Monday, June 24, 2013

Beware Armorcasts Bearing Stores




There are very few companies I'd publicly scorn, but today, I've had about enough of this one: Armorcast. For those of you who don't know them, Armorcast is one of the many companies that produces 28mm (and other scale) miniatures and terrain. The quality of their product is top shelf, without a doubt, but they have one quality that is beyond comprehension: they do not know how to communicate. Now, were they some nickel and dime operation, that's one thing. But they have thousands of models in several ranges, and they aren't some little, unknown operation. Customer service is apparently not in their vocabulary.

So, here's how it is: I ordered a very, very small order from them on April 24. I got my "processing" notification five days later. Now, I understand that these things take time, and I'm the pinnacle of patience when it comes to getting an order delivered; it's not like I don' t have 200 miniatures to paint anyhow. But not a word from them came my way since then.  I sent them three emails and got nothing in return, no response, not a "fuck off, we're busy", nothing. So, after another week I put in a PayPal dispute, because this is the first time I've bought from them directly.

Within a day I got a note from them through PayPal that they're really busy, they've had family problems and illnesses, and that they're essentially a two-man operation. Further, he noted that if he took time to respond to emails, that's more time he'd be spending not casting things. Well, I work 10-12 hours a day, and I respond to every email. That's what I like to call "customer service". Maybe it's just me, but if you take 100+ dollars from a guy and don't ship him stuff, quoted at 10 days delivery, mind you, for a month, I think I'd email the guy. 

Anyhow, it's exactly two months out as of today and I have seen and heard both Jack and Shit from them. Now, according to some websites that have I've been researching them on, they're just slow, but they will eventually ship. Well, golly-fucking-gee, buddies, isn't that great. I pay for something and WOW, I'll eventually get it. If this was some Kickstarter thing, hey, I get it. But at least Kickstarter project managers provide updates. Even those fucks over at Pixel Lincoln managed to tell people what's going on with their project from time to time, albeit very late. But these folks at Armorcast can't seem to manage to squeeze out a form letter to customers, "Sorry, we're backlogged like a muh'vugga and we will get to your order ASAP."  Something. Anything. 

In any event, consider yourselves warned that if you buy from Armorcast, you're going to hear absolutely nothing, you'll see absolutely nothing, and maybe, with some luck and wishing upon a star, you might actually see your hundred dollar order at some point. I guess the good news is that you WILL get your order, it will just take a tortoise's lifespan to do so. I can't verify that, though, because I'm still waiting on mine.