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Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 12:06:10 AM

HansHafen

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Just received John Tillers Campaign Series shipped via FedEx from Matrix. It was in a cardboard envelope and the plastic cd case was crushed. I even paid extra to upgrade from USPS to FedEx. Unfortunately, I wasn't home to deny the package and there was no shipping documentation in the envelope. I haven't opened the cd case yet. Why would anyone ship something like this in an envelope that is very easily crushed like mine was?

So, if you want a hard copy of your game shipped to you in addition to the digital download, be forwarned of Matrix shipping practices.

I will now begin the journey to get a new cd case from Matrix.

Post #: 1

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 12:39:09 AM

V22 Osprey

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From: Corona, CA
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Honestly I would just send it USPS Priority Mail. I've bought 10+ games and things through priority mail and never had a problem with broken or damaged merchandise. And it gets here pretty fast as well.(3 days) Pretty reliable, but sometimes they put the package in the wrong lock box or mailbox.

< Message edited by V22 Osprey -- 1/8/2011 12:40:19 AM >

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Post #: 2

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 12:45:22 AM

Erik Rutins

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From: Vermont, USA
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Hi Hans,

They should be packing those to avoid damage. The last test order I received had the game in bubble wrap and had no damage. Can you e-mail me at erikr@matrixgames.com with your order info and a picture of the package if possible? We can discuss this with the warehouse to make sure everyone is packing these properly.

We are happy to ship you a replacement case.

Regards,

- Erik

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Post #: 3

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 10:20:56 AM

Phatguy

Posts: 1348
Joined: 3/1/2006
From: Buffalo,ny
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quote:

ORIGINAL: HansHafen

Just received John Tillers Campaign Series shipped via FedEx from Matrix. It was in a cardboard envelope and the plastic cd case was crushed. I even paid extra to upgrade from USPS to FedEx. Unfortunately, I wasn't home to deny the package and there was no shipping documentation in the envelope. I haven't opened the cd case yet. Why would anyone ship something like this in an envelope that is very easily crushed like mine was?

So, if you want a hard copy of your game shipped to you in addition to the digital download, be forwarned of Matrix shipping practices.

I will now begin the journey to get a new cd case from Matrix.

I have never received a package from Matrix in the shape you mention so your situation must be one of those "oops" moments that happen every once in a great while.Have you ever considered that maybe Fedex crushed it? I dont think Matrix goes out of their way to pre-crush our games before tossing them to the mail carriers of the world.....

You make it sound like they are a horrible shipper......

Matrix shipping practices are fine....

< Message edited by apathetic lurker -- 1/8/2011 10:23:11 AM >

(in reply to HansHafen)

Post #: 4

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 3:39:11 PM

Joe D.

Posts: 4004
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From: Stratford, Connecticut
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quote:

ORIGINAL: V22 Osprey

Honestly I would just send it USPS Priority Mail. I've bought 10+ games and things through priority mail and never had a problem with broken or damaged merchandise. And it gets here pretty fast as well.(3 days) ...

Ditto!

USPS is the way to go.

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Post #: 5

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 7:00:09 PM

parusski

Posts: 4804
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From: Jackson Tn
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quote:

ORIGINAL: apathetic lurker

quote:

ORIGINAL: HansHafen

Just received John Tillers Campaign Series shipped via FedEx from Matrix. It was in a cardboard envelope and the plastic cd case was crushed. I even paid extra to upgrade from USPS to FedEx. Unfortunately, I wasn't home to deny the package and there was no shipping documentation in the envelope. I haven't opened the cd case yet. Why would anyone ship something like this in an envelope that is very easily crushed like mine was?

So, if you want a hard copy of your game shipped to you in addition to the digital download, be forwarned of Matrix shipping practices.

I will now begin the journey to get a new cd case from Matrix.

I have never received a package from Matrix in the shape you mention so your situation must be one of those "oops" moments that happen every once in a great while.Have you ever considered that maybe Fedex crushed it? I dont think Matrix goes out of their way to pre-crush our games before tossing them to the mail carriers of the world.....

You make it sound like they are a horrible shipper......

Matrix shipping practices are fine....

Despite the years that have passed I distinctly recall receiving WitP shipped just this way(except my game was not broken).

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Post #: 6

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 9:48:52 PM

Phatguy

Posts: 1348
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From: Buffalo,ny
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Well, I believe it's rare......15+ Matrix titles and every one in tip top shape.......

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Post #: 7

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 10:20:59 PM

Zakhal

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Ive bought matrix games for years and so many of the boxes have been broken that I quit buying boxed ones.

