How small a mistake should a vendor not have to correct?

[Rhoderic]

Today I received a parcel of miniatures I’d ordered from a reputable vendor in the US (I’m in Europe, outside the UK). The figures are top-notch, I got them at a discount due to a christmas sale, and the handling & shipping was expedient for this time of year. Just one minor problem: in one pack of two 15mm figures, the figures were supposed to be different sculpts (as pictured in the webstore), but I received duplicates of one sculpt instead. For what it’s worth, this is a pack of leader/hero figures, priced somewhat higher than the trooper figures from the same range. The vendor has a UK distributor for most of its product line but this particular 15mm range isn’t included there, it’s only available from the original vendor in the US.

Would it be churlish of me to ask the vendor to send me the one single 15mm figure I’m missing in my order, at no additional charge to me?

To make this a broader topic of discussion, do you think there comes a point where, due to mitigating circumstances like the cost of postage, a vendor shouldn’t have to correct mistakes they’ve made when packing and shipping an order to a customer? If so, at what point? How small a mistake is acceptable?

And what other circumstances would you consider mitigating? For instance, would it make a difference if the company is a small one-person operation (which I presume it is in my particular case)?

As another example, three months ago I received some items I’d ordered from a UK vendor while he was running a sale. One pack of figures, priced £6, was accidentally left out. Due to general lethargy and various other minor problems diverting my attention elsewhere at the time, I never got around to e-mail the vendor to request my missing miniatures. I personally am inclined to assume that by now, three months after the fact, it’s too late for me to make such a request. Agree/disagree? I’m prepared to take the hit in this case, but it would be interesting to know how high of a standard other people hold vendors to, which is why I bring this up as a topic of discussion.

[Angel Barracks]

Rhoderic wrote:

Would it be churlish of me to ask the vendor to send me the one single 15mm figure I’m missing in my order, at no additional charge to me?

No.
You paid for X they sent you Y.

[Rules Junkie Jim]

I find this kind of thing tricky… I tend to cut miniature manufacturers more slack as the ones I order from tend to be very small. I’ve only had a couple of minor instances where an order wasn’t 100% correct and I couldn’t be bothered/found it too trivial to raise with the vendor. I think in my head these guys offer a service to geeks like me and if they went out of business I’d be unhappy

If I were ordering across the Atlantic I’m not sure what I’d do as it’d probably be a one-off/rare order that I wouldn’t be repeating any time soon so wouldn’t have an opportunity to get the mini(s) I actually wanted.

[zippyfusenet]

If you accidentally stiffed someone on a trade, however small the error, would you make it right, even if it left you a little out-of-pocket? Of course you would.

It really shouldn’t cost the vendor very much to mail a couple of 15mm figures, even trans-Atlantic. I’d stick them in a greeting card, pay the buck postage for first class and forget it.

If it’s worth your trouble to correspond with the vendor about an error, then he (or she, or it…whatever) should fix the problem.

On the other hand, if it doesn’t bother you enough to promptly do something about it…I’d say three months is too long, and you should let the other thing go. After three months, my response would be, “Do I know you?” But I’m notoriously lacking in social skills, as you have no doubt surmised.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid!

[Mr. Average]

I don’t know about HAVING to correct something, but being WILLING to definitely makes the difference for me, as a consumer.  When I bought one of my Archon mechs fro 15mm.co.uk, one of them was missing a few tiny parts, and Gavin immediately sent out the missing bits, no matter the distance from the UK to the US.  That, I have to say, I really appreciated a lot.

[Rhoderic]

Rules Junkie Jim wrote:

I find this kind of thing tricky… I tend to cut miniature manufacturers more slack as the ones I order from tend to be very small. I’ve only had a couple of minor instances where an order wasn’t 100% correct and I couldn’t be bothered/found it too trivial to raise with the vendor. I think in my head these guys offer a service to geeks like me and if they went out of business I’d be unhappy

This is kind of where I’m coming from, as well. The vendors may be the ones making the mistakes, but part of me feels that a bit of mercy may make the difference between them choosing to stay in business or deciding that being a manufacturer or redistributor of hobby products may not be for them after all. I do find that some vendors, judging by some of their statements in the online hobby community (not TWW in particular, just the whole community in general), seem to feel a bit harried, due partly to practical snags on the business side of things, partly to disappointing sales volumes for new products they devoted time, money and effort to, and partly to the occasional other community member who’s either expressing negative attitudes against them or making unrealistic demands of them (“Why won’t you commission a range of Achaemenid Persian hobbits like I keep asking you to?” – made-up example).

