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for me the major issue is the lack of communication on their part

also the fact now you cant even cancel or get in touch with them. That part is just disgusting.

They cancelled my order after I opened a paypal dispute, but now they're taking their time to actually refund me!

Haven't been refunded yet, and all the answers my e-mails got were, at best, platitudes.

Appalling costumer service so far.

With regard to refunds, I managed to get £30 back into my bank account this afternoon via a Paypal transfer. Having gotten through to Maelstrom staff on the phone to the cancel a pre-order this time last week, I was watching the refund process unfold on Paypal in the last week or so. I queried with Paypal on the weekend to ask what the Paypal Temporary Hold was about and what they were reviewing. I was advised that funds were in transit between my bank and Paypal and that until that process resolved itself, Paypal couldn't refund me.

As I understand it, Paypal extended itself to pay for my original pre-order in the full expectation that funds from my bank would be following up shortly to meet costs they had paid in the meantime. Having requested a refund in the midst of that process, it seems like they had to wait for the bank funds to reach them, get processed and then become eligible for refund. Firstly, I had a credit to my Paypal balance. And now, I've transferred it back to my bank.

Glad to say that this worked out for me, but then it seems I was lucky to get through on the phone without too much hassle last week. Wanted to give some feedback in case anyone else was awaiting a Paypal Temporary Hold to end.

Good luck to others awaiting orders etc.,

Cheers.

Look what the cat just dragged in...

"Hi there,

Once more here at Maelstrom Games (www.maelstromgames.co.uk) we have decided to clear as much of our hard-earned stock as we possibly can over the next few days and to that end, all our remaining stock will now be sold at 50% off UK RRP except for Battlefront Miniatures, which will be sold at 30% off UK RRP and Templar's Forge at 75% off. We still hold good stocks of Battlefront (we have just had our last order delivered so there may well be some stock you didn't realise we had - so it's worth checking!), Gamezone Miniatures, Dark Age, Micro Art Studio, Cool Mini or Not and Scibor Miniatures, and there's a few bits of Games Workshop, Privateer Press and Malifaux left too. These sales don't come along very often - so take advantage of it, as this is our FINAL stock sale and it WILL end on Monday the 22nd of October! Grab a bargain now!"

Are you serious? Another sale - and even if it's only for items they have in stock (yeah, right...), they should try to clear their old orders, before accepting new ones.

Just my two cents...

After all the public mud slinging with Battlefront, it looks like they aren't take any chances and pissing off Battlefront again.

Makes you wonder about their position in the last 18months, it doesn't suddenly happen, this is gradual decline. Unless of course they had no idea what their Cash situation was....

JamieisOOP wrote:
They cancelled my order after I opened a paypal dispute, but now they're taking their time to actually refund me!

Have you escalated it to a claim yet? It's Paypal that decides on a refund, and it shouldn't take too long after it's escalated(up to 14 days, but in my case it was just 2) to get your money back...

Well, I've succumbed.

They don't seem to mention it in the emails, but all the Mierce/Banelegion is half price too.

Krull, their awesome not Bloodthirster for half off? Couldn't resist.

 IK-Painter wrote:
Look what the cat just dragged in...

"Hi there,

Once more here at Maelstrom Games (www.maelstromgames.co.uk) we have decided to clear as much of our hard-earned stock as we possibly can over the next few days and to that end, all our remaining stock will now be sold at 50% off UK RRP except for Battlefront Miniatures, which will be sold at 30% off UK RRP and Templar's Forge at 75% off. We still hold good stocks of Battlefront (we have just had our last order delivered so there may well be some stock you didn't realise we had - so it's worth checking!), Gamezone Miniatures, Dark Age, Micro Art Studio, Cool Mini or Not and Scibor Miniatures, and there's a few bits of Games Workshop, Privateer Press and Malifaux left too. These sales don't come along very often - so take advantage of it, as this is our FINAL stock sale and it WILL end on Monday the 22nd of October! Grab a bargain now!"

Are you serious? Another sale - and even if it's only for items they have in stock (yeah, right...), they should try to clear their old orders, before accepting new ones.

Just my two cents...

The point of these sales is they can't afford to buy in the items people have previously ordered, thus, by clearing stock they currently have in hand, they'll raise the money to pay for them...

 IK-Painter wrote:
"we have just had our last order delivered "

I think this shows this is a final clearance sale...

12thRonin wrote:

 IK-Painter wrote:
"we have just had our last order delivered "

I think this shows this is a final clearance sale...

Or it is the last order they placed before they move to the new warehouse?