In comparison Ive bought ten times more from places like amazon, ebay or play.com yet their boxes have always been in top-shape.

< Message edited by Zakhal -- 1/8/2011 10:23:23 PM >

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Post #: 8

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/8/2011 11:54:13 PM

hgilmer3

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I bought the physical version of WITP-AE and WITE and neither arrived damaged.

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Post #: 9

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/11/2011 5:31:40 PM

Kubel

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I just recieved an email asking if I recieved my WitE purchased 14 December; sadly I'm sure the zelous Canadian Border Guards have it and will ship it when they figure how much HST I owe to the state. Matrix offers to re-ship games at no charge to you if you don't recieve them in a timley manner.

My bottom line is

Service from Matrix is second to none; and from what I see Eric posted have no doubt they will fix it to your satisfaction.
Eric and Staff

Cheers

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Post #: 10

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/11/2011 11:30:45 PM

HansHafen

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I was angry when I posted because this is the second hard copy I have ordered that was stepped on by someone in the shipping process. The other one was a year or more ago. I estimate that I have bought about twenty games and 2 have been crushed. I know the Matrix guys wouldn't do it on purpose. At least they know that the fulfillment center is not shipping all of the packages the way Matrix wants and the way it was promised to them by their contractor. If we all report damaged packages then Matrix can take appropriate action to�remedy the situation. Matrix contacted me about this with lightning speed which was awesome.

< Message edited by HansHafen -- 1/11/2011 11:31:06 PM >

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Post #: 11

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/13/2011 12:01:02 PM

NefariousKoel

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Kubel

I just recieved an email asking if I recieved my WitE purchased 14 December; sadly I'm sure the zelous Canadian Border Guards have it and will ship it when they figure how much HST I owe to the state.

Ouch!

Sucks to have your own country holding your packages hostage and demanding a ransom.

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Post #: 12

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/13/2011 1:15:21 PM

diablo1

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I'll tell yah a little shipping secret: If you send things 1st class mail or media mail they get treated a lot better in the Post Office than Priority Mail. Reason being they are in such a rush to get Priority Mail out because it is Priority they don't treat it with respect. They will throw Priority mail like baseballs and footballs into the canisters thus breaking things and curshing things because small Priority mail goes in the same cans as the heavy packages which get tossed in on top of the smaller packages. UPS practices are no different because it is speedy mail they don't care what's on top of what. Some of these conveyor belts are 25' to 30' long and so these guys are throwing your mail that far sometimes just like baseballs and footballs.

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Post #: 13

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/13/2011 5:04:33 PM

Les_the_Sarge_9_1

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I rented dvds from Zip.ca for about a full year a bit back. They mail the disc to you in an envelope with a return envelope included.

Paper, nothing but paper. Not shipping packaging whatsoever.

I received hundreds of discs this way never once a problem.

My buddy that showed me the service was able to move more than myself, and never once a problem.

Now, I can't fathom how they can do this other than they ship in letter sized mail, which is NOT parcel processes as it is just letter sized mail.

It might be 100% due entirely to how letter mail and parcels are treated and handled.
Not sure it would matter a bit if it went cross border between Canada and the US.
I can't speak for international.

But hell, its 2011.
Explain to me precisely why anyone, ANYONE actually needs that damnable silk screened disc and dvd case with jacket and maybe, just maybe minor booklet?
For 10 bucks?
And people actually complain about the price of games? Yet they can justify spending 10 bucks on a 20 cent disc and a 1 dollar dvd case?

You can't even buy a computer without a disc burner drive. So if your computer hasn't got one, well that's impressive.
And we all laud how Matrix Games rule due to their being just simple no strings attached installers you can copy anywhere.

The LAST thing I would spend 10 bucks on, is a Matrix Games physical copy. Not because it has no worth, but because I can't claim to think there's any need.

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Post #: 14

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/13/2011 5:12:36 PM

diablo1

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Hey we complain about shipping and handling fees too. I think Matrixgames has the highest shipping and handling fees of anyone I've ever ordered physical shipments from. NWS has been as low as $2.99 for shipping the same thing Matrixgames does and charges you $20 for. Amazon.com is $3.99, Ebay around $4 as well. But, yes I'll pay $10 for a cd or dvd case, a disc and a Printed Manual (doesn't have to be color). I like physical, I like the box art. I like holding what I buy in my hands not just looking at it on a screen. Plus all those boxes make for showing off when your friends come over and see your gaming library. Not much to see from a computer but a bunch of ugly yellow folders. I also like carrying my printed manuals around and reading in bed or in the throne room. I've yet to see a good PDF reader either. Perhaps when someone makes one of those that actually works then I might give-in to PDF manuals only.

