"Wargames Foundry in Pounds" Topic

presently WF is charging US customers nearly 33% more than British customers based on the current exchange rate…does anyone else think this is a rip off?

Yes, especially since they tend to charge extra for postage, too, which that 33% ought already to have more than covered.

I'm not buying anything from them untill they alter the exchange rates.

If you pay in Euro, it is even worse, around 50%.

They do the same with euros. Since I live in a European non-euro country I asked them to charge me in pounds but they dont seem to care. I wonder if its even legal to charge customers different prices within Europe. I recommend you to buy from some trader instead that is more fair. There might also be some ebay sellers that trade new WF packs.

I was under the impression that the postage was included in the price. My recent orders seem to have been post-free.

Frit, Orders are post free over a certain value with WF. But the 33% (USD) or 50% (EUR) more alos applies to items below the free shipping value. And it is still more then the shipping difference between UK, Europe and rest of the World

I came across this, too. There was a topic here on TMP recently where someone mentioned, that this has been put to the UK fair trade commision and appearantly even they were unable to do anything about it. although i have my doubts under EU laws.

Right now I am not buying because of this (coming from a Euro country). I am still split between either having minis shiped to friends of mine in the UK and picking them up for Salute or buying from another company… right now I am tending towards the later.

If they feel their current practice compensates them for a lack of customers… they are free to go on.

Cheers,

Burkhard

Someone is steling the words to my song! Stop that!

Postage is free if you spend more than GBP75 (try spending less at WF, its hard!!).

As far as billing is concerned:
All you've got to do is switch location before putting anything in your cart, there is a page on their site to do this, click rest of world or uk buttons and you get billed in GBP. As they state on the site the locations is ONLY so that prices are shown in a particular currency.

Then you pay by credit card, your billed in GBP and your card provider does the exchange for you.

I did it earlier this month when they had the xmas 30% discount, it worked for me and WF were ok with it, I received an email confirming that I had been billed in GBP. Package arrived xmas eve and I am pleased with what I got (except for a missing 8pdr barrel, but thats a different issue).

At least thats how it was working 3 weesk ago, but you can try it out for yourself, as long as you cancel out before the finally commit screen you won't get billed for anything.

Oh and all postal charges are fixed, irrespective of location.

You know, I have never seen a representative from The Foundry comment on TMP. It seems like ALL the other manufacturers are part of this online community. Perhaps Foundry people lurk here, but keep quite, fearing they will be assailed for their business practices.

Wow, using the GBP option makes the prices look a lot more attractive. I hadn't thought of that.

BravoX, if it works its good news. I tried the same some months ago but they would only allow me to buy in euros, paying 30% more than I should.

BravoX,
I tried to pay in GBP a few months ago for an order to the States.. I had no trouble getting to the page to charge it in GDP but it would not accept a USA shipping address using this method.
How did you get around that!

Cheers,
Rob

I think you have to set it to Rest of World rather than UK. I'm off to have a go at it, as settin my location in the UK didn't work.

I tried Rest of World and it gave me a price in GBP, but it was higher than the price when the location is set to UK. Buying a Horde deal with the current discount and conversion rates from xe.com/ucc costs $96.73 USD for shipping addresses in the UK, $140 USD for shipping addresses in the US, and $145.31 USD for shipping addresses in the rest of the world.

When I read about setting the location to UK and being able to get figures at the lower price I went to the site intending to purchase some Old West stuff, but it appears they have fixed it so you can't exploit the loophole. I guess I'll be skipping on their figures again in favor of something else.

It's a shame because I would really like to purchase some of their figures, but every time I go to do so the price gets me down and I waffle about it long enough to spend my money with a different manufacturer.

I have lost count of the number of times I have complained about their (so-called)exchange rate. Now, if I want Foundry figures, I phone them up with an order, and pay for them to be sent to friends in the UK. These friends of mine then bring the figures down to me in France.

If you think you are being ripped off, think how gamers in the uk feel when they end up paying the same figure in GPB as US $ for books, ie US$33 = GBP33, which has been the case for YEARS.

I use eBay…and I am in the UK !!!!

Hmmm,

This reminds me of something……
What was the Boston Tea Party all about?

