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2014/03/12 13:14:59
Subject: Mantic customer services?! ***UPDATE on March 15***
Has anyone had any issues getting a response from Mantics usually fast and reliable CS?
I was really disappointed with my Dreadball casts and contacted them via their site to say so. Ten days later I got an acknowledgment (essentially the web form forwarded on to my email) and haven't heard a peep about it since. This is probably a week ago now.
Anyway, I spent some time and cleaned them up as best as I could.
Then I opened my Deadzone plague set. URRRGH. Horrid. Flash and mould lines abound. The Stage 1 is awful, his feet aren't flat, rather right leg on tip toe, left leg on his heel. Very little in the way of surface contact. The Stage 2s heads have a crazy made ring of flash, and I'm not delicate enough to remove that without taking my own fingers off with the blade. One dog was perpendicular to the base.
I tried twitter this time, seeing as they're on there frequently pushing DBX and got nothing back.
So are they that focussed on KS they just decide to f*ck off existing customers? It's tough enough getting people interested in Mantic as it is, and when mates see the state of the kits it's even harder.
I’m almost at the point where I’d rather proxy GW minis for DZ and Db, which is surely the wrong way to approach Mantic games!
When Mantic close their eyes and ears to complaints it makes me wonder just what they want to achieve - a fat profit off a few KS's every year, or a solid, loyal customer base?
TL;DR – Srsly Mantic, acknowledge my concerns and respond in a timely fashion.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/03/15 12:13:16
The quality of their CS has declined in the last year or so. Their focus is now very much the next kickstarter campaign. And onto the next one.
I already proxy GW models into Kings of War. Good ruleset, and the GW models are better than the Mantic ones. I'd pretty much do the same with DeadZone as well with GW and others. Kromlech and MaxMini make great Orks, there's no end of quality sci-fi-armoured troopers, regular space humans and aliens out there from GW to Vic to RH, to Hasslefree, Dreamforge, Heresy and on and on.
If I played DeadZone, I'm sure I'd predominantly be using proxies from other companies, along with a few of Mantic's better models, like that large plague guy.
Don't forget to dip your restic in Hot Water. It should hopefully help on your Stage 1 guy.
It just seems odd proxying in more expensive minis, when Mantic are really supposed to be the proxy mini company! Agreed though, there are plenty of other viable options out there. *edit* I think I'll swerve their box sets in future and just stick with their rule sets wherever possible, and if I need a board/mat I'll cough up for that.
Sadly even a soak in boiling water didn't help the S1. His legs are just too damned thick.
I'm going to get a pin vice and fasten him to the base. I'll add some detritus to distract from the fact he looks like he's skipping...
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/03/12 15:49:58
I recently (January) bought some Basilea models. Partly because my friends and I were thinking about trying out their game system, and partly so I could use men at arms for my Bretonnia army. Enough has been said about the men-at-arms models in other threads so I won't go into how much my friends and I disliked them. But... I ordered two packs of Elohi Angels, one didn't have legs, it was like they had just been burned off. The Male special character was completely surrounded in a sheet of metal that I had to cut/file away, not only losing some detail from that, but his pointing hand had no detail, it was just a block of metal. The female Elohi special character's cloak was so warped that it wouldn't actually fit correctly on the model, and since it was a big hunk of metal I couldn't bend/change it to fit. Then there was the issue of the men-at-arms are actually a bigger scale than their other infantry, the paladins (a paladins full helmed head is smaller than the head of a men at arms who doesn't wear a helmet). I was very disappointed, as were my friends.
I contacted them asking for a replacement for the one Elohi and the female special character, while also mentioning they should check their mold for the male special character, and a slight comment about all the horrible mold lines on everything. Below is the time table for my order.
Early January, place order.
Mid January, contact them to see if they received my order.
End of January, they notify me my order has shipped.
Early/Mid February, receive order.
Mid February, send a question asking about replacements
End of February, receive a response stating I need to fill a replacement form out, then they will get back to me.
Mid March (last week, almost three weeks after I submit the form). They respond saying they received my form and will do the replacements, and that it will take three weeks to receive them.
