I just want to say that this is not meant to be a "white-knighting" post for TFI. They certainly have their problems, and shortcomings. And I'm really not happy about the way they are being cagey and unforthcoming (is that a word? ) with what's happening. But this is just my thought on the matter.

It sounds like they just want to start completely fresh with the new website. Their current business model needs to change, which seems to be what they are trying to do now. New website, new ordering policies, and hopefully much needed new and improved customer service. however if the original pre-orders end up becoming more expensive that will really hit their customer numbers hard. So I'm hoping there isn't anything like that going to happen.

Cancelling all pre-orders from the old site will make everything easier to keep track of from a business perspective and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. Not to mention trying to carry existing pre-orders/payments over to a new system is incredibly time consuming and there is a high chance orders could get missed during the transition. TFI have a hard enough time keeping up now. They don't need anything else to chew up their business time. Which is why a clean slate is probably the best way to go for them. Yes - it will lose them a lot customers in the short term but hopefully they will emerge stronger and with more consumer confidence in the time after. They will have to work hard though.

From a long time customer's perspective though, that is quite frustrating to me because I have always done the right thing and paid on time, haven't hounded them too much and stuck with them. And now it seems like I will have to place all my orders again. It has me worried because with things like MP's - a lot are pre sold out quickly. What if TFI's allocation runs out from the new website before I can replace my order? Even though I pre-ordered almost immediately as their listing went up, now I might miss out? Not to mention I have to try and remember what my orders were in the first place as some of them were placed months ago. I spread my business around, so its hard keeping track of what I'm getting from where sometimes

I've been a customer since TFI first opened, and honestly I haven't really had any major issues with them in the past. TFI's delayed shipments honestly doesn't bother me as much as it seems to everyone else. Maybe because I've always grouped my international JP/US orders into POL or private warehouse so I never usually receive any figures straight after they are released anyway. Maybe I'm too easygoing.

From what I understand their biggest issue for a while has been people not paying for their pre-orders on time (or at all) and so delaying the arrival of a lot of figures. The money paid for pre-orders goes directly to paying for the figures from suppliers. And for the expensive figs like UW Dev, if 10 people don't pay their pre-order, there's $2000 odd TFI has to find from somewhere else so they can pay for the shipment to come in so those who did pay, can get their items. Which then they have to try and recoup from somewhere for the next shipment. It's a never ending circle of "robbing Peter to pay Paul." And with so many figures getting released so soon after each other, it gets very hard to "pay back Paul."

The "order now, pay later" policy sounds attractive to potential customers, but it just doesn't work for a small business starting up. It places too much faith in the customers which is usually taken advantage of at TFI's expence. To offer a service like that, they need to have a large backup capital that comes with years of trading (or a large initial capital) to account for when this type of thing happens.

TFI certainly have a lot of work to do in the future and really have to work on their customer service. The new policy of paying upon pre-order should help a lot in getting the figures into them quickly so they can dispatch quickly too. I really want them to succeed because I enjoy supporting Australian businesses where possible.

My 2 cents.

[EDIT] I took too long typing this and Borgeman and WeallscreamforStarscream beat me to my point