...UPDATED... Mierce have now been in touch with me and offered to fulfil my missing order, so... watch this space for further details ...UPDATED...
It doesn't take much to figure out that Mierce Miniatures is basically the same outfit that ran Maelstrom Games into the ground and left plenty of people out of pocket and without the miniatures they'd ordered in good faith. They even say they are on their own website, here.
It doesn't take much to figure out that Mierce Miniatures is basically the same outfit that ran Maelstrom Games into the ground and left plenty of people out of pocket and without the miniatures they'd ordered in good faith. They even say they are on their own website, here.
What do you think about them? Did you contribute to their Kickstarter campaign? Or do you, like me, think that they're a highly dubious outfit that doesn't deserve any of a hobbyist's hard earned cash.I for one don't buy the 'we're not Maelstrom' nonsense that they're trying to get everyone to buy into. Not for one second. I'm still owed a number of their miniatures - the ones from the BaneBeasts range - that the now defunct Maelstrom website still claims will be honoured in November: yes, November as in five months ago.
I find it really frustrating that bad business can be rewarded with good fortune. Mierce claim to have raised £108,036 from Kickstarter - do these backers not realise that this is the same bunch of crooks that ran a business into the ground and walked away and into another cushy job, leaving many hobbyists (that they claim to be themselves) high and dry? We need to stop investing in these people because they'll only do it again, given half a chance. Why wouldn't they when they got away from it last time?
It really annoys me because their miniatures are rather good. I'd buy more - happily - if they actually fulfilled their previous commitments rather than shafting people who once supported them with custom. I for one will avoid them like the plague - and believe me, that's giving the plague a bad name.
I avoided their kickstarter (despite the awesome miniatures) for the same reasons as yourself. Even though I wasn't personally shafted by Maelstrom, too many stories like yours affected my judgement. I'm sorry you got stiffed!
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame that a company that made that much cash from their kickstarter program wouldn't extend any consolation to the people they screwed over.
I've also emailed them directly from their website to congratulate them on their successful KS campaign and to suggest they might like to fulfil all those old orders. I've said that I believe everyone is basically morally good and asked them to prove me correct.
DeleteThat is a smart and friendly way to approach it, I'd say.
DeleteHopefully they respond in turn!
I 'll let you know if I hear anything!
DeleteDavey, if you emailed Mierce to say you personally had an order with Maelstrom for Banelegions stuff, then they'd look into fulfilling it. If you weren't that specific, then I'd recommend you send another email to make that point (and include your original order number).
DeleteAs an ex-employee of Maelstrom, I know for a fact that a lot of orders were transferred to the Mierce system from Maelstrom, then fulfilled by Mierce. I also know some didn't get moved, for one reason or another, and that some of those have been chased up by the customers in the meantime and sorted out.
Thanks for this. I did email with order numbers a while ago and heard nothing, but I'll give that another try.
DeleteThe link between Maelstrom and Mierce is a guy called Rob Lane, a guy the internet thinks is a crooked, thieving b*****d, allegedly. He is held responsible for the dishonourable conduct at Maelstrom and the dodgy 'stretchgoal' nonsense on kickstarter by most of the disgruntled former Maelstrom customers, allegedly.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that name before. He sounds like a 'great' bloke, really 'honest' and a 'credit' to the hobby industry. I wish him 'well'.
DeleteRob Lane was a tournament regular in the 90s, set up an online retailer 10 years ago, and, when times were good, about 3-4 years ago, built out the biggest independent dedicated wargaming venue in the country. Then, after a year or two of hard kicks to the turnover, and when the company was in trouble, had his biggest rival buy a debt and demand immediate repayment, and thus was pushed into ceasing trading.
DeleteYeah, he's been nothing but a blight on the wargaming landscape.
@Fiendil. What Wayland did with the £100,000 debt was disgusting, I agree, but all that pain and then some was passed directly on to loyal customers in a cynical and coordinated way. You haven't changed my mind. It's easy to do the right thing when times are good, the test of character is how you act when times are hard.
DeleteIf your company hasn't got any money left, and you've had a debt called in with threat of forced liquidation, there's not a great deal that you can do to provide goods or refunds. Nothing cynical or calculated about it, if you've got no money, you *can't* do the "right thing".
DeleteReally, the only "right thing" you can do, when a company is in trouble (and there's no pot of cash to fall back on), is to try and continue trading and make enough money to fulfil the outstanding orders. Which is exactly what was happening. It may well not have been possible, and Maelstrom might have gone down anyway, but it certainly couldn't happen when Wayland stepped in.
(And before anyone says "but what about the Kickstarter money?", aside from the detail that that money has been paid to an entirely seperate company, the customers who paid that money need to be supplied the goods they paid for, and to supply their goods costs money for the sculptors, the mould maker, the casters and packers, the resin and rubber, the shipping, the rent of the building this all has to happen in, the utilities, the tax, and the other bills, etc. Should those customers be penalised in favour of the Maelstrom customers, and their money used to pay the Maelstrom customers, so they're left without their goods instead?)
