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Made in us
Kabalite Conscript



San Diego

I've made purchases from Doc's Discount Game (also known as The Discount Game Store on Ebay) a few times over the years with positive results. They offered some pretty deep discounts and free shipping which I found very attractive when I was looking to start a new 40k army. The only downside was they would take their sweet time pulling the orders and shipping them to me but I really didn't mind cause it was a long term project and I wasn't in a rush.

About a month and a half ago, with 8th ED on the horizon and speculation swirling about the new GW pricing policy, I decided to place a very large order with them to fill the gaps in my projects and save some seriously moolah. Usually they prefer taking the orders via email but this time they insisted I do it through their Vendio store front, no problem. They thank me for my business and tell me they hope to get the package out by the end of the following week. First week goes by, nothing, then the second week GW drops their new pricing policy and a few hours later DDG sends out an email stating that because of the new policy their GW discounts would drop from 25-35% to a flat 15% on all GW products. Good thing I put in that order when I did right? That order would have been over $100 more! Few days later I receive a tracking number and a notice that my order has been shipped. Tracking my package the next day I see that my package was picked up and taken to the USPS office. I check tracking once every couple days to see the progress but nothing has changed. Im not too worried cause I have had packages not get scanned at certain points and still arrive just fine. But after about 10 days with no delivery im concerned. Tracking says its still sitting back at the USPS office. after 2 weeks I reach out to DDG and update them on my package, no response so I contact the USPS and open a case. After a few days Im contacted by a Supervisor from that USPS office and he tells me that a hold has been placed on my package. Apparently while the package was physically addressed to me in California, the electronic tag and tracking bar code were addressed to someone in Boston Mass, so now its sitting there in package purgatory. On top of that since my name and address doesn't appear as the primary address (aka the electronic tag/tracking bar code) I cannot file a missing package claim. The only 2 who can make a claim and have the package either returned or forwarded are random Boston dude or DDG. But here is the really fishy part, as im talking with the USPS Supervisor, he gives me a physical description of my package and based off the dimensions (about the size of a large box of cereal) he gives me there is noooo waaaayyy it is my complete order. Mind you that I ordered 9 boxes of squads and even if they were all OOB NOS there is no chance they would fit into a package that size. I take all this new information and I forward it to DDG along with the USPS Supervisors contact info to release the package to me and my address. A few days later DDG responses that they have no idea how that could have happened and that rather than waiting for the package to be returned they are just going to reship my order ASAP. That was 16 days ago. No packages. No models. No return emails. No return phone calls.

I would love some advice. Has anyone had similar issues with online vendors? How did you end up fixing your situtaton? I have not contacted paypal yet because despite all the GIANT RED FLAGS im still holding out hope that I will come home from work one day and my package will be waiting for me....

Thank you for listening to my drunken rant about my first world plastic soldier addiction.
   
Made in us
Archmagos Veneratus Extremis






Home Base: Prosper, TX (Dallas)

I've used doc's quite a bit. I've had more than my number of oopsies with them on their end but they have always more than made up for it with me. They aren't fast but they've always come through. I'd just contact them again or discuss how to get your money back via email.

Best Painted (2015 Adepticon 40k Champs)

They Shall Know Fear - Adepticon 40k TT Champion (2012 & 2013) & 40k TT Best Sport (2014), 40k TT Best Tactician (2015 & 2016) 
   
Made in us
Kabalite Conscript



San Diego

 Hulksmash wrote:
I've used doc's quite a bit. I've had more than my number of oopsies with them on their end but they have always more than made up for it with me. They aren't fast but they've always come through. I'd just contact them again or discuss how to get your money back via email.


Im not sure what else I can do at this point. Ive seriously done all the hard work for them. I gave them the USPS case number and instructions on how to clear my package so literally all it would take is a 5 minute phone call. My package was supposed to arrive 28 days ago and in that time ive sent them 8 emails and 2 phone calls. The one response I recieved was ...
"I am sorry to hear that!
I am going to re-ship your order this coming week.
Thanks for your business and patience!!!"

and that was 17 days ago at this point

You said they always make it up to you. Im curious, what did they do?
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






For consumer protection, contact PayPal asap.

I get wanting to believe best intentions, but there's time limits to refunds.

   
Made in au
Regular Dakkanaut







Once you open a Paypal dispute, DO NOT close it until you've got the goods in your hands, as you will not be able to reopen it.

Some sellers will give you a story about their system not being able to process it while it's open, they're just trying to con you.

Just having the dispute open will often get you a faster response (though I know nothing about this specific seller)
   
Made in us
Hunter with Harpoon Laucher




Castle Clarkenstein

Open a paypal dispute, and you will get your money back. Don't settle outside of paypal, don't close dispute until money is back.

Those "Red Flags" are your brain telling you the smart thing to do. Don't worry about it.

