Maelstrom Games taking the biscuit?

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**laffe**

Yeah I'd hate for them to go out of business, they have always had great service previously, at least to me. When they screwed up (generally confusing the PSC 15 and 20mm kits) they always fixed it as soon as possible.

**captain tanuki**

Damn. I have some pending orders. I see that one, made on the 5th, was "packing", and now is back to "processing".

What should i do ? Do you think i can ask for a refund to paypal ? Anyone has ever tried that ? Does it work well ?

**frozenwastes**

Cancel the orders with Maelstrom and then start the process with Paypal's resolution centre. Waiting for them to refund you and working through Paypal's resolution centre are not mutually exclusive. If they tell you that they'll refund you once you remove your paypal claim, don't do it.

**Electroo**

PLC wrote:
The thing is that their business plan - including Eye of Storm and Bane Legions - was put in place prior to the GW embargo.

That decision by GW must have destroyed Maelstrom's cashflow. While others in UK were offering discounts, Maelstom had the bulk of internet sales outside UK (where there was a huge price advantage).

Those pre-embargo internet sales would have generated enormous cashflow that is now gone. Pretty sure that decision by GW was the defining point of everything that has occurred since.

Given the "dissagreement" with Battlefront I suspect it gose much deeper than this...

**Grimtuff**

Electroo wrote:
PLC wrote:
The thing is that their business plan - including Eye of Storm and Bane Legions - was put in place prior to the GW embargo.

That decision by GW must have destroyed Maelstrom's cashflow. While others in UK were offering discounts, Maelstom had the bulk of internet sales outside UK (where there was a huge price advantage).

Those pre-embargo internet sales would have generated enormous cashflow that is now gone. Pretty sure that decision by GW was the defining point of everything that has occurred since.

Given the "dissagreement" with Battlefront I suspect it gose much deeper than this...

Did I miss something here? I thought Maelstrom had a falling out with BF over BF not being happy with the deep discounts due to the sheer weight of vouchers Maelstrom issued. Then they stopped stocking FOW stuff, patched things up by agreeing not to include them in the money off coupons then we're back to the present.

Or have they had a tiff with them again?

**Schneekette**

I do have also an order open (placed on 1st September), and would like to cancel this order, but I can't find the possibility to cancel the order? How do I cancel the best way?

**Kroothawk**

scipio.au wrote:
Kroothawk wrote:
Well if one of the biggest webstores reknown for selling barely above costs made 600k debt, maybe this strategy doesn't work.
Guess it is time for customers to deal with fairer prices that don't kill the seller.

Their usual prices were simply 10% off. They had free shipping which was offset by the 20% VAT they didn't refund (ie used to cover the free shipping costs). The big sales were only a few times per year until earlier this year, when the sales became far more frequent leading into the "warehouse move". They would have had massive turnover until the GW embargo (Note - this isn't blaming GW in a roundabout way). Lots of other places offer a 10% off RRP, with either free or subsidised shipping, so that's not it. Hell, a lot of local retailers offer (at least) 10% off RRP as well and have so for decades (as opposed to the crazy 30%+ places we hear about in the US).

You know quite well that at least every second time customer waited for the 20-30% discount plus free shipping which occurred regularly. Noone made the mistake twice to order at "regular 10% discount". FLGSs couldn't survive with 20-30% discounts, seems the biggest webstores won't either.

BTW is that you in your avatar calling Maelstrom?

**Electroo**

Grimtuff wrote:
Electroo wrote:

Given the "dissagreement" with Battlefront I suspect it gose much deeper than this...

Did I miss something here? I thought Maelstrom had a falling out with BF over BF not being happy with the deep discounts due to the sheer weight of vouchers Maelstrom issued. Then they stopped stocking FOW stuff, patched things up by agreeing not to include them in the money off coupons then we're back to the present.

Or have they had a tiff with them again?

No, just the very public way it happened and the attitude of both sides points to me, as someone who works in credit, at something much deeper wrong in the way the business was run. It may be nothing, but I have come across this kind of attitude before, and the kind of reaction before and normally is indicative of the whole way the company is run (breaching t&c's, ignoring requests, complaining publicly etc.). That along with the double talk and pointing fingers at suppliers (I can't help it, GW won't supply me what I want etc.), points to someone in deep denial about the true state of the company. It's something you see time and again, company owners insisting that the reason they have problems is because suppliers have done XY and Z to them, where as from the suppliers side we have been extremely patient whilst they have told us time and again "If you just supply us this we will be able to pay everything off".

As I have said this may not be the case, but I am extreamly uneasy about this and feel that there problems are allot deeper than GW's changes to overseas suppliers. It seems for a long time they were trading off "GW are Evil!!!!" and have played up to this when orders have been delayed.

**Azazelx**

Kroothawk wrote:

You know quite well that at least every second time customer waited for the 20-30% discount plus free shipping which occurred regularly. Noone made the mistake twice to order at "regular 10% discount". FLGSs couldn't survive with 20-30% discounts, seems the biggest webstores won't either.

