Awaiting Arrival
over 4 years ago – Fri, Jan 17, 2020 at 01:21:09 AM

Hi Global Gladiators,

Just a quick update to confirm that we are still awaiting reallocation of our inventory to the various hubs. We have an estimate of 2 weeks from this week, but will get reconfirmation from Blackbox for when their warehouses are expected to receive them and the ETA of logging them in once they have arrived. Shipping will not begin again until the warehouses have received them, but not contingent on all warehouses receiving them first. In other words, once a specific warehouse receives their needed inventory, that warehouse can begin processing and shipping.

Also, please note that we currently only have one staff member available to take care of customer service emails, and due to the heavy surge of emails from our last update for this project, it is reasonable to expect a delay. But with that in mind, please don’t hesitate to contact us with issues if you had not already done so.

We’ll keep you posted once we have more information. We know this is taking longer than expected but rest assured we are dedicated to you and will not rest until everyone receives what is owed.

Reallocation and Shipping Update
over 4 years ago – Fri, Jan 10, 2020 at 12:58:22 AM

Welcome back Global Gladiators and Happy New Year! Now that everyone has returned from the holidays, here's the post-holiday update in regards to shipping and fulfillment.

Reallocation of Inventory

From our last update, we mentioned that shipping has been put on a pause for Non-Asia International backers because of pledges missing SKUs that the US warehouse had inventory of. Because of this, we worked with Blackbox and gave them the necessary information they needed to help issue a transfer of quantities needed to be allocated to specific warehouses, in order to complete pledges. Currently these shipments are being sent (this has been confirmed) to the correct warehouses. Once arrived, Blackbox will have those warehouses process and ship out the remainder of the pledges. I will contact Blackbox to see if we can get an ETA of when the transferred items will arrive in each of the affected warehouses.

Is the US fulfillment affected as well?

Actually, yes. Initially, we used the Indianapolis warehouse for our original Street Masters and some of our Aftershock inventory. But due to a higher amount of backers on average being in the West Coast, Blackbox's California warehouse made more sense and the rest of our inventory was accepted there. Because of this, we are now having some SKUs from the Indianapolis warehouse be sent over to the California warehouse in order to complete pledges, to then complete fulfillment to US backers who are still missing pledges. The transfer time will be much shorter than international since it's US to US, but I will post an ETA once I contact Blackbox and know as well.

Asia Fulfillment

Since our last update, we are now directly working with VFI Asia in order to send pledges out. Because we are now taking it over and it is not a third party doing so, I have completed the necessary contractual work to get this going. In December, it was important for us to give them our inventory count and pledge breakdown in order for them to check to make sure if it differed from the info that the other company had given them. As mentioned we were trying to get shipping started before Chinese New Year, but was assured that if it wasn't possible, it would begin early February. With workers leaving for Chinese New Year in about a week and a half, it's looking more like February. But, we'll see what we can do with them to get a few out the door if not at the very least, have everything ready for when they return from their holidays.

Strange E-mail Notification?

If you received an e-mail saying that your order has been cancelled due to stock shortage, there's no need to be alarmed as this is normal when stock is being transferred from warehouse to warehouse; the new location has to essentially create a new order in the system to take into account the new stock for that warehouse. So a new order will be created at the hub for you to receive the items. 

International Shipment from the US

We've had isolated reports of certain international backers receiving rewards from outside their intended hub, and therefore being charged customs fees. These instances were before the reallocation of products and was a reactionary instance that has since been stopped. If you do receive your pledge from a different warehouse after the fact, it could be just the ones that were still in the queue and were on hold for the holidays, but are now being processed because everyone is back at work. If you are affected by this, there is no need to worry as we will reimburse you. Simply email [email protected] with photos/scans of the fee invoice, as well as proof of payment. Additionally, please provide a Paypal address where we can send the reimbursement and we will take care of this matter for you. If you are not able to use PayPal please let customer service know as well, as we would have to find an alternative way since PayPal is our main way of reimbursement.

Received your pledge but are missing items?

In this case, contact us directly at [email protected] and we will help you with this. Please do not contact Blackbox about these as we have agreed that Blacklist Games will handle these issues to avoid confusion, as multiple people working on the same issues will only create more opportunities for errors.

Missing Aftershock Stretch Goals and Errata Packs 

From what we understand, backers who have already received their pledges but are JUST missing either their Aftershock Stretch Goals or Errata Packs have mostly been sent their items. If you have already received your pledge and are missing one of these items, please contact [email protected] and we will take care of you. If you have not received your pledge and have not previously been sent the AS Stretch Goals or the Errata Packs outside of your pledge, it will come with your pledge when it is shipped to you.

