Getting my WSS Cavalry "Profesionally" painted

Started by Orcs, 04 August 2017, 09:22:21 PM

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Orcs

Well I sent off 6 regiments of 12 Cavalry and some Staff Officers to a company that had peoples say they were reasonable for the price. The company has been around for over a decade is a specialist painting company and has a good website with pictures on,

Most of the figures were the cavalry and dragoon figures from the Pendraken Marlburian range.

The cost was 75p per cavalry figure. (despite the website saying 10% less than this) I expected a basic paint job I could then run a wash over to give it some texture before basing to match the rest of the army.

I sent detailed instructions on facings and horse colours, - While most horses in British service should be black I vary the horse colour to aid differentiating between regiments  

Here is how I fared. I will not name the company YET - you will see why later.

I sent them off and they returned approximately two weeks later. I excitedly opened the parcel and was nearly ready to throw them in the bin. Then I thought it must be me and the fact I was examining them in good light at my painting table.  I took them to club in a church hall that has adequate light for other club members to look at.

Three different people looked at them all agreed they were very poorly done. One of them uses 6mm almost exclusively and he pointed out his 6mm Bacchus Napoleonic's on the table had better painting and more detail than these/

Main Issues:-

Figures had obviously not been undercoated

The underside of the horses muzzle was still bare metal - I know you don't see it but it should have been painted.

Some of the horses had bare metal on most if not all of the underside

The Left hand side of the jackets were not painted - obviously to difficult to get the brush in there.  

Much of the horse furniture was unpainted including the broad girth strip under their stomachs.

The horse furniture that had been painted was seemed to be by just Running a black brush rond the neck where the reins are

ALL horses had black tails and manes even the whites and grey ones. Making them look like pantomime ponies

A couple had sand embedded in the paint - obviously they had not cleared the painting area properly after basing some other figures.

Odd spots of bare metal where they had handled the figure before Varnishing

One regiment has the facing colour from the saddle all over the bottom of the musket stock on all but 2 of the figures


A three page email to the company explaining all the faults (yes it took 3 pages)   I suggested that they give me a full refund plus the  cost of the bare metal if I returned them to sell on their website as I had lost all confidence in their ability to paint them to a reasonable standard.  They requested I return them for repainting . This cost me an additional £5 to send recorded delivery

On further thought I realised they had painted the 10mm in the same way as most people paint 6mm, which is a scale they seem to "specialise" in. But they also have pictures of reasonably painted 15mm on their website, so they should be able to cope with doing a basic but reasonable job on 10mm." I accept they might pass the three foot rule "- just, but I expected them at least to be fully coated with the right colour

I await the result of their repainting. If its not up to a good basic standard I will recourse to Paypal to see if I can get a refund that way, but this will rely on someone at Pay pal making a decision on what standard I should expect when they will probably have never heard of war gaming.

When they return I will give a full update on the final result and name the company as I feel its only right to give them a chance to rectify their mistakes.


The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Duke Speedy of Leighton

Next time, drop them off with me in Leighton Buzzard! ;D
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Orcs

Quote from: mad lemmey on 04 August 2017, 11:07:29 PM
Next time, drop them off with me in Leighton Buzzard! ;D

I thought you did painting for friends more as a favour, but if you are willing  to do mine I will do that in future
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Womble67

Im really sorry you've  had a bad experience

Take care

Andy
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Duke Speedy of Leighton

05 August 2017, 08:54:27 AM #5 Last Edit: 05 August 2017, 08:59:37 AM by mad lemmey
I have been known to paint for cold, hard cash*. Mates get a reduction!  ;)
Bung me a pm if you need owt done, it could finally get me down your way for a fight! I can't gaurentee amazing quality, but from 3 foot they always look decent, and undersides get checked!



* PayPal and bank transfers count as cash, don't they?
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Shedman

Sorry to hear about your troubles

Quote from: Orcs on 04 August 2017, 09:22:21 PM
The cost was 75p per cavalry figure

I must admit that is cheap - I pay 60p and up for 10mm foot

SV52

If you paid via PayPal on a credit card you wouild be protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act:

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/section-75-of-the-consumer-credit-act

So PayPal can say what they like, you bleed all over your credit card company.

Should come under simple consumer law as well. Sale of Goods Act, '.. Item must be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose...'  Local Trading Standards or Citizens Advice will know.

In the end it's not what is acceptable to anyone else but what is or is not acceptable to you the customer.

Good luck.
"The time has come, the walrus said..."

2017 Paint-Off - Winner!

Orcs

Quote from: Shedman on 05 August 2017, 12:12:52 PM
Sorry to hear about your troubles

I must admit that is cheap - I pay 60p and up for 10mm foot

I would have paid more, but the pictures on the web site looked ok and a couple of reviews said they were ok.

Still "Caveat Emptor" always applies
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Leon

It's seems to be so hard these days to find reliable painters who offer a good service at a reasonable price.  We've been extremely fortunate over the years to have found guys like Kev, Matt, Clib, Jason, AndyMac, etc. but there have been a great number who've had the figures and we've never seen them again. 
www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

Leman

The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

cameronian

Don't buy your daughters a pony, buy them heroin instead, its cheaper and ultimately less addictive.

Chad

I had a similar experience with some 15mm. Despite sending colour prints and written details, what I received need a hell of a lot of work
to make them half decent. As an example, the figures were French Revolutionary infantry and I asked for the trousers on some of the figures
To have thin blue or red stripes. What came back were figures with paint carelessly splashed on as stripes. Again this was a painter whose website suggested he was at least competent but what I received makes you wonder how he gets away with this.

I stopped using Fernando because,white the painting is good, their handling of figures is or was appalling. Broken and bent figures in what I received.

petercooman

The description of the problems makes me think of a particular painter.

I'll send you a pm, very curious if I was right 😉

mollinary

Quote from: Chad on 06 August 2017, 10:33:24 AM
I stopped using Fernando because,white the painting is good, their handling of figures is or was appalling. Broken and bent figures in what I received.
Interesting how different individuals' experiences can be! I have sent thousands of 10mm figures to Fernando for painting at their 'Showcase' standard. Communication was always great, photos of work in progress sent, comments taken and acted upon, and figures received packed so carefully (individually!) that the only problem was the length of time it took to unwrap them all. These have included a large number of pikemen with moulded on Pikes, none of which were damaged.

Mollinary



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