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Author Topic: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?  (Read 7941 times)

Offline Captain Blood

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Re: Is Hasslefree about to go belly up???
« Reply #15 on: July 20, 2018, 07:24:14 AM »
My order is outstanding since April, it's July now. That seems like an awful long time, with no replies to my emails but the one, for a 'reliable' company. I've been buying from them since 12' and while things are not fast, they arrived. But this... I'm ready to get a charge back on my card.

Whatever problems they’ve been having - whether down to unavoidable illness and circumstances, avoidable bad planning or ineptitude, or possibly a combination of the two - three months waiting for an order with no further comms, surely isn’t acceptable for any business. ‘We posted an explanation on Facebook’ isn’t good enough when you’ve taken someone’s money, sat on it for three months, failed to provide the goods, and not answered repeated enquiries. Under the circumstances, ‘is this business going down the pan?’ seems a pretty reasonable question to ask. Not really baseless conjecture. Quite a lot of base there...

Offline MagpieJono

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #16 on: July 20, 2018, 03:30:06 PM »
Very well put Captain Blood.

I've ordered in the past with no issues. They even sent a replacement figure with no problems when one came mis-cast

I was actually going to place another order for a few models but this thread has me thinking that maybe I won't.

Three months with no comms and no figures isn't good despite whatever problems they're facing at the moment.

Offline Arthur

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Offline twrchtrwyth

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #18 on: July 20, 2018, 04:59:22 PM »
Anyone know where in that magnificent country he's based?
He that trades Liberty for Security will soon find that he has neither.

Benjamin Franklin


Offline MagpieJono

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #19 on: July 20, 2018, 05:25:46 PM »
Anyone know where in that magnificent country he's based?

Think they're near Alfreton somewhere, just off J28 M1

Offline twrchtrwyth

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #20 on: July 20, 2018, 07:14:31 PM »
Think they're near Alfreton somewhere, just off J28 M1
Lol, no he's somewhere in Wales.

Offline Silent Invader

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #21 on: July 20, 2018, 07:32:11 PM »
From the website:

Quote
To comply with the E-Commerce Regulations 2002 we provide the following information:

Company Name: Black & White Games Ltd. trading as Hasslefree Miniatures, HF Minis & Artemis Black's

Company No. 09197984

Our VAT registration number is 204904826

We trade at Unit 21 Greenway Workshops, Bedwas House Ind Est. Caerphilly. CF83 8HW.

Our office telephone number is 02920 888639

Our main contact email is admin@hfminis.co.uk

My LAF Gallery is HERE
Minis (foot & mounted) finished in 2024 = 0
(2023 = 151; 2022 = 204; 2021 = 123; 2020 = ???)

Offline MagpieJono

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #22 on: July 20, 2018, 08:07:59 PM »
Close then!

Offline FramFramson

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #23 on: July 20, 2018, 08:36:15 PM »
Yes, I didn't mean to be unduly harsh, which I think came through in my saying "I did get a reply in the end."

I'd buy Hasslefree stuff again, though I'd definitely want to wait for things to have calmed down first. But a delay waiting for a problem to blow over is quite different than wanting to be done with them entirely. That said, it's also different from placing an order and not getting anything or any word.

I'd agree it might have been best for them to shut down orders for even just a week to try and climb out from under things (likely cheaper and simpler than hiring and training help you only need for a week or two). Of course I don't know what  the state of their finances is, but if they're "Far from going out of business" as has been said, they ought to be able to afford taking a week's closure on the chin.


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Offline mcfonz

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #24 on: July 20, 2018, 09:25:54 PM »
For what it's worth :

http://www.facebook.com/notes/hasslefree-minis/were-back/1930928800272721/

And then later than that:
Quote
Hasslefree Minis
26 May ·
Okay Sally here.

Instead of replying to individual queries I thought that I would just post one statement.

I am aware the last 8 months have been crap for everyone, most of all me.