And guess what? Any reputable merchant would absolutely expect you to do that. I've had packages lost by ups and had to file claims, or get them returned a month later, mangled by ups or usps. I totally expect a customer to want their money back. Not a big deal, part of doing business.

Scam artists lie and work hard to make you feel bad. A good business re-assures you that it's not your fault, and lets fix your problem.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/06/03 21:55:29


....and lo!.....The Age of Sigmar came to an end when Saint Veetock and his hamster legions smote the false Sigmar and destroyed the bubbleverse and lead the true believers back to the Old World.
 
   
Made in us
Most Glorious Grey Seer





Everett, WA

Okay, I just got my order from Docs. Basically, after a lengthy delay, I sent an email and opened a PayPal dispute. He replied a couple of days later and by the end of the week I had my order. I've closed my dispute as resolved and everything worked out. I'm unlikely to use Docs in the future but he did ship my order out eventually.

I suggest the OP do the same if he hasn't done so already.



 
   
Made in us
Kabalite Conscript



San Diego

::UPDATE::

The day after my previous post I received a package from DDG and sure enough its was small like the USPS supervisor described it. The tracking bar code was X'd out and there was a hand written note saying "to deliver as written" so I guess the USPS got wise and forwarded my package themselves because I still never heard back from DDG. Inside was only about 1/2 of my stuff with a letter apologizing for the incomplete order. They promised the rest would ship within the week and that they would throw in a couple extra sprues for my trouble. Well Its been 2 months now since i placed my original order and I still do not have all my models. I sent a final email saying that I wanted a refund and to return the models I had already received. I contacted Paypal and they said I still had plenty of time to open a dispute if i wanted to. So i am going to wait 24 hours for a response before doing so.
   
Made in us
Powerful Phoenix Lord





Good luck. This is kinda/sorta what happened with my last order - so no more Doc's for me.
   
Made in us
Most Glorious Grey Seer





Everett, WA

As I said above, Doc responded pretty quick once I opened a dispute with PayPal.


 
   
Made in us
The Hammer of Witches





A new day, a new time zone.

 Breotan wrote:
As I said above, Doc responded pretty quick once I opened a dispute with PayPal.


I would imagine that there's a certain amount of sincerity in that 'they will make things right,' but until you actually open a dispute there's no pressure or timeline for 'gak, okay now I really have to do something about this.'

Maybe I'm just being too generous.

"-Nonsense, the Inquisitor and his retinue are our hounoured guests, of course we should invite them to celebrate Four-armed Emperor-day with us..."
Thought for the Day - Never use the powerfist hand to wipe. 
   
Made in us
Kabalite Conscript



San Diego

:::UPDATE:::

A week ago I sent my 7th email inquiring about my order and asking about the possibility of a refund. 48 hours later I recieved this response.

Very sorry for the length of your order. I am happy to refund - just let me know.
Often when a GW order is placed we will not have the entire order in stock. A typical turn around time is 1-3 weeks. We receive our GW product through distributors (that is how we get around some GW restrictions) so when we are out of stock and place a re-order it will take longer than ordering straight from GW. We processed your order right away. GW only takes re-stocks from our distributors on Mondays. Whenever an order is placed that is not in stock, we get that order in with our distributor by Monday. Our distributor places their re-stock with GW and hopefully GW will fulfill that re-stock request shipped to my distributor by that weekend. Then our distributor must un-pack and re-package that order shipped to us. So at the fastest, we typically get a re-stock request 2 weeks later. Distributors are about the least important re-stock request to fulfill, so they might delay for a week or so. GW will also quizzically not fulfill an entire order even though items show as available. For instance, we have been waiting a surprisingly long amount of time for land speeder storms and scouts with sniper rifles. This delay was in no way caused by us, however, I am happy to refund, exchange or keep your order open.
Thanks for your business and patience!!!
Dan

He blames his distributor and GW. How do you knowing sell items you dont have and that you can't guarentee you will even get back in stock?

Thoughts?
   
Made in ca
Posts with Authority




I'm from the future. The future of space

Thoughts? Don't buy from people who don't have the product to sell you. Was the potential discount worth it?

Balance in pick up games? Two people, each with their own goals for the game, design half a board game on their own without knowing the layout of the board and hope it all works out. Good luck with that. The faster you can find like minded individuals who want the same things from the game as you, the better. 
   
Made in gb
[MOD]
Villanous Scum







After having a similar situation when I first used them (waited weeks for Deathwatch when they were new) I now always send them an email asking if they have such and such in stock before purchasing. So far this has gone off with out any problems.

The reason they have given for the delays is unfortunately true and is one of the ways that GW controls retailers. As Docs buy through a distributer rather than direct from GW they are not bound by GWs T&Cs and can sell at greater discount as well as ship outside their world zone.

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
Made in us
Kabalite Conscript



San Diego

frozenwastes wrote:Thoughts? Don't buy from people who don't have the product to sell you. Was the potential discount worth it?

