Customer Service

I have had several experiences over the last few months for which I would very much like to call out some of the excellent customer service I have received.

It's funny - customer service is something that we usually don't think about until something goes wrong. In gaming, that means misprints and damaged/defective/missing components.  When I order a product and it arrives in a reasonable time, it never occurs to me to even think about the customer service I've received, even though it was there.

The gaming industry is small enough that the publishers try very hard not to get a reputation for bad (or even mediocre) customer service.

So how do you ask for help when you want and/or need it?

Before you ask, do your homework - find out who their point of contact is. It doesn't do me any good to ask Atlas Games' web designer for help if I'm missing a pawn from my copy of Recess.

Here are a few simple rules:

Rule One: Be honest, polite, and respectful.

A few months back, my wife purchased for me (as a gift) most of Dominion. She bought it second-hand from a co-worker. There are now only two sets I lack, in fact. At the time she purchased it, there was a question as to whether the included sets were complete or not. So I sent a quick message to Jay of Rio Grande Games.

"My wife purchased (second-hand) a bundle of Dominion along with the expansions. Several pieces may be missing - is it possible to purchase single cards or other components directly through you, as needed to complete the set?"

It was only a few hours before Jay got back to me, asking what I was missing.  As it turns out, the sets were complete - but I am confident that he would have sent me any missing parts (possibly for a small fee, but that's only appropriate when I purchased second-hand).

And it probably goes without saying, but do your homework and ask the right person. Check the company's website to see if they have a customer service contact. If I ask the webmaster for a PDF, it won't do much good. Sometimes, you need to start your e-mail with, "I'm not sure if I have the correct person for this - if you are not the correct person, can you please forward this to the appropriate party?"

Rule Two: Don't be afraid to ask.

The worst thing a publisher can do is turn you down or ignore you. If this happens, you're out the ten minutes or so it took to type the e-mail.

As you may recall, I'm a big fan of the Bits and Mortar program. Now, I was browsing their site, and I realized that I have books from several of these publishers where I don't have the PDF versions. So I sent off some e-mails.

One publisher I contacted is not a current participant in the program, but their game had been distributed by another publisher who was a part of the program.

"I realize," I asked him, "that you aren't listed as a participant in the program, but I was wondering if you were considering membership or if you provide a discount code for DriveThru for people who have purchased print copies of your books."

I got the PDF. For free. It was accompanied by a brief note, "We are not currently running the bits and mortar program. However, as a gesture of goodwill and to say thanks for buying the game, I have sent you a Drivethru link to allow you to download a free copy."

If I hadn't asked, I wouldn't have received the PDF.

Rule Three: Be prepared to back it up.

The publisher may ask for some proof if you're asking for something for free that isn't a broken/missing/defective piece. Sometimes, they may ask for proof of defective or broken pieces.

I asked both Pelgrane Press and Mongoose Publishing for a variety of PDF files. Both are Bits and Mortar participants. In the case of Pelgrane, I'd had some of the books since before the program existed - and I told them that in my e-mail (Rule One). I didn't have receipts for any of these products.

Both publishers responded within a day or two. Both requested photos of the products to prove that I had them. This was easily done.

I had the PDF files within a day of sending in the photos.

Rule Four: Be as clear as possible.

Your e-mail should spell out what you have, then what you want.  Most of the letters I sent boiled down to: "I have X. I would like Y. What steps do I need to take?"

If you send an e-mail to a publisher that says, "I bought a book. Can I get the PDF?" The first thing they'll do is ask you "Which book?"  Or "I bought a game and it was missing a piece," they need to know which game and which piece.

If it's a missing promo, then it gets a bit stickier. Sometimes. This happened to me at GenCon a few years ago:  "I bought Mutant Chronicles at GenCon. It was my understanding that I was supposed to get a promo figure with that purchase - when I got home, I didn't see it in my packaging. Is this piece still available? If so, how do I go about getting one?"

An hour later, I had an e-mail from Fantasy Flight asking for my shipping address.

Some people will say, "I'm missing X, please ship replacements to:"  This is perfectly acceptable - just be polite. And remember that some publishers have a set procedure for replacement that they have to follow.  It's not the publisher's fault things were broken in shipping or misprinted or mispacked at the factory. Sometimes they have these procedures to they can figure out where the screw-up occurred (and prevent the mistake in the future).

I don't always get what I want, but I've found that - by following these four simple rules - I am successful more often than not.

Reading, Prepping, and Playing

It's this blog's equivalent of a clip show!

I'm only half joking.

Here's what has kept me occupied through the end of 2011 and is likely to keep me going through the first part of 2012:

A co-worker bought a copy of Lu Zhan Jun Qi for me for Christmas. It reminds me strongly of Stratego. In a good way. The copy I received is as pictured on the page I linked, too.  It's gorgeous.

Asmodee gifted me with a copy of Eclipse.  It scratches that Twilight Imperium itch in about half the time. Not only that, but I like it quite a bit more than TI - the rules are clearer with less errata and no need for an expansion to fix its problems.

Tonight, I hope to introduce my usual Wednesday crowd to Quebec.  It was (for me) the Game of the Show at GenCon. I hope the Wednesday crowd takes to it as quickly.

Takenoko was in the same package as both Eclipse and Quebec. My first thought was, "Cute panda figure!" And then I had a chance to play. I like this game - it's cute-looking, but don't late that deceive you.  There is a surprising amount of game in the box.

I'm enjoying Mongoose's participation in the Bits and Mortar program. I've filled in my RuneQuest II (now Legend) PDF's, and have grabbed most of my Traveller PDFs, as well. I really only need the core book most of the time.

Speaking of Traveller, I grabbed Chthonian Stars. It makes me really want to run a Traveller game.

I have also taken advantage of Pelgrane Press' participation in the Bits & Mortar program.  I have most of the Gumshoe core books (lacking only Night's Black Agents), and so got those PDF's.  And finally had a chance to read through them and spend some time thinking about them. Wow. I knew Gumshoe was an awesome system, but on re-reading, it really shines. Most games have an "automatic success" threshold somewhere in the rulebook - Gumshoe basically says, "if it's essential to drive the story, then it's an automatic success.  Players can exert themselves for extra information if they want to."

I managed to acquire another PDF reader for the table, too. A customer gifted me with a Cydle M7.  It's less powerful than my Kindle Fire, but will work as a PDF reader. We plan to use it as a cookbook in the kitchen - its built-in stand makes it ideal for that purpose.

And Cubicle 7 continues to hold my interest. I now own all of Qin: The Warring States. Well, all of it that's available in English, that is. The next book is reportedly suffering from some translation issues - which is perfectly understandable from where I'm sitting. Of course, I've spent most of the last decade working with a French publisher on translations ...

I hear from people that I don't give FFG enough credit for their good games.  And it's true - I don't. Part of that is because I'm not buying any Games-Workshop licensed products. This removes the vast majority of FFG's output from my shopping list immediately. But I've played a few of them - and, for the most part, I do enjoy their board games.  In the next year, however, two of my most-anticipated games are coming from FFG, both of them reprints of a sort (and neither of them is Merchant of Venus).

Rex: Final Days of an Empire is FFG's rethemed reprint of the old Avalon Hill/Eon Dune board game. I have a copy already, but the reprint means I may be able to actually get it to the table.

They're also reprinting WizWar.  Again: I have a copy, but it never sees the table these days. Which is a shame, because it's fun.

And, finally, a reminder of my post from yesterday: Gaming at Phoenix Games in Mukilteo for New Year's Eve. We'd love to see you there.