Is there a limit?

[Leveller Mutineer]

1. Shoddy castings:  Don't mind a bit of flash, but shortened rifles/muskets/swords and no heads or legs can be irritating.

2. Shoddy deliveries: I'm old enough to remember the old '28 days for delivery' on everything.  I don't mind waiting but if you are told 5-10 days then it should mean that.

3. Not seeing the product online:  Don't mind paying for stuff.  But I like to see it first.  Funny enough Pendraken are better than a lot of manufacturers on this.

4. Inaccurate figures:  Both in pose and uniform.  Bought some 15mm ACW Union cavalry once (sight unseen.  See point 3) and wished I hadn't.  They were horribly proportioned.  Their uniforms were not ACW, but later Plains War, and the dismounted figures were not wearing the same uniform as the mounted.  Would never consider them again (why would I now I've found Pendraken?).

5. Not answering emails or the phone.  Goes under bad customer service

Never had any trouble with Pendraken figures on these issues (apart from 3. But I believe this has been touched on before)

[wargamesbob]

I pretty much agree with everything that's been said so far but must add wildly varying scales and proportions in the same range, most notably with cavalry on diminutive horses - what's that all about ? Charge a few pence more and let the trooper ride a horse not a donkey!

Prices? - if you really want something them you will always pay the price for it. I like the current Pendraken pricing, it's good value for money

Package quantity. Pendraken scores well here. The thirty figure pack is spot on. I'd rather have a couple of spares than have to buy a second pack for the same for the sake of a couple of figures.

Catalogues...it's been said, acknowledged and said again. The on-line web store is supposed to be just that - the equivalent of walking into a shop, being able to see the range and visualizing  your army. It's really important to the customer and beneficial to the retailer as customers will nearly always see something in another range with "potential" and add it to their order. Several recent inquiries about wagons illustrates this point. And please no more unillustrated new releases - you'll never catch up with the backlog of unphotographed products if you keep adding to the list. A few more photos of available figures would certainly have me reaching for my debit card!

One final thought on your catalogue, I know I'm drifting off the topic a little, but an eye candy page possibly using some of the excellent pictures in some of the forum members bat-reps would certainly gain you a few more customers when they really see the potential of that wonderful scale that is 10mm

Bob

[Maenoferren]

To be honest, I've never even registered any price difference when we post stuff to you, it just goes in as UK 1st class with everything else.  I'd assume other companies must be using couriers who make that distinction?

yep some say they need to use a courier as i live beyond the realms of civilisation, even though shock horror we use the post office up here. I get your stuff no problem . the ones that really annoy me are the ones that charge the massive mark up and then send it via the post office anyway

[Leon]

One final thought on your catalogue, I know I'm drifting off the topic a little, but an eye candy page possibly using some of the excellent pictures in some of the forum members bat-reps would certainly gain you a few more customers when they really see the potential of that wonderful scale that is 10mm

We've thought about that several times, but the extra space required, plus printing costs for decent colour photo's, have put us off. 

[Leveller Mutineer]

the ones that really annoy me are the ones that charge the massive mark up and then send it via the post office anyway

Hi Maenoferren

That may not be the company's fault.  they probably do use the courier but, if their courier has no presence where you are, they take it as far as they can and then the courier company put it on Royal Mail to finish the journey. 

LM

[DanJ]

Very interesting thread,

I'm now fortunate  that I have reached an age where providing I don't go mad price is not realy an issue except that I don't like being ripped off (I've bought virtually no GW figures).

Once I've decided on a project my criteria for buying figures are do I like the figures and does the manuafcturer have a large enough range to let me field an army without waiting for new releases?

If I don't like the figures I won't buy them (I'm very pick about horses which are generally a lot finer and longer in the body than most ranges) and I won't start a new army if the manufacturer doesn't have a decent range.

I'm not too concerned about delivery times, as I can take delays into account when placing orders and if all else fails chip away at the lead pile.

