Does anyone know the current status of Black Tree Designs, aka EOE Orbis?

[jeffersonpowers 363xp 0]

I recently placed an order with the US arm of Black Tree Designs/EOE Orbis, but after two weeks I’ve received nothing but the automated “we’ve received your order” email. In looking online (which I probably should have done before ordering) I see that they had some issues back in 2019, and there is a fair amount of negative chatter about them taking forever or not filling orders at all.

Has anyone here placed an order with Black Tree (either the US or UK site) in the past few months? If so, how long did it take to deliver (if it did at all) and what, if any, problems were there?

(And yes, I know two weeks isn’t enough time for serious concern, but most companies, even tiny ones, usually manage to ship orders within a few days — call me spoiled)

[grantinvanman 6249xp 0]

I only hear bad things about them. Can you cancel your order? I would.

[jeffersonpowers 363xp 1]

@grantinvanman From the sound of it they don’t respond to emails, so if it comes to that I’ll probably have to file a dispute with PayPal. I don’t think we’re quite there yet though — if they’re slow that’s fine, as long as I get what I ordered eventually. I’m just trying to get a sense of how patient I need to be.

[grantinvanman 6249xp 0]

I’d file a PayPal dispute now if you can. Best case, they ship. Worst case, you get your money back. BTD are AWFUL. That said, about 10 years ago they were good. Not any more …

[admiralandy 1655xp 1]

I’ve personally never had a problem with the handful of orders I’ve made over the years. But they do seem quite infamous for missing orders, I did hear of someone getting there stuff about a month late past year or so.

This is mostly UK side due to the BTD owner still running things is not the youngest and health has been a problem that he’s not been able to work and seems nobody fills in for him, athough that was supposed to be redressed from last year.

Did you order a historic or Doctor Who, its possible it might need to be shipped over not sure if they make it both sides of the pond or split. Try an email, give it a week and cancel if no comms or delivery I would suggest.

[jeffersonpowers 363xp 1]

Thanks for the advice.

PayPal has a 6 month window for disputes, it’s a relatively small order (Dr Who models), and I’m not in a particular hurry. I was hoping to hear from anyone who has actually placed an order with BTD recently, to get a sense of what their current response times are.

If they had a rough patch, it would make sense that orders have slowed down a lot, so they might not be filling and shipping on a regular basis. It would be nice if they would give a warning to that effect on the website, but I know how it goes with these one-man operations.

I’m perfectly happy to give it a few more weeks at least.

[somegeezer 18480xp 1]

I eventually got my order about four years (!)  late. It took a lot of persistence a and keeping my cool to an uncharacteristic degree.

The guy has had some health issues which explains the years of silence but I’ll not be troubling him with any orders in future.

[jeffersonpowers 363xp 0]

Yeah, I won’t be waiting that long. I’m reasonably patient, but not that patient… 😉

[captainventanus 5097xp 1]

It’s not only a recent problem, has been the situation for many years. Maybe 2017/18 is when I put in my last order. It just went in and for 3 months nothing. Then I wrote back asking what the situation was, got a reply “soon” then 3 months later the order turned up.

Pretty good figures, but that just isn’t the way to do business. I would not order again.

[jeffersonpowers 363xp 1]

UPDATE: After six weeks with absolutely no contact from Black Tree/EOE Orbis, I filed a dispute with PayPal and got my money back. The refund was instantaneous, I’m guessing that PayPal has a dollar amount threshold (my order was less than $75 US) where it’s not worth their time to look into what’s going on, they just do a refund automatically.

It’s disappointing that Black Tree appears to have gone out of business without taking their website down, more so because they still had a few of the old Harlequin Dr. Who minis that I wanted. Oh well, there are plenty of other tiny fighting men in the sea, and I have too much stuff to paint anyway…

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