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 Mathieu Raymond wrote:

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:
It is worth pointing out that Mirielle is Canadian and should allegedly speak English.

With a name like that, she is most likely from Quebec, which means that English is not be assumed at all. Her posts feel like they were written and mostly though in our version of English. But yeah... Canada is not to be assumed as a guarantor of good English. They ought to throw a bit of money across the Channel and hire a native speaker.

She is definitely from Quebec as I recall from our previous conversations.

Just so people can get a fuller picture here is the message I sent to them

"So it's now looking like no Nepharaya in the first or second wave. It seems strange that you've managed to find the time to sculpt miniatures that weren't even concept art at the beginning of the campaign (wereshewolves) yet you can't find the time to go back and sort what was to all visual purposes a layman a completed sculpt. Are you just now trying to hold back sculpts on purpose to stop people cashing out or have you realised it's an unmanufacturable mini and trying to keep backers in the dark?"

UNCLEBADTOUCH wrote:
Just so people can get a fuller picture here is the message I sent to them

"So it's now looking like no Nepharaya in the first or second wave. It seems strange that you've managed to find the time to sculpt miniatures that weren't even concept art at the beginning of the campaign (wereshewolves) yet you can't find the time to go back and sort what was to all visual purposes a layman a completed sculpt. Are you just now trying to hold back sculpts on purpose to stop people cashing out or have you realised it's an unmanufacturable mini and trying to keep backers in the dark?"

I don't always like the cut of your jib, but I think it was a legitimate question. If their process is so awesome, how come they are still bottle necked that way? Is their vision so unique that they cannot train another art director? Gak, hire someone for each line of minis, then review only once a sculpt is finalized.

 Jimsolo wrote:
Other than the conspiracy theory remark, what exactly was condescending about that?

The rest of that message seemed pretty reasonable to me. (At least in tone.)

I can't help but think we've gone down this road before...

...or am I misremembering this?

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I don't always like the cut of your jib, but I think it was a legitimate question. If their process is so awesome, how come they are still bottle necked that way? Is their vision so unique that they cannot train another art director? Gak, hire someone for each line of minis, then review only once a sculpt is finalized.

I think that at the end of the day Benoit is the one doing all the reviewing.

And that, my dear friends, is micro-management. If you're trying to make it big, you can't afford that.

Wait wait wait, so their Super Secret Special Streamlined Workflow System(tm) is "work exactly like every other company does, but add an extra bureaucratic bottleneck that slows everyone else down drastically as they wait for approval"?



Oh Raging Heroes, never change.

 Yodhrin wrote:
an extra bureaucratic bottleneck that slows everyone else down drastically as they wait for approval"?

Um, yup, that sounds like your standard large business to me, albeit RH only has what? 4 guys?

At least they haven't talked about a revolutionary pre-meeting planning meeting meeting concept.

Urgh, don't even joke about that. Pretty much 33% of my working day is pre-meeting meetings. In fact, everytime I get a meeting invite now, I am reminded of this scene from Grosse Pointe Blank:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbynzi1-yok

No meetings, indeed. Maybe they would get more done at RH if they took the same approach

 Alpharius wrote:

 Jimsolo wrote:
Other than the conspiracy theory remark, what exactly was condescending about that?

The rest of that message seemed pretty reasonable to me. (At least in tone.)

I can't help but think we've gone down this road before...

...or am I misremembering this?

I don't think so...Unclebadtouch just posted this, didn't he?

I mean, we might have had a similar conversation about a different post, of course (I'd be surprised if we hadn't) but I guess I'm still not seeing the reasoning for all the ruffled feathers here.

As has been said before, there is no tone to text. As a response to a question clearly intended to poke the bear, (and identified by the questioner as such) it seems pretty tame. What exactly would people have considered to be a reasonable response? Now that I've seen the question which precipitated this answer, their response seems downright pleasant. Certainly kinder than I would have been in a similar situation. (Probably why I don't do customer service...)

 BrookM wrote:
I think it's a bit weak to say Salute is part of the reason though. It's not like it was a big secret announced a week in advance or anything.

I think the Salute thing was a bunch of small mfgrs all ordering stock for Salute at the same time, jamming up the supplier.

T

I feel the need to make it emphatic that anyone who finds that response by Mireille condescending has led a pretty charmed life.

What struck me more was that the sender obviously raised enough of a stink to get a response, and a rather passionate response from a busy someone who took the time to tailor a rather tame and meaningful message just for them. Seems like a well-intentioned effort to me.

Mireille could have spent a bit more time responding in a more detailed way (ie. explain the workflow and where things are getting bogged down) but that's her prerogative.

I'm actually quite impressed by the level of activity we've seen from Raging Heroes. They may not be moving as fast as some would hope but they're showing results, and I have no doubt some of us will have a few in hand soon enough.

I think the stink some are throwing up is in direct proportion to said results, though.