QA (Missing or Defective Components)

Now that everyone on the Blacklist Games side is back from the holidays we are ramping up our QA support. If you have items needing replacement and have not already contacted us, please contact [email protected] and we will ensure you get taken care of. One important thing to note is that we are handling QA parts internally and not Blackbox. In other words, you will have to contact us directly for assistance of missing and defective components.

Address Changes

For those in Asia who need address changes, you will have one week from this update to get us this info by sending it to [email protected] with the subject line "ASIA BACKER ADDRESS CHANGE". After this hard deadline, we will use the address we already have on file for when you closed your Pledge Manager.

Unfortunately for other regions who have not yet received your pledges, address changes will be case by case and not applicable for most since the information was already processed and on Blackbox's list in the fulfillment queue. This is unlike Asia who is being fulfilled by VFI Asia and has a different system all together. Nevertheless, please contact customer service if it is indeed an emergency but keep in mind we cannot guarantee non-Asia address changes, as this might require us to pull all the backer data back and reissue new data to Blackbox, holding fulfillment until it's re-processed in their system. 

Upcoming

The next update should be the ETA on when the warehouses will receive the reallocated inventory. As well, we should have an idea of how soon fulfillment can begin again once those warehouses enter the inventory into their system. As well, we will update you with Asia fulfillment if the timeline differs from what we mentioned above. Lastly, we have not heard any new information about Brexit affecting shipping costs. We will keep our ears out for any current news about it and will ask from time to time for updates in this regard. 

More importantly, our prayers and hearts go out to our friends in Australia as they work through a very difficult time.

(Post Note: I did not review for any grammar or spelling errors before posting this update so if anything doesn't make sense, please feel free to ask).

Quick Christmas Eve Update
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 26, 2019 at 02:27:17 AM

Hello Global Gladiators! Hopefully everyone is having a safe and happy holiday season. Though most of us and our partners are away in observance of Christmas, we have some quick updates in regards to fulfillment.

ASIA FULFILLMENT

We are working with VFI Asia currently with the goal to get all Asia backers their games before Chinese New Year. Though possible, the timeline is tight and if we do not make it in time, everything will ship out by the first week of February instead. Currently, I'm personally working with them on an efficient way to get these processed, though after speaking with them on Friday, I will need to revise the backer data information for them in the specific excel format they need. I am hoping to have this done by the end of this week. 

Contrary to some belief, Asia was not forgotten, though reasons as to why VFI Asia was not the selected fulfillment company we signed on to have is being investigated with the third party partner we were using for this. Keep in mind this was not Blackbox, rather a Chinese partner we were using for a localization deal, who was our direct contact with VFI Asia per our contract with them. Looking at previous backer data they sent us on Saturday, there were some games sent from Thailand, China, Japan, and South Korea, though the were not complete. (And if you are not in those regions, your tiers have not yet been sent out.) Since our last update the only new data they have told us is that at least 40% of all Asia had been sent out. I honestly do not believe this. Long story short, we have now terminated this contract and are working directly with VFI Asia to meet the schedule in the above paragraph. I have full confidence that they will do their best to get our Asia backers their games in totality and as efficient as possible. Furthermore, after doing an inventory count for VFI Asia, it seems that we are not missing any SKUs in Asia so there will not be any need for Blackbox to ship anything for fulfillment.

So in short, VFI is on it but is waiting on data from me now. The Chinese company we were working with as our middle-person is no longer involved, though that also means we currently do not have a Chinese localization deal in place (for those who had previously inquired) and we are once again open for new opportunities there though obviously not a priority at this time.

US/CA/EU/UK/AUS/NZ/RoW FULFILLMENT

Blackbox is currently observing the Christmas holidays and their offices will be closed until Monday, December 30th. Because of this, there will be an expected pause for shipping. Once they return, we will continue working with them to ensure that the three SKUs from our inventory are balanced among warehouses and fulfillment can finish. Expanding on this, this also means that US fulfillment will continue as normal as well as any orders outside the US who do not have those SKUs in their pledges. One question we've been asked is that why don't we ship orders out without these SKUs first, sort of as a first and second wave? To tell you the truth, I do not want even more variables somehow getting gummed up in this process and rather do this organized rather than any more reactionary than we have already done so.

Errata Packs and Aftershock Stretch Goals

Once Blackbox has returned from the holidays, I will touch base with them in order to see if these items have already been completely sent out. If at that point you have not received your respective Errata Pack or AS Stretch Goals, then we will start a new list for customer service so we can manually send them to you. But let's first see where Blackbox stands on those shipments.

QA Replacements

After the holidays, we are internally going to be starting this process. We've already started our categorization of all backers in the queue for these and are getting the necessary packing supplies we need to send them out to you. Please note, we will be doing these internally and in the order that we received customer service requests for these. All QA requests should go to [email protected] and NOT Blackbox as they do not handle QA replacements.

