Saturday, August 15, 2020

A Tale of Two Companies...


 While I'm currently working on something quite different than I have done in awhile for my next series of battle reports , I had incident happen in the last week that merits a post because both companies involved  deserve a mention for going above and beyond with their customer service . Its these little details that keep me coming back as a customer, and why I want fully endorse that you should too.


Here's the story: Earlier this month I needed  some miniatures for the current project I'm working on, some classic old school figs, that I was amiss to have " zero"  of in my collection of countless fantasy figures.

I knew Reaper Miniatures had the figures I was looking for but unfortunately  they aren't yet in cast in bones plastic  and probably won't ever be as they are quite old sculpts. A single blister of 3 was going to cost me about $20 before I either keep buying and go for free shipping or end up paying about 8 bucks per figure on a single blister as a solo purchase. This projects a "one off" and that's not the kind of cabbage I wanted to spend on what probably a one time encounter . so in comes eBay.

Browsing my saved sellers i find Noble Knight Games in nearby Wisconsin has the blister I'm looking for at about $11 and change so around roughly 33% discount. I've bought quite a few things  from them over the years  they often discount old stock and overstock items with reasonable and quick shipping . I have  never had an issue, buying from them so   I picked up a couple more things while I was at it and made my purchase

When the package shows up days later, all the items purchased are for this current project I'm well into -  so I crack it open and start prepping the figs for the paint bench. When I get to the blister in question I  open it,  then immediately notice it's missing a figure , weird?  I say , then I notice a sticker on the blister saying plain as day it's missing a figure ( obviously a mispack from Reaper they never returned and sold as a discount)  I'm somewhat peeved because , I'm like -how HELL did I miss this.?  Well NKG's listing didn't mention anything it in the listing title and they showed the stock photo with 3 figures in the listing. But down below in the listings small print in their full text description it clearly says - it's missing a figure , I then check my receipt and its listed  there too!.

Well at that point I'm figure I'm screwed, I've been an eBay 'er for 20 years now and I know better than to not read the fine print , but when its a saved seller you've never had an issue with, it's easy to get lazy and that's when you get bit, That's my only excuse, other than I just screwed up.

I sent a email off the NKG customer service  saying I'm not looking for a refund or anything , I'm a big boy and didn't read all the way thru the listing ,But i said please do us all a favor a mention this kind of thing in the damn listing title even a "2 of 3 "in the title  would have alerted me this was not a full blister. I was more annoyed with myself when I sent email and did not expect a response.

The next day I contact Reaper Miniatures  explaining the situation , That I accidentally  bought a mispacked factory blister from a 3rd party seller  , opened it and wondered if I could buy the single figure . I have been a customer long enough  to remember the old  days before  plastic Bones where they had a a " bones graveyard" where you could buy loose metal figures from blisters. 

Reaper  surprises me by not only saying sure! But only asking me to pay the shipping for the missing fig, I am of course saying, thank you , thank you . Now I have all 3 figures and I'm still slightly under retail and im reminded why I just should of have bought it from Reaper in the 1st place, because trying to bargain  shop sometimes is more trouble than the few bucks you save. Right? , 

Wrong, the next day, NKG customer  service gets ahold of me and says. " Hey, sorry- that sucks. We have a massive inventory and our system won't let us change catalog titles to mention things like that,  so detail are  always in the description. I know you weren't asking for anything in return but we are going to credit you $4 for the hassle. I'm like - Wow? ok thanks!

Not the ideal way to end up with 50% discount on an old blister but that's what I ended up with. 

The main reason I'm writing this is that in these difficult  times of social strife and division,  it's nice to see how just a simple misunderstanding can be easily  solved by just a little goodwill between people who don't even know each other. 

It  was nice to see it and brightened up what was otherwise a dour week. and as a result I have two virtual shopping carts loaded up and ready to go for new purchases from both places.

Hats off to both Reaper Miniatures  and Noble Knight Games , thanks all.

1 comments:

Chris Meyer said...

I'm a frequent customer of both companies and agree they both have excellent customer service. I live in Wisconsin so even pop in to the retail store for Noble Knight when I'm in Madison. When I order online I typically get my order within two business days which is great.

I've found that the majority of companies in this industry are pretty great at customer service. I think that's why when a particular company gives horrible service that they become quite infamous in the community, like Black Tree Designs.

 

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