Poor Customer Service comes in many forms not just rude or obstructive sales staff. In this age of Internet Shopping its things like late deliveries, lack of communications, mistakes in orders, unhelpful websites, and poor stock control that are probably the most common examples of Bad Customer Service that are encountered by most shoppers. And I've encountered them all in the last few months.
Regular readers will know that I have entered into a new scale recently, complimenting my 15mm WWII collection with 6mm figures and vehicles. My acquisition of a large collection of models from a fellow member of Posties Rejects has boosted my output of painted figures and without it I would probably still be sitting here twiddling my thumbs. Why? Because clearly not all retailers work to the same standards, especially where customer service is concerned.
Since I first decided to go the 6mm route in mid October, I have placed three different orders and so far none of them have fulfilled my expectations. Half the items I ordered from one retailer were out of stock, despite being shown as in-stock when I placed the order. I eventually received half my order (and a refund for the missing stuff) nearly five weeks after purchasing them. A second order with a different retailer is still outstanding over four weeks after placing it. Despite emailing them I have had no communications confirming an ETA for the delivery or explaining the delay. And a third order - this time placed direct from a manufacturer - is also overdue and now in its fifth week.
Maybe I have been a bit spoiled with the more mainstream (?) 15mm market where I could easily expect to place an order on the Monday and have my goods within the week. I have also grown accustomed to purchasing items that are listed as in-stock and those items actually being in-stock and then delivered as anticipated. So far neither situation seems to apply when buying 6mm figures and vehicles and I'm rather disappointed. This of course raises the question, is this a common experience for other micro scale wargamer's out there, or am I just unlucky?
Regular readers will know that I have entered into a new scale recently, complimenting my 15mm WWII collection with 6mm figures and vehicles. My acquisition of a large collection of models from a fellow member of Posties Rejects has boosted my output of painted figures and without it I would probably still be sitting here twiddling my thumbs. Why? Because clearly not all retailers work to the same standards, especially where customer service is concerned.
Maybe I have been a bit spoiled with the more mainstream (?) 15mm market where I could easily expect to place an order on the Monday and have my goods within the week. I have also grown accustomed to purchasing items that are listed as in-stock and those items actually being in-stock and then delivered as anticipated. So far neither situation seems to apply when buying 6mm figures and vehicles and I'm rather disappointed. This of course raises the question, is this a common experience for other micro scale wargamer's out there, or am I just unlucky?
I use Heroics and Ros 6mm and have not had any problems. It takes about a week to get my order but if there's any delay I get an E-mail telling me.
ReplyDeleteNever had any problem with what I ordered also. Always get exactly what I ordered even when I forgot what it was and had to re-check my order. And as I tell everyone the price/quality can't be beat.
I usually only get these delays from certain suppliers in America, nothing that long here in the UK!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that you've struck out with three separate suppliers. Seems like bad luck. I've been eyeing your project with interest, maybe I'll just stick with 1/72 and fudge tabletop scale etc.
ReplyDeleteI have enough models to keep me going for now (from the collection I recently bought) but my orders were filling some crucial gaps that I felt needed filling. I can manage in the short term, but eventually I'm going need those special items.
DeleteSorry you have encountered 3 lots of unexpectedly long delays. I have not had any mail order problems in the last few years. (Except from Maelstrom, and they recitfied it as soon as I phoned them). So I am thinking it is extremely bad luck.
ReplyDeleteI have had two orders go missing and communications have been off and on. The last half of one order finally arrived last week. The other order was made in mid October and although emails have been answered I still don't know if the replacement order has been shipped or not. Its definitely slowing down my project!
ReplyDeleteThe in-stock, out-of-stock issue is the one I've found most annoying, fortunately it doesn't happen a lot, but even once is enough to get under the skin.
ReplyDeleteYes. I ordered in good faith (and with a particular army list in mind) and ended up with half of what I needed.
DeleteName and shame, name and shame :)
ReplyDeleteWorst offender so far has been Wargames Emporium. I've bought other stuff from them in the past (15mm FOW for instance) and received excellent service.
DeleteI ordered from a 54mm supplier (amoungst others). They took payment but it was out of stock and refunded me, never let me know and thought that was OK. When I querried I got a snotty e-mail back saying it was my mistake as it was clearly out of stock. By the way at the time of ordering it was not listed as out of stock. Wrong and rude, so it's not just 6mm. Ordered a few week ago from Blacktree who are normally fast but still waiting as they had a very good 50% off sale. I ordered as soon as it was offered but I suspect they may be working backwards on orders. I know it went down well but having saved 50% I am not too worried.
ReplyDeleteIan
Haven't experienced that in my 10 mm endeavours, I usually buy from Pendraken and these guys are very correct and on the ball.
ReplyDelete@Ian: if with Blacktree you mean black tree design than consider yourself very lucky if you consider them normally fast. From my experience long waiting times are standard at BTD, I never order anything urgent from them, have had some kafka-esque experiences with them, it might be better nowadays, I hope for you it is. Good value for money though...
How about this for irony...I got home from work last night (after posting this soapbox rant) and there was a small package sitting on my desk. One of my orders (from Skytrex) has arrived, fully complete and nicely packaged. I feel like a right jerk now!
ReplyDeleteI'll forgive them the slow delivery because the models are excellent. I'm really happy with the balance of quality v's cost of these models.
I have had good luck with everyone for the past ten years. My last order which I praised in a post came in two days, one day of which was a Sunday with no mail service, so it was virtually one mail day. That was PicoArmor for 3mm in the US. No one has ever done better than that. It was free shipping too, for being above $25, (in the US) not any sort of pay extra for express.
ReplyDeleteIrregular in Yorkshire UK is very quick and accurate, and have been known for it for a long time. Everyone else too was quick and communicative, and it has been good. The only one who even came close to 30 days was Stone Mountain for 6mm, in 2003, but they made it okay, they just came close.
In mail order, in the US, and I interpret online as an extension of that, the standard 'reasonable time' to either have your order or hear from them what the problem is, is 30 days. After that you are entitled to think they have crossed the line. If they interpret that to only mail the order or at least a response explaining the delay on day 30, versus being in your hands day 30, they are stretching it, if they don't even do that they are taking unreasonably long.
My experiences in the US have actually been decent. I just placed an order for some 15mm stuff from Quality Castings, which made it clear that everything was made to order (no stock on hand of anything). So no instant gratification expected.
ReplyDeleteThe other recent experience I had was ordering some Peter Pig figures from Brookhurst Hobbies out in California. They actually took the time to telephone me to inform me that they were waiting for restock and it would take a while. I placed the order Nov 9, it arrived today.
In both cases the companies I ordered from put forth the effort to let me know what my order was not going to arrive overnight and frankly that goes a long way in my book. Nothing is worse than playing the waiting game without knowing what is going on.