Last week I posted about the assets of Silver Bullet Comics being sold at auction by the state of North Carolina. Today SBC owner Alan Davis addresses the auction, unfulfilled customer orders and other problems they’ve experienced recently in a statement on their site.
In terms of the auction:
Yes, we did auction off all of our excess fixtures and convention stock on October 8th to help pay off our final tax bill for the Winston Salem location, but only after talking with the state for options (a private buyer they had connected us with could not come up with the total, after agreeing to the buy, at the last minute, so we went with their second option). The total was only for the last few months before we closed, and if not for our closing, and wanting to clear that record, anything we’d have had to address in this way (beyond the interest and such).
And in terms of the fulfillment/customer service issues:
Another coding problem that occurred is that many orders were purged randomly from our system. While thankfully, they are all numbered, and backups are being massaged into the current database to recover as much as possible, there are still issues with the status on many orders which are marked as shipped, but not verified. Also, there are orders which cannot be determined as to their status beyond processing. To resolve this issue, we are taking every such order, even those questionable, and putting them back into fulfillment. This may result in us shipping many orders twice, but is easily preferred to the alternative. I cannot express enough how much this issue causes concern for us here, and that all methods available to resolve this will be employed. Once again, if you have an issue with your account, please use the email we just activated today – assistance@silverbulletcomics.com – so that we may be more quickly made aware of your needs, and address them.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I call Bullshit on W Alan Davis - We exchanged several emails in which I specified all my order details. He obviously knows about THIS prepaid $76.75 order#9275 from 7/2/07 for which I have received nothing, and has done nothing to resolve the issue - and now refuses to respond to emails, and continues to not answer the phone.
I think he’s bankrupt and full of shit!
Go ahead Alan, prove me wrong…ship my order, and I’ll post an apology.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
To file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau:
http://www.nwnc.bbb.org/commoncomplaint.html
October 30th, 2007 at 10:20 pm
That post. Wow. Was it written by Rick Olney?
October 31st, 2007 at 10:28 am
The only thing that gives me any hope that these issues may be resolved is that I cannot fathom anyone putting all this information out there claiming to be working on resolving the problem, unless they were. If this were just another deflection, these public statements would be more than ample evidence of conspiracy and fraud, would they not?
I would love to get some kind of satisfaction and to be made whole as a customer. I just hope it is really happening this time.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:32 am
Customers need to start thinking about getting an attorney.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Or maybe, just maybe, you should do what they ask, and email that address. Seems like you’re more interested in blowing up here than trying to get a resolution. Sure, if you emailed and got no reply, I’d expect that. Sometimes conspiracy is just a shitty code job.
November 1st, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Or maybe, just ,maybe, you should try emailing the address the ask you to use, rathar than this. I mean, they seem to be offering an attempt, so why not try that first? Sometimes conspiracy can just be a tool programmer and his code.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Well, kalthom, this has apparently been going on for about 6 months and has happened to several people who have spoken out online, and maybe more that haven’t. To me, this represents a repeated pattern of deception by Silver Bullet, not just a random event or two. Some prosecutors would consider that to be a pattern of criminal activity.
The customers can wait for the local government to get involved or they can take it to civil court.
Or they can take the loss of their money as just a thing. This will not be the first time people have lost money to a mail order comics business. It happened to me back in the very late 80s/ early 90s.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Seems to me they are trying to work on the problem. It isnt like every comic isnt late these days, so why does some website having problems with stuff coming out on time get all this press, when the guys putting out the comics late arent seeing stories? If what they say doesnt fix things, then I think it should be addressed, but really. It’s obvious something happened, and that they are addressing it. Hell, even this website crashes now and then. Has anyone emailed and not gotten taken care of? That’s the issue. So, anyone? What’s the scoop?
November 1st, 2007 at 9:09 pm
I heard about the person who had to pay a “setup fee” just to place an order and it’s beyond ridiculous. That’s like a video rental store trying to charge a membership fee like they used to do back in the mid-80’s. It just isn’t done anymore.
November 5th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
See comments #1 and 2.
Today I received the order I had placed and paid for on July 2nd. As promised, here’s my apology…
Alan, I apologize for the inflammatory accusations in my first comment.
kalthom - If you were aware of the long sordid history of this order, and the many unanswered correspondences, you might not be so quick to judge. After all, it’s been over 3 months since the order was placed, and it wasn’t just a $4 comic book.
My intention by commenting as I did was to provoke a reaction - any reaction - from Silver Bullet Comics. Whether it was the email I sent to the new “assistance” address the day of the website post (10/30), or my (admittedly nasty) comments here that made the difference, I really don’t care. Silver Bullet Comics didn’t steal my $75, and Alan has his apology.
I hope everyone else has satisfactory responses to their issues with Silver Bullet Comics.
November 5th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
I heard from at least one other customer who had been waiting a long time for their order … they received it after sending an email to the new address.
November 10th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
None of what SBC have to say excuses the fact that they have neglected to respond to concrete issues raised with them, coding error or no coding error. I’ve been told that orders have been shipped, and USPS tell me they haven’t.
December 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Well I placed my order on June 27th (#9551) and still haven’t received it. Now it was only for $43.00 dollars, but the issue remains that emails weren’t responded to and there was little to no information on their website about their financial difficulties. Is there a new number or address I can contact.
December 20th, 2007 at 2:24 am
I placed an order with Silver Bullet on 10/24, have yet to recieve the order, made Several attempts to contact the company/individual through all email addresses and have not been responded to. I now have my Credit Card Company aware as I filed a dispute for item not received, and will now use the better business bureau link. I’m sure glad I found these postings and that I’m not alone.