Some people view partworks as a weekly magazine that comes with bonus parts that go towards making a large scale highly detailed model or that gives them a series of collectable items, while others just look at the total price of the completed model or collection in utter horror that someone would spend that much money on the things, yet they’d happily spend money on cheaper glossy magazines that are full of ads over their adult lifetimes. If you looked at the total cost of every magazine they’d purchased over the years you’d also get a horrific dollar value, but you wouldn’t have a nice model or collection out of it. Just a very large collection of magazines that will most likely never get looked at ever again. Yes, my 1:8 scale DeLorean is costing me $20 per week, but for that I get a glossy magazine, with parts to add to the build. It’s not something I’ll spend the rest of my life purchasing though as the model is complete after 130 issues. I have also built a Millennium Falcon model that was based on the movie prop they used in Return of the Jedi and Empire Strikes Back. That was completed after 100 issues and is the same size as the prop model that was used in the film. So the model itself ended up costing around $2000. Would I spend that much all at once for one? No. Would I spread the cost out over the space of 100 weeks and build it from scratch using the parts they supply weekly? Yes. Regardless of whether you think it’s poor value for money or not, I got to enjoy the glossy magazines, I enjoyed receiving the parts. I got detailed instructions on how to continue with the build each week. I got to enjoy putting it all together from week to week, and now I have a 1:1 scale highly detailed model of the movie prop which also has working lights in the cockpit, the gun turrets, the front mandibles, landing lights, and a huge illuminated at exhaust port at the rear, plus is has a working hydraulic boarding ramp (with lights), all operated by remote control. Men and their toys, I know. I also know a few women who have built this one via the Facebook community pages for each build.
On a different note, DeAgostini abandoned the glossy magazines for one of their partworks builds by packaging the 80 odd issues into 12 monthly packages and supplying instructions online. This was for a build that did have the glossy magazines when it was initially released in Japan, but when it came to releasing it in the rest of the world they decided not enough people would be interested to make it viable as a full magazine production. They determine this for most partworks by having a trial run of 4 magazine issues in the UK and if it sells well then they do a full run. If not, then they usually abandon the build, but in this case the results were not bad enough to abandon the build entirely. So we got the boxed set subscription instead.
That’s great feedback. I have built models from kits and from scratch over a lifetime. From the commitment evidently required for a project I am not surprised that this topic has been posted. And it’s also true I might also spend $10 per week on publications relevant to my interests.
It’s easy to underestimate the time and effort to produce a first class result.
Once you become ‘a senior’ if your children do not like your hobbies they will be worth whatever on ebay, to a picker, or at a pawn shop, or they go to the tip. Such is reality.
I shudder to think the lifetime cost of my hobbies. A few years ago I had a collection of Very Rare High Tech Things that when new were valued in the many $millions. They were good conversation pieces for a few years and then became dust collectors. No local museum would take them (not enough storage) and ‘the appropriate’ museum in the US apparently merged with one that was located at NASA Ames/Moffet Field that already had a set and was not interested in seconds even if shipping were practical. I eventually got $19.70 for the scrap.
Interestingly enough the contact details provided are an email address of customer-service-australia@eaglemoss-service.com with a Sydney based phone number that will most likely connect to Eaglemoss UK for the price of a national long distance call. Cheaper than calling the UK direct, but still pricey for anyone who doesn’t live in or around the greater Sydney area. It says to call between 5pm and 11pm, meaning you most likely won’t be speaking to anyone in Australia.
So rather than wait for a new Australian distributor to be organised, this one’s going directly through Eaglemoss UK with a fixed price in Australian dollars.
It would be nice if they could actually sort out how to deal with existing subscribers before they take on a batch of new ones though.
Further to the last post I made: After posting a query to Eaglemoss’s Facebook page, asking about how they intend to go about handling new Australian subscriptions for the new Batman partworks, the reply I’ve gotten from them says that they now have a new distributor and we just have to wait for stock to arrive before they can get on with everyone’s orders. No news from any of the other UK publishers yet. Presumably they’ll use the same distributor. Hopefully the new distributors will make contact with everyone sometime in the next week to confirm subscriptions and to re-authorise direct debit and credit card details.
@NubglummerySnr, I am not affected by any of this but have followed your good work. May I offer a Well Done for taking the lead, reporting along the way, and following it to what looks like one of the better conclusions when one of our companies goes into administration.
Eaglemoss has just informed one person via a reply on a query to their Facebook page that instead of organising a new Australian Distributor, they’re going to just handle everything direct from the UK themselves. Which means everyone is still in the dark as to how DeAgostini, Hachette and other UK based partworks publishers are going to handle things. The message supplied by Eaglemoss is as follows:
Hopefully they’ve organised a local distributor at least as Eaglemoss is notorious in the UK for taking subscriber money first and then failing to actually deliver anything, for months on end. If the issues are coming direct from the UK to our delivery addresses then it could take a while before we actually see any deliveries once the money has been taken from us, and that’s providing they remember to send us anything. There are multiple reports from UK subscribers of having money taken every month for 4 issues at a time, only to receive nothing but a random single issue some months later.
Depending on how the rest of my DeLorean build goes it may just be the last partworks I ever build that comes from Bissett. Hopefully there won’t be any more dramas.
I got the same word for word reply from both Customer-Service-Australia@eaglemoss-service.com and customer_service_aus@hachette-service.com. Same agent signed it off to.
I can confirm that we will eventually be taking over your accounts, however this will take time.
