All,
Well, it certainly took us a while to get this situation worked out, and I really appreciate everyone's patience in the matter, but I'm happy to say a resolution has been settled upon.
In regards to the faulty bases on the long awaited Kiani Lava Edition statue, EVERYONE who has purchased the statue will be receiving a completely brand new base. No cost to you. No shipping back of parts. Honestly, not much of anything is required on your end except being a bit more patient while the bases are being made and shipped.
The factory that produces our statues is in the process of making all 300 new bases, obviously to much more stringent and customer happy guidelines. We're being fast-tracked as much as possible for these to get done, but the factory is on the tail end of their holiday production schedule. We're told it should only be a few weeks before they're all done, tested, and on the boat for the US. From there, the bases will still need to clear customs (another week or so), reach our Aspenstore in Ohio, and then get shipped out to all of you. Piece of cake.
Now to hopefully preempt some of your questions...
Timing - As mentioned above, all I have is rough estimates of everything at the moment. Phillip worked wonders in China just to make this happen for us and you, so I don't have an exact arrival date on anything yet. Once the new bases are fully completed and on the way, I'll certainly keep everyone posted. As well, I'll make sure to update on their arrival in the US, at our store, etc. When I know the info, you will too.
Costs - As mentioned in previous threads, there was absolutely no way for us to know this problem was even going to happen. All of us at Aspen know each of you paid your hard earned money to obtain one of these beautiful statues, and we wanted to make good to you on this unforeseen occurrence. So, we'll of course be taking care of all of the shipping expenses and such in order to get your new base out to your front door. Like I said, the only cost to you is being patient a little longer until they arrive.
Old bases - Are yours to keep and do with as you please. Dispose of it, keep it, paint it, whatever your heart desires. Just please don't ask where to send it back to or anything like that. We don't want them back either.
Place of Purchase - I believe almost everyone bought their Kiani Lava Edition through our store, but if you didn't, no problem. We'll still send you a new base. In that situation, just go ahead and email Chris at our Aspenstore and let him know. He'll be taking care of all of the replacements and getting them out to everyone. With that said...
Chris - Has done a fantastic job running our store and dealing with everything that has gone on with this statue. He honestly receives a couple of hundred emails a day, so please don't get upset with him if there's a small delay in a response back to you. He will make sure to reply back to everyone in regards to the Lava situation, so if you have a specific question for him, please shoot it over. If it's a general question that can be answered here, post it up and I'll get back to you.
Statue Numbers - Yes, you will of course be receiving the same numbered base as what you already have. Chris has all of the initial requests that we received in on file so he'll be going off of that. If you're worried about not receiving the same number, just shoot him a reminder email that he can keep on file for when the new bases ship. As well, PLEASE don't request changes or swapping out numbers or anything like that. Our store will be busy enough taking care of all of the replacements, and adding to it like that would be very counter-productive. Thanks for your understanding.
New Purchases - If you recently bought a Kiani Lava Edition statue, you probably haven't received it yet. Chris was holding off on shipping them until we found out what the resolution for the bases was going to be. Now that we know, you have two options. Chris will either continue to hold your order until the new bases come in and then replace the faulty base with the new one...then ship your order. Or, you can receive the statue with the faulty base now, and then just wait until your new base arrives and we'll ship that out to you as well. We would hope you go with the first option to help us save on shipping, but it's your statue so just let us know. Chris said there were only a handful of people waiting, so please just let us know.
**Please note: Any new orders received in for the Kiani Lava Edition statue from this point on will NOT be shipped out until the new bases arrive and we can swap them out for the good ones.**
Misc. Stuff - Obviously if something is up, you've moved, gave the statue as a gift to someone else, etc., just let us know and we'll be more than happy to deal with those types of things. As mentioned, Chris will be taking care of getting all of these new bases out once they arrive. If you have a unique situation, just let him know. We're here to make this as smooth as possible for everyone (us included), so any help of that sort you can provide is much appreciated.
For those that don't have it or couldn't find Chris' email address on our store, here you go -
chris@aspenstore.com
Well, I hope this about covers everything. If there's something I missed, just let me know. I'll be checking in as often as I can, so just post your questions/comments and I'll get back to you soon.
I just wanted to say thank you again to everyone for your patience and understanding while we got this problem worked out. As I said, it certainly was unexpected, but I'm glad we were able to get everything worked out to our best ability. We really do appreciate all of your support and hope to keep providing you with many more great statues for years to come. Thanks!
Kiani Lava Edition - Base Problem Resolution Thread
