Forum Novelties

The issue with ** *** ismost unfortunate;First and foremost we takefull responsibility for the failings of *** *** *** to meet ourcustomers’ requirementsAnything short is unacceptable. Wemanufacture all our merchandise in China and from order placement to completedmanufacturing
to arrival in our facility can take 3-months.Theitems ** *** purchased were a new line of goods we started to produce inThat was based upon key accounts in this specialized industry (Mums aredecorative item almost exclusively made and sold in Texas)These are highly seasonal items with a short selling period Because of theseasonal nature and a very limited marketThe Mum items we carry are verycontrolled and we do not wish to carry inventory overMost of what was soldwas custom orders for major distributor which came in and went right out. All of which supply ** ***.The order we received from ** *** came to us late in the season and we werealready sold out of 95% of that seasonal Mum inventoryThis was explained tothe folks at ** and they were fine with it in 2014. The current issue of our failing was a direct result of *** being sold to ForumNoveltiesThere are numerous variables which caused this “perfect storm” of problems; None of which we offeras an excuse Here again, we take full responsibility for our failingsOn March ** our inventory was taken in anticipation for the sale of our companyAll of our stock was frozen and being prepared to beshipped to the new warehouse location. Closing occurred on April * at which time it took weeks to transferthe warehouse contents to its new home. We went from a hand picking order predation to a fully automated scanningsystemNew coding, item #’s and protocols were created as well allocation ofthe stock into various new areas Sorting out our inventory into their system took 4-weeks; with all newpersonal who had no knowledge of this new line. Packing was also changed from loose items in bulk boxes to inner packs of 1dozen pieces per carton. The folks at ** were not the only customer with grievances during this horrifictransition periodWe addressed each and every one and resolved them all to ourcustomers satisfaction What made the ** *** case different was a very confrontational encounter withtheir *** *** ***. This women spoke to different from our company bullying each and every one.With each and every one there was great conflict to the point of telling ourcustomer service/director of operations to keep quite while she was attemptingto address and work out the problemsOne area which ** *** was out of control was the issue of newinner packs she would not accept minimum order quantity in this new system of 1dozen she insisted 4 pieces and would hear nothing less than what shewantedThe last action occurred on Friday 06/**/at about 4:30pm EST atwhich time she insisted the order shipped that day; which was simplyimpossible This woman wasout of control and berated every one she spoke with even myself. SKD was a family business dating back tostarted by my great grandfather andnow generation later of my children are in our businessWe would not havebeen around for years if we didn’t make a company policy and life policy of“treating people the way would like to be treated”Customer service is what wedo and we are perceived by everyone in our industry as being honorable businesspeople who go out of their way to do the right thing and we doThis perfect storm created the climate where this uncommon issue surfacedIt is with theutmost regret that we own up to a unhappy customer who used circumstancesalong with the difficult transition to lodge a complaintOur new parentcompany is a great organization with the ethical values as SKD otherwise wewouldn’t have joined this new family In hindsight I look back and ask myself what could we have differently? Sadly Itruly I just don’t knowWe couldn’t have shipped pieces instead of andthat order couldn’t have been shipped out at 4:30pm on a Friday *** *** *** ***

The issue with [redacted] ismost unfortunate;First and foremost we takefull responsibility for the failings of [redacted] to meet ourcustomers’ requirements. Anything short is unacceptable.  Wemanufacture all our merchandise in China and from order placement to...

completedmanufacturing to arrival in our facility can take 3-4 months.Theitems [redacted] purchased were a new line of goods we started to produce in2014. That was based upon key accounts in this specialized industry (Mums aredecorative item almost exclusively made and sold in Texas). These are highly seasonal items with a short selling period.  Because of theseasonal nature and a very limited market. The Mum items we carry are verycontrolled and we do not wish to carry inventory over. Most of what was soldwas custom orders for major distributor which came in and went right out. All of which supply [redacted].The order we received from [redacted] came to us late in the season and we werealready sold out of 95% of that seasonal Mum inventory. This was explained tothe folks at ** and they were fine with it in 2014. The current issue of our failing was a direct result of [redacted] being sold to ForumNovelties. There are numerous variables which caused this “perfect storm” of problems; None of which we offeras an excuse.  Here again, we take full responsibility for our failings. 1 On March ** 2015 our inventory was taken in anticipation for the sale of our company. All of our stock was frozen and being prepared to beshipped to the new warehouse location.           2 Closing occurred on April  * at which time it took 4 weeks to transferthe warehouse contents to its new home.           3 We went from a hand picking order predation to a fully automated scanningsystem. New coding, item #’s and protocols were created as well allocation ofthe stock into various new areas.            4 Sorting out our inventory into their system took 4-6 weeks; with all newpersonal who had no knowledge of this new line.           5 Packing was also changed from loose items in bulk boxes to inner packs of 1dozen pieces per carton. The folks at ** were not the only customer with grievances during this horrifictransition period. We addressed each and every one and resolved them all to ourcustomers satisfaction.  What made the [redacted] case different was a very confrontational encounter withtheir [redacted]. This women spoke to 4 different from our company bullying each and every one.With each and every one there was great conflict to the point of telling ourcustomer service/director of operations to keep quite while she was attemptingto address and work out the problems. One area which [redacted] was out of control was the issue of newinner packs she would not accept minimum order quantity in this new system of 1dozen she insisted 4  pieces and would hear nothing less than what shewanted. The last action occurred on Friday 06/**/15 at about 4:30pm EST atwhich time she insisted  the order shipped that day; which was simplyimpossible.   This woman wasout of control and berated every one she spoke with even myself. SKD was a family business dating back to1937 started by my great grandfather andnow 5 generation later 2 of my children are in our business. We would not havebeen around for 78 years if we didn’t make a company policy and life policy of“treating people the way would like to be treated”. Customer service is what wedo and we are perceived by everyone in our industry as being honorable businesspeople who go out of their way to do the right thing and we do. This perfect storm created the climate where this uncommon issue surfaced. It is with theutmost regret that we own up to a unhappy customer who used 2014 circumstancesalong with the difficult transition to lodge a complaint. Our new parentcompany is a great organization with the ethical values as SKD otherwise wewouldn’t have joined this new family.  In hindsight I look back and ask myself what could we have differently? Sadly Itruly I just don’t know. We couldn’t have shipped 4 pieces instead of 12 andthat order couldn’t have been shipped out at 4:30pm on a Friday.    [redacted].

