loss to our business. I apologise to our loyal customers who have been waiting for stock, but I am honestly updating as soon as I know any news. Let me assure everyone that as soon as I have stock to sell I will be shouting it from the rooftop. Contrary to what some may think, I am not forgetting to update the stock situation on the website...I genuinely have barely anything left to sell (nor do I have any cashflow!)
25th February 2008
Still nothing positive to report. We are still haggling with the factory, whilst seeking legal advice from within China. Our factory manager seems to have changed his mind about re-manufacture as well as giving us a refund! (Despite his contract) We are working with another factory to manufacture for us as soon as we get our money back. My days are one giant headache that started in November last year.
13th February 2008
We have finally seen the new samples and they are atrocious! How a factory that produced such beautiful work initially could send such garbage is beyond us. They seem unable to now manufacture to the original standard they set. The short story is that we are now trying to get our money back. We are negotiating with another factory to manufacture for us, but the delivery time will hinge on our refund and the factory's existing production schedules. As it stands right now we are virtually out of stock and we doubt we'll have anything available until April or May 2008. Donations of canned foods will be gratefully accepted (kidding...). To help us out we would ask anyone that has an oustanding account to pay this as soon as possible.
1st February 2008
This is like a nightmare we are in. I wish I could just wake up one morning and have all of my stock that I paid for in perfect condition so I could sell it as usual. The "promised" samples didn't materialise and the factory manager stopped answering his phone. We have since sent someone to the factory to surprise them. After 2 days of negotiations and a factory manager feining illness we have a signed contract stating that samples will be ready by 3rd February 2008. The factory now have decided they want their damaged stock back, but want us to pay for the return shipping costs. This is a point of contention that we'll discuss if and when we see the promised samples. As it stands right now it will be at least April before we have stock available again. We are continuing to work tirelessly to have our stock situation improved. We apologise again for the delays, but as you have read they are beyond our control. The factory have all of our money and seemingly all of the control.
19th January 2008
It seems that the factory are giving us the "run around". We were promised pre-production samples by Friday 11th Jan, but they failed to materialise. Now we have again been promised samples by Monday 22nd Jan. This may still occur, but it is looking increasingly unlikely that we will have stock before March or April. Our Australian Wedding Season has passed us by. This is causing us ever increasing anxiety as we are fast running out of stock and we know that our customers will be running out of patience. We are trying to get this sorted so we can resume our business with as little impact as possible, however all of this negotiation process is out of our control because the Quality Control Company is working for us. As soon as we have concrete answers about when we will be back in stock we will post details here and plaster the front of the website announcing the news.
17th December 2007
The latest update we have is that the factory have agreed to re-make our order. The Inspector that performed the Quality Checking has been dismissed. We will know more details about production times soon, but our best guess is that we will have stock again by mid February 2008.
23rd November 2007
We received our new shipment of stock on Friday 23rd November 2007 and unfortunately we have some very bad news. The quality of the albums is the worst we have ever seen, and none of the stock is sellable. The pages are all the wrong sizes and the mats don't fit to the pages. The spines break when the albums are opened. The covers have glue marks all over them too. We are so sorry to disappoint you, but we cannot possibly sell any of the stock.
Ironically for the first time we employed a Quality Control Company to ensure the stock was perfect before shipping. Perhaps they didn’t understand the principles of Quality AND Control!! We will keep you updated about developments with stock replacement. As importers we have to pay in advance for a shipment (and Quality Control!!) and unless the factory agrees to a refund, we will take some time to afford to replace the stock (and eat).
There are still some albums that we have in stock from previous shipments and they are visible on our website. Please accept our most sincere apologies. We are devastated by this outcome and extremely embarrassed. To all of our customers that Paul spoke to today, thank you for your understanding. I am still unable to speak without crying.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our many loyal customers who have stuck with us over the years. We intend to fight out of this predicament, and one day hope to look back on this time as a test we passed, that made our company stronger. We will, as always, provide our efficient delivery service for orders of all in stock items.