So all in all, I placed my order early January. I will not actually fully receive my order (after replacements) until end of March.
That was my first and only ever order from Mantic. I will not be purchasing their products anymore.
9th Age (KoE, Warriors of the Dark Gods-Lust, Sylvan Elves), 40K (Dawn Bringers SM, Night Lords Legion, Tau), AOS (Bretonnia, Ironjawz, fyreslayers) Malifaux (Ressers, McCabe).
Poor form, fantasypisces. I wonder if it's because Community Manager James H is off to pastures new and he's yet to be replaced/has been put on 'gardening leave'?
My first ever contact with the company was to ask for some freebies(!) to check out the quality and to see if I could convince mates to try some Mantic games.
They obliged and sent me a few sprues of Orcs, Skellies, Zombies and Goblins. Awesome. They were even good quality!
It's frustrating because I desperately want to champion Mantic and get my handful of gaming mates to embrace them!
No company can get everything right, I know. But the rapid drop off from plucky underdog to money grubbing KS conveyor belt is jarring and disturbing.
They have really been struggling recently. It took me over 2 months to get a part from them that they didn't pack in my retail rebs starter box. I used to love Mantic, but I won't buy their stuff right now because they make WAY too many mistakes packaging their products, and then simply ignore you when you ask them to fix their mistakes. Maybe if / when their KS train ever slows down and they get back to taking care of people, I will start buying from them again.
I actually pulled my Dreadball Xtreme pledge because of how bad their customer service has been. I didn't want to have to deal with it when they ineveitably mispackaged my order.
It just seems odd proxying in more expensive minis, when Mantic are really supposed to be the proxy mini company! Agreed though, there are plenty of other viable options out there. *edit* I think I'll swerve their box sets in future and just stick with their rule sets wherever possible, and if I need a board/mat I'll cough up for that.
Sadly even a soak in boiling water didn't help the S1. His legs are just too damned thick.
I'm going to get a pin vice and fasten him to the base. I'll add some detritus to distract from the fact he looks like he's skipping...
I see what you mean, but I already have lots of WFB models to get me started (and I do use the Mantic Ogres, and I bought a bunch of undead to mix with my GW models) - but for things like elves and such, I'd just prefer to use the nicer looking (to me) models with the better (to me) ruleset, even if I pay a bit more when I fill out my armies as I've been doing in the last 6 months, buying lots more WFB stuff that I never would have gotten around to buying (despite liking the look of them) if I hadn't started playing KoW.
Try the hairdryer/fan heater method on the S1 if water didn't work. Prop him up on a bit of wood or something that's not going to spontaneously combust, and put that fan heater on for a couple of minutes. He'll be the temperature of molten lava (be careful handling him - seriously) but his legs should be like wet noodles for a minute or so. Smush his legs and feet onto the kitchen bench, and then get someone else to pour a glass of cold water on the table next to him, so the spill pools around his legs and feet to "set" them. Once it's cooled a little, and while you're still holding him down, another glass of water over the whole model.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
squall018 wrote: They have really been struggling recently. It took me over 2 months to get a part from them that they didn't pack in my retail rebs starter box. I used to love Mantic, but I won't buy their stuff right now because they make WAY too many mistakes packaging their products, and then simply ignore you when you ask them to fix their mistakes. Maybe if / when their KS train ever slows down and they get back to taking care of people, I will start buying from them again.
I actually pulled my Dreadball Xtreme pledge because of how bad their customer service has been. I didn't want to have to deal with it when they ineveitably mispackaged my order.
Yeah. I mentioned in the DBX thread that it took until the campaign had actually started for them to finally ship me the replacements/mispacks/missing items for the original DB campaign. Like, they arrived just as the new campaign started.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/03/13 07:07:20
I've just bought my first Mantic product in Deadzone and have to say, that after a few weeks play testing, the rule set is impressive. Simple enough to get to grips with though complex enough to have diversity in a campaign.
