"Oh, and if you read the site, you'll see that I too am trying to put people off buying Dragons until we're caught up, unless they don't mind waiting months."
At this point, it would seem to make sense to remove the dragon from the ordering page, and not dig the hole any deeper than it already is.
With less than 20 dragons out, "months" is probably not accurate. It is approaching 3 years since some of the first preorders were made... with less than 10% of the current orders filled.
Don't dig the hole any deeper... stop taking dragon orders until you've gotten at least the preordered ones out. I'm not even sure if "months" is accurate for that.
To echo the posters above, if this were able to be produced, I'd recommend it to others in a heartbeat. But clearly it's not. I also think it's a little naive to say that the mold was expected to be easy. A miniature this large with giant wings et al is going to be difficult almost no matter what.
Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but it's good to be straightforward about these things. At this point, taking more dragon orders could do more harm than good. It's rather perilous to do so...
I am thankful that you allowed me to trade my order to some of your other models in early '10, after waiting over a year (preorder had been placed in January '09). I see now that the preorder page says "not available to trade". I really, really think these should not be available to order until you've gotten them out. 200 pounds is a lot of money to take with no end goal in sight. A disclaimer just doesn't cover it.
I won't beat the drum and keep replying in this fashion, but I check this thread periodically hoping that progress has happened, and with 17 dragons out... it's really time to take that page down. It's the first link that shows up at the top when you go to the main Heresy page, and despite the disclaimers, I think listing it for sale at all is deceptive at this point.
Also, there was a really big ruckus a long time ago in this thread now about the order the dragons would be sent out in. You can see how that matters now, with how slowly they are being sent. I think it was unprofessional to pressure people to finish paying off their preorder to hold their spot in line, and I think it's unprofessional to continue to take more orders for this when the others are so delinquent.
Not trying to be crass, just honest... I would have absolutely no problem with Heresy if the line was "We got overwhelmed, we're trying to catch back up, we'll put it back on sale once we have". But to continue to take money for this model almost 3 years later? I think it is very irresponsible and should stop...
And again I won't keep replying in this fashion, but I figured I'd try one more time. I know a lot of people who post here are big fans of Heresy, but this has to stop... links to that page get posted on forums, people not knowing the history probably have been tempted to preorder it, and will in the future... and that's just not fair to them or a professional way of dealing with customers, despite the time estimate disclaimer on the ordering page.
It should simply be a "status" page, perhaps with an email sign-up for when the product does become available. If that were the case, again, I'd have no problem with Heresy... but as it is, I think this is absurd and has to stop soon. If there are only a few more are out by Christmas, will you see reason then? Or continue to allow people to order this without knowing when you can possibly deliver on the 200 pound commitment...
As long as that is the case, I will continue to have a major problem with Heresy, and the way that this business is continuing to be conducted despite all the problems and delays with this model led up to this point, and which cannot reasonably be assumed to be on the verge of being solved. Hence, the waiting time being "months" is deceptive, and people should not be able to order now, paying 200 pounds, for something that is not likely to be delivered... even in 2012 at this point :-/
Just my $0.02 and hopefully not too offensive, just honest about what has become a taxing situation for all, I'm sure... and even is being an outsider looking in on the process.
