"Brigade Games gets a D-minus" Topic

It's bad enough that an order I placed and paid for on March 31 doesn't get fufilled until last week after several emails and phone calls due to the fact that a tank I ordered didn't have any sponsons in stock, no contact to tell me anything this whole time until my several attempts to contact, but the other tank is sent with two identical treads and therefore unusable. I called and sent emails and have not heard a single thing, again, yet they have had no problem sending out email updates about what's coming new in stock. I'm sick of this shoddy service. Earlier large purchases I made came with only minor issues but this lack of communication is tiresome.
-Edgar

If you are talking about Brigade Games in NJ, I for one will disagree. I've never gotten less than top notch service from Lon. Keep in mind that Col Wars was in early March, and Lon was there so he would be catching up on orders placed while he was away. Also, I expect he sold out of a lot f stock at the show.

Never had a problem with Lon.

Nor have I. Always received excellent service.

Sure, you can disagree all you want. I'm telling about MY experience. And it's NOT the first one.
I had to make several attempts to contact, and it does not matter what he may or may have not sold out of, I'm talking about the lack of communication on top of errors.
And I'm talking about issues I've just had with him, not about what the general consensus is.
-Edgar

I have always had good service as well.

Sorry to hear of your bad experience with Lon's operation. I've only had good transactions with Lon.

Lol, the fact that you kids have always had good service does not in any way change the fact that I did not have such a good experience.
So how about maybe Lon answer his emails. I get Brigade Ganes updates in me inbox all the time, but not a response to my query?

Grey Legion, my comment was not directed at you, just the other guys here tooting Lon, especially nnascati somehow disagreeing with what was a statement describing my personal experience.

I'm shocked. Lon has always been a standup kind of guy. I know this sounds crazy – did you check your spam folder in case your email provider marked his emails as spam??

I did, and I will right now again… Brb-
Well, went back two weeks and nothing there…

Edgar –

sorry, I could have sworn I responded but I can't find any response in my webstore or email systems. I have to cast the tread this weekend as that is when I cast each week. Sending you two of the same treads was obviously a mistake.

And yes, your order took a while as we had to cast a bunch of it and there were many orders from the sale in front of yours.

And no I didn't tell you we didn't have any sponsons in stock, but that we didn't have any male sponsons (vs female ones.) You were nice enough to take a female set. I also included some guns for the other tank which are normally not included.

You are a member of my newsletter. If we are behind I put notes in it that we are running behind. Generally after a sale it takes us a while to clear orders that need to be cast due to the volume.

Chalk me missing responding to a goof on my part. I really thought I had.

Lon

P.S. Previous response was 4/23. As I said above I missed responding to the 4/29 reply from you.

"4/23/2015 11:06:55 AM in today's mail.
Thanks.

FYI – I left the Mk 5 male guns in the bag. I figured you could use them on the gnomzer."

Edgar –

I am confused about the "not first one" comment.
Your previous 3 orders all were shipped in 4-5 days and all needed casting.

-
Lon

That was regarding a year or so ago with some Artizan Landsknechts that were backordered and when they were in stock I added messages to my orders afterwards that I was waiting on them but each time I received neither an acknowledgement nor the missing models. I can understand that you may be busy, but I need contact.
I did state that the previous large orders were fine excepting minor issues, and I'm actually here to update that you did indeed respond to me and acknowledge that fact.

Oh, and just so there's no confusion, yes, I did finally receive the backordered Landsknechts minis.

Edgar – yes that was when they were dropped from my restocks several times. As you know from my newsletter there were some delays early last year from the mfr overseas which were out of our control.

My guess with me not replying to the contact in the store from 4/29 is that I was interrupted at work (day job) when doing it. I already had it on my list to do this weekend.

Never understand why people resort to this public shaming tactic as a way to get their customer service issues resolved. I have never had any problems with Lon at Brigade Games and you certainly could've made more of an effort to sort this out in private. I would only air my dirty laundry in public as an ultimate last resort. I did it once with the painting service after a year of no communication and even then I felt embarrassed.

Axabrax; I totally agree and well stated.

"Never understand why people resort to this public shaming tactic as a way to get their customer service issues resolved."

I'm in your camp, axabrax.

I love how you three make your comments without full knowledge of what went on. I mstated I made several attempts to contact. So understand this, I posted her to generate the noise and also share my experience, that's why it's called a Consumer Affairs board. I feel no embarrassment in opening this thread. I certainly should NOT have had to attempt more than one contact sttempt, not have to go through several different methods before using this one.
My time is very limited as well, so I do not have the time to chase around trying to get a problem, that should have been quickly and easily resolved, settled. It goes both ways.
I described strictly what happened, too bad so sad, but it generated the noise to finally get a response.
Great to see such support for Lon, but even better to see I was able to make contact.
Warstore immediately responds to any issues with an apology and lightning fast service for errors, with a simple apology and whatever issue immediately rectified. GW has on the few occasions I have had s. Issue with a product, immediately sent whatever part was miscast or missing.
Warlord Gsnes once sent me an entire set of incorrect bases, one email later, I got a respobse, apology, and in a few days, my correct order complete, All of the above , with the complements to keep the wrongly supplied units as well.
So whatever you guys think of my handling of this, matters nothing to me. I will be well pleased when my correct parts arrive.
And acabrax, you go ahead with your way of handling your issues and I'll go mine. If ya have nothing constructive to add, but just a negatively judgmental statement, don't bother chiming in. You added nothing to this, nor your cheerleaders.