They've shown relatively little compared to what they had actually hyped up. It's getting tiresome, but here are a few of the points they could address: 1)We never had any intention of releasing wave 1 in September 2013. 2)Our Tumblr feed where we said we'd show WIPs and slices of life in the RH office and what not, it's totally going to be weird fetish stuff instead. 3)Those updates we keep promising, we're just going to stop promising them and just drop them when we drop them. 4)The guy we hired? Totes not for communication, just an administrative assistant, but since he wouldn't take the position without a nice title, we gave him one. And now we can't hire a comms guy because it would screw up the org chart in the office, and those guys, they get catty.

Remember, in February 2013, when the campaign was "set to begin," they claimed they had been working on this for a year and a half. And now the number of sculpts has gone from 150 to 250 for reasons. So instead of working on what people pledged for first, they're showing us later stuff. Does it mean it'll come out first? Feth if I know, because they've been giving us that info by the droplet among a sea of self-congratulatory bullgak.

Man I'm happy I could articulate all of this, and here, rather than the KS comment page.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Who said Canadians are too nice?

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I think the stink some are throwing up is in direct proportion to said results, though.

They've shown relatively little compared to what they had actually hyped up. It's getting tiresome, but here are a few of the points they could address: 1)We never had any intention of releasing wave 1 in September 2013. 2)Our Tumblr feed where we said we'd show WIPs and slices of life in the RH office and what not, it's totally going to be weird fetish stuff instead. 3)Those updates we keep promising, we're just going to stop promising them and just drop them when we drop them. 4)The guy we hired? Totes not for communication, just an administrative assistant, but since he wouldn't take the position without a nice title, we gave him one. And now we can't hire a comms guy because it would screw up the org chart in the office, and those guys, they get catty.

Remember, in February 2013, when the campaign was "set to begin," they claimed they had been working on this for a year and a half. And now the number of sculpts has gone from 150 to 250 for reasons. So instead of working on what people pledged for first, they're showing us later stuff. Does it mean it'll come out first? Feth if I know, because they've been giving us that info by the droplet among a sea of self-congratulatory bullgak.

Man I'm happy I could articulate all of this, and here, rather than the KS comment page.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Who said Canadians are too nice?

All fair points.

And to try to continue that fairness, her response was measured if it was the result of coaxing. Not ideal, let's be honest, but not bad.

What I'm guessing is, she filtered what someone else said as much as she could.

And well articulated.

I'm in agreement with all of the issues you mentioned Mathieu. I'm particularly irked by RH's pension for using corporate (unnecessary?) terminology that seems completely out of place for their size. I want to actually see a 'workflow,' not just hear about how wonderful and increasingly efficient their workflow is. What are the results? What kind of data are they using to support the idea that they're becoming more efficient? It's completely fair to criticize them on whatever things irk us, and to demand transparency and accountability. And even to get dramatic when we demand answers. But as long as RH is being reasonable, I would say, why can't we be reasonable as well? The project has its faults but it's progressing, and I think they've demonstrated here through messages, and through their (infrequent) updates, that they're doing what they can within their limits.

At this point, the matter becomes, as Mireille mentionned, "will the funds last long enough?" If they squandered too much of the money on getting the first few waves ready, will they run out before they can finish the campaign? They cannot expect that much cashflow from Wave 1, honestly, so that is my concern, be it legitimate or not.

If the first wave remains the way it is, I think we can expect the following general reaction..

I think that will be my reaction till the final waive.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
I think that will be my reaction till the final waive.

I don't know if it is a genuine typo or a good word play, but it made me chuckle to no end.

Is anyone still in the running for the pool? Or did we all lose?

I think in the end, we all lose something.

 Jimsolo wrote:
Is anyone still in the running for the pool? Or did we all lose?

I'm still in it, at least until the anniversary countdown clock reaches zero.

I had May 15th down... but I doubt we'll get it by then.

Well they've given us another update but no pledge manager quite yet

Project Update #87: Update #87 – Shipping the TGG

As we were writing up the Pledge Manager instructions, we could not help but notice that there is quite a bit of information to digest.

So before opening the Pledge Manager, we thought we should break it down and provide key information about how shipping options will be handled. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION, please read it carefully.

All the information below may seem a wee bit complex, but in the end, the Pledge Manager is quite efficient and user-friendly, like a real regular webshop.

Lower price on Additional Wave Shipping
First, the good news!

We've made some calculations to offer you a better deal on wave shipping than what we originally expected. At first, every additional wave shipment was supposed to ship at full shipping prices, that is between $20 and $26, but in the end, we are going to make it work at $14.95 for everybody (except France, which unfortunately has to remain at $10).

Read on for more details on how all of this works.

How will the Pledge Manager work?
When you'll sign Into the Pledge Manager, you'll see that you have your very own 'store credit' which has been calculated just for you and is based on the amount you pledged.

All you'll have to do is fill your cart with the minis that you want, and use your store credit to pay for it.

If you want more minis than what your store credit allows, then you'll be taken to a payment page to pay for the additional minis you chose.

When the Pledge Manager goes live, if you see a problem with your account, please get in touch with me via private messages or via email (ragingheroes at gmail.com) and we'll find a solution.

