[GZG] From GZG, latest situation update....

10 posts · Jan 31 2011 to Feb 22 2011

Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:30:03 +0000

Subject: [GZG] From GZG, latest situation update....

End of January Update:

Here we are at the end of the month already, and it hardly seems five minutes
since Christmas! I'm SLOWLY catching up with orders (at least, on average more
are going out each day than are coming in....), but there are still a lot to
do; the volume of orders slowed
a LITTLE this month, but we still received a lot - I'm working
through them, but will still be casting and dispatching January orders well
into February.

Of course, in February all those of you who got discount vouchers
from your pre-Christmas orders will be wanting to spend them - and
you'll also be wanting to know if there will be any new stuff out in
time to order it with the vouchers. The answer is hopefully yes - but
it won't be till towards the end of the month, as I've got to fit the making
of new moulds in between making stock to keep the order dispatches going. I
know this will mean a rush of orders right at the end of Feb, but at least
that may enable me to get a lot more of the other ones out first.

One bit of bad news is that the show I had planned to attend in Feb,
Hammerhead in Newark, is now off the calendar for us - we were booked
in and are on the trader list for the show, but we will NOT now be
attending - the reason being that I would simply have no stock to
sell there! The mailorder rush has cleaned us out to the point where almost
everything is being cast up just to fulfill current orders, and it will take
me several weeks to get stock levels back to anything like the required
quantities to do a show. So, sincere apologies to anyone who was planning to
see us there, but there isn't a lot I can do about it I'm afraid. We don't
have any other shows booked until SALUTE in April, so that should give me some
time to get a reasonable amount of stock done ready for that.

So, I hope to have another update for you in a couple of weeks with news of
the new releases, and some other major news concerning, among
other things, our webstore - which is finally getting a very long
overdue re-vamp!

Please note that most of the things talked about in the last couple
of updates (see front page of store) still apply - in particular the
bit about emails and other enquiries, if you've sent anything and not had a
response then please send me a reminder.

That's it for the moment, things are still insanely busy but gradually getting
back on track, more news soon!

Thanks,

From: Ground Zero Games <jon@g...>

Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:39:34 +0000

Subject: [GZG] From GZG, latest situation update....

VERY IMPORTANT INFO: ALL CUSTOMERS PLEASE READ!

This is a heads-up to everyone that we have MAJOR changes afoot - the
main one being a long awaited complete re-vamp of our online store!
We've been trying to do this for a couple of years now, but it never seemed to
be the right time, there were always problems about it that we couldn't easily
resolve, and so on. Well, now finally IT IS HAPPENING. The new store will be a
completely different format to the old one, hopefully easier to navigate and
use, and it will have all the
features that are expected these days but that the old store lacked -
including instant online processing of customer card payments, integrated
Paypal payment option, calculation of shipping costs at time of order (so you
know exactly what you'll be paying before you make the final clicks), the
ability to check the status of your order online, and much more. Eventually
there will even be more product photos (when we can get them added, so don't
expect 100% of these immediately!), and much better integrated galleries of
pictures.

Now, at the time of writing we are still struggling under a
significant backlog of orders - though we've been working flat-out to
clear them as quickly as possible, they are still coming in as fast
as we can get them out - if there is ever a lull for a day, it is
followed by a deluge the next day! This also means that we can never
seem to get ahead, as we can't re-fill the stock bins while we're
having to cast stuff on the fly to fill the orders that have to go out. So,
I've had to make a decision that I've been putting off till now:

WE WILL BE CLOSED TO NEW ORDERS FROM MARCH 1st, until we can get stock
replenished, outstanding orders cleared, new items moulded and cast, and the
new store up and running. I would hope that we will
re-open with the new online store NO LATER than the beginning of
April - if we can get enough done before that, we may make it sooner.

What will happen is that the checkout stage of the old online store will be
turned off on March 1st, so that you can still browse our product ranges but
won't be able to actually place an order. The rest of the website, including
the news page, will remain up for info and updates. We will not be accepting
any orders from then until we
re-open with the new online store up and running. Once we know a firm
date for the activation of the new store we will post it here.

