August 7th, 2023
166 comments
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Big Chief Studios in Liquidation
A statement has now been added to their website
According to emails received by consumers that have paid a deposit its been stated that “The Company is insolvent and has ceased to trade”.
If you have paid any monies and have not been contacted you could try www.begbies-traynorgroup.com.
You should also be able to follow liquidator statements over the coming weeks and months at www.gov.uk
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Anonymous
August 8th, 2023 - 10:21ami cant log in to my account and want proof of my purchase. have requested a reset but have had nothing any advice???
booboo
August 8th, 2023 - 10:26amemail confirmation of order? Amount showing on bank statement, Credit card, paypal etc?
Anonymous
August 9th, 2023 - 8:10pmThat is odd. I was able to log in to my account just fine.
James
August 8th, 2023 - 8:54amI got burnt a few years back by the company Mother’s Basement that specialised in importing Hot Toys.
Same sort of behaviour as Big Chief – kept taking pre-orders, constant updates, answering messages and then within 2 days of replying to a query, they ceased trading.
Imho, Big Chief ceased trading due to questionable decisions regarding choices of licencing.
Doctor Who is a long established license with worldwide fandom that are interested in collectables!
As much as I enjoyed Peaky Blinders, loved Mike Hodges’ Flash Gordon and Dad’s Army etc – were these ever really going to be big sellers?
As someone already mentioned, getting an updated release schedule recently, when they obviously knew they were going under is a bit of a slap in the face!
I was so close to pre-ordering the 9th,10th, 11th & 12th new editions!
And like so many of you, I gave them the benefit of the doubt due to them fulfilling past orders!
Btw, I had £30+ in points.
Anonymous
August 8th, 2023 - 8:50amAnd they still have bobble heads for pre order…
Loobop
August 8th, 2023 - 10:55ami remember pre ordering the bobble head of tenth doctor after a year with no update i asked for my money back.they had other stuff that got revealed then never happened i remember are you being served was gonna get a bubble buddies line and also saw photos of bigger doctor who bobble buddies.They made a big thing about fake gold only fools and horses bobble buddies on ebay then what did they do they dunked there stock in gold and sold them again talk about copycat.
Andrew
August 8th, 2023 - 8:11amSecuring evidence for any claim.
Following on from my previous reply….
If you need to secure evidence of pre orders I noticed this morning all preorder and recent order (within the last month) history is no longer available. You may however find evidence of a pre order under the Reward Points – History menu which will show an Order number, Item description and points pending.
Aspredicted
August 8th, 2023 - 7:47amNo one should be shocked – they had a vast back order delay and kept trying to keep trading by taking pre-orders.
It was never going go be able to keep going with that business model
NickD
August 8th, 2023 - 6:31amA quick disclaimer regarding credit or debit cards. It makes no difference which one you use – – you are protected. Sadly PayPal is different – one of Elon Musk’s actual true successes.
After Eaglemoss and the current financial meltdown I am not surprised to see more businesses fail. Big Chief I think have been far too niche with mostly British IPs. Their Doctor Who range is their strongest seller. Does anyone buy their Hot Toys from them anyway? I wasn’t wowed by their recent Dalek figures and 2 years on there was no word on those highly popular items.
I had heard from reliable sources that they were struggling badly the last 12 months in particular. I hope everyone can get their money back but like Eaglemoss customers are at the bottom of a usually long list of creditors.
Paul Dunford
August 8th, 2023 - 6:17amLink didn’t copy properly on last comment.
https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/about-visa/visa-rules-public.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2j9xRtEjbN8nVfWBNQd14U7wObmxDxgoFyiKkGkbAD7m4DW9LtD6IEZ6Y
Read through this page 717, Dispute Condition 13.1: Merchandise/Services Not Received Dispute Time Limit which applies to all countries:
Paul Dunford
August 8th, 2023 - 6:14amSome of you may remember my Credit Card company (Vanquis) refused my claim on the Pre orders from Eaglemoss a couple of months ago stating “I had enough time to resolve the issues” etc etc and therefore i cannot claim as it was over 120 days or so).