BTW is that you in your avatar calling Maelstrom?

Yes! How did you guess?

More seriously - I do see your point. What I always did after I realised that the sales would roll around 4-6 times per year was that I'd still order fairly regularly those things that I wanted now/soon. For less important things I'd wait till the next sale rolled around. You have to bear in mind that I (and I'm sure many others) were ordering from Australia and NZ, where UKRRP alone offered a substantial discount compared to the local prices. Sure, it was cool when the larger sales rolled around, but when the "Normal" 10% off and free shipping was close enough to half the local price, why would you want to wait an unknown number of weeks or months for the next sale to roll around?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Schneekette wrote:

I do have also an order open (placed on 1st September), and would like to cancel this order, but I can't find the possibility to cancel the order? How do I cancel the best way?

Use the electric telephone machine.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Grimtuff wrote:

Did I miss something here? I thought Maelstrom had a falling out with BF over BF not being happy with the deep discounts due to the sheer weight of vouchers Maelstrom issued. Then they stopped stocking FOW stuff, patched things up by agreeing not to include them in the money off coupons then we're back to the present.

Or have they had a tiff with them again?

Nothing confirmed, but the latest sale has 25% off Flames of War stuff. Which as you say goes slightly against their patched-up agreement with BF (15% against it in fact!). Hence, speculation about their current relationship status.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

captain tanuki wrote:
Damn. I have some pending orders. I see that one, made on the 5th, was "packing", and now is back to "processing".

What should i do ? Do you think i can ask for a refund to paypal ? Anyone has ever tried that ? Does it work well ?

Some of my ordered stuff did that. I rang PayPal, who told me to ring Maelstrom and if they gave me any response but an immediate refund, to initiate a dispute immediately.

The nice lady at PayPal also told me not to accept any kind of "we'll send it out now" or "it's coming in next week" since there will be no proof that they actually did send the stuff out. When I rang them, some of my stuff had (suddenly) come into stock, but I was able to cancel and they gave me a refund without a lot of hassle. I imagine it's not a lot of fun for the guys who are still working there right now, but if they want this or next week's paycheque while everything plays out they have to go along with the official line, regardless of whatever exactly is happening there.

**Mick A**

Just rang Maelstrom about an order of 'in stock' figures I've been waiting for and was told they were actually out of stock when I placed the order... Offered a full refund or store credit (tough decision) so took the refund via paypal which, according to paypal, has gone through.

Mick

**Jayce_The_Ace**

captain tanuki wrote:
Damn. I have some pending orders. I see that one, made on the 5th, was "packing", and now is back to "processing".

What should i do ? Do you think i can ask for a refund to paypal ? Anyone has ever tried that ? Does it work well ?

Same thing has happened to me, minus the paypal bit.

I hope |I still get my stuff - one of the orders was small & used cashback, so if I lose that *shrug*. The other one was placed on credit card, and is also pretty small (less than £20.00), so I dont know if Ithat is to small to claim back on a credit card.

Ho hum, wait and see I guess.

**Yojiro**

I am still waiting for my Dark Vengeance order, and since more than a month is way too much to wait for an item, just asked for a refund.

**captain tanuki**

I called them, cancelled the items which were not in stock, got a refund for those, the rest should be sent soon.

Great service. I feel much less worried.

**mercer**

After reading that e-mail from Maelstrom, I too have unfortunately had to cancel my order. I haven't been waiting as long as others, but I've been waiting almost a month now and been told twice that my items will be into stock.

On a good note they refunded me instantly. I have purchased my items with Wayland, who hopefully can deliver.

**crusoe76**

Off the back of the news story currently sitting on the Maelstrom homepage, I followed up an email request to cancel an existing pre-order (new Infinity Campaign book) with a phonecall today. Guy on the phone was very obliging. Although I wasn't keen to take store credit the Paypal refund was actioned this afternoon - just pending a temporary hold, I'm hoping this is just Paypal admin rather than anything more to do with actual availability of Maelstrom funds!

It's a shame it has come to this. I've always had very good experiences with Maelstrom, but then I've not been purchasing GW stock so much as Warmachine stuff and miscellaneous other minis and accessories.
This dakka discussion thread alerted me to the fact that things were not too rosy when I just happened across it yesterday and combined with the almost global 'out of stock' notes across the site it just left me feeling very uneasy.

We'll just have to see what comes out the other side...

**Pacific**

Really big shame if the above fears are true, and they are going the way of the dodo. The UK FLGS has just started to make a comeback over the past 4-5 years or so, and even with the apparent 20% growth of the wargaming industry last year (if the figures are true) you have to imagine that there are some other issues involved here.

But it's a sad situation in any case, for all involved.

**The CF**

I've got about £90 sitting at them, and I'm not sure what I should do. What is the worst-case scenario here?

**12thRonin**

You're out £90 and you won't see anything for it?

**Dysartes**

Just to clarify, The CF, is that £90 of Moneyback, or an outstanding order worth £90?

