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Eaglemoss Hero Collector Build The Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Model Subscription - Possibly Canceled!!!

 By Paul Rudoff on Jul. 31, 2022 at 11:50 PM , Categories: Toys , Tags:
Image

For a year and a half (from Apr. 18, 2020 to Nov. 17, 2021) I have been reviewing the "Build The Ghostbusters Ecto-1" model subscription from Eaglemoss, through their Hero Collector imprint. Recent events have transpired that seem to indicate that the model subscription has been canceled. Join me as I look into this...

ALL UPDATES LISTED AT THE BOTTOM.
I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU KEEP TABS ON THIS MYPARTWORKS PAGE FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

It all started on January 27, 2020 when I received an e-mail from Jeffrey To, Digital Marketing Manager of Eaglemoss, looking to set up a "sponsorship opportunity" with me to cover the model subscription on Spook Central.
Date: January 27, 2020
Subject: Sponsorship Opportunity with Spook Central
From: Jeffrey To

Hi,

My name is Jeffrey To, and I'm reaching out on behalf of Eaglemoss Collections. If you're not familiar with us, Eaglemoss is a NYC subsidiary of global publisher Eaglemoss Publications Ltd. headquartered in the UK. For over 35 years, Eaglemoss has been a leader in manufacturing and marketing licensed collectibles based on popular comics, TV show, movie and pop culture properties, including Marvel, DC, Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Disney, and The Lord of the Rings.

We officially launched our Ghostbusters ECTO-1 buildup in the US earlier this month.

The model was unveiled at the Fan Fest at the Sony Lot in LA last June: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4WjgElKrEE

It made its debut at NYCC in October where we started taking pre-orders: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z6qBro429c

It was also vetted by Dan Aykroyd himself ;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uESpfmDEQOM

The model is all die-cast, 1:8 scale and builds up over time (subscription program). Each month, subscribers get the model parts and magazine instructions delivered straight to their door, plus a range of free gifts such as a replica license plate, an ECTO-1 cap and T-Shirt and much more!

At our office, we're big fans of Spook Central, and I just wanted to reach out to see if you were interested in linking up for a sponsorship or promotional opportunity with you so that we can share our amazing product and love of the movie with some of your fans!

If you are interested I would like to direct your response to Macha at [e-mail address redacted] who'll be able to speak more in depth about the opportunity.

Jeffrey To
Digital Marketing Manager
EAGLEMOSS COLLECTIONS US
I was absolutely THRILLED with this, and immediately sent Jeffrey and Macha a positive reply. I received the introductory package in April 2020. For the most part, everything went well for 18 months. I wouldn't say that it all went smoothly, though. I had them "accelerate" my subscription so that I would receive three months worth of magazines (3 books) and parts (12 sets) every month, but all that did was get me three months worth of stuff every three months, instead of one months worth of stuff every month.
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2020 09:25:17 +0000
Subject: Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Subscription
From: Customer Service US (customerservice@eaglemoss.com)

Hi Paul

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Your quantity [has been increased] from 4 to 12 as you requested.

Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,
Dawn P
Eaglemoss Customer Service
1-800-261-6898
Monday – Sunday 8am to 10pm EST
I actually kept a record of all of the packages I received in 2021.

SENT RECEIVED CONTENTS
1/24/2021 2/1/2021 Mags 13-15, Parts 43-54
4/24/2021 5/24 & 6/2/2021 Mags 16-18 (5/24), Parts 55-66 (6/2)
5/7/2021 5/12/2021 Mags 19-21, Parts 67-78
6/??/2021 6/16/2021 Parts 57, 58, 59
(was missing from 6/2 pkg)
7/13/2021 7/15/2021 Mags 22-24, Parts 79-90
10/29/2021 10/30/2021 Mags 25-27, Parts 91-102

As you can see, the last package I received was on the day before Halloween last year (how appropriate), which brought me up to magazine #27 and car part set #102. When this all began, my contact at Eaglemoss told me that the model will be complete in "141 issues". Unfortunately, Eaglemoss has a pretty crappy way of labeling these things. They consider the parts as "issues" and not the magazines. I think there is a total of 36 magazines and 141 car part sets, but I never got a clear and definitive answer about that.

What I do know that is as of June 29, 2021, magazine #27 was the latest that they had produced, but they intended to produce more (probably up to #36). Laure de Bustamante at Eaglemoss provided me with PDFs of every issue. (Spook Central VIPS may get copies later this year if they are still out-of-print by then.) I asked her, "Is #27 the last issue, or just the last issue that's been produced so far? What will the last magazine issue be numbered?" Her reply was, "No, we will have more issues but they don't exist yet. Let me know when you need those and I will send it to you."

