Black Cat Bases and failures in communication

[pavelft]

I posted this on another forum, but I figure I'd tap the hivemind here as well.

I placed an order with Black Cat Bases back in April of this year despite concerns about their website being a couple years out of date (there is mention of a slow down in production and delivery from 2019). I placed the order in large part because other wargamers indicated that they were receiving orders during the pandemic, and even up until Easter of this year. I'm okay with slow deliveries and delays. I know these businesses are often cottage, and life gets in the way. What bothers me is I have reached out to the company through e-mail several times now asking for some level of update, but with no response whatsoever. Do you all know if this is normal, or should I be preparing to have my money refunded through Paypal for non-delivery and non-communication?

I've even called the phone number to see if they are still alive and well, but it just went to voicemail. I left a voicemail asking for an email response, but still nothing. Does anyone here know if Jo is still amongst the living?

Forest

[Tarnegol]

I can't answer your question with any accuracy, but I have a similar issue, and am about to go to PayPal.

[Daeothar]

My experiences with them have all been at conventions, and they're some of the nicest people I've met. The one order I've made, I received in an average amount of time, but this was about a decade ago.

However; over the years I've heard quite a lot of similar stories about BCB and their lack of communication. They've also apparently had more than their share of health issues during that time and appear to have been swamped in orders they struggled to fulfill in a reasonable amount of time.

I believe they closed their webshop for a good while to recover from one of those episodes (my memory is hazy on the details; it's been quite some years after all) and they got a lot of bad press around that time too. I'm sure the LAF threads can still be dug up.

It's a shame they seem to be unable to handle these issues and their obviously large amount of orders but I've seen the same happen to another small business: Hasslefree. They too have struggled on and off with deliveries and (especially) communication.

That's the crux here though isn't it? Communication. I think both companies have underestimated the amount of time they need to spend on communication, especially in times when things are rough.

I get it; time spent replying to emails is time lost on production and shipping. Hasslefree was in the lucky position to hire someone to take on that part of the business, but I understand that not everyone has those options.

In those cases, I'd suggest there's only one option; temporarily close the store (which WILL cost revenue) to catch up with the backlog, and clearly communicate about it. Once resolved, the store can be re-opened again.

And that's probably a scary prospect for anyone running a store, but when you can't keep up, and can't expand, it's the only fair and smart way to deal with the situation. And from what I've gathered on the forums in my many years around these places, is that people are quite understanding in such instances, as long as there is some clear and honest communication about it.

Here's to hoping BCB will be back in the saddle soon, because no matter how they perform, they do have an interesting catalogue...