@Fiendil. I don't mean to offend you (but I'm probably going to), particularly as this is a personal matter for you, but I simply can't agree that Lane is some kind of innocent victim. It's irresponsible to rack up that kind of debt (proportionate to the Maelstrom turnover that is), in fact it's a kind of dishonesty in itself, it's also dishonest to advertise a fake 'wacky warehouse' sale then do a runner from the empty warehouse with the proceeds. After all is said and done Wayland stamped out a rival when the opportunity arose and it cost them not a lot to do so (I hear the £100,000 debt only cost them £10,000) but as hard done by as Lane was in that regard I suspect his mortgage got paid for a few months (while he organised a kickstarter) thanks to a lot of empty handed customers.
DeleteThat seems to me to sum up the situation rather well. I'm not sure anyone can argue against that.
DeleteI'll say that Rob certainly made some mistakes in running Maelstrom, and he could definitely have done some things better.
DeleteHowever, the Maelstrom turnover, at its peak, 3-4 years back, was £4 million a year. There was £70,000 in GW stock going through the warehouse every single week. That's more than the debt to Simple in under 2 weeks. That's the proportion we're talking about here.
And, Simple could have just as easily have cut Maelstrom off sooner, or insisted on payment up front before product was sent. They did neither.
There was no "fake warehouse sale". The warehouse was meant to move out to its own building at the same time Mierce moved, but the owners of the building took so long getting it ready, Wayland sent their letter demanding money, and there was no point. In the meantime, the sale was originally to thin out the warehouse for the move.
The site was switched to sell only in-stock products at some point during that sale (I know for a fact that that happend, cos I made the changeover), and it did quietly turn into a fire sale. Honestly can't remember when exactly, but it was a way before the end. So for a while before the company stopped trading, there were no orders being taken for stuff that wasn't being held in stock.
Also, stock was being packed and sent out until the day before Maelstrom ceased trading. I saw the warehouse staff doing it, so yeah, that's first hand observation.
The proceeds went into ordering stock, paying our wages, paying debts to suppliers, the rent on the building, other bills, tax, etc, etc. All the trivial stuff that eats a company's money.
If Rob took a big chunk of cash for himself (beyond that which he needed to keep his roof over his head and food on his table), the liquidator will have his balls, and if he did, I'll happily kick him in them myself.
Fiendil, just wanted to say that obviously employees of Maelstrom losing their jobs was a far bigger deal than those of us who didn't get our toys. And I appreciate you taking the time to comment and put your side across.
DeleteThank you. That's also appreciated.
DeleteThing with this whole situation is that there's an awful lot of assumptions and misinformation out there, mixed in with facts, and it winds me up when those are the only side that's put, and everything gets pinned on Rob. Dude's got his faults, but, after working for him for a couple of years, I honestly believe he's not deliberately screwed anyone.
(I hope your order gets sorted out.)
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ReplyDeleteMierce have now been in touch with me an offered to fulfil my missing order, so... watch this space for further details.
ReplyDelete@Fiendil. Amigo, either I am too cynical, you are too naive or the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Whichever way we look at it, Mierce has a great opportunity now to prove us naysayers wrong and I hope they grasp it and do well. I for one won't touch them with a bargepole but that doesn't mean I want them to fail. Good luck in your new endeavours too Fiendil, I hope the upheaval is over for you personally. Thank you for putting across a well considered and respectful point of view on a touchy subject.
ReplyDelete@Davey. I too hope your order gets sorted, especially as it is an admission of guilt! ;)
I was contacted recently by Wayland Games and learnt a lot more about the situation from their point of view.
ReplyDeleteBelow are some figures which may clarify some matters.
Information from the Official Receiver, approx MG debts stand at:
4000 Customer in total owed £200,000 (ave debt = £50)
15 Trade creditors owed £60,000 (This does not include Wayland games £108,759.18)
HMRC (EU Countries (NOT UK HMRC) owed VAT £500,000
Though it may not be immediately obvious I think these figures show that things were going badly wrong at MG and that several warning signs must have been ignored, that's just a personal interpretation and I don't mean to offend anyone or provoke anyone either.
I would further like to add that not only were WG very polite in pointing out that they had done their best to protect their customers throughout MG's fiasco and that they had done nothing wrong at all, but also that upon reflection I tend to agree with them.
I wish everyone concerned a happy future!
I got that email too. I think it's obvious that MG was financially mismanaged and I agree that a resolution to the situation was probably ignored while more and more debt was accrued. I can understand why people would avoid Mierce on that basis. I also like to think though that some lessons have been learned and that this company will be run more responsibly.
Delete