And the battle begins...

[wisetiger7]

Okay I have a gripe. Most of you probably know my feelings about old Red Castle. Upon recommendation from a few of you, I gave them another chance. I ordered a bunch of infinity models through them (over $200 worth). They said it would take three or four days to get it all in (except for the preorder model, which is understandable). It took about a week, which was fine, since I live pretty far away, and usually only drive into Portland proper on the weekends. When I got there, they said one of the models didn't come in. So I said that was fine, just let me know when it gets in. I waited in line for about 25 minutes.

 

They called me a week later saying there was some mix up at the distributor, and they reordered the model through another distributor. They said it would be in the next day's shipment. I called the next day (now being wary of driving all the way there for no reason). It wasn't there yet, so I told them just to call me when it came in. A week and a half goes by, they call me up in the middle of the week and tell me it's there, and I told them I'd be in on Saturday to pick it up.

 

I get there on Saturday morning with Muskrat, on my way down to Salem for a fishing trip, and there's a god damn line of like 25 people just waiting. I let them know I just have an order to pick up that I already paid for and they tell me to get in line. Meanwhile I'm getting mean-mugged by all the magic nerds in line; apparently there was a new expansion out or something. Mind you they had one person in the back, a person at the register helping people, and another one just bullsh*tting with the one at the register and distracting her, he wasn't helping anyone at all. After a half hour of that bull[big bad swear word] I just left. A half hour. Just to pick something up that I already paid for. And there were still 20 people ahead of me when I walked out.

 

I call the next week, and they said that I can come in and pick it up, but they said the preorder model would be coming in the next week. I told them just to call me when it came in and I could pick up both models at the same time. 5 weeks go by (after me calling once a week to see if they got it in yet. They called last Thursday, and I told them I would be in mid-week to pick it up. I go in yesterday, in a time constraint on my way to a meeting. Some dick is complaining about some membership crap. Fine. Whatever. Then the next person in line is some spoiled little teenage girl building a netdeck, and is looking for every card in the damn deck apparently, so she takes forever. 25 minutes later, her grandpa pays for her refuse. I get my order and walk out. Drive like a maniac to make my schedule.

 

I put the order in Sept 5th. I get the last of my order Nov 18th. That's 74 days ladies and gentlemen. Now, even considering the preorder, which they said would be in Oct 1st. I didn't get a call to pick it up until 6 weeks later. 6 weeks.

 

Now, I have to say, at least the people are nice now. They actually like customers this time around. Maybe because the people I've talked to were female, not some power-hungry douche-nozzles like the old days. Still. Upon insistence that they've changed their ways, I gave them another chance. Something I swore I would never do. It took me 74 days to get my stuff. Now, I'm all in for supporting LGSs. I try to shop at smaller stores or locally owned stores for my stuff whenever logic dictates. And have been nothing but pleased with some stores, most notably Guardian. When I get a call from GG, I go in, and I'm out the door in less than 5 minutes, even when they have a yugioh or magic tournament going on. I also happened to stop by Guardian right after Red Castle yesterday on my way to the meeting to pick up the KoW book I had on hold there. literally less than 60 seconds in and out. But 74 days, and waiting in line for a cumulative of an hour and 45 minutes (not counting how much longer it would have taken had I actually stayed during the apparent magic fest), I have deemed Red Castle now completely a lost cause.

 

I know some of you like that place. I appreciate that. But for me, for someone who has to drive 25 minutes into town, and just wants to pick up something they already paid for without waiting a minimum of half an hour, it is definitely not worth it. I'd easily rather go to Guardian and pay the extra 20% and get my stuff promptly and get checked out quickly, than spend another minute at Red Castle.

[Peanut]

I hate to admit it but I've had the same problems at Red Castle. It's still my favorite game store, but yeah the wait is always terrible and I've had order issues too. My last order took 5 weeks and it was something the distributor had in stock. They also had a mix up with the distributor.

