CM studios

[0onarcissisto0]

Hi guys,

Just wondering. For those of you who have ordered a kit from CM studios, how long was the wait time? I made an order about 3 weeks ago and it still hasn't been cast . What has been the average wait time?

Thanks

[Dan]

I've never ordered from them personally, but I've been told by several people their waiting times are rather long. Several months, in some cases.

[0onarcissisto0]

Argh, that's what I was afraid of. I'm really not one to complain but it's quite frustrating having to wait months before your kit even starts the casting process...sigh

[simon]

Feb 9, 2012 1:23:31 GMT Dan said:

I've never ordered from them personally, but I've been told by several people their waiting times are rather long. Several months, in some cases.

Yes, and if you bother them too much it gets even longer. So if you are not patient you may not want to order from CM....

[0onarcissisto0]

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I know I asked about kits once and didn't get a reply til the same time the next year..took forever.

I think it would be good to ask what's in stock before ordering...of course if you want a specific piece there really isn't much to do about it. :/

[tyrantqueen]

I emailed them asking whether they shipped internationally or not, and how much it would cost, but I never received a response.

It's a shame, for their models and life size sculptures are really beautiful.

[0onarcissisto0]

Well, Brian Page told me they only cast to order... He sure sent a Paypal invoice quickly enough...sigh

[sfstudios]

Yup thats CM studios for ya, customer service not the best there, and i have been told from several of my customers that they waited more than a year to get stuff and then when it arrived parts were missing ! i in turn had to sculpt the missing part for them so they could salvage the kit! Yeah. Cool dinos to look at though. Good luck.

[kevtk135]

Yep, it can be quite a wait. I had a number of his kits when he was doing a lot of 1:35 stuff.

If you have already paid, I suggest just forget you ordered it and when it finally arrives it'll be like a surprise gift.
There are quite a few artists out there who are very talented, but have little business sense (or put they big $$ makers in front of the small time stuff).

[Himmapaan]

Feb 10, 2012 4:13:02 GMT kevtk135 said:

There are quite a few artists out there who are very talented, but have little business sense...

I think that must be true for most artists, if not all. It is even true of those of us with little talent, in which case we've pretty much nothing with which to redeem ourselves... ;D

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Lord knows I've been burned more than once trying to support smaller artists. It's true, many just can't handle the business end of things..they get too swamped with orders, spend money on things they shouldn't, ect.

If you paid via Paypal you can always get your money back before 45 days are up. I've waited years though for product I'm likely never to see.

[dino84]

I haven't ordered straight from CM Studios (and judging from some of the horror stories I've heard I'm glad I haven't) but I did pick up their Therizinosaurus from another party and it's a great looking piece, a pity his deliveries aren't much more timely.

Scott.

[dgmilner]

I've ordered kits from a number of different people and had a few different people do buildups for me over the years. My experiences have generally been bad.

In many, many cases I had to pester the person for months - usually 4 - 8 - before receiving the kit, even though I was told it would be sent "right away" or "within a few weeks." In one case I had to wait for two years!

I'm right now waiting for a kit that I ordered in September. I've e-mailed several times recently and received no reply at all. (Communication has often been a problem.)

There in my experience have been two exceptions to the rule: Shane Foulkes and Martin Garratt. I've always had very good experiences with them, and recommend both highly. Dan Liebman of Dan's Dinosaurs is a pretty good guy, too.

I always pay via PayPal if possible because you can file a complaint with them if there is a problem. I've had to do that, and in both cases won and gotten my money back.

[0onarcissisto0]

Yeah, I mean. I am a frequent eBay buyer and so I have had many dealings through Paypal and have always been able to get my money back if a problem arose. However, I really would rather get my kit from CM. I wish I had asked around before making a purchase at CM studios though. It initially seemed to me like most transactions had gone smoothly although looking back, I never actually had any proof of that... And I agree, Shane Foulkes and Dan provide excellent customer service and I mean EXCELLENT. Sean Cooper of Paleocraft is also in my good list. Argh, I wish the kits from CM studios were available at Dan's online store...

[ihatefeathers144]

I remember several years ago seeing their ad in PT that stated they welcomed requests for custom work. I called & spoke to Charlie McGrady himself & he told me, in a nice way & not so many words, to take a hike. My only reaction was...wow.

[ataraxus]

i did now my third order from cm studios. i got my last orders after 2-3 months. complete. sometimes i get no answer to my questions but then i write and ask again.
so, they are a bit slowly but in all i`m satisfied.
the best experiences i also did with shane, sean cooper (paleocraft) and davis silva (creative beast).
galileo (geenemodels) send often not completely (he later includes the stuff next order) and sometimes a bit slow. Jon Rader needs often a lot of time to ship but he put gifts inside so that i`m always very satisfied.
so, with the most paleosculptor`s i`m satiesfied.
the only riddle is keith strasser, i got only one answer from him. i never ordered by him.....pitty.

[ihatefeathers144]

That's a good question-what happened to Keith Strasser? I have a couple of his kits, he is also a great sculptor. I hope he's doing well, does anybody have any info about him?

[raderstudios]

Last that I heard (from Keith), has was backing away from the garage kit market because he wasn't doing very well with sales. He's been working on other artistic projects in the mean-time, including a gig for a Florida restaurant, the T. rex Cafe. He was hired to do a series of large-scale (1 meter long) insect for display in their restaurant.

Also, I know that my customer service has left a LOT to be desired recently, which is why I am working on outsourcing some of the customer service aspects of my business that I frankly don't have the time for presently. I'm hoping that if all I am responsible for is researching and producing sculptures, and that I can leave the moulding, casting, and shipping to others who are better and have more time, that I will be more successful in taking care of customers.

That being said, I'm a bit of a control freak, so it's been a major transition for me to relinquish control of the business. Please bear with me, everyone!

-Jon

[simon]

Feb 10, 2012 18:06:05 GMT ihatefeathers144 said:

I remember several years ago seeing their ad in PT that stated they welcomed requests for custom work. I called & spoke to Charlie McGrady himself & he told me, in a nice way & not so many words, to take a hike. My only reaction was...wow.

Perhaps what he meant was "custom LIFE_SIZE work" ... ;D