Baranovich | 16 Jan 2020 4:42 p.m. PST |
I am a huge fan of Westfalia's miniatures. I love their halfling range especially. Would love to be able to add a bunch of Westfalia's halflings to my existing armies. Their halflings look amazing. And I don't own a single Westfalia miniature. Westfalia is an example of what I call the "cart before the horse" Kickstarter company. They began in 2015 and they've been slowly building their mini. ranges since then. Well, SORT OF. I have over the past couple years checked back with Westfalia's website periodically to see their stock situation with their existing ranges, particularly their halflings. And each and every single time I've checked on their halfling range, with the exception of one time EVERY TIME nearly the entire or the entire halfling range has been completely OUT OF STOCK. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. 100% out of stock. So tonight, I happened to be getting back into my halfling army project, and I thought I would check back with Westfalia. Every…single…halfling…product…code is out of stock. So just for ha has I checked on their Nightwatch human militia range. Entirely…out of stock. So I checked on their Wood Elves range. Everything…out of stock. So I checked on their Adventurers' range. About three fourth's of the range out of stock. Sooooo…then I went to their Monsters range big shock 100% out of stock. OUT OF STOCK. Everything. But then, I go and look at their News section, and I see another exciting new Kickstarter for a new, special creature miniature that will be available soon. Hooray!!! Web sites like this drive me absolutely crazy. Here I am ready to spend money on their halflings and I simply can't. What in the name of all h**l is the POINT of having nifty cool photos of all your ranges, AND have an open shopping cart AND having all of your ranges on display when you can't f'n BUY any of them??? Why even have a website? Like what you are doing? All you have right now is a mini. gallery and a bunch of pictures of your product codes to look at. Um, yay? I have said this since the very first time I learned about Kickstarter. If you are mini. company and you have progressed to the point where you actually have established mini. ranges do NOT, do NOT, do NOT start new Kickstarters if you can't even maintain the stock for the ranges you already have!!! I mean look all mini. companies have things out of stock from time to time. That's not the end of the world. But that's not what Westfalia's site is. Their website and web shop is like a nuclear wasteland. I mean like 95% of what they are bragging about selling isn't even f'n available! I complained about this a couple years ago and I don't remember what the feedback was to be honest. But this is not a good look. At all. I mean for crying out loud if you are a website that sells minis. then freaking have the minis. in stock! If you guys think I'm exaggerating, here's the link to their site. Seriously, go and check out their ranges. There's barely anything you can actually buy: westfaliaminiatures.com |
Baranovich | 16 Jan 2020 5:02 p.m. PST |
..just as a post script – The really hilarious thing about their site is that they have a section called OOP (Out of Production), where they show the products they no longer produce: link The best part is the subtitle below the main title: "Because things really got out of hand." Ummmm…your whole site is out of stock, how does it differ from the OOP section? I mean look, I realize that everyone has a life outside of their business and personal things affect us all, particularly our jobs, family, etc. If the owners of Westfalia are going through something personal and can't commit time to producing the minis. I totally get that! I just wish they would INFORM people about it. I mean if you aren't going to have any of your ranges available for sale just say so. It's this pretending like you actually have stock and having a website as if you can buy stuff when you actually can't. It's the mysterious way they continue to keep the website up and running that baffles me. |
14Bore | 16 Jan 2020 5:23 p.m. PST |
I only occasionally want a very specific item and can't get it because there out of stock. So at least can feel your point. |
StoneMtnMinis | 16 Jan 2020 5:57 p.m. PST |
You might want to post your issue over on Lead Adventure Forum. I think they post on there sometimes. That might get their attention and maybe an explanation. Dave WargamingMiniatures.com |
Skeets | 16 Jan 2020 6:17 p.m. PST |
I feel your pain, I haven't been to their site or bought anything of theirs's since they dropped their entire line of historicals. |
Grelber | 16 Jan 2020 7:49 p.m. PST |
Have you written to them? Maybe they can't be bothered to update their stock, or have their real stock records on a separate program. Or, they may be living on some sort of annuity, and plan to have more figures cast up when their next payment comes in. They are lovely figures. Some of their adventurers and kobolds are available, but you're right: most things are out of stock. And that does seem strange. Grelber |
