Vendors that don't Deliver - 13th Ward FX

[graystone]

Brett

Not sure when you spoke to Jeremy but I actually called him yesterday because I was upset the blame was put on us. Our job is simple we ask for donations then give them away at the party so there is nothing we did wrong. I don' want to drag anyone through the mud unless they deserve it or try and lie on me personally and that is a huge pet peeve of mine. It's like when you fill out the paper work for small claims and you being an attorney would know what I am talking about but unless you make mention of it from the get go you know, I know and a judge will know it's probably made up. The fact that Jeremy or whoever John was dealing with NEVER MADE MENTION OF IT BEING OUR FAULT TILL HE CAME HERE. He has his communication of them going back and fourth with his design and what mask he was to get. NOT TILL HE CAME HERE AND AT MY ADVISE DID THIS OTHER COME INTO PLAY.

We looked at our donation list and he donated 2 mask and a gift certificate each at a $700.00 value which comes to $2100.00 our inventory list from what we actually got when we picked up the donation was one mask and one gift certificate which would have been a $1400.00 value so we were shorted but no biggie we are happy with any donation no matter how great of small. Now with a donation of $750.00 to $1499.00 you get ONE free ticket anything over $1500.00 you get TWO free tickets TOPS. We offer a $3500.00 simi sponsorship for which you get a table and 6 tickets NOTHING MORE. This is all spelled out in the email, and letters our vendors receive we never sway from this we keep it in writing so everyone knows and there is no confusion Even though it's my party I still have to pay $85.00 per head to the hotel so I have to personally pay for each ticket I give away. Also on my free ticket list there is Jeremy's name and one guest so he got his 2 free tickets even though actually he should have only received 1 again no biggie. All of this is documented we keep good records. So via our documentation we did nothing that would warrant it being our fault or anyone connected with the party. WE HAVE NEVER HAD AN ISSUE BECAUSE WE CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK. Now with all that said had this been true all he would have had to do is approached us at the party it could have been corrected simply by going in the back and get him a table for him and his guest but this was not brought up because THERE WAS NO ISSUE AND HE KNOWS THIS LOL. Also had this been an issue he would have mentioned it yesterday and NEVER did he mention then either. He did mention something that he thought we auctioned the mask off and I told him I really feel he has us confused with the HHA auction WE HAVE NEVER AUCTIONED OFF ANYTHING and we have been approached to do so in the past but just feel it's in bad taste to sell something that was given to us.

Bottom line I just think it's a case of him being lazy by his own emails or a member of his staff with John and when he got called out here he passed the blame on my party which is THE WRONG PERSON TO BLAME. The adult thing to do is man up and not pass fault on someone else that's a true business person. It takes a really small person to just blame someone else who HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT WHATSOEVER. He knows this, I know this, John knows this and I think anyone who knows me and is reading this knows this and it's just making him look rather silly. I do feel he is going to take care of this and I will make sure he does and I wish him well but for future reference when you mess up FIX IT DONT PASS BLAME ON SOMEONE ELSE. Personally I don't feel like dealing with this but my name is attached and someone is owed something and it should be taken care of. Shane

[MovieRelics]

For those of you that have done business with this vendor, please post your reviews and rate them at their Vendor Profile on HauntersDigest.com. Let others know your experience, good or bad.

13th Ward FX - http://www.hauntersdigest.com/vendor/13th-ward-fx/

[haunter1313]

I will be sure to avoid them at the show. Thanks for the heads up!!!

[Joe P]

Lucky us

We won their mask at the party, luckily it wasn't the certificate. Waiting on that turd would have been painful. And it was estimated at a $700 mask but at their booth it was priced at $400 at the time. It looked so bad we have our actor sit motionless like he is a poorly done static prop. And then he springs on them, its priceless but not exactly what silicone masks are made for. Immortal, CFX, maybe Unit 70.......there aren't many others worth it. My opinion

[TheDarkestHour]

I absolutely love my CFX, and those dudes deliver.

[Demon]

CFX masks

I absolutely love my CFX, and those dudes deliver.

Yes I love their masks also they have great detail and customer service. Definitely purchasing from them again.

[afears]

We ordered one of their masks this past year and it came in on time with no issues. It was actually one of our favorite masks in our collection. We would be happy to order from them again.

[Phil Miller]

I thought the "Open Minded" mask from 13th Ward FX was really cool so I ordered it last year and got it in June. I have 20+ mask from CFX and Immortal mask and it think the detail and quality was just a good. I would order from 13 Ward Fx again.