Review: This company ([redacted]) contacted our company in 2014. We placed and order in 2014 and got the run around for months, to the point we canceled our order. We are a season based company and our peak season had passed for 2014 so we told them we would get back in touch with them earlier in the year during 2015 in hopes that they could meet our order demands. We were told it would be no problem in 2015. So we did just that. This order was placed over 3 months ago and we were told the entire order totaling almost $1700 US would ship then end of may 2015. Then we were told it would ship the first week of June 2015. Well we are in the first week of June and I reached out to [redacted] to get an update and was told they were lacking over 65% of our to compete the order and it would be September before we received the rest of the order. I have since canceled the order in its entirety as our peak season is from July-October. Getting an order at the end of September will be useless to our company and our organization. This was explained back in 2014 and we were assured it would be no issue in 2015. We were given several different excuses today. The company was bought out by Forum Novelties in 2014 and this was a reason for the 2014 situation. 2015 situation was lack of allocating our order apparently, and lack of communicating with our company after the order was placed. no communicating regarding reason for delay's on the order. When I expressed my frustration to [redacted] today I was hung up on 4 separate times. I am the customer here, how do you hang up on your customer you have refused to communicate their order status accurately for 3 months now??? Also order terms were changed today while I was on the phone to which I got the exploitation in a screaming manner "its a different company, different rules" all of which would have been perfectly fine had this been communicated to us. You dont yell at customers, you dont hang up on customers and you dont change their terms the day you proceed to take paym.Desired Settlement: I would like to be contacted by a member of management and given a professional explanation as to why there was ZERO communication regarding the delay in the order. Why the order was not allocated, and why it is ok to reach out to a company and ask for their business and then treat them like this on 2 separate occasions with 2 separate orders.

Business

Response:

The issue with [redacted] ismost unfortunate;First and foremost we takefull responsibility for the failings of [redacted] to meet ourcustomers’ requirements. Anything short is unacceptable. Wemanufacture all our merchandise in China and from order placement to completedmanufacturing to arrival in our facility can take 3-4 months.Theitems [redacted] purchased were a new line of goods we started to produce in2014. That was based upon key accounts in this specialized industry (Mums aredecorative item almost exclusively made and sold in Texas). These are highly seasonal items with a short selling period. Because of theseasonal nature and a very limited market. The Mum items we carry are verycontrolled and we do not wish to carry inventory over. Most of what was soldwas custom orders for major distributor which came in and went right out. All of which supply [redacted].The order we received from [redacted] came to us late in the season and we werealready sold out of 95% of that seasonal Mum inventory. This was explained tothe folks at ** and they were fine with it in 2014. The current issue of our failing was a direct result of [redacted] being sold to ForumNovelties. There are numerous variables which caused this “perfect storm” of problems; None of which we offeras an excuse. Here again, we take full responsibility for our failings. 1 On March ** 2015 our inventory was taken in anticipation for the sale of our company. All of our stock was frozen and being prepared to beshipped to the new warehouse location. 2 Closing occurred on April * at which time it took 4 weeks to transferthe warehouse contents to its new home. 3 We went from a hand picking order predation to a fully automated scanningsystem. New coding, item #’s and protocols were created as well allocation ofthe stock into various new areas. 4 Sorting out our inventory into their system took 4-6 weeks; with all newpersonal who had no knowledge of this new line. 5 Packing was also changed from loose items in bulk boxes to inner packs of 1dozen pieces per carton. The folks at ** were not the only customer with grievances during this horrifictransition period. We addressed each and every one and resolved them all to ourcustomers satisfaction. What made the [redacted] case different was a very confrontational encounter withtheir [redacted]. This women spoke to 4 different from our company bullying each and every one.With each and every one there was great conflict to the point of telling ourcustomer service/director of operations to keep quite while she was attemptingto address and work out the problems. One area which [redacted] was out of control was the issue of newinner packs she would not accept minimum order quantity in this new system of 1dozen she insisted 4 pieces and would hear nothing less than what shewanted. The last action occurred on Friday 06/**/15 at about 4:30pm EST atwhich time she insisted the order shipped that day; which was simplyimpossible. This woman wasout of control and berated every one she spoke with even myself. SKD was a family business dating back to1937 started by my great grandfather andnow 5 generation later 2 of my children are in our business. We would not havebeen around for 78 years if we didn’t make a company policy and life policy of“treating people the way would like to be treated”. Customer service is what wedo and we are perceived by everyone in our industry as being honorable businesspeople who go out of their way to do the right thing and we do. This perfect storm created the climate where this uncommon issue surfaced. It is with theutmost regret that we own up to a unhappy customer who used 2014 circumstancesalong with the difficult transition to lodge a complaint. Our new parentcompany is a great organization with the ethical values as SKD otherwise wewouldn’t have joined this new family. In hindsight I look back and ask myself what could we have differently? Sadly Itruly I just don’t know. We couldn’t have shipped 4 pieces instead of 12 andthat order couldn’t have been shipped out at 4:30pm on a Friday. [redacted].