However, the models are awful! I love the concept of the sculpts though they are poorly executed with bits not fitting - my S1 also has skewed legs - and so much flash that getting it right is a VERY slow process.
I emailed Mantic my thoughts about 2 weeks ago and have not even had a response. I will not buy any Mantic miniatures moving forward unless something changes, though will buy rule sets.
Shame to see Mantic CS slipping so far - previous dealings with them have been stellar. It's not surprising that they're stretched a bit thin, though, considering the pace they've set for themselves with the perpetual chain of KS campaigns. As a fan of Mantic, generally, but not buying into the latest releases, I'd love nothing more than to see them slow down a bit and strike a better balance between release schedule and CS/order fulfillment.
The Dreadnote wrote:But the Emperor already has a shrine, in the form of your local Games Workshop. You honour him by sacrificing your money to the plastic effigies of his warriors. In time, your devotion will be rewarded with the gift of having even more effigies to worship.
I'm not defending mantic here, but I htink I see two reasons for the drop off in customer service.
First, they are focused, from PR to design to shipping, entirely on kickstarters. You won't get replacement DZ stuff because they don't have the time, manpower, (or in many cases) even the models to ship.
Secondly, the problems are becoming less and less "mispacks" and "miscasts" and more and more "crappy models."
Why ship you more plague, when they'll probably be just as jacked as the ones you have?
First, they are focused, from PR to design to shipping, entirely on kickstarters. You won't get replacement DZ stuff because they don't have the time, manpower, (or in many cases) even the models to ship.
They've addressed this a couple of times. See Ronnie quote below. For the most part, it is overwhelming responses mixed with garbage responses and needing to get replacement parts in.
Polonius wrote: Secondly, the problems are becoming less and less "mispacks" and "miscasts" and more and more "crappy models."
Why ship you more plague, when they'll probably be just as jacked as the ones you have?
Really? My opinion/experience is the opposite. I feel that Mantic's models are getting better from where they were with the KoW kickstarter. I like my DZ stuff way more than the KoW stuff I received.
Mantic did post about CS stuff on their blog today as well.
Spoiler:
Well with James (best wishes, now get outa here!) exiting stage left I thought an update on all things Mantic would not go amiss. So with no further ado…
1) We have some really good candidates to look at for the community role. The fans we have are very important to Mantic. We simply would not be the company we have become without all the support and help we and and still do receive. It is probably an unusual role considering the size of company we are but I think that without someone sharing our thoughts and interacting with our supporters – and feeding back their thoughts and fears – we risk losing touch with what really matters as we get bigger. I don’t want that to happen – and so the role must be filled. I hope to have a new face to fill the slot in the next few weeks. Thanks to all those who applied.
Sponsor-Blaine
Could Blaine be our next community manager? Nah.
2) Thank you for your patience with deliveries and missing items over the last couple of months. We got slightly behind because the picking of the Deadzone was harder than we anticipated. The fact that the orders were huge and the factions and boosters came in multiple bags meant each pledge took a long time to pick – and also that we made a good number of mistakes!!!
We have had about 1500 responses on the missing items form, along with lots of other contact forms regarding the sale – which created a backlog. Apologies if we have been slow in getting back to you but we are getting caught up now. About 1/3 of the missing items requests just needed more information and those are getting answers, but the rest were missing a bag or parts from a figure. We are working through them now and we have the stock for almost all the missing bits. We have been sending out replacements for a few days so envelopes should be arriving soon. Where we do not have the item in stock we have it on order. We are despatching about 50 of these a day so hope to have everyone’s missing parts out in the next 4 weeks, if not sooner. Lessons have been learnt too – with products now coming in bagged as we want to despatch them and simpler tooling solutions, alongside better planning for the despatch operation. Thanks again for being patient – and I hope we will be back to normal service soon – where any issues or problems are dealt with the same days or at worst the next.