After October 2021, things were whisper quiet on the Eaglemoss front for a few months. Then THEY sent me an e-mail out of the clear blue! At the beginning of February 2022, I received this promising missive.
Date: 09 Feb 2022 19:25:23 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Important information regarding your Build the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Collection
From: Die-Cast Club (noreply@email-eaglemoss.com)

Image

Hi PAUL

Exciting news from Eaglemoss!

Based on the recent feedback from customers globally, we have made some important decisions that will have a positive impact for all our customers.

We have been facing some challenges on dispatching stock on a regular basis and for that apologize. Without going into all the nitty gritty, we are excited to announce that Eaglemoss has partnered with a new fulfillment center in the US, that we feel will provide a better service than experienced in the last few months.

Image

However, as we are transitioning to this new warehouse, we expect some delays in the coming months on your current collection Build the Ghostbusters Ecto-1. To minimize this impact to you, you next shipments will be sent twice a month (where stock is available) rather than once every month. This way, any future delays will be offset, and you will be able to continue your amazing collection as quickly as possible. Note that this change of frequency is temporary: you will resume at the chosen pace as soon as we complete the warehouse move.

If you do not wish to increase the frequency of your next few shipments, just let us know by Tuesday 02/15 - 11:59 (EST) by following this link: en-us.eaglemoss.com/optout and we will do the rest.

Please note, if you already have shipments that are either one- or two-weeks apart there is no need to take any action.

Once again, we are incredibly excited about this move and as a company we continually strive to make improvements wherever we can for the benefit of our customers.

With best wishes,

- The Eaglemoss Team
WOW! Instead of getting three months worth of stuff every three months, my subscription would be even MORE accelerated to TWO packages a month! That was fantastic news. Of course, my first thought was, "How would this work out with an 'accelerated' subscription?" It wouldn't matter, as I never received any further packages from Eaglemoss, whether two a month, one a month, or half a month. By the end of March 2022, I decided to e-mail Customer Service to find out what was going on. This was the reply I received.
Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2022 08:45:14 +0000
Subject: Re: Important information regarding your Build the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Collection
From: Customer Service US (customerservice@eaglemoss.com)

Thank you for reaching out to us.

Unfortunately, one or more items to be included in your next shipment is currently out of stock and your account is on backorder. Your next shipment is currently pending and will be sent as soon as the out-of-stock item or items return in stock.

I apologize for the inconvenience. Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,
Jasmin
Eaglemoss US
1-800-261-6898
Monday-Saturday 8am to 8pm CST
This was not the first time I got this generic "out of stock/backorder" reply. It's actually code for, "We have not yet manufactured the next parts in your subscription." Foolish me for thinking that Eaglemoss would have manufactured magazines #28+ and car part sets #103+ in the 9 months since I e-mailed Laure in June 2021. I realize the pandemic greatly impacted their business, but by early 2022, they should have gotten their shit together - especially after sending out that mass "exciting news" e-mail at the beginning of February.

A few more months would pass and there was nothing more. Around July 10, 2022, I sent an e-mail to Laure, and got an auto-reply back saying that she had left the company. I then sent an e-mail to Macha Sabarly, my main contact at Eaglemoss, but did not hear back. Then this was posted to Ghostbusters News on July 12th:
Ghostbusters Ecto-1 build possibly in jeopardy as Eaglemoss files for administration
July 12, 2022

Two years ago this month, we kicked off our build of Eaglemoss' 1:8 scale Ghostbusters Ecto-1, and since that time, we've released a total of 38 videos chronicling the rather impressive model.

It's been a while since we released our last build video, five months in fact, and while this stems from what we've been told were numerous production delays, today, we've received what could be some rather unsettling news regarding the future of the Ecto-1 build and Eaglemoss as a whole.

According to a business watchlist, Eaglemoss LTD, also known as Hero Collector, has reportedly filed a Notice of Intention to appoint an administrator.

Since the news began to spread, fans have reported that Eaglemoss' phone lines are down, all eBay listings being deleted, and region-specific customer service Facebook pages being removed.

"Eaglemoss is one of the world's biggest names in licensed collectibles, marketing and distributing more than 150 collections in more than 30 markets." Greg Connell, Managing Director of InfolinkGazette said, "revenue peaked at £68 million but had fallen to £31.6 million in the last filed accounts."

You're likely wondering what does this exactly mean? At this time, not much is known outside of the filing. While it's safe to say that any pieces still needed to build various models are likely in limbo, administration does not necessarily mean this is the end, as there is a chance that another company could step in and take ownership, fulfilling pre-existing orders and build series.

We here at Ghostbusters News would like to offer our well wishes to all Eaglemoss employees in this time of uncertainty.
ThePopInsider's article further informs that Eaglemoss "had voluntarily filed for administration in the UK, the equivalent of bankruptcy in the U.S. While filing for bankruptcy doesn't always mean that a company is done for good (it could reorganize or be purchased), it doesn't look good for Eaglemoss."

Well, now I know why I didn't get a response from Macha to my e-mail a few days earlier. Additional e-mails to Macha, and every other contact I had at Eaglemoss, has either gone unanswered or has bounced back as "no address found".

