I would like to take you up on your generous offer and get the rest of the discs as well as you other releases for the next two years. That was a nice offer that I appreciate.
Not surprising. I had a much larger amount owed to me in orders than you and had to wait just as long, however I unlike you I kept faith in Steve and had some empathy for him and his tough situation. I could have made a post publically defaming him and Thunderbean like you but instead I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. If you really care about these releases and appreciate them and want them and the business to improve in quality and quantity, you'd pay for the releases anyhow. They're cheap enough as it is. Thunderbean is barely profitable as it is and runs out of love and passion for the cartoons, if I were you (which technically we are in the same boat), I would pay for each set regardless of what generous offer Steve makes.
I'm gonna try to be as polite as possible here, but I really, really don't like how over-the-top passive aggressive this is. It's presumptuous and incorrect to say J Michael and Sinnott, or anyone else, are unempathetic or faithless (which, even that is such a weird thing to say, but ok). All they wanted were a) to hear from Steve and b) get the products that they paid for. Both of them acknowledged that they got their orders today, and Sinnott even thanked Steve, called his offer generous and nice (and it was both of those things), and literally showed empathy by acknowledging his employee problem and hoping that things work out. And to say they don't care about/appreciate the releases is just...I mean, they invested hundreds of dollars in Thunderbean DVDs! And of
course they want the business to improve - but how does any business improve without feedback from customers? They weren't publicly defaming Steve, they were just trying to get a hold of him. It sounds like this has been a long-term issue. And as soon as he acknowledged the issue and promised to make things right (and
did make things right, from the sound of it, they also publicly voiced their satisfaction.
Thunderbean is great. No one has ever questioned that. Steve does phenomenal work. Anyone who sees even a still from one of his DVDs knows that. But Thunderbean has
two jobs that are equally important: restoring classic cartoons
and distributing those discs to paying customers. It doesn't matter how well Steve does the first job if he can't get the DVDs in customers' hands. WHV had the opposite problem with the Bugs and Daffy Superstars DVDs: great selection of cartoons, decent price, but they butchered the restoration job with the cropping. Again: restoration
and distribution are equally important.
I'm guessing that, especially as a smaller business in a niche market, the bulk of Thunderbean's customers come right from this site. Steve has a responsibility to us. And for the most part, he does a great job. But this doesn't mean he's above criticism or accountability when customers are multiple hundreds of dollars in the hole with nothing to show for it. I think J Michael and Sinnott handled the situation extremely well, especially given all their frustrations. I also think Steve did a fantastic job taking responsibility, explaining why he's been having a hard time with orders, getting J Michael and Sinnott the bulk of their orders immediately,
and giving them a pretty great deal for two years. Guess what? That gives me renewed faith in Thunderbean, renewed respect for Steve, and makes me want to buy more DVDs from Thunderbean, starting with this "All Censored" disc.
Edited by user
2019-03-29T13:16:17Z
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Reason: Not specified