 SilverMK2 wrote:

12thRonin wrote:

 IK-Painter wrote:
"we have just had our last order delivered "

I think this shows this is a final clearance sale...

Or it is the last order they placed before they move to the new warehouse?

Er......NO. When you move Warehouse you don't run your Cash Flow down to Zero, that will net you a lovely empty Warehouse and no stock..... Bad Business move. A Business move should be well planned and swiftly executed to minimise disruption to cash flow and maintain business continuity, not a drawn out protracted lingering death knell whilst telling the World "It's okay were moving....." no one believes them anymore (if they ever did to start with). They have hit the Iceberg, the Life rafts have gone and the ship is beyond saving and the Icy water is upto their waists and they are saying "Water what Water?".

The new warehouse is a smoke screen, or at best a new Business will appear out of the ashes, flap around for bit in a feckless manner then the HMRC and Creditors will move in to reclaim assets from the Maelstrom, either from securities and other business from the Owner. The business once in Administration or Closing up, will restart it's financial year and have 12 months to sort everything out with the HMRC or else be placed in Receivership. It is a messy affair and rarely do businesses that fall out of the these do well, even when toxic assets are disposed of. Becoming a Director with a bad track record is no easy thing.

 mwnciboo wrote:
Er......NO.

I'm not saying it was a good idea, simply that it could be a case of running down the stock so it does not need to be transported from the old warehouse to the new one. Hell, they may already have stock waiting to be ordered for shipment direct to their new place for all we know*.




*Yeah, I don't thin that MG is actually doing this, just pointing out the possibility.

Fair enough.

Thing is, it's all just speculation on our part - but the whole thing seems kind of fishy to me - a fact that could be easily remedied by MG, if they would just be forthcoming with some information.

Ignoring your phone and emails just doesn't seem like that smart a move, when the only thing you have left is the trust of your customers.

I do believe, that a lot of people wouldn't try to scramble to get their orders cancelled and refunded if they got some better information than "SALESALESALE" every two days - this wave of cancellations can not be good if they try to generate some cashflow.

 IK-Painter wrote:
Thing is, it's all just speculation on our part - but the whole thing seems kind of fishy to me - a fact that could be easily remedied by MG, if they would just be forthcoming with some information.

Ignoring your phone and emails just doesn't seem like that smart a move, when the only thing you have left is the trust of your customers.

I do believe, that a lot of people wouldn't try to scramble to get their orders cancelled and refunded if they got some better information than "SALESALESALE" every two days - this wave of cancellations can not be good if they try to generate some cashflow.

A salutory lesson for other retailers. Communication is the key.

 IK-Painter wrote:
Thing is, it's all just speculation on our part - but the whole thing seems kind of fishy to me - a fact that could be easily remedied by MG, if they would just be forthcoming with some information.

Ignoring your phone and emails just doesn't seem like that smart a move, when the only thing you have left is the trust of your customers.

I do believe, that a lot of people wouldn't try to scramble to get their orders cancelled and refunded if they got some better information than "SALESALESALE" every two days - this wave of cancellations can not be good if they try to generate some cashflow.

I couldn't agree with this more! the lack of communication is what is really making things seem so much worse and making life difficult!

It seems to be the blocking all communication is a stalling tactic so some people wont cancel. Those who have not paid via paypal have to wait before they can lodge claims. They are also probably hoping people will just hold off!

redeyed wrote:

 IK-Painter wrote:
Thing is, it's all just speculation on our part - but the whole thing seems kind of fishy to me - a fact that could be easily remedied by MG, if they would just be forthcoming with some information.

Ignoring your phone and emails just doesn't seem like that smart a move, when the only thing you have left is the trust of your customers.

I do believe, that a lot of people wouldn't try to scramble to get their orders cancelled and refunded if they got some better information than "SALESALESALE" every two days - this wave of cancellations can not be good if they try to generate some cashflow.

I couldn't agree with this more! the lack of communication is what is really making things seem so much worse and making life difficult!

It seems to be the blocking all communication is a stalling tactic so some people wont cancel. Those who have not paid via paypal have to wait before they can lodge claims. They are also probably hoping people will just hold off!

True, they could put an end to all this speculation, and there is a lot of it, with a little bit of communication.
Its a bit of a kick in the teeth for these people that cant get in contact with them, to keep receiving emails about sales !

ted1138 wrote:

JamieisOOP wrote:
They cancelled my order after I opened a paypal dispute, but now they're taking their time to actually refund me!

Have you escalated it to a claim yet? It's Paypal that decides on a refund, and it shouldn't take too long after it's escalated(up to 14 days, but in my case it was just 2) to get your money back...