I sense everyone’s frustration and I add to it tenfold. Nobody with a complaint can be more pissed off about it than me I assure you.

I started HF in 2004 with nothing except 3 small children and a husband that loved to sculpt. We didn’t take a wage for 8 years and still only now take enough to cover outgoings... everything we have is ploughed into HF. I built HF up with the core values of speedy shipping, good quality products and efficient customer service and for many years there were no major problems.

If I thought anything could have been done to avoid the current issues then do you not think I would have done it? Do you honestly think that I would sit by and watch whilst HF implodes through circumstances that couldn’t even be imagined in a soap opera? No, I wouldn’t. Anyone that knows me knows that I would not have let this happen. WE COULD NOT HAVE PREDICTED IT.

I see a lot of the regular customers sticking up for us which is great and I really appreciate the loyalty. I see a lot of new customers getting fed up and telling all and sundry on various groups and forums how awful we are. DO YOU NOT THINK THAT IF I COULD DO SOMETHING TO RESOLVE IT THEN I WOULD DO, SERIOUSLY?

HF is not Amazon. We don’t have a direct line to a post office or hundreds of staff .... it’s just Kev, me and a cantankerous anti-social welsh guy (Dameon) until we can replace the key member of staff we lost last year.

So I am really sorry that everybody is fed up I really am but we are trying to get it sorted. Yes I know you are all fed up with being asked to be patient and I cannot apologise enough but hopefully once this backlog is sorted we are back on even ground and can start to operate efficiently again.

Dameon is replying to all of your messages and emails as fast as he can. If you want a rant then message me personally on my individual account and rant away... it won’t make anything faster but it might make you feel better.

Thanks for listening

Sally x

Also worth noting that they have been shut for a week at the end of June as well.

And I'll say this - anyone that is jumping on the band wagon here needs to consider why it is they are doing so. Hasslefree have been honest, they're not hiding anything and this is massively not in character for them, at all.
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Offline twrchtrwyth

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #25 on: July 20, 2018, 09:40:17 PM »
Fair enough, however they could have stopped taking orders while they sort things out, which would have been a reasonable step to take. Shutting for a week in June obviously wasn't long enough to catch up. So, I have to say the statement Sally posted doesn't do her any favours.

Offline Wachaza

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #26 on: July 20, 2018, 09:56:23 PM »
I've not ordered for a few years but put in a couple of orders when they had the sale. I've had two orders not arrive which are marked as completed in my account. Emails to different addresses and facebook messages over the past week have as yet raised no answer so to be honest I'd avoid them at the moment.

Offline Too Bo Coo

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #27 on: July 20, 2018, 11:36:33 PM »
I'm very happy to say I chatted with Sally from Hasslefree last evening via email and they are still in operation. She apologized my order got misplaced and said she and Dameon would get it sorted. Happy to know I'll still be able to purchase from them!

Thanks for all the replies everyone and trying to allay my fears that they closed shop!

Admin, I think we can close this thread :D
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men."
-Willy Wonka

Offline FramFramson

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #28 on: July 21, 2018, 01:54:16 AM »
Fair enough, however they could have stopped taking orders while they sort things out, which would have been a reasonable step to take. Shutting for a week in June obviously wasn't long enough to catch up. So, I have to say the statement Sally posted doesn't do her any favours.

I thought it was a little, uh, brusque in places. I'll give her sort of a pass on this though, since usually it's Dameon who talks to the customers rather than her.

Offline mcfonz

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Re: Shipping delays and poor comms - Issues with Hasslefree?
« Reply #29 on: July 21, 2018, 12:01:27 PM »
Fair enough, however they could have stopped taking orders while they sort things out, which would have been a reasonable step to take. Shutting for a week in June obviously wasn't long enough to catch up. So, I have to say the statement Sally posted doesn't do her any favours.

In an ideal world that works. This isn't an ideal world. Closing for several weeks doesn't always work. So you end up with situations where people try to work with what they've got. And in this instance have been very honest about delays etc.