Chocolatiers Fulfillment Update
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So, some Kickstarter backers are already receiving their copies of Chocolatiers, which is great! What’s not so great is that some of these games are being delivered damaged. David M. posted a Kickstarter update about the whole fiasco. This is what he said:
Greetings Chocolate Lovers...
Just once, I want a project to go right all the way from start to finish. Is that too much to ask?
Chocolatiers was all set to be that "golden" project, then SendFromChina screwed it up!
I knew this game, being a larger physical size than every other project we've fulfilled through SFC, needed to be shipped in packing boxes, not the plastic bags they use. I told them that. The price quote included boxes. I approved it as quoted. Guess what, they shipped it in those damned plastic bags.
I've heard from four backers so far...three of them were 'My game was damaged!"
I am so upset.
I emailed SFC yesterday and again this morning. No reply.
There are a lot of "I" statements above. Just one more...I'm sorry. This isn't our fault, it's SFC's fault, but I doubt they're going to step up and do the right thing. This will cost us a lot of money to fix and we'll lose as much as 50% of our retail stock and that expected revenue to replace damaged games.
Now, let's talk about "you".
When you get your rewards, please look at the game and if it's only a little dented, or if you can accept it as is, then excellent and THANKS A TON!
If it's very dented, or the contents are damaged, or you just can't accept it as is, then please email me at contact@dailymagicgames.com with a photo of the damage so I can log you for a replacement.
VERY IMPORTANT...if you need a replacement game, please keep the wood tokens that are packed inside the damaged game as the replacement copies WILL NOT have wood tokens.
Replacements will take up a month or more to arrive because all of the retail games are on the ocean, on the way to our distributor warehouse.
Hopefully, there will be a lot of you who get undamaged games or can accept the dings and dents that might be there, but if you need a replacement, please don't trash your original game. Donate the damaged copy (but keep the wood tokens) to a school or library so that others can play the game. I suspect they'll be happy to get even a banged up copy.
Again, Isaias and I are VERY sorry that this nearly perfect project has been fumbled in the final stage by a company we have used many times and trusted to get it right. Unless they surprise us by doing an incredible job of making this right by us, we will not be using them again.
I look forward to hearing from you if you need our assistance.
David & Isaias of Daily Magic Games
Since that update, SFC has got back in touch with us. They are aware of the problems and have acknowledged that it was their fault. They will be taking measures to resolve the issue, but we won't know how many games end up damaged until more backers receive their copies.
On our side, I think we’ve learned that even though we see a potential problem coming and make sure to call it out, negotiate certain terms, and agree to terms with a vendor, that it doesn’t hurt to quadruple check to make sure they are doing the thing we asked them to do several times. Every hurdle is a learning opportunity after all.
These issues only have the potential to affect the English Kickstarter backers. The German copies were shipped separately and the retail copies will be coming from our warehouse in Georgia.
This was a real damper to an otherwise successful and pleasant project experience. We will continue to fix any of the problems this has caused and keep everyone up-to-date if anything changes.
So far, the responses from backers has been very supportive. We are extremely grateful for how understanding everyone has been.
In the end, we’re still excited to resolve everything and get this game into more players’ hands with the retail copies we have left. This has been a passion project for Isaias and in the next few weeks I’ll be interviewing him on the creation and development of Chocolatiers, and why it was so important for him to see this little gem made for all to enjoy.