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Post #: 15

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/13/2011 7:36:18 PM

HansHafen

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Here's ANYONE to explain some things to you...ok here goes, Matrix can go out of business! Their precious download can go away. Yes, I could burn a copy, but I would rather have a nice box to store it in with a cover and maybe a manual! And they put my name and registration number right on the disc! Why would ANYONE not want a hard copy with a box and cover? (I can be just like you, dialectically speaking of course.)

And maybe I want to help Matrix survive by sending them some more money? Why should you even care?

And what about the games that do come with a very nice printed manual? Like Gary Grigsbys War Between the States? I prefer to have a professionally printed manual than printing a pdf at home and putting it into a binder somewhere when I can just leave it in my nice boxed case with pretty cover art sitting on my shelf in my den where I can find it.

These are just a few reasons I spend the extra money I earn on a box and a cd dude. So there.

(in reply to Les_the_Sarge_9_1)

Post #: 16

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/13/2011 8:12:27 PM

diablo1

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lol Hans +1 to you! You told him good.

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Post #: 17

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/14/2011 2:41:53 PM

Les_the_Sarge_9_1

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I didn't pay a single cent for shipping and handling of a digital download.

Makes it easier to buy 4 games and call the 4th game 'free' when I consider that I didn't pay out for all those pointless extras.

Now if impressing friends was even possible, with just a game box on a shelf, well I'd need to wonder about the nature of my friends minds :)

Not that I can't just make the box, and make the dvd case jacket myself. It's just cardboard after all. But them I have an unfair advantage too. When not playing wargames, I am likely making models. Or potentially nearly anything else actually. I made the bookcases the games sit on. I've worked as an architectural modeler, I'm used to making nearly anything.

As for pdf readers, it is not about are they out there, it is about, are you willing to pay for one really. And not every manual I have seen in physical form, was all that great. Highway to the Reich, superb game. Manual that I got in the box, features VERY faded washed out nearly impossible to see pictures and very faded indistinct printing. The game is great, the manual a waste of paper. I see some good manuals occasionally. Combat Mission VERY good manual. But that is more than a decade ago, times change and so does the cost of printing. Not to mention where it comes from, such as the supposedly nice manual for WitpAE that Matrix Games got screwed over for from China.

Sometimes cutting a business some slack, means not forcing the business to indulge something unnecessary too.

Sure I'd like War in the East to have a nice manual. Who wouldn't.
But not if it means the company loses damned near all the profit from selling the game.

Every time Matrix Games sells me a digital download, all they are out, is the cost of bandwidth.
In 2010 then, I likely saw too it that Matrix Games made some very fine profit from selling me games.
4x Close Combat
Battles from the Bulge
War in the East
Operation Barbarossa
Some of my other titles, I can't recall precisely when I bought them. But just the above was a nice bit of profit from me.
And no loses to selling me physical. I call it loses, because it costs them staff time to process the orders eh. They don't pocket the entire 10 bucks with no loss.

I don't really think 'he told him good' at all actually diablo.

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Post #: 18

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/14/2011 2:47:50 PM

vonRocko

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Someday I have to learn how to burn these games. I don't want too, but it looks like I'll have too. Should be easy for an Elite wargamer type person.

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Post #: 19

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/14/2011 4:04:03 PM

Phatguy

Posts: 1348
Joined: 3/1/2006
From: Buffalo,ny
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Les_the_Sarge_9_1

I rented dvds from Zip.ca for about a full year a bit back. They mail the disc to you in an envelope with a return envelope included.

Paper, nothing but paper. Not shipping packaging whatsoever.

I received hundreds of discs this way never once a problem.

My buddy that showed me the service was able to move more than myself, and never once a problem.

Now, I can't fathom how they can do this other than they ship in letter sized mail, which is NOT parcel processes as it is just letter sized mail.

It might be 100% due entirely to how letter mail and parcels are treated and handled.
Not sure it would matter a bit if it went cross border between Canada and the US.
I can't speak for international.

But hell, its 2011.
Explain to me precisely why anyone, ANYONE actually needs that damnable silk screened disc and dvd case with jacket and maybe, just maybe minor booklet?
For 10 bucks?
And people actually complain about the price of games? Yet they can justify spending 10 bucks on a 20 cent disc and a 1 dollar dvd case?

You can't even buy a computer without a disc burner drive. So if your computer hasn't got one, well that's impressive.
And we all laud how Matrix Games rule due to their being just simple no strings attached installers you can copy anywhere.

