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29/06/09
Website updates and emails
As a family run business,
we have recently suffered a personal loss involving a valued member of
the Replica Miniatures team. This has obviously affected our personal
lives and how we run our business.
At present, we are up to
date on the shipping of all complete orders but the website has suffered
from a lack of updates since Thursday the 18th of June and we are also
behind in answering some emails.
We would respectively ask for your understanding at what has been a
difficult time for us and we hope to be back up to date or near by the
weekend. To those who have been affected by these circumstances, we can
only offer our apologies and we hope that you can understand the
situation.
28/05/09
Contact Address
It has recently been
brought to our attention that our manual order form has been showing a
cached (old) webpage with incorrect contact address details, rather than
the up to date one with the correct details. We have now resolved this
issue and offer our apologies for any inconvenience that this may have
caused.
16/05/09
New Pricing Structure
Recently there has been a significant increase in trade prices
right across the board and these rises not only affect us but also you,
the valued customer.
Although we have always offered a standard policy of 10% off on
the majority of models that we sell and not just on pre orders like
similar websites and those that want a membership fee for the privilege.
We realise everybody needs to monitor their financial situation just as
we do and that there is a need for change.
We have therefore been reviewing our prices and those of our
competitors and believe that we can offer back more than we currently do
and without the enticer discounts offered by others.
As collectors ourselves as well as retailers, we believe that we
can contribute back to our customers and the hobby.
During our pricing research, it is clear that some web based
retailers in the UK and their quoted prices are of a somewhat dubious
nature, with figures that do not add up after taxes, business costs etc,
as well as non standard RRP’s. We will therefore not be matching prices
to compete with this kind of method of sale.
As from late April, we have been advertising all new release
models at even lower prices with the actual RRP’s advertised (RRP’s
based on the suppliers data) and these prices will remain stable, rather
than just be available on pre orders and increase once a product is on
general release.
We will also continue to include Royal Mail Recorded Delivery
postage as standard on all UK customer orders, adding that extra peace
of mind and minimising the possibility of loss.
24/04/09 JC WINGS MARCH RELEASE
UPDATE
We are now in receipt of the 1/200 Aeroflot Tu-154M models and the 1/400
Air Baltic, Fokker 50 models. All outstanding orders for these have been
dispatched today and should arrive with our customers shortly. Having
shipped these orders, our stock of these models is now very limited. At
this time, we are still awaiting delivery of the 1/400 Air France Fokker
70 models and we hope to have these in stock and shipped soon.
Further to our statement of the 22/04/09, regarding a similar website A.C
and their previously publicised comments relating to our stocks of these
models.
It is of note that as of today, they have totally removed all traces of
their comments without any detailed explanation to their own customers
or site viewers, other than
"This
has been resolved and all our stock is ok".
Even
though they have claimed there was not an issue,
we
would take this statement to mean they have checked their stock and
contacted their customers for no reason at all or they have checked
their facts and discovered they are wrong?
We believe this is what is called the ostrich effect or the burying of
heads in the sand.
Without having checked with the distributor, who was made aware of the
comments. We can only ascertain that A.C have carried out their so
called investigation and discovered that their statement was not only
unfounded but also liable, hence their current comment that "This has
been resolved and all our stock is ok"!
In the future, we would recommend that the owner of A.C refrain from
making unfounded accusations at competitor websites and distributors.
Conduct themselves in a more professional manner, whilst checking their
facts first and carry out their own product research prior to
advertisement.
For the record, we do hold a screenshot of the their webpage with their
original statement and shall retain this for future use if needed.
Whilst addressing this situation, we would like to take this opportunity
to apologise on A.C's behalf, for any anxiety or inconvenience their
comments may have caused and we invite Mr W to contact us via email,
with their own comments relating to their protracted statement or to
elaborate on their current one. We would be pleased to publish
any comment from him regarding his actions within this page, although expectation of this is minimal!
22/04/09 JC WINGS MARCH RELEASE
ISSUES REVISITED
It has been brought to our attention that a competitors website is
stating that they doubt our integrity and honesty regarding the previous
comments we have issued relating to quality issues with the March JC
Wings releases.
