"RAFM" Topic

Has anyone ordered from RAFM recently? How was their service?

It has been a while, but service from RAFM is fine. The
problem is Canadian post. I have received orders in a
few weeks and have had others take almost two months.
RAFM itself processed the orders within a couple of days.
With USPS slowdown and pandemic issues, I would not
venture a guess on shipping time. Hopefully someone
with more recent experience can answer better.

Thanks for all the wonderful cat themed posts!

Sam

Bought a large order of 15mm sci fi and it was under a month (I would be lying if I got more specific) to get them cast and ready to ship. Maybe not a stock item or low on crew. I didn't need them right away and was happy they came all at once so as they say your mileage may vary. But I was happy. Please note I am also in Ontario Canada so shipping was rather quick.

In the past I haven't had problems but things are different. They didn't respond to questions. Shipping, to the US, was very slow. The figures were 15mm SF and there were several, minor miscasts, missing tails, parts of arms, substituting different, boring, figures in place of the ones in the photos.

I wouldn't do it again. Maybe they had problems but, since they did not communicate, I put it down to poor service.

I agree with Bismarck – RAFM is hampered by the truly awful CanadaPost. To ship to the US, an employee must drive to Niagra and cross the border into the USA, then ship from the US side.

With the border being in on-again/off-again lockdown, it can't be easy getting across.

Regards,
Keith F.

Why would RAFM need to drive to the USA to post a package? That seems absurd and hard to believe. I get packages all the time from the US and ship often to the States.

I would agree that timely communication is important in establishing trust.

Marcus Brutus – because that's how RAFM do it, and the Canada Post online portal is truly awful.

Whether you believe it or not, isn't really the point, now is it?

Regards,
Keith F.

You are telling me Keith that RAFM physically drives from Brantford, Ontario to Upper New York State (Buffalo or Niagara Falls NY) to post packages to the US? That is completely absurd. I checked their website. They say the following

"Silver Fox productions / RAFM Miniatures mails its packages using Canada post."

Marcus Brutus – I come neither to bury RAFM, nor to praise them.

RAFM Website notwithstanding, yes, shipping with USPS, at least they have done so in the past. As I am currently living in the USA, and as I have received shipments from RAFM (pre-pandemic) I can affirm that they arrived via USPS. In USPS packaging. With USPS postage.

There is an office, or a drop off, just across the US border, in an industrial park in Niagra, from which several of the RAFM associates ship to US addresses. I tracked back one shipment, out of simple curiosity, and then used Mapquest. That's 90 minutes from the centre of Brantford.

In the past, I have also publicly criticised RAFM for what seems to be this wasteful exercise, only to be informed by some Canadians that it was due to difficulties with Canada Post.

What their exact difficulties might be, I'm not privy to know, and, quite frankly, neither are you. For whatever reason, RAFM deemed it easier to make this run every few weeks – if I had to guess, I would say they might be saving money on shipping, or import duty.

There are many absurdities in the world, prima facia, this is one of them.

Regards,
Keith F.