BattleTech: Mercenaries – CGL does a shipping booboo? Internet rages!

[jamescutts 6916xp 0]

Rechecked backer kit, mine still remains at the lower amount of $45, still a bit higher than I would prefer but acceptable.

Yes~£30 is a bit higher than my expected local shipping rate of somewhere in the region of £10-£20 for a decent courier service for what will be a medium/large parcel but its not extortionate either, and is perfectly reasonable. I think expecting a large package to arrive for less £5 is being ambitious, they did say “local” that doesn’t mean cheapest. That said I’d be really interested in what sundancer has ended up with because that did seem excessive, and i’d expect it to be at least half that.

To me VAT looks to be correct, and I’m not going to check it line by line as I’d rather play with toy soldiers than get angry about it.

I will also say I don’t think the recent communication from CGL has been great on this but they have made a reasonable effort, even it not great. I’m not keen on their handling of this on discussion forums they manage, closing down conversations you dont like is  not how you present a open and welcoming community.

In that vein I’m really not comfortable with these personal attacks on a CGL employee here, and to be honest its not something I would expect from our community. If they continue I will be bowing out if this discussion.

[caledor2 4273xp 1]

Are any of you guys getting free stuff on top of your pledge. As it stated that it could impact your shipping costs. As I have a substantial pledge ($1000+) and I am not even paying 10% in shipping and it was a lot higher before (when I checked if my shipping address with update #81). By the way, I live near to Germany.

[sundancer 42926xp 0]

My pledge was/is just the core Set and it’s stretch goals. So the biggest item regarding size is the actual box followed by the 4″ Mini, a handful of salvage boxes and some dice. If I put all that in a reasonably sized box and would send it to anywhere within the EU I wouldn’t be paying what CGL is charging me right now. Almost 30% of a 80USD order. That’s just silly money. Also Germany. So they really need to recheck the hubs and costs.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6413xp 1]

It would be really nice to know the size and weight of my order. That clarity would make it much easier to calculate the true delivery cost. As it is I have benchmarked against an equivalent order coming from a retailer. It seems QML are not at all keen on transparency as they have deleted their shipping cost from their website.

[limburger 21680xp 0]

One can only be as competent as the information given … (ie : I bet this goes deeper than a mere community manager being overwhelmed)

That comment on how they ‘verified’ it with 80 folk on discord really sounded absurd, because there’s no way the numbers woud be statistically relevant for 20000+ backers.

IF they did this ‘life’ then those 80 were likely to be usa based too as I doubt anyone else was awake/available at those times.
And you sure as heck can’t see anything on a busy discord channel … so the chances of non-USA fans even seeing those questions would be zero.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6413xp 0]

“(ie : I bet this goes deeper than a mere community manager being overwhelmed)”

The Leviathans KS seems to be a bit of a concern as well with ‘we cannot send the promised update of the rules because the writer moved house’ not instilling much confidence.

We have had lots of vids from the production company in china showing the mechs being assembled and packed. That is good.

Maybe CGL have cashflow problems? These shipping costs issues were the start of the red flags for Mythic Games 🙁

[frankeleeParticipant 1364xp 1]

They barely have any employees but yet also have one of the best selling tabletop wargames on the market. From the sound of things, the owner is very risk and debt averse, I doubt they’ll ever have cashflow issues. I just think they don’t know what they’re doing.

But if you can walk down to the local post office with a gigantic, heavy box, and just say “I wanna send this across the country,” and it costs significantly less than your Kickstarter costs for shipping, somebody is screwing somebody. It could be Catalyst screwing us, I just don’t see the motivation, you’ll cost yourself more in the long run, and one person from QML saying something about it would out you. Wouldn’t really make sense. Especially when they currently need biannual production runs from China just to keep their product in stock at game stores.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6413xp 0]

Doesn’t seem that CGL are too keen to help out with replies like;

Answer from CGL:

“Hello, We cannot provide the location of the local EU hub. We will not be providing a breakdown of the costs. We are not able to offer financial assistance for this pledge.”

Credit card refunds might be a way for folks to get out of this mess.

[caledor2 4273xp 1]

That they don’t want to help you financially. You’ shipping cost of £26.52 is kind of peanuts, I have heard of people having to pay $600+. If they are going to help people I think it will be people like them.