I had purchased out of stock items from them before, but I still received them in less than 2 weeks after I placed the order.Ultimately this will be my policy going forward, only buy items that the merchant have in stock. As for if it was worth it? Well, most of the order was for a project army I was building for 8th, the remaining was for starting additional Shadow War teams. In total I saved about $100 bucks had I made the same purchase at my LGS.

ingtaer wrote:The reason they have given for the delays is unfortunately true and is one of the ways that GW controls retailers. As Docs buy through a distributor rather than direct from GW they are not bound by GWs T&Cs and can sell at greater discount as well as ship outside their world zone.

I didn't realize this, it makes sense. I understand then why it might be harder to keep the more obscure models in stock like Land Speeder Storms or Sniper Rifle Scouts. But every box I ordered that was out of stock was a fairly common Troop unit. But I guess it is what it is.

As for the order, I decided not to return anything and just wait it out. I still can have fun with my primary Shadow War team and the project army isn't going anywhere. Plus in the GW pricing policy has changed since I placed the order, even if I was to reorder it on another online discount store the potential savings would only be around $50-$55 bucks now unfortunately.
   
Made in us
Clousseau





East Bay, Ca, US

The problem here is that GW's systems will show an item in stock when it's really not.

I've had this problem in the past. I ordered a few things, and one of the many items packaged in the order become out of stock with the distributor. I didn't get any updates, I actually had to call and find out why the order was pending 2 weeks later.

It was easy enough to fix, they just split the order up and shipped the second thing out when they had it.

But in reality, I don't have sympathy for Dan in this case, because he's selling merchandise he has yet to order. These kinds of things happen when you sell something you don't own. He's basically acting purely as a middle man between you and the distributor and making a killing doing literally nothing but shuffling orders from preson A to person B.

 Galas wrote:
I remember when Marmatag was a nooby, all shiney and full of joy. How playing the unbalanced mess of Warhammer40k in a ultra-competitive meta has changed you

Bharring wrote:
He'll actually *change his mind* in the presence of sufficient/sufficiently defended information. Heretic.
 
   
Made in ca
Posts with Authority




I'm from the future. The future of space

Redacted post

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2017/06/29 05:54:57


Balance in pick up games? Two people, each with their own goals for the game, design half a board game on their own without knowing the layout of the board and hope it all works out. Good luck with that. The faster you can find like minded individuals who want the same things from the game as you, the better. 
   
Made in us
Stalwart Space Marine



Atlantic

Unless something changed again, Doc's is beholden to the 15% discount with the new policy. They sent a blurb about it in their newsletter when that hit.

Interestingly, their website store still has some things less and imagine the ebay store does too. But, they always had an online "cart" store before anyways, so that always confused me too!

Echo similar sentiments above. Can definitely take a while to get things so just keep that in mind. Never had any issues that did not get resolved.

Honestly though, wonder what the future holds for them since everyone is mostly on the same 15% selling price playing field now. Guess that's where the free shipping still serves its purpose.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/06/29 02:12:01


 
   
Made in us
Kabalite Conscript



San Diego

Out of curiosity, those of you who are on the DDG mailing list, when was the last time you received an Email from them? My last one was for the 8th Edition pre-sale on 5/24. I cant tell if if there hasn't been any further newsletters, that they discontinued the crazy sale emails which were bi-weekly (probably this due to the new pricing policy), or if they simply took me off the mailing list.
   
Made in au
Unstoppable Bloodthirster of Khorne





Melbourne .au

ingtaer wrote:
After having a similar situation when I first used them (waited weeks for Deathwatch when they were new) I now always send them an email asking if they have such and such in stock before purchasing. So far this has gone off with out any problems.

The reason they have given for the delays is unfortunately true and is one of the ways that GW controls retailers. As Docs buy through a distributer rather than direct from GW they are not bound by GWs T&Cs and can sell at greater discount as well as ship outside their world zone.


They've trimmed their discount rather significantly since the new GW T&C, though. It's now the same 15% as others offer, as they no longer feel that they need to compete on price nearly as much.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Reese wrote:
Unless something changed again, Doc's is beholden to the 15% discount with the new policy. They sent a blurb about it in their newsletter when that hit.
....
Honestly though, wonder what the future holds for them since everyone is mostly on the same 15% selling price playing field now. Guess that's where the free shipping still serves its purpose.


I don't believe that they are actually beholden to it. They're not getting their stock directly from GW, and they export to places that violate the official GW policy. Unless it's something that their distributor is enforcing on them (which I doubt), then it strikes me as something slightly more opportunistic. Given their stock issues, I don't know that the cheaper shipping really makes them overall cheaper enough to be anyone in the US' first choice compared to Miniature Market, etc - it's the overseas customers that they have in a slightly more profitable situation - as people outside the US/EU zones seem to be screwed much harder on price and have always made up a goodly chunk of their business.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/02 22:19:26


   
 
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