Hi Eric,
Yes, we have had severe printer and shipping problems, and we are trying to cope with the aftermath. We have been apologizing for months now for our printer’s mistakes to which the only response we have gotten to this has been "this has never happened before". Everything from being promised the product before June, with a month and half leeway for our original launch date, to having swapped card backs, to being a month and half over our actual street date and missing our GenCon deadline. We are both frustrated and crushed by our entire experience with them.
We did have and are still selling the product - as everything is active, and have been as forthcoming as possible to our customers about the delays and trying to keep everyone updated without airing dirty laundry about our printers.
We have been very open and honest about our situation. Our printers shipped the product 2 months after it was promised to us, after we had already set our release date, started marketing and with over a month and half of cushion time.
I had to order extra product to be air-shipped at my expense to fill our preorders and have some product on hand to sell. When we got that product we discovered the boosters were messed up & demanded a reprint. Our solution was to ship the misprints and offer a brand new booster once they became available for those that pre-ordered (not a bad deal for our customers, and another expense we were willing to take on to keep our customers happy).
We knew our schedule to get the product to GenCon was tight, but with a little luck we could redirect it and land it in NY and have it shipped directly to Indiana - however, the shipment was flagged by customs to be x-rayed, still with a little luck we could make it for the convention, however the x-ray took until Aug 9th.
In the meantime we brought what we had with us to sell, which did not last long, but it was all we had on hand. On the 9th our container was then flagged to be searched by hand which took until Aug 26th. We have finally as of this past Thursday been released from customs (which they bill you for btw) and I have finally had the first opportunity to ship the starters to you and our other storefronts - at EXTRA expense.
It is rumoured to take 2 weeks to clear customs, but we met another company at GenCon that was being held at customs as well and they had already been held for 2 months.
When I sent you the billing I reiterated to you that the starters were still in customs, and that the boosters were still not shipped - I was very upfront with you, but could not give you any firm dates as customs moves as fast/slow as they want. You said it was fine and to ship once I had the product available.
This quote comes directly from our first correspondence on August 11th, 2010.
Quote:
Hi Eric,
It is fantastic to hear back from you, your shop is very impressive to say the least! I've known about Carta Magica for a long time now, and it's excellent to have such a strong gaming community onboard with DC as we're just coming on to the market.
Our materials are still in customs, but as soon as we have it released we can ship to you. I've attached a form if you would not mind filling that out for us, we can process your account. We do a X% discount for storefronts and ship for free (as expected).
We would also like to send you prize support based on your order size and the amount of play you will expect. We have promo cards, tshirts and play mats to assist in supporting the game.
Booster boxes should be available by the end of September. Starters alone are not recommended for a competitive scene, but a decent game of multi-player or cooperative can be done with just starters.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Cheers, Jey.
Perhaps there was a miscommunication, and for that I will apologize again. The boosters are on their way overseas, but I will not give any firm dates as my first experience with customs has educated me that it can be cleared in 2 days, 30 days or even later.
I would have preferred speaking to you about this in private instead of posting this in a public forum, but I want to address your request for answers.
DC is a solitaire based game that is expandable. It is entertaining dozens of people as a physical in-real-life product as well as those that wish to try it out online. You do not need boosters to enjoy it. It's even a great game using the starters for multi-player. So, DC won't be dying if people continue to enjoy the game.
You have received your promotional materials and the starters will be in your hands this week. Although it could be as late as October before we have the boosters in hand, I am anxious to get them out to you. At this point I am stuck, our printers had to start over from scratch. After I have received my original order from them, I will not be using these printers again. I am getting quotes from local and US businesses to pick up the torch and continue this line, as we have plans to make additional runs of the product as well as create expansion sets. We are just trying to get clear of this difficulty in our production process.
We highly encourage our store fronts to have active gamedays with a fully functional product like the Starter and have even suggested game types and formats for your players. However, if you feel you need to store the product for the next month and half until the boosters are finally available, I trust your judgment, but if they do get their starters and get to play solitaire and multi-player and learn all of the nuances of the game while they wait - at least this will generate more discussion and anticipation over Dungeon Crawler.
Sincerely, Jey.
), do you have them. I think it's the 'Trusty Magic Dagger'. 