Hey ya, it is a claim I escalated immediately as I had spent 3 days phoning every few hours as well as sending emails (some up to 10 days old,) with no replies. It say's it is giving them 12 (I think it was 12) days to reply to my claim, call me cynical but I think they are deliberately dragging this out.

Wish I had not pre-ordered £70 worth of X-wing in August

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/distance-selling-downloads/for-customers/DSforcustomers_rightsbuying1.pdf

Just because they're ignoring you doesn't mean you're screwed. Send a letter (requiring signed for delivery and get proof of postage) saying you want to cancel the order.

Guys we are not completely sure here that they are going into receivership, or anything else, let's not jump to conclusions. Lots of companies run deep into the red, owe money to creditors and everything else. I would say that companies run in this manner are probably more frequent than those that have everything swimming in the black.

As we've heard from multiple FLGS owners on this very website, it can be dangerous to have too much stock sitting on the shelves for any length of time. If they are conducting a warehouse move (again - we've heard from several people who have visited the store that they are doing this) it makes much more sense to get rid of some of that ballast they are carrying. 30%-50% reduction means that they are basically selling for the net price that they got the items in for, so in that sense if they have had a lot of old stock sat gathering dust for several years it pays to try and get rid of it rather than pay for it all to be moved, inventoried and everything else at the new location. This is especially true of older lines, some of which it looks like they have discontinued which would seem to support this.

Regarding the lack of correspondence, again look at what some posters above have commented on. Lots of large cages packed with parcels waiting to go out in the post each day. Bear in mind that this (despite it's size in the wargaming industry) isn't a big business, but it's a handful of guys running it. No doubt with the warehouse move, the influx of orders because of the sale and everything else, some le-way has to be given.

I'm not excusing all of Maelstrom's foibles - not having some kind of note to purchasers that there may be a delay is inexcusable, as is the massive delay with no refund for items that are out of stock that some of the posters on Dakka have noted. But, I think it makes more sense to look at the larger picture (as reported by people who have been into the shop - not just speculation), and think perhaps that there is the possibility that the sky is not falling.

Yeah, everything seems fine. Business as usual. Just disregard most of the 13 pages in this thread.

On a "business as usual" note, I got this overnight:

Hi there,

Once more here at Maelstrom Games (www.maelstromgames.co.uk) we have decided to clear as much of our hard-earned stock as we possibly can over the next few days and to that end, all our remaining stock will now be sold at 50% off UK RRP except for Battlefront Miniatures, which will be sold at 30% off UK RRP and Templar's Forge at 75% off. We still hold good stocks of Battlefront (we have just had our last order delivered so there may well be some stock you didn't realise we had - so it's worth checking!), Gamezone Miniatures, Dark Age, Micro Art Studio, Cool Mini or Not and Scibor Miniatures, and there's a few bits of Games Workshop, Privateer Press and Malifaux left too. These sales don't come along very often - so take advantage of it, as this is our FINAL stock sale and it WILL end on Monday the 22nd of October! Grab a bargain now!


YOUR STOCK CLEARANCE SALE VOUCHER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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: FINAL-STOCK-SALE

To use this voucher simply register on the webstore, www.maelstromgames.co.uk (if you haven't already), copy and paste the code into the Voucher field in your basket when you have selected the items you want, press 'REDEEM', and the webstore will do the rest. You are not limited to one purchase and, indeed, we would ask you to recommend us to your friends with this voucher!

Remember though that this voucher is intended for the webstore only - it does not apply to any of our auctions or Fixed Price items on eBay.

Happy Ordering!

Yep, everything here seems legit.

I resent the fact that people call this speculation.

I have researched this alot, including their Financial position in the last 12 months. You don't make a prediction like they will go under, based on gut feeling...

https://www.duedil.com/company/04724863/maelstrom-games-limited/financials

You should all do your research, I work in the Financial sector and specifically the Financial Fraud Sector since leaving the Military. The statements I have made are based on facts, from Returns and HMRC returns all open source information. I am lucky in that I have access to other subscription based services but this is open to anyone who subscribes to these services for investments (such as Shares, stocks and Bonds).

This is not speculation, it is mathematics, business acumen and an understanding of business practices. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Pseudo-theories about how you move a warehouse (which is a none issue).

Not commenting on the financial stability of the company I will say that the last orders I made over the last few weeks have been showing up like clockwork.

As long as the items are in stock (which they have to be now when you make an order), it does seem like the orders get shipped in a timely fashion....

 mwnciboo wrote:
I resent the fact that people call this speculation.

