Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hi, can anybody tell me if this company is still operating ? It seems to be impossible to get hold of anybody ?

Web site is up and running and taking orders but apart from that a big fat zero.

facebook and twitter don't look promising with lots of unhappy peeps.


Thanks.

Last thing I heard of them was back in August when the owner (John) said that due to family issues and home drama that there was a massive backlog in processing orders.

I got a message from their mailing list yesterday (news@eoeorbis.com) so something is still going.

IIRC they had 'family issues' a little while back and had a backlog of orders to clear.

Hmmm,ok.

I'm only £10 out of pocket if it goes belly up, fingers crossed `I'm in that long back log.

Black Tree Designs are legendary for their...lack of quality customer care.

As far back as I can remember they've been tremendously inconsistent. Zero response to emails, not answering the phone, mistakes in orders, big sales that they then struggle to actually produce/ship, orders taking some months to process, while occasionally one is actually shipped on time, etc.

I've ordered from them precisely once. Took maybe eight weeks to get a handful of metal figures, and then some of them were wrong. Zero respond to emails requesting a fix, etc. This is Black Tree Designs. I cannot recommend them. Suffice to say you're not alone.

 Elbows wrote:
Black Tree Designs are legendary for their...lack of quality customer care.

As far back as I can remember they've been tremendously inconsistent. Zero response to emails, not answering the phone, mistakes in orders, big sales that they then struggle to actually produce/ship, orders taking some months to process, while occasionally one is actually shipped on time, etc.

I've ordered from them precisely once. Took maybe eight weeks to get a handful of metal figures, and then some of them were wrong. Zero respond to emails requesting a fix, etc. This is Black Tree Designs. I cannot recommend them. Suffice to say you're not alone.

Sorry to hear that mate. It makes you wonder how they are able to keep trading/taking orders and taking peoples money with such a poor reputation ?

Oh well it could of been worse, I could of spent millions on crypto currency

 darkness screamer wrote:
It makes you wonder how they are able to keep trading/taking orders and taking peoples money with such a poor reputation ?

Their sales mainly - people love a bargain!

beast_gts wrote:
I got a message from their mailing list yesterday (news@eoeorbis.com) so something is still going.

IIRC they had 'family issues' a little while back and had a backlog of orders to clear.

Yep, still getting emails offering big reductions. Pity its a big reduction in service and honouring a contract to provide goods

I made an order back an order back in May, it took at least 2 and a half months to get here, but it got here eventually, even though they replied to none of my emails.

The other thing I don't know if anyone mentioned, was they actually have a British store and an American one, and the weekly email specials seem to come from the American side of the business. I don't know if the issues are with both parts of the business, or just the UK side.

I've had good luck with Black Tree Designs (US web store). Ordered a bunch of Zulu War and African animals stuff during various sales. Did have an order with wrong items once, but they did fix it. That was about 3-4 years ago though.

There's a thread on the Lead Adventure forum discussing them. - Where a business model of constant sales, but few fulfilled (or even correctly fulfilled) orders is laid out. The company apparently moved to the US to escape its problems, though still lists its main office in the UK for publicity. Along with other misdealings.

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=112741.0

The one order I'd placed with them I cancelled immediately after reading that thread and got a refund. You can pick their products up on second hand stores frequently - like Colonel Bills Wargames Emporium in the UK. Though its a pity that some ranges are tied to their store, as if it weren't for their reputation I'd wouldn't mind a few bits.

Going down the paypal complaint route now,wish me luck

I ordered from them about a year ago and it took ages to get my stuff. Their FB page has nothing but complaints.

Result, paypal got my money back.

Yikes. I had thought about ordering from them just a few months ago. Sad to see this is occurring more and more frequently among the lesser known minis stores.

 NH Gunsmith wrote:
Yikes. I had thought about ordering from them just a few months ago. Sad to see this is occurring more and more frequently among the lesser known minis stores.

I think what you're seeing is a number of smaller miniature companies who were able to cope with sales/production back when you actually ordered stuff using a pen and a sheet of paper, or a form you received in the mail. A lot of the small time manufacturers are hobby businesses or side businesses. The owners are often the sculptors who do this stuff on their weekends and evenings. Some stores are just above that level (my feeling is that's probably where Black Tree lies...).

The advent of the internet probably led to more sales than many of these companies were able to cope with - from a logistics and manpower standpoint. These companies also seem to not invest in inventory but are producing stuff when it's ordered...or if they have inventory they don't bother with a stock system on their website etc.

I think it's just a general 'failure to adopt" to modern sales practices. I laugh when I see some older miniatures companies who, until recently, had stock numbers on their websites with no pictures, and request you to email them your order so they can tally it up, etc. There are some companies just woefully behind where they need to be operating.