Almost Done! Also, an Update to Our Policies
about 2 years ago – Fri, Apr 01, 2022 at 01:32:48 AM

An Introduction

Hello, everyone!

I'm Jacob Way, the President of Ox Eye Media, the parent company of Source Point Press, Rip Rap Toys, and most importantly in this case, Deep Water Games! I wanted to take some time to update you all on a few of the bigger changes that have been happening at our company and how they're going to impact Deep Water going forward.

Lyx Lyon, the very same artist who designed our beautiful Rat Queens miniatures, is taking over as the lead production artist for our entire games division, and she's been doing a fantastic job of moving forward some projects you haven't even gotten to see yet. You'll see her work shine in MonsDRAWsity, Rat Queens, Floor Plan: Winchester Mystery House, and so much more.

I myself have also stepped into a larger role to lead our gaming department as Head of Games, and I'm just as excited to get our current projects into your hands as I am to reveal the next ones we have in store. Our warehouse is growing, both in size and workforce, and our intention is to smooth out every step of the process possible going forward: shipping, fulfillment, communication, design, from tip to toe.

Unfortunately it has been a tough 2 years and a lot of things fell to the wayside that should have not. I have been working hard to right the ship, but it is not an easy process and I wish I could thank every single one of you for your patience.

The Timeline

With Fantastic Factories, it feels like we’ve been presented with a new issue at every step of the way. Between production errors, fulfillment partners facing shipping back-ups through the pandemic, and one of our warehouse partners even completely closing down at one point and selling their company, we know there’s still a lot to clean up over here, and we aren’t leaving anyone behind.

If you’re a Canadian or US backer still facing an issue (whether it’s a replacement part or an entirely missing order,) we’re working on fixing this directly out of our own warehouse, and you’re likely to see the speediest turn-around when it comes to having your issue resolved and your product in your own hands.

When it comes to EU/UK, Australian, or Rest of World fulfillment, we’re working with warehouses overseas to ship replacement parts or still-missing orders. We’ve also rerouted extra workforce to our customer service department to get caught up on the backlog of requests from these parts of the world, as we know the vast majority of customers still facing issues with partial or missing pledges are largely from these parts of the world. If you have reached out in the past and have not gotten a response, we’re working through that backlog, but if you’re someone still missing your package and haven’t reached out, please do so. You should have received your pledge by now, no matter where you are in the world, and if you haven’t yet, we want to fix that.

How we are Moving Forward

In the future, we'll be striving to update unfulfilled Kickstarters every two weeks. Some parts of production move more slowly than others, so some of those updates might be a simple check-in to say everything's still business as usual, but we've heard you loud and clear: you want *consistent* communication, and we want to provide that for you.

We know that we're behind on our customer service inboxes, and we're also rerouting extra focus and time into that area to both catch up *and* maintain going forward. This includes our Kickstarter comments, where we want to provide a larger presence. [email protected] is still the correct address to reach out to in regards to any issues that you might have, and if you've initiated a ticket with them and haven't received a response, this is indeed one of the inboxes we're heavily focusing on fixing at the moment.

We're also working on smoothing out the replacement process on your side going forward; some of the new structuring in our warehouse is making room for future automated systems, and by this summer, we want the replacement process to be as simple as filling out a single form that instantly creates an order for our warehouse to fulfill. Obviously we'd like to get things right the first time around, but when mistakes happen, we want to make getting them fixed as smooth and easy as possible.

Thank you again for your patience,

Jacob Way

Head of Games

P.S. See you in two weeks!

Fulfillment updatee
over 2 years ago – Sat, Jan 08, 2022 at 12:03:17 AM

Canada Fulfillment

We have finally heard back from our fulfillment partner and they have indicated they have started fulfillment! Unfortunately I don't have a timeline for when fulfillment will be completed or whether tracking information will be available. I've asked them to provide those details. Once again, I appreciate the patience here. The lack of communication from our fulfillment partner has been frustrating.

EU/UK Fulfillment

Wave 2 is under way now!

AU/NZ Replacement Packs

These have all been sent out now. Backers who pledged for the expansions but not the base game should be receiving these shortly if they haven't already.

Rest of the World

We are checking into the status of RotW fulfillment. Last we heard (a while ago) that fulfillment had started, but I've heard some backers indicate that they have not received their games.