[Charon]

Quality is probably the most important factor for me, and I am willing to pay a premium for it, although whether that would translate into massively increased revenue for the seller is debatable â€" I have a budget and will spend to that budget, so would rather buy 10 well sculpted and casted figures costing £2.00 each than 20 poorly sculpted and cast figures at £1.00p each, but either way I’m going to spend £20.00.  I’m guessing that many people in these economically challenging times (particularly the married ones) will work in a similar manner.

Speed of delivery is not a huge issue as long as I know how long I’m going to have to wait before hand and it’s not more than about 3 weeks. The cost of delivery is though â€" if I feel I’m being ripped off I’ll cancel the order (Wargames Foundry, I’m looking at you…)

Pictures on the website â€" I would never buy anything unless I’d seen it in the flesh or seen a picture of it. I would never have bought into 10mm in the first place if I hadn’t seen Clibanarium’s pictures of the AWI range on various forums (should that be fora?) If a colour catalogue is expensive to produce, why not offer it as a PDF download, or make a small charge for it at shows? A picture tells a thousand words (to use a cliché) and I genuinely don’t think many gamers know how good Pendraken stuff is â€" some of the pictures I’ve seen on this forum will certainly show them!

[gregernest]

I would echo several of comments made above.

Quality first, then quantity and value for my money. 

But really, the webstore needs more pics.  Color ones would be nice, but I'll settle for bit of black wash on bare metal if that is all the company has time for.

[Maenoferren]

Hi Maenoferren

That may not be the company's fault.  they probably do use the courier but, if their courier has no presence where you are, they take it as far as they can and then the courier company put it on Royal Mail to finish the journey. 

LM

still annoying though

[tzen67]

For me it's price and quality rapidly followed by completeness of range. I was buying ABs for a project and was happy to pay a bit more for the higher quality but now the price has gone too far and I found good quality figures much cheaper so I've switched.
Regarding Pendraken, although I understand why,there are some ranges (Naps and LoA) that I won't really buy until complete. The LoA range is exceptional but at infantry only I can't get started yet 
Cheers,
Andy

[Last Hussar]

As Pendraken in about 90%+ of my figures spend, I have to wonder what you're about to do Leon...

[Orcs]

The things I look for in a wargame company roughly in order.


1 Relatively complete range.  I don't mind getting a few bits from another manufacturer, but I want to be able to get most of it from the same place

2 Good Quality Figures/Models.  Nice casting that are consistent in scale across the range (particularly vehicles). 

3 Good customer service.  This includes keeping to delivery times, or letting me know if there is a delay. The ability to ask a favor to tweak an order on the odd occasion.

4 Price.   I am happy to pay a premium for the above three. I want the manufacturer to still be there when I want more  figures and if paying slightly more so the business is more financially viable then I am happy to do this ( I don't think there are many wargame manufactures that have got rich from selling wargames stuff.)

Personally I think the guys at Pendraken easily meet all of the above requirements.  They are also some of the cheapest 10mm figures around.

[Leon]

As Pendraken in about 90%+ of my figures spend, I have to wonder what you're about to do Leon...

Nothing at all, as I said earlier, this was nothing to do with Pendraken-y stuff, I was just curious about how different the wargames market is to others in what we expect from the people we buy from.

[kerath]

(PS, I know that we need more pics on the website, people in glass houses and all...  )

EEHEHEHEHHEHEH 

[mollinary]

For me, it's quality of figures, completeness of range, and service.  I am also one of the lucky few to have reached an age when my hobby outlay does not involve decisions between Brunswickers and breakfast, so price is less important and, as JafO says, I want the manufacturer to still be there when I come back next year. That does not mean I am so easy going as to enjoy being ripped off, but I'll pay a good price for a good product. After all it's cheaper than golf.  But service really matters to me, and that is not measured in days a delivery takes (talking of which Leon, how is that order coming on?) to arrive. It is being willing to talk, treating me like a human being and not the obsessed idiot I am, and trying hard to give me exactly what I want. One of the things I like about the hobby is the opportunity to do business with lots of nice people, on both sides of the Atlantic. But good luck trying to put together a business model!

Mollinary