Comic Kingdom needs a Gordon Ramsey visit!

[CBratron]

Starting to sound like an episode of Black Books in there.

[bowspearer]

Starting to sound like an episode of Black Books in there.

Funny you should mention that, because after going to Kings Comics after leaving Comic Kingdom in disgust (ironiclly a world apart in terms of service, but simply didn't have in anything i was after unfortunately), I definitely noticed the parallel between Comic Kingdom vs Kings Comics and Black Books vs Goliath Books respectively.

[liegeprime]

well Ive only been to Comics Kingdom a couple of times... if they were ever open . That place seems to open and CLOSE at random, middle of the day they have this stick they use to block entry into the upstairs comic shop and when you ask the downstairs people when is it going to open... no one knows... I think the last time I did attempt to go in ( it was closed again that infernal stick) was 2 years ago. Needless to say, I don't go there now at all. Im PZ customer all the way now since I have my lay away with them haven't missed an issue and good service... I still don't know any of the names of the people in the shop though, and Im too embarrassed to ask hehehe coz they've been calling me by my name even as I walk in the door.

If anybody knows can you pm me their names please hehe.

[UltraMarginal]

I don't know if I have a problem with comic kingdom, I just find their approach to business and ability to stay open a curiosity. I have a feeling they are largely stuck in the last century.

I should go and watch some black books to see what people are talking about

[5FDP]

As opposed to the troll looking to flamebait? The only thing you've done here is take 1 and 1 and come up with 11. In fact the only person here in this thread who seems to think I might be the problem here, is you.

LOL... the 'troll' with nearly 7000 posts. Yeah, because clearly that's my M.O.

Perhaps if you re-read what I wrote you'd realise that maybe people of English decent (read: us whinging poms), have a better grasp on the language than you do. I wrote and I quote "there may be a fair amount of truth" in what you are saying, I just don't agree with your methods of saying it. So, in short, I don't disagree with SMHFconvoy, Sam, Ultramarginal, Trent and Sharky and I''ll thank you for not implying that I do to stir up trouble.

[Hursticon]

Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black All I'm saying is that the last three topics you have started (including this one) have all been about cautionary tales towards less than favourable customer service experiences. Granted, there may be a fair amount of truth to them, however it comes across as whinging to me especially given the length of your posts. If I found myself in similar recurring situations, I would consider taking a different approach e.g. walk away as Sinnertwin suggested and / or evaluate the situation and determine what is the one constant that these instances of 'bad luck' have in common.

LOL... the 'troll' with nearly 7000 posts. Yeah, because clearly that's my M.O.

Perhaps if you re-read what I wrote you'd realise that maybe people of English decent (read: us whinging poms), have a better grasp on the language than you do. I wrote and I quote "there may be a fair amount of truth" in what you are saying, I just don't agree with your methods of saying it. So, in short, I don't disagree with SMHFconvoy, Sam, Ultramarginal, Trent and Sharky and I''ll thank you for not implying that I do to stir up trouble.

It'd just be nice to see you post something other than a "Consumer Advice" thread/post every 18 months you decide to pop-in, Bowspearer.

[Sam]

They've always expected that you leave your bag at the front counter. that's cool, but then when you're walking around looking at their stock, theres a creepy old guy that keeps eyeballing you while he walks around the shop to make sure your not stealing anything. there's not much feeling of trust.

I have had many similar situations whist shopping at Comic Kingdom, I could deal with it usually cause they did have some cool stuff, but the final straw occurred when I was upstairs and I noticed a Wheeljack statue sitting in their back area without going into a restricted area which was roped so I just stood in the doorway (behind the rope) and had a look. While I was standing there doing math in my head to see if I could afford it, the really creepy old guy (that Ultra mentioned) came up to me and yelled 'what do you think your doing' I let it go and said that I was interested in the Wheeljack statue his response was 'noone is allowed past the rope' my response was to remind him that I wasn't past the rope to which his response was to call me a smart ar$e.