I raised a complaint and sent copies and pictures of everything i had pre-ordered along with screenshots of Eaglemoss website down and links to Companies house showing in administration.
Here is a summary of what i sent them
I have never had to claim back from a credit card company in my life before, and as i stated these PRE-ORDERS kept getting put back due to delays caused by Covid and then Brexit and then the Suez Canal blockage and as i had never had problems with Eaglemoss before and know the issues were causing havoc all over the world i had no reason to disbelieve them. If i had known they were going to go under i would have got in touch and asked for a refund on all of them. But it was a shock to see a post on the Facebook Group that they had applied for administration and the first thing i did was try to get into my account, but i got the page as shown on page one of this letter and it hasn’t worked since.
The Eaglemoss facebook page and messenger is now gone, and all of us in the Hero Collector group are now waiting for that to be closed down too.
I honestly would not be claiming if i had received these items.
Please accept that I have paid money to a company for these goods and they gave no indication they were going under, so on top of my losses getting a letter from you last month saying ‘i had reasonable time to attempt to resolve the dispute’ was very upsetting.
As these were Pre-orders and I knew the problems Bexit, Covid And Suez Blockage were causing, i assumed they would be delivered once the stock had arrived, but they’ve gone under with mine and other people’s money and the goods have not been delivered and i doubt we will ever see them, you think i am going to be blamed by you for this. So maybe try a chargeback for my money please.
I have spent from 11am today (Saturday 13th August) until 6:15pm (Sunday 14th August) trying to work out everything and find pictures to show what i had PRE-ORDERED, please do not try and find more excuses and ask for anything else, as i cannot get into my Eaglemoss account to show you due to them taking it offline.
My statements are proof enough i have paid for items (& Pre-orders) using my Vanquis card.
**Here is the link to the Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules: https://usa.visa.com/…/about-visa/visa-rules-public.pdf.
I would call your attention to page 717, Dispute Condition 13.1: Merchandise/Services Not Received Dispute Time Limit which applies to all countries:
A Dispute must be processed no later than either:
120 calendar days from the Transaction Processing Date
120 calendar days from the last date that the Cardholder expected to receive the merchandise or services2,3
2 This does not apply to the purchase of a third-party gift card without an expiration date if the merchandise or
services were not provided by the third party due to insolvency or bankruptcy.
3 Not to exceed 540 calendar days from the Transaction Processing Date
Based on that, I would assume I am within the time limits if I’m not mistaken.
I expected to receive my items in the future (Pre-Order), so it hasn’t been 120 days yet, and not 540 from the original charge date.**
(Thank you to Fabio Studmonovich for pointing this out on my original post as it seems to have made them understand the issue.)
I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible please.
I am so disappointed with Vanquis and once this is done I will be closing my account.
I have left a trustpilot review, and once i get a good outcome on this i will remove it or update it from 1 star to 5, it is an honest review so far.
Regards
Paul Dunford
Well yesterday i received a letter asking me to sign the declaration for £453 of goods not received from Eaglemoss and to post back to them. So i should get my money back soon, so i am now happy.
Do not let them fob you off if you have tried to claim from your card companies, use the above statement (in **) as it seemed they had overlooked that litte rule.
Good luck everyone.
UPDATE August 2023
I got all of my money back via Vanquis because i stated they were wrong and to read the visa rules. I hope this little story helps you all get your money back.
Doug A
August 8th, 2023 - 5:50amDevastated… I’ve got about £2,000 owing in fully paid orders that I’d been waiting years for. I had 4th & 6th Doctor, K9, Captain Jack, but to make matters worse I often ordered two of each so I could later re-sell one MIB. Not only do we not get the long awaited figures, but obviously the financial hit hurts. I’m in Australia so paid all with PayPal, but due to the time lapse I doubt I can get any recourse.
We should’ve all become suspicious with the repeated delays constantly blamed on COVID, but in the past they always delivered despite the long delays. Unbelievable that BC were still sending out their sales emails as recently as 5 Aug.
Bicky
August 8th, 2023 - 4:23amThey must have known a while back about this and yet kept all our money. Shame on them.
