As the fellow running it was just starting out there were a LOT of delays. At one point in the fall he'd offered to send partial shipments of the miniatures that were ready at that time and would send the rest along to others. I like to think of myself as a patient guy, and I dig the lines of minis this guy is trying to make available, and I'm aware for small guys like this it's more of a labour of love and that postage is a killer... So I said I'd wait until it was all ready.
In the new year I was snooping on their website and it looked like ALL off the range was now available for ordering... but I still had not received my stuff. So I sent an email asking if it was indeed available and when my stuff might ship. Got a reply stating that he'd be picking up the last batch of stuff that week and would send off my stuff presently - and even include a few bonus figures from the new Zimbalawi line! Hooray! The next day I received an email confirmation that the miniatures were indeed on the way. A confirmation from his webstore, mind you, not from a carrier with a tracking number or anything.
So I waiting in eager anticipation.
And waited.
AND waited.
After a couple months I thought I'd best get in touch as it seemed something had gone amiss. I had hoped that perhaps he'd simply forgot to mail it. I'd placed an order with Hasslefree miniatures around the same time, and they admitted they had simply forgot to post it... Such was not, apparently, the case with Mike Bravo. He said he'd sent it out and it simply must have been lost in the mail and he would send along a replacement.
In nearly 30 years of ordering stuff from England (and this includes pre-internet days when I would get a money order from the bank and mail off orders to companies I'd found out about in Wargames Illustrated advertisements) I don't think I've ever had an order simply disappear. packages have arrived bashed and broke. Packages have arrived missing items I ordered. Packages have arrived with the complete wrong order. Things have showed months after I ordered it. And on one or two occasions, businesses went out of business and never sent anything at all. But I don't recall anything ever going completely missing forever? Maybe I've just been insanely lucky. How about you, dear reader? Has anything you ordered simply disappeared in the mail?
Anyway, the package finally arrived. It didn't include any bonus miniatures from the Zimbalawi line. It didn't even include the Iron Lady special figure that was supposed to come with any of the crowd-funded orders (it is listed in the webstore as an item that could be ordered - but was listed as Out of Stock when the replacement was shipped... so I'm guessing they were just out of them...). I did get a bunch of extra miniatures, though... so... If I ever order more (and I might, not completely writing them off just yet!) and they have the Iron Lady in stock, I'll hit them up for one then...
Here are the first batch:
Some SAS types with M-16s - the pack was to include four, I got seven? I painted up four of them and then painted the other three. As I was finishing the last three I decided to repaint one of the berets green - so I could pass the figure off as a member of the Royal Marine Arctic and Mountain Warfare Cadre (which I think also made use of the M-16).
An assortment of modern irregular/insurgent types. Could be I.R.A...? Could be Tooting Popular Front...? Could be some really extreme football hooligans...?
I have a fair few more of both British and armed civvies. I'm not in any rush to get them done, though. I do really need to work on the Jet Bikes!!!
The pictures were taken between bouts of rain - I do like taking pictures outdoors in natural light. And I usually like taking pictures on overcast days when the light is more diffused. I'm also trying to figure out how to edit photos on my fancy new computer. I don't love the new photo program...
In other news...
I have also finished off two troops of Scottish Horse - which finishes off my Company of Scots Government/Covenanters for The Pikeman's Lament. I'll put them up in a separate post later today.
Hey, read about your travails with a package not arriving. Actually I did have that happen once, Hasslefree as a matter of fact. So when they checked and could not locate it, they notified me they had sent me a replacement package. Got it and everything was what I had ordered.Took awhile though.
ReplyDeleteI have had a couple of shipments go missing over the years. I recall one company that gave me the runaround for a while. I eventually wrote it off as a loss and of course never ordered from them again (I think they are long gone anyway). I also had a company tell me an order was returned to them so they charged me for the return shipment cost, even though the shipment never even got to me. I figure those are some of the hazards of mail order (or internet order). But I have also gotten really good service from many companies, and much more of the good service than the bad service.
ReplyDeleteNice figures, that's a long wait though, I've got the wrong stuff and late stuff but never no stuff, sounds like dog ate my homework territory!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain