"Tiny Wargames - Avoid online orders" Topic

After a nightmare service from Tiny Wargames I have to let people know to avoid them whenever possible.

Ordered a mat on the 27th July, Incorrect mat shipped to me damaged on the 11th of Aug. Was promised it would be fixed but nothing for a two weeks which I then chased up.

Was promised it would be looking into, and was then ignored for 2 weeks until I posted a poor review online from which suddenly my email was found, miracle that /s

Fast forward another two weeks of nothing and here we are almost 2 months later with a crappy quality mat with the wrong image.

Avoid like the plague when possible.

Gary,

You don't indicate your global location, but I've had very good service from Cigar Box Battle cigarboxbattle.com here in the US.

I own a number of their mats and am satisfied with all of them.

Jim

Thanks for the heads up.

I've informed Tiny Wargames, maybe they'll respond here or directly to you.

They certainly quit responding to me on the custom mat ordered in March of 2022. Wrong mat sent back on my dime, multiple broken promises then silence.

I ordered a custom mat from Deep Cut and everything went fine. Cigar Box provides great service as well but I don't think they do custom?

Thank you for this. I was seriously thinking of ordering from them, due to their recent ads, and was hoping that they had improved their service and business…
Obviously not.
I shall avoid them like the plague.

NXSmiggy's description parallels my own experience almost directly. Ordered a mat from TW and it arrived in decent time. Unfortunately it was not what I ordered. I liked the product and what was sent was still useful so I ordered another mat. Then there were delays, then the package seemed to be sent but never arrived and actually was returned to England. More excuses from Richard. I finally cancelled the order and did a dispute through Paypal. I can't decide if Richard is a crook or simply incompetent but it amounts to the same thing. And it is a recurring problem on TMP.

Seeing that a lot of folks here are touting Cigar Box as an alternative, I figured I may just as well add my two cents and hereby proclaim that I'm a very satisfied customer of Geek Villain, having bought multiple items from them over the years.

Geek Villain has almost not stock available for purchase.

A few additional thoughts.

1. I really like the Tiny Wargames mats.

2. I have 3 Deep Cut mats. They have a fabric feel to them work well for wargaming purposes. They do crease easily so folding them is a challenge.

3. A friend of mine has two Cigar Box mats. Very nice but being fleece they catch the stands as you are moving them across the battlefield. Not as wargamer friendly as DP or TW. Also, you can't special order for larger sizes. It seems to be one size only.

As a final update to this Richard (TinyWargames) has not responded, no mat has arrived and a credit card dispute has been filed against TinyWargmaes.

Shocking customer service overall, but seems based on google reviews and reviews elsewhere this is standard practice for them.

For those kind enough to point out alternatives I'm based in the UK so have a decent range of alternatives but seemingly a poor selection of water based options. In the end TTCombat restocked the original mat I wanted for Carnevale so picked one up from there. Same price, delivered in 4 days with a free carry bag

I had a negative experience with Tiny Wargames. My review can be read here:

link

You will notice that Richard B has posted that my review is "from a competitor not a customer of ours". You will notice that the review has "verified purchase" on it, something you must provide this site in order to place a review.

Believe me or not: draw your own conclusions.

I decided to put up a review on Sitejabber to support edmuel2000 and because I am frustrated that TW keeps doing this again and again. Here's the rub. Within 3 minutes Richard had posted a rebuttal! Yet, he comes on TMP providing excuses for missed emails and delayed responses. I think his 3 minute turn around tells us everything we need to know.

I had a similar experience. I had to do all the chasing ,when I did get a reply the emails were terse to the point of being impolite. No Hi, or regards.

When the mats were eventually supplied there were the wrong quality, I had asked for the premium, but they were obviously cloth lite. I have several of his premium cloths to compare them to. Richard argued that they were not, despite being sent photos of them showing the lack of hems.

He agreed to refund and arrange collection, This he never did. After a month I filed a credit card claim. I notified him that I had been refunded the money and gave him 2 weeks to collect them. He asked when I was going to be in, and i told him every day apart from one where I had a funeral to go to. As I had heard nothing I disposed of the cloths.

