Hi All,
Just wanted to chime in here.
First off for anyone getting slower responses or to anyone that has not received a reply yet, this is not the norm and without looking into the reasons, I would like to simply say sorry.
It is frustrating from a customer's point of view no matter what the issue is when their inquiries are left up in the air. I can assure you that we are a small team, when things do fall through the cracks, we do not take it lightly no matter what the issue is. We care deeply and work our hardest to make things happen.
I know there is always another side to every story including ours. I did not want to come onto here and do some typical public write off that larger companies do nor do I want to make excuses for mistakes we have made.
What I would like to do is acknowledge how backups can make our customers feel in any department and want to be transparent about the challenges we are facing.
The last 2 years have been a great growing experience for us. Along with growth, are major challenges. Some are situations we were experienced in handling and some are new situations we are not.
I don't want to ramble about how Covid affected us, as I feel it is a given that it affected everyone, not just us. Like everyone, we have had to work with it for a while now and it's not easy, but it's also something that has unfortunately become part of the workflow.
Our challenges through this time period has taught us how to grow and invest in our infrastructure and we are better for it. Having said that, it is a large challenge. Our team is still the core 4 people you have grown to know over the past decade and although we have added to the team, we have lost team members along the way during these past couple of years. We have been trying to adapt to these changes the best we can.
In the past 2 years we have had to set up a new warehouse and warehouse management software (to address volume and shipping inefficiencies). This was a challenge due to the fact we used to run everything from our retail store. This meant more staff changes during Covid. Training someone in this difficult period, in a specialized field came with a lot of setbacks.
Shipping, production and cost changes from a manufacturing level also produced unique challenges which created a lot more work and logistical issues.
Development and ongoing maintenance of our systems online to ensure we are not ignoring our digital growth is an ongoing challenge (this includes our ticketing system which we need to update regularly to help us prioritize the thousands of emails and social posts that come through every month).
These are a few of the larger challenges we have faced with all the changes. Once you start throwing in trade shows returning and holiday volume, it takes a bit to adjust. We are still a mom-and-pop shop (literally our family business). We just work hard to put ourselves out there and be everywhere. This really forces us to find the right balance of not being too large for us and not being so small that it is difficult to expand our products our customers are wanting us to carry.
Again, just being transparent, not making excuses. Our challenges are not ones that are yours to bear, but we are grateful to express these issues and have the community grow with us through our ups and downs.
Our main thing is we don't want anyone to think we are just looking at problems (being staffing, communications etc.) and just saying whatever and ignoring them. We are actively trying to improve everything. Mistakes will happen, human error does not allude us with these growing pains, but we will make sure we take care of customers.
We have been around for over a decade, and with a lot of hard work and a bit of luck, have had the opportunity to do much more than just be a local shop; We've been a part of sponsoring conventions and working with independent 3p companies to make cool products for the fandom.
I know it's hard to imagine all of this when we are all just words on a page. I can assure you, anyone that has met me or my team in person knows that we take our work seriously and care about our customers. I have met many of you at shows, at our retail store and would never feel good about making you not feel good about your dealings with us.
As a side note, I know that when it feels like there is little choice but to go onto Social Media or Forums to call us out, that it may be a way to vent about the situation, I don't judge. I don't expect our customers to chase us down for answers, but just know that our team is not acknowledging anyone based on how loud they scream. We believe in acknowledging ANY issue that comes to our attention. If things are missed, there could be technical or volume related reasons, but never because we are dismissing anyone no matter what tone they are taking with us... we are 100% behind helping you out. We would prefer you to be nice though, as we are not just some jerks behind a computer
Our phone line 604-569-1872 is also open daily from 12pm-6pm (same hours as our store and warehouse is open to public) Please listen for the prompt as it is NOT a voicemail but directions on what number to punch in to reach shipping or for order inquiries.
Thanks for Listening and we look forward to always improving and rolling with the punches!
Boris
Ages Three and Up