3) Kickstarters, Kickstarters everywhere! I have been asked a few times for a little inside info on our plans for kickstarters – largely so people can plan their spending! Firstly to anyone who has backed any of our projects – thank you. The support we get goes directly into developing the range and helps us make the great products you see on the shelves. I also recognise that backing a KS is a pretty major investment for most people and the support we get is humbling. While we pride ourselves on giving a big box of fun and toys for each pledge it is still a lot of cash to stump up, and I appreciate that. So to help you plan it is worth saying that Dreadball Xtreme is the only major KS we will be running for a while – it comes with a game and a box expansion plus lots of new teams, MVPs, campaign packs and so on. It is a full game. After that we will have a few months away from running any kind of KS – so we can go back to having a nearly normal life for a short while! We will be concentrating on getting Deadzone played by everyone and sending out the Deadzone second shipment and the Mars Attacks kickstarter, plus launching the awesome BattleZone scenery on an unsuspecting gaming world!
Deadzone terrain set
Battlezone – generic sci-fi wargaming terrain is coming to a tabletop near you!
When we do return we want to look at a couple of ‘mini kicks’ – to change around the format and make them more relaxed affairs. The ideas we have are to look at going back to Deadzone and making a few more models for the first 6 factions, then some new scenery sprues, and perhaps introduce a 7th faction (any ideas?) – but the hope is that it will be hard to spend too much money, because without a game to fund/pay for it can be more like a normal ‘hobby’ spend. It will also not be done until after the 2nd shipment for Deadzone is delivered in full. The other mini kick I would like is to revisit the Dwarf Kings Hold series – but again with it being a dungeon explorer rather than wargame the scope (and spend) should be limited.
After that? Well you best start saving now for these – they are going to be massive – one of course will be Warpath, the sci-fi wargame. Having seen the zombies coming through in the hard plastic I am really pumped about what this could be, and the vehicles from Mars Attacks are also looking great. The other future one is based around Kings of War – but even I am not so leaky to talk about this one yet but the ideas flying around for it are very exciting. The good news is that it will be very late this year, or early 2015, before we get round to either of these. So plenty of time to get playing the games you have on the way to you this summer!
Thank you for reading my insane ramblings. I hope it has been helpful. If you have comments or ideas about how to make Mantic better or any areas we need to improve please send me a comment via facebook or the contact us link on the website. And finally, thank you for backing or supporting us – even if it is just sharing the kickstarter link or speaking up for us at your club or store, it means a lot to us. I hope we are a hobby company you can be proud of and remain approachable and fun – so we can keep making hobby products you want to game with.
Best wishes
Ronnie
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/03/13 18:44:01
Looking for great deals on miniatures or have a large pile you are looking to sell off? Checkout Mindtaker Miniatures.
Live in the Pacific NW? Check out http://ordofanaticus.com
Polonius wrote: Secondly, the problems are becoming less and less "mispacks" and "miscasts" and more and more "crappy models."
Why ship you more plague, when they'll probably be just as jacked as the ones you have?
Really? My opinion/experience is the opposite. I feel that Mantic's models are getting better from where they were with the KoW kickstarter. I like my DZ stuff way more than the KoW stuff I received.
Oh, I like the sculpts a lot better, and I think the models ar emore useful. But the quality of casts are just dismal in DZ.
I suppose I'd phrase it like this: when I buy mantic stuf, I feel like I'm getting what I pay for.
Wales: Where the Men are Men and the sheep are Scared.
Mantics customer service used to be top notch. They used to reply very quickly. Since their heavy focus on kickstarter they are constantly either selling a new kickstarter or trying to furfil and old one, this has caused their customer service to become poor in terms of response time. I have had mantic take weeks to get back to me and on at least one occasion tell me they would sort something for me by a monday and then that person just stopped replying to my emails so I had to contact them elsewhere to get the problem sorted.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
monders wrote: Poor form, fantasypisces. I wonder if it's because Community Manager James H is off to pastures new and he's yet to be replaced/has been put on 'gardening leave'?
My first ever contact with the company was to ask for some freebies(!) to check out the quality and to see if I could convince mates to try some Mantic games.
They obliged and sent me a few sprues of Orcs, Skellies, Zombies and Goblins. Awesome. They were even good quality!
It's frustrating because I desperately want to champion Mantic and get my handful of gaming mates to embrace them!
