WARNING! This post is an expression of frustrations with companies who simply do not care about service.
They are at it again. Old Glory 15s, who seem to be a company that is also 19th Century Miniatures and Warweb, is having more negative comments posted on The Miniatures Page about fulfilling orders and responding to communications from their customers.
Some examples:
And on and on. I should note I am biased. I worked part time at Grandiosity/Warweb in the early 2000s, before it was sold to the current owners. I can say we carried a ton of stock, and if your order was placed prior to 4:00 p.m. EST it pretty much shipped that day. At times we would have some inventory issues with our suppliers when they went to the large HMGS conventions, but the delay would only be a week or so, and quite frankly most of the time you had your order within two days. We prided ourselves on carrying full inventory, fast shipping, and $5.00 shipping fees (using UPS) no matter how large your order might have been. The comments on TMP up through mid-2006 show how a company should be managed and in this case was managed. But the boss (a gaming buddy of mine) decided to sell, and it has been pretty much crap ever since then. I personally have had numerous emails go unanswered, and issues with orders. I also have had dealings with the current owners in running conventions in the 1990s, as they would sit and complain about not making sales, but wouldn't bring their full range of figures (19th Century at the time) and would leave buyers feeling perplexed. You can't sell what you don't bring. We also offered to have them run games to showcase their items (and hence sell their product), but they never took us up on that offer.
Why the rant here on the blog? What does this have to do with German colonial gaming? Because if you glance at the
Figures tab above, you will see that most of the figures I need for both the Herero War and the Bagamoyo campaign need to be ordered from 19th/Warweb/Old Glory 15s. I am more than a little concerned about placing an order with this extremely unreliable company. I understand that for the most part a miniatures company is usually a cottage industry. Many times the owner(s) will have full time jobs and the hobby business is strictly part time. However, I do not understand how a company can get absolutely destroyed over several years about their terrible customer service and not do something about it. I would think that taking care of customers would result in repeat sales, and in turn more money streaming in. Building good rapport with your customer base is extremely important to sustain a business. You have to knock the socks off of your customers so that they buy more and share with friends their positive experience. Folks used to recommend Warweb, now they warn others to stay away.
I am more than a little leery of buying from Warweb. I do not feel that I will receive my order(s), if at all, then in a timely fashion. I am worried I will only receive part of my order and will never see the rest. And I know they do not respond to communication worth a damn so getting any potential issue resolved will be futile. Hence, my colonial projects may have to go by the wayside, unless folks can suggest other companies carrying the figures I need.