ScottWashburn | 17 Jan 2020 5:03 a.m. PST |
I feel your pain Baranovich. I've been drooling over their halfling figures for several years now, and as you say, you can't get them. I wrote a story in a recent Kings of War anthology that dealt with halflings and I thought about building an army of them. The Westphalia minis would have been perfect, but… |
Baranovich | 17 Jan 2020 10:15 a.m. PST |
@Grelber, I have contacted them in the past and ironically they're always very nice and they always answer questions and comments very promptly. The last time I inquired about the Halfling range they said they were about to put them back into "able to be ordered mode" and take off of "out of stock" mode – but then also told me that delivery would be about six weeks. This was a huge red flag to me, because in my experience that answer meant that they have no plans to keep actual stock on hand for anything. They just wait for an order to be placed and then they start casting whatever you ordered. Well I'm sorry but that doesn't qualify as "in stock." They should say openly on their site and openly specify that they cast the minis. when the orders are placed. Then customers would understand how they operate. Given how much of the time their site has been empty of stock, I am VERY wary of placing a large order knowing how long the lead time is. I could see this turning into one of those things where new Kickstarters get cast while old orders get delayed. Sorry, not playing that game. |
Baranovich | 17 Jan 2020 12:05 p.m. PST |
So, an update of sorts. I inquired about the Halfling range last night. They replied pretty fast and said that the Halflings would be able to be ordered – however there is no stock and orders would take about six weeks. Very nice, courteous people. And sure enough this morning all of the Halfling product codes are available to order. I'm sorry but this isn't kosher. They just happen to make the Halflings available again right after I inquire about wanting to buy them? Maybe I'm being cynical and paranoid but this feels like a way to bait me into ordering. They get my money right away then it's kind of like oh it could take six weeks, maybe more? I would very much like to figure out a way to get in touch with other actual Westfalia customers to see how their orders were handled and if products were ever actually in stock or if it was always this improvised "on demand" stuff. |
KaweWeissiZadeh | 17 Jan 2020 3:31 p.m. PST |
Hi Baranovich, I was made aware of this thread, and I am happy to address your concerns. First of all I think it's only fair to lock the shop if we can't keep up with orders. Believe me when I say that I'd love to sell things, but I need to make sure they're available for selling! That, and I am not sure either why it wouldn't be kosher to bring back the Halfling range at a customer's request? I was planning to do it in about 6 weeks (as explained in the message), but was trying to accommodate you after you've sent your message. Please note that we're trying our best, but we are indeed a tiny company, and it's not easy to overcome certain issues. That however doesn't mean that we ever left an unhappy customer behind! The worst peple could complain about is that orders are taking too long, which in return is something we're trying to avoid with shop closure. And yes I am still enough of a business person to try and 'bait' you into placing an order, if I realistically can fulfil it! I am even happy to slap a 10% 'concerned customer' discount on top to prove that my intentions are pure. Feel free to contact me about that or anything else if you have further questions. :--) Cheers, Kawe Weissi-Zadeh |
Baconfat | 17 Jan 2020 8:13 p.m. PST |
Westfalia has the best looking halflings EVER made for our silly little hobby. To me, six weeks is reasonable, especially if I didn't want to settle for second best. Besides, I have so much unpainted lead, plastic and resin, those six weeks wouldn't be wasted. I remember when had to order everything by mail. Six weeks was fast back then. |
Fried Flintstone | 18 Jan 2020 3:24 a.m. PST |
They are nice aren't they. I especially like the goat knights |
Au pas de Charge | 18 Jan 2020 9:14 a.m. PST |
If I had a buck for every time something I wanted in terms of miniatures or terrain was either unavailable or out of stock, it'd pay for most of my collection. |
Gangrel | 18 Jan 2020 1:17 p.m. PST |
For what it's worth, I took part in Westfalia's Dark Eye Kickstarter. The communication was great, the miniatures lovely, and when I had recourse to use their customer service (I wanted to alter my order; no fault of theirs) they could not have been more friendly and helpful. In short, knowing upfront that there is a delay on ordering their figures sounds at least like an honest stance to me, and I'd have no trouble trusting them after their previous service. Clearly, that's just my opinion, but there it is. |
Baranovich | 19 Jan 2020 10:37 a.m. PST |
