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Author Topic: Hassles with Hasslefree - merged issues thread  (Read 69308 times)

Offline Duncan McDane

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #75 on: September 17, 2018, 10:52:26 PM »
I hope they can sort their things out quick and smoothly. There are still quite a lot of figures on their site screaming to be added to my collection  :).
Leadhead

Offline Dewbakuk

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #76 on: September 18, 2018, 09:13:24 AM »
Quick Admin post guys. Topics discussing companies and the industry are well within the rules of the forum and have been beneficial on many occasions. Flame Wars and personal attacks/insults are not allowed. Lets keep it civil and not need to involve the Moderators.
So many projects..... so little time.......

Offline beefcake

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle?
« Reply #77 on: September 18, 2018, 06:54:03 PM »
My experience with Hasslefree has always been very good; they have always delivered and their products are top notch.

However, as long as I can remember, communication has been on the slow end of the spectrum. But then again; I know this is because they've always been a very small company, and work can grow ahead of them, and I've come to expect it.

The first time I was disappointed was when they ran a sculpting competition, and the timeline was exceeded by more than a year. The entire competition was above and beyond their normal work load though, and they provided the base dolly/mini to each contestant too, so there really is nothing to complain about. Were it not for the fact that progress and communication was so slow that I eventually sort of gave up on it...  :?

But they did deliver in the end, and the products were absolutely great (each entry was cast in metal and every contestant received their own mini in metal, plus all the others. And no; I did not win ;) ).

Now, I have not ordered from them for several years, but I would absolutely not hesitate to do so, if they have products that must be mine. Things might get awkwardly slow at times, but they will always deliver. With candy. :D

I remember that. I sculpted the medusa miniature and got a hassle free pick so a semi winner. Yes took a long time but it was not something that was keeping the business running so it was understandable it took so long.
Disappointing that comms are so bad at the moment.


Offline commissarmoody

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #78 on: September 18, 2018, 07:16:42 PM »
Woot, they got back to me. Fingers crossed this gets worked out.
"Peace" is that brief, glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.

- Anonymous

Offline Mr.J

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #79 on: September 18, 2018, 08:12:47 PM »
Quote
Sally here:

1:    Alrighty the backlog of orders is nearly processed, Dameon is sleeping at the unit until everything is caught up .... it’s 95% back on track.  Thankyou to everyone for their patience and if you think you have been missed please send me a message on my personal page and I will nag Dameon personally for you 🤣😂

2:  During the chaos we are behind with re-moulding some of the older figures as well as some of the most popular ones.  We can’t get them all done at the same time so we need to prioritise.  If there is something you have been waiting to come back into stock for a while then let us know below, likewise if you see a request posted by someone else and think “oh yeah I need that” then please add It to the list.  If you can’t remember what it is but you know you meant to order something then please check out the online shop to jog your memory 🙂

3:  New releases are being prepared ( woohoo) and fingers crossed should be out within the next week x

Watch this space x

Thankyou again to everyone who has been understanding and very patient whilst we try and sort out the mess, Kev and I really do appreciate it x

Whilst you wait take a look at what Kev is currently working on .. updates are on his page x

Posted on their fb earlier today.

Offline grant

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #80 on: September 18, 2018, 09:52:31 PM »
Sounds like good news then!
It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words - Orwell, 1984

Offline FramFramson

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #81 on: September 19, 2018, 12:03:17 AM »
Yes! It will be nice to see the large number of pre-order figures get into regular production - or the figs on Kev's blog get into any production, period!


I joined my gun with pirate swords, and sailed the seas of cyberspace.

Offline Nordic1980s

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #82 on: September 19, 2018, 05:23:17 PM »
Being happy to hear comissarmoody had been contacted, I re-sent my email today 19.9. to the newer email address.

Thank you mcfonz for letting us know there had been some in-house issues with the company. Your message here was the first time I heard of such things: no email or website update (back then) indicated anything like that.

In general business logic, it's not customers job to search for such information, as it's basically us paying their wages through purchases with up-front payments. Moreover, companies should always primarily use the same communication channels their customers used to make the purchase. I made an order through www-website and received an order confirmation by email. Thus the company should have informed me (us) of any issues by the exact same www-website, or by email. And not expect us customers by some Japanese video game logic to telepathically know to look out for some additional communication channels.

If the company gets back to me and sorts this out, I'll be more than happy to make an another order and forgive the past. I'll let you know if anything comes of this endeavour.

Offline Otto1485

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #83 on: September 19, 2018, 09:25:38 PM »
I'll add my contribution to this discussion - usually I'm happy to lurk and look at the photos of the excellent minis posted here.

I had a fairly negative experience with Hasslefree the last time I ordered from them back in 2016 - I had to threaten to raise a PayPal dispute to get my minis out of them that I ordered. It had taken the best part of 90 days with no communication.

Since then I've not ordered online again although I've been very happy to buy off them in person at Salute.

The problem seems to be with Dameon to be honest (this is my opinion) - when he ran Artemis Blacks he had a poor reputation for customer service and this seems to have infected Hasslefree.