Your account is temporarily on hold, as soon as we have more information regarding this, there will be announcements.
I apologise for any inconvenience caused.
If there is anything else I can do please let me know.
Query related to:
DC Comics Graphic Novel Collection
Marvel Graphic Novel Collection
This is the response I received from Hachette partworks tonight.
Hi Vince,
Thank you for your email.
At this time, we have only been advised that we are sourcing a new warehouse for the Hachette collections. Unfortunately I am not aware of who will be dealing with the customer services at this time.
Once a decision has been made, a notification will be sent out to all of the customers with an update.
Please keep an eye out for any announcements.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
If you require any further assistance, please let me know.
I didn’t have such a bad time with Bissett. They did have trouble getting some issues in from the UK, but they usually sorted it out after waiting on backorders to arrive. If issues needed to be replaced due to broken or faulty parts then they would order replacements in for me at no extra charge. Had they not gone belly up I most likely would have gotten my missing Millennium Falcon parts, based on personal experience with them.
@Erathix, I’m curious as to where you’ve gotten your information from concerning Bissett and the banks? None of this seems to have been handled publicly,
In all of this, just as also happens often with privately owned developers and builders.
Will the directors and managers having taken possibly gold plated incomes and dividends escape as relative unknowns in the public eye? Free to fly again?
Whether business failings are due to incompetence or deceit the costs to the greater community always appear to be greater than the losses of those at the helm?
Consumer rights are extinguished as they disappear into creditor oblivion.
Emotionally an incomplete Millennium Falcon is a grave loss. Just not as much for those we know have had their dream home build fail half way. And the statutory insurance $100,000 shy of the extra costs to resume with a new builder! Add too the cost of renting for an extra 6-12months while this is all sorted out. You don’t get that money back!
Reports have started coming on one of the Facebook groups that people have started receiving their Eaglemoss subscriptions again. For the DeLorean build people are getting issues 51, which was missing from the last delivery, as well as issues 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 and 58. No one has any idea what’s going to happen payment wise. We’re supposed to get 4 issues a month, not 7. There are no letters explaining anything, no forms to update bank details so the new supplier can take money from us, and no money has been taken from anyone’s accounts. The sender is listed on the post bag as
Under the mailing label is the old Bissett address. So some are wondering if Eaglemoss found Bissett’s last batch of orders that were never sent and have posted them off to us to keep us quiet while they get back up to speed with us all.
Hi there
Thank you for your email.
I do apologise. As some of you are aware our Australian company has informed us that it has unfortunately ceased trading, which means that we have been unable to send out any issues recently. We are working very hard to ensure that normal service is resumed as swiftly as possible. This will take a little time to implement the necessary arrangements.
Rest assured that all subscriber information is secure and that no money has been nor will be taken for issues that have not been dispatched. We will keep you updated on progress and hope to be fully operational once again as soon as possible.
If there is anything else we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Yes I received a delivery today as well of
Marvel Movie Collection. I had received 3 emails from Eaglemoss indicating that action was under way with my 3 subscriptions. I rang Eaglemoss about this thinking they had acted already. However they know nothing about the delivery nor can they supply the name of their new Australian fulfillment partner. However my Batman GN subscription is underway.
My question about today’s delivery is will I be charged for the items? I can’t see how given Bissett Magazines’ situation.
Thanks to all those keeping this thread updated as the situation continues. Hopefully the subscriptions will continue to be filled, but if anyone has concerns we’re happy to assist where possible.
DeAgnostini added this note to their Facebook page yesterday, including their new customer service contact details for those looking for more info about subscriptions from this imprint.
I assume you mean their own gift cards? Given DSE’s slow and pre-announced demise, I am surprised anyone would buy one of their gift cards. (I got some bargain electronics and a whole pile of batteries.)
Surely this is illegal! Trading while insolvent, etc.
A search of the Australian Business Register indicates that all ‘Bissett Magazine’-titled entities are ‘Active’ as at 10 August 2018, 11:26pm. ASIC, on the other hand, states that BISSETT MAGAZINE SERVICE PTY. LIMITED, ABN 15 006 999 944, is under external administration. Its most recent documents, including a Report as to Affairs By Directors and Information About Company’s Affairs And List of Creditors were lodged today 10 August.
Eaglemoss has just confirmed to someone that they will be handling subscriptions from their end from now on. These are the screenshots that were posted to one of the Facebook groups a few minutes ago.
Dick Smith did a pre-christmas sale offering their own Dick Smith gift cards at a discounted price. At this stage it was not public knowledge that they were about to go belly up and a lot of people who purchased large quantities of the cards to give away as Christmas gifts, or to save for a rainy day to get something later on ended up with nothing as the gift cards were the first thing to be made void by the administrators when they announced that the company would be having a closing down sale to get rid of the rest of the existing stock.
With regards to Bissett charging in advance for backorders, this was not something that they’d ever done before. Bissett’s policy was to send goods out first and then charge for them after Australia Post had informed them that they had been delivered. The staff might not have been aware of the problems going on within the company, but someone was being told all of a sudden to start taking money first instead of waiting for backorders to actually arrive from the UK. Even some new subscribers were charged immediately, and that again was not the common practice for Bissett. Someone high up was desperate to pay for expenses and decided the best way to do this was to start taking money in advance for everything. So there are some people who got burnt in the process of Bissett’s collapse. Someone knew this was going on and they were keeping their woirkers, their subscribers, and even the UK publishing companies in the dark about it all.