Its a shame the cloths I have are good, but I would never buy from him again, unless he had the mat at a show I was attending

Hi from TINYWARGAMES Richard here! We have over 12500 happy customers. Sometimes things go wrong. And we can't please everybody. We do try: we have very few bad reviews compared with our thousands and thousands of good reviews. We always try to put things right: but unfortunately some customers don't want to enter into any conversation and only want a refund even after we have supplied the product for free. If you have any problems please email us and we shall always endeavour to put it right! We have over 350 designs and 8 materials.

That sounds like the opposite of the complaints listed here.

Hi Richard,

In response to your post I'm not sure if that was aimed at me directly or not but I CERTAINLY tried to enter into conversation with you to sort this, only for you to blank my emails.

proof of this can be seen in the following images
imgur.com/a/cint1MP

In the end I was forced to go to my credit card provider for a refund, of which you disputed the claim after agreeing to a refund!

I get you are trying to defend your business, but to not even offer an apology after being called out and defending it with 'Thousands and Thousands' of positive reviews when a quick google search shows the experience I have had is echoed by others is just astounding.

I for one never asked for a product for free, I asked for you to fix the mistake you made which you failed to do so on numerous occasions over the course of MONTHS.

Your response is delusional at best and insulting at worst.

link

link

Hello all, what follows is my personal experience with Tiny Wargames.

After a brief exchange of emails to let them understand what I was looking for, on August 4th I ordered two fleece wargame mats with an exagonal grid superimposed.
My order was promptly confirmed.
After about one month (Sept. 7th), having no news about my order, I sent them an email asking if they would notice me when my order was ready, but no reply came of them.
About ten days later (Sept. 16th) I sent them one more email, stating that no wargame mats had been received by me yet; to this mail they answered, asking me to confirm my shipping address and declaring that a new order was being processed in 20 minutes' time (order no. 2779285).
The same day I was also sent a copy of an invoice no. 4908 of Aug. 4th with all the pertaining details, correct shipping address etc..
After two more weeks on Oct. 2nd I asked them to provide me with the international tracking number of my order; I got an answer on Oct. 5th, simply saying "tracking to follow" but no number was ever sent to me.
On Oct. 13th I wrote them again, asking about my wargame mats; finally some kind lady named Annie appeared to get in charge of the matter and answered some of my previous mails, declaring again that my order would be resent (Oct. 27th).
After one more month, I have received no items from Tiny Wargames. I sent one more email to them, but as of now I have got no reply….

I do hope my experience with Tiny Wargames will prove useful to somebody.

Again, I just wanted to point out the different time responses to Bruno above (and many others) in communicating with TW and Richard's response to me on Sitejabber. I was not exaggerating when I said that Richard responded to my negative review within 3 minutes. It is hard to think other than that he is selective in who he responds to.

I can highly recommend Cigar Box Battle as an alternative!

He is looking like he uses the business model of Hotz Matts.

Funny!

Today, after 5 months with no news about my order, I have sent to TinyWargames a request for a refund of the 204 British Pounds they have readily charged to my bank account on August 4th, 2023.

I hope to get back my money, at least… time will tell.

A happy new year to you all!

Bruno,
Italy

After reading all these negative reports you would think folks would never order from him….

There was someone called Richard on the Facebook page Naval Wargaming (Historical) just before Christmas who seemed to be pushing Tiny mats. Same person perhaps?

It is a bit suspicious.

Bruno's,
My own experience was nearly identical to your own… just terrible customer service. This happened to me on two different occasions. Never a third.

TRU

PS. The owner Richard refers to his customers as "ants". (his logo featuring an ant head)

Perhaps this is a subconscious response to their customer service responsibilities? I certainly don't feel important to them.

Second for Geek Villain mats.

TRU

On Facebook spotted just now, " Today only any 6 x 4 mat £25.00 GBP" Richard Bailey.

Richard here from Tinywargames, thanks for all the negative feedback! As I said before all you have to do is email me direct on tinywargamesuk@gmail.com and I will sort any postal issues, we have over 15000 HAPPY customers! And five star feedback on Etsy, of course sometimes things go wrong! But we always try to sort things out, Our motto is the customer is always right! However there are some customers you can not always please! If you have something to say then email me.

