Missing sprue?

[ExeterOborach]

Hello everyone,

Just wondering if anyone has ever ordered a kit from GW or from a LGS and found that an entire sprue was missing from the box? 

I ordered a Skyray and it was missing the sprue that has the missile rack.  I contacted customer service and they said they'd take care of it. 

Thanks. 

[Ahzek451]

I'm one of those fools that has spent waaaaay too much $$ on GW over the years and when it comes to plastic models I've very rarely had issues. I recall a deformed lord of change wing tip, cracked and busted plastic(likely due to shipping), and maybe out of 20+ years only seen one missing sprue. And maybe count on one hand the times I had a missing/wrong base (but way more instances of extra bases...bonus!!!).

 

I'll dig on GW for a mess of other reasons, but when it comes to missing parts and customer service, my hat tips to them. 

 

The early days of FW however...don't get me started haha. 

[Mike Zulu]

Once, a few years back, I ordered the Bastion kit from a local GW store, where half of the wall sprues were missing. They come in a duplicate set as each sprue has half the walls.
 

They were kind enough (though by Australian law they would be obligated…) to send a replacement without any fuss.

Hilariously, the second kit has the same problem: Only half of the wall sprues were in the box! It seemed whoever packed the entire batch only put 1 instead of 2 sprues per box.

 

Fortunately, by then I had a whole Bastion, so I thanked them and went on my way (I think I did end up with a second paraphet sprue for free, but I can’t recall).

 

 

[Lord_Ikka]

Only real problem I've ever had was one missing bike base in a Ravenwing Command box. Contacted Customer Service and they sent me a full 3 base set to replace it. Never had an issue with GW's customer service, they've always been good when I had any minor issues.

[MARK0SIAN]

I’ve never had an entire sprue missing but I have had a piece missing from a sprue before, it was a small bit so I’m guessing it was accidentally broken off before it was packed and no one noticed.

 

I contacted customer service and they quickly sent out a new sprue with the piece on. I’ll echo what others have said that their customer service is excellent.

[Irongert]

I have had a sprue missing once, but that was in a FW kit, the MK2B land raider. It did get resolved quickly so that was pretty good. With GW kits I never had any issues.

[Orion]

I had a Medusa carriage with two left recoil spades.
They just sent out a whole new carriage.

 

I then converted one of left spade into a matching right.

Leaving me with two for the price of one! (and some effort)

[Antarius]

I’ve had issues from time to time, but mostly with metal and (brrr!) finecast models. They’ve always been great about replacements, though.

[Firedrake Cordova]

GW's customer service is usually excellent.

 

Whilst miscasts and mis-packs do happen, they're pretty rare. Since the mid 1990's, I remember:

• Plastic dragon came with 2 identical wings - GW sent out replacement parts
• Box of Tau Barracuda's had half of the aerials snapped - GW sent out a new box
• Tomb Kings Battalion had the tails snapped on 2 of the horses - took it to a GW store and they swapped out the horses (they were going to just swap the box, but I figured just do the broken sprues, so there's no chance of getting another broken model)
• BFG Chaos battleship missing a sprue of weapons. This was during the mass-discontinuing of Specialist Games stuff - between GW sending it and me receiving it, it had disappeared from the web site. GW said they'd cast the parts as needed, and replaced the missing sprue.
• Various metal models have had miscast bits (less than 20 out of several hundred, probably), but they've always been replaced.
• Tau Ground Assets & Remora Drone barrels miscast - GW/FW sent a replacement pack out.

 

++EDIT: Forgot the BFG ship!  

Edited yesterday at 10:49 AM by Firedrake Cordova

[Special Officer Doofy]

For as much flack I give GW with bad decision making, their customer service is usually on point. I've had the opposite issue in the very early 2000's when Tau came out. I got extra gun drone sprues in 2 different fire warrior boxes but I didn't get any extra clear stands for them. I went to my childhood GW that was in a mall where I got the fire warriors from (that relocated and closed unfortunately) and told them I got extra gun drones in 2 different boxes and asked if I could just buy 4 clear stands from them. The two guys working there laughed at me and the situation, went in the back to get some and just gave me the extra clear stands for free.

 

I understand that was more so the two dudes working at the local shop and not so much "GW customer service", but in 2001ish and with me being a young and dumb teen, those two dudes were essentially GW to me haha.

[Xenith]

4 hours ago, ExeterOborach said:

I contacted customer service and they said they'd take care of it. 

 

Basically this. They used to ask for batch numbers etc, but now I think they might just ask for a pic? I ordered the nid battleforce with the haruspex from element games, the haruspex was missing the leg sprue, contacted them and they sent out a replacement immediately - you just have to go back to the original place you ordered from.

[WAR]

Over the years, any issues with GW or FW have been dealt with professionally and quickly. Can’t say the same about other companies 

[Orion]

Not sure if too off topic, (Mods?) but there's an old Reddit post I remember on how not to handle contacting support.

 

Quote

Most horrible customer experience with Forgeworld

Hobby & Painting

 

Hi Reddit community,

Unfortunately my first post is something pretty bad, but please enjoy for your own entertainment. I have left out some touching details and personal info and sometimes shortened it. I assure you that these eMails are true.

 

From me:

Dear Forge-World Team,

Recently I opened up some old boxes from my last move. To my delight I found a great unclean one from FW ! I searched all other boxes but Icouldn’t find the sword, tongue and horns. As this was a gift from my * he died of cancer three years ago, it would mean the world to me if I could receive these parts from you in order to finish it.

I would also order another Forgeworld miniature from you so that there would be no postage costs for you.

I would really appreciate it.