[Gore Galore]

This whole thread just shows how complicated being a Vendor really is.
This company has obviously satisified MOST of its customers. Sans 1.

Please feel free to join the haunt vendor group and post your reviews.
1 person voiced their issue. That could have hurt this vendors business if it really was an isolated incedent. And it appears to simply be an isolated incident. But how would anyone else know had not other customers who were happy with their purchase got on here and posted their experience. Thank you for supporting your suppliers.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/764567573606370/

[drfrightner]

The job of ANY vendor is to satisfy ALL OF THEIR CLIENTS every single one without any questions. We all know we have several vendors in this industry who keep showing up year after year and do nothing but leave more and more destruction in their wake. One of the easiest ways to keep a customer satisfied is COMMUNICATION!

We have some vendors who can NOT realize they live in the year 2015 where you have phones, email, skype, and the old fashion fax even. Lack of communication is totally unacceptable. You can't say well they filled most of their orders so they are a good company to work with no freaking way.

A bad vendor is a vendor who fills 90% of their orders and leaves 10% hanging and terrible vendor is someone who doesn't even try to communicate with those other 10% hoping they will just flat out forget about it. Problem is we have way to many unprofessional vendors and buyers in this industry... and what i mean is this.

We have several buyers who think its acceptable to get screwed and use the old line 'live and learn or well we'll never do anything with them again' then simply move onto someone else. If someone screws you even for 10 cents you must hold them accountable. If you don't 10 cents this time will lead to 10 dollars next time and 10,000 the time after that.

At what point do you stand up for yourself?

Sometimes I agree you get an impasse you find that customer you just can't make happy and we end up with the two sides to every story problem... those we shouldn't chime in on and we should let those two work it out and if it goes to court let it play out there.

But in this case it seems pretty clear cut...

The company offered a free mask to Shane, the vendor maybe got a lot of orders then decided they are not going to give away a free mask so they changed their mind. There is no other explanation here its clear. The vendor is an Indian giver... they are not true to their word hence should NOT be trusted period.

Now without jumping to conclusions here on my part let me say this... I did not make a deal with this company to give away a free mask, and I did NOT win this free mask. If the company did not offer the free mask and Shane said they did that is another story... then it would be a miscommunication between Shane and the vendor.

To solve this issue is pretty simple, instead of letting people stick up for the vendor why not speak yourself... just come right out and say NO I DID NOT OFFER A FREE MASK TO SHANE!

Then we are done... otherwise admit you gave the free mask to Shane and explain WHY you didn't deliver it simple as that right?

YOU DID OR YOU DID NOT offer a free mask to Shane. If you did then you need to make the mask and give it to the winner and all is done.

How hard would it be to explain?

If you choose not to explain then we should all be left to assume you are nothing more than an Indian giver someone who's word doesn't stand up. Or and I can accept this as well that Shane maybe misunderstood what you offered and no offer of a mask was made... one way or the other the guy who expects a mask is the only victim here.

Larry

[wickedfarmer]

Yes to this

Problem is we have way to many unprofessional vendors and buyers in this industry... and what i mean is this.

We have several buyers who think its acceptable to get screwed and use the old line 'live and learn or well we'll never do anything with them again' then simply move onto someone else. If someone screws you even for 10 cents you must hold them accountable. If you don't 10 cents this time will lead to 10 dollars next time and 10,000 the time after that.

Larry nailed it with "unprofessional vendors and buyers..."

I got everything back in my example above through credit card dispute. Everything except the whole in my haunt where I expected a flying monkey that year that is. I had a problem a few years ago on two orders from same vendor. More of a bookkeeping/editing/ordering problem. Nothing sinister ....just not as expected. Didn't like answer I got. Brought it here to forum and aired it years ago. BUT with my complaint was also containing wording I still remember kind of praising them as 'could damn near outfit a whole haunt with nothing but stuff from...." said vendor. They fixed the problem in next years catalog. And as soon as I got home from transworld I complimented them on the changes and wrote good stuff about them changing here on forums. We really did not know each other then until after this. Now they send me their catalog to proof read before it goes to print LOL! And we coordinate buying tickets to Darkness so we go together; past vendor & buyer who had problem now greet each other and tour Darkness together.

Buyers have to be as professional as vendors. Well said Larry.
"
Ok OK OK- Kevin -"Mr Gore Galore" I can hear you now telling me AGAIN to post on your vendor site. Told him I was hesitant because I help another vendor set up at Transworld and it could be seen as biased. Well that relkationship happened because of how well I like that vendors products looks, ease of set up and service. Well...guess that excuse aint going to hold water any more. I'll get it done this week Kevin.

