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

[sundancer 42678xp 2]

All paid up

@dawfydd  It’s a race! Who gets their stuff first! 😉

[jamescutts 6860xp 2]

Automatic Payment went through for me too, little over $100 but as mentioned, a significant part of that was the expected VAT and for my pledge what I viewed as a reasonable if slightly higher than expected amount of shipping.

I think its quite possible we’ll be seeing things arrive next month! I hope we can keep the discussion going in a more positive light once things arrive and we all have new shiny to play with? Maybe a new thread?

[redscopeParticipant 2708xp 3]

In terms of shipping I think companies should spell out what they mean by local shipping rates. The problem is most people assume that means it is the same as going to you local post office, DHL site and shipping it.

That is not what it means at all. They are working with a local shipping company who have to take the stuff from the ship, load it into the warehouse, often re-package it, sort out the admin on the address, deal with any returns, replacement items. You also have factor into that insurance in the shipping costs based on value.

What they mean by local shipping costs is just you are not paying international shipping costs. IE they dont have a hub in the USA which they are sending items out to Europe.

Companies should be clear in the kickstarter what those shipping costs are because as a lot of people in this thread are doing is assuming the price is what you pay to send 1 single item locally that is not how it works.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by  redscope.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6394xp 0]

You are describing a lot of handling costs which Catalyst explicitly stated they would be paying.

Local shipping is delivering the box from the UK hub to a UK address.

We were lied to. It really is that simple.

[frankeleeParticipant 1210xp 0]

Yeah, it’s not the backers place to be paying for the company’s insurance costs or admin costs with their shipping fees. That’s, by some way of looking at things since it’s a Kickstarter, not quite theft, but at best is as close to it as you can get without explicitly going over the line. And for many it’s straight up just theft. It may fall to the backer to pay the fulfillment company for picking and packing, but even then, excessive fees are fraudulent. I certainly hope Catalyst isn’t doing any of those things, or responsible for those things being charged to backers. Those costs are paid for by the consumer, when they purchase the product. It should never be added on after.

[jamescutts 6860xp 4]

I’d generally agree with redscope, local shipping and local delivery are not the same thing.

Catalyst stated they were covering the distribution half of costs in a update, that’s distribution around the world we are really getting into nitty details nobody knows anything about without directly speaking to the distributor or catalyst about them, something that wont happen. Basically there’s more work than just magically sending a package out, those packages still need to be organised and packed in the local hub. Again as i’ve previously pointed out, its a Kickstarter, theres no consumer and there’s no purchase, by checking that box on Kickstarter your pledging support, not buying something.

Lied and theft are strong words. Its not that simple, the campaign stated they <b><i>expect </i></b>to provide local shipping rates, they have tried to do that but they never promised it, they have even made adjustments with the intial problem of excessively high rates and then offer people credit to help, as the case of this thread points out. This really isn’t uncommon for Kickstarters, I’ve hand numerous over the years, may of which often involve high shipping and distribution costs as they are principally coming from China and transporting things isn’t cheap

If that doesnt fit right with people and they want to just “purchase” a product then I’d probably suggest waiting until it hits retail and think twice before using a crowdfunding platform. It seems a lot of “the internet raging” is coming from people not understanding what they are agreeing too.

[jamescutts 6860xp 2]

https://www.kickstarter.com/trust

Creators are responsible for following our rules and fulfilling their promises to backers (as outlined in our Terms of Use). This includes providing backers with a high standard of effort, communicating honestly throughout the creative process, using funds appropriately, and protecting backers’ personal information. Creators must also deliver completed rewards as promised, provide backers with a refund (where possible), or give a clear, honest explanation detailing why rewards will not be fulfilled. While it’s difficult to deliver bad news, creators owe this to the people who have shown them support—honesty brings backers along on the creative journey and helps them understand when things don’t go as planned.

Unlike sellers on eCommerce sites, creators on Kickstarter do not automatically breach their contract with backers if they do not fulfill their rewards or provide users with a full or partial refund. However, if a creator fails to communicate progress updates or delays, does not address backer questions or concerns, or otherwise breaches their agreement with backers, the creator may be subject to legal action from backers.

Creators are also expected to follow our platform rules and use extreme caution when inviting collaborators or other third parties to participate in their projects. We hold creators accountable for the misuse of their accounts, and may suspend or terminate their access.

 

 

Backers are responsible for vetting projects, reporting site violations, and, when they choose to support a project, supporting that project, regardless of the outcome. Kickstarter provides backers with an opportunity to support creative work at an early stage of development. By doing that, backers are telling the creator they think their work is worth making—and they may even be helping to make culture-shaping, world-changing work a reality. They are also taking a risk, and it’s important they do it knowingly.

