[OT-Rant] What is UP with Talon Comics??

[Ravellion]

The thing is, if he was working for a boss, he'd be out of a job right now... or you must have one hell of a boss to give you three months (paid) off. That's waht it seems like anyway. Wea ll hve to juggle personal lives with professional lives. What about working part time, taking orders first in-first out? Sure it's hard with your wife being seriously ill, but, however harsh this may seem, life does go on...

Oh well.

Rav

 

[laiyna]

I have been bitching about Taloncommics now for some time, and I think it was just. But I also think I should tell you when there are good things. Today (after some delay) my order arived from Taloncommics, well wrapped (what I'm pleased about becouse most on-line shops do it poorly) and all in perfect order.

If this makes things right? I don't think so, but I do wish to see it as a good start. Paladin (& wife) I hope you can help him, I'm not angrey at him as a person but more bisness wise. And as a person I do hope it will turn out (fast) all oke.


Laiyna

 

[hellbender]

i wouldn't advise going to nutkinland and posting something inflammatory about derek. he's very well liked over there. his phone # is on his website, so you might want to try contacting him that way.

for those who don't know, nutkinland is enworld's red headed stepchild...

This thread made me decide not to place an order with Talon, something I was planning on doing, and I have been here long enough to know that Derek was very active here before and had a lot of satisfied customers.
This post in particular made me laugh, though. 'Wouldn't advise going to Nutkinland and posting something inflammatory about Derek.' Sorry, that just sounds so blatantly unfrightening. Hey, the guy doesn't fill orders for months, he deserves flack, and that is the bottom line. Nutkinland has never really impressed me that much, and if I was ever inclined to post there, I would not fear reprisal, especially not in a case like this.
We all have problems, and in business, you keep your customers happy, or you go out of business.

hellbender

 

[Buttercup]

This thread has made me decide not to order from Talon Comics as well. I have ordered from the ENWorld shop three times, and the service has been fast and professional.

While I feel for Derek personally, as a consumer I want what I pay for. Since many people who deal with him apparently don't get satisfaction, I'm afraid I won't be sending him my money. The one thing about this that I find disapointing is that I wanted to order some dice bags for my players for Xmas. Now I won't be able to. If Gamer's Bag products ever become available through RPGshop, then I'll gladly click the button on the front page of this site and order that way. Or maybe they'll be at GenCon next year. At any rate, I wish them well in their business endeavor, though if they were counting on online sales to stay afloat, I think they should investigate another distributor in addition to Talon.

Friendship is wonderful, but business is business. Not good to mix the two. IMO, of course.

 

[Tsyr]

This thread has made me decide not to order from Talon Comics as well. I have ordered from the ENWorld shop three times, and the service has been fast and professional.

While I feel for Derek personally, as a consumer I want what I pay for. Since many people who deal with him apparently don't get satisfaction, I'm afraid I won't be sending him my money. The one thing about this that I find disapointing is that I wanted to order some dice bags for my players for Xmas. Now I won't be able to. If Gamer's Bag products ever become available through RPGshop, then I'll gladly click the button on the front page of this site and order that way. Or maybe they'll be at GenCon next year. At any rate, I wish them well in their business endeavor, though if they were counting on online sales to stay afloat, I think they should investigate another distributor in addition to Talon.

Friendship is wonderful, but business is business. Not good to mix the two. IMO, of course.

I think Talon may just be acting as a storefront or something for them; a few people on this board have already gotten their bags from him.

Anyone who know more care to fill in the details?

 

[rounser]

Friendship is wonderful, but business is business. Not good to mix the two. IMO, of course.

I had it pointed out to me a few months ago that "Nothing personal, just business" is a cultural artifact of the west that doesn't hold currency in some other parts of the world.

It made me think about who's more sane...maybe, sometimes, you don't "just business" your friends, or those who have done you good turns in the past, perhaps?

I'm not really meaning to make a statement one way or another here, just an observation on western society at large, and where our values lie.

 

[Ashtal]

He's doing his best to catch up, as quickly as possible, but there is a backlog.

Thank you, Paladin & Paladinswife, for offering to ferry requests to Talon. I had done so as well, but you are likely in a better position to do so.

Talon, for the record, does not need someone to "wake his ass up" - he's fully aware and exceptionally upset at what's happened.

By all means, don't buy from Talon Comics if the current service hasn't been to your liking, or give it a few months before things settle down and Derek has a chance to catch up and get things moving forward before ordering again. But drop the attitude. I don't think anyone argues the point that a customer should say nothing, but phrasing, attitude, all means something, too. Be upset, but don't be a jerk about it. Know that there is a human being at the end of all of this who is trying very hard during very trying times. I'm not saying that because he is under the gun, you should forgive everything, but at the same time, coming here to rail on the guy when he can't read these posts, and can't defend himself, is a little low.

 

[Chun-tzu]

I think many of us can relate to that sense of being so overwhelmed by something that everything else gets put off. We all have priorities, and Derek's wife should definitely take top priority in this time of crisis. A little sympathy is certainly justified, under the circumstances.

Of course, there are limits to what you can ask of people. These customers have chosen to trust Derek with their hard-earned money and are very eager to get their orders. Delays like this often have a major impact on one's enjoyment of the product. Extremely late shipping has killed many a comic book.

My point, and I do have one, is this. It seems to me (and I admit, I know very little about the situation) that Derek is trying to take on too much by himself. I'm sure he's under extraordinary stress these days. And frankly, not many people can handle that level of stress non-stop, with no end in sight, without major impact upon their functioning. At this point, it sounds like Derek needs to seek help: from family, or from friends, or from clergy, or from a counselor. Take my word for it, we become much more effective at dealing with our problems when we have someone else to share the burden, even if it's "just" a supportive ear.

 

[WizarDru]

The thing is, if he was working for a boss, he'd be out of a job right now... or you must have one hell of a boss to give you three months (paid) off.

Except he is his own boss, and his own staff. If he's not working, the company isn't making money, and he's not getting paid. He's a small business.

Friendship is wonderful, but business is business. Not good to mix the two. IMO, of course.

While I agree to a point, the irony of you posting about how you won't be ordering Christmas presents from him and then presenting this right after was hard to ignore.

 

[JeffB]

Just cuz I'm curious... (I have no stake in the matter...never have done business with Derek)...

Why can't he get to these boards, if he can get to nutkinland?

I feel for the guy, I really do...I've been in his situation..life does go on hold, so to speak, but you also need to put some things to rest so that you can do what you need to do in your personal life without worry.... it seems to me he should have had someone at least put a notice up on the website that he was not taking orders ...or had the site taken down temporarily...something....