Hi everyone,
we kept some distance from the social media and the messages for some time in order to progress some important things in our work but also complete all notes we received from customers with pending orders, what we shipped etc, and prepare the following update. Please read carefully the following questions as this update concerns all customers with pending orders from our online shop and the remaining backers from the KS sleeve campaign where their parcels must be shipped by MAGE and not GQ.
1. How you will you close the remaining pending sleeves orders,? How may orders have been shipped and delivered? How many orders are still pending?
So far we have shipped around 650 online orders. Once we dispatch a group of orders, we send messages to the customers, inform them for their package and we ask, to inform us once they get their packages. Most people email us back, but there is always a number of people who do not inform us. The remaining online sleeve orders are around 450. We talk for the orders that were made through our online shop. Based on our plan, we want to complete the remaining orders in 4-5 waves. We always work on adding as many orders as possible in each wave/group. Usually a group includes around 60 packages. We want to increase the number of the parcels in those last waves.
2. How will you divide the waves based on your plan?
From oldest to newest orders. The oldest orders begin with number 4 and include four digits, for example: 4125, 4237, and so on. Next will follow the orders that begin with number 5, for example 5021, 5119 and so on. This way we know for sure that we will keep an order during whole process.
3. From where will you ship my order?
All remaining orders are shipped directly from our office, in Athens, Greece.
4. What is the delivery timeframe?
a. For EU countries the average period is 5 business days. Nordic countries, UK and Spain can take more time. This has to do with the post offices in each country. When we go to our post office, we deliver the group of orders we have organized, then it takes few days where there post office sends us the documentation and the parcels usually are transfered to the airport. Most parcels are shipped to the destined countries via air freight.
b. For Latin America, Brazil, Asia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand it usually takes 12 business days.
c. For USA, Canada, Russia it takes around 10 business days.
The estimates are given from the post office are the average timeframes.
Example: The small orders that can fit in a bubble envelop usually take additional time. We checked several cases in the past with some post offices in France, in German and so on, where they told us, that priority is given to big parcels, that’s why sometimes the small ones require extra time to be delivered.
5. How do I know that my online order has been shipped?
Once we dispatch a group of orders, we receive the documentation from the local post office, TUN numbers which are receipt numbers, proof we shipped the parcels and tracking numbers for the bigger parcels. We email these info directly to you through our email magecompanyinfo@gmail.com
6. Who receive tracking numbers?
The customers with parcels over 2kg get tracking number. This is not our policy, this is how the post office works. For the packages lower than 2kg, we keep the TUN numbers of the receipts just in case a parcel is delayed to be delivered. In such cases we talk with the post office in order to find some additional info. We have posted the previous info on our website, in each product’s page.
7. How can I use the tracking number I will receive?
Please follow this link: https://www.elta.gr/en-
Paste the tracking in the box and you will be able to check the progress of your parcel. We repeat that tracking numbers apply on packages over 2kg.
8. I see my order in the mage’s site, it says is complete but I have not received it. Why is that?
When an order is marked as complete it means that we have received that order’s info from our site and we have added it in the system in order to be dispatched. When our site was hacked many of the orders’ status were changed and that created confusion to several customers. We needed some time to inform the customers about what happened and that we would send email to each one once their parcel was ready to be dispatched.
9. I cannot find my order in your online shop. Why is that?
After our site was hacked, several orders were deleted from the system and we could not restore them despite the fact we keep backup files. After restoring our site, we have changed the timeframe of keeping backup of the site on weekly basis.
10. I made an order through your online shop but now I checked it again and it says “canceled”. Did you change the status? Is there anything wrong?
We did not change anything. After we disconnected the automated payment system through the site, any new order that was coming it could be added in the system but the payments were not coming through the site but manually through the customers. That’s why the system labels such orders as “canceled”. The orders are still active and we have added them in our shipping list.
11. I read several comments online and I wanted to ask if all sleeve sizes are in stock or if there is anything I should know. Can you please let me know?
All sleeve sizes are in stock. The stock we have in our office is enough to cover the remaining pending sleeve orders.
12. I have placed an order for the new sleeve size you have on your store, the King Square sleeves for cards 8x8cm for games like 7th continent. I know these sleeves were marked as pre-order. When will you will receive these sleeves? Have you produced them? Are on their way to you?
Yes we have produced this sleeve size. They are coming from China to us via sea freight. Last update we have from the shipper is that they will be delivered late this month. The shipping company will send us update once the the sleeves are in customs. This size was not available through our KS campaign and was added directly on our website.
