As some folks know, Lou Zocchi's GameScience was purchased awhile back by a company called Gamestation. I just tried to order some GameScience dice from them. Emphasis on tried.
Where to start? First, GameStation apparently uses the CCG Armory definition of "in stock". Of the seven line items I ordered, at least two were not going to be available for six months or more, despite one of them being listed as in stock, and the other being listed as back in stock "in the next 5 Business Days", with an invitation to go ahead and preorder. When I had to call them (more on that in a minute), I was told that the five business days thing is a "blanket statement"--that's a quote--for all out of stock items, and bears no relation to reality.
The first problem I noticed was the wrong D8 color on my order confirmation email. I had ordered Aquamarine, the email said Teal Zircon. The wrong color is also listed in a couple of places on their website. It looked like it was just a typo--somebody copied and pasted and forget to change the color in all the different places--but I didn't want to risk getting the wrong dice and going through the hassle of a return.
I tried to email them about it, but every attempt was bounced back as undeliverable. I tried both directly emailing the addresses listed on their website, and replying to the order confirmation email. I got bounced every time with the same error message.
So I had to call them. That's a big inconvenience for me, because I have only a limited number of phone minutes per month. Their automated phone tree didn't have any options for problems with an existing order, so I had to guess which department I needed, and of course the guess was wrong. So I had to get put on hold and transferred, and wait some more and explain the problem twice. On top of which, the second person was someplace with loud machinery, and I could barely hear him.
To add insult to injury, he called me "sir", repeatedly.
I realize I don't have the most feminine voice in the world, but he had my order right in front of him. How many guys do you know named Marian?
That phone call is when I found out about the first of the two "won't have them for six months" items. The next day I received an email from the guy I spoke with, telling me about the other. Since that one was the single biggest part of the order, I just canceled the whole thing at that point. At least his email address, unlike the official ones, didn't bounce when I replied.
This has been the third worst mail order experience I ever had, and I'm sufficiently upset to never order from them again. Since they own GameScience, that means I'll be sticking with Chessex dice.
As of this afternoon,four five days after that phone call, the typo for the D8 color hasn't been fixed. Still don't have my money back yet, either.
(I wondered if maybe this thread should go in Game Industry Shop Talk instead, but I checked and there have been reviews of Noble Knight and Troll & Toad here in TRO, as well as that recent one for CCG Armory in Other Games.)
Where to start? First, GameStation apparently uses the CCG Armory definition of "in stock". Of the seven line items I ordered, at least two were not going to be available for six months or more, despite one of them being listed as in stock, and the other being listed as back in stock "in the next 5 Business Days", with an invitation to go ahead and preorder. When I had to call them (more on that in a minute), I was told that the five business days thing is a "blanket statement"--that's a quote--for all out of stock items, and bears no relation to reality.
The first problem I noticed was the wrong D8 color on my order confirmation email. I had ordered Aquamarine, the email said Teal Zircon. The wrong color is also listed in a couple of places on their website. It looked like it was just a typo--somebody copied and pasted and forget to change the color in all the different places--but I didn't want to risk getting the wrong dice and going through the hassle of a return.
I tried to email them about it, but every attempt was bounced back as undeliverable. I tried both directly emailing the addresses listed on their website, and replying to the order confirmation email. I got bounced every time with the same error message.
So I had to call them. That's a big inconvenience for me, because I have only a limited number of phone minutes per month. Their automated phone tree didn't have any options for problems with an existing order, so I had to guess which department I needed, and of course the guess was wrong. So I had to get put on hold and transferred, and wait some more and explain the problem twice. On top of which, the second person was someplace with loud machinery, and I could barely hear him.
To add insult to injury, he called me "sir", repeatedly.
I realize I don't have the most feminine voice in the world, but he had my order right in front of him. How many guys do you know named Marian? That phone call is when I found out about the first of the two "won't have them for six months" items. The next day I received an email from the guy I spoke with, telling me about the other. Since that one was the single biggest part of the order, I just canceled the whole thing at that point. At least his email address, unlike the official ones, didn't bounce when I replied.
This has been the third worst mail order experience I ever had, and I'm sufficiently upset to never order from them again. Since they own GameScience, that means I'll be sticking with Chessex dice.
As of this afternoon,
(I wondered if maybe this thread should go in Game Industry Shop Talk instead, but I checked and there have been reviews of Noble Knight and Troll & Toad here in TRO, as well as that recent one for CCG Armory in Other Games.)
