Hi Benita,
Thanks for passing along the customer complaint so we can respond.
The customer, Angelina V
Campos, already contacted our support team on Monday, March 28th @ 4:50pm and we responded Wednesday, Mar @ 2:24pm(see attachment for photo that includes email support history with the customer) She requested a refund and wanted to return her order because she “expected the product she purchased to be an actual board game”Her claim is that the game was falsely advertised but we have reviewed the online shop page for the product, called “***”, and verified that this is not the caseThis game has been purchased in the past without customer complaints so there’s no evidence to show that advertising is to blameWe also asked a couple other people in our community to look at the game and they understood what was included in the componentsYou can view the online shop page for it here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/***There is a section at the top of the page called “Components” that lists everything included in the gameThe disconnect here is that she somehow assumed she would be getting a thick game board made of materials like wood? We do have the capability to produce thicker game boards but if the game included one then it would show this on the game’s list of componentsInstead it is "Large Square Mat"Mats are made out of a very high quality 305gsm card stock, not “a piece of paper” like she saysThis was a design decision by the game designer and so that’s why it includes that componentHowever, if a game includes a game board then it is clearly listed in the components box(see an example here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/zerpang-)
I should include some context in terms of how our online shop worksHere’s a breakdown of how our service works:
Tabletop Game Designers from around the world use our service and we print/manufacture custom board games for themDesigners can choose to self-publish their game and sell it in our online shop(i.elike ***)
When a customer buys the game, we print and ship it to the customerThen we pay the designer royalties for each saleSo the games are owned and created by users in our online communityAnd we are just the fulfillment partnerWe do not allow returns on products because every game we sell is custom printed on demand and then shipped to the customerThis is clearly explained in our return policy as well as in our terms of use under section number The customer did receive a fully functional tabletop game that is 100% playable and designed according to the specifications of the game designerWe did provide her with the game designer’s contact info in case she wanted to talk to him about thisBut from our end, the product was manufactured from scratch and shipped to the customer per our agreementIf the customer was unsure what they were getting before purchasing, she had the ability to contact the game designer (designer's name is listed on the shop page and clicking on the link provides you with the game designer’s contact email) and get clarificationLet me know if you have any further questions and I’ll be happy to helpI’ll be exhibiting at a game convention this weekend and leaving tomorrowSo my response may be a bit delayed while I’m working the show floorThanks
Regards,
My name is [redacted] and I am a representative of The Game Crafter. This email is The Game Crafter’s response to the complaint filed by [redacted].The Customer’s statement of the problem is fairly accurate save for a minor detail.1. The customer states “Since their website did not indicate exactly how long it would take for my purchase to arrive…” This statement is incorrect as we state on several pages throughout our checkout process an “estimated ship date” based on our current production queue and the items associated with the order. While it’s not “exact” as she claims it still gives a reasonable expectation of when things should ship.Our response to the customer seemed reasonable as I’m not sure why it’s the fault of the business that she didn’t receive the items and why the business is responsible for reshipping at their expense. There are mail holds the customer could have placed on anything going to that address, they could have shipped to a more stable address (work or friend), or any number of other things that could have done to avoid the situation completely. Regardless, of all of that we did end up shipping the package out again at our own expense. We are unable to refund as everything we produce is done specifically for the customer who orders it. This is stated very clearly on our site. The nature of our business (Custom board and card games) means that we can’t just resell things returned to us.We don’t feel we did anything incorrectly in the initial handling of this incident and the fact that a complaint as flimsy as this could affect our rating with your organization is unacceptable.Please let me know if you have any other follow up questions or need any other clarification. I would appreciate a follow up regarding the conclusions reached by your investigation.Thank you,[redacted]
Hi Benita,
Thanks for passing along the customer complaint so we can respond.
The customer, Angelina V
Campos, already contacted our support team on Monday, March 28th @ 4:50pm and we responded Wednesday, Mar @ 2:24pm(see attachment for photo that includes email support history with the customer) She requested a refund and wanted to return her order because she “expected the product she purchased to be an actual board game”Her claim is that the game was falsely advertised but we have reviewed the online shop page for the product, called “***”, and verified that this is not the caseThis game has been purchased in the past without customer complaints so there’s no evidence to show that advertising is to blameWe also asked a couple other people in our community to look at the game and they understood what was included in the componentsYou can view the online shop page for it here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/***There is a section at the top of the page called “Components” that lists everything included in the gameThe disconnect here is that she somehow assumed she would be getting a thick game board made of materials like wood? We do have the capability to produce thicker game boards but if the game included one then it would show this on the game’s list of componentsInstead it is "Large Square Mat"Mats are made out of a very high quality 305gsm card stock, not “a piece of paper” like she saysThis was a design decision by the game designer and so that’s why it includes that componentHowever, if a game includes a game board then it is clearly listed in the components box(see an example here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/zerpang-)
I should include some context in terms of how our online shop worksHere’s a breakdown of how our service works:
Tabletop Game Designers from around the world use our service and we print/manufacture custom board games for themDesigners can choose to self-publish their game and sell it in our online shop(i.elike ***)
When a customer buys the game, we print and ship it to the customerThen we pay the designer royalties for each saleSo the games are owned and created by users in our online communityAnd we are just the fulfillment partnerWe do not allow returns on products because every game we sell is custom printed on demand and then shipped to the customerThis is clearly explained in our return policy as well as in our terms of use under section number The customer did receive a fully functional tabletop game that is 100% playable and designed according to the specifications of the game designerWe did provide her with the game designer’s contact info in case she wanted to talk to him about thisBut from our end, the product was manufactured from scratch and shipped to the customer per our agreementIf the customer was unsure what they were getting before purchasing, she had the ability to contact the game designer (designer's name is listed on the shop page and clicking on the link provides you with the game designer’s contact email) and get clarificationLet me know if you have any further questions and I’ll be happy to helpI’ll be exhibiting at a game convention this weekend and leaving tomorrowSo my response may be a bit delayed while I’m working the show floorThanks
Regards,
My name is [redacted] and I am a representative of The Game Crafter. This email is The Game Crafter’s response to the complaint filed by [redacted].The Customer’s statement of the problem is fairly accurate save for a minor detail.1. The customer states “Since their website did not indicate exactly how long it would take for my purchase to arrive…” This statement is incorrect as we state on several pages throughout our checkout process an “estimated ship date” based on our current production queue and the items associated with the order. While it’s not “exact” as she claims it still gives a reasonable expectation of when things should ship.Our response to the customer seemed reasonable as I’m not sure why it’s the fault of the business that she didn’t receive the items and why the business is responsible for reshipping at their expense. There are mail holds the customer could have placed on anything going to that address, they could have shipped to a more stable address (work or friend), or any number of other things that could have done to avoid the situation completely. Regardless, of all of that we did end up shipping the package out again at our own expense. We are unable to refund as everything we produce is done specifically for the customer who orders it. This is stated very clearly on our site. The nature of our business (Custom board and card games) means that we can’t just resell things returned to us.We don’t feel we did anything incorrectly in the initial handling of this incident and the fact that a complaint as flimsy as this could affect our rating with your organization is unacceptable.Please let me know if you have any other follow up questions or need any other clarification. I would appreciate a follow up regarding the conclusions reached by your investigation.Thank you,[redacted]