Rest of World Shipping Update #2
over 4 years ago – Wed, Nov 13, 2019 at 12:38:26 AM

Hey everyone,

It's been nearly a month since our last update and it was time to give you all an update on what's been happening with your pledges. This update applies to all backers outside of the US and Canada. 

In our last update, we detailed that FloShip, our shipping partner for the rest of the world, would begin shipping your orders on the week of the 21st and unfortunately, that did not happen.

Over the course of the weeks until now, our address uploads have had to be re-done several times, with each upload taking several days to do. For a detailed description on what's been happening and our troubles with trying to move your orders forward, please read below. If you'd like to jump ahead, we detail our current shipping timeline as well below.

Our Timeline of Communication and Updates with Floship

Oct 21 - Orders already started uploading into their system dashboard, as expected, and was a several day process in order to assign couriers and measure costs

Oct 24 - By the time we expected the upload to be finished, Floship unexpectedly contacted us saying that they had the inventory of Vast TMM meeples afterall. In our last update, we said that we would ship this portion separately from the US since our manufacturer apparently forgot to send them these quantities. We asked them to hold off on orders to get confirmation on this fact because it would save us greatly on money if we could send your meeples together with your orders instead of from the US.

Oct 26 - We received visual confirmation that FloShip indeed have the meeple stock and they had to re-do their order upload to accommodate the meeples. This would take another several day process due to the amount of orders we have.

Oct 31 - Floship's second attempt at an order upload had completed and we were notified that they were ready for review. When we reviewed everything, we found that nearly all orders that were supposed to contain the Vast Meeples, were input separately from your TMM product, meaning some of you were going to receive two different shipments. If this hadn't been caught, we likely would've paid double in shipping. We pointed out this error with them right away and Floship worked on a new upload file.

Nov 5 - FloShip this time gave us an excel file to review before uploading the orders into their system so that if there were any errors, we could address them immediately before waiting for the upload process again. This time, the meeples were not listed as separate orders.

Nov 6 - We approved the new order upload file immediately and communicated to Floship to upload everything right away, knowing that we're already very behind on our promise to our backers. 

Nov 11 - It took some time but just yesterday, most orders are now on their dashboard and with tracking information. We'll be uploading this tracking to your Backerkit orders over the next day or two. A small handful of your orders (around 60 or so of you) apparently had trouble uploading to FloShip and we're asking FloShip if we can bypass their system error since we've directly taken your address information from your Backerkit accounts. If this can be done, you'll have your tracking information on Backerkit a few days after everyone else.

The Current Delivery Timeline

Now that orders have been uploaded to Floship and approved by us, we've been told that their pick and pack process will be ongoing all this week. According to our Floship project manager, we should expect shipments to leave their facility by Monday at the earliest. Truthfully, with how things have been going, it may be more realistic to think Wednesday or so. After packages have finished packing at FloShip's facility in Shenzen, it will apparently take another two day process to move these packages to Hong Kong where they will actually be picked up by couriers. From the time that the orders are marked as "shipped", it should take approximately 1-3 weeks for delivery, depending on where you're located, according to FloShip. Please note that despite shipping from Hong Kong, we have already pre-paid duties and customs so you will not be charged upon arrival of your packages.

We've been silent on an update until now because each time we wanted or could've done an update, there was always some error that delayed everything all over again. Every time we can say "next Monday", it ended up being another Monday afterward and providing an update that didn't stay true to that, is frustrating not only for us, but of course all of you as well. 

We're keeping our promise to air freight your packages at our expense but unfortunately, this attempt to expedite your deliveries did not expedite their upload process, which had to be re-done several times and delayed our estimates by days each time. We have been both in phone and email communication with Floship every day and we are truly doing everything we can to move progress forward. We understand how frustrating it is for all of you to still not have your pledges yet and we apologize again.  