Count Davros
August 8th, 2023 - 7:05amAgreed. This sort of thing doesn’t just happen overnight. They knew it was coming and just kept on offering pre-orders etc. A lot of people will lose a lot of money (myself included).
Geri
August 8th, 2023 - 3:27amAny idea what will become of Big Chief figures ordered from other retailers, like Sideshow etc.?
booboo
August 8th, 2023 - 11:13amthey wont get them now i wouldn’t think but they are trading companies so if they have taken money you should ask for it back now.
anon
August 8th, 2023 - 12:50amI said awhile back on these very pages, that people should pull out of their Pre-Orders. After Eaglemoss’ debacle I now only place Pre-Orders for a six month period: If I haven’t received the item within that period I cancel it. After all the lies that Eaglemoss spewed out, it’s a case of once bitten, twice shy.
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 2:39amSadly I don’t check these pages as often as I should so I missed what you said, I wish I had seen it it might have given me the kick to worry more.
I did worry after Eaglemoss but the recent BCS emails resasured me they were still going ahead after the covid delay and gave me the new shipping date of January 2024 and I belived them. I was thinking about cancelling a few times but I gave them the benifit of the doubt due to the pandemic and I know Clara took a few years to arrive but now I feel I was lied to as they were clearly in trouble.
Jeff
August 7th, 2023 - 11:40pm3 X Captain Scarlet figures fully paid and on order for several years – my gut told me to cancel after the lockdown but FOMO got the better if me. Will try MasterCard – let’s hope they’re ancient history buffs!!!!!
The Quark
August 7th, 2023 - 11:10pmIve posted on Martin Lewis’s page on facebook to see if he can offer any ideas.
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 2:44amI tried Paypal but the 180 days is up, paid on debit card so don’t have the protection of a credit card but even that would be up now anyway.
There is a claim form of sorts near the end of the email from the liquidators where you can submit evidence of your order to them to get a refund but I have no idea if that will work, my £300 is small comperared to the people BCS owes money to I imagine.
You have to wait two years for these figures but if this happens you are out of luck as too much time has passed
Mark
August 7th, 2023 - 10:28pmI had fully paid via PayPal for both 4th and 6th Dr’s nearly £600 this is going to hurt and the email I got looks complicated
Joe 90
August 8th, 2023 - 8:27amTheir website still works this morning so I have just logged in to get my order details for the liquidators.
Had paid for the 4th Doctor signature figure ordered nearly 4 years ago so I doubt PayPal or my bank can help with a refund.
It’s becoming risky of late to pre-order any merch as no company appears safe in this current financial climate.
Charl
August 7th, 2023 - 10:16pmThe only thing I was waiting for from them was a display plaque for a signature as it never came with my figure. I feel pretty lucky that’s all and it’s not a big deal in all, I feel gutted for those still waiting for pre-order figures
Dalez
August 8th, 2023 - 2:58amI didn’t get a signature plaque with my 13th Doctor annoyingly, they told me I would get one shipped with my next order of the 6th Doctor as they had none and needed to make more. I’m not getting either now, I have looked on ebay for a spare loose plaque but no luck, maybe they are in a warehouse somewhere and we can get one for existing figures one day.
Daft that they sent out figures without them, that should have raised a red flag about BCS really at the time, that and their “Only fools and horses” figures going cheap in Home Bargains.
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 3:01amI didn’t get one with my 13th Doctor either, they said they would send one along with my next order of the 6th Doctor. Not getting either now, them sending figures out and having no plaques should have been a red flag for me about BCS I guess.
Charl
August 8th, 2023 - 8:29amThat’s the the one, it’s the missing plaque for my 13th doctor, they said the same thing about it being sent out with the production of the next doctor. I’ve also checked eBay for a spare one. Looks like I’m gonna have to get crafty and make one, it’s annoying but it could’ve been a whole lot worse, I’ll settle for a missing plaque
Anonymous
August 7th, 2023 - 9:43pm£180 down the pan, it was only recently they wrote out with a production update suggesting September, it’d been a 3 year wait so it seemed there was light at the end of the tunnel. They must have known at that point that the ship was sinking. I have Captain Scarlet and I was really looking forward to getting a Captain Black, just glad I didn’t pre order and pay for Captain Blue too, hey ho such is life…
Judooning
August 7th, 2023 - 9:31pmI stopped buying from them when the Clara figure took 3 years to arrive. I’m not surprised this has happened really, as sad as it is for everyone involved. Customers and staff.
