When Iron Maiden announced their Senjutsu album eight months ago, they also put together an exclusive treat for their die-hard fans: An exclusive limited edition collectors’ box of Senjutsu was made available for Fan Club members only, only 2021 copies of the box were made, and they went for sale on Friday, August 13. The boxes were priced at 333GBP / 400EUR / 450USD and were strictly limited to one per person.
The box contents were:
- The CD digipak version of “Senjutsu”
- The Blu-Ray digipak of "The Writing on The Wall", including a making-of video and sleeve notes
- A decorated board portfolio containing the following:
- A Japanese hanko-style Eddie stamp, made of teak and engraved, in an engraved teak case
- An exclusive Mark Wilkinson print, signed and stamped by the man himself
- A unique artwork print in Japan's Ukiyo-e tradition illustrated by Masumi Ishikawa, who previously created 2 pieces of Iron Maiden ukiyo-e works
- An Eddie lenticular
- A Japanese-style tsuba - a decorated metal sword hilt typically worn by the Samurai
- A “Senjutsu” Eddie pendant necklace
- A printed canvas banner with wooden ends
- A certificate of authenticity presented in an envelope inspired by Japanese celebratory Shugi Bukuro envelopes and featuring an intricate bow: a mizuhiki
Sadly, things didn't go 100% as planned, and after several months trying to work out the issues arisen from fans receiving damaged boxes, the band and their Fan Club management are offering those who purchased the box with a 30% refund and an additional 1 year extension of their Iron Maiden Fan Club Membership.
Fans club members who had been waiting for months for a solution have received an email with the text below.
"Hello,
We're writing to you because we've had to make an important decision about the FC Exclusive Box.
For over five months now Phantom and the FC have been working with the supplier to try and resolve the issues – investigating the cause of damage, potential faults with packaging, manufacture, shipment and packing methods -- the list goes on. Our first move was to use the limited extra boxes we already had to replace badly damaged ones. Then we ordered more boxes from the supplier, who managed to squeeze a short run into their production schedule, but when they arrived with us some of those were already damaged. We’ve replaced what we can with the limited stock of new boxes but now have to look at the situation practically – we don’t have enough mint condition boxes to continue making replacements. What we have to accept at this point, is that mint condition replacements cannot be guaranteed by our suppliers even if we were willing to wait – which we are not.
We can't begin to tell you how disappointed we are, so we can only imagine how you feel – this was a project that started well over a year ago and with the sole intention of making something great and exclusive for the FC in honor of Senjutsu. It worked for some, but others were less lucky sadly. It may sound cheesy but every damaged box we see breaks a bit more of our collected hearts.
We are not going to keep dragging this out and have no faith that replacement boxes from our suppliers, which you would wait months for another production run of, would arrive in perfect condition going on our most recent experience with them. Therefore, we are going to give you an immediate 30% refund of the total price of your box to cover both the damage and to compensate you for your time and patience while we’ve worked to try and resolve the matter. Of course, the box remains yours to keep, and we’ll also credit you with an extra year of FC membership free of charge.
The box you have might not be perfect like we hoped it would be but it’s still a very special piece of Iron Maiden’s history – the contents, and in particular the very valuable Mark Wilkinson prints, we hope you agree, are really special. While we know the condition of the outer box is not what you expected, we still hope the overall package will occupy a place of pride in your collections. There will be no more boxes made, and its unique contents will not appear anywhere else. As for your refunds, no further action is required – your refund and membership extension will be processed automatically in the next ten days.
Unfortunately, we can't turn back the clock, but we can move forward with some painful lessons learned. Iron Maiden fans are the best in the world and they only deserve the best – we’re just very sorry that it didn’t work the way we had planned. On behalf of all at Maiden thank you for your patience for what we know has been a deeply frustrating experience and we look forward to an opportunity to join you in celebrating somewhere on tour, somewhere in the future!
Come on you Irons!" - The Iron Maiden Fan Club