We have no hesitation in refuting this websites claims and can only
recommend that they check their facts before publicising such material
and not after.
The website in question claims that there was not a problem with any of
the March releases, that they check every model prior to dispatch and
had received no complaints, they then go on to contradict themselves by
further stating "We will
investigate what the problem was, if anything at all with my supplier
and see if they have favoured checking only one retailers stock."
This is a reproduction of their quote with the spelling corrected.
Firstly, if they have not had a problem and carried out their checks as
they state, then why do they need to publicise it? Secondly, if there is
not a problem, why start
their own investigation?
Having carried out our own research on this product prior to UK release, rather
than just advertising them. We became aware of the March release
problems via a number of the aviation related forums which for the
record, we have a love hate relationship with, are often biased but do
sometimes serve their intended purpose.
It is a fact that the US market etc receive their releases earlier than
we do in the UK and following these reports. We specifically asked
that our intended stock was checked for the reported flaws. This was
not a favoured attitude by the distributor and was a direct response to
our own request as a customer purchasing stock! If the competitor
website and its owner have a problem with this, this is down to their
own lack of product research and not that of the distributors or ours.
For the record, we still have customers waiting for their orders from
these releases and it would be somewhat stupid of us to publicise the
issue whilst causing ourselves a possible loss of custom, if there was
not a problem in the first place.
We were also granted permission by the distributor to allow those
customers with outstanding orders, direct email access with them to
verify the situation if they wished to do so.
In future, rather than try to demean and lambast us for being truthful
to our customers, as they have also done previously. We would recommend that
they carry out their own product research rather than make a protected
response, whilst trying to blame others for their own laxed attitude in
regard to the products they sell.
Whilst this competitors website excels at its own self promotion, our
motto has always been that we are not number one, you are.
This means that we always try to put the customer first and
to reiterate
a previous comment within this page. Our business ethic has always been
that we will never knowingly supply a model to a customer that we would
not find acceptable to ourselves, as retailers and collectors.
16/04/09 JC Wings Product Codes For
April Releases
All JC Wings April releases will be
advertised with two different product numbers again as there is another
difference between the European number system and those being used for
the rest of the world. We hope that this will help our global customers
to locate their required product with better efficiency, as with the
earlier JC
Wings releases.
16/04/09 Order Shipments Following
The Easter Break
Following our Easter break, we are
now back up to date with the shipping of all orders. We would like to
thank all of those customers who placed orders throughout the Easter
period, for their patients and understanding.
10/04/09 Phoenix Model
Due to the current financial climate
there are very limited stocks of this range available to UK retailers.
We are now only advertising and accepting orders of this range via Pre
Order. This means that we will not be holding any new stocks of future
releases as from April and will only supply these models upon advanced
procurement. This does not affect any previous releases that we
currently hold and these continue to readily available as advertised.
09/04/09 Easter Break
We will be closed for the shipment of
orders on Friday the 10th of April and Monday the 13th due to the Easter
Bank Holiday period.
09/04/09 JC WINGS MARCH RELEASES
All JC Wings releases for March were
delayed and arrived early April as a shorted delivery with the UK
distributor, we received some of our stock on the 3rd of April and are
still awaiting 3 releases plus a re stock.
This relates to
the 1/200
Aeroflot Tu-154M in old colours, JC2AFL018. The restock of the Aeroflot
Tu-154M in new colours, JC2AFL011 and in 1/400, the Air France Fokker 70
JC4AFR019 and Air Baltic Fokker 50, JC4BTI021. All other releases are
available to buy now.
Unfortunately there has been a case of crossed wires with the
information from the UK distributor and originally the advice was that
these models were not in the original shipment and that more stock was
being air freighted in from America. Today, we have clarified the
situation with them and we can confirm that this was only partially the
case and that more stocks of these models are currently in transit to
the UK.
