HERO RESTORATION - BOOKS NOT BEING RETURNED 20 20

[Semicentennial]

I'm wondering what other cards are going to be placed next.  We got the victim card, the libel card, sympathy card, and now the disability card.  You just need to own up to your mistakes and quit trying to make yourself look like you're trying to do your customers right.  I get that you want to finish the work you've started on your customer's books.  That's being ethical and professional.  The behavior being shown in this thread is far from being professional and it more damaging to your image and brand.  Making customers wait longer just because you want to make adjustments to make a book look better, while keeping your frustrated and concerned customers waiting, seems rather selfish.  

[Hero Restoration]

On 6/24/2023 at 9:45 AM, NP_Gresham said:

Yes for $3.2 K and years of my time, I get no communication for years, my book cracked out of the slab and maybe just maybe….

I get my book back.

I hope that UPS ground didn’t set you back too much

Is it wishful thinking to think the label might be included?

Yes, money well spent, sorry for YOUR inconvenience

Label is included. If I regain control, I should have only the amount of work I can handle. I have made changes already , but it was too late for the older clients.and trust. I'm still willing to do your book. Or find some other way to make it right.

About 3 years ago, I realized extensive page work on 64 pages was jamming me up. Not long after that, I stop accepting those, even partial page work. and cover work only. I kept making changes like that, but it was too late. The help I trained was expected to accelerate production of resto exponential failed, right when it was suppose to succeed.

Others have mentioned this, so I will say that I just had a dream. 

An entrepreneur, a title I probably don't deserve, has to take some risks. I figured no one had done this yet in comics, so why not try. I wanted to be the largest company is it's kind. 

Besides the obvious others have stated, only an optimist would think it was doable. 

Going from independent contractor to a small company required more of my time, and new challenged and responsibilities. The pressure for payroll along caused lost sleep.

Resto funds went to training help, that seemed the best way to catch up, while finding the right specialist for each task.

One person can do a pretty good job, but you can't be terrific at everything, and even if you are some of those tasks take much longer to do. I groomed a color touch artist that had the potential to be better than anyone has ever seen, but life changes and hers did and comic books just was not a priority for her anymore.

So if I could do it all over again would I just do it differently or not do it at all? I think it would be the latter, the expansion pushed me into a place of CEO, and I hated it. Seriously, it's like fight club, except I don't have the experience, or the demeanor. So it really only compounded my problem because I had to spend less time on restoration and more on management, constantly watching my back.

Then I had too many eggs in one basket, a lot was invested in training  the market was strong then. Then a series of bad luck, choices, and market change was too much.and then that's about the end of that story. Now I'm stuck in this hole the size of Crater lake, and I would drop dead from exhaustion before I could ever get it to be full again while doing know work to cover expenses. Then would companies can freeze your accounts on a whim, that's the final nail. Never again, it's just me, Barry, and maybe someone who can handle customer service.

One thing I never did was mix business and personal income. I took a normal check like everybody else, and many times I was not the highest paid person in the group. More  hours was a must, and if Hero couldn't afford it, I took less and leveraged cards.My life is very lean, so What I did earn  enough I was able to buy a few things, but when things got tough for the company I gave it all up. Not only did I sell my Harley to pay for company expenses, but I sold it at a 60% loss and it was. I mean I loved that Harley.

In the grand scope, possessions aren't important to me, and it's true I don't have any and neither does the business.

If you want to know where the money went, it all went right back in the business, my losses on 272 k was so high, I had to dumb it down.

It's it's a lean company now. Just enough to keep going so that I can at least finish what I started. There are days I think after I get my health together I can start again, and then there are days where I think it's hopeless and nobody will ever do business with me again. Oh no! This looks like it's too long It better not delete and disappear. Dang it.

[wombat]

On 6/24/2023 at 4:11 PM, Hero Restoration said:

Resto funds went to training help

And this right here is why the pitchforks are out. You took the money and used it for something else. And now you can't get it back. And you think you are the victim and everyone else is a wolf. How dare people not fund your delusional business aspirations. 

