Miniatures Talk

The Strange Tale of Marc Claus Figures

Posted by Captain Sibourne on 12 Jan 2020, 18:11

Has anyone ever bought from Marc Claus Figures (aka La Figurine Plastique)?

I ordered from this company back in March, taking care to change my address (I had moved house some months before). After several weeks the figures had not arrived, so I sent an email enquiring as to their whereabouts. No answer was received. After several more attempts at getting an answer I eventually gave up, thinking that the company must have folded and that I had lost my money. This was a shame as I like Marc Claus's Napoleonic figures which are a nice match for Hagen and Art Miniaturen.

I then received several computer generated emails telling me that new figures were available - this was slightly galling as it showed that the company was not out of business. I don't use Facebook but I took a look on their facebook site and saw that several other customers had not received their figures either - I was not alone!

Then suddenly just before Christmas, I received an email saying that my parcel would be delivered the next day, but to [my old address which is 400 miles from where I now live. I tried to change the delivery address, but the parcel company needed the sender to authorise the change. Since Marc Claus doesn't respond to correspondence, this proved impossible.

So I thought I would contact the new people in my old house; they duly offered to receive the parcel, but it never arrived. In the New Year I travelled back to the area where I used to live. I asked the parcel company to attempt to redeliver and was successful in intercepting the driver of the van with my parcel.

People have babies quicker than I have received these figures, but while his customer service is about as poor as I have ever experienced, at least there is no dishonesty from Marc Claus and I eventually got what I ordered. It wouldn't take much to answer people's emails and if he did I'm sure he would have a thriving business.
Captain Sibourne  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 332
Member since:
02 Feb 2014, 09:12


Posted by Wiking on 12 Jan 2020, 18:50

You lucky boy.
Finally a happy end.

Captain Sibourne wrote:
People have babies quicker than I have received these figures, ...

Ok so, Meghan was faster!
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Wiking  Germany
 
Posts: 2825
Member since:
14 Sep 2015, 10:03

Posted by C M Dodson on 12 Jan 2020, 19:19

Hi

I have used Marc Claus many times and have never had a problem.

He speaks English andvInhave managed to get several sets that are difficult/ unobtainable in the UK.

Eg. Ykerol ,Waterloo dead, Bull Run etc

Best wishes,

Chris
C M Dodson  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 2568
Member since:
01 May 2015, 18:48

Posted by lederhosen on 03 Nov 2020, 20:26

old post, but I too have been waiting now over 60 days...with no reply to my emails, cancellations etc....
Only after I demanded my money back through paypal did I get a reply....they were apparently out of stock...funny webpage said some thing else.
Still waiting.....

I will never order from them again.
lederhosen  Germany
 
Posts: 1
Member since:
03 Nov 2020, 20:22

Posted by Bluefalchion on 03 Nov 2020, 21:31

I think