Wicked Farmer

[hauntfarm]

I agree with Larry on this one if the owner of the mask company didn't promise a free mask why not come on and say that. I'd like to hear again from Shane on what he found out. If you promise something you should deliver. I will not buy any masks from this company.

[afears]

I agree that the vendor should make things right and no buyer should ever get screwed out of any amount of money, time and or hassle to achieve that BUT I don't agree that it is wrong for the few of us that posted positive things about our experiences with this particular vendor to do so. I was not asked to say the things I said. I was simply offering my experience to other potential buyers to know that this one situation (although not acceptable) was not reflective of all of this vendor's dealings. These forums can easily ruin a company based on passionate comments made by an unhappy buyer. (Again, I am not saying the buyer/winner has done anything wrong in anyway - because he hasn't.) I am just making a point to help paint a bigger picture on how this vendor really operates. Believe it or not, this one post may have just lost them a ton of sales - even if they manage to go over the top to make things right. We as buyers don't want to be bullies - we want to be treated respectfully as do the vendors.

[bhays]

Amen. This probably isn't the best format for this type of info. More of a review site where people can see a collection of experiences presents a more balanced picture

[drfrightner]

We have a vendor directory which we just updated with new features ... we are going to be helping vendors updated those profiles probably next week. I saw facebook mentioned facebook but facebook isn't a good place to review vendors because you can't really search the thing. Who wants to sit there for hours on end letting old posts load? I think its great that people have outlets to complain especially when they are telling the truth. Way to often people complain they are not actually telling the whole story. We've all heard of the two sides to every story line before. To complain about not getting the right paint job or something along those lines is really something that should be worked out between the vendor and the customer.

Sometimes we see complaints from customers who are trigger happy... in other words they didn't even give the vendor a real chance to reply and boom off they go to the races. I'm not for any of that and have been vocal in the past to say that vendors and customers should exhaust efforts PRIVATE to work things out.

I think a whole year has gone by on this deal so I think it qualifies...

These forums have been and hopefully will continue to be a place to discuss these issues and they should always be because...

These forums have SAVED people millions of dollars in mistakes, they have helped people learn about vendors screwing people, they have helped people even learn about new successful vendors and their products. By no means is it the wrong place... the wrong place is facebook or yelp or something like that.

Anyone can post something on facebook and make up crap, and additionally you can't search facebook, comments get left and in reality hardly anyone reads it. Facebook is way over rated as a forum tool... most people don't see threads or read them. Here at least you can see and find posts and they are not quickly lost, plus they can be found on google.

Last note and again... THIS VENDOR could have already made a post here and solved the issue. This vendor could have made ONE POST that says I NEVER PROMISED a mask to Shane case closed. Then Shane could have refuted that or confirmed it.

This vendor could have already called this guy who's left 1000 messages and communicated back with the guy... apparently they won't do that. I think that is a bit unprofessional myself and shows a real lack of class.

We all know vendors like Spookywoods Productions they delivered some costumes yes, and they also took some peoples money and never delivered anything. So yo had some people saying good things and others saying bad... in these cases I don't think you can accept good with the bad, its either all bad or all good.

An argument about a repair or simply you don't think it looks good as displayed that is one thing but to totally ignore a customer simply in my mind shows you a sign of things to come.

Lastly I am in NO WAY saying all this is fact, I'm merely pointing out that if its not true why not explain yourself, rather than ignore it like you are ignoring the guy who's claiming it is a fact. Shane has even come on here and stated that he's upset about it. Stop ignoring the situation and resolve it either here or call the guy and explain the problem

One or the other.

BOTTOM LINE: Me personally I'm not saying the company did anything wrong, in no way am I saying the company does owe this guy a mask or is actually unprofessional or anything. What I'm saying if IF IF all the things this guy is saying are true then and ONLY then is the vendor showing a sign of things to come. I'm merely speaking in general to a hypothetical in other words if everything is accurate and there isn't another side to the story. It does appear that this vendor is ignoring this customer and ignoring this issue but I don't know that personally is what I'm saying. Again I'm simply saying if everything is as it appears these are my opinions. This vendor can very easily contact this customers YES, he could post on these forums and state he owes nothing, YES, he could contact myself even and explain he never promised a thing to anyone, then it really becomes an issue between Shane and the vendor. All these things are facts, and this vendor can quickly come to one of these conclusions by simply making a statement. Lack of making a statement tends to favor the truth is he's ignoring this guy because he has no intentions of following thru on a promise. Just my two cents!

Larry