During early
March, we became aware that there was a large number of reported issues
relating to these releases and at our behest, the UK distributor checked
our intended stock for these flaws and this has resulted in the current
lack of stock that we have available.
Whilst other
UK retailers are advertising the aforementioned models, which they do
have in stock, these are from the current shipment and as all stock
destined for us was visually checked by the distributor, prior to
dispatch. Some of our order within the initial delivery was deemed by
them to be outside of our criteria and we thank them for their
assistance in this matter.
We apologise
to our customers for the inconvenience of this delay but our business
ethic has always been that we will never knowingly supply a model to a
customer that we would not find acceptable to ourselves, as retailers
and collectors. We are now expecting the replacement models next week.
21/03/09 Premier Planes April Price
Increases
Once again, the global cost of
manufacturing has raised its ugly head, forcing suppliers to increase
their prices. We have been advised that as from April, there will be
major trade price increases to the Premier Planes range, by up to 40% on
some models.
Whilst we will endeavour to keep our
prices within our 10% less policy, we will have no option but to
increase our prices from April, on all new ordered stock. However, we
always carry a healthy stock level of these models and until current
stocks are exhausted, our prices will not reflect these increases.
In fairness to Premier Planes, apart
from some recent releases. There have been no price increases within
this range for over three years, so it was inevitable that this would
occur at some point.
16/03/09 Hobby Master Airliners
Aircraft Range
Hopefully,
we shall be introducing the Hobbymaster range of airliner models during
April.
14/03/09 Schabak Model Aircraft
Range
The complete
range of Schabak 1/250 and 1/600 scale model aircraft is now available
to us but we will not be advertising them within the current Replica
Miniatures website. As work progresses on our new website, Aviation
Miniatures. We have decided that we should introduce this range within
this realm as this will reduce the crossover time and the work involved.
If you
should have any enquires regarding, or would like to order a model from
the Schabak range. Please do not hesitate to contact us further.
07/03/09
New Military Aircraft Ranges
We are
introducing two new die cast military aviation model ranges to our
currently offered products.
In 1/200
scale, we have introduced the Hogan Wings M-Series of jet fighter models
and are looking to expand this range further in the near future. In
1/144 scale, we are pleased to introduce the Winged Fighters range.
These detailed die cast models easily compliment the current abundance
of 1/144 military transport models in the form of escorts and chasers or
as background models for personal displays.
12/02/09 Telephone Calls Revisited
Owing to continued business growth
and further expansion, We have now relocated our stock and packaging
areas to two out buildings within our property.
In 2007, we relocated to our present
premises but following substantial rain fall in that year. We discovered
that we had relocated to a flood plain which affected all of the
telecommunication services within the local area.
Because of lessons learnt from that
period, we are not installing a new telephone line to our relocated
workspace. To be able to keep our costs down and to continue to offer
our customers reduced prices, our freephone telephone number has now
been turned over to generally a message only service. This is regularly checked
but is currently causing some problems.
We would ask that when leaving a
message, please speak clearly and slowly when it comes to giving your
name, details of payment and especially telephone numbers. We do
understand that not everybody likes to talk to a machine but unless we
can understand the information supplied, we cannot return your call or
address any problems that may have arisen.
08/02/09 Skymarks February Price
Increases
There has been a price increase
across the whole of the Skymarks range and we will only introduce these
price increases on new releases and re stocks. At present, we have a
healthy stock level of this range and will not be increasing the prices of
our current held stock.
06/02/09
Total Shut Down Of Website In January
During
January, we experienced two total shutdowns of our website which were
caused by bandwidth over use. On both occasions we experienced a large
amount of custom that would not normally be a problem but owing to other
sources using eBay and illegally hot linking to numerous
images on our Replica Miniatures & Aviation Miniatures website, to promote their own sales.
This overloaded our server
and caused the site to crash.
In this instance, it was caused by a
single eBay seller calling themselves skyangel747. This eBay seller
portrays themselves as a legitimate retailer of the products that they
sell by hot linking their images and brand logos to our website and a
number of others.
