Anovos is Outta Business and Star Trek Fans SOL

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I'm sorry to hear you're out this much cash.

You get me. You really get me.

EDIT and UPDATE:

Denonuvo Answered my follow up questions, stating that they aren't affiliated with Anovos. See below:

I've also emailed Lucasfilm for further confirmation on this. As we say in journalism, if your mom says she loves you, you get a second opinion to verify.

 

[Tim Thomason]

Yeah, I don't want to sound conspiratorial here, but it looks like they dotted their Is and crossed their tees to make this new company completely unaffiliated with Anovos, to hide from these lawsuits and issues (probably all COVID related) with back orders.

If they do have "completely different owners and managers", then I'm guessing they have some former Anovos consultants on staff and will be hiring some fairly quickly as well. This new company probably "purchased" most of its physical assets and hired employees out of Anovos as well.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Yeah, I don't want to sound conspiratorial here, but it looks like they dotted their Is and crossed their tees to make this new company completely unaffiliated with Anovos, to hide from these lawsuits and issues (probably all COVID related) with back orders.

If they do have "completely different owners and managers", then I'm guessing they have some former Anovos consultants on staff and will be hiring some fairly quickly as well. This new company probably "purchased" most of its physical assets and hired employees out of Anovos as well.

They assert they didn't buy Anovos out, but my reporter senses are tingling. Something ain't adding up here.

 

[STEPhon IT]

How much $ did they swindle from you?

8 hundred dollars , I did what Ryan advised and reported it to my credit card company; I gave them all of my email info from a Reggie S. from Anovos and discuss in detail what I ordered and how long I waited for the item which never came.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

8 hundred dollars.

Those bastards, we need a Trekkie lynch mob, and some detective work in here on who's the perpetrator/thief/con-artist to blame!!!

I suggest Tar & Feather-ing

 

[STEPhon IT]

Those bastards, we need a Trekkie lynch mob, and some detective work in here on who's the perpetrator/thief/con-artist to blame!!!

I suggest Tar & Feather-ing

No. Justice will prevail, I doubt Anovos will get away with this, the people in charge will get their due and hopefully be brought to shame on an episode of "American Greed" on CNBC.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

No. Justice will prevail, I doubt Anovos will get away with this, the people in charge will get their due and hopefully be brought to shame on an episode of "American Greed" on CNBC.

Hopefully you get your $800 back ASAP.

 

[cultcross]

I'm another Anovos victim, although for the most part my credit card company have paid out. So I'm only down one (much smaller) transaction that in a moment of madness I made on my debit card without thinking.

It's really frustrating because, when their stuff actually showed up, it was great. The best quality replicas I've ever seen. I've got some of their stuff second hand through eBay as well and again been impressed with the quality.

But their business model and customer service sucked.

How do dodgy companies like this end up with official licenses?

Their main problem was overpromising, I suspect. They promised and clearly wanted to deliver really high end replicas, with materials, colors, pins, accessories etc bang on screen accurate. What they seemed to have failed to understand is how hard and expensive that would be to achieve. They had parts being made all around the world and of course any delay in any of them meant the assembly (also outside the US for most of their life) was also delayed. Must have cost them a fortune. It was like a sort of pyramid scheme of nerdiness, each new pre-order product trying to patch the finance gaps of the ones before. So over time, a huge array of new items appeared on the site attracting new pre-order payments, while the old ones just got pushed back and back and back. As recently as a couple of months ago they were opening up new items for pre-order when their own site admitted that the dozens of existing items were no closer to fulfillment.

issues (probably all COVID related) with back orders.

Oh this wasn't covid. They were terrible for years before that (although that didn't stop them trying that excuse).

 

[Tosk]

If they are truly a different and separate company (yeah, right) then how do they justify acquiring customers' private details from Anovos?

 

[mthompson1701]

I'm in the same boat. I'm out $650 for a DS9/First Contact command premier line jacket that was ordered in August 2018 for delivery summer 2019 then delayed to fall then to winter, and then into 2020. Knowing how Anovos operated, I decided I was going to be patient to get it. My patience finally ran out a week ago today. I went on their site found the jacket, but no estimated delivery time. I went to their blog, and all I could find there was that it was made in Texas. I finally went to the original order confirmation found the contact link, and tried to contact them that way for an update. I got an automated email 10 minutes later saying that they don't accept inquiries that way anymore, and to go to the blog. I used the payment plan for 2 payments, then paid it off in the third month. I had a feeling something was up when they changed their refund policy to all sales final, but I just didn't make the connection. I wasn't even aware that there was a class action lawsuit.

Okay, if the new company did not buy Anovos, then how come the anovos.com domain redirects to the new site? I'm not sure how all that works, but it does seem fishy to me.

I'll be reaching out to my credit card company in the next couple days to see if they can do anything to help me. From seeing the posts on here, I kind of wish there was something the new company could do. I'm not getting my hopes up about them getting the Star Trek license.

 

[cultcross]

Even if they get the Trek licence, it'll be the same old business running the same old way, I'm certain. Now's the moment to get refunds if you've got that option.

 

[fireproof78]

Oh this wasn't covid. They were terrible for years before that (although that didn't stop them trying that excuse).

Yeah. I was trying to see if they had filed for bankruptcy and there were posts on RPF and other sites about possible lawsuits against Anovos due to non fulfillment of orders.

This whole situation stinks to high heaven.

 

[XCV330]

ultimately Rubies owns what's left of Anovos under a new name now as a subsidiary. Looks like they are concentrating on the Star Wars licensed stuff.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The models are baked by hand with loving care.

So this doesn't count as "artisan"?



And good luck to everybody who got screwed by this Anovos. Poorly run outfits and just plain crooked ones are far too prevalent.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Are we trying to say Denuo Novo is Anovos but in different clothing. Is this, like, a Billy McFarland kind of smoke and mirrors scheme?

 

[cultcross]

Hello, I'm brand new poster quiltcrescent and I think you may be onto something

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Like I said, Denuo Novo CS reps assert they "didn't buy Anovos" and are "different company and managers."

I've reached out to Lucasfilm licensing to confirm that as well as tweeted at Rubies Brand Licensing Manager.

I've also messaged the Anovos founders on LinkedIn to see if they'll say anything on what happened, their involvement with Denuo Novo, and if they can even defend themselves.

I'll be surprised if any of them answer me back.

From my experience in tech and marketing, you can buy customers lists pretty easily.

But there are still a lot of unanswered questions on this, particularly how they got access to that list. How they're managing to fulfill the Star Wars back orders? Are they eating the cost? Will customers have to shell out additional monies to get those products? Are they being pro-active and reaching out to those customers? The Denuo Novo site asks that Anovos customers reach out to them... so it's up to the customer to ensure they get their item?

How can they even know since Anovos didn't send any message out to their customers on any of this? Hope they see the Denuo Novo announcement?

Anovos help desk is up and running still. See: https://anovosproductionsllc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us

And I sent in a request on the status of my item. Today, I got this note with my ticket closed as "solved".

So they've restructured? An announcement is coming in September? I'm more confused and have even more questions.

 

[STEPhon IT]

This is disappointing, if I don't get my money back I may report Anovos and this new angle to the Better Business Bureau. They should be aware of this.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

This is disappointing, if I don't get my money back I may report Anovos and this new angle to the Better Business Bureau. They should be aware of this.

I'll keep posting updates as I hear things on here and on Twitter. I'm using my old reporter's skills -- it's been a hot minute -- to figure out what's going on.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Is there a point where this should be reported to the F.B.I.?