Yours very sincerely, Daniel

 

reply:

Hi Daniel,

We can certainly supply replacement parts for kits, but we do need the following information in order to do this -

1. A proof of purchase in the form of an order number or till receipt if purchased from Warhammer World or an event

2. The six digit batch or works order number for the kit. This is printed on the bottom of the barcode sticker attached to the box the kit was packed in.

3. A photograph of the front of the "working with resins" guide, showing the initials and date of the checker.

The most important information required is the proof or purchase, as with out a proof of purchase we would not be able to take this any further. The reason for this is that due to the sheer volume of re-casters and re-sellers out there, we have to make sure we are helping a Forge World customer with a Forge World kit.

Simon

Me:
Hi Simon,
I had to read your reply 3 times. I am literally under shock.
Can you pls check your database when I purchased this item from you. Do you even have data that is THAT old. I definitely bought a keeper of secrets from you. The greater unclean might be from eBay but I don't think by that time recasts were a big thing...
Sincerely, Dan

 

Reply:

Hi Daniel,

The information we requested is the information we request from everyone who contact us regarding replacement parts or instruction sheet. Many years ago we did not have to ask for this, but due to people taking advantage of this we had to change how we did things and ask for the information and we have done this for almost 10 years now.
Please note that if the kit was purchased via eBay, then we would not be able to help as it was not purchased directly from us. In instances such as this, we advise speaking to the seller, but this is not likely to be possible after this length of time.

We have checked our data base and we can find no orders under the address you provided with your family name. So, if the order was placed under a different name and address, if you can provide that, we can look further, but ideally we would need the order number for the kit.

 

Hello Simon,
not only did I wanted to pay for the missing parts, which seemingly I lost during the move, no I wanted to buy an additional mini (Cor'bax Utterblight) in order to save on the postage and further complete my Nurgle collection.

According to your answer, on a scale of 1-10, 1 is "****" to 10 "pls take my money", how would you and Forgeworld rate the chance that a. yes I understand you, pls let me order Cor'bax Utterblight anyways and keep the Greater Unclean One as a PAPERWEIGHT because I like being humiliated OR b. buy the missing parts from a recaster which took me like 10 seconds on Google search and buy my future Forgeworld models...in seemingly Russia (:cuss:).

If you want to protect your precious, precious IP you should have done something BEFORE making the most despicable customer decisions.
If you seriously think about protecting your Forgeworld models you should insert an NFC-Chip in your casts with an NFT (ask your IT department). Not only do I allow myself to post this conversation in forums but I am appalled that after 34 years into the hobby I have to proof that I am not a thief. ME- PROOF.

Yet I still don't give up on humanity and you.

I can weigh the mini and you get in touch with your casters and I am sure the recasters either hollow them out or use a different resin of other density. How about that ?

Either way I would like to tell you that in the past I have worked with Talima Fox and Marc Bretthauer-Baum, both from GW, on this very issue - recasts. By then we were hunting down recasts from China.
That this would concern me one day on the receiving end - I would have never dreamed of that.
Please get back in touch with me or your superior.

 

 

I mean am I too harsh or what is this thing ? Do I have to provide stool and blood samples next time I want to buy sth from FW ?

Cheers guys

 

TLDR:

Guy says he buys a Great Unclean One from eBay.
Then says it's a gift from his dead dad.

Wants parts to fix it from FW.

Says he bought a Keeper of Secrets in the past (for some reason)
They kindly ask many different options of proof of purchase

He abuses them

Says he used to work fighting recasters for GW (Batman?)

Posts Reddit rant

[Bouargh]

Miscasts yes, I used to have. And in that case either I had a swap in the GW store or they sent me a sustitution product when it was dealt in e-shop or in retailers. Without requiring devolution of the failed product in the latter cases. It happened to me a few times in the 90´s early 2000 (4-5 max); but since that era, not a single failure. Always swift and efficient.

Because of that I usually check the box at the store if it is a presencial buy - this is how I experience the only missing sprue experience I can remember. The GW manager just changed the box at the instant seing obviously that it was not a malign intent.

 

What happened yet is, and more regularly, presence of extra stuff. Usually bases in excess - up to twice the amount needed - but once I had a FW Predator Inferno with a serious amount of duplicated parts. Not enough though to build 2 full Magnamelta turrets, but almost.

I wont cry for that. It corresponded (for a while) ata period where products shipped came with a small sticked label or paper identfying who prepared it. Since, this disappeared.

[Cenobite Terminator]

Their customer service is spot on.

[DuskRaider]

I actually had to contact GW about the recent Dire Wolf Command Terminal kerfuffle (website said two terminals, box only came with one). I provided them with the order number and they sent me a new one along with a new sheet of weapons cards, no issues. Great customer service. 

[TheArtilleryman]

Only one time, about 25 years ago. I got the Wood Elf Lord on Forest Dragon for a present and the big metal torso piece was missing. We went back into our local GW, which at the time was the Nottingham Friar Lane store, and they sorted it out no trouble. If I remember right, they opened another new box to give us the missing piece, rather than just swapping the box, to make sure we didn’t get home and have the same issue again.

Edited 2 hours ago by TheArtilleryman

[TheArtilleryman]

On 7/26/2024 at 9:38 AM, Orion said:

Not sure if too off topic, (Mods?) but there's an old Reddit post I remember on how not to handle contacting support.

 

 

TLDR:

Guy says he buys a Great Unclean One from eBay.
Then says it's a gift from his dead dad.

Wants parts to fix it from FW.

Says he bought a Keeper of Secrets in the past (for some reason)
They kindly ask many different options of proof of purchase

He abuses them

Says he used to work fighting recasters for GW (Batman?)

Posts Reddit rant

lol he never even said he wanted to buy the missing parts in the first place - he just asked to “receive” them… what a numbskull