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Big Long Explanation:
After receiving a number of complaints from customers, and going through all of our orders, we've found a truly regrettable number of shipping errors and other problems.
Currently there are 100 orders that need attention in some way- reshipping lost products, replacing damaged items, or refunding the money involved. If you are one of those 100 customers, or even if you're not, we apologize sincerely for the problems. We are working to correct things as quickly as possible, but because of the circumstances with Book One, this is slower than anyone wants it to be.
For right now, we are reorganizing our business. The Zombie Hunters, USA will be shut down, and the ownership of all of its assets and liabilities will transition over to Black Moth Design, LLC. The comic will continue updating, and Jenny will keep making it. This change won't impact the story, but instead is meant to allow us to serve customers better, and so that Jenny will be able to tell more stories in the future, in addition to TZH.
The Bigger, Longer, Extended Cut Explanation:
So, the biggest question that we get is generally, "What went wrong?"
In short, Book One went wrong- very wrong. More specifically, we didn't plan it as well as we should have, and when things started to go wrong, we didn't correct for them in a timely or effective manner. We started planning in the usual fashion; we checked how much it would cost to print an order of books, and then launched a preorder to allow us to do so. However, there was no cushion amount, no profit built into that- as soon as we generated enough money, we figured, we would go to press. Unknown to me at the time, unfortunately, my shipping code contained a bug- it didn't add in shipping costs correctly for all orders. And, even when it *did* add them, we had underestimated the costs of shipping the books in the first place.
So, we didn't collect as much money as we thought we were going to. And because I (Greg) wasn't a very good accountant at the time, I thought we were good to go (And yes, after that happened I took classes on how to do a better job, and more importantly now I know when to hire someone to check my work or do it for me). So, we went to press. Proofing began, and samples went back and forth to the printer. We had changes made, several times, and those changes cost more money than we had budgeted for. But, we thought, we can't stop, because we have all this money riding on it, and all these fans that would be disappointed. So we carried on! Books were printed, packed, and shipped to us here in NC. And... they were not good. The quality control on these books was, in fact, terrible. We contacted the printer, and sent them samples of the damage and the misprints. They told us, well, they'd authorize a reprint of about 10% of the books. And, because we are suckers for the "Sunk Costs Fallacy", we said, well, okay but... let's just make a few more changes, first. Changes that cost us more money.
In the end, we wound up with a bit more than three thousand books from the two printings. Over two thousand of those books- a ton and a half in weight!- had to be destroyed. We didn't pay for the rejected volumes, but we still had to pay for all the changes. The survivors of the culling process were some great books, though. Really nice looking volumes. If you got one of our books, it was inspected by hand, by me, Jenny, or the real-life Sammie. At that point, we couldn't afford outside labor any more.
So, after all that hard work, it was time to ship. We selected some very nice padded mailers, added cardboard inserts for stiffness, slapped a "DO NOT BEND" sticker on them, and sent them on their way. At which point, the packages were then mangled by sorting machines, or folded in half to fit in mailboxes. Because of our poor recordkeeping, I don't have an exact number of books that were lost this way, but it was over two hundred of them. We've been reshipping books ever since, in much sturdier containers, as we get the funds.
We're still committed to making sure everyone gets their products. But a lot of the lost books were international orders, as they go through the most wear and tear on their journey. That meant that costs skyrocketed completely out of control. Which meant that The Zombie Hunters, USA ran out of cash. And then Jenny and I maxed out our credit cards. So, each time an order for something else came in, we'd try to use the profits from the new order to ship out the new order and one of the old orders at the same time. We never had any cash on hand- just accounts receivable that didn't always match our accounts payable. This process has gone on since the initial preorder finished- and, unfortunately, several of our preorder customers are members of our 100 customer service orders. The rest, well, when they had a problem, we didn't have the cash on hand to make it right. Jenny and I deeply regret that.
And, we're going to fix it.
First, as I mentioned, we've halted sales for anything that would need to be shipped or inventoried.
Second, I've gone through all of our orders, and came up with my list of customers who have been affected. If you want to make sure you are on my list, please send me an email and I will write you back and let you know that I have added you, or that you are already on my list.
Third, we're reorganizing the business. We're changing everything on the financial side, right down to how we do our accounting and inventory, to make sure that this cannot happen again. If an order comes in, it will go out, and you as the customer will know just as much as we know. And we're going to know everything about that order, from an invoice number, to when it was sent, to how it was sent, and a tracking number if that's available. No more lost orders
As part of reorganizing the business, we'll be seeking funding from our bank in the form of a loan or a line of credit. This will allow us to send out these hundred orders as soon as possible. If we're unable to get that credit, then we'll be a bit slower, because we'll have to rely on our advertising revenue to fund things. But no matter what, if you bought something from us, we will get your products to you. And they'll be good products, because that's the only kind we want to make. Even after all this mess, we stand behind our products- if your items are damaged or if they fall apart or if there's any other issue, let us know and we will make it right.
As always, thank you for all of your patience and support as we have gone through this. And thank you for reading!