LAST NOTE as we are leaving this platform , ANY ISSUES please email us and we can sort out, but if we dont know who you are we cnat help! email is tinywargamesuk@gmail.com

Richard here from Tinywargames, thanks for all the negative feedback! As I said before all you have to do is email me direct on tinywargamesuk@gmail.com and I will sort any postal issues, we have over 15000 HAPPY customers! And five star feedback on Etsy, of course sometimes things go wrong! But we always try to sort things out, Our motto is the customer is always right! However there are some customers you can not always please! If you have something to say then email me.

What does one say to this? We are not talking about a few disgruntled customers on TMP or a few customers who cannot be pleased. What we are talking about many customers who've run into the same basic problem in dealing with TW. Poor communication, chronic mistakes in fulfilling orders, failed order delivery. Until that problem is fundamentally addressed I will not be ordering again and will warn others to be very wary of doing so.

And let you think some of us are exaggerating here are some other TW subjects about service.

TMP link

TMP link

TMP link

Again, customers who do not email us for a solution will never get a satisfactory resolution. 0.03% of customers have had a problem over 8 years, very small percentage, either the Marcus Brutus bloke dosent want help or hes just a whinger! These are order going back years! I dont want Marcus to order again, I dontr need customers like you , I have 15000 happy customers, if you dont accept help then how can i rectify it???

Richard here from Tinywargames, thanks for all the negative feedback! As I said before all you have to do is email me direct on tinywargamesuk@gmail.com and I will sort any postal issues, we have over 15000 HAPPY customers! And five star feedback on Etsy, of course sometimes things go wrong! But we always try to sort things out, Our motto is the customer is always right! However there are some customers you can not always please! If you have something to say then email me. CANT HELP YOU OTHERWISE!!!!

Seeing as you are on a bit of a Crusade you might have failed to see the evidence I posted of my contacting you MULTIPLE times to try and resolve this before resorting to going to the bank to get my money back.

You filed to respond almost every time until a charge back was mentioned when you suddenly wanted to resolve it before ignoring me again.

Posts like these saying how many satisfied customers you have, how amazing your communication is and how people complaining are either competitors out to ruin your business or not contacting you do nothing to help your image and simply make you look like a petulant child throwing your toys out the pram.

Dragging up 6 year old posts that would have stayed buried otherwise has probably done way more damage than keeping quiet and moving on

First of all thank you to thouse who reached out yesterday and we overcome any issues, refunds were made problems sorted and some even purchased again thank you!!

We know that there have been issues with our service a long time ago, and we have worked hard to rectify them. If we have missed anyone in those attempts we ask that you contact us directly so that we can correct the problems and we promise that we will make every effort to resolve any outstanding concerns.

Currently our Etsy profile shows some 5K happy customers and we would like you to be one of those. To that end we are having a sale this weekend with our Mats priced fromjust £10.00 GBP and we are hoping that you will give us a chance to earn your business. Thaks again !

We Thank You for Your Consideration.

The Team at Tinywargames

So, the take home appears to be "order through Etsy, where people are happy" as opposed to through the website. Since lack of resolution of such matters on Etsy would lead to the suspension of the store, that makes a certain amount of sense.

Good on you for finding a way to have a third party keep the business accountable, since the repeated responses here show the struggles with that. Maybe the intermediary can help reform the image, and keep a vendor in our small hobby on the straight and narrow.

The same day I posted my last comment, i.e. December 30, 2023 someone from Tiny Wargames wrote me that my order would be sent by the 3rd week of January.

As of now I have no news of my order, nor have I received any update mail from them or any news concerning the refund of my money I requested them.

I will be curious to see how fast Richard is in responding to Bruno's most recent entry. Considering the details I am still leaning to the fact that not much has changed at Tiny Wargames.

I recently purchased 3 mats from Tiny. The order was placed Sat March 16th, it was processed Sun 17th and despached by Parcelforce 5 day service on the 20th.The order arrived March 25th. There was communication all the way from them. TBH I've never had any problems with their service.

There was communication all the way from them.

Maybe you could speak to Tiny on Bruno's behalf.

I really hate to do this kind of trashing of someone's business but after 6 months of back-and-forth emails but still getting NOTHING but lip service I have had it! On 1/29/2024 I ordered a Samurai Mat from Richard and we discussed via email just what I wanted. I was told what to order and how to pay, he even sent a link. I paid via bank card and waited, got a message it was processing, then nothing… After a month I messaged for a tracking number, nothing, another month, nothing. A few more emails and a message from Richard asking what I ordered (should he not know when I gave him my name and order number?!?) I went back into emails got all the info and was promised reprinting and sending to me. More waiting, 1 month, 2 months, more emails and calls, no tracking, finally a women emailed that Richard was not there, but she would help me if I could give all the order information AGAIN. She said they didn't do the Mat I wanted in the size I wanted despite the fact that Richard said he could "no problem"! Finally, I emailed to just send the regular Samurai mat and I'm fine. That's the last time I have heard from them despite my telling them I just want my mat or a refund or I going to do what I hate to do, flame them everywhere I can! so FLAME ON!!! Bottom line bad business to deal with…… I have now started a charge back with my bank!!
And by the way Richard I could show you the 16 emails back and forth but not that Mat I still don't have!

Why are people still ordering from them?

I am still waiting to hear from Richard about vonkluge's order? ……… Or perhaps Volleyfire could contact Tiny Wargames on his behalf. Surely one of the 5k happy customers could act as a go between.

So now we have Aaron joining vonkluge and NXSmiggy to the list of unhappy Tiny Wargame customers.

Hello everybody.
As an update, more than one year has now passed since my original order of 2 wargame mats to Tiny Wargames. Apart from a few illusory and useless messages received from them by the time, no mats have ever been sent to me. I can now safely tell you all that Tiny Wargames have robbed me of 204 British pounds, as no refunding has been granted to me.
Be warned then, that has been my personal experience with Tiny Wargames.
Bruno,
Italy.

And Bruno too. And it would have been me had not Paypal refunded me for TW's non delivery.

Update: Tinywargames had the audacity today to send me a marketing email about some 'new' products and a 15% discount code.

I am still waiting for my REFUND for over 6 months ago (May 2024) as I have basically given up on ever receiving the goods ordered.

Apparently order still in 'processing', for half a year.

They still don't answer their phone or reply to emails.

Buyer beware of online orders.

Announcement: Closing Tinywargames

​

Dear Customers and Supporters,

​

After many years of dedication to the wargaming community, I have made the difficult decision to close Tinywargames. This business has been a labor of love, and while there have been many highs, the increasing negativity and challenges from a small but vocal minority of the community have made it impossible to continue with the same passion and energy.

​

Over the years, Tinywargames has achieved so much. We created over 400 unique products, attended 100 shows, generated £750,000.00 GBP in sales, and served over 12,500 customers worldwide. We even had the honour of creating the world's biggest wargame mat! These milestones are something I will always be proud of, and I am incredibly grateful to the customers who supported us and helped make these achievements possible.

​

We recently launched Warmats as a new product to provide something fresh for the hobby, but even that has been overshadowed by the ongoing negativity. Constructive feedback is always welcome, but the level of toxicity from a minority has been relentless, causing immense stress and even impacting my health. It's simply not worth it anymore.

​

We even explored selling the business to another party in hopes they could take it forward, but unfortunately, they only made things worse and created even more issues. This experience has been incredibly disappointing and has reinforced my decision to step away from Tinywargames entirely.

​

You only have to look at companies like Games Workshop, a billion-pound business, to see that even the most successful brands are not immune to harsh comments from communities. However, for a small business like ours, this kind of negativity is exhausting and unsustainable. A handful of negative customers have finally pushed me over the edge.

​

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported Tinywargames over the years. To our loyal customers and those who truly valued our products—you have been the reason we kept going, and I cannot thank you enough.

​

Thank you to those who supported us through the years—you've made a difference, and I will always appreciate it.

Sincerely,

Richard Bailey

Hello everybody.
As a plausibly closing note, I like to highlight that a few more illusory and useless messages have been exchanged on Facebook, with the empty promise of a refund. As of now I can safely repeat that Tiny Wargames have robbed me of 204 British pounds, as no refunding has been granted. For what it is worth, that has been my personal experience with Tiny Wargames in the person of Richard Bailey.
Bruno,
Italy.