Some time ago I remember speaking to Jon about his frustrating experience with Heroics and Ros.
Jon had placed an order, the money had been taken out of his account and yet he was expected to sit and wait with no communication whatsoever for his order to arrive whenever Andy Kirk could be arsed making it.
Jon was never really considered in the equation only that the money he parted with was now in the hands of Mr Kirk. Jon tried to contact Andy for an update but I think in the end he said enough was enough.
Jon has since been purchasing his 6mm from Baccus and I understand that he has received better service but not sure of late as to how this service has been?
Here then is my story....
I too had enough of Andy Kirk and his shit customer service. As you know I told him what I though about his customer service, that's the type of guy I am!
Since then I have placed a few orders with Baccus and have noticed a deteriorating level of service from them.
I was used to waiting a maximum of two weeks for a delivery, no matter how large.
Last Month I ordered the paltry sum of 2 packs of WW2 British Para Mortars. That's less than 20 figures. I also ordered a pot of wash and some scatter.
I waited for a Month before e mailing and then the goods arrived. Shocking.
To add to my frustration I placed an order with Rapier on 12th September for a Gaul army.
The £65 quickly left my account and here we are on the 16th October and I have still not seen the goods.
I actually e mailed Rapier on the 29th September and was told in writing that the order would be shipped out commencing 3rd October.
Last Thursday I sent another e mail requesting an update.
They never bothered to reply
I have decided that if it does not show up tomorrow I will take this up with Pay Pal disputes and get my money back.
Perhaps this is just me but from where I am sitting the service from these manufacturers is nothing short of woeful.
Heroics and Ros - let's not mention them....
Rapier Miniatures - NEVER AGAIN.
Baccus - not far behind.
I am afraid that I am done with these three companies. Maybe it is because Pete Berry is having to look after his kids and he continues to employ the Egor to cast his orders.
Baccus have certainly been at the forefront of 6mm in terms of improving the range of figures available over the last few Years but........
Better marketing and better website plus loads of new releases = more demand
Too much demand - not enough resources to handle demand = longer lead times = more pissed off customers
As for Andy Kirk, he can be forgiven as he is more interested in his day job.
Rapier miniatures are an abomination of a company.
I will end my rant by stating that companies like Adler Miniatures lead my example.
As far as ranges go Adler offer a huge Napoleonic range plus a great WW2 range and then they do 10mm stuff too.
Never had to wait more than 3 weeks for a large order, ever.
It's worth a mention that I have ordered from Magister Millitum and Pendraken fairly recently and have received my order within 2 weeks.
The problem for me now is that I have no confidence ordering from these people and I can't see another pathway in front of me.
As I am looking at ancients again I will switch to 10mm, that's cast in stone.
Micro armour - well I have enough to be happy with. I have a WW2 British Army, a WW1 British and German Corps and have my WW2 Paras. That's a result for me.
As for Heroics & Ros, Baccus and Rapier, yes they may sell nice shiny 6mm figures but from my own experiences with all of them they have all failed to provide what I believe to be a decent level of customer service.
People say as you get older you become less tolerant!
5 comments:
Gone are the days of the precognitive Navwar chap. I think 6mm suffers from the fact that there are so few ranges to pick from unlike there more widely manufactured 28mm and 15mm breatheren and once you find a good product most of them are unable to meet demand. As we discovered at Joy of Six, total battle miniatures, had ,for example stopped development of new buildings because they were constantly having to cast the 6mm hundred days buildings to meet demand for a popular item.
Baccus have been slower of late and they have a message on the website that they are about three / four weeks behind on their orders when you get to the payment page. I have been anticipating this by constantly topping up my orders in the hope that the next batch will arrive before I finish the first lot and it has so far worked for me ,however I am working on just one era, and moving from figures ,to buildings ,to scenery which means I always have some acw project awaiting my attention,but I can understand Russ's frustration .I hope you don't find that the grass isn't actually greener on the 10mm side
Further to last post, I had a look on the Baccus forum and it would appear that two days ago Pete asked for assistance on the blog from anyone who could handle a 3 D printer/ software as he wants to spend more time on orders and less on creating the new ranges . Maybe your not the only one venting!
Interesting find Jon and it does not surprise me either!
I sent an a mail over to Leon at Pendraken last night asking him what sort of lead times he was working to at the moment for 10mm orders. He replied later on in the evening to confirm that they are currently looking at 10-14 days plus a few more for delivery.
He also told me he has a min or two people casting all the time.
Makes all the difference if you are hands on and can react to customer demand
You go girl!!!!
Just bought another lot of acw from Baccus. This is the message after payment made
.
Payment Success
Payment received, your order will be dispatched shortly.
Due to a combination of an unusually high demand for our ranges and unforeseen temporary personal circumstances which are reducing the hours I can get into work we are currently experiencing a backlog in our turnaround of orders. Each order is cast for customer requirements. Your order is now in the queue and we will be working on it as soon as we are able. Currently this can mean a wait of of up to three weeks before an order is cast and on its way. I apologise for this delay - it is not something that I like to have, but believe me, we are working flat out to get your order to you as soon as is possible. Please be patient - you can check the status of your order by logging in and visiting 'My Account'.
Post a Comment