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So as a present to myself I decided to commission the guys at Dreamspirit Wargaming to do a Dark Elf tower with some mangled dark elves to be a centerpiece for my display board.

Here's a link to it finished on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H07JKE8eia4


Here's what arrived:








I want to clarify that I in no way think this is the boys at dream spirit's fault. There's even a piece of foam missing. I'm not sure what I can do at this point except maybe damage the tower further and hope it looks ok.

The reason for bringing this to the community is I'm wondering if I can make a claims case against the post office? The package arrive super torn up and crushed with all packing removed except for a little plastic with some numbers marked. The tower also looks as if it were cut initially then broken.

This was a fairly expensive commission and I'm pretty pissed off that all the work they put in, the money I invested, came to me in such a deplorable state.

Thoughts?

you tottally can. You have a case here to where they could possibly have t refund your entire purchase.
You could also go postal on them(Note: Do not go postal)

That... looks like the kind of crap that Customs has gotten into trouble with in the past - they suspected something was up - smashed the item looking for something that wasn't there, then sent it on, pretending that they never did nuthin', so sir, no how.

Good luck on this.

The Auld Grump

https://www.usps.com/ship/file-domestic-claims.htm

Probably some min-wage postal worker with a chip on his shoulder about nerds who got better jobs than him after they left school.

Looks like someone lost a Ring of Power.

Man, I've had run ins with the USPS (damaged electronics involved with an ebay sale), don't bother calling customer service, just go to the local place and talk to a supervisor.

I mean it, the over-the-phone help is BEYOND abysmal.

We really need to see the box and packaging to be able to evaluate how effective the packing was. If the box in the background of the 4th photo was involved, then the packing by the shipper was grossly underpacked for a pink foam piece.

Tim

Did you not get insurance? Rhetorical question I know but on an expensive piece built with fragile foam that is exactly what insurance is for.

I'm sure there's something that can be done....
but next time might I suggest not ordering any terrain made from foam. I've never seen any piece of terrain made of foam last on the gaming table they just tend to have pieces break off. Terrain should be made to be durable.

Just FYI, it's a painful process. I sent an item via eBay to a buyer--with insurance. Item arrived with a "this item was damaged" slip within a plastic pouch and the buyer contacted me. After 3 weeks, I gave up on total reimbursement and had to settle for retail price of the item as they would not add any painting/commission price. USPS is a joke now with the price hikes and cut back on labor. Good luck and be tenacious (if insurance was included), as although it's unlikely you will be totally satisfied with outcome, you can usually get some money back.

Huh, Y'know, The breaking in the middle looks different from the one on top. I have seem foam like that break before, It doesnt break that cleanly.

Was it insured for the full cost of the item? If not you gonna be screwed.

By default, insurance only covers 50$. Anything over that takes additional money. It can get super expensive to insure multihundred dollar shipments.

Also, if it was under packed, they gonna fight you. How was it packed. You should expect to drop, sit on and toss a packed item, and have it not shift or become damaged for it to be correct shipping. That tower would need a hell of a lot of bubble wrap along with those air pockets to keep the entire thing immobile. So I would need to see a lot more of the packing to determine if it was ok.

Not that expensive. I recently shipped an armorcast warhound titan and shadowsword/baneblade kit to Australia using USPS, cost about $9 for an additional $350 insurance. Considering the guys at UPS wanted me to pay $337 dollars to do the shipping the total of $70ish for USPS was downright cheap.

1) Was it insured? If not, you're wasting your time. That is why insurance is offered.

2) Was there indication that the box had been opened?

3) How was it backed? How tall was the finished piece? How wide? How wide and long are the box?

Eric

hi all, Milos here from the Dreamspirit Wargaming Studio. I already spoke with my client regarding this issue, we're in business for almost 4 years now and this was a first timer, so we really had no reason to insure the packages. No matter whether he gets his way with USPS, we offered either to fix this tower or to build completely new model free of charge. This was a great model and thelordcal will get it as it was meant to be.