[Hero Restoration]

On 6/24/2023 at 12:41 PM, ttfitz said:

I think if you read thru this thread carefully, you'd find that there were people supporting you and giving you the benefit of the doubt who changed their minds after some of your attacks against people who had 5-figure books with you and had paid thousands for work that hadn't been done for multiple years, along with your "sure you can have your books back but NO REFUNDS". The attitude you have adopted here has not helped your case, particularly the refund stance. I get that you can't afford to pay everyone back right on the spot, but if you were really concerned with your reputation you would have expressed some attempt to make things right at some point.

I have, to cover all the different types of responses to my attempts is another long post. Please don't assume that just because I have a fail safe setup that that's my default. 

[Hero Restoration]

On 6/24/2023 at 1:49 PM, wombat said:

And this right here is why the pitchforks are out. You took the money and used it for something else. And now you can't get it back. And you think you are the victim and everyone else is a wolf. How dare people not fund your delusional business aspirations. 

Okay, it seems as though your post have no interest in being constructive. The funds went exactly toward to completion of the work. In hindsight,what I probably should have done is hired a CEO, and then just done all the restoration myself. In all honesty, that's the only way I can even break even based on how much I charge versus how long it takes me to do the book. It takes me too long to do the book, because to get the results in every task takes me longer than someone who is qualified for very specific skill. My methods didn't work, obviously, but my intentions were to get work done faster, and cost less to do. Training. Training labor has to come from somewhere, it's not free anymore these days.

[wombat]

On 6/24/2023 at 4:55 PM, Hero Restoration said:

Training labor has to come from somewhere

You invest profits back in to your business. You invest personal funds. You find investors. Or do what you did. You used all the money customers sent you to expand. And here you are. If that were not true you would at least be able to offer substantial refunds to every customer. 

[Nick Furious]

On 6/24/2023 at 2:42 PM, skypinkblu said:

I don't think that's correct

I'm sure it's not correct.  The written communication styles, use of punctuation, typos, etc. are quite different.

[quicksilver]

On 6/24/2023 at 9:17 AM, Hero Restoration said:

For the record, I am so close to done on QS 29, it eats away at my soul.

The actions are still ugly, but I have over 40 hrs on each of those so far. Hard to quit on books you are in the middle of, very hard.

So finish the Tec # 29, and send it out with the Actions 40 hours or so in…I can live with that.

[Microchip]

On 6/25/2023 at 8:33 AM, quicksilver said:

On 6/24/2023 at 6:17 PM, Hero Restoration said:

For the record, I am so close to done on QS 29, it eats away at my soul.

The actions are still ugly, but I have over 40 hrs on each of those so far. Hard to quit on books you are in the middle of, very hard.

So finish the Tec # 29, and send it out with the Actions 40 hours or so in…I can live with that.

How many more hours are needed to finish each Action?

Hopefully there's a discussion here, looking forward, with an acceptable outcome for everyone.              

Edited June 24, 2023 by Microchip

[badback83]

On 6/24/2023 at 2:09 PM, CAHokie said:

I guess my fear would be false accusations or “misunderstandings” (in general) with these type of highly charged situations.

That’s fair.  As long as cool was kept, I’m sure it would be alright.

[Black_Adam]

On 6/24/2023 at 11:45 AM, Black_Adam said:

Microchip is Mike.   

This was just a joke on my part. I have no knowledge of any boardies real life alter egos and would not be able to identify them in a police lineup!

[Microchip]

On 6/25/2023 at 12:53 AM, jaybuck43 said:

 

1) publicly post you’re going to follow my plan.

2) begin organizing all of your current customers from first received to most recently received.

3) once you have all their information, start with the oldest and reach out to them. Be contrite, apologize for the delay, and give them the option. Give them a reasonable estimate of how long the work will take. Ask them “I can return your book(s) or it will take between 6-9 months for me to finish. Which would you prefer?” Tell them that you will wait 7 business days for a reply and if none is received you will return their books in whatever state they are currently in, including half finished.

4) If they tell you to wait, great. If they don’t respond or tell you to send back, pack them up and return them. Do this as quickly as possible.

5) Rinse and repeat until you’ve cleared out the backlog.

6) this process should take no more than a week. Use a master letter where you can just replace the name and estimate of time, it will make your life easier.

 

 

This is still the best post 

Edited June 24, 2023 by Microchip

[CGC Mike]

On 6/23/2023 at 10:07 PM, Hero Restoration said:

I don't understand, I typed it all out. Is there a character limit? 2 hrs I could have done shipping, now lost. this forum sucks, or someone is monkeying with my reply's.