Sadly, we are in the hands of FloShip as they have our inventory. We cannot simply move to another fulfiller and have things move faster since it's a matter of logistics to move inventory around, sign contracts, prepare for shipping, and organize warehouse spacing etc. This is our fourth or fifth company we've chosen for rest of world fulfillment since the beginning of our company, to attempt to have the more reliable and easiest way to ship to international countries. And obviously, this process has not yet been close to perfected. We've learned a lot from this process with Floship and understand where we need to check in with them compared to other fulfillment companies we've used, and now know what potential issues to get ahead of for any of our future campaigns. 

Our choice of fulfillers has always been with the hope of providing the best service for all of our backers so it's been incredibly frustrating that this is the latest any of our projects have been. The bottom line is that we're still learning, we want to do better, and we do whatever we can to not make the same mistake twice. We're once again very sorry for these issues with our campaign. We hope that it's been clear that we accept blame for any of our mismanagement that contributed to the delay, but also that wherever it was something out of our hands, we've done what we could to rectify it at our cost and hope that we can somewhat restore your trust in us as a company. 

Vast: TCC Products

If you ordered Vast: TCC products as part of your pledge, we sent these items out from Atlas Games in the US, and Happy Shops in Germany. If you do not see these items over the next few weeks, please email us at [email protected] so that we can look into it.

US/Canada

If you're reading this and are located in the US or Canada and have not yet received your pledge, please email [email protected] so that we can look into it for you.

Other Questions?

For any other questions or clarifications, please email us at [email protected]

Thank you again for your continued patience. 

Leder Games

Rest of World Shipping Update
over 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 19, 2019 at 03:11:02 AM

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since you've heard from us, so we're updating all of our backers outside of the US and Canada with where we are on shipping and a response from the owner of the company.

A Note from Patrick Leder

First of all, let me express how thankful I am to have customers as passionate as you all have been. International shipping has been difficult for this project, and we share your aggravation. In short, I want you to know that we don’t take our international backers for granted. We are well aware of our shortcomings. I take personal responsibility for each failure, and want to apologize to you all.

In the interest of transparency, I want to share with you some of our concerns and some of the challenges this project has faced over the past several months. If you just want to read about where we are now and our solution, skip to the next section.

Inside North America, we send our games to Atlas Games and Quiche Games, and they quickly put the games in the mail to our customers, since we are their primary clients.

Outside North America, though, shipping has been a challenge, especially as our projects have grown larger. We have worked with many international shipping partners over the years, and there have always been issues. We usually don’t air our concerns publicly, and instead quietly move to a new partner and do our best to learn from the experience. Each move is costly, requiring months of research. However, after years of doing this work, we stillhaven't found a reliable international shipping solution.

These failures tend to create more problems. For instance, copies of Vast: The Mysterious Manor are currently being sold at game stores in Europe. We usually build a small retail delay into the release of our new games, so that backers have a chance to play the game before anyone else. However, the delays in international shipping to backers did not affect shipping to our local fulfillment partner for EU distribution. We failed to notice this and adjust the retail release date in time, so many stores in the EU got their copies before EU backers. This is unacceptable, and we apologize. We have taken steps to make sure this will not happen in the future, including building a longer retail delay of three months into all future products.

Where We Are With Shipping

Since our last update, we have confirmed backer addresses with Floship and prepared for shipping. However, Floship discovered that the boxes they had ordered were too large. This led to another week of delay. As of this week, the correct boxes are with Floship, as are the backer address list and the inventory. In the future, we will have early product sent to Floship so they can engineer the correct box sizes well before they receive the bulk of the games.

According to our latest correspondence with Floship this morning, after we approve air freight on some of your packages, they will begin shipping early next week for all orders that contain only Vast: The Mysterious Manor and Vast: The Haunted Hallways. Larger orders—such as those with multiple copies of games—will ship toward the end of the week. Once everything is out the door, the delivery estimate is 2-3 weeks, including packages to Asia.