I have researched this alot, including their Financial position in the last 12 months. You don't make a prediction like they will go under, based on gut feeling...

https://www.duedil.com/company/04724863/maelstrom-games-limited/financials

You should all do your research, I work in the Financial sector and specifically the Financial Fraud Sector since leaving the Military. The statements I have made are based on facts, from Returns and HMRC returns all open source information. I am lucky in that I have access to other subscription based services but this is open to anyone who subscribes to these services for investments (such as Shares, stocks and Bonds).

This is not speculation, it is mathematics, business acumen and an understanding of business practices. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Pseudo-theories about how you move a warehouse (which is a none issue).

Resent what you like, its speculation until we know otherwise and know it alls like yourself repeatedly making your doom and gloom bs hypotheses public are doing them no favours

blingman wrote:

 mwnciboo wrote:
I resent the fact that people call this speculation.

I have researched this alot, including their Financial position in the last 12 months. You don't make a prediction like they will go under, based on gut feeling...

https://www.duedil.com/company/04724863/maelstrom-games-limited/financials

You should all do your research, I work in the Financial sector and specifically the Financial Fraud Sector since leaving the Military. The statements I have made are based on facts, from Returns and HMRC returns all open source information. I am lucky in that I have access to other subscription based services but this is open to anyone who subscribes to these services for investments (such as Shares, stocks and Bonds).

This is not speculation, it is mathematics, business acumen and an understanding of business practices. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Pseudo-theories about how you move a warehouse (which is a none issue).

Resent what you like, its speculation until we know otherwise and know it alls like yourself repeatedly making your doom and gloom bs hypotheses public are doing them no favours

Over -18000% change on Networth in a Year? A BS Hypothesis? Well we shall see who is proved right shall we.....

Whether or not it's speculation I'm sure will all come out in the wash...

What is perhaps interesting is that if it is deemed that the directors have been trading either wrongfully or insolvently then any transactions made in the last couple of years in order to hide any toxicity can be reversed.

The simple test is this, if the company were liquidated right now, could it meet its liabilities in full, including the cost of collection and liquidation? The financials suggest not and they were submitted in May and it's not got much rosier since.

Unless the directors have truly had pants on their heads and pencils up their nose for the last 18 months they either knew or should have realised that it was going tits up. Trading out of the position is one thing, letting it slide until the 11th hour and then frantically treading on women and children to get in the lifeboat, entirely another.

Debts past due, frantic asset shifting and outright admissions that they don't have the money to fulfill customer orders. Well, alarm bells should be ringing really and it's looking like too little, too late.

On the subject of new warehouses though, any one seen it? Been given an address? When they took on The Mill they were very proud of it, strange that hasn't happened this time. You know, unless it doesn't exist and it has been, for want of a better word, one massive confidence scam. That is speculation though.

The question is, where's the money actually gone?

Vowels for Darklands figures perhaps.

Intruiging.

Edgar.

 mwnciboo wrote:
I resent the fact that people call this speculation.

I have researched this alot, including their Financial position in the last 12 months. You don't make a prediction like they will go under, based on gut feeling...

https://www.duedil.com/company/04724863/maelstrom-games-limited/financials

You should all do your research, I work in the Financial sector and specifically the Financial Fraud Sector since leaving the Military. The statements I have made are based on facts, from Returns and HMRC returns all open source information. I am lucky in that I have access to other subscription based services but this is open to anyone who subscribes to these services for investments (such as Shares, stocks and Bonds).

This is not speculation, it is mathematics, business acumen and an understanding of business practices. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Pseudo-theories about how you move a warehouse (which is a none issue).

OK mate fair enough, and thanks for the constructive answer!

Guess much of my opinion is one based on belief and hope, not the firmest of foundations in anything to do with finance I guess..

 The Plastic Surgeon wrote:

 Yonan wrote:

 IK-Painter wrote:
What bums me out the most is that they obviously and self-admittedly are having problems with their cash flow, but still promote sale after sale, for which they obviously have no stock.

They're not accepting orders for things not in stock.

Well they obviously are as they've split my orders of items that were listed as IN STOCK.

Not happy with lack of communications (ignored), not happy that I'm being lied to (regarding stock)

Separate issues to what I was replying to. I won't deny that it sounds like 1. their communication is poor lately - high order volume and probably understaffed due to financial difficulties imo. Its important to distinguish this from incompetene or malice/dodginess. 2. Their stock tracking has some problems, this does not result in a loss to the buyer, just a minor annoyance that they dont receive something straight away - which can be cancelled.

As far as I can tell, no one is out of pocket due to Maelstrom?