Contacting manufacturers

[dashing blade]

I'm sure i've seen something written about contacting figure manufactures before, but i'm becoming increasingly frustrated at companies never returning enquires . I realise some companies juggle full time jobs as well as family life; but , without naming anyone in paticular , In my search for figures i've been ignored by e-mail,post and phone. I've started to think i may not exist! But following the maxim "I think therefore I am" I must exist! Humm...anyone else suffer from this problem

[Atheling]

A couple of times but now very often I must say.

Have the manufacturer got regular internet access? I know it might sound strange in this dayn and age but sometimes circumstances can dictate some awkward situatuons for folks.

You've probably already thought of this but maybe they have a phone number?

Darrell.

[dashing blade]

Hey Darrell, Yep i've tried the phone on a number of times and spoken to the same old answerphone. In one case i've been trying to contact the company for over three weeks! Maybe their on holiday,or the wargamers world has sent them over the edge,and are currently rocking themselves gently in a secure ward

[Atheling]

Hey Darrell, Yep i've tried the phone on a number of times and spoken to the same old answerphone. In one case i've been trying to contact the company for over three weeks! Maybe their on holiday,or the wargamers world has sent them over the edge,and are currently rocking themselves gently in a secure ward

Maybe not all that secure if they have been let loose on the wargames market...... .

Darrell.

[Duke of Plaza-Toro]

In an ideal world all reasonable requests and enquiries to a miniatures company should be granted some sort of polite response. At Eureka Miniatures it is company policy, and we endeavour to respond to every email or answer phone message that needs an answer - usually well within 24 hours during week days - perhaps a little longer over weekends and public holidays.

However, before this comes across as just me trying to seize the 'moral high ground' and getting a blatant plug in for Eureka, I think a few things need to be put into context.

When I opened up the Eureka office last week (I was on my own) on the Tuesday after the long Easter weekend, I was confronted by close to a hundred genuine work related messages in our Inbox (i.e. not including Spam) - the majority of which required some sort of coherent response. It took me most of the rest of the day to clear them all. During normal (none holiday) times around 30 messages a day at Eureka is not uncommon. Usually Nic Robson (the boss) deals with most of these. Some require an answer of just a line – but plenty more need a paragraph or two, and it can eat up a lot of his time. Time – it might be argued – that would be better spent from a purely financial perspective making moulds, casting, and processing customer orders! Fortunately for us Eureka is not a single person operation and the 3 - 4 regulars here can collectively deal with most of these things, but for many of those miniatures companies who are just one or two man operations the volume of ‘instant message’ traffic they can receive in any given day could well represent quite a burden.

Based on our experience I suspect some smaller manufacturers are forced to prioritise the messages they respond to and filter out those that are of a non-specific or very general nature, simply because there are not enough hours in the day to answer them all AND get peoples’ orders out on time. Inevitably in such a situation some messages are going to get ‘lost’ and never get a reply.

I can’t say whether any of this is relevant to dashing blade’s experience and indeed, there’s no excuse for bad service or ignoring customers who are trying to give you their hard earned money – even from the smallest of one-man miniatures companies. But I just wanted to make the general point that with some of the smaller companies (and even a few of the larger ones – I dread to think what volume of message traffic the Perry’s might get!!!) this might be an issue.

[dashing blade]

Dear Duke,
I understand the point you're making,I just feel that sometimes i'm chasing people for them to make money. This seems rather the wrong way round! Anyway, whilst i'm sure the dedication your company has in contacting customers is an example to all;maybe you'd be so kind as to explain this "contacting customers"concept to the drizzle soaked shores of northern Lancashire. It would be a breath of fresh air!

N.B. Please tell me its sun drenched and blisteringly hot in Oz

Hey Darrell, Any more answerphone messages and i'm gonna start rocking!! Which way to the secure ward:?

[CoffinDodger]

...the drizzle soaked shores of northern Lancashire.

Mr Blade,

OFF TOPIC

Have you ever tried the boardgame from Columbia Games called "Richard III" based on the Wars of the Roses? I think that, being a proud Lancastrian, you would enjoy it.

Jim

[dashing blade]

Mr Dodger,
Sounds intresting, couldn't they have called it "Henry Tudor" i mean he did win after all didnt he?
Problem with boardgames is that it takes more than one for a decent game, and the wife prefers Guitar Heroes,and the kids aren't old enough not to swallow the counters yet. Still if Pepper Pig is a character in the game, then my eldest girl might be persuaded.

Anyway if you stray from Motherwell and into the area of dark satanic mills of northern Lancashire, bring the game with you! I'll give you a game, I might even be prepared to play the Yorkist's ( though i'll need a shower afterwards!)

Oh , and good luck against Churchills beautifully painted brigades at the weekend.

[obriendavid]

[quote="CoffinDodger Have you ever tried the boardgame from Columbia Games called "Richard III" based on the Wars of the Roses? I think that, being a proud Lancastrian, you would enjoy it.
Jim[/quote]

Jim, do you know how this game differs from Kingmaker?
Had my first game of this in years just before our last LOGW and it brought back memories of some fantastic games. We used to use the boardgame as the campaign system then actually fight actions on the table. It seemed to work well for us.

See you tomorrow.
Dave

[sharnydubs]

The problem I am having now with figure manufacturers is getting part orders shipped and then told the remainder is on back order. In two cases over the last six months I have had to wait over three months for the balance of the order. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't that they took all of the payment up front!

I think our game of Kingmaker has sparked an interest again in the Wars of the Roses and I am tempted to creat a small force for Percy, Warden of the Northern Marches or something similar. I'm not relaly into plastics but do like the new Perry WoTR box.

[valleyboy]

Sharny
Hope you aren't in the same queue as me waiting for a backorder from Blacktree

[Duke of Plaza-Toro]

Dear Duke,
N.B. Please tell me its sun drenched and blisteringly hot in Oz

Not "blisteringly hot" dashing, but a lovely sunny day and 27 degrees C.

Not bad for Melbourne in the autumn.

I do indeed understand your frustration. Certainly annoys me when I'm trying to give people my money yet the intended recipient seems strangely reluctant to take it!

[sharnydubs]

I've been warned often enough about Black Tree's delivery so no, it's not them. I'll wait a few weeks until I name and shame!

[dashing blade]

Dear Duke,

I bet beer taste better when drunk in a sunny 27o ,

Anyway, i've sent a letter to the company in question and cancelled my order. I'm not out of pocket( just my luck the order will turn up next day!)


All the best
Blade

[Atheling]

Which way to the secure ward:?

Not too sure mate- I lost the directions when making my escape .

Maybe they're going to be at a show soon? Triples?

Darrell.