Blackbox and Blacklist Games

It's come to my attention that Blackbox is receiving a lot of blame and negative attention because of the Aftershock fulfillment. As mentioned in the last update, Blacklist Games is not blaming Blackbox nor is Blackbox blaming us and we are very serious about this. Choosing a partner for fulfillment was never an easy task, especially since our complete inexperience in the entire process. It's daunting and has many moving parts that unfortunately offers little room for mistakes as it creates domino effects. I was introduced to Blackbox from our first campaign because of what I've heard of their integrity, professionalism, and their passion to help clients, no matter what size to find a way to succeed by fulfilling games to their backers regardless of the client's expertise. 

Our first project, Street Masters, was a learning experience and also had hiccups but we grew together as partners. Because of this mutual respect, we worked together on fulfilling Brook City, which had parts that went much smoother. Aftershock was a massive project that had 19 SKUs with what seemed like as much modularity in backer tier combinations as the games themselves. This has been an extremely overwhelming fulfillment that I believe now in retrospect, no one from either companies should have assumed it would be just like our first 2 campaigns. 

So the fact in the matter, is that I personally believe that the team at Blackbox has been trying their best to help us through these trials and tribulations, giving us their most professional attention while also facing the same backlash from reasonably frustrated and unhappy people who are wondering why their games haven't come in yet. Once again, we are dealing with hiccups, but it is magnified this time because of the passion backers, Blackbox, and Blacklist games this time around, which is both amazing and also frightening. We are not Blackbox's only clients and coupled by the holiday time I feel Blackbox has been really patient and are continuing to do their best to support us the best that they can.

Given this, I would like to make an official request for us, including the entire Blacklist Games team, to not imply or put Blackbox in a bad light. Regardless of anything that has or is going on currently with fulfillment, their goal as well as ours is to make sure all backers are completely fulfilled. This has not changed. Though we still have what seems like an uphill climb to get where we need to be, I want to express my respect and thanks to Blackbox and their vigilance during this fulfillment process and will continue to provide whatever they need to help us get to the finish line.

Overall I highly believe in our game, Adam and Brady did an awesome job creating an excellent tabletop experience and helping us expand the world of Street Masters. Our factory hands down did a masterful job by helping us create the best products we have thus far from component quality, attention to detail on our minis, to finalizing production for pickup. AdMagic, our freight forwarder worked in tangent with us and got things to each warehouse on time and ready for fulfillment. Right now, I want every backer who pledged to also see for themselves this game that we've been enamored with and others have been raving about. So let's get through this together and get you what you pledged for in its totality. 

Sure, this is once again "a wall of text" but I can't stress enough how serious and committed we are in completing fulfillment. Things have been frustrating to say the least, but we're getting our act together, finding better ways to find a common ground for communication between companies, and moving things along so that you will get your games.

Status Update: Dec 15th
over 4 years ago – Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 02:07:11 AM

Hello Global Gladiators! Per the most relevant news regarding shipping/fulfillment, Blackbox has notified us that the BattleCon Pack, Aftershock Stretch Goals, and the Turbo Dice have very low to zero supply in our international hubs (note: the number of SKUs were recently updated from my comment in the threads this morning). This does not mean we have run out of inventory for these items, rather we are needing to re-allocate our surplus from our US hubs to our hubs in the EU/UK, AUS, CAN and ASIA. Because of this revelation, Blackbox is currently waiting for us to give them exact quantities that need to be sent to these hubs. I will calculate and get it to them by this weekend so they can have things going again when they’re at work on Monday. This decision was made to prevent fulfillment to international backers to be sent product from our US warehouse, which would cause unnecessary duties/fees. Once we have these numbers for Blackbox, we will follow up with them to ask for an ETA as to when international hubs should receive them as well as to see if specifically for the EU/UK, Brexit in 2020 will have any affect on us at all (and what our solution would be if it did).

For our Asia Region backers, I was mortified to receive confirmation that there has been absolutely no movement with the remaining pledges in Asia for the past couple of weeks. It was my assumption that it was still underway since we had not heard from them reasons to stop. As well, I received a couple of backer messages in our inbox, inquiring about specifics of their delivered Asia region orders so it seemed like Asia Region backers were being taken cared of. So to get on this ASAP, I will bypass all reps and contact VFI Asia directly tomorrow night (their morning), to see what they can do to help us with this, to ensure the rest of the Asian backer pledges get out the door. I know this isn't exciting news, but now that I know there is actually a stop, I will just work directly with VFI Asia to find the best solution for this situation. 