To help expedite some orders, we will ship Vast: The Crystal Caverns product and the wooden meeples for Vast: The Mysterious Manor from the US directly to you via air freight. If you ordered a combination of TMM, TCC products, and/or wooden meeples in your orders, you will receive two packages, so please don't be alarmed if you receive a package with only part of your order. You will receive the rest in the second package. We will also attempt to have duties and fees pre-paid when shipped to keep your packages region-friendly, but in the event that something is mistaken or missed, please keep your invoices for reference and email them to [email protected]

In Short

We understand that some of you are angry and that we may have lost some of our credibility and your trust. This won't fix everything, but we've chosen to pay more to ship packages by air freight from China to the EU and Australia, dramatically shortening the shipping timeline. This will be a huge financial hit to us, and nearly every package that's being sent out now is at a financial loss, but we know we have to make this right with you all. We will pre-pay duties and customs fees for this shipping method.

Any Other Questions?

As usual, if there's anything we can answer or help you with, please email us at [email protected]. Please do not use the Kickstater messaging system, so that we can better help you.

Thank you

Shipping Update #2
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 03, 2019 at 02:05:57 AM

Hey everyone!

It's been about a month since you've last heard from us, so we wanted to give everyone an update on shipping for each region. 

US

Atlas is currently finished with their fulfillment in the US. If you have not received your package yet, please email us at [email protected].

Canada

Quiche Games is complete with fulfillment in Canada as of last week. If you have not received your package or tracking yet, please email us at [email protected].

Rest of World (EU, Asia, Australia, etc.)

Unfortunately, the sad news is that we've fallen very behind with our fulfillment for regions outside of US/Canada. For that, we deeply apologize. Our intention was to have all regions fulfill within a very narrow timeframe within each other and be complete by now.

What led to this delay was a communication error with our factory. Early September, our factory led us to believe that everything necessary was already in motion to get Mysterious Manor in the hands of Floship in Shanghai. However, it was only brought to our attention a week ago that that did not happen afterall and we apologize that this wasn't caught sooner. 

Since then, we've worked very hard to get everything back on track and we're happy to say that as of this week, Floship now has our inventory. Addresses are being uploaded into their dashboard and we're waiting to hear a new timeline from them on when they expect to start and finish fulfillment. Unfortunately, they're away on holiday this week so we won't be able to have this information until at least after next week. As soon as we have this new information, we'll provide a third shipping update so you'll all have a new estimate on when you can start expecting packages by. 

The support of our backers is of the utmost importance to us and we're disappointed that we've let you down with this shipping delay. We just wanted to provide some assurance that we're doing everything we can right now to stay on top of your fulfillment to ensure that nothing else will delay the delivery of your games. We're in communication with Floship on a daily basis and from this experience, we can only learn how to be a better company and how to deliver beyond your expectations. Your patience and support means everything to us, and we're incredibly sorry again that shipping has fallen far behind what we hoped.  

Damage, Replacements and Other Questions

If you are in need of replacement parts, or your game arrived damaged, or if you have any other concerns, please email us at [email protected] and refrain from messaging us on Kickstarter. Emailing us is the best way we can help you since messages on Kickstarter are harder to track and aren't checked as frequently as our emails.

Newsletter Sign Up

If any of you are interested in signing up to our newsletter to stay up to date with any of our new game announcements, behind the scenes looks, and playtesting opportunities, sign up here! A recurring newsletter is something new that we're rolling out to help keep us in better touch with our community and share a lot of exciting things we have in store!

Thanks!

Leder Games

Shipping Update!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 02:49:17 AM

Hey everyone!

Thanks for being patient as we're now just starting to begin fulfillment. Below, you'll find a detailed shipping breakdown by Region. 

Shipping By Region

US - Inventory is now in hand at the Atlas Warehouse in MN. They've already begun shipping and processing orders and are expected to finish wrapping up by Sept 6th or so as long as everything continues to go smoothly. 

Tracking should be emailed via Stamps as soon as labels are made. There may be a discrepancy between the time you get your tracking email and when there's movement on your tracking history due to how batches are made and picked up.