 

Start asking for Credit cards refunds might seem a solution to some people but then you are creating an other Mythic debacle.

[dawfydd 11923xp 1]

I’ve sent them a message about getting support for shipping and/or VAT, playing the sympathy card given that since I paid for my pledge I’ve become unemployed and subsequently classified as only capable of “Limited Work”…
Can’t hurt to ask

[tankkommanderParticipant 6413xp 0]

That was the reply posted to an EU backer with a very high shipping cost. I have not had a reply and don’t expect one. Fortunately I am in a position to just chalk this up to experience and no serious harm done.

If people are facing a serious problem then they should put in a refund with their credit card company. CGL are failing to provide the basic details to justify the shipping charges, so if they won’t do that they need to give the money back.

Mythic failed because they were running multiple KS projects and using the money from one to pay for the previous ones. What might be called a pyramid scheme. The worst that will happen to CGL is they get a lot of stock to push in to retail. Sure it will hit them but Battletech is a cash cow so I don’t see them failing, unless they are on shaky ground already.

 

[jamescutts 6916xp 2]

I think this issue is massively inflated and over reacted to, yes there are some rather extreme cases but for most people the costs are not a low as expected, but from what has been posted here neither are they extremely excessive, I will say some a pretty high in cases such as sundancer. Asking Credit Card companies for a charge back my not be as easy as you think, they may begrudgingly do it but remember you didn’t purchase anything, you pledged support, which is supposed to be the whole point of a Kickstarter.

Expecting shipping costs to match retail is not a good comparison, its not a retail order, if you wanted retail prices then it may have been more prudent to wait until it hits retail?

I’d instead really look at a good courier’s “local” pricing for a comparison which as usual who you have deliver things from kickstarters, DHL/UPS/DPD/Fedex etc. You’ll find they are generally in the £10-20 range for a medium 2-5kg parcel and £20-30 for a large 5-10kg parcel, but also remember volume does affect that too. My shipping is coming in about £35 for a battalion sized pledge, given the amount of stuff in that I’m assuming that’s a large parcel, that’s not excessively more than a standard courier cost and probably also accounts for some cost of packaging and packing.

Just for reference:

• A veteran pledge with bonus is a core box, 3 salvage boxes, 4″ timber wolf and 3 posters
• A company pledge with bonuses is actually a core box, 4 force packs, 3 salvage boxes and 3 posters, 4″ timber wolf, that’s easily a medium sized parcel
• A battalion pledge with bonuses is a core box, 11 force packs, 3 salvage boxes, 3 posters, reference sheets, 4″ timber wolf and a book, easily at least 1 large parcel.

Bottom like, prices are bit higher than expected, but i think in most cases not excessively so, out of those shared in the thread, only sundancers at 30% of the order value seems excessive.

Edit: just about all the pledges include 2 SUPERSIZED posters, as a guess that supersized poster is possibly not helping with costs, as it will need a bigger box unless its folded.

• This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by  jamescutts.
• This reply was modified 6 months, 3 weeks ago by  jamescutts.

[sundancer 42926xp 0]

IIRC the posters in the Clan Invasion KS came folded. So yeah. There will be things happening I guess.

[frankeleeParticipant 1364xp 0]

When your shipping prices are double what they should be in the most reasonable of cases, it’s a big deal. That’s not really up for debate. But for 99% of people the best redress is taking this incident into account in the future when choosing make purchases with this company. If you can’t afford your shipping and Catalyst is threatening you with a total loss, then it makes sense to see if you can dispute the charge due to fraudulent behavior, you have nothing to lose, but I know it’s way too late for a chargeback on my credit card.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6413xp 0]

I think the usual 120 days is waived for future purchases. It is getting harder and harder to claim that KS is anything but a pre-order system in most cases. As you say, for most folks it will just be a case of take the hit and move on. For others the costs are a big issue and charge back may be the only way forward as CGL are refusing refunds.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Leviathan. That one is looking a bit shaky with excuses and then silence.

CGL are going to have to recruit a lot of new customers if they are burning their existing ones.

On the plus side we have Clash of Steel and Bolt Action 3rd edition 🙂 And 3D printers 🙂

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