Hi everyone,
Well a few weeks ago I ordered some singles figures from Warlord Games to round out my Algoryn squads. Why I had to do this in the first place I honestly do not know, but in my opinion it is simply due to bad marketing practices from Warlord Games.
When they arrived I found that the arms and mag repeater of one of the AI Infiltrator squads was missing. This is always annoying, more so because I wanted to paint the 3 AI Infiltrator miniatures together and get the unit finished.
So, painting everything together was not going to happen and could not be helped, so I started with the other figures and I wrote to Warlord Games about the missing piece.
By now my experience with Warlord had been disappointing. Missed offers, bad and average casted miniatures and now missing parts, so I spilled the beans in the email I sent them.
Here is the email I sent:
Hi,
I would like to inform you that I received a missing part in the order above. This part are the arms and weapon of one of the Infiltrators:
1x Algoryn Infiltration Squad Pose B
I also would like to say that I am rather disappointed with my experience buying your products till now with your company.
First I buy several boxes and an Algoryn starter force all with five models. Afterwards you increase them to 7 models. At this point I already feel slightly cheated out after supporting the game. What I don't understand is why you didn't just increase them to 8 straight away.
So then, to increase my 2 AI squads to 7, I bought 4 single troopers at 4 sterling each - all of one pose. Now you issue out single figures at a cheaper price and my order contains a missing part.
But it is not only that, some of the models were cast really badly, which is surprising in this day and age. Especially some of the Algoryn shoulder pads and the targeter drones (some of the worst I have seen in a long time).
To prove that I am not just ranting here is a link to my hobby blog HERE.
That is all I have to say. I apologize if I came out a it angry, I am just a little frustrated with the whole thing and I am considering selling everything and starting something else.
Regards,
Now to their credit they wrote back promptly apologizing for the inconvenience they had caused and offering a very generous solution. Below is their response:
Good afternoon.
Thank you for your orders with us and congratulations for your blog page! We are very glad that you decided to collect Antares models and make them the projects you write of on your blog.
First of all, I please accept our apologies for the missing arm of one of the Algoryn Infiltrator models, we will of course be happy to send you the part.
In regards of the miscast items, in these cases we do also provide replacements: could you please let me know which models you received badly cast and we will be happy to send you the replacements for these too - if you managed to fix them already... please let me know which models are anyway and I would gladly take the opportunity to send you the models anyway, as a partial compensation of your inconvenience.
Finally about the additional models. When we released the rulebook and the boxed game last November we basically launched the latest version of the rules, tested and reviewed by hundreds of gamers and, respect the beta version, we indeed changed a few things. since the number of models in a squad changed, allowing more flexibility, we found that some the currently available models did not reflect this development anymore and we decided to change the composition of the boxes, taking the opportunity to add either two or one model to some of the packs... but leaving the price the same.
While we do believe we took the right decision in increasing the number of models and leaving the price the same, regardless of our good intentions, we do understand how this could be disappointing for who has bought their models before such a change and to those who asked so far, we have provided these additional models, for free.
If you could please let me know which packs you bought before the change, I will be happy to send the the additional models that you would find now with the new packing.
So just to recap:
- we will send you the missing arms, for Algoryn Infiltration Squad Pose B
- we will send you replacement for the miscast models, but I need to know which models they are
- we will send you the additional models of the packs that you bought before the change, but I need to know which one they are
I hope this helps, please let me know.
As you can see their commitment to service is commendable and admirable. I wish everyone in the industry were so dedicated to the upkeep of their customer's loyalty.
If you read my email, I sent them a link to the posts of my Algoryn force to show them that I was not just trying to take advantage of their good will. So I only asked for the missing piece and 4 spotter drones and 2 targeter drones as recompense for the very bad casts they sent in the first place.
The parts finally arrived, and guess what - they messed up again! Instead of 4 spotter drones and 2 targeter drones, they sent 3 of each. Not only that, but the casts of the drones were quite bad as well.
I can honestly say I have never had such a bad experience with any other miniature company to date. I thank God that the staff at Warlord are at least helpful and generous, but they are definitely not thorough. So I have decided not to buy any other metal miniature from the company again. I also will paint up the last few Algoryn figures and sell everything. This experience has put me off the game completely. I will keep my plastic Concord troops for now. Maybe my mind will change sometime in the future.
Well on that sour note, farewell and good health.
NR