I almost went and pre-ordered the 6th Dr last year, but decided against it. Again, thinking of how long it took for the Clara to ship out.
Anonymous
August 8th, 2023 - 12:26amYeah, it was the three years waiting for Clara and the rising prices of BCS that stopped me preordering from them.
My heart goes out to everyone who’s lost a job and everyone who placed an order. Horrible thing, which is all too common now
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 2:51amI waited for Clara too it was ages wasn’t it which is why I didn’t worry too much about this as I ordered 13 inbetween and got her. I gave them the benfit of the doubt because of covid but I wish I hadn’t now, Eaglemoss worried me but I trusted BCS
Loobop
August 7th, 2023 - 9:25pmI feel sorry for anyone who pre ordered those definitive dr who 1/6 figures to my knowledge they have been available for pre order for way over a year.There goes my hopes of 15th 1/6 for 60th then.
The Quark
August 7th, 2023 - 10:09pmOrdered my fourth Doctor in 2020.
Javi
August 7th, 2023 - 9:12pmhere 4 and 6 ~550 £.
In the end I will run out of money or figures. Fortunately, I canceled the 4 doctors (£1000) 10 days ago. This is a f**king joke that is not funny
Anonymous
August 7th, 2023 - 9:10pmThis seemed destined to happen. Glad i cancelled all my preorders when i did. I dont know of any other company that takes years on preorder and very little communication with customers should set alarm bells ringing. After everything with Eaglemoss it has made me very wary of preordering anything.
John D
August 7th, 2023 - 9:07pmDefinitely worth contacting your bank. When Eaglemoss went under, it was five months since I’d pre-ordered the mega Mondasian Cyberman and I didn’t hold much hope of anything back. So long as you have all evidence of emails, orders, transactions and can show link to a company in receivership, there’s a good chance of success… just keep persisting. Sad times
John D
August 7th, 2023 - 8:52pmDefinitely worth contacting your bank. When Eaglemoss went under, it was five months since I’d pre-ordered the mega Mondasian Cyberman and I didn’t hold much hope of anything back. So long as you have all evidence of emails, orders, transactions and can show link to a company in receivership, there’s a good chance of success… hunt keep persisting. Sad times
Dave
August 7th, 2023 - 8:43pmI had 6th, 4th, Master and K-9 and similarly were giving them the benefit of the doubt with lockdown issues. Agreed it will be annoying if someone else picks up anything in production and we get nothing.
Mark Belsom
August 7th, 2023 - 8:28pmOh well, say goodbye to the figures I’ve pre-ordered, amounts to about £500.
Don’t know if I’ll get a full refund.
paul boyle
August 7th, 2023 - 9:57pmSad times , i lost£749.99 Gutted/
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 2:41amAnnoyoing isn’t it, I lost £300 but I can see some lost far more.
It’s not fair really on customers, I will never pre-order something with such a far off date ever again
Andrew
August 8th, 2023 - 8:48amI’m the same £600 in preorders so annoying waiting years for release not funny whatsoever
Dalekz
August 7th, 2023 - 8:24pmDam it, I have the 6th Doctor fully paid for on pre-order.
It’s been almost 2 years but I was giving them a chance because I know they were having problems with the factories due to the pandemic.
As it’s almost two years I wonder how much chance we have of getting any money back £280 odd quid is a lot to just right off and I know others could lose even more sadly.
I’ve never had this happen with a pre-order not even with Eaglemoss so I have no idea what to do about it.
Andrew
August 7th, 2023 - 10:40pmFor those that may have a claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act for payments by credit card or Paypal protection (cases need to be filed within 180 days of the date of the transaction) you may want to log into your BCS account to secure evidence of order and payment to assist you file a claim. At the time of writing I’m still able to screen print my account, support ticket and order pages.
