I must say I’m unimpressed by the customer service from Battlefront’s online store. It took them exactly a week to process and dispatch my simple $100NZ order. Evidently most of the delay was from an out of stock item that had to be recast. However I had to chase them to find this out after hearing nothing for 3 days after placing the order. Wayne Turner at Battlefront was apparently slow in getting back to me because he was ‘away yesterday afternoon’ which is a pretty lame excuse in this day and age. Do they only have one guy that deals with web orders? Does nobody else there have access to the relevant email account?
I’ve dealt with numerous companies via the Internet as detailed on this blog. Almost universally I’ve received prompt (and often personal) service and Bruce Hirst of Hirst Arts is a model of customer service. I’ve even received goods from him in 3 days, astounding considering he’s based in midwest US. Possibly I’ve been spoiled…
Battlefront’s lack of response to my emails prompted me to bitch on their forum. This resulted in a quick reply from Wayne and the post being immediately removed! Squeeky wheel gets the grease I guess, although it seems a tad shady to remove the complaint.
Battlefront have an excellent product, however I’m definitely wary of using their online store again. For now I think I’ll continue to support my local retailer (Historic Games in Newmarket), even though their stock lines can be slightly out of date.
Hrrmm, removing the post was veeery dodgey. How often have they done that before? Surely it would be better to leave the post there, resolve the issue, and (hopefully) have you respond to the original post with a happy comment?
I’ve always been of the belief that even with very bad customer service, if it is resolved quickly, and is not repeated, then I tend to give them another chance. On the other hand if it is not resolved, or the response is inadequate, then I take my business elsewhere.
Yes I thought so too. Perhaps I worded it a bit strongly or something? To be fair there is another long-running thread about their QA problems…missing pieces, miscast pieces etc. that hasn’t been removed (yet?).
At any rate their turn-around time was less than impressive. I may use them again but I’ll see what state my current order arrives in. It’s probably worth continuing to deal with Historic Games because at least at a retailer you get to eyeball the blisters before paying the casssh.