MagicBunny.co.uk

"Their" tricks is a misnomer as almost none of what they put out is "Theirs."

a/ Most Instant downloads that they put out for say £5.00 are re-namings of classic tricks that can be bought in books much Much cheaper. ie, Mark Wilson's Book, 230-ish tricks, £12.00 on Amazon. Many of these tricks are £5.00 downloads on Penguin, Do the Maths.

b/ Many of the items they sell are, "Magic Makers" Rip offs of etablished effects. This makes them mucho money and allows them to :-

c/ They do have some genuine stuff at good prices, I believe funded by the above practices. If you care about ethics, I would recommend contacting your favourite bricks and Mortar shop and buying from them. If the difference is small, just Pay it, it's worth it to have personal service. With large differences try saying, "I want to buy, "x." Your price is, "y", Penguin's price is "z" less than yours, can we come to an arrangement?" You'd be amazed how good a deal you can get.

My thoughts

Andy

i am right there with you andy. In fact simply by going to my local magic shop I got introduced to the local IBM chapter and found that the guy at the shope is a really great guy whom I've added to my list of "friends". He has shown me little.... tips on just about everything I buy. The best thing is that if something is bad or a rip off or if I can get it from a book (i.e. bigger collection or better value) then he will send me there. The more I started looking at penguin (my previous online order site) the more I needed a local store and thank god I found it.

I find this a much better question:
"...Shall I continue to give them lots of money for things I can just learn out of Wilson?..."
That make it easier to decide, and a lot less emotionally charged as a question.
Rgds - Bruce

The only thing I feel I can add that hasn't already been said is that people should support magic dealers here in the UK whenever possible. Most of them (Magicbox included ) offer price matching on other UK dealers so there's usually very little need to go to someone like Penguin to get a better price on widely available products. It's better for the consumer in the long run as it usually means faster delivery (Penguin aren't as great as they say they are in that dept!) and if something goes wrong you only need to pick up the phone.

Very difficult issue still. I think both sides have done things the wrong way, and now they go public to build up their defences. I don´t choose either side, I just watch. By the way: what happens here happens very often in business.

Magixx

Hi Paul.

I said

Does that get me a discount at Blackpool?


Andy

Hey donn aska me...i'm just a waiter!!

Dave Scribner at Magic Cafe.


So does anyone have any further evidence that Sankey was merely indulging in merely flaming, bashing , and hearsay?

Update:

for last 2 months I have been having a ongoing saga with the T-6 Hotrod.

They sent a very badly made ( and god know how it made it past quailty control) hotrod, so I emailed, waited a few days then emailed again and got a reply. The hotrod was sent back. 6 weeks later a new one turned up after many an email . The replacment is worse then the first one and has a BIG scratch on it.

Now, I asked them to check before then send and this item was sent out!!!

I call to ALL who use Penguin to stop and go elsewhere and to warn all newcomer to steer clear of them.

They suck! full stop...

Let me get this straight, Gareth...You're unhappy about the service, right?



Mike.

, yep I have asked to pop over the Slough office and exchange the hotrod for a decent model. I am only a few miles away.

Also its nice to jump on the bandwagon. 1st Magic Bunny 2nd Jay Sankey 3rd Gareth Witty.

We need a fourth and fifth guys

Couldnt Sankey have posted it here himself? anyway, If it is from big Jay, I am totally backing him. Ive never bought anything from Penguin because I too have 'heard' about them....but when you hear of this from a totally professional magician like Sankey, you have to take notice. And doesn't help Penguin that Jay is a extremley respected magician worldwide and people will follow him whatever the weather.

Down with the penguin!!!

I wonder how Oz and Co feel about this?

Well Maxwell has sent a very polite email and says he will sort it all out. I will update and let you know what happens.