After receiving a number of complaints from customers, and going through all of our orders, we've found a truly regrettable number of shipping errors and other problems.
Currently there are 100 orders that need attention in some way- reshipping lost products, replacing damaged items, or refunding the money involved. If you are one of those 100 customers, or even if you're not, we apologize sincerely for the problems. We are working to correct things as quickly as possible, but because of the circumstances with Book One, this is slower than anyone wants it to be.
For right now, we are reorganizing our business. The Zombie Hunters, USA will be shut down, and the ownership of all of its assets and liabilities will transition over to Black Moth Design, LLC. The comic will continue updating, and Jenny will keep making it. This change won't impact the story, but instead is meant to allow us to serve customers better, and so that Jenny will be able to tell more stories in the future, in addition to TZH.
The Bigger, Longer, Extended Cut Explanation:
So, the biggest question that we get is generally, "What went wrong?"
In short, Book One went wrong- very wrong. More specifically, we didn't plan it as well as we should have, and when things started to go wrong, we didn't correct for them in a timely or effective manner. We started planning in the usual fashion; we checked how much it would cost to print an order of books, and then launched a preorder to allow us to do so. However, there was no cushion amount, no profit built into that- as soon as we generated enough money, we figured, we would go to press. Unknown to me at the time, unfortunately, my shipping code contained a bug- it didn't add in shipping costs correctly for all orders. And, even when it *did* add them, we had underestimated the costs of shipping the books in the first place.
So, we didn't collect as much money as we thought we were going to. And because I (Greg) wasn't a very good accountant at the time, I thought we were good to go (And yes, after that happened I took classes on how to do a better job, and more importantly now I know when to hire someone to check my work or do it for me). So, we went to press. Proofing began, and samples went back and forth to the printer. We had changes made, several times, and those changes cost more money than we had budgeted for. But, we thought, we can't stop, because we have all this money riding on it, and all these fans that would be disappointed. So we carried on! Books were printed, packed, and shipped to us here in NC. And... they were not good. The quality control on these books was, in fact, terrible. We contacted the printer, and sent them samples of the damage and the misprints. They told us, well, they'd authorize a reprint of about 10% of the books. And, because we are suckers for the "Sunk Costs Fallacy", we said, well, okay but... let's just make a few more changes, first. Changes that cost us more money.
In the end, we wound up with a bit more than three thousand books from the two printings. Over two thousand of those books- a ton and a half in weight!- had to be destroyed. We didn't pay for the rejected volumes, but we still had to pay for all the changes. The survivors of the culling process were some great books, though. Really nice looking volumes. If you got one of our books, it was inspected by hand, by me, Jenny, or the real-life Sammie. At that point, we couldn't afford outside labor any more.
So, after all that hard work, it was time to ship. We selected some very nice padded mailers, added cardboard inserts for stiffness, slapped a "DO NOT BEND" sticker on them, and sent them on their way. At which point, the packages were then mangled by sorting machines, or folded in half to fit in mailboxes. Because of our poor recordkeeping, I don't have an exact number of books that were lost this way, but it was over two hundred of them. We've been reshipping books ever since, in much sturdier containers, as we get the funds.
We're still committed to making sure everyone gets their products. But a lot of the lost books were international orders, as they go through the most wear and tear on their journey. That meant that costs skyrocketed completely out of control. Which meant that The Zombie Hunters, USA ran out of cash. And then Jenny and I maxed out our credit cards. So, each time an order for something else came in, we'd try to use the profits from the new order to ship out the new order and one of the old orders at the same time. We never had any cash on hand- just accounts receivable that didn't always match our accounts payable. This process has gone on since the initial preorder finished- and, unfortunately, several of our preorder customers are members of our 100 customer service orders. The rest, well, when they had a problem, we didn't have the cash on hand to make it right. Jenny and I deeply regret that.
And, we're going to fix it.
First, as I mentioned, we've halted sales for anything that would need to be shipped or inventoried.
Second, I've gone through all of our orders, and came up with my list of customers who have been affected. If you want to make sure you are on my list, please send me an email and I will write you back and let you know that I have added you, or that you are already on my list.
Third, we're reorganizing the business. We're changing everything on the financial side, right down to how we do our accounting and inventory, to make sure that this cannot happen again. If an order comes in, it will go out, and you as the customer will know just as much as we know. And we're going to know everything about that order, from an invoice number, to when it was sent, to how it was sent, and a tracking number if that's available. No more lost orders
As part of reorganizing the business, we'll be seeking funding from our bank in the form of a loan or a line of credit. This will allow us to send out these hundred orders as soon as possible. If we're unable to get that credit, then we'll be a bit slower, because we'll have to rely on our advertising revenue to fund things. But no matter what, if you bought something from us, we will get your products to you. And they'll be good products, because that's the only kind we want to make. Even after all this mess, we stand behind our products- if your items are damaged or if they fall apart or if there's any other issue, let us know and we will make it right.
As always, thank you for all of your patience and support as we have gone through this. And thank you for reading!
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