Unlike items on an eCommerce site, projects on Kickstarter are not finished products. It is the responsibility of all backers to thoroughly review the description, risks and challenges, comments, and updates for anything vague or overly ambitious before backing a project. Commenting is only available to backers, but anyone can message a creator in the FAQ section. We encourage backers to search beyond Kickstarter for more context, and to ask questions of the creator and community. If backers observe or experience any violations of our rules, our terms, or abusive content or behavior, we expect them to report those to us (there’s a link at the bottom of every project page), so that we can take appropriate action.

If a creator is unresponsive or doesn’t fulfill a reward, we encourage backers to message the creator directly and ask for a project update. In all communications, it’s important to remain respectful—making something new is hard, and there’s a person on the other side working to bring their project to life. If a backer feels the creator has breached the agreement between them, the backer may take steps outside of the Kickstarter platform, including legal action, to enforce the agreement.

• This reply was modified 1 month, 2 weeks ago by  jamescutts.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6394xp 0]

The sooner that KS is either regulated or banned the better. It is, on the whole these days, a pre-order system.

[limburger 21577xp 3]

if projects go flawlessly … then yes … it is a “pre order system”.

However … not everything goes perfect. That doesn’t mean malice was the intent.
I’ve said it before, but we kind of get to see how the sausage is made … and isn’t always pretty.

I think that’s the biggest issue that crowdfunding in general has, but at the same time … how big a warning do folk need that these things aren’t going to be executed perfectly ?.

How many times do we need to read (or ignore) the text that says : “… is not a store”?
We do have our own brains and gut instincts to help us with that, don’t we ?
We’re not babies that need their hand held when spending silly money on things we like.

Banning crowdfunding is not going to remove the need that these companies do have.
There is no way for crowdfunding to judge how ‘worthy’ a project is of being allowed onto that platform.

And as with any commercial venture … there is a perverse reward for such platforms to allow things that shouldn’t be on there as they get money from every successfully funded project. There is no way to judge ‘completion’ as scammers will find loop holes in any system, while potentially harmless mistakes could get smaller companies into bigger trouble.

Theranos happened … despite all the ‘protection’ that regular investors have.
Crowdfunding can never ever get the same legal protection, because the cost of legal action tends to outweigh any investment we have in such things. We would need a legal system that can work for a 50 Euro pledge … and I don’t see that happening.
You want ‘protection’ … it is best to wait for retail. And even that won’t help you in court unless you can find sufficient evidence of malpractice if you want to take a company to court.

Anyways … enough negativity.

I’d say let’s focus on getting our goodies.
Who gets theirs first ? And who gets all of it painted ?
Will we see loads of battle reports ?

[dawfydd 11897xp 2]

I mean I still have most of my Clan Invasion stuff still to paint. Maybe if I can the access to my painting desk cleared I might have a chance at getting them and what’s coming from Mercenaries painted this year, but I doubt it 😛

[sundancer 42678xp 2]

My Clan Invasion is fully painted! Haha!  (also the Beginners Box is done and the Game Of Armoured Combat) None of my big stompy BattlyTechs is unpainted! 8)

[jamescutts 6860xp 1]

Who is this and what have you done with sundancer 🤣

[sundancer 42678xp 0]

hey, I even got a Golden Button for it! XD

[sundancer 42678xp 0]

Update! 2024-06-06

We are very close to having the initial phase of shipments ready to go, all of the SKU information and we have the first GIANT (20,000+) batch of orders and most of the US stock! We’ve got dice, patches, pins, books, coins, freebies, Salvage Boxes, BattleMechs, Forcepacks, and more all getting prepped to make their way out the door!

Once QML has accurate counts and confirmation from each hub, they will be able to prepare shipments to each hub for anything that they may be missing or short of.

There are a lot of remaining steps to be taken to make sure that the fulfillment goes as smoothly as possible. At this time, without having all stock at the fulfillment centers, we are unable to provide a start date estimate. But we will provide a better timeline once a couple more pieces have fallen into place.

Additionally, for any backer who chose to go with store credit for additional assistance, we are working to get those credits implemented into the online store ASAP and will be notifying you once they go live!

We are also working with BackerKit to have the remaining funds in backer’s accounts returned to them, if correct shipping has been paid, and we are expecting most backers to have those within the next week. There are a couple of exceptions to the automated process, such as limitations due to one-time payment routes, that may hold up those particular refunds and will be manually completed by our team. Please hold as we complete the automated process and we will provide you with the correct routes to handle any particular issues as they arise.

Sincerely, thank you backers for all of the support in this project, and to the backers that left messages that made our support team’s day.

So nothing tangible but something. Let’s see how long this will take them.

[dawfydd 11897xp 1]

Honestly the anticipation is just building right now….

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