I received my first order from Aventine Miniatures earlier this week, and what can I say?
Service was patient, polite and generous.
Keith happily entertained my requests to supply their Pyrrhic/Successor phalangites kitted out with cast spears and aspis so that I could use them as Carthaginian citizen infantry. On his own initiative, he supplied the accompanying unit of Carthaginian veterans with scuta and a full set of aspides in case I wanted to equip them the same way.
Keith also went the further mile. I'm building up a Carthaginian army and had ordered some 'Carthaginian elephants' from another manufacturer. I only realised when those elephants arrived that they were sculpted more like Indian elephants than African forest elephants.
I asked Keith if their lovely African elephant heads could possibly fit those of the other manufacturer. If so, I'd order some. He instead said that he'd bundle two of them free into my order. If they fit the other manufacturer's bodies, I could send 'em a small sum. If they didn't fit then I could just keep them.
In the end, the Aventine heads and the other bodies have a different design philosophy, but I'm so enthused with the quality of their figures and service that I think I'll just order the rest of the elephant parts from them.
For anyone who hasn't tried them before, their white metal and their casts are of high quality, comparable to Foundry. There is minimal flash and seams, detail is crisp, and their molds are in good shape. Their cast spears are very detailed and will not bend with casual pressure.
Everything came neatly bagged by product code with additional bagging for small parts such as heads or arm options. Delivery by courier was within a week and a tracking number was promptly sent on mailout.
I would say that my estimation of Aventine was elevated by trying experiences with two other manufacturers/suppliers in the week I placed my order. With one they had forgotten to mail out my order, which I only discovered after a two weeks of emailing after six weeks of no delivery. With the other I received erroneous/damaged orders for the second time in a row, plus metal and casting quality was nowhere near as good as Aventine's.
So all in all, in terms of customer service and product quality I'd give Aventine a solid five stars. I only wish they manufactured all the miniatures I want to collect.