Ok…so the only other thing I will say about this is that my thread was not a personal attack against Westfalia. It is a consumer-frustrated thread expressing dismay over not being able to buy something I would like to buy, but can't. I find it a bit bemusing that a TMP member felt it necesssary to "make Westfalia aware" of this thread, which has all the feel of like an informant letting a client know they are being slandered or something, and like the "record had to be set straight." or whatever. Here's the bottom line. Don't worry about my thread! If you don't like what's being said – well then I would suggest that you actually build up genuine stock for your website so that orders can actually be placed for stuff that's in stock. You may note that at least three or four other TMP members expressed exactly the same sentiments as I did – namely that they like Westfalia's miniatures very much, but are frustrated because they can't get any! So in one thread you've got a bunch of customers who could be spending money on your website this very minute – but are not because there is nothing to buy! Are you seeing the bigger picture here? If TMP has a thread about this, then chances are there are other mini. forums where the exact same topic is being discussed. Which means there are yet more customers out there who would like to buy Westfalia miniatures but saw what I saw when visiting the web store – that there is virtually nothing to buy. With all due respect, you cannot arbitrarily switch product codes from "out of stock" to suddenly "available" when all that means is you are activating the store's ability to accept and process payments immediately while knowing full well you have nothing cast and that production of the minis. will only begin after payment is made. You cannot have a web store that tries to keep both feet in the Kickstarter realm while also keeping both feet in the actual online store realm. If you are activating and promoting new Kickstarters while having zero stock on hand for most of your regular product codes, then you do NOT have a web store. What you have is an "on-demand" casting service that pretends to have stock on hand – with a six week lead time. That would be like going down to the local Walmart after reading about an amazing new product with a huge sale going on – and then when I get there all the store's shelves are empty. What's the point of bragging about how awesome the product and sale is if there's nothing to buy! The great irony here is that I want to buy at least $200 USD worth of halflings from your company. But I want to buy them with actual, real stock that is actually on hand. I refuse to buy product codes from a web store that has a six week lead time. That simply raises too many red flags for me. Sorry. |
Baranovich | 19 Jan 2020 10:48 a.m. PST |
…also please try to remember what it looks like from a customer's perepective when visiting your site. First you see all these amazing photos and banners for all these cool mini. ranges. Then you see all these cool announcements for tthings going on, etc. Then you start clicking on various ranges – and after scrolling through three or four pages you see literally walls of "out of stock" for entire ranges! Your first thought would be, "Is this company still in business?" " Are they closed?" And that's my main point. Your web store looks like it's a closed store that was accidentally left online! And remember, I have checked back with your store many times to see if there was stock on hand. I am sure there are many potential buyers who visit your site ONCE and never check back. Why would they? When there's so many choices for minis. out there, why would they spend time navigating repeatedly through a site where you can't actually buy anything??? |
abert69 | 19 Jan 2020 12:26 p.m. PST |
HI.The Westfalia web-site is currently showing the Halflings as being available to order.As a test i clicked on one of the goat cavalry codes and it went into the cart. |
Baranovich | 20 Jan 2020 11:33 a.m. PST |
@abert69, They informed me that the Halfling range is indeed available to order, but there is a six week lead time. I conclude that means they don't have actual stock but need to cast whatever you order as tney need it. I could be mistaken about that, but I can't think of any other reason for a lead time that long. It certainly couldn't take six weeks for just the shipment time. I mean I'm in the US and stuff from Great Britain takes about three to four weeks, perhaps a little more. Westfalia is based in Canada I believe. |
Henry Martini | 21 Jan 2020 2:08 a.m. PST |
Could there be a clue in the name? |
Mollinary | 21 Jan 2020 3:55 a.m. PST |
The map at the bottom of the home page is a bit of a giveaway! Montreal |
Marcus Brutus | 21 Jan 2020 6:15 a.m. PST |
There is no Westfalia in Canada but I agree with mollinary that their location is in the centre of the city of Montreal. |
kalgaloth | 21 Jan 2020 4:24 p.m. PST |
Here. For all your halfling needs. link |
Aspern1809 | 21 Jan 2020 6:21 p.m. PST |
They have quality products, and have always been great to deal with! |
Asteroid X | 25 Jan 2020 11:36 p.m. PST |
Marcus Brutus, there is now, apparently. :) Even if it is rather miniature… |