Well I usually am an easy going guy, but I wasnt taking this kind of poor customer service so I called him out on it by asking if this is how he treats all of his customers and said that no wonder Kings Comic is so much better.

While I did have some positive experiences in Comic Kingdom in the past, I have to say that the general vibe I get when I used to visit that shop can best be described as "One foot wrong, and they drop the hammer on you."

The staff, perhaps unintentionally, are over alert to the point that they seem to come across as somewhat stiff and unfriendly. It's possible that this was due to a serious theft of some valuable comics from the shop in the 90s and so now they are suspicious of people going into their store (also why they have mini cameras now). Their dislike of King's Comics could perhaps be partially attributed to the fact that some of the same titles turned up at King's Comics fairly soon after. Despite a police investigation however, there was no actual evidence tying the theft of those comics directly to King's Comics (I think it could not be established that those comics were the actual stolen ones, rather than copies from the same print run).

I went there for FCBD this year, mainly because I didn't have time to stand in line for 2+ hours at either kings Comics or Kinokuniya. the line was 8 people long. While I was there with my wife, they were trying to tell other people that other retailers were being stingy and only giving away 1 comic while they were legends giving away 3. I know for a fact that kings were giving away 4 and i'm not sure about Kinokuniya but probably at least 2.

It sounds like Comic Kingdom is jealous. Given the long lines in the city, I went to Phantom Zone this year - they were giving customers 15 titles from various sets - this year's FCBD set, previous years' stock, as well as some non-FCBD titles for free, such as Cyberforce issues 1 to 3, and a Tomb Raider issue, amongst others. If you lined up, there was also an artist doing sketches, but I don't know who he is.

The place hasn't changed in nearly 20 years, I do wonder how they stay in business, maybe they own the building, which would explain why the stairs creek so much, they've invested as much into that as they have the rest of their business. when we were there on Saturday for FCBD I made sure that both my wife and I stepped on the sides of the stairwell as they were by far the least worn parts of the structure.

It's an interesting comparison, seeing the development of comic kingdom against kings comics over the last 17 years. kings used to be in a dingy hole in the basement of a building up the street from where they are now by about 2 blocks, there was very little room to move and if you went in there with a back pack you'd be glad to leave it behind the counter so you could avoid accidentally turning and knocking something over.

Your guess is correct, Comic Kingdom owns the space it's set up in. This could explain why they have a bit of "couldn't care less" attitude when it came to investing / renovating the shop, apart from their seeming general lack of passion about what they do.

A friend told me that before King's started up, they approached Comic Kingdom to see if they would be interested in a joint venture, to which Comic Kingdom turned them down. Phantom Zone also made a similar offer, and got a similar response. Eventually Phantom Zone did their own thing and got a place in Parramatta (there used to be a Chatswood store but it's been closed for a while).

It's interesting to see how better investment, customer service, and more passion for what you do makes the difference.

well Ive only been to Comics Kingdom a couple of times... if they were ever open . That place seems to open and CLOSE at random, middle of the day they have this stick they use to block entry into the upstairs comic shop and when you ask the downstairs people when is it going to open... no one knows... I think the last time I did attempt to go in ( it was closed again that infernal stick) was 2 years ago. Needless to say, I don't go there now at all. Im PZ customer all the way now since I have my lay away with them haven't missed an issue and good service... I still don't know any of the names of the people in the shop though, and Im too embarrassed to ask hehehe coz they've been calling me by my name even as I walk in the door.

If anybody knows can you pm me their names please hehe.

I have been told that years ago (probably before the 90s), a few Comic Kingdom staff used to start Friday afternoon drinks early, when the shop was still open, so that their minds would not be as "sharp" and "focused" even before the shop closed for the day, if you know what I mean.

Regarding your question, I think the name of the man who works at Phantom Zone is pronounced "Ice", but it's probably spelt "Ys" or "Is" (don't quote me on that though, I am not 100% certain). I think the Caucasian girl is Jenny, or Jennifer, and the Asian girl is Pia, I am only certain of the Asian girl's name because one of my work colleagues is her friend.

