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Dysartes wrote: I do wonder if they knew the S&H charges had been loaded into BackerKit by their third party, given all we were being asked to do was confirm our shipping addresses at the time, not pay for S&H.
honestly, i suspect similar. i also suspect that the high charges for the international ones are probably said company calculating them to include the shipping from the main warehouse to the hub's. which is a cost that CGL was going to cover, so that they could give lower more local shipping costs to the backers.
$101 in shipping for the Battalion ($275) to Arkansas. If that doesn't get corrected, I doubt I will ever do another KS. I do want to know the Shipper so I can check with my other outstanding KS and prepare to cancel them if they are using the same one. At these mark-ups, I'd rather wait on msrp.
The News and Rumors section is all about surprises. I'd certainly hate it if we got 100 posts saying "I know something you don't know..." - malfred
Mykaelya Stakepoole grew up reading both Harlequin romances and BattleTech novels. When she saw the breathtaking portrait of Ilkhan Alaric Ward, she knew she had to blend both genres into a scintillating fusion of a story that demanded to be told.
Now, for the first time, comes the story of Alaric’s breathtaking passion for conquering Terra….but what woman would issue the Trial of Possession for his heart?
I mean I'm sure i've read worse sci-fi novels. Maybe a good way to get the misses into battletech lore as well.
it's the quiet ones you have to look out for. Their the ones that change the world, the loud ones just take the credit for it.
Project Update #84 wrote:Posted by Catalyst Games Apr 2, 2024
View on Kickstarter Dear backers,
Quick update, as we know you are waiting to hear from us today. We have a meeting set with QML at 4-5pm ET today to go through all of our questions and anomalies we've found. We'll then make an action plan, and get a backer update out this evening.
The QML meeting is also the same time as Tuesday Newsday, so we'll be pushing the stream back two hours, and Rem will talk about the plan of action.
Stay tuned, and we'll have more for you later today.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2024/04/02 14:22:22
The fun is about to start. If Catalyst locks comments on the stream there will be torches, and pitchforks in other channels decrying Loren's blackheart, if comments are left up it will be open season between the Catalyst is the SL reborn, and they are the worst thing since Amaris crowd as feelings are running high. I've been critical of them but I wish them luck, I do think the blame lies on them for not negotiating a futures contract on shipping the moment the KS ended, but that's an error, not the desire to skim extra millions of dollars from the fans.
M.
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
Blame absolutely rests with CGL. I agree it may not have been malicious, but if the end result is that Kickstarter backers end up paying above retail for their stuff, then it still wrecks their reputation. They hardly covered themselves in glory with the Clans campaign, after all, and this time around they can't hide behind the excuse that they didn't really know what they were doing. It would also throw their promise to be looking after the brick and mortar shops into sharp relief.
In fact it would be the worst position possible, as CGL themselves don't get any additional cash that they could use to develop new stuff.
And being even more hyperbolic, there would be 24,000 backers who every time they look at their little bits of plastic on the game board, they would remember the disappointment of how they obtained them.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2024/04/02 15:45:03
Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!
Considering KS like this spend all the money on production once they get it; it could get even worse. Many might well pull out of backing and mass-demand refunds.
This could not only destroy their reputation, but also their finances, cash flow and even relationship with bank/KS/after KS services.
So if they can't find a way to mediate/cover the costs or otherwise lower the cost to the consumer (or find there's an insane glitch in the system that gave inflated shipping costs); then it could sink them or cripple their growth for years.
You see, i really liked them bringing back the game from oblivion after the collapse of FASA and FanPro but if they loose my trust, they may collapse too without shedding a tear from me.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
After researching these shipping charges, we have discovered a couple of errors. First, there was an error in the upload of the shipping charges form that included the total amount of shipping, handling, and fees, instead of JUST shipping. Additionally, we identified that the Savannahs Battlemat listed the wrong dimensions (instead, with the dimensions of a BFM). Most backers receive the free Battlemat with their order, so this erroneously upped the shipping fees due to large box dimensions. Because this affects all Veteran and above backers, QML needs to re-work the entire shipping upload, which will take some time.
Once both fixes are made, 95% of all orders are going to be under $150 for your total amount of shipping. Those remaining we believe are non-continental US, the rest of the world (outside of hub centers) stores, and similar extremely large orders.
Backers that had zero shipping listed were finalized after QML received their last data pull in December, so we'll be sending the updated list to them, as well. There were also some odd $1 shipping amounts that did not import correctly through the upload, and this will be updated.
Finally, the April 12th deadline is removed. We will take as long as it needs to fix all issues.
We had genuinely hoped that this would be an easy process, and are deeply apologetic for the undue stress this has caused all of you. But rest assured that we are committed to getting shipping issues fixed. This is a monster project, and we are so grateful to all of you for your support.
