Post from Arahom/ARH

[Valkyrie]

Except the "bimbos" are supposedly outselling everything else.

[ambasah]

he needs to hire someone to do the talking for the company. I get his passion but it is all coming out wrong. blaming others for YOUR issues is never a good approach.

[built2shred]

Originally Posted by zeus

Ok so we are at fault if ARH is doing bad or can't provide quality styrofoam.It's our fault if their statues don't sell.Make the statues the fans and collectors want and not what Arahom wants and feels he needs to make.If most are screaming for the greek gods and barbarian/warriors that they built their company with, don't give us bimbos cause you (ARH) likes to make.

Hey I like Bimbos.....

I'm new to ARH and have two pre-orders with them, Ape hand with the chick in it and Tarzan vs the Gorilla, can't wait to get them....

As for the post, I think a lot of customers just assume all statue companies are huge and are cutting corners to stuff their pockets with wads of cash.... Where the truth is more in the lines of them just barely getting by....

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by ambasah

he needs to hire someone to do the talking for the company. I get his passion but it is all coming out wrong. blaming others for YOUR issues is never a good approach.

This has been going on for a very long time. If he hadn't figured it out by now he never will.

[Remember Me?]

I have no problem with ARH, but I just like company that keeps breaking their promise. ARH promised to improve the foam back in 2013. It's 2016 and they are still using the same foam.

[dao2]

Originally Posted by zeus

Right now, we will finally start delivering the Frazetta line we produced in 2014 and 2015, and instead of being happy, I have already seen some of you crucifying us because we are using the same foam again as if we were cheaters, liars and enemies!

Originally Posted by ReTardist

You guys just have no idea how hard Arahom works. ARH is his company. It's everything he has. So to think he would purposely try to sell a cheap product is ridiculous. On the contrary, he does everything he can to make each statue the best that it can be. Various circumstances often make this a monumental challenge. One thing I can promise all of you, after working one on one with Arahom for a year and a half... I know how hard he works and how passionately he strives to do the best he can.

I haven't complained about it before now but I do indeed feel lied to about the packaging, though I expected/saw it coming. We were told we were getting the best with the frazetta stuff. We obviously aren't however essentially the only way we know this is because of the absolute silence about it. Is it too much to ask to say you aren't going to do it? Stuff changes, it sucks.

But saying you're going to do something and then keeping silent about it until it ships and then complaining about people complaining is just not the right way to go about it imo :|

Originally Posted by Remember Me?

I have no problem with ARH, but I just like company that keeps breaking their promise. ARH promised to improve the foam back in 2013. It's 2016 and they are still using the same foam.

They did change the foam though iirc, it's just not molded foam. It's still a better quality foam. Not the black epe foam though no :|

[yeek]

Originally Posted by dao2

I haven't complained about it before now but I do indeed feel lied to about the packaging, though I expected/saw it coming. We were told we were getting the best with the frazetta stuff. We obviously aren't however essentially the only way we know this is because of the absolute silence about it. Is it too much to ask to say you aren't going to do it? Stuff changes, it sucks.

But saying you're going to do something and then keeping silent about it until it ships and then complaining about people complaining is just not the right way to go about it imo :|

Exactly. Unforeseen issues arise all the time but be transparent about it. Silence or evasion only leads to mistrust down the road.

[Remember Me?]

Originally Posted by dao2

They did change the foam though iirc, it's just not molded foam. It's still a better quality foam. Not the black epe foam though no :|

My first ARH statue was the "Green" Medusa, which I was so scared to put any pressure on the foam. ARH promised they will improve on the foam. Then I bought the Minotaur and Ares...guess what, it was the same foam. The "Foam walls" separating the components\parts were breaking apart. I had to use a stack of napkins to do the job. Even till this day, I am very afraid of taking those ARH statues out of the box. Each time I take them out of the boxes, those foams keep crumbling.

[COI]

Originally Posted by ReTardist

You guys just have no idea how hard Arahom works. ARH is his company. It's everything he has. So to think he would purposely try to sell a cheap product is ridiculous. On the contrary, he does everything he can to make each statue the best that it can be. Various circumstances often make this a monumental challenge. One thing I can promise all of you, after working one on one with Arahom for a year and a half... I know how hard he works and how passionately he strives to do the best he can.

I can appreciate how hard he works and how hard it is, despite all the hard work, to see criticism, especially on the internet where people like to make concrete assertions with little to no actual facts to back up those assertions.

However, because of his passion and because of how hard he works, he's looking at this from a very one-sided perspective, and that happens to be his side as an artist and producer. What rubs me the wrong way is this idea that he is doing something selfless for collectors, and that collectors should somehow just be happy that we get to own the fruits of this hard labor. There is certainly some truth to that, but it's a two-way street. People enter into a transaction for mutual benefit. I'm spending $800+ to get Death Dealer because I want what I'm being shown, and I will indeed be happy if I can get it; on the other side of the coin, Arahom has to deliver. It's not the job of the collector to do the work to understand the manufacturing process; in the same way that a patron of a restaurant doesn't need to understand how his food his made; the customer's end is to pay for a product, and the seller's end is to provide what is paid for, without excuses. Period. And if you can't provide something that was promised, you need to be clear about why, and not get defensive and ESPECIALLY not place the blame on your customers for being disappointed.

This doesn't take away from the fact that he's working hard, and that he genuinely wants to provide the best products and service he's capable of, but he really needs to stop telling customers who've been waiting 2 years and have paid money upfront what THEY'RE doing wrong. Just the fact that he takes the position that customers benefit the most from all this, as if the effort involved in making the money and handing it over to Arahom in good faith represents no sacrifice on our part, demonstrates an adversarial relationship with his customers that simply won't be good for anyone involved, and for the long term prospects of ARH. We pay to get statues we love, and he works for that money, which allows him to do what he loves for a living. That's mutual benefit, and both sides have to see that benefit to do business successfully.

Just my two cents. I wish all of you guys the best of luck, and I look forward to giving you my money.

[SAB380]

Wow, don't really know what to make of that post.
Passion is great but sometimes passionate people need a PR/customer service appointee to translate what they are saying and perhaps filter out some of the wilder statements.