"Poor service from Caliver Books (UK)" Topic

Hi. I've been trying to order Matchlock minis from Caliver since December last year, and am finally tired of asking. The order wasn't huge, but did consist of slightly over 200 ECW figures. I kept getting the "I'll get on it", or "Dave isn't around right now" answer. Last response to e-mails was on 2/15. The thing that gets me is he has the time to send multiple e-mails daily listing second-hand books, but doesn't have the time to put together an order I have committed to buy. I've had good service from them in the past; makes it all the more disappointing. Mike D

There was some idle chat that the moulds for these figures were lost or somehow unusable (perhaps no casting machine), it would be a shame as it was a great range.

I find this unusual to say the least - Dave is a very good person in a lot of ways and I've never had anything but the best of service from him.
Over ... well at least 15 years!

But did you pay them any money?

If not, how does this count as poor service?

I would imagine that actually purchasing the items would speed up the process quite a bit. I've found that delivery from retailers is quite slow when I haven't paid for anything.

The last time I ordered Matchlock figures, they told me some of what I wanted was no longer available... sounds like they are limited to what they have in stock.

jtipp68- Your comment is funny in a sort of smarta## way. I would certainly pay, but without an invoice, guessing at a total plus shipping seems pointless.

Good customer service would simply be to say, sorry we can't fill your order for whatever reason, or projected delivery time will be such and such date. Too much to ask?

Mike D

You have a valid point, I'm a little crabby today.

Not a surprise to me!

tell them you are going to have MCA and Ad Rock track them down.

I am not surprised by this. I had a painting customer arrange for Caliver to send figures direct to me for an army. The order was 1 pack short when it arrived and despite many e-mails to Caliver from both of us they never replaced the missing pack.

Kept blaming the figure manufacturer for not sending stuff through to them. I was left with the impression that 1 pack of 15mm figures was too much hassle for Caliver to be bothered with.
They are no longer on my list of suppliers.

Hey Coat of Arms. I bought the Royalist army from you I think, on Ebay, hence the reason I would really like to get some more of these figs. Especially interested in the personality figures. Got any ideas how to find some? Thanks.
Mike D

I'm having problems with this lot now. Previously I have ordered and while they are slow I've always had my stuff. but this time I've ordered a rules book from them and 3 weeks after paying for it still nothing. Im currently taking this matter further as the lack of response from them is shocking.

Surely if you accept an order from a customer you should honour it or at least advise him of its situation whether it has been paid for in advance or not.
I had the with Caliver last year.

Sometimes it seems because this is "hobby" stuff, second rate or slack service is ok.

I too have received an extremely poor service from Caliver, on more than one occasion. The most recent was when I ordered "Ejercito Espanol en Capana 1643-1921" on 31st May having seen it listed on abebooks at a cost of £27.50, including postage. I was in two minds whether to use Caliver having had a poor service from them on a previous occasion, but "Ejercito Espanol" was a title that I had been after for a while, I went ahead and made my paypal payment that day.I really now wish I had not!!I rang them the next day asking when I could expect to receive my book not having received the common courtesy of an awknowledgement of my paymennt, to be told that my book would be sent the next day(2nd June) or early the next week. I was told I was in luck as the book was in stock!!!
(Implying that books were offered for sale that were n't in stock)I waited and … nothing. On Friday 9th JUne I rang again this time getting through to David (Brown)who I think is in charge. He was surly and agressive, blaming me for having the cheek to ring him.He said he would send my book"when he got round to it". When I reminded him that Calivers website boasted exceptional service and that books were normally sent within 24 hours he said he would "get the book from the garage" and send it the following Wednesday 7th June. His excuse was he had been away for two weeks and had only returned half an hour before my call.Though why his assistants could not have sent the book I'll never know. David said I would receive the book by today 17 th June.Needless to say it has not come!Next week I intend to issue legal proceedings for non performance of contract.I have paid £27.50 GBP for a non existant book. I might as well have set light to the money.Well, he will not get away with it. But my advice to everyone is not to use Caliver unless you have more money than sense!

I have a regular subscription for wargames magazines from Caliver books, yes twice this year they have not put stamps on the envelopes. The post office them put a charge on it so i end up having to pay a lot more. Its not that I can't afford it, but its now the principle!
A couple of months ago they sent me by accident several copies of Miniature wargames magazine by mistake. I rang them and explained. They arranged for collection. (I didn't have to but felt it important to support them for the sake of the hobby.
I've written to them and sent 2 e mails, all ignored.
Their customer service has seriously gone downhill and I will be cancelling my subscription.

I just love it when some people blame the customer.

Sometimes the customer is wrong, in spite of the canard to to the contrary….

I have no problems with paying top dollar, and I dont think that bargain purchases necessarily get a pass on customer support but for the prices Caliver charges, their customer service should be top notch.

On the one hand Caliver does a lot of good for hobby enthusiasts like me who hanker after discontinued stuff by buying up defunct lines. However, it is true that they charge a handsome amount and they can be somewhat lax.

And it is true that the OP should've ordered the figures first. That might capture Caliver's attention more. They might operating on the percentages that inquiries without orders rarely result in an order.

I only had one odd thing happen with Caliver:
I placed a pretty large order of books about $200 USD or so, and for 5-7 books I think it was. I received the order and everything was fine, with the usual glitches, like "we're out of this book but would you be interested in this as a substitute and at a discount". So no probs.

A few weeks later, I get an identical package from them, open it up and it is the same order!

I double checked things and found that I was charged again, also.

It took a few weeks, but eventually after a few email exchanges they did cancel the order and I actually ended up mailing it to one of their distributors here, so it did work out in a sensible fashion, but it was a strange event.

Aside from that, I haven't had trouble with my Caliver orders, but I'm unsurprised that there are glitches as they seem to have a bazillion books and lots of odds and ends and I can't see it working smoothly without a few retired logisticians on hand!