No company can get everything right, I know. But the rapid drop off from plucky underdog to money grubbing KS conveyor belt is jarring and disturbing.
TBH it wasn't much better when James was around.
I am much the same. I want to support mantic but their constant kickstarters and the low quality of their recent offerings (I was very disappointed with deadzones models and wont back another restic kickstarter from them) means that I struggle to support them in the way I would have a year ago.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/03/13 18:55:27
I finally gave up on getting missing/damaged stuff from the KoWKS. Emails back and forth and then finally nothing for a while and not product in the mail. I gave a ton of that stuff away or threw it in the trash.
I'm still missing DZ stuff and not a peep yet other than the form email saying they'll get around to it some day.
It will be positive if they in fact hold off on kickstarters for a while so that they can take a breath and get everyone sorted out.
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
Polonius wrote: Secondly, the problems are becoming less and less "mispacks" and "miscasts" and more and more "crappy models."
Why ship you more plague, when they'll probably be just as jacked as the ones you have?
Really? My opinion/experience is the opposite. I feel that Mantic's models are getting better from where they were with the KoW kickstarter. I like my DZ stuff way more than the KoW stuff I received.
Oh, I like the sculpts a lot better, and I think the models ar emore useful. But the quality of casts are just dismal in DZ.
I suppose I'd phrase it like this: when I buy mantic stuf, I feel like I'm getting what I pay for.
I meant both quality of sculpts and casts. I had no issues with my DZ shipment. Mold lines, sure. Miscasts? Not at all. We'll see when I get my second survey stuff though.
Looking for great deals on miniatures or have a large pile you are looking to sell off? Checkout Mindtaker Miniatures.
Live in the Pacific NW? Check out http://ordofanaticus.com
carlos13th wrote: Mantics customer service used to be top notch. They used to reply very quickly. Since their heavy focus on kickstarter they are constantly either selling a new kickstarter or trying to furfil and old one, this has caused their customer service to become poor in terms of response time. I have had mantic take weeks to get back to me and on at least one occasion tell me they would sort something for me by a monday and then that person just stopped replying to my emails so I had to contact them elsewhere to get the problem sorted.
TBH it wasn't much better when James was around.
This reflects my own experience very well, also. And yeah, aside from a few posts in the N&R forum, I saw no difference while James was around. If anything, CS continued to backslide.
I'm hoping they can get their gak together. I really do want to support them, but damn they make it hard!
I think my experiences with James were more positive because they were nothing to do with replacing or refunding items, and revloved around me trying to blag free stuff and maybe a job!
Ronnie's blog post (thanks for sharing that, Pretre) is a letdown too. Being told to get saving for their next round of KS's is a kick in the nards, imo.
Anyways, I'll work on painting up my DZ and Db stuff over the next few weeks then let the game speak for itself. Everything looks better with a lick of paint.
monders wrote: I think my experiences with James were more positive because they were nothing to do with replacing or refunding items, and revloved around me trying to blag free stuff and maybe a job!
Ronnie's blog post (thanks for sharing that, Pretre) is a letdown too. Being told to get saving for their next round of KS's is a kick in the nards, imo.
Anyways, I'll work on painting up my DZ and Db stuff over the next few weeks then let the game speak for itself. Everything looks better with a lick of paint.
How is it a letdown? He tells us that people have been complaining that they want to support kickstarters, but it's too much, too soon, so he's giving us a timetable of what is coming so we can plan ahead. It's OUR money, not theirs (yet). If we support a project and want it, we buy it. We aren't contractually obligated to throw him money. He's letting us know he KSers are supposed to slow down a bit, so if you like funding them, and have been excited for multiples, you have chances to recover. How is that bad? I guess I just don't see your logic.
Reality is a nice place to visit, but I'd hate to live there.
Manchu wrote:I'm a Catholic. We eat our God.
Due to work, I can usually only ship any sales or trades out on Saturday morning. Please trade/purchase with this in mind.
It's the tone rather than the content, though I'm sure he meant it jokingly.