Apologies for the spelling errors above, by the way. 😁

Going back to the Landsknechts issues, Lon, you stated they were in hand and would ship that particular weekend, and I didn't receive them for a few more weeks. You also stated that your son had handled the transaction and did not read the note on the comment section of my following orders regarding the Armored Landsknechts. But that's all water under the bridge, now.
By the way, the Artizan Doplesoldners(?) with the two handed swords held forward have a tendency to beak off their swords in shipping, do you know if that's still an issue?
I'll eventually need more of them…

Edgar,
To be clear, I too have posted here more than once with Consumer issues with different companies. Patience is NOT a virtue I possess. Each time I posted, I received the same sort of tongue lashing you have. However, I am also quick to give credit where it is due. We live in a world of near instantaneous communication, but we have to remember that most if not all of the minis dealers have real world jobs as well.

I have to agree with axabrax. Plus, one month from order to completion, when considering the fact that the order had to be redone with an out-of-stock item is not that big of a deal. It takes just as long for a Litko order to show up. It takes that long for orders to show up from the UK. Perfect orders and next-day-delivery are the ideal. But unless the company has computerized logistics, multiple fully-stocked warehouses with 24/7 staff, and special arrangements with the post office or private package delivery service, you will have to accept that sometimes orders will not follow that ideal plan. Especially when as pointed out in this thread, the companies in question are sometimes hobbies in themselves and not day jobs for the corporate owners. They can't all be Amazon.com or any of the other major online stores. How many employees work at Brigade Games?

Nnascati- I appreciate your clarification.
I'm not too concerned about the tongue-lashing, but in also not one to hold my tongue when I feel the need to respond.
@Rebelyell- the primary issue here was lack of communication, not sure how you missed that part. And I've managed retail departments and am well aware of the logistics involved.

And I've managed retail departments and am well aware of the logistics involved.

Are you aware of the logistics of an online shop run during evenings and weekends out of the garage?

Nope, but who cares about that. The number one issue was the lack of communication.
Can you wrap your head around that? That would be the primary thing to keep things from escalating.
The best way to handle this situation is a simple," Dear customer, blah blah blah blah happened. We apologize for it. Your items will be delivered blah blah blah. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. "
Not excuses or explaining what happened, or worse, not communicating after especially after more than one attempt to contact.
And on my goodness, I too have a job that takes up the majority of my time. My free time is precious few.
Bottom line is, I paid my money, now where's my stuff?
Are you aware of how important communicating is in any interaction?

From reading his first comment in the thread, it did sound like he made an honest effort in communicating with you.

He said he thought he did, but could not find his response on his servers.
It irked me that I was receiving email updates from the store but no communication regarding my order.

I'm glad that Lon was able to answer and resolve the issue. There are some vendors that are known for their poor communication – but Lon definitely isn't one of them.

At the end of the day, we're all human and capable of making mistakes.

.

Wow…just wow….

And to think of those "old dark days" when you had to mail in your order with a check, (took 1-2 weeks for the mail to get there), 4-6 weeks for the check to clear the bank, and then 2-4 more weeks for the product to get to you, which by that time you had completely forgotten what you ordered….
But it was always a pleasant surprise for you when it came….

Kids nowadays….

@Murphy-
That's a silly comment. Wasted space, and ignorant. Those days are now gone.
Old farts nowadays… SMH
Oh and that means Shake My Head…

Pleased to report my replacement part came in.
Thank you, Lon.

Murphy has a point. We mistake instant communication for instant postage. PayPal may make instant payments, but lead and resin are molded just as fast today as it did 30 years ago, and that contracted truck driver hauling a trailer full of US Mail will go just as fast on a cross-country interstate now as he did 30 years ago.

@ Rebelyell2006 ---
Again, you seem to have consistently missed what my gripe was…
Lack Of Communication.
See if that sinks in….
I don't see why you keep chiming in when you don't seem to even grasp the primary issue being discussed.
😳
Edit:
Murphy's "point" was also off target and irrelevant to my issue.

I haven't ordered from Lon in years, but always received stellar service. Just the nicest guy, and I think he deserves compliments for how he's handled this situation.

Capt Flash, I'm glad things have been sorted out, but must say you don't come across well in this exchange.

Daryl,
I come across fine as I'm dealing with several members who have the audacity to make comments basically calling me out for airing a problem in a public forum set aside for "Consumer Affairs".
On top of that, several of the commentators are made negative leaning remarks versus my issue and also focussing on issues that are not, in fact, relating to the problem at hand.
I admit to being snippy in my responses, but, it's in return to those particular posts which IMHO are themselves laced with sarcasm or essentially deriding my decision to air out a valid problem I had.
I generally don't chime in on a thread such as this if I'm not adding anything constructive to it, especially if I'm not responding directly to the issue being discussed…

I come across fine

No you don't. You come across as impatient.

No, I did not. No contact after several emails and phone calls over a period of days does not constitute impatient.

TMP link

No, I did not.

Murphy thought you were impatient, and I trust his opinion.

Lol, well that just settled that.
You just invalidated any argument you may have thought you had by following a pack mentality. I can just as easily bring friends on board to point fingers and take sides too. This discussion is moot.
I got what I needed out of this.

Yeehaaawww.