"PSC Good; Flames of War, Not So Much" Topic

I have been working on a 15mm Cold War collection at the moment and have bought a lot of kit from both Plastic Soldier Company and Flames of War Team Yankee. I have even painted some of it. I have obtained the various models from multiple sources – direct, Caliver, actual bricks and mortar shop (the Hobby Bunker in Boston) and from The War Store.

Most recently, on 1 October, I ordered a company of metal British Infantry direct from PSC. They arrived very promptly, across the Atlantic, on 9 October. Unfortunately, as is sometimes the way, the mix of metal figures wasn't quite right so I reached out. Anita responded and, without a quibble, agreed to replace the missing figures immediately. (She did not ask for the return of those that were extra.) These were sent on 10 October and arrived, all present and correct, in Westchester, New York, today 18 October. This is great service and I commend Anita and PSC in getting this sorted out.

Now, Team Yankee: I ordered a lot of this stuff as they are currently the only source for such things as plastic Chieftains, Leopard 2s and various Soviet kit. I discovered that the rotors for one of the Hinds I had ordered was broken and sent them an e-mail on 17 September. I received an apology for the delay which said the part would be sent immediately on 2 October. I am still waiting for the part.

I couldn't do the helicopters so I started in on some German kit and discovered that the Jaguars I'd received had the wrong skirts. I sent them an e-mail about that on 2 October – one day after I placed the PSC order. I am still waiting for those parts too.

Not quite sure why a big company – at least in wargaming terms – like Flames of War can't get replacement parts out quickly and efficiently or, as appears to be the case at present, at all. I don't use their rules but I do like a lot of their models, especially in the Cold War range, but this has, so far, been a disappointing customer experience escpecially in comparison to the swift and obliging way PSC dealt with a similar issue.

I've found Battlefront (Flames of War) to be very good about shipping out replacement parts--if they happen to have the part in stock.

Otherwise, be prepared to wait, and wait.

I sent a request for a replacement part back in August. Got a response that it would be shipped that week. No replacement. Inquired again in September and got a response two weeks later that the replacement was being sent "today."

Waited two weeks. No replacement. Sent another email. Almost a week since then and no response (and still no replacement, unsurprisingly).

Meanwhile, I've been buying and enjoying a lot of Bolt Action stuff.

Is it me or has FOW and Battlefront, declined significantly in popularity and its customer service along with it?

I think FOW has declined some in popularity (based on I never see it played now) but customer service is chugging along at it's usual speed.

FoW had a good solid base with V3 players.
From anecdotal evidence among old time players, V4 is a disaster.
To be fair, there wasn't much left to cover with V3 books. Japanese invasion of the Philippines maybe?
So to stay alive, they had to pull off a do-over. Unfortunately it alienated the old timer V3 base.

V4 is actually pretty good.

I've had good luck with BF replacing bad parts too.

Takes a while, but got the stuff requested.

Update of my post above: After nearly two and a half months, and two promised shipments, got a "Sorry, we don't have that part in stock" response from Battlefront. They promised an email with a warehouse shipping update but no expected date when that might be.

Bought another Bolt Action army this week. :)

I can announce that the parts that I needed arrived today and, fair does, Battlefront sent me the whole Hind helicopter not just the sprue with the broken rotor which was jolly nice of them.

Glad to hear that, 22ndFoot. Nice of BF to send you the whole sprue.

I have my part, too. Took 77 days to get it. After telling me the part was out of stock, a couple hours later the same day I got a shipping notice from BF.

Guess they looked a little harder--or just pulled one from a box on hand. Why they couldn't have done that 2 1/2 months ago is a mystery to me. Getting replacement parts shouldn't be this hard.

I've had stuff on order which turned up out of the blue about 2-3 months later, by which time I'd completely forgotten about them and started doing something else instead. Replacement parts for missing items have normally turned up quite promptly however, though it might be because they were either robbed out of other boxes or fairly common items.
Personally speaking, we've been playing FoW again after along hiatus because we didn't really get on with V3, we much prefer V4 thanks, especially now that all the info is on those nifty little cards. They really help the novice players.