During the March hiatus, we will be working as hard as possible on clearing
all orders placed up to the end of Feb, as well as completing and moulding the
NEW items that we've been trying to do for ages, and returning out stock
levels to a reasonable state ready
for the mailorders to re-start with the new store going online -
hopefully then when we re-open we can once again offer a quick
turn-round time, something that has slipped horribly over the last
few months!

PRICES: Those if you who have been customers of ours for a long while will be
aware that we have not actually had any significant price changes to most of
our ranges for something like TWELVE YEARS. In that time, the cost of metal
has spiralled by something like 300%, and virtually
everything else has gone up as well - but we've held our prices
stable on existing codes, absorbing all these changes despite being squeezed
onto lower and lower margins with every increase in our costs. We've even so
far absorbed the recent 2.5% VAT increase as far as our UK and EU customers
are concerned while passing on the extra
saving to all our US and other non-EU customers!
Sadly we just can't do this any longer - some (not all) prices simply
HAVE to go up at last to reflect realistic materials and running costs, and
the revamping of the webstore provides us with the most practical opportunity
to do this. So, when the new store opens for
business, there will be price increases on some items - mostly on
older codes that have been the same prices for many years, but also on some
newer items where materials cost increases have hit particularly painfully. We
will be keeping the effects of these increases to the minimum that we possibly
can, and trust that you will still find that we offer exceptional value for
money.

DELETION OF SOME OLDER CODES: While the webstore is being overhauled, we will
also be DELETING a
number of older items from the store - mainly codes where moulds are
reaching the end of their useful life, and sales are too low to
warrant re-moulding them at this time. This is simply a continuation
of the process we started quite a while back, as there are a number of old
models in our ranges that are now getting very difficult and
time-consuming to cast to an acceptable standard. Please note that we
are not actually disposing of any moulds unless they are completely worn out
and effectively useless, and most of the items that are being deleted from the
store WILL still be available to special order, time and other circumstances
permitting. If, when the new
store is up, you find that something you wanted has disappeared -
then please contact us and we'll see what we can do for you.
We will also be re-organising some of the many special packs and
fleet deals that we offer, changing the contents of some and
replacing some older deals with all-new ones - full details will be
on the new store.

NEW PRODUCTS: We have a significant number of new releases sitting here on the
workbench almost ready to go, but the sheer volume of orders has
prevented any chance of getting production moulds made for them yet -
as explained above, this is one of the things that we plan to catch up on
during March, so that we have a good batch of NEW items ready for the opening
of the new store, and then even more ready in time for SALUTE in April! Keep
checking for news posts here during March, as even though the store is shut I
will be posting teasers and progress reports on the new stuff so that you know
what is coming.

FEBRUARY OFFER VOUCHERS:
A lot of you received February discount vouchers from our pre-Xmas
promotion - and I know that a large number of you have been patiently
waiting for us to release the promised NEW items before the end of Feb, so
that you could include them with your voucher purchases. As explained above,
I've now had to accept that the new releases won't be ready, as there is
simply not enough time left now to get them done. So, for those of you who
still have vouchers to spend, we are offering a choice: EITHER you can use
your voucher as originally intended, by the end of this month, on placing an
order for existing products that we will get dispatched to you during our
March hiatus; OR, if you have been specifically waiting for new products to be
released, you may DEFER using your voucher until JUNE this year (we can't make
it any earlier, because we'll be too busy with SALUTE, TRIPLES etc to cope
with the rush!). The voucher will then be valid for its face value
discount on any order placed from the 1st - 30th JUNE 2011 - so it
simply becomes a Summer discount rather than a Winter one!
Now, this is important - if you wish to take up the second option of
deferring your voucher until June, you MUST email me directly (to
jonATgzgDOTcom), give me the ID code number of your Feb voucher, and
request the deferment - I will then send you back via email a NEW
voucher code that you can use online in June; we have to do it this way
because by then the new store will be up and running with its online
processing facilities, and the way in which we will have to handle discount
offers will be different. I hope this all makes sense, and one way or another
it should keep MOST people happy.....!

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PLACE ANY ORDERS WITH US IN
MARCH! This includes postal AND telephone orders, as well as online ones; we
are CLOSED in March for all intents and purposes, though we will be working
away like crazy "behind the scenes" to have
everything ready to re-start very soon.

From: Brian Bell <bkb@b...>

Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:14:50 -0500