Archive for the ‘The Official Story from The Inventor’ Category

The Next Entry: The Split – Chapter 3

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Hello Vick Dog Chew Toy Fans! I appreciate your continued support and hope that you, your family and friends are having a enjoyable and safe Holiday season.

I appreciate your patience with the postings. Certainly the time of the year takes much, if not all, of any available time any of us have. The Official Vick Dog Chew Toy has been VERY busy with the Bark For Awareness efforts and are very proud of the charitable work we have been able to do. If you have not read about the activity associated with this endeavour I encourage you to do so. Votes, YOUR votes, help to raise awareness through charitable organizations and FREE Official Vick Dog Chew Toys.

I have also received many messages associated with this blog. Mainly, when is the next update coming. Well, read forward and you will have the next update. One item I do want to clarify is this: the Official Story of the Official Dog is a historical recount of how the Official Vick Dog Chew Toy was created and came to life. At this point in the story, we are at or around early 2008.

I appreciate your interest in my story.

To bring you up to speed, this is entry three in what I am calling, “The Split”. My insistence on a safe product that meets the original concept advertised, and subsequent insistence that no compromise be made was a driving force behind a split within my organization.

Once it was clear that the rogue partner was going his own way with intent, funds, and intellectual property, the following happened:

1) The website we developed, promoted, and captured all sales from was gone. It was now in the hands of the rogue employee.
2) The rogue employee immediately used the website to change the product that was going to be shipped. A new product was now advertised.
3) The new product was the one that I initially rejected when the rogue partner tried to promote a dog chew toy while waiting for The Official Vick Dog Chew Toy to be created and shipped.
4) Shipping to those that had ordered and had been waiting for our product commenced. Instead of the product that was originally advertised, the product that I was still working through delivery, a solid cavity, hard rubber toy that bore no resemblance to The Official Vick Dog Chew Toy reached the hands of those that placed orders.

The rogue partner found an alternative manufacturer that quickly produced the toy. Since I owned the rights to the original mold this alternative Vick dog chew toy could not resemble the original product advertised. I continued to hold the rights to the main communication channel, the contact email box, so I was privy to the initial reaction.

An outpouring of discontent immediately followed shipment of this imposter product. Consumers that were originally content with waiting for the product they had originally purchased were immediately calling for a refund once they receive this imposter product. These second hand products were shipped to as many original consumers as inventory could support. Upset customers by the hundreds expressed their outrage.

How do we handle this? Consumers have no idea and no care for what was going on internally at Aim To Beginn. All they wanted was the product we advertised and they paid for. We have the product; the rogue employee has the funds. This is a very awkward situation.

How we attacked this is the subject of the next entry. I appreciate your interest in my story.

Official Dog Blog – Entry 2 of The Split

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

I appreciate your interest in my story.

All involved with The Official Vick Dog Chew Toy at this stage thought that we were all working in lock step. Everyone, including our Manufacturer and myself, thought that the goal was clear. This is where we messed up.

Earlier in my blog entries you will remember the fund holding plan that was developed. You will also remember in that entry that trust was something that we thought was formed. It was at this time that funds were due to our new manufacturer in order to pay for cast costs, mold cost, initial product development, shipping and handling fees. The money was available through the initial orders received. That money was locked in a Paypal account in the name of the rogue employee.

That was the big mistake that presented itself at this point.

By denying that individual the right to produce a product that fell short of the product originally advertised, by denying that individual the right to sell cheaply made products that garnished our logo, by denying that individual the right to pursue another manufacturer and intentionally disrespect and compromise the relationship we had built with the company that provided us critical mold time and guaranteed the safety of our product, I unintentionally drove a divide with the person that held the account that held all our funds.

My integrity, the values I had developed regarding The Official Vick Dog Chew Toy and the operational mission we had all agreed to in regards to how we would operate as a company was all the reasons why we lost the rogue partner and subsequently lost all the funds.

Losing the funds of those that paid for our product was concerning, disappointing, and extremely disturbing to me. The reasons why we lost the rogue partner from our organization and partnership was not.

What comes next is extremely interesting.

I appreciate your interest in my story.

Next Step – The Official Story of the Official Dog – The Split!

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

I appreciate your interest in my story.

To recap: The last few entries were titled, “Wait or Compromise”. The entries detail the challenges I faced with a rogue partner; one that wanted to jeopardize the future of the Official Vick Dog Chew Toy by selling toys and products that did not represent our original offer and did not meet our quality standards.

The next series of entries are titled, “The Split”. I hope you enjoy and appreciate your interest.

At this point in the venture there was no way that I was going to allow the follow two things to happen:

1) Production of an Official Vick Dog Chew Toy that differed in any way from the original product that was offered and ordered by thousands.
2) The intentional disrespect of a manufacturer that extended valuable mold time and guaranteed, in writing, the safety of our product.

The rogue partner did not see things my way. Just as a side note, I am not a control freak. It is fine with me if others do not see things as I do. Where I do draw the line is when other decisions jeopardize my integrity and my word. This is when things get complicated. Efforts by others that intentionally alter the product we originally advertised and promised to consumers, and products that utilize those funds that were never advertised and are very poorly made were two efforts that I simply would not allow.

That case was presented to the rogue employee. At first, he utilized his own funding to try and produce the products, using our website as a catalyst of interest. We immediately found that there was no interest and purchasers simply wanted the product we initially advertised. I immediately concluded that all focus should be on production efforts related to The Official Vick Dog Chew Toy. Not so for the rogue employee. He was pursuing other manufacturers and doing so without appropriate consent.

Here is the situation: wait for a safe product to be manufactured, communicate to all buyers regarding expected delivery dates, proactively offer and fulfill all refund requests from those that choose not to wait, and utilize all funds as originally intended for the production of a guaranteed safe toy that meets the product specifications originally advertised.

Simple, right? Not so. This is where, “The Split”, begins.

I appreciate your interest in my story.