Canada - Inventory is being forwarded from the US to Toronto in Canada and will ship from there once arrived. Depending on customs and transit time, Canada will most likely get their inventory the week of the 2nd or 9th. Please note that this is only an estimation. After stock arrives, it will take 1-2 weeks for shipping to complete. 

Please note that backers who ordered shirts or art prints will receive these items separately from the US. 

Tracking will be emailed via Canada Post as soon as labels are made. There may be a discrepancy between the time you get your tracking email and when there's movement on your tracking history due to how batches are made and picked up.

EU/Australia/Rest of World - Floship is handling the shipment for ALL orders outside of the US and Canada. They currently have the necessary inventory in hand and shipping will take place over the next few weeks. Because they're handling a large number of countries and regions, this entire process may take the longest to fulfill and depending on your country, may take several weeks for delivery.

Also please note that Rest of World backers who ordered shirts, art prints or any Vast: Crystal Caverns items (base game, miniatures, fearsome foes, bonus cards) will receive these items separately from the US and will not be included in your package from Floship. 

Tracking will be uploaded on Backerkit once we have access to tracking numbers. It's possible that you may even receive your package first before you receive your tracking information due to only getting a report once Floship has completed the addresses we've given them.

General Shipping Note

In general, this entire shipping process will take place over the next few weeks. Please be patient during this entire process. We recommend getting in touch with us after our next update, which will be once we've received tracking info for each region. We unfortunately won't be able to provide much support or information on your package until then due to only getting reports once shipping has completed so please refrain from contacting us before then.

Questions or Missing Parts?

Please email us at [email protected] if you have any questions or require parts replacements. Please do not use the Kickstarter messaging system. 

Thanks!

Leder Games

Shipping Update and Gencon!
over 4 years ago – Thu, Aug 08, 2019 at 12:24:52 AM

Hey everyone!

We're getting close to the finish line and we just want to say that you've all been amazingly patient during our production and transit of your game arrival.

Now that we're back from Gencon, we'd like to give an update on where we are with the delivery of Mysterious Manor on all of the regions:

Shipping by Region

US - Atlas Games will be handling the shipment of all US orders. The boat arrival is scheduled to arrive mid to late August. After unloading and arriving to Atlas Games, we should be expecting fulfillment to begin at the end of the month or early September. 

Canada - Quiche Games in Toronto will be handling Canadian shipments. The Canadian stock will be forwarded from Atlas Games in the US and the delivery of the inventory to Canada will be dependent on the US stock arrival and transit time to Canada and all orders will ship from within Canada. Fulfillment will begin roughly 2 weeks after US stock arrival in early to mid September.

EU, Asia, Australia and Rest of the world - Floship will be handling the shipment of all orders outside of the US and Canada. Our final spreadsheet with addresses will reach their hands today and they will pick up inventory directly from the factory to process and allocate what's necessary based on our address sheet. Because they're covering multiple regions, we should expect them to have stock in the appropriate regions around the end of August and fulfillment beginning a week or two after. 

Please be patient with their fulfillment since they are covering a broad range of regions all at once. Depending on the region, we expect their fulfillment process to take 2-4 weeks from the time they have their inventory in hand. Because of this, delivery times will vary per region due to customs and distance. As we have better and more firm dates to provide, we'll provide another Kickstarter update with specific dates once we have them.  

Address Changes

Unfortunately, most address changes are too late to change at this time. If there is an urgent need to change your address, please contact us immediately at [email protected] and we'll do our best but unfortunately cannot guarantee that fulfillers will be able to process the change in time. 

If you've emailed within a week ago, we've received your email and can still process your address change in time. Responses and confirmations will be given today or tomorrow since we are still catching up on emails after returning from Gen Con. 

Other support or questions?

If there's anything else we can help you with, please contact us at [email protected]. Because we were away for Gen Con, please be patient on a response since we are still catching up on emails since after returning from the convention. 

Gen Con!

Last but not least, we just want to thank everyone that came by to our booth at Gen Con to try out Mysterious Manor! We're so proud of the final game and we just can't wait until everyone starts receiving their copies and hear what you think! :)

Thanks!

Leder Games