The LAST thing I would spend 10 bucks on, is a Matrix Games physical copy. Not because it has no worth, but because I can't claim to think there's any need.

Why are you getting so worked up because some of us like physical copies?

(in reply to Les_the_Sarge_9_1)

Post #: 20

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/14/2011 8:04:35 PM

HansHafen

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Plus, they are charging 10.00 for the copy, I doubt they are losing money on it.

He doen't really care about the hard copy issue, he was just pissed because I wrote something bad about Matrix shipping, that's all.

But then, I wrote something good about Matrix, they responded to me like lightning and are following up on their fulfillment center with their contractor to make sure they are doing what they promissed they would do.

(in reply to Phatguy)

Post #: 21

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 5:13:47 AM

Les_the_Sarge_9_1

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quote:

ORIGINAL: apathetic lurker
Why are you getting so worked up because some of us like physical copies?

You presume I am 'worked up'.

I'm not worked up.

Perhaps the OP is worked up. But I am not stating they were.
They received a damaged item in the mail, and I would have been upset as well in their position.

Granted, as I proved in my comments, the package is not to blame, the fault lies with the service that performed the delivery.
Because if I can receive hundreds of dvds in the mail, protected by nothing better than a paper folder, and the company sending can do this with countless 1000s of discs each and every day, then a package is not defacto safer all for being in a box.

Fans of physical copies, should be able to get there physical copies, if they desire to purchase their physical copies. But, when you consider how utterly not required the physical copy truly is, and protestations to the effect that the individual is in love with having a nice pretty box. Well you're just going to have to accept some of the community will laugh at the whole obsession.

Sorry to hear your very expensive notion arrived damaged.
Matrix Games stands behind their products though and it's not like a replacement isn't coming.

I just reserve the right to laugh at all the fuss over something so utterly unnecessary.

I'm not worked up, I am laughing here.

And for those concerned about the finances of Matrix Games, hmm, I am sure if you were to buy a Tshirt and coffee mug with the company logo on it, you'll feel reeeeeeeally good inside :)

Hanshafen, Matrix Games didn't crush your game, that was the people that delivered it.

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Post #: 22

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 5:35:09 AM

parusski

Posts: 4804
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Well I'm with you on the manual. I would pay Matrix about as much for a decent manual for WitE as I paid for the game.

Yeah, throw rocks at me over how much that is.

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Post #: 23

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 9:23:19 AM

HansHafen

Posts: 258
Joined: 2/3/2008
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Matrix hired someone to ship my package on their behalf and they shipped it improperly. Thus, Matrix crushed my package! See how easy that is Sarge?

I reserve the right to laugh at other people too.

And I do love my physical copies. That's why I pay an extra 10 dollars for them. I'm fondling, I mean reading, my War Between the States manual as we speak...

(in reply to parusski)

Post #: 24

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 6:14:46 PM

diablo1

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Joined: 2/27/2010
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quote:

You can't even buy a computer without a disc burner drive. So if your computer hasn't got one, well that's impressive.

I guess you haven't bought a netbook lately. And don't try to say a netbook isn't a computer.

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Post #: 25

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 6:18:41 PM

warspite1

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quote:

ORIGINAL: parusski

Well I'm with you on the manual. I would pay Matrix about as much for a decent manual for WitE as I paid for the game.

Warspite1

+1

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Post #: 26

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 6:38:44 PM

diablo1

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quote:

Well I'm with you on the manual. I would pay Matrix about as much for a decent manual for WitE as I paid for the game.

quote:

Warspite1

+1

If it had some good History of the war and lots of pictures I would too. I miss the good old manuals of yesteryear that you got a history lesson about the game you bought as well as instructions.

< Message edited by diablo1 -- 1/15/2011 6:42:38 PM >

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Post #: 27

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 7:29:44 PM

Obsolete

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quote:

Explain to me precisely why anyone, ANYONE actually needs that damnable silk screened disc and dvd case with jacket and maybe, just maybe minor booklet?

Of course we don't NEED IT. But I always liked to have something physical, it sure solves a lot of problems later on. Not to mention, I miss the days when you used to get a REAL physical manual with your box too.

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Post #: 28

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 7:49:20 PM

junk2drive

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Lack of a manual didn't stop me from getting married. Got years of enjoyment out of that.

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Post #: 29

RE: Matrix Shipping Practices - 1/15/2011 8:15:53 PM

HansHafen

Posts: 258
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Hehehehe, as 50% or more of marriages end in divorce, maybe we should get a manual for that too!

Husbands Manual, do what your wife wants you to do. End!

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Post #: 30