[UPDATED with info from GF9] Have you had any trouble getting the newly updated D&D 5th Edition spell cards from Gale Force 9? According to at least one customer, there's a little bit of a snafu. EN World member trystero ordered some cards requesting that the order be held until the new, updated cards were available, but was sent the old version instead. He was advised to contact WotC directly when he queried this. Trystero says that "I e-mailed them about my order, placed 8 February, and asked them to hold it until they could fulfill with the revised printings, and they wrote back to say that the updated decks were expected in "late March or early April", and that my order would ship then. But the next day, they sent me a copy of the original, uncorrected Arcane deck. I wrote back to say that it wasn't what I'd ordered, and asked how I could return it."
Gale Force 9 is the licensed producer of the spell cards and sells them through its online store, Flames of War. I'm not 100% clear where Battlefront fits in there - all the company addresses mention it, so I assume it's a parent company or somesuch. Perhaps somebody in the comments can clarify!
His email exchange with Battlefront went as follows:
Of course, mistakes happen, and that's OK. They can be resolved, and I'm sure trystero will get his issue fixed in no time. But it's curious that GF9 is directing people towards WotC on the matter rather than dealing with it themselves. I have no insight into any arrangements between the two companies, other than that GF9's products are official, licensed D&D products.
I think personally I'll hold off until the end of April or so before ordering any of the newly updated cards, just in case. I'm sure it'll sort itself out!
UPDATE -- John-Paul Brisigotti from Battlefront has posted a reply.
Let me first begin by apologising for this confusion. The comments from our customer service team are incorrect and despite initiative being used to try and give an answer, without management oversight this person has made this unclear when the goal is always to do the opposite. This is a GF9 product and the issue of the missing cards is ours to resolve and has nothing to do with WOTC.
When these decks were being finalised WOTC were in the final stages of completing almost two years of work on 5th Ed and trying to get the Players Handbook to the printers. We were also trying to get our decks completed and despite months of back and forth we still missed a single card out of the Arcane and Paladin deck from spells that made it into the book at the last round of edits. At the time we discussed how to try and get these missing cards out to the world but the practicality of doing so was unrealistic so knowing we had more specialist and archetype decks to release we thought that was our best chance to resolve this issue.
In April a new deck of Elemental spells that comes with the Princes of the Apocalypse module will be released and the following month some Archetype decks for the classes. In both sets we will add the two cards to the decks so that everybody who is missing them has multiple chances of getting the missing cards. This plan was to be announced as part of this Fridays web update so for more details visit www.gf9-dnd.com this weekend.
This entire issue is one of poor communication on our part and that is never a helpful way to resolve any problem. The GF9 name has stood for high quality D&D product for over five years now and given the overwhelmingly positive response we have had from you on the new 5th ed product the last thing we want to do is not resolve these issues. Thank you for your understanding.
John-Paul Brisigotti
CEO Battlefront Group
Gale Force 9 is the licensed producer of the spell cards and sells them through its online store, Flames of War. I'm not 100% clear where Battlefront fits in there - all the company addresses mention it, so I assume it's a parent company or somesuch. Perhaps somebody in the comments can clarify!
His email exchange with Battlefront went as follows:
Battlefront Customer Service: Unfortunately there is nothing in place to replace the original card sets. This was an error caused by Wizard of the Coast sending the wrong files to be printed. Should you need to seek compensation may I suggest contacting their customer service department?
Trystero: I'm very confused by this reply: I understand that the corrected printings aren't available yet, and at this point I just want to return the first-printing box which you shipped me (despite my having e-mailed twice to ask for my order to be held until new printings are available). How should I return this unwanted item?
Battlefront Customer Service: We are not accepting returns or exchanges for these cards. Please direct any further questions to Wizards of the Coast. This error is on their side.
Trystero: I'm very confused by this reply: I understand that the corrected printings aren't available yet, and at this point I just want to return the first-printing box which you shipped me (despite my having e-mailed twice to ask for my order to be held until new printings are available). How should I return this unwanted item?
Battlefront Customer Service: We are not accepting returns or exchanges for these cards. Please direct any further questions to Wizards of the Coast. This error is on their side.
Of course, mistakes happen, and that's OK. They can be resolved, and I'm sure trystero will get his issue fixed in no time. But it's curious that GF9 is directing people towards WotC on the matter rather than dealing with it themselves. I have no insight into any arrangements between the two companies, other than that GF9's products are official, licensed D&D products.
I think personally I'll hold off until the end of April or so before ordering any of the newly updated cards, just in case. I'm sure it'll sort itself out!
UPDATE -- John-Paul Brisigotti from Battlefront has posted a reply.
Let me first begin by apologising for this confusion. The comments from our customer service team are incorrect and despite initiative being used to try and give an answer, without management oversight this person has made this unclear when the goal is always to do the opposite. This is a GF9 product and the issue of the missing cards is ours to resolve and has nothing to do with WOTC.
When these decks were being finalised WOTC were in the final stages of completing almost two years of work on 5th Ed and trying to get the Players Handbook to the printers. We were also trying to get our decks completed and despite months of back and forth we still missed a single card out of the Arcane and Paladin deck from spells that made it into the book at the last round of edits. At the time we discussed how to try and get these missing cards out to the world but the practicality of doing so was unrealistic so knowing we had more specialist and archetype decks to release we thought that was our best chance to resolve this issue.
In April a new deck of Elemental spells that comes with the Princes of the Apocalypse module will be released and the following month some Archetype decks for the classes. In both sets we will add the two cards to the decks so that everybody who is missing them has multiple chances of getting the missing cards. This plan was to be announced as part of this Fridays web update so for more details visit www.gf9-dnd.com this weekend.
This entire issue is one of poor communication on our part and that is never a helpful way to resolve any problem. The GF9 name has stood for high quality D&D product for over five years now and given the overwhelmingly positive response we have had from you on the new 5th ed product the last thing we want to do is not resolve these issues. Thank you for your understanding.
John-Paul Brisigotti
CEO Battlefront Group