On the other hand, I do want what I ordered (obviously). In this particular case with the missing 15mm leader figure, I think I will contact the vendor.

zippyfusenet wrote:

If it’s worth your trouble to correspond with the vendor about an error, then he (or she, or it…whatever) should fix the problem.

This is an interesting problem area for me. In the cold light of reason, it really shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to compose an e-mail to a vendor. But I tend to drag my feet because I don’t want to be a burden, at least not when the vendor is a one-person operation who’s not making a living off the business and is hoping to make the business feel worthwhile partly or wholly out of a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment. And so, it becomes this big negative thing in my mind, which saps my energy and makes me more lethargic.

I suppose it helps if, upon finding a vendor to be helpful and forthcoming about correcting mistakes, one makes sure to heap some praise upon them in the online community.

[Another Wargamer]

If a customer purchased X product, I would expect the vendor to deliver X product.  No excuses.  If a vendor shows specific poses for a blister of miniatures and does not clearly state “miniature poses may vary”, the customer has the right to expect the miniatures as pictured.

[Rhoderic]

Another Wargamer wrote:

If a vendor shows specific poses for a blister of miniatures and does not clearly state “miniature poses may vary”

That was the case with the figures I ordered. Specifically, they were these: LINK. Given that there’s no mention that “miniature poses may vary”, it seems natural to me to expect that a pack will contain both figures pictured. Right?

I don’t want to “name and shame” Hydra, I think it’s a wonderful company, and I’m convinced the duplicates were just a mistake. I just thought I’d link to the product in question to illustrate that, indeed, there’s no “poses may vary” disclaimer.

[Perfect Six Miniatures]

i have made these mistakes in past, i will always correct at my own exspense customer service is key, and you as a customer deserve to get the corect goods

Quality Pewter Miniatures at affordable price :

http://perfectsixscenics.co.uk

[willz]

I have sold various items on forums and only once made a mistake sending the buyer a pzII instead of a pzIII plastic kit in a large order.  He contacted me the day his order arrived and I more than willingly at my own expense sent him the pzIII and told him to keep the pzII.  Morale of the story for me is to double check all orders prior to packing.  I ordered some cannons from Spencer Smith Miniatures,the ordered never turned up after two weeks so I contacted Peter and he sent an other order.

[McKinstry]

I’ve had a few similar type small errors in ordering from folks over the years. In almost all cases, I simply contacted them and stated the problem and they voluntarily made the correction without me having to explicitly request a replacement/fix.

I’ve found most folks in the business to be ‘fellow travellers’ and very honorable folks.

 

The tree of Life is self pruning.

[William Jones]

Rhoderic wrote:

…I personally am inclined to assume that by now, three months after the fact, it’s too late for me to make such a request. Agree/disagree? I’m prepared to take the hit in this case, but it would be interesting to know how high of a standard other people hold vendors to, which is why I bring this up as a topic of discussion.

 

My solution on deals like this is to ask for the mini, but sweeten it with a supplemental order.  The sooner these things are dealt with, the better.  Three months on a missing 15mm figure is sort of stale.  I put myself in this trick-bag all the time as I often don’t open my orders for weeks.  Too much chaos going on.

[Norm S]

There are three answers to the issue.

What’s right in law or principle? – The advice that you ordered X and got Y holds true and there is an expectation that the vendor should put that right.

What would I say you do? – Contact them (both of them) and see where that goes. Their responses will likely determine whether you do future business with them.

What did I do? – recently, a main UK player sent me a largish order with 1 item missing (value around £6). I have met the people at game shows, I like them and I do a fair bit with them. I tend to be more forgiving re hobby stuff, which I know is irrational, but that’s just how it is and I decided just to let it go, as I knew it would have been a genuine mistake and if I had phoned them, they would have certainly sent the part out the next day. Part of that decision though was that the part was neither here nor there, had it been something important like say the artillery element of an army or some-such, then I likely would have chased it up. So there …. I have mixed values that I sometimes don’t even understand myself.

 

 

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