Anyway, I too would like to take advantage of the current exchange rates. If I may, I have a few questions for our UK based brethren.

1) Is there something here in the States, err Colonies that I could purchase for you that would be of enough value to warrant an exchange for WF?

2)Is there a viable alternative to WF for purchasing WF miniatures in the UK?

3) This question actually is applicable to all, and that is are WF miniatures purchased from the WF US web page shipped from the US or the UK?

One would think that if they are shipped from a US supply point we could hunt them down.

I balk at their £8.00 GBP flat rate postage rate for the UK.
If I want to buy a couple of pots of paint it makes it ridiculously expensive.

Look at the Windows Vista operating system, here in the UK we are charged more the the US and Europe. Another example of "rip off Britain".

Having said that, a 33% difference with WF does seem extortionate. Why not vote with your wallet and don't buy 'em? Surely there are lots of other 28mm manufaturers who won't overcharge you.

Personally I am put off from buying anything from the US because I am hammered on the exchange rate by many suppliers (so, no different from Foundry), AND the high postage rates (similar, to, although less fixed than, Foundry), AND the imposition by my own government of 15% sales tax on larger parcels in a random and inconsistent way.

As to the 3 good points made by Grunt1861:
1. Personally, I would do a swop based on products from outfits like the Virtual Armchair General, expensive, unique and with very high P&P – ie. just like Foundry! The difficulty is getting an amount agreed. I could manage 70GBP woth of their goods but dont want hundreds worth.
2.There is really no other outlet for WF goods in the UK- other than their UK show agent Dave Thomas in Stockton-on-Tees. He's got a lot of packs on ebay uk right now as an individual. I dont think he is allowed to/inclined to do mail order.
3. All WF goods are dispatched from Nottingham in England. I watched them doing it earlier this month.

My impression is that WF is hurting. A large number of randomly packaged blisters with up to 15 figures in were being sold for £5.00 GBP in the factory. Slight seconds books were at £5.00 GBP too – I bought the lot! (one of each I mean!)

With the 2.5% drop in sale tax in the UK plus the 20% Christmas discount for buyers in GBP a collection is now about 58GBP rather than the previous 75GBP. You might even get an average price of less than a Pound per figure if you choose collections with mainly 8 man blisters!

I tried going into the website to pay in GBP from Rest of World and it worked, by the way. Try different PCs. I suspect if your computer identity number is obviously from the USA this affects the Cart on the website. I once got multiple Post Free deals because I kept changing the computer I ordered from – and therefore got a 'first ever internet order' deal each time!

If you're in the states and they use IP address to decide your location then any PC you use will be in the states.
You'd have to get someone located in the UK to place your order.

VAT is not due on second hand goods.
So it does sound like the proposed exchange scheme avoids HM Customs and excise adding VAT.
I can, however, foresee some practical problems with doing this sort of thing for someone you don't completely trust.

On VAT from abroad.
If you buy anything except VAT exempt stuff from abroad then VAT is due if it's greater than a pound. So anything which works out as value over £15.00 GBP HM Customs and Excise should stop the parcel and charge you VAT. It's only random whether they do so because they don't have the resource to get it 100% right. Note that purely printed matter is exempt. If I buy a professional book about some computing subject then I pay extra if there is a CD in it ( because it is no longer VAT exempt ).

Reaching across to the nearest such book with no CD on it.
ASP.Net 3.5 unleashed.
Price in the states $59.99 USD and in the UK £42.99 GBP
When I bought that book the exchange rate would have been approaching 2 USD to the pound. So an exchange rate of 1.40 isn't as bad as the 1:1 you used to often find was the case, still a right rip off though.

It all makes me nostalgic for the days when I went down to the Post Office to buy a Postal Order for £2.74 GBP or whatever to send off to Hinchliffe of Minifigs!

Just tell them to pound sand and parches from a different company.

Your saying that they are the only company out there.

TMP link

That's a bunch of company's out there.

If a large number of gamers stop buying from them and other company's that pull this s--t then they may pull there heads out and change there ways.

With the world economy like it is they are the ones that have to change, or go under.

Robert Henry

PS someone should foreword the Topic to Wargames Foundry.

