Fulfillment Update and More...
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 01:10:59 AM
Fulfillment Update:
For those of you in the USA (about 75% of backers) we got our 3rd and final container of Wave 1 boards in last Friday and spent the weekend and 4th of July unloading the container and today we shipped out about 230 more boards for backers. We have generated about another 100 labels that didn't go out today but we are expecting to ship the vast majority of the rest of the boards later this week or next week. We are working diligently on getting all rewards out as quickly as possible but we have run into a few snags that effects a few of you backers:
- Brown Discs. We frankly messed up and the very few of you who selected brown discs as an add-on, we are sorry but we are totally out of this somewhat unpopular color disc set. Curt will be contacting a few of you and refunding you for those discs that we can't ship out. All other colors are on stock and going fine, though we are getting low on Purple discs. We have more of those coming but they didn't make it on any of the first 3 containers so they will likely restock in October when Wave 2 boards arrive for shipping. If we run out of Purple discs for a few of you we will split those off of your rewards and ship them separately in October when they are restocked.
- Brass Screw Sets. When Dave set up the Backerkit survey he priced the brass rubber/screw sets the same as the yellow zinc sets, despite the zinc sets being $3 cheaper on our website. The brass screws are actually quite a bit more expensive as you can imagine but the result was that we have realized there are a lot more orders with brass rubber/screw sets than other sets. We ran out of brass screw sets today but will be getting more brass screws in early next week. This means many of of you wave 1 backers who haven't been shipped a board yet will have to wait until next week for it to ship out. Very sorry about that, but we will get the last of Wave 1 out next week if we can't get them out this week.
- Address issues. We have made some labels for some backers and then saw the addresses are either to PO boxes, to non-lower 48 states or to other areas like Guam or APO/AE addresses. We cannot ship these via USPS due to their size so if you put a PO box in your address we will be reaching out to you to get a physical address that UPS can deliver to for us to ship it out. If you put in an address of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, or other non-lower 48 states (like APO/AE for example) we will be reaching out to you to get a lower-48 states address or to charge you a significant additional shipping fee as UPS is the only way we can ship within the USA and shipping to non-lower 48 states is super expensive via UPS as we mentioned in the campaign.
If you have received a tracking number but don't see the shipment hitting UPS's system yet don't panic, we printed a lot of labels in advance of this container coming in and are still working on the backlog but hope to have everyone's Wave 1 boards shipped by the end of next week.
We are going to have to wait until next week for the shipment for Wave 1 to Canada to go out to Canada as well as it is coming out of the USA and we need those brass screw sets to fulfill all of your orders to Canada too. It will be going out as soon as possible to our Canadian partners for fulfillment but don't expect you to get the boards until early August at this point. Very sorry about that but we are working on it!
Damage/Defect Issues
If you have ANY issues with your rewards or have a defect of some sort you can email to Curt at [email protected] and he will address your issue. Please keep in mind we have nearly 3,000 backers on this project and Curt is the ONLY person handling customer service for all of Mayday, so you will need to be a little patient for a reply. If you don't have an answer back in 2-3 business days feel free to send him a follow-up email and he will get to you as soon as he can.
Please note that we are paying UPS around $50 per board to ship to you and that includes FULL insurance on your board. When your rewards arrive it is your duty to open up the contents, take photos and document any damage/defect on the board. If there is damage to the board such as a rail that is off or a large hole or other obvious defect in the board or you see holes/damage to the packaging, this is likely something UPS caused and they will take full responsibility.
Curt will be happy to work with you to ensure a claim is filed with UPS so we can claim the insurance and once the claim is granted we can send you a replacement board. If you do the math just for the USA that is around 2,100 people receiving shipments from UPS at $50/shipment, so we are paying UPS over $100,000 on this project for US delivery of these boards. We have carefully double-boxed the boards and have shipped more than 10,000 boards over the years, but some small single-digit percentage of these boards will be damaged by UPS and while none of us wants that, UPS is responsible and will be able to help us claim the insurance and help us pay for a replacement board to be shipped to you. Please keep all packaging and take photos and do not destroy or return any defective boards until UPS advises us on your specific claim.
If your board has a manufacturing defect such as a center hole that isn't perfectly centered on the board, please email Curt at [email protected] and send photos of the issue. Such manufacturing defects are rare but we need to document them and claim a credit with the factory to ensure their feet are held to the fire for shoddy work. We have typically seen less than 1% of boards with such manufacturer defects, but with more than 3,000 boards shipping that is still 30 of you who may have some such issue. Curt will try to work with each of you to find an acceptable solution. We are glad that so far while the hole on a very few boards has been off-center on the board, the hole in relation to the lines on the board are centered so game play isn't effected.
Please understand that we aren't going to replace boards or issue full refunds for such defects as the shipping both ways is prohibitively expensive. We will document all issues and communicate your disappointment to the factory.
