Figured I'd start a thread for people to talk about rpg companies who have shown great customer service when needed. There's a chance I might have even done this thread before, if so, fuck it. Here it is again.
KenzerCo- I had a Hackmaster 5th ed book where the binding and cover where "off" to put it kindly. Sent an email with pics to them and they had a new PHB sent to me fast with a few extra goodies as well. Felt that they went above and beyond, so I thought I'd give them first mention.
SJG- Upon opening two new Gurps books- Characters and Campaigns, the bindings split on both. They must have been old stock sold as new before their bindings were revamped. Anyway, an email to SJG, and they sent me out new books.
In both cases stated above, neither company asked me to return the defective books back.
I like the guys at DwD Studios -- they do BareBones Fantasy and CovertOps. I talked with them about writing a chargen program for BBF and they were very friendly and positive/helpful. Their stuff is one of the CC NC licenses.
I can say nothing but good things about Pelgrane Press. After several kickstarters and purchasing many things through their catalog and through retailers, I have been nothing but pleased with their service, response time, and business.
Wizards of The Coast, every question I've had they've answered. And even better, they have people on the other end of the line.
I've not had any complaints on Mongoose's end, either.
But then again, I've had very few products that I've had complaints about in the first place.
Here's my experiences so far:
Pelgrane: ordered Fear Itself, copy never showed. Contacted them, said they'd get it fixed. Waited a long time. Contacted again, informed their US distributor had run out, send me a copy from the UK...yay! Then two months later a copy from their US distributor arrived as someone didn't close my order out, I guess. That's the only problem I've had; everything else has been great and I order all my 13th Age from them.
Pinnacle: excellent customer service, did resolve issue, but problem was I'd order Last Parsec as a bundle for a "ship now" and a separate order (and separate S&H) for the final pending book. They use Take2 or someone else for shipping, and the guy in charge insisted I'd ordered both together. By the time it was sorted out the second book was in print and their distributor shipped the whole thing as one package anyway (their intention all along, I assume), but Pinnacle refunded me the S&H on the second order since it was never shipped as such. Only issue I've ever had, though; all my regular orders are timely and right.
Chaosium: too many issues to count. A typical problem in the past was I'd order a bundle of books, never get them. Then I'd email and inquire, find out it hadn't shipped. Then I'd get two duplicate bundles of the books a few days later. They would tell me to keep the second set.
Current Chaosium issue was I ordered two books, and one shipped. Went to check on status of other book and it had disappeared from the site like it never existed. Asked, and was told it was being reprinted and they don't have a way to flag books temporarily out of stock so they remove the link and email people...but had forgotten to email me. Currently still waiting for this book to reappear (Vampire Wars), worried it won't due to Chaosium's money issues.
Frog God Games: very responsive but from my experience it's a 50/50 chance you'll get the wrong book, or an incomplete order. I got a complete duplicate set of Lost Lands and Razor Coast books for both S&W and Pathfinder from them this way. Not all in one order, mind you...I got about 8 tomes in total over several orders. Bill's wife was very helpful and apologetic on the whole thing.
Design Mechanism: great, consistent, never a problem.
All the POD orders on OneBookShelf sites: great, consistent, never, ever had a problem and quality has always been good.
Kobold Press: snappy, quick, consistent and never a problem.
Troll Lord Games always been great.
Paizo are very professional, with very reasonable international shipping charges.
Reaper Minis are great.
Oh man, I really should revise my "Fuck off and die" form letter I've been sending out.
Chaosium has been having issues for a while now and I wouldn't expect perfection during the current tumult either... and yet all the past and recent orders I've made have gone off without issue.
Design Mechanism has been great and I like how they package their books, very sturdy.
Not precisely RPGs but Games Workshop have never been anything but great to deal with when I've had a problem... like a miscast figure. I've got all sorts of misgivings about their games and marketing but nothing but compliments for their customer service.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;863057Oh man, I really should revise my "Fuck off and die" form letter I've been sending out.
i say bedrock games is the best iv seen mostly because this guy has been much more helpful then he has ever needed to be
Fantasy Games Unlimited has been great to me. Once when I was ordering duplicate books so I would have a copy of each to give to a friend, they actually checked to make sure it wasn't a mistake before taking my money.
Bedrock actually sent me a free PDF of Arrows of Indra when I could not find anywhere that sold the book where I could peruse it before determining whether to buy a copy. Of course I then bought a copy from Bedrock after seeing it was pretty cool and being impressed by their action.
Chaosium has been horrible to the point I won't buy anything directly from them. No response to e-mails asking for updates on orders. Empty apologies and excuses after I finally get a response, and then of course a book no longer available after I paid for it so they gave me credit to get something from them. Never used the credit as I just don't want to hassle with them now.