Only 3 posts were removed from this entire thread.  2 contained personal customer info, and 1 post where someone quoted said posts.  You can find all of your posts here.

https://boards.cgccomics.com/profile/12921-hero-restoration/content/

[thehumantorch]

On 6/24/2023 at 2:55 PM, Hero Restoration said:

On 6/24/2023 at 2:49 PM, wombat said:

And this right here is why the pitchforks are out. You took the money and used it for something else. And now you can't get it back. And you think you are the victim and everyone else is a wolf. How dare people not fund your delusional business aspirations. 

Okay, it seems as though your post have no interest in being constructive. The funds went exactly toward to completion of the work. In hindsight,what I probably should have done is hired a CEO, and then just done all the restoration myself. In all honesty, that's the only way I can even break even based on how much I charge versus how long it takes me to do the book. It takes me too long to do the book, because to get the results in every task takes me longer than someone who is qualified for very specific skill. My methods didn't work, obviously, but my intentions were to get work done faster, and cost less to do. Training. Training labor has to come from somewhere, it's not free anymore these days.

Can you understand how upset your customers must feel knowing the money they sent you is long gone and the work hasn't been started and may not be started for many years if at all?   Can you understand that this looks to be dishonest and perhaps criminal to most of us?  Money sent to you by customers should be held in trust until the work is done or earned by hitting milestones - spine is rebuilt and that's 5 hours work and deducted from the customers deposit, etc

Can you understand that a customer who sent you books and money years ago won't be happy when you refocus the business on pressing, bumping their work further back in the line, so that you can generate income?  Wouldn't their first reaction, after some healthy swear words, be to ask where's my money?

I know your intentions were good and you love restoring books but you created a mess.  I hope you can find a happy ending and I'd suggest you try to find someone who is looking to hire someone with your unique and considerable skill set.

[Microchip]

@Hero Restoration

Here's one company that publishes their submission queue.

https://thecomicclinic.com/pages/current-submission-queue

Maybe generating a list, or email to the same effect could be useful.

 

[Poka]

On 6/24/2023 at 6:50 PM, Prince Namor said:

If it costs $2500 for the service and the service isn't done, where is the money to be returned?

Why shouldn't someone get their money back?

The money isn't there?

That means it was spent on something else. It wasn't used to provide the service. 

That's not a THEM problem, that's a YOU problem.

If you read the initial posts it would seem that the money went for an expansion of the business with second location set up and custom made equipment - which all had to be sold at fire sale prices. But noone knows for sure where the money went until such time where he just gives up, returns all books, declare himself bankrupt, gets his surgery (if possible) and moves on - if that is what his customers want

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Poka

[Microchip]

On 6/24/2023 at 3:06 PM, skypinkblu said:

Why ? He might be better off and safer if he has the surgery first...now.

Sometimes when people are stressed they don't prioritize their health propetly.

When my father had heart surgery he was incapacitated for weeks...but apparently its no longer an issue in some cases.  So I was suggesting he ask.

If you took what  I said a different way...you read something that wasn't  intended.

In the light of day, it looks like I took it in its worst interpretation.   

This thread for the most part is the usual boards pile on, very few real constructive contributions.

For my part, I'll back out of my own knee jerk responses 

[JT307]

The problem is that company profits and or outside investments should have funded that. You don't take funds allocated for production/materials. If you have no money to produce, you stop generating income.

"I wanted to be the biggest business". That's a problem when that is the company agenda; it should be providing a quality, timely service. 

The company will scale as production cycles are consistently completed.

 

 

[Domo Arigato]

Saw that @Artboy99 posted this video in a different thread in here.

I went to YouTube to look at the comment section for it.....and spotted this one.....along with a reply from the guy who posted the video.

 

[ttfitz]

On 6/24/2023 at 4:49 PM, Hero Restoration said:

I have, to cover all the different types of responses to my attempts is another long post. Please don't assume that just because I have a fail safe setup that that's my default. 

To be perfectly frank, while there were jokes that Microchip was you on a second account, I would say it seems like two different people posting under the Hero Restoration name. Half of your responses have me say, "This guy has had it rough, but he seems to see what he's been doing wrong, I hope he manages to get it together" and half have me thinking, "Wow, this guy is a complete @ss."

You would do well to try and expand on the former and shrink dramatically on the latter.