Disc sizes
One final word about the colored disc sizes, the discs on each run of the boards varies slightly from production run to production run and the sizes of the colored discs many of you may have added on may also differ slightly for the same reason. Such variations are expected and happen each print run but game play should be relatively consistent. We don't have any other sizes than what we have sent out to you so replacements won't solve the issue. We hope you can all be understanding that such variations are a consequence of manufacturing runs over several batches. We appreciate your understanding.
Wax
As noted in the care/instructions sheet, Crokinole is best enjoyed when you can add a layer of wax to both your board and your discs. We have a lot of customers looking for more wax, we recommend the wax found HERE as it is 100% carnauba wax with no cleaners in it for$22 on Amazon Prime. It will last you a LONG LONG time as it just takes a little.
A Word About Mayday Crokinole Boards
Mayday is a small US company that is passionate about Crokinole. When Seth from Mayday looked for a crokinole board for a family gift all the way back in 2011 he found there were only $250-$400 custom boards available on the internet, sometimes with wait times of over a year! Thus began Mayday’s quest to make a value board that would allow this amazing game to get into more homes than ever before. We have hosted the GenCon Crokinole tournament for the last several years and are so happy to get this game into the homes of many people who just wouldn’t take a chance on this game were a discount option not available. We have had many happy customers go on to buy more expensive heirloom-quality boards from true craftsman, but still use our board for more casual games. We are delighted by this! Our boards aren’t perfect, but they should be perfectly functional and give owners a sense of enjoyment for years to come. We think it is a testament to the quality of the game that so many customers go on to buy a true artisan board after giving our board a go. Please accept that almost all of our boards have some small imperfections. Consider adding a carrying case or rubber/screw set of pegs should you prefer a more unique look. Both are available at maydaygames.com.
Surface Care -The most important feature of crokinole is the interaction of the discs and the hardwood. 90% of that interaction is dependent upon the wax on both the discs and the board. In fact, boards can be made of hardwood, painted plywood, metal or even glass! If the top surface is properly waxed, then the discs will behave the same on every surface. You may meet Crokinole Snobs telling you the surface of their board is “faster” for one reason or another. Don’t believe them, it all comes down to how they are WAXED! Your board will function best with a proper top coat or 2. We recommend carnauba wax which you can pick up at most hardware/automotive/mass market stores (like Amazon/Walmart) but be sure to get a wax that is 100% wax and has no “cleaners” so as not to damage the wood on the board. If you can run your fingernails across the board and feel a “grainy” feel or your nails snag somewhere then you need to apply another coat of wax.
Discs -Your board includes tournament sized discs of the proper size & are intended for play on regulation tournament-sized boards only, like this one. You should take care to wax both the board AND the discs for best results. Consistency of force applied should result in consistent results if both the board and the discs are waxed.
Appearance -Note that our boards are made of MDF and finished on both sides so that any wetness should not absorb into the board. Any water that gets into MDF can cause the wood to bloat and warp, so wipe any spills off immediately and don’t take your board swimming. It might float but it will look quite bad when it comes out of the pool! The top layer of wood on this board is made of a hardwood veneer (meaning the very top layer only is hardwood, the rest of the wood is MDF). This veneer is made from thin sheets of the wood from real hardwood trees. These sheets of hardwood vary in length, most being narrower than a crokinole board’s surface. This means that most boards will be made up of 1-3 different trees’ wood. It is all hardwood but the variations in color from one tree to the next account for the differences in color on the board. This is a natural feature of all veneers and is not a defect of the board. Some small glue marks or chipping along the rim/ditch of the board is also quite common, touching up these small areas with a black or brown “sharpie” permanent marker should make any areas where the wood is chipped all but invisible. For larger chips consider filling with wood putty and gently sanding with a very fine sandpaper before staining or using a “sharpie”.
Pegs -Note that the wooden pegs for the game may fit a bit loosely in the holes on the board. We have had problems with prior production runs with the pegs being much too large for the holes, so we have intentionally designed these to be just a bit loose. The pegs won’t fly off while playing the game, but some pegs may be just a bit “wobbly”. If this isn’t to your preference, we recommend a drop of wood glue to attach the pegs permanently, or to simply wrap a small piece of masking tape around the bottom of the peg for a snugger fit. Alternatively, you might consider a rubber/screw replacement set of pegs for a “bouncy” game of Crokinole. We offer these sets on our website as we mentioned earlier.
Storage -Store your board in a cool, dry area and if possible, store it completely vertically or horizontally. Storing it at an angle could warp your board. Storing your board in a very humid area could allow moisture to penetrate the board and cause warping as well. Exposing your board to extreme temperature shifts frequently can also cause damage to your board. Careful care and handling should be taken when transporting your board and we recommend one of our Mayday Crokinole Carrying Cases both for storing and transportation.
Final Thoughts
We are working hard to fulfill all wave 1 boards, here are a few photos from today, it was 95 degrees out today and really hot, but our small team is working hard to ship as many boards as possible each day! Today's 230 boards may not seem like many, but looking at them all you start to get a feel for the scope of that number!