Joseph

EU/UK and Canada fulfillment update and replacement packs for AU/NZ
over 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 17, 2021 at 03:04:00 AM

Quick update this time.

Canada Fulfillment

As they were about to ship the games, our Canadian fulfillment partner could not find the replacement packs and promo cards. Turns out they misplaced them since they were moving between warehouses. They located the cards earlier this week, which should allow them to finally ship the games out. We definitely have not been happy with the level of communication and delays with this fulfillment partner and recognize it has been a big source of frustration for our Canadian backers. This is something we'll definitely evaluate for the future but at this point we are hoping to cross the finish line as soon as possible.

EU/UK Fulfillment

The initial shipment of replacement cards and promos that Deep Water Games sent to ShipQuest wasn't enough to fulfill all the orders, hence why ShipQuest split the fulfillment into the two waves. I'm not entirely sure how the initial shipment was short, but I really apologize for the mistake. DWG has shipped them the missing stock, and it should be arriving next week to unblock the second wave.

AU/NZ Replacement Packs

In an earlier update we mentioned that we overlooked sending replacement packs. Backers who pledged for the expansions but not the base game were supposed to receive replacement packs for the base game. These replacement packs are now in the process of shipping out.

I know many people were hoping to get their games before the holidays. And for those of you who won't be getting it by then, I apologize again. Regardless, I wish everyone happy holidays, and hope you all get to spend time with friends and family.

- Joseph

EU/UK and Canada fulfillment
over 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 06, 2021 at 11:44:42 PM

Canada Fulfillment

Finally got an ETA from the fulfillment partner. Games should start shipping out and the end of this week.

EU/UK Fulfillment

Our fulfillment for EU/UK and rest of the world is through ShipQuest. It appears they've broken up fulfillment into two waves and the first wave has already started. It's unclear to me the reason exactly why there is a second wave. I've asked Deep Water Games to reach out and investigate.

Replacement Packs

Those of you who read earlier updates around US fulfillment may have read about replacement packs for the color mismatch issue. This is a quick recap that the factory was able to swap the replacement cards into the game boxes for regions outside of the US.

If you backed for everything, there should be no replacement packs necessary. If you backed for just the expansions, you should expect replacement packs for the base game blueprints.

Issues with your pledge?

If you run into any issues with your pledge like damage, missing items, or unacceptable color issues, please reach out to Deep Water Games customer support at [email protected]. They continue to be a bit swamped with questions and requests so please be patient. If you haven't received a reply within a week, please reach out again. It's possible your request was overlooked.

Sorry once again for all the fulfillment delays, especially for international. It's been a perfect storm of a worldwide logistics backlog and complications associated with the replacement blueprint cards. I'm frustrated as well because at this point all I can do is reach out to Deep Water Games to reach out to our fulfillment partners for updates all while they are swamped heading into the holiday season. We really appreciate the patience.

- Joseph

International fulfillment update: Asia/RotW starting
over 2 years ago – Sun, Nov 07, 2021 at 02:36:01 AM

Sorry for the lack an update last week. It's been a struggle getting clear communication regarding fulfillment issues since there can sometimes be quite a chain of messages that need to filter through our fulfillment partners, to customs, and back again. I didn't want to post an update without getting latest status for all our regions so it's taken a little while to get clear updates. Without further ado, let's get into it

Canada

We've finally cleared customs. At this point we are simply in line waiting for our turn for our fulfillment partner in Canada to start shipping. Unfortunately I was unable to get an ETA but my impression is it's weeks away.

EU/UK

The replacement packs are still going through customs. However, I've been told that we have a clear path forward and are awaiting updated documentation from the factory, which should allow us to get the replacement packs through customs. Our estimate is that fulfillment will start in about 2 weeks.

Asia/RotW

Fulfillment in Asia and rest of the world should be starting next week.

Replacement cards

This is a repeat of what I've said in previous updates. If you are receiving the game in the US, you'll probably notice that there are quite a few loose packs of cards. Some of them are promo packs but some are replacement cards to fix a blueprint color matching issue.

For detailed instructions on what you should do with those cards, please refer to this update.

If you want a deeper explanation of the color matching issue, please refer to this update.

You can expect the next update within 2 weeks.

Thanks again for everyone's patience.

Joseph