Being on this side of the pond, I always curious about UK modelzone experiences that other members of this forum have had as I am a newbie. Especially per my earlier remark that they are planning a hand to hand set from the kraal in another thread. I am a little disappointed that Britains allowed them to do exclusive historical figures like all 3 VC winners from Isandlwana because of their limited runs and availability Would other forum members mind sharing how they go about acquiring these pieces. I am assuming Treefrog would not mind as they don't compete with them for exclusives Does the modelzone website allow for international shipping? I have heard that once they sell out on their website you can only buy from actual brick and mortar store in the UK and only one handles international requests? Now saying all that I have the washing of the spears set and will continue to look for melvin, cahill, wassal, cold steel and twilights.
Up until this year my experiences with Modelzone have been pretty positive.
However, recently my opinion of Modelzone has nosedived.
My first problem was with the Croydon store.
Recently Modelzone had a sale advertised on their website and they included a number of WB matt and gloss soldiers and sets. These were all listed on their website but when you read the small print it said on many of the items that they were "discontinued" or not available on-line.
So I had to telephone their extensive list of UK branches to find out exactly what was available in their stores.
I drew up a short list of items I wanted to buy and asked each store to hold the items until I visited each store.
So having had to contact each store I then had to visit each store.
This to me wasn't a problem because it meant getting some great WB items at a discounted price or so I thought.
The problems started with my first stop at the Croydon store. They said they had put aside some items for me but it turned out they never had them in the first place to put aside.
After about half an hour of waiting for the results of a fruitless search by the sales person I left the store empty handed and pretty annoyed.
I continued my tour of Modelzone stores and this sequence repeated until in the end I ended up with 50% of the items I had wanted and had been told were put aside for me by these stores.
I was less than pleased after driving around all day long visiting these various stores.
But my real gripe with Modelzone was still to come.
One of the WB items listed in the sale on the website was one of the Modelzone exclusive Zulu sets Warrior Twilight.
The website said it was discontinued and no longer available but just to make sure I rang around their stores to see if there were any still out there. I was told that there were none available.
I was therefore quite shocked that Modelzone then put one up on eBay in an open auction a few days later. It eventually sold for over £100.00 in the auction.
I contacted Modelzone about my experiences and was not at all satisfied with their response.
I have spent hundreds if not thousands of pounds with Modelzone over the years but I will certainly try to buy elsewhere in future after this experience and the shoddy manner in which my complaints were dealt with.
I wish WB didn't have this exclusive range agreement with Modelzone but they are a bulk dealer of WB products so we are where we are.
If I am not happy with the service or product I always walk away but the fact that WB have now also made our club vouchers exclusively for use in Modelzone only it is difficult.