How much will I pay for shipping?
As you know, every one must pay for the TGG Shipping Fee (except for the one-item Private Pledge). Most of you have already done this. If you haven't, you'll be able to pay it before you get access to the full Pledge Manager (see last section below).

As a reminder, the standard TGG Shipping Fee is $10 for France, $20 for the European Union and Switzerland, $23 for the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Norway and $26 for the Rest of the World.

So, once you have paid the TGG shipping fee, your options now are:

Standard Shipping: Wait until all the minis that you want are produced, and get them all at once.
Drop Ship Waves: Get your shipment in 2 or 3 Waves at the Drop Ship location of your choice.
Personal Wave Shipping: Get your rewards in several waves by adding 1 or 2 additional Shipping Waves for $14.95 per wave ($10 for France).
Keep reading to find out how you will be able to inform us of your choice.

How will Shipping work?
Case 1: You've already added your TGG Shipping Fee when you paid for your Pledge. Cool!

When you Sign Into the Pledge Manager, you will see that you have your very own 'store credit' based on the amount you pledged.

This store credit includes the funds necessary for your shipping.

Here is an example: If you pledged $50 + $23 for shipping, your store credit will be $73. With this, you can choose $50 worth of miniatures, and then you'll proceed to Check Out, where you will have to enter your address and pay for shipping, and your remaining $23 will cover that.

If you don't mentally set aside the price of shipping while you are filling your cart with minis, you will have to pay for this fee when you Check Out, with Paypal or with a credit card.

So, in our example, if instead of setting aside your $23 for shipping, you spend all your store credit (that is, $73) on miniatures, then you will be asked to pay an additional $23 at Check Out.

Case 2: You did NOT add your TGG Shipping Fee when you paid for your Pledge. No worries.

In this case, when you will first Sign Into the Pledge Manager, you will not see any miniatures... You will have to pay for your shipping first, by selecting the appropriate shipping fee.

Once you've paid that, within 48 hours (and in most cases, much faster), we'll increase your Store Credit by the amount you just paid, and give you access to the full Pledge Manager.

Once you access the full Pledge Manager, you are then back to Case 1 above, so please review those instructions as well

OK, how will I tell you which shipping option I want?
You'll choose your Shipping Method when you Check Out. There, what you do will depend on what you want.

Standard Shipping (cost: standard TGG Shipping Fee)

At checkout, in Shipping Method, choose Standard Shipping
Drop Ship Waves (cost: standard TGG Shipping Fee)

Go to this page and choose your Drop Ship location
Copy its name and address to avoid errors.
When you are on the Check Out page, in Billing Details, enter your own details
In Shipping Details, paste the name and address of your Drop Ship Location (please use Copy and Paste to avoid errors)
In Shipping Method, choose Drop Ship Waves
There must be at least 3 backers picking up their reward at the same Drop Ship location to be valid. If there are less than 3 backers, we'll have to cancel this Drop Ship location. We'll keep you informed if this happens.

Personal Wave Shipping (cost: standard TGG Shipping Fee+ $14.85 per wave)

When you are on the Check Out page, in Shipping Method, check either Personal Wave Shipping – 2 waves or Personal Wave Shipping – 3 waves
In Order Confirmation, first pay with your Store Credit, then click on Proceed to Payment to cover the cost of the additional waves.
Note: You CANNOT use your Store Credit to pay for additional waves beyond your original shipping fee. If you do, we will NOT be able to process your Pledge. You must Proceed to Payment and pay for the cost of the additional waves.

If your case is not covered here, please get in touch with me via private messages or via email (ragingheroes at gmail.com).

Phhhwwwew!
Well, there you have it. I hope it was not too tedious to read. Do you think you'll be using Standard Shipping, Drop Ship Wave, or Wave Shipping or Personal Wave Shipping?

On an unrelated topic, we had this week a good working session together with our 2 foundries. We had a very long three-way conversation. It was very enlightening for everybody as it was the first time we had the opportunity to review all together the entire production process from sculpting to packaging, rather than on one-on-one sessions. And we all discovered a few more ways to make everybody's job more efficient so that we can get the TGG out faster to you!

Sharing our three points in view, it became obvious that we are all pushing the boundaries of what can be done in miniature-making. We are all very excited about this as the results are already quite top-notch.

Oh, and by the way, did you know that at the mould-making stage, the masters used to make a production moulds have to bear up to 5 tons of pressure?



so we've now got a cost for multi wave shipping (and it's cheaper than I thought at $14.85 for each extra wave) and confirmation that there will be 3 waves in total

Is it me... or could this have been handled very simply with a graphic? It does make it a lot more verbose than it needs to be.

Pushing the boundaries of what can be done in miniature-making indeed!

A graph would be easier, but more time consuming to produce no doubt.

This pledge manager has got to the best thing evar if it is getting so much build-up.

Maybe we'll actually get that pledge manager soon since they keep hyping it.

Or maybe to coincide with that ticking clock..

So exciting...