The Eaglemoss website, Facebook page, and USA Customer Service Facebook page have all been taken down. The Eaglemoss and Hero Collector Twitter accounts are both still up, but there are no posts since before this news broke. I have not tried calling them (1-800-261-6898, Monday - Sunday 8am to 10pm EST), but if Ghostbusters News reports that their phone lines are down, I don't have a reason to try. Eaglemoss Limited's UK head office is located at Premier Place, 2 & A Half Devonshire Square, EC2M 4UJ, London, UK (as per the info at the bottom of some e-mails). Feel free to write them a physical letter, if you desire.

The most insulting thing about all of this is that Eaglemoss did not have the respect for its customers to send out a mass e-mail to alert them to the situation, as they did back in February when they were planning on moving to a new warehouse. Thankfully, I didn't pay one single cent for anything that Eaglemoss sent me. I feel really bad for everyone who DID pay for this. This is why this piecemeal business model was a bad idea from the get-go. They were producing the parts as they went along, when they shouldn't have begun offering it for sale until they had it all made and ready to go - with an option to buy it all at once. On top of that, the customers have to put the product together themselves! Produce the product piece by piece over time, keep manufacturing costs low by not having to assemble the product in a factory, and charge the customer extremely high prices by billing them in installments. It's an ingenious scam!

In addition to the magazines and car parts, I also received several gift items that come with the subscription: two binders, an Ecto-1 license plate replica, an Ecto-1 baseball cap, a 12"x16" art print of Brian Williamson's "Here to Save the World" (which was used as the cover artwork for the Ghostbusters: The Inside Story hardcover book), tiny Proton Packs (that I need to assemble), and a display base for the now-uncompletable model. I never received the Ecto-1 t-shirt or the "crystal case and lighting kit" (which is the clear plastic that sits atop the base). I am eternally grateful to Eaglemoss for sending me all of these items and the 27 magazines.

My original plan was to wait until I had all of the car parts, and then post a daily photographic build report for an entire month taking my readers through the process from start to finish. Now I'm stuck with over 100 sealed car parts sitting in several large boxes in my attic that will probably end up in the trash. That makes me a sad panda :-(

UPDATE - AUGUST 10, 2022
It has been reported by MarvelPhx of My Partworks, who has done a great job chronicling everything that has happened with Eaglemoss, that PCT (Premium Collectibles & Trading) had bought out the IPs, customer databases, and web domains for the majority of Eaglemoss build-up collections. PCT is already the manufacturer of parts for various Eaglemoss builds, including the Back to the Future DeLorean, Ghostbusters Ecto-1, U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, and more. As of August 10th, MarvelPhx reports that PCT have confirmed their acquisition of some of the Eaglemoss build-up partwork assets. However, they said "At this moment, the transaction covers Europe, but not USA. We are still working on a solution for USA." They also ask for patience as they will be contacting all subscribers soon. I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU KEEP TABS ON THIS MYPARTWORKS PAGE FOR FURTHER UPDATES.

4 comments

Comment from: Michael Pusztay [Visitor]  

I also have been doing this model. The first year was great.
I was lucky enough to get to 33/34 before they took a crap.
So I have all of the car.
I’m currently printing the roof rack at home.
I just have to say overall I can’t believe that a company like this has not had the decency to alert the customers. Die hard fans like us putting a parts model together for 2 years now, faithfully paying each time even for the garbage extras! And we get nothing. No warning no alert no communication.
Absolutely just about the nastiest thing you can do. Leave us in the dark and just remove everything. I’ve never seen something like this before. I’m still in disbelief that a company can do this. There’s nothing to be done. I’m sure somewhere down the line someone will try this again. Maybe they’ll get it right. Til then I’ll be 3d printing my last parts and I’m so sorry for the fans that didn’t get to complete at least the car.

Aug. 1, 2022 @ 20:10
Comment from: [Member]

Hi Michael

Wait a minute… Are you telling me that Eaglemoss actually produced magazines #28 through #33, with car parts #103 through #126???

- Paul

Aug. 1, 2022 @ 22:06
Comment from: Michael Pusztay [Visitor]

Yes they did. I’m sorry you didn’t get them. The only way I got them was contacting support every week and tracking my shipments and parts.

Many times they weren’t even going to give me anything. Til I demanded a shipping date and amount that was coming out of my card. I just kept doing it. And I was so close to getting the gurney and light bars. 3 weeks they refused to take my money. I kept calling. They wouldn’t send me anything. And yeah I knew something was up. That was back around June.

Aug. 2, 2022 @ 14:34
Comment from: [Member]

Damn. Good on you for being so demanding. You shouldn’t have needed to be, but it’s good that you did. Now I wish that I wasn’t so patient with Eaglemoss. - Paul

Aug. 2, 2022 @ 14:41

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