Thank you dearly to all backers that reached out about these charges to bring them to our attention.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2024/04/02 22:07:05
$2.6 million dollars in total handling, shipping fees for campaign
$1.2 million is the handling & fees, catalyst covers that
$1.4 million is shipping that were to be paid by backers
error 1 spreadsheet calculated as if all 2.6 was going be paid by backers
error 2 the savannah map pack (free for veteran backers & up and an add on for others) was coded as the much bigger and heavier BFM so boosting costs for loads of people
so QML needs to redo the whole spreadsheet & then backerkit needs add it in, then lots of testing and spot checking
95% of orders will have shipping under $150
the locking/card charging deadline (12th) is canceled, more info when they have it,
OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote: error 2 the savannah map pack (free for veteran backers & up and an add on for others) was coded as the much bigger and heavier BFM so boosting costs for loads of people
Correction on this from Catalyst:
Small amendment to the update: "Because this affects all Veteran and above backers, QML needs to re-work the entire shipping upload, which will take some time." This is meant to be Battalion Tier.
'It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat. It would seem that stupidity is as eternal as war.'
- Nemesor Zahndrekh of the Sautekh Dynasty Overlord of the Crownworld of Gidrim
So I guess I should clarify - I assume that it's a 50% reduction based on the above mentioned cost breakdown:
$1.2 million is the handling & fees, catalyst covers that
$1.4 million is shipping that were to be paid by backers
But that assumes that that split is proportional to the cost burden of each backer, it's entirely possible some backers have a larger share of handling fees than others, in which case it may not be a 50% reduction on average, etc. But it seems like a reasonable rule of thumb for right now.
CoALabaer wrote: Wargamers hate two things: the state of the game and change.
Gamgee on Tau Players wrote:we all kill cats and sell our own families to the devil and eat live puppies.
Kanluwen wrote: This is, emphatically, why I will continue suggesting nuking Guard and starting over again. It's a legacy army that needs to be rebooted with a new focal point.
Confirmation of why no-one should listen to Kanluwen when it comes to the IG - he doesn't want the IG, he want's Kan's New Model Army...
tneva82 wrote: You aren't even trying ty pretend for honest arqument. Open bad faith trolling.
- No reason to keep this here, unless people want to use it for something...
Flinty wrote: Muppets. I guess Adepticon was deemed more important than QA checks.
Why would the shipping company deem Adepticon more important than QA checks?
I was suggesting that CGL might have thought checking on the progress and quality of their appointed subcontractors might be an important part of their management system. CGL are being held accountable for the performance of their appointed distribution partner, and rightly so in my view. A brief set of spot checks of the numbers before allowing them to hit the public through Backerkit would have saved 25,000 people a lot of stress and annoyance.
Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!
But what about the fun we had shaking our pitchs and forks all weekend?
M.
Jenkins: You don't have jurisdiction here!
Smith Jamison: We aren't here, which means when we open up on you and shred your bodies with automatic fire then this will never have happened.
About the Clans: "Those brief outbursts of sense can't hold back the wave of sibko bred, over hormoned sociopaths that they crank out though."
There are enough people who had reasonable shipping that is still too high if you know what is expected
Having only the total sum checked including taxes and it would look fine for a lot
Level of checking is on the 100s out of 25k and if none of those looks way off you don't notice them, specially with a systematic error of a wrong sized item
Harry, bring this ring to Narnia or the Sith will take the Enterprise
They check by having done a bit of modelling of what they expect to be getting charged to their customers.
The different components are really clear, as CGL was making clear distinctions in their original campaign materials: shipping; handling; VAT/tax (under multiple classes)
Just checking the final number is not a QA check.
I totally agree that the error on map item size would be hard to spot, but I would expect a relatively small amount of effort on CGL's part to have flagged up the other systemic issues.
They just can't be arsed to do it.
Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!
I find it really odd the number of people who want to see catalyst go bust, do people really think battletech would have seen its recent resurgence without them? I'm sure if the current plastics go away it will sink back into relative obscurity.
Hopefully people will be much happier once the current shipping issues are sorted and we can look forward to the game continuing to grow. There seems to be a good amount of hype around the upcoming mechwarrior game so that may attract more attention to the game as well.
it's the quiet ones you have to look out for. Their the ones that change the world, the loud ones just take the credit for it.
There are about ~20 people in the local forum who backed the KS and none of them found the cost unreasonable until it was pointed out
One now even pays more shipping
they cannot control all 25k and they won't have people who know the regular costs on all different regions
Not saying that it cannot be spotted but regular QM controlling the 3rd party shipping costs hardly spots something like this
If you even control it because this is not something QM is doing in general (not their job to control 3rd party services)
Harry, bring this ring to Narnia or the Sith will take the Enterprise
Tamereth wrote: I find it really odd the number of people who want to see catalyst go bust, do people really think battletech would have seen its recent resurgence without them?
It's my observation that there's a subset of people who whenever a company wrongs them, the only response they want is to see the whole company burn to the ashes.
Any failure is met with the ultimate desire to see the firm obliterated.
It's the same kind of attitude some have to customer service and the whole "Do what I say or I'll get you fired".
It's a whole extreme "body for an eye" angle. Often its not really thought through much at all. In the case of a game yes you could see GW or Catalyst burn to the ground and then what. As you say if the firm burns to the ground chances are there goes the game, the product, any new products and all. A great example is Spartan Games - they folded and it took 5 years for model ranges to start coming back on sale and evne then there's a very good chance several of their games will never see the light of day again and even those that do are going to take years to come back.
By all means being angry at inflated costs and a failure on shipping is understandable; but some just go to another level. I think also some feel that the more they threaten a firm the more likely the heartless, soulless firm is going to respond and do what they want.
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