For a bit of perspective: If they get in with a decent casting company, and produce plastics, I’d be very interested in the Warpath reboot, and wouldn't mind if this was started sooner in 2014. Dwarf Kings Hold could be on my list too, so it's not that I'm against Kick Starters.
However, back to the original point of the thread: Mantic could have a KS every week for a hundred years for all I care, but they need a dedicated customer support/after sales team in place to deal with the botched orders and miserable casts they send out.
This is table top gaming, timetowaste, there's no room for logic!
My own personal experiences have been pretty good but the overwhelming number of people having bad ones is pretty telling.
Instead of just having one person (Sarah) do CS, they should have at least two full-time CS employees and perhaps a temp during post-KS who is trained only to handle certain easy things and pass the others onto the full-timers.
"...and special thanks to Judgedoug!" - Alessio Cavatore "Now you've gone too far Doug! ... Too far... " - Rick Priestley "I've decided that I'd rather not have you as a member of TMP." - Editor, The Miniatures Page "I'd rather put my testicles through a mangle than spend any time gaming with you." - Richard, TooFatLardies "We need a Doug Craig in every store." - Warlord Games "Thank you for being here, Judge Doug!" - Adam Troke
2014/03/15 12:20:21
Subject: Mantic customer services?! ***UPDATE on March 15***
Well I'm very happy to report that today I received, completely unexpectedly, replacement teams for Dreadball KO. At first inspection they seem like much better casts, so won't require as much clean up.
So a massive thanks to Mantic, this a very positive outcome for me, and hopefully a sign they're getting back on track!
Member of the "Awesome Wargaming Dudes"
2014/03/15 12:46:57
Subject: Mantic customer services?! ***UPDATE on March 15***
judgedoug wrote: My own personal experiences have been pretty good but the overwhelming number of people having bad ones is pretty telling.
Instead of just having one person (Sarah) do CS, they should have at least two full-time CS employees and perhaps a temp during post-KS who is trained only to handle certain easy things and pass the others onto the full-timers.
Glad that Monders got his stuff.
Absolutely zero joke----wonder if they could have 'hire another staffer' as a stretch goal on a KS.
Thread Slayer
2014/03/15 17:03:36
Subject: Mantic customer services?! ***UPDATE on March 15***
They replaced my badly-cast Loka hippo halves with a full set of the model (I just asked for the torso halves) which were just as badly-cast.
So now instead of having one nice model, I have two full casts of what's unusable junk (without a lot of work to try and fix). So now I can ask them to fix it again, or give up after this much fething around and write off the money spent on it as a loss. Neither choice is appealing, and the latter is most likely. It does mean I'm far less likely to spend more dollars with them, though...
Do they not have a quick look at the bag before sending it out?!
With Loka not being as 'big', I wonder if they're all still the from the original casting?
"It does mean I'm far less likely to spend more dollars with them, though..." Same here, but I think the volume of stuff you get on KSs will keep people coughing up $$$$$$$
Member of the "Awesome Wargaming Dudes"
2014/03/20 22:42:14
Subject: Mantic customer services?! ***UPDATE on March 15***
Apparently not. I specifically asked for just the torso pieces and also asked if they could make sure they fit together nicely. Instead, they just gave me a free figure, with the exact same defect.
Oh, their volume helps people back them of course, but once you have several hundred gakky restic models sitting around, getting more becomes much less compelling - I sat out of DBX entirely for example. They're not all gakky, of course, but many are.
Wales: Where the Men are Men and the sheep are Scared.
I feel much the same way. I would buy Mantic's Hard Plastic Undead anytime with no reservations because I have experience with it and know its decent quality. After disappointing quality of the deadzone models I am unlikley to put money down for a model from them that I haven't seen in person first.
" - Rick Priestley "I've decided that I'd rather not have you as a member of TMP." - Editor, The Miniatures Page "I'd rather put my testicles through a mangle than spend any time gaming with you." - Richard, TooFatLardies "We need a Doug Craig in every store." - Warlord Games "Thank you for being here, Judge Doug!" - Adam Troke 