We're aware that foam is not the toughest material out there, but it's not very fragile either. In the past we built and sent away far more complex pieces than this tower, and we had no problem except occasional chipping but nothing of this sort.
From speaking with my client I understood that the packaging material didn't arrive with the model and signs of damage indicate that this was done on purpose which really is such shame.

 dreamspirit wrote:
hi all, Milos here from the Dreamspirit Wargaming Studio. I already spoke with my client regarding this issue, we're in business for almost 4 years now and this was a first timer, so we really had no reason to insure the packages. No matter whether he gets his way with USPS, we offered either to fix this tower or to build completely new model free of charge. This was a great model and thelordcal will get it as it was meant to be.

We're aware that foam is not the toughest material out there, but it's not very fragile either. In the past we built and sent away far more complex pieces than this tower, and we had no problem except occasional chipping but nothing of this sort.
From speaking with my client I understood that the packaging material didn't arrive with the model and signs of damage indicate that this was done on purpose which really is such shame.

Glad the this is going to work out OK for the OP, and hope that USPS pays up so you get paid for the replacement

(I suspect that a customs officer has cut it open to see it anything was hidden inside from the look of it, sigh)

 dreamspirit wrote:
hi all, Milos here from the Dreamspirit Wargaming Studio. I already spoke with my client regarding this issue, we're in business for almost 4 years now and this was a first timer, so we really had no reason to insure the packages. No matter whether he gets his way with USPS, we offered either to fix this tower or to build completely new model free of charge. This was a great model and thelordcal will get it as it was meant to be.

We're aware that foam is not the toughest material out there, but it's not very fragile either. In the past we built and sent away far more complex pieces than this tower, and we had no problem except occasional chipping but nothing of this sort.
From speaking with my client I understood that the packaging material didn't arrive with the model and signs of damage indicate that this was done on purpose which really is such shame.

Kudos kudos!

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:

 dreamspirit wrote:
hi all, Milos here from the Dreamspirit Wargaming Studio. I already spoke with my client regarding this issue, we're in business for almost 4 years now and this was a first timer, so we really had no reason to insure the packages. No matter whether he gets his way with USPS, we offered either to fix this tower or to build completely new model free of charge. This was a great model and thelordcal will get it as it was meant to be.

We're aware that foam is not the toughest material out there, but it's not very fragile either. In the past we built and sent away far more complex pieces than this tower, and we had no problem except occasional chipping but nothing of this sort.
From speaking with my client I understood that the packaging material didn't arrive with the model and signs of damage indicate that this was done on purpose which really is such shame.

Glad the this is going to work out OK for the OP, and hope that USPS pays up so you get paid for the replacement

(I suspect that a customs officer has cut it open to see it anything was hidden inside from the look of it, sigh)

Considering the package would have been coming from an area where drug smuggling does happen it's kind of understandable.

That flag is Croatia Kan....

Either that or Kan has wildly different expectation as to what constitutes reasonable service by a postal authority.

I mean, I'm sure the UK customs office scan, x-ray, sniffer dog all sorts of packages but I very much doubt they cut and break things just on the off-chance it may have drugs in it....

 Grimtuff wrote:
That flag is Croatia Kan....

The company is based in Serbia according to their website. Which really does not change my point though--there is drug trafficking in that region and it was likely opened by customs as a result.

Also yeah, I was wrong about the flag. I don't keep an encyclopedic knowledge of flags but when it comes up as "undefined" and the only image search results I get are for Romania then I'm going to go with Romania.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 filbert wrote:
Either that or Kan has wildly different expectation as to what constitutes reasonable service by a postal authority.

I mean, I'm sure the UK customs office scan, x-ray, sniffer dog all sorts of packages but I very much doubt they cut and break things just on the off-chance it may have drugs in it....

You would be very surprised as to what kinds of things can get past x-ray and sniffer dogs.

It sucks that the terrain was broken and it's good that the company is replacing it, but I would be surprised if the same thing does not happen again.

 Kanluwen wrote:

You would be very surprised as to what kinds of things can get past x-ray and sniffer dogs.

