Reply: Glory to Rome:: News:: Re: Update #28 - Rome wasn't shipped in a day

by topherr

Let's try this again.

MusicToEat wrote:

Doesn't seem too clever to me. Seems more like an attempt to deflect blame. "It wasn't our fault they didn't ship the week of June 29th, you just misunderstood what you were told". THAT'S how it comes across.

I understand that this is honestly how it came across to you. I checked with Chris. After apologizing profusely for his choice of words, he confirmed that, in fact, it was only meant as an expression, and not as any kind of abdication of responsibility. We're sorry that's that's how you read it.

topherr wrote:

Why didn't Chris explain the delay? Mainly because he's pretty much running ragged helping on this huge logistical challenge - organizing rewards packets being sent out to Europe, creating shipping labels for each individual Asian supporter, etc.

MusicToEat wrote:

Got it, so he's got plenty of time to come up with "clever turns of phrases", but can't spare 2 seconds to explain why the shipments have been delayed or why he didn't feel it necessary to inform your customers of this fact for over a month.

Chris doesn't spend oodles of time coming up with wording choices. He was in a hurry and, I think, didn't in fact think a lot about how it might come across. I don't event think we was trying to be clever. And there's no way that an explanation would just take 2 seconds, or even 5 minutes.

MusicToEat wrote:

I don't expect you to keep apologizing for past mistakes, but when you make new ones, yeah an apology is kind of in order. It's actually the least you could do.

I guess I don't have precisely the same quantum view of this process that you do. It's a long process, a learning one for me and for our team. Still, I believe we have continued to apologize at pretty much each step along the way. More importantly, we are giving every single backer - including Rubble backers - a free copy of Plato 3000, a rummy-style card game with brand new cool art:


Because words are cheap, and nothing says sorry like swag.

topherr wrote:

The base reason for the delay, I believe, is that the Groton team is just coordinating so many things in so many places. And we're trying to get everything right. Including Rubble.

MusicToEat wrote:

Really? That's why Rubble orders have been delayed for over a month? Really? I think the base reason for the delay is because the items needed for the Rubble orders were either not included on the main air shipment as promised OR the main air shipment never happened or was significantly delayed.

So here's my non-2 second explanation:

:bd6-1: The air shipment arrived in Boston on June 29. It contained everything necessary to fulfill Rubble orders. It did not, however, include Mat Risers, one of the rewards options. We get our Mat Risers directly from a US company (based in North Carolina, IIRC). I believe that Ed had some with him in Holland, and brought them to Groton when he arrived from Amsterdam first week of July.
:bd6-2: The Groton team is fulfilling rewards worldwide, even in cases where the actual Black Box is shipped from somewhere else. For example, we air shipped games directly from Shanghai all over Asia, but these air shipments only included the Black Box, not the rewards. Those come later, from Groton.
:bd6-3: The Groton team - including 2 brand new employees - started organizing the rewards along with the Rubble orders, as soon as the air shipment arrived. In addition, 2 of the 4 team members have been chasing down hundreds of stores worldwide, to finalize shipping arrangments.
:bd6-4: The Groton team is sending out a package to Europe, hopefully later this week, with all the European Rubble orders AND all the European rewards.
:bd6-5: There are, according to our spreadsheet, just 22 Rubble backers in the US - including you - out of 1612 total world-wide orders.
:bd6-6: Given all these logistics, and the many chances for mistakes, the Groton team did not prioritize sending out these 22 packages ahead of the other international Rubble orders, and the 1500 or so Black Box orders. Our best guess is that these 22 packages - including yours - will go out next week.

As I have written repeatedly, these logistics are hard. Very hard. We're just doing our best.

MusicToEat wrote:

Otherwise, if the items needed for the Rubble orders were included in the main air shipment as promised AND the main air shipment left on time, that would mean that you've been sitting on complete Rubble orders for over a month and your excuse for them not shipping is "the Groton team is just coordinating so many things in so many places. And we're trying to get everything right. Including Rubble". Just how long does it take you guys to ensure an order is right anyway?

Yes, that's the story. To give you an idea of what it takes to get order this, let's consider your order. For $8 (plus $3 shipping, as applicable), we first make sure that you get what we promised all Rubble supports - "a 39 Card mini-expansion for GLORY TO ROME I.V (the existing edition) including: 6x Merchant Bonus Cards, 15 x Republic Buildings (Crane, Tribunal, Domus Aurea, Forum Romanum), 18 x Exclusive Promo Cards." Then we make sure that we're sure whether it's going to a personal address or picked up at a store to save the three bucks. Then we add a free copy of the card game Plato 3000. Then we check, and then double check the rewards the person has asked for - in your case 4 out of a possible 6 rewards (of which some rewards are sometimes duplicated). Then, if Groton is sure it's correct, it gets sent out.

topherr wrote:

You may be, fairly dramatically, done with us.

MusicToEat wrote:

Wow, so now I'm being dramatic huh? After months and months of miscommunication and no communication, after multiple delays that were entirely the fault of your company, after being repeatedly told that you were making changes so these mistakes wouldn't happen again, and then those same mistakes happening again and again, and then finally being told my order would ship a month ago, and continuing to wait patiently even after multiple inquiries going ignored, and then after my question is finally answered in a dismissive manner, I then finally say "you know what, this company is just so hopelessly mismanaged I don't think I want to do business with them any more" I'm being dramatic?

Look, it seems like your plain intent was to tell as many people as you could just why we suck. In detail. So you did.

MusicToEat wrote:

You're not trained in customer relations are you?

Nope, I'm just a lawyer. Never had a customer relations job my entire life. Also, I spent 7 formative years in Hell's Kitchen, near Time Square. It's probably fair to say, as my wife often does, that I could be more tactful. I just call it like I see it, and try to do my best.

topherr wrote:

But we're not done with you. We'll make sure that we get your order right, and get it to you.

MusicToEat wrote:

That's nice, what with you having taken my money for said product almost a year ago and all. It's very noble of you to, even in the face of all my months and months of patience, still be willing to fulfill your end of the bargain. You, sir, are clearly a paragon of business.

I never claimed to be noble, or a paragon of business. In the end, we believe that we're supplying a superior product at a pretty low price, and we hope that the value we give makes up for these delays and communication lapses. If you disagree, we understand completely.

MusicToEat wrote:

The drama queen,
Brian

I never called you names, and I don't think that I implied you were a drama queen. I certainly didn't mean to, nothing you said offended me. But however justified you might be in your anger over the hard-earned money you spent on this a year ago, I think that "fairly dramatic" is an honest summary of your post.

I also want to add that since this post, I sent you a personal geekmail, giving you my office number and my cell number. You wrote back that you were declining to take me up on my offer to discuss this. Fair enough. We'll try to get you your stuff as soon as we can. In the mean time, call me if you like, and let's see if we can resolve this with civility.

P.S. - Just got off the phone with Chris. The games have arrived at Groton and are, as I type, being unloaded off the truck. All 11,507.937 pounds of games (per the Bill of Lading). Yes, literally more than 5 tons of Black Boxes!