Ironically, they are also hot linking
to the major manufacturers websites and in doing so, they are increasing
their costs and are adding to the already increasing prices of the
models that the manufactures are trying to sell!
Bandwidth
is bought by and paid for by website owners and hot linking is an
illegal practice that globally, is a prosecutable offence and this makes
skyangel747
nothing more than a criminal that is guilty of theft.
The upshot of skyangel747's actions
were that our server providers had to reset our server and this has
caused us to loose valuable customer purchase emails for the January
period. We are still addressing this issue and hope to have it fully
rectified soon.
We have now blocked all eBay websites
from access to our website via hot linking, so this is a problem that
will not be repeated.
For the record, skyangel747 inserts a
brand logo into a professional looking table within their auctions to
justify their supposed legitimacy but cannot seem to afford their own
image hosting, which says a great deal for a supposed 'Authorised Retailer'.
We have confronted Mr skyangel747 in
an email but their response was that as an authorised retailer, they
were allowed to carry out this type of theft and this was allegedly
condoned by the manufacturers and distributors acting on their behalf!
It
is of note that in their listed auctions, they would
claim that they are located in just about every EU country between the
Nederland's and Italy but there are no confirmed locations or web references!
This includes the manufacturers own lists of official retailers.
This means that anyone purchasing
from them will never know exactly which country this seller is actually
based in or where their purchase is going to come from. The fact that
this eBay seller illegitimately leeches of other companies bought and paid
for bandwidth to make their money, says all you need to know about their
supposed authorised business.
Given their unidentified location and their lack of respect for law. Our advice
to any potential customer considering a purchase via eBay & skyangel747,
is to stay with the legitimate
outlets that are of your normal preference.
FAO skyangel747. Should you
hold a grievance against us for any of the above comments that we have
published on our website and that is now within the public domain. We would love to hear from you or any
legal parties acting on your behalf, but more so. We would like to see
you in a court of law so that we may see justice done for the
illegal and inappropriate actions that you have carried out.
12/08 Our Pricing Structure
It has recently come to our attention
that some of our competitors in the current financial climate are
unhappy with the pricing strategy that we have been using for the last 7
years and have aired their thoughts with some of our suppliers. As
always and through thick and thin, we will continue to run our no
gimmick sales policy and this will not change.
We do not offer club membership,
early bird prices or enticing pre order discounts to try and gain your
custom. We sell our products at up to 10% less than the actual RRP, full
stop. That is 10% on every model and not just the one or your whole
basket.
Our prices have always been based
around the actual recommended retail prices and the difference between us and
that of other retailers is, rather than charge you a yearly fee for this
discount or dangle the proverbial carrot if you pre order before a
certain date. We just simply offer the same competitive pricing that we
always have, in what is a niche market.
We are always monitoring our costs
and are mindful that in the business world, things can change in an
instant. We have never made our prices up as we go along or advertised
RRP'S that are of pure fiction, to justify inflated and under inflated
prices that some other similar companies carry out. What amazes us most
is the fact that we have continually used our 10% less policy and that
they are only now airing their thoughts because of the current economic situation.
To us, it is just simple
bad business sense that using either of these policies, especially in the
current circumstances. Will sooner of later return to haunt. In the case
of overpricing, the customers will shop elsewhere and if you undersell
to the bare minimum of profit, then you will face financial problems.
As an example of the effect that this
has. There was recently one company within the UK offering a
Gemini200 British Airways L1011-500 in 1/200 scale for £57.52. Their
advertised RRP is £62.00. So, are you getting a bargain?
No!
At the old UK VAT rate of 17.5% and
based on the correct formula for that figure. This model would have a
RRP of £59.99 and not £62.00 as quoted. This means that apart from them
creating their own RRP, they are creating a false illusion to their
customers that they are actually making a saving.
UK VAT is now at
15% and not 17.5%. So this models RRP should now be less than that of
the old VAT rate and lower than the RRP of £59.99 that we have quoted.