 

So you're getting in to KoW! Any chance you'll join us on Tuesdays for a game? Probably not since you're out of town but we want to grow our ranks a bit.

[Jay]

Honestly I think ordering Infinity has something more to do with it. I've ordered other things from both RC and GG without any trouble. But after three cancelled Infinity orders through GG and two ridiculous waits for product to come into RC as well I've given up on getting the minis locally. I've been ordering from Infinityharbour.com because they are getting stock in directly from Corvus Belli and they have terrain and accessories from their partner companies.

[Don't Panic]

yea i went in about a month ago and asked the guy about how ordering infinity and he told me they have had a lot of frustration with their distributors with infinity and were switching it up.  yea hope they get it fixed but man that is freaking rough to wait that long and fight through the whiney magic brats to pick crap up.  you and RC were definitely not meant to be it seems!

[Torg]

I've simply resorted to ordering minis online… ebay/ or amazon or CMoN… to my PO box…never a problem.  Sad - but I have just had to many of those problems at the LGS I have tried.  I go to Guardian and other LGS's here and there - if I see something I want on the shelf - I almost always just order it online and forget the hassle.  There is only one game store within 20 miles of my house… (ancient wonders) - so I just don't bother anymore.  I am planning to take a look at Boarderlands and Haven games in salem again… just because they are just as close as Guardian for me.

 

Last things I ordered for a game store was the GW store in SE PDX… but that was preorder harlequin stuff last winter lol.

 

-d

[indytims]

We have a similar experience on the other side of the river.

 

Dice Age doesn't stock Infinity, and the reason they give is because the line is simply too big. I've ordered a few figs from them with VERY random results, so I don't bother. Hence, I don't go there much anymore.

 

I also ordered some figs from the store near my house (Super Salty - now Fate and Fury), and half the order was 'out of stock', while the other half arrived within 4-5 days.

 

Tiger, I feel your pain, and while I try to back my LGS whenever I can (except when it comes to GW product), what you've experienced there would put me off going back, for good. Time is our most precious commodity, and they've wasted a crapload of yours, whether by their own doing or not.

 

Just my grumpy-old-man opinion, though.

[NakedPanda]

This is a good problem to have though right?

 

Frustrating in the short term, but it means more people are getting in to the game.

 

Very much a better problem to have than too much stock I think, as that means no one is buying in!

[Raindog]

WiseTiger,

 

Ugh, So frustrating.

 

[wisetiger7]

So I am in the process of moving, finally. My first few weeks at the new job have been great. Things are a little busier here, but also a little more lax in some ways. A lot more events and conferences.

 

I signed papers last Thursday for my new place, so I'm packing up my stuff for the move on Saturday. So come Christmas time I should be more available for games once I get settled in.

 

Scared Hitless had a little get-together for Aaron's (Muskrat) birthday a couple weekends ago, and rented out Level Up (second floor of Critical Sip at Guardian. I got in a game against a new guy Joe, who I recruited (muhahaha). We had a central comm tower, and the objective was whoever had the most models on the platform at the end of 3 won. I was more objective oriented, so I ended up winning, though he took out a good number of my models. Good lord, Ariadna has a ton of rules to learn. I'm a bit more polished on the rules than Joe, so I did most of the looking up as I knew where they were in the rulebook. Also played a game of KoW, and it just seemed like an incredibly stress-free game. I had a ton of fun (against Frazier no less  ), even losing as bad as I did.

 

I am still gunning for making Rampage, assuming I have everything ready by then. I don't know how long it will take to set up my apartment. A lot of new furniture coming soon. Ugh.

[wisetiger7]

I have finally moved everything out of the old apartment and into my new one. Now I have to unpack the oh-so-many-boxes. Sigh. Once I finish unpacking (or at least enough so that I can move around) I'll fix my dining room table and set up shop. The goal is to get my army table ready for Rampage. It's gonna be a couple hectic weeks. Lol.