It sucks that the terrain was broken and it's good that the company is replacing it, but I would be surprised if the same thing does not happen again.

I've no doubt they can and do but that still doesn't give the USPS or customs agency the right to go hacking and chopping stuff apart willy-nilly just because the parcel came from a foreign country.

 filbert wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

You would be very surprised as to what kinds of things can get past x-ray and sniffer dogs.

It sucks that the terrain was broken and it's good that the company is replacing it, but I would be surprised if the same thing does not happen again.

I've no doubt they can and do but that still doesn't give the USPS or customs agency the right to go hacking and chopping stuff apart willy-nilly just because the parcel came from a foreign country.

Sure it doesn't, but at the same time the seller should at least make an effort to do things in such a way that the USPS or customs would not be able to justify hacking/chopping something apart.
Having the tower separated from the base or cored out with brass rod or something of that nature running through the middle would have made it kind of obvious that there was nothing packed inside.

I think, however, that the material that the tower was made from is the problem though.

Well, as I said, you and I must have different expectations from our postal services then. I have received lots of things from abroad over the years and whilst several packages have been stopped and inspected by Customs, I have never found the Royal Mail eager to hack things apart and see what is inside.

I'm not saying I'm an expert on the drug trafficking, but doesn't it happen anywhere? Still, I highly doubt it's the case here, and if it is, why now? as I already said, we sent far more complex models with no damage whatsoever.

Even still, if they suspected drug trafficking and wanted to make sure, I'm certain that they could open the box, unwrap the tower, and give the dog to sniff it. someone knows how and why it happened, but I doubt we will :(

filbert wrote:Well, as I said, you and I must have different expectations from our postal services then. I have received lots of things from abroad over the years and whilst several packages have been stopped and inspected by Customs, I have never found the Royal Mail eager to hack things apart and see what is inside.

It's not simply "That package came from abroad!" that would be the issue, Filbert. I have received packages as well from abroad(purchased a lot of Forge World stuff and a few trades from Australia years ago) and have never had an issue.

dreamspirit wrote:I'm not saying I'm an expert on the drug trafficking, but doesn't it happen anywhere? Still, I highly doubt it's the case here, and if it is, why now? as I already said, we sent far more complex models with no damage whatsoever.

Even still, if they suspected drug trafficking and wanted to make sure, I'm certain that they could open the box, unwrap the tower, and give the dog to sniff it. someone knows how and why it happened, but I doubt we will :(

You're right that drug trafficking does happen everywhere and if you've had more complex models with no damage whatsoever, then something has changed recently. There is any number of reasons why they might have changed from simply "opening the box and getting the dog to sniff it"(which only works for some kinds of narcotics, not all). Most likely customs has been given warning of something specific to be on the look out from a specific region.

That last bit is speculation on my part, mind you, but it would not be unheard of.

 filbert wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

You would be very surprised as to what kinds of things can get past x-ray and sniffer dogs.

It sucks that the terrain was broken and it's good that the company is replacing it, but I would be surprised if the same thing does not happen again.

I've no doubt they can and do but that still doesn't give the USPS or customs agency the right to go hacking and chopping stuff apart willy-nilly just because the parcel came from a foreign country.

I wish we could convince the NSA of that....

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
That flag is Croatia Kan....

The company is based in Serbia according to their website. Which really does not change my point though--there is drug trafficking in that region and it was likely opened by customs as a result.

Also yeah, I was wrong about the flag. I don't keep an encyclopedic knowledge of flags but when it comes up as "undefined" and the only image search results I get are for Romania then I'm going to go with Romania.

No need to get snippy. I'm not saying it changed your point in any way. I was wrong as well anyway. The flag is (unsurprisingly) Serbian. Now I see it on a PC screen and not a phone.

 MagickalMemories wrote:
1) Was it insured? If not, you're wasting your time. That is why insurance is offered.

Ah, the postal service. The only business where you have to pay extra to make sure they actually do what you originally paid them for.

Imagine if you had to pay extra insurance at a hairdresser, for example, or else risk them setting your hair on fire with no legal repercussions possible.