It is also of note that we have a
competitor within our local UK county area that originated on eBay and
continue to advertise there. They
are also advertising via two websites and under two different names, the same products at unbelievably low prices and unless all of the
aviation model retailers within the UK used slight of hand tactics,
there is no way that any of us could possibly match their prices
legitimately.
We know that they are not supplied by
the UK distributors and wholesalers and it would appear that they are importing models
direct from either an operative within the factories in China or are not
declaring their imports accurately to the appropriate UK authorities.
Whilst their prices may look good, who knows where their profits are
going or to what end. They are certainly not going into the
restoration of the world economy.
A
recommendation to all
potential customers, with which ever company they choose to purchase
from.
We may still not be the cheapest
company on the international market but
it is always worth shopping around and comparing prices to gain the best
possible price. Please keep in mind though, the legitimacy of the
business
that you intend to deal with.
12/08 New Website
As previously planned, work is now
well underway on our new website and once live, it will replace this
replicaminiatures.com site. An instant re direct will be in place and no
waiting will be involved in the transfer.
Along with the new website, we will
be introducing new model ranges to compliment those we already stock as
well as working on some new collaboration projects.
11/08 Pricing
The cost of raw materials and fuel
has seen significant price increases across the world and in every
business sphere. Earlier in the year, we stated on our Model News page
that we were trying to hold off on increases but it has now come to
point were this is no longer possible or viable. These increases mainly
affect new releases but does encompass some re stocks.
We still continue to hold our 10%
less than RRP policy, always without the use of gimmick selling and customers
can be assured that we have no intention of changing this.
10/08 eBay
Despite some speculative and rather
elasticated rumours bounding around the internet. Our reason for
withdrawing from ebay was that they had introduced a new price structure
that saw the lowering of insertion fees but the raising of the final
value fees.
This was somewhat hidden in the way
it was advertised and although this was portrayed as saving users money,
it actually led to higher costs. To keep our prices down across the
board, eBay was just simply deemed to be no longer viable as an
additional selling
tool.
9/08 Telephone
Calls
Whilst we do
fully appreciate and understand that our customers wish to know the
status of their orders etc. We respectfully ask that if redirected to the
voicemail service, please do not just hang up or make repeated attempts
to contact us and keep hanging up when unsuccessful, leave a message
along with your name and telephone number and
we will get back to you as soon as is possible.
Our
telephone number is free to dial for our customers but the calls are
paid for by us. As soon as the voicemail service kicks in, we are then
charged for the call and un-necessary hang up's just serve to increase
our overall costs that have to be recuperated within our pricing.
Unfortunately and if this continues to occur, then we will have no
option but to withdraw this free service and replace it with a standard
telephone number where customers will have to pay for the call!
So please,
dont abuse it. Use it.
9/08 Watermarking of pictures
We have had to start
watermarking some of the images used within our website. This is to protect our
legal copyright within the public domain and to protect pictures legally amended
by us.
We regularly
review other websites of a similar retail nature and have found our
copyrighted images on both a Sussex and a Norfolk based websites.
The irony here is that both carry their own copyright polices!
The
watermark is also to stop theft of bandwidth from non verifiable sources
of outlet.
We do
understand that customers wish to review images as clearly as possible
and we apologise to all, that we have had to result to this method. We
are now in the process of digitally signing images and this will result
in the removal of the watermark in the near future.
9/08 Copyright Theft & Theft of
Bandwidth (Not applicable to our customers)
Please note:
The following is aimed at those who believe that is their right to take
our work and use it without out our permission and those who use our
bought and paid for bandwidth to hotlink our images to use on other
websites such as auction sites.
Both of
these actions are illegal under the laws governing material within the
public domain and will be dealt with in an appropriate matter.
As well the
use of a watermark, we are now digitally signing images to protect
ourselves against this kind of theft and by use of this system,
this allows us to
track their use and locate them elsewhere at anytime. This also allows
us to locate the offender via their IP address and ultimately via their
service provider.
Service providers are bound by the law, which means
that upon proof. They either have to furnish the IP users full details
so that we may pursue legal action or alternatively they may refuse to
continue to supply your internet service.
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