Once again, we know this has been frustrating and frankly a pretty piss poor shipping/fulfillment process this time around and I believe it’s very evident it’s a shared responsibility that we’re all learning from. But before we can change our process for future fulfillment, we are working together with Blackbox and addressing issues that come up as best we can. In the beginning, it was much like running a race with our legs tied to one another, expecting the other to know the pace and rhythm in which we run races. But after falling, stumbling and landing flat on our faces, I think both Blackbox and Blacklist Games have a better grasp on communicating with each other and are working together to ensure all backer orders are sent out. This said we are not blaming Blackbox nor are they blaming us for anything. We mutually understand that initial communication was something we both needed to have had a better grasp of and because of this, we are working in tandem to make this as smooth as possible, though problems and hiccups have and will arise until all shipments are completed. Blackbox is doing everything they can to help us complete this fulfillment and we are adapting to what they need, through more efficient communication, in order to support them.  

I apologize deeply for how long shipping has been going on and appreciate your patience. On a side note, Brady, Adam and Scottie, while full-time employees, try their best to answer questions here. Though they wear many hats because we’re a very small company, they do not handle shipping/fulfillment. They know what’s going on per our meetings together but they aren’t able to send packages through, poke a stick at anyone in shipping or are able to check the status of anything since I’m the one who bears that burden and am also the one learning through successes and unfortunate mistakes. Thankfully, most of the comments here on our threads have been very beneficial in helping us get back on track. I am extremely appreciative of all the support and criticisms through this as it actually feels we're working together with you as a team, to get everyone their games.

It's about 5am and I'm going to forgo grammar and spell check for sleep but hopefully there was something tangible within this update. As I get more information and ETA's from the above topics, I will be sure to inform you. And as for QA/Replacement parts, we are trying to get things organized and setup to begin soon, however also being sensitive to the winter holidays/vacation time since this will be done internally by us.

Have a good night everyone!

Status Update - Dec 4
over 4 years ago – Thu, Dec 05, 2019 at 01:59:51 AM

Hey Global Gladiators!

I'm back again to update you with the latest on Aftershock fulfillment.

Missing Item Reships

Movement on these continues, and some of you have already received an email from the fulfillment partner to confirm your missing errata pack/Aftershock stretch goals box is on its way. If you have not yet, please know they are working as fast as they can and they have many to go through.

Now, we are aware that a small amount of backers who do not need these items have also received an email saying they're going to receive them. We found this out thanks to some backers who let us know, and we immediately contacted the fulfillment partner to find out what was going on as this was clearly unexpected. Turns out that while they are indeed sending the missing items to any pledges that need them (Street Masters Tier and Aftershock Tier) as planned, there was some confusion on their end resulting in a few also being sent to some backers of the similarly-named Super Street Masters Tier because it also contains the Street Masters core box. 

That said, while this error is unfortunate, we want to reiterate that those who are in need of either of the two items are indeed getting them as expected. These extras being sent to Super Street Masters tiers are fortunately isolated cases.

Reward Fulfillment

We saw a burst of reward shipments last week, and we've been assured there would be another burst late this week/early next week. Some people have received automated emails from the fulfillment partner saying that they "are still waiting for instructions from Blacklist." This is false, and we've found out since that these choice of words were simply from using a certain email template of theirs.

We want to reassure our backers that we have provided the fulfillment partner with everything they need to service backers, and there is nothing left on our end to do. They have our entire inventory, and we are waiting along with you to see more rewards arrive.  

Also, we want to reiterate that the missing item reships are not holding up main reward fulfillment, as we have been assured by the fulfillment company that they have 3 different queues working simultaneously on our project, and the reshipments are only 1 of those queues.

Customer Service

As you all know, we've been dealing with a non-stop surge of emails since Aftershock fulfillment began, and while we've been chipping away at them, the process is very slow going. Right now we're roughly two weeks behind, but are doing the best we can to close that gap as much as possible. We are very short staffed at the moment, so I please ask that you refrain from emailing us for a status update on your pledge as fulfillment is still ongoing (as stated above). We will post an official update right here the moment we are told fulfillment is complete, at which point we will invite you to email us should you have had an issue receiving your pledge.  

That said, if you have received your pledge and have defects/missing components, please do email [email protected] and we will take care of you. Like I said, it might be a while before you hear from us to open a ticket, but we will get back to you the moment we can!

Lastly, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that myself (Scottie) or the Sadler brothers are simply employees here at Blacklist Games, and while we try to relay as much information as we can when we get it, we are not in control of fulfillment or partnerships; many of you have reached out to us directly via our private accounts, and while we appreciate your frustration from not having received items, we do not have any further information beyond what is conveyed to us from management, which is what I post here.

That's it for this week! I'll be back with a new update the moment I have additional news to share.

Take care!