"A Perry Thank You" Topic

This was posted on the Consumer Board, but when I tried to crosspost to this board, I got locked out. Since the original post was here, I thought it only fair to make sure that it was seen by all.

A while back, I wrote a post on TMP regarding the state of some models that I had received from the Perry brothers. The castings were all of the new AWI cavalry and many of them arrived miscast and or broken.

Alan Perry was quick to reply with an offer to replace any miscast figures at no charge. All he that requested was a single group picture of all of the inferior castings.

Fair enough.

I ended up taking a single photo of every poor casting, just to show Alan the extent of the damage done to several castings, as the were bent beyond repair in order to fit them in those tiny Perry boxes.
We're not talking about a few figures here. The end result was that 18 cavalry figures were deemed unacceptable.

To their credit, the Perry's quickly replied and sent replacements. Upon receiving the replacements, I can tell you that there were inspected and all minor defects had been removed. I assume that it's good business practice to ensure that replacements are of top quality. Smart move.

Because I was treated so well, I ordered another 18 packs of figures from them. Before anyone asks, I paid the normal price and shipping for these 18 packs. No discount was offered, nor would it have been accepted. I made sure to pay separate shipping to avoid all semblance of any "deals" being made.

Many of the packs that I ordered were from the early AWI Perry catalog. All I'll say regarding these castings is that you are not painting these figures right out of the box. They need work.

The later figures, such as the new Northern Militia, was a bit better. I love these sculpts and bought 6 packs of them. Wonderful stuff!!

I'm getting off target here. I just wanted to thank the Perry's, Alan in particular, for taking the time to answer all of my questions quickly and politely. And for replacing all of the inferior figures without a lengthy song and dance, as some would have done. To replace 18 cavalry figures are a lot to a small company.

So, kudos the Perry's for doing the right thing quickly and with class.
I was quick to complain, therefor I owe it to them to be fair and offer praise where it is due.

Since your are not using it. Can I have your Perry discount?

My email last week was also replied to quickly and courteously. Replacement didn't make sense, given the circumstances, but it was offered.

The issue for me was not, "will the Perry's respond," but "can they address the obvious process issues" that a number of us have pointed out. I have more on the way, so we shall see.

Now, if I could paint half as well as they sculpt, we'd have something here.. :)

Ralleynow, Sure. Feel free.

I brought that up because I didn't want the Perry's to feel like they owed me anything for the inconvenience that was caused by all of this. I also didn't want any hint of my being compensated for writing a favorable post for the Perrys
I didn't want anything for free. I just wanted what I originally paid for. Nothing more nothing less.

I had the same issues with their new cavalry sets from the AWI range. Tried to go through the USA distributor for a replacement, but that was a hassle. I also had a good group shot of all the crushed horse and poor casting. The USA distributor gave me a run around a bit, first telling me to give them the pack numbers and quantity and they would send the replacements. Then they wanted to have me send back all the packs that were bad, at my expense, then they would order the replacements.

I contacted the Perry's directly and I had my replacements in 4 days, no hassle. I have ordered direct from them several times, but wanted to give the USA distributor my business because I could pick them up and the shows. Will not be doing so in the future. Just buy direct from the Perry twins.

They are two really nice blokes and I am confident they will always try to resolve any quality issues with their product. I always feel it is worth contacting manufacturers to discuss such issues before making these things public.

I nearly forgot to post about this. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered some of their Korean artillery, and one piece can without two small but essential bits, easily missed in packaging, but the model wouldn't really work without them.
I emailed them and got a quick response, and the tow part arrived in the post within a few days.
I was impressed with the response; no hassle involved. Top blokes.

So, they continue to have a first class replacement policy to mask bad quality control.
I am still not buying anything from them until I hear that they have taken positive steps to improve the process.

I have to agree with the OFM, if anything these "good news" stories only deter me from placing an order. After all, manufacturers are required by law to replace or repair faulty goods, without hesitation.

Hawk, I hardly think that this was a "good news" story. I was pretty annoyed about the whole thing and expected better from these guys. I only wrote this because of a previous thread complaining about the poor quality control.

They did make it right so, I felt that it was my duty to report that.

I'm not at all delighted about the whole affair. It should never have gotten to this.

Personally, I will only buy small quantities of Perry metal figures. Beautiful figures, but quality could be much better.

I have ordered good-sized orders from them 3 or 4 times, and always had no problems with the figures, excess flash, etc. Last order was about one year ago, however.

Tough crowd. All businesses make mistakes. What matters is how frequently they occur and how they deal with them.

Tough crowd. All businesses make mistakes. What matters is how frequently they occur and how they deal with them.

Yes, all businesses make mistakes. They will continue to make the exact same ones because they do not see it as a problem.
For years I have had to spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning Perry figures. Oddly enough, figures sculpted by the Perrys from Games Workshop or Foundry have none of these casting problems. So it has to be the manufacturing process which they do nothing but make excuses for.
So, instead they have a first class defect replacement system, with all the expense that includes. And they have people who will not buy their product because of the "issues". It's so much easier to buy equivalent (and cheaper!) figures from other manufacturers without those issues.
How many people have NOT reported these problems to get replacements, but instead decided to not bother with them any more? That is a very steep hidden cost.

I guess that means I have jinxed any hope of a Washington Crossing the Delaware set.

EDIT
BTW, above I said "for years", and I do realize the irony of that. I don't buy them any more. I just got tired of having to spend the time, and missing spurs until I started painting them.

It's just frustrating…here I have a neat little wagon I can't get anywhere else and it's properly proportioned and I'm spending how much time cleaning up the spokes? Ah well…