If you have ongoing issues in regards damage or missing items you can still make a claim if you used the above methods to pay.
I used my Paypal account credit for one order (Cpt Jack @ £249.99) so I’m not covered. So beware of that if you ever think about paying for your goods using your credit. If it’s going to arrive outside of the 180 days Payapl will automatically refuse the claim….as I found out tonight.
On a positive, my sons are learning from my errors. Thanks to this site for sharing it quickly with others.
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 2:33amThanks andrew,
I tried Paypal but the 180 day issue came up and it’s automated thing rejected my claim.
The bank would say the same thing and it was a debit card anyway.
I can’t access my BCS account anymore but I have all the screen shots from the day i ordered saved and printed.
There is some sort of claim form included in the email from the liquidators where they ask for evidence of your order to claim a refund via them but it’s a bit wordy and legal so I will need to read it again. We live and learn but it’s still a annoying way to lean.
Andrew
August 7th, 2023 - 7:47pmShocking. They were sending messages at lunch time telling me a damaged figure would result in a credit to my account.
Bicky
August 7th, 2023 - 7:37pmI had £700 paid on a daleks set! I had a feeling this would happen as it’s over 2 years since I paid. Great!
Danny
August 7th, 2023 - 7:40pmThe same for me sadly definitive 4th Dr, 6th and K9 were about £700 paid all in all… I wonder given how far (possibly?) the definitive 4th was in production maybe they will get sold via another distributor like the Eaglemoss figurines… I don’t fancy paying again for it mind 🙁
Bicky
August 7th, 2023 - 8:12pmFirst EAGLEMOSS and now this . What next? Robert Harrop? Lesson not to pre-order too much I think
Nick
August 7th, 2023 - 8:22pm“Lesson not to pre-order too much”. Hhhhmm, agreed, these are dark times indeed…
JAMES Davidson
August 7th, 2023 - 9:22pmI’ve been waiting for a Thunderbirds figure for 2.5 years.
Last year, I cancelled a 007/Connery figure because the wait was too long. I should have folded all my cards rather than placing more prepaid pre-orders.
PayPal is giving a partial credit for orders within 180 days.
Lege
August 7th, 2023 - 7:21pmJust a heads up for anyone thinking about it. If you want to go to your bank to reclaim the costs.
Disputing a transaction has a maximum limit of 120 days.
Any payments before this you’ve not got a cat in hells chance of getting back. Unless it was made using a credit card under section 75 and it was over £100
Dalekz
August 7th, 2023 - 8:25pmSo no chance on a debit card then, I don’t want to waste my time with the bank if they can’t do anything.
Anon
August 7th, 2023 - 8:31pmDalekz a credit card is covered but unfortunately not a debit card, it’s why I always use my credit card for online purchases no matter how small
DalekAyeEye
August 7th, 2023 - 10:12pmIt should be possible to contact the bank to try what’s called a ‘charge back’ to try and get your money back. If there’s a case the use of a debit card shouldn’t make any difference. I’m currently going through the process to reclaim money I spent on a debit for a faulty vehicle.
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 2:28amThanks Anon,
Sadly I used my debit card via Paypal, I tried Paypal tonight but it’s been over 180 days so they don’t want to know and it’s all automated anway. I could talk to the bank but again debit card.
Anon
August 7th, 2023 - 7:08pmVery sad, but not entirely a surprise. Hope people get their money back or at least some of it.
Loobop
August 7th, 2023 - 9:28pmjust looked at my bcs i still have £9.35 credit in my account dam it.
Dalekz
August 8th, 2023 - 2:48amLoobop, I forgot about that i too had points from prevous orders maybe about £25 not that im that bothered after loosing £300 on my pre-order. They really let us down
NickD
August 8th, 2023 - 6:42amMe too customers abs their staff have been seriously stuffed. Sadly most businesses like households are carrying far too much debt. Throw in a pandemic and our own wonderful British government and this will sadly happen a lot.