I tend to agree- there are a lot of other options out there for miniatures.

Ordering from their site for delivery here in Tokyo sees me butchered on postage alone. A much, much higher than has ever been charged by all the other companies I have ever dealt with (and there have been many).

Speaking for myself I am not about to jump the kind of hoops that some people suggest just to get a pack or two of miniatures, which are all that I'm really interested in.

I'll see if there are other sources out there of Foundry minis that have the blisters I'm looking for, and who are willing to sell to me without me having to go deal with logistical arrangements that would challenge the Prussian General Staff.

If not, then I'll settle with options from one of the many other manufacturers out there who still give a squat about customer service.

Foundry seem to be in a holding pattern/life support for several years now. Sad as they were _the_ manufacturer to beat in the late 90s.

Beaumap I didn't realise they had a factory shop, I've now seen it on their website.

From your experience is it worth a visit? You mention the random packs but how random are they, I assume they are by period?

The shop is very much worth a visit – although its down a side street and looks closed all the time. You buzz to be let in, and then discover some very friendly and helpful people who actually do the work. Bernard, in particular, is both very 'customer friendly' and knowledgeable.

As far as I could see almost everything is there! I bought supposedly unavailable Sikh Wars, Ever Victorious Army etc as well. They are willing to cast up ahead of a visit, I think, if you are after substantial amounts of blisters. Everything is in racks with around 6 blisters of each code. As the blisters get sold they cast again for stock, so there are times when only one blister of a code will be there. Again, Bernard was willing to cast and send on, although I didnt take him up on the offer.

On my second December visit, (amazing how business took me that way again!)they had several hundred large blisters out(as did Dave Thomas in early December). They also had the seconds books and lots of a few paint colours (not sets).

So YES, INCREDIBLY WORTH A TRIP. As to the blister contents, I found I was OK if I already knew a figure or blister. Almost nothing is labelled at all, or labelled completely wrongly e.g. Zulus in a blister saying Prussian Fusiliers! Mostly some sense has been used and they are all from the same range. I got 8 blisters of Chinese, for instance, all sword, all musket, all polearm etc. In some cases all 13-15 figures are the same pose. In a few cases the blister is a mixture of utter tat – or rather too varied. To get some rare Taiping figures I accepted some British AWI and napoleonic figures and one French Imperial guardsman! But for a fiver, who cares! Horses are usually separate from riders in these blisters.

In summary, if you know what you are looking for its great. If you don't, at least you have the main stock in all its glory. I have NEVER seen so many 28mm figures in one place. I cannot for the life of me understand why they do not make more of this facility.

The sad thing is that I was just getting over the fact that the last time I ordered from WF, my credit card information got released (I was on the list published by TMP)…to bad someone doesn't buy the company out and start selling the stuff at a fair price…

are there any stores that have them here in the states

     I wrote to Foundry on December 26 and let them know that I wanted to take advantage of their current sale and order "The Paraguayan War."

I pointed out that £30.00 GBP (the cost of the book), minus 20%, comes out to £24.00 GBP At the current exchange rate, that comes out to slightly under $36. USD

     However, I was surprised when according to Foundry's website, the price was over $50.  As best I can tell, Foundry is using an exchange rate of $2.10 USD to £1.00 GBP

     I let them know that I'd really like to order the book, but I couldn't afford that exchange rate. 

    I asked if I could order and pay by Paypal?  At least then I would only get charged the current exchange rate.

     I know it's the holidays but I'm still waiting to hear from them. If they won't lower the exchange rate then they will lose the sale.

I dropped them a line with a link to the discursion a few days ago.

So maybe someone there will give a damn and do somthing right for the people that keep them in business.

Or not.

?

Robert Henry

Thanks for the reply Beaumap, I think I'll pay them a visit in the next couple of weeks. I'm a Foundry virgin having just got into 28mm so it should be interesting.

Hi,
I just bought the Foundry book through Borders (List $50), but I had a 30% off coupon. You can sign up for a Borders Reward card (no cost), which gives you coupons off, quite often. The rewards card also builds up some dollars on purchases you make. In my case I had $5 USD worth, so my book was $30 USD with tax added.

Jon