**Winact**

To my surprise I've just had a dispatch notification for an item from Mealstrom that I'd pretty much given up on, I ordered and paid for it about 2 months ago as part of a larger order that it was split off from.

I haven't chased them for it or anything and I'm not saying a 2 month turnaround is in anyway good but at least my item is on the way- maybe a glimmer of hope after all?

**Mick A**

crusoe76 wrote:
Off the back of the news story currently sitting on the Maelstrom homepage, I followed up an email request to cancel an existing pre-order (new Infinity Campaign book) with a phonecall today. Guy on the phone was very obliging. Although I wasn't keen to take store credit the Paypal refund was actioned this afternoon - just pending a temporary hold, I'm hoping this is just Paypal admin rather than anything more to do with actual availability of Maelstrom funds!

It's a shame it has come to this. I've always had very good experiences with Maelstrom, but then I've not been purchasing GW stock so much as Warmachine stuff and miscellaneous other minis and accessories.
This dakka discussion thread alerted me to the fact that things were not too rosy when I just happened across it yesterday and combined with the almost global 'out of stock' notes across the site it just left me feeling very uneasy.

We'll just have to see what comes out the other side...

My paypal refund is on tempory hold as well and after reading up on it this usually means there are not enough funds in the refunders account to cover it....

Mick

**torgoch**

I've just had a dispatch notification, but given one item is an 'on-demand' part (a Scibor piece) and I only placed the order on Monday, I'll believe it when it turns up.

That said, every previous transaction with them has been excellent.

**MarkyMark**

Just had a email from Malestrom

Dear Gamers,

This email is to inform you that the Event Operations of Maelstrom Games was bought by the Eye of the Storm Ltd (Mansfield).

Your Event ticket purchase has been transferred to the Eye of the Storm and all further business to do with this event will be conducted by the Eye of the Storm.

If you have any questions relating to Event Operations please don't hesitate to email me.

Regards

In regards to the temp hold placed on refunds I think it is a paypal thing, they like to keep hold of your money as much as malestrom seem to

**CainTheHunter**

I placed an order this Tuesday for three items which IMO are supposed to actually be "in stock", since they were marked as such for at least several months as I remember. The order is still being processed, but I will let You know about any updates.

**redeyed**

so I like the poster above me placed an order on tuesday for items "in stock"

saw the rumours and chased it up. After finally getting through was told it was all ok and would be packed up/sent very shortly ,within a day. So I left things/didnt cancel.

2 days later, its still processing, no change and the phoneline is either engaged or left to ring. I am not feeling very comfortable right now -_-

**frozenwastes**

Put in a paypal dispute. Say you want a full refund and that the seller lied about shipping (you can quote the email). Also email maelstrom that you wish to cancel your order.

**redeyed**

sadly when I ordered they were not taking paypal, I thought it was just a bug and did not realise what was going on at the time.

:/ not fun >.<

**Bolognesus**

Maelstrom Games - 25-50% BATTLEFRONT & OTHER STOCK CLEARANCE SALE!!
Hi there,

Our stock clearance sale here at Maelstrom Games (www.maelstromgames.co.uk) has proved pretty awesome, but we've still a fair bit of stock left on certain ranges so we have decided to increase some discounts to 50% (75% off for Templar's Forge products) and extend the sale until Monday night so you can take advantage of it! How amazing is that!

YOUR STOCK CLEARANCE SALE VOUCHER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ranges we're now clearing at 50% off UK RRP are Gamezone Miniatures, Micro Art Studio, Coat d'Arms paints, Fantasy Flight Games, Dark Age, Forged in Battle, Kabuki Models, Kingdom Death, Magic: the Gathering and Scibor Miniatures. As mentioned previously, Templar's Forge products are now being sold at 75% off as they are now deleted.

We're still selling our remaining stock of Flames of War products at 25% off UK RRP (please note, however - we have just performed a stock check and so even if you have already bought some Flames of War, check back to see if there's more), and clearing Perry Miniatures, Victrix, Plastic Soldier Company, Artizan Designs, Gripping Beast and Great War Miniatures at 30% off UK RRP until Monday, 15th of October 2012 at midnight (GMT). Everything else is at 40% off UK RRP, which is still a fantastic deal - we have many Malifaux, Privateer Press and Games Workshop products left in stock!

These kind of sales do not occur very often and we would hope that you take advantage - and remember, our stock will be sold on a first come, first served basis so you will have to decide what you want very quickly as we suspect it will sell very quickly!

The voucher will work on all the items in our webstore that are IN STOCK ONLY, but it will NOT work on any out of stock items or pre-orders, nor anything within our eBay store.

Your voucher code is: WAREHOUSE-MOVES

uuh, that is sounding rather... desperate in light of this topic...

**dragqueeninspace**

Looks like collect in store is no longer an option for deliveries.

**Compel**

An article from the BBC might be useful here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19910561

Of particular note.

The BBC wrote:
Online shopping: Your rights
Goods must be delivered within 30 days, unless agreed otherwise