Dave's wee problem with getting his rulebook...

[me_in_japan]

A question: Maelstrom games has part of my order listed as "out of stock at the supplier". This isnt only on my order history page, but on the general sales listings on their website. The thing is, the items that are out of stock are the deathjack, a scarlock thrall, and the Prime II rulebook. While I could understand if the former two models were waiting on new models to be cast, how can PP possibly be "out of stock" of the frickin rulebook? I'm making the assumption here that Maelstrom are supplied by PP directly (I cant imagine that there'd be a middle-man) but that raises the question: Are PP often like this? Has anyone else had this problem? Or are Maelstrom playing silly buggers?

incidentally, I went with Maelstrom over Wayland as their prices were near identical and maelstrom do free shipping. As it has been almost a month now since i placed my order, I may well be swinging some sales in Wayland's direction in future, as their website has wee doohickeys that show if they have something in stock or not...

- a slightly miffed dave.

*edit* not quite the same, but seems to shift the blame from maelstrom, at least...
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthr ... MkII-Decks

[Primarch]

A question: Maelstrom games has part of my order listed as "out of stock at the supplier". This isnt only on my order history page, but on the general sales listings on their website. The thing is, the items that are out of stock are the deathjack, a scarlock thrall, and the Prime II rulebook. While I could understand if the former two models were waiting on new models to be cast, how can PP possibly be "out of stock" of the frickin rulebook? I'm making the assumption here that Maelstrom are supplied by PP directly (I cant imagine that there'd be a middle-man) but that raises the question: Are PP often like this? Has anyone else had this problem? Or are Maelstrom playing silly buggers?

Actually, they might use a middle-man depending on where PP are based. If PP are a US company then there is probably one distributor in the UK passing stuff along as it is a lot cheaper to ship over one bulk order rather than loads of small ones to all the webstores and shops around the country. Logistics wise, it makes sense.
Also, if orders are high enough PP may be out of stock of certain items since they probably outsource their printing (even GW does this), and given their scale they may not have a massive backlog of stock, so if something proves popular enough they may run out before they can do another production run.
With Maelstrom's two recent sales (the 17.5% warhammer discount and the 15% sale that just ended) they probably received a lot of orders to process. They are pretty good at saying what they have in stock, what they can get and what the supplier doesn't have. Most companies would just say "waiting for stock" and leave it at that.

[me_in_japan]

@rob - any time, chief. tis nae problemo

@stu - thanks for the info. You're right - they might actually use a second supplier. Actually, I'm starting to really hope they do, as having browsed the PP forums, it appears that the hardcover books are limited edition, and there have been posts on the PP forums asking about when they'll stop being available, with the answer being a rather ambiguous "when we run out". i.e. there was one print run and dat was it.

agh. Here's hoping maelstrom got in their order to PP sufficiently long ago for them to have been shipped some hardcovers. (possible, as the "when do they go out of stock" thread was only started yesterday...

[ennui]

If Maelstrom is a UK/Euro company, then yes, there seems to be a different supplier on the other side of the pond. According to the forums, that particular supplier moved in March and that move has apparently made a mess of a few people's and stores orders. I know the retribution warjacks were unavailable for a long time over there.

Good luck!!

[me_in_japan]

I got a mail from Maelstrom today:

Hi there,

Our supplier has not informed us of this being a limited edition book.
We will ask them in the next couple of days as to what is going off
with this and then will refund all the outstanding orders if needs be.

Sorry we can't be much of a help at the moment, we have only been told
that our supplier is still waiting for a batch!

Cheers,
Chris

Fair enough, Ithought. They got back to me in reasonable time, and explained the situation clearly, without any BS. Good enough for me. I'll hang in there and see what their supplier can come up with. If that means missing out on the hardback rulebook, then so be it.

[Sir Motor]

Plastick jacks and Rule books are made in china.
PP tend to have trouble with these products. They delay release.
And re-stock also take much time.

And Maelstrom tend o have take time to re-stock.

So just wait!

[me_in_japan]

Thanks, sir motor. It's good to know (well, hopefully know) that the rulebook will be coming along eventually. I can be patient - my cryx book arrived today, so i can read that for the moment

[Lovejoy]

I wouldn't worry too much- I've used maelstrom quite a lot recently, and they always get there in the end, though if stuff is out of stock you'll have to twiddle your thumbs for a bit. If stuff is in, they are pretty speedy. I ordered some stuff on the 9th June, got back to find it here today on the 24th, just over 2 weeks.
I think they have the edge over wayland, though both companies seem pretty excellent.

[me_in_japan]

this is a tad threadomantic, but the whole rulebook thing got resolved today. Specifically, I got this email:

Hi David,

In reference to order #blahblahblah, we have refunded £26.46 to your Moneyback, for the item Warmachine Prime Mk II Hardback Rulebook.

We have done this because the item(s) are no longer available.

Oh well, thats that then. To be fair to maelstrom, they kept me informed throughout and gave me my money back quickly and without fuss. So the book's sold out. T'aint their fault.

Happily for me, Wayland still had some copies in stock, so i ordered it from them. They charge 3quid postage, but hey ho, beggars cant be choosers. And gomen Prim - I completely forgot to click on the banner at the bottom. I'll do that next time though, I promise.

[me_in_japan]

Good god! All hail the mighty Wayland Games. Got this email just now (observant readers will note that it's only been 4 hrs since my last post here...)

Dear Mr D J Boyle

Thank you for your order placed on Jul 01 2010, 12:08 PM, We can now confirm that your order has been dispatched Airmail (Default Zone).

Gosh. from ordering to posted in 4 hrs. I shall be using this company again, methinks...