[bowspearer]

LOL... the 'troll' with nearly 7000 posts. Yeah, because clearly that's my M.O.

Your "typical M.O." here is irrelevant. The fact is that your first post here was entirely inflamatory and was designed to flamebait.

You say that

I''ll thank you for not implying that I do to stir up trouble.

Yet from what I can see, that has been precisely your intent here.

Even now you still insist on picking a fight, despite Griffin asking people to refrain from making inflamatory posts.

I wrote and I quote "there may be a fair amount of truth" in what you are saying,

Firstly that's a half truth as what you actually said was:

Granted, there may be a fair amount of truth to them, however it comes across as whinging to me especially given the length of your posts.

In other words, what you cite in your defence was actually done in an utterly backhanded manner and suggests that you were clearly too busy engaging in shaming and silencing tactics to recognise a community service act of warning people about a bad situation so they can avoid also being stung (which in these sorts of acts typically involves giving a full account of what has transpired), when it's staring you right in the face.

Secondly, what it was done after the blatantly trolling beginning to your initial post here of:

Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black

You claim:

So, in short, I don't disagree with SMHFconvoy, Sam, Ultramarginal, Trent and Sharky

And yet the line of reasoning you've adopted here is that the problem in this situation, must lie with me, despite countless testimonies here from people whose stories corroborate mine.

In fact you openly state as much when you say:

or evaluate the situation and determine what is the one constant that these instances of 'bad luck' have in common.

Ergo it stands to reason that if you are arguing that if someone has a problem with Comic Kingdom, then they must be the problem, that you are indeed at making the same implication of the above board posters (and yes I am using a reducto ad absurdum here).

If you weren't so busy trolling (even after Griffin asked people to stop), you would recognise that that is how shaky your entire position is.

The vast bulk of people have taken this thread for what it is in its entirety- a warning that Comic Kingdom should be avoided at all costs- with the length of my post simply serving as evidence to corroborate that warning. In fact the only 2 people who have failed to do so, just happen to have been people who in this thread have resorted to petty, childish and trolling behaviour to sate their petty desires.

If you are so compelled to sate those urges that you are incabable of taking Griffin's advice, then perhaps you should actually demonstrate some maturity here and simply give this thread a wide berth.

[bowspearer]

well Ive only been to Comics Kingdom a couple of times... if they were ever open . That place seems to open and CLOSE at random, middle of the day they have this stick they use to block entry into the upstairs comic shop and when you ask the downstairs people when is it going to open... no one knows... I think the last time I did attempt to go in ( it was closed again that infernal stick) was 2 years ago. Needless to say, I don't go there now at all. Im PZ customer all the way now since I have my lay away with them haven't missed an issue and good service... I still don't know any of the names of the people in the shop though, and Im too embarrassed to ask hehehe coz they've been calling me by my name even as I walk in the door.

While I'm not sure I'll ever actually go there ever again for geographical reasons, I definitely agree from past experiences that they're great do deal with and definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.

[Trailer Park Ninja]

I used to collect comics avidly in my misspent youth, spending time each weekend trolling Comic Kingdom, Kings Comics and even Land Beyond Beyond.

I also had some crap experiences buying from Comic Kingdom, but with advent of the internet and being able to source silver-age, bronze-age titles through ebay, overseas online stores etc, I gave them the flick many moons ago.

Their apathetic attitudes towards customers has resulted in them being in the state they are in.

The worst story I've heard about Comic Kingdom is that one of the guys who used to work there (and who later went to work for Kings Comics) had his entire personal vintage comics collection seized by the owner of Comic Kingdom, via the police as he claimed they were stolen. Whether this was true or not, or if they were actually his, we'll never know but the owner was a pretty dodgy bloke when I dealt him.

Comic Kingdom is one of those Sydney stores that confounds me as to while it still operates. The other one is that Game Infinity store at Haymarket that "sells" massively overpriced video games and collectibles. I joke that it's a front for a drug running operation as I've never seen buy people stuff and the same old stock is still there.