I spoke to Kev in person regarding this at Salute and he said they were aware of the problems and trying to deal with them. I did tell him that until things were sorted I wouldn't be ordering any more stuff mail order which Kev accepted. I also spoke to Sally about the issues I had experienced and she was very sympathetic and wanted to help. In fairness to Kev and Sally they are some of the nicest people I've dealt with in the miniatures industry - I've even been to one of Kev's sculpting courses in Cardiff and I would heartily recommend it.

Dameon is also a nice guy to deal with in person, I have dealt with him at Salute also in previous years when he was Artemis Blacks. Unfortunately his poor way of dealing/communicating with customers and not despatching customer's orders promptly is adversely affecting the reputation of one of the better miniature companies out there.

Kev is one of the best sculptors in the industry and produces consistently good miniatures which are a joy to paint (albeit badly in my case) and I wish that these issues would get sorted so that I could be confident in ordering from them again. I just don't have that confidence any longer.

Just my thoughts based on my experience and conversations

ATB Otto

Offline Gardensnake

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #84 on: September 20, 2018, 01:27:10 AM »
I would also place some of the blame at the feet of Ash Barker. Not that Ash actually did anything wrong. Ash just wrote a game that a whole lot of people liked and most of those people ordered miniatures to use for Ash's game from Hasslefree. I know I did. The game in question is Last days, published by Osprey. Hasslefree makes the perfect miniatures for the game and I strongly believe that the majority of orders placed with Hasslefree of late involve this game. As proof, I invite anyone to check out the Last Days Yahoo group. Hasslefree, despite their reputation is a small operation and a large demand surge can overwhelm them. I truly believe this has happened and people need to be patient. I think once they get caught up, everything will be okay. Beyond that, can anyone truly show where Hasslefree has been anything other than great before this recent difficulty in fulfilling orders quickly?

William
Until such time as Congress stops being a ridiculous farce, comedy is utterly acceptable at their hearings.
Sean Patrick Fannon

Offline commissarmoody

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #85 on: September 20, 2018, 02:55:32 AM »
I am pretty sure that what happened with my order Mr. Gardnersnake. I ordered dearing the tail end I the summer sale.
Then combine that the other problems, things seemed to have slipped thrue the crack. But it's being worked on now, and should hopefully be posted soon. :)

Online boneio

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #86 on: September 20, 2018, 11:40:02 AM »
In fairness to Kev and Sally they are some of the nicest people I've dealt with in the miniatures industry

Frankly I think this is the problem. I'm sure Dameon is also a great chap and we all genuinely wish him good health, but it's poor management to allow such a key person's health issues to impact the reputation of the company to such a degree. He's quite clearly too busy - sleeping at the warehouse is not a point of pride, it's a sign of bad management - and nothing I see in their posts suggests to me that running a quality business is really their forte.

And perhaps it shouldn't be. After all they're a very small team making lovely figures in a niche industry as a lifestyle business. I don't think it's wrong at all for such businesses (see also Fenris, Heresy, and Bad Squiddo) to ask customers for patience and understanding. At times they will either have to rely on that customer goodwill and loyalty, or change the business model, which I suspect would mean amalgamation into a larger brand, or increased prices.

The creative arm of these businesses needs (well, wants) freedom, but the distribution and communication arm really should be on-point. I can't help but think for many smaller businesses they would be better off finding a friendly larger company to attach themselves to and thus remove the stress of the business angle, in favour of focussing on the real reason they purport to be in the industry - the models.

Offline Cubs

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #87 on: September 20, 2018, 03:49:21 PM »
Does anyone know if they share office/warehouse space with anyone else or are they on their own? I know when Bad Squiddo was at Firestorm Games in Cardiff there was very much a collective vibe, in that all the companies renting the offices, as well as the Firestorm staff, were used to mucking in when one of them needed help.
'Sir John ejaculated explosively, sitting up in his chair.' ... 'The Black Gang'.

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Offline Ultravanillasmurf

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #88 on: September 20, 2018, 03:55:13 PM »
Does anyone know if they share office/warehouse space with anyone else or are they on their own?
From reading previous posts from Dameon, he was in the the unit on his own (sleeping there sometimes).
« Last Edit: September 20, 2018, 03:57:32 PM by Ultravanillasmurf »

Andrew_McGuire

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Re: Hasslefree now a hassle? Waiting on order ...
« Reply #89 on: September 20, 2018, 04:19:42 PM »
I would also place some of the blame at the feet of Ash Barker. Not that Ash actually did anything wrong. Ash just wrote a game that a whole lot of people liked and most of those people ordered miniatures to use for Ash's game from Hasslefree.

Um....yes. Although Dishdash Games' Skirmish Outbreak bears equal responsibility in my case, as does HF's Il Cappello figure, whom I decided would fit perfectly into my vague ideas - which I didn't then know I had - to do something partly inspired by Breaking Bad, Tarantino, weird crime comics, and similar noir /pulp tropes. Anyway, my own order, including that figure, arrived today, and I'm glad I made it, even though I was unaware of the problems at the time (hence the thread I began yesterday in the Post-apocalyptic forum).

I just hope a visit from a real-life Il Cappello won't be required to improve the business side (not that I would approve of such a drastic course).
« Last Edit: September 20, 2018, 05:13:59 PM by Andrew_McGuire »