13. I have requested a refund, but I have not been refunded yet. Why is that?
After our site was hacked we faced several issues since we had to re-collect several orders but also our paypal was set under review by paypal. As long as this procedure is open, we cannot accept funds, send funds or anything else. We can only monitor the open orders or if there is any dispute. That’s where we got a problem. At that period we received some disputes and since we could not do anything the review period by paypal was extended. As a result of this, we could not open new paypal account since all the cards of the company are connected to this business account. This account exists since 2010 and despite the info and papers we have sent to paypal is still in the same situation. So among other things we are working on, we found a way to create a new account. Is not ready yet as we must create new bank cards and so on. Once we are ready, we will send emails to any customer who has requested refund so we can close each case properly.
14. I understand you had some issues but my order has delayed and I prefer to be refunded at this point. Is it possible?
15. Is there any other way to receive my refund now?
We do not use our bank account for small amounts since most times the bank fees will be more than the amount of the actual order. That’s why we are working on creating a new paypal account and close any case in a proper way.
16. When the new paypal account is ready, will you restore the automated payment system on your website?
Yes the company who is handling the technical issues on our site will make sure to update and run in normal mode as previously.
17. I have read online that the company is running some financial issues and that there are more people who wait for their orders. Is that true? Will I receive my order or is waste of time?
Shortly yes, we took a big financial damage last year and that brought us back for first time after all the years we are active as a company. Additionally when our paypal was actually blocked we lost a funding source since our shop is mainly working with the sleeves orders. People like our quality and support us in this product. We are still working on it, to restore balance in our communication with people and to complete orders in a timely manner. We fully understand that we have delayed a lot and that is not your problem if we have any issues. We really do understand that. We kindly ask your understanding in this situation as we are working to restore things back to normal. We did not expect that it will take so much time but it did happen. For those who know MAGE from old purchases, you know very well that we always support our customers. Yes you will receive your order. However if you do not want to wait further and is totally understandable you can check the Question 14. Usually we say we need around 10 days to dispatch a new wave, a new group of orders. Sometimes unfortunately we need more time and the reason for that is on how fast we collect funds from our network, from retail orders and so on. We have a plan to restore finally our cash flow again and we are working on it. Until we do, we move based on the funds we collect from direct retail orders. For the month November, we have not yet released the new group. We are preparing the shipping list and the packages and we will inform the customers/backers after we dispatch it.
18. I had exchanged some emails with you at the beginning of October regarding my order and you told me my parcel will be roughly dispatched in the wave of October. Specifically 11-12 October. Was that wave dispatched? If not when it will be? Can I have an update on this?
We had programed that wave based on some funds we were waiting. Eventually we received them around mid October. Few days laster we prepared a group of orders, arranged their transfer to the post office. Post office has prepared the documentation and asked us to send payment via bank transfer. We sent the payment the last week of October. We wait a message from the central post office to confirm they received the payment and that they released the packages. We will send separated emails to the customers we include in this group of orders, TUN numbers and Tracking numbers. We cannot include these info here in this update as are personal info.
19. I want to update my address / change my order. Where can I contact you?
You can send us an email at magecustomerservice@gmail.com. You would really assist our work if you keep this email and use it and avoid to send multiple emails on all gmail accounts.
20. I am one of the remaining backers from the Kickstarter campaign, waiting to receive the pledge from your office. Can I have an update on my pledge?
There is still an amount of backers where we must ship their parcels via our office as we have previously discussed. The backers have been added to the last waves we have planned to ship out. The original list was quite smaller but recently we added more backers who eventually chose to receive the sleeves not from GQ but from our office. For the backers please remembers Questions 5. 6 and 7.
21. I was told previously that my order would be included in a previous wave but I did not receive it. You may have good intentions but is also a matter of trust. How can I still trust you?
During the whole period we have received many messages. Some people encourage us, some understand our situation, some were angry and so on. In each wave we have shipped out we always tried to add as many customers and backers as possible according to the funds we had at that point. Sometimes we were wrong with our estimations and that caused frustration, at least.. It is not in our intentions to mislead you or give you false info. We get many requests at the same time and we really do our best to resolve this. We are not new in the hobby community and we have proved many times that we are legitimate. If there was a case where we could not do anything we would announce it.
22. Why there is much delay to reply back? I’ve heard from older customers that your communication with customers was quite good and you were replying back within hours, a day or so. Where is the problem right now?
Yes you are absolute correct about this one. The last 6-7 months we have been quite slow with our responses. Aside the sleeves orders we had to work and we are working to close more pending projects, to restore our retail network, monitor the current productions with the factories so we had to deal with too many things at the same time. That’s why we decided to make this big update and reply (we hope) to all the questions you may have. Unfortunately some aspects of our work take much time on a daily basis. We hope through this update to reply to as many questions as possible and restore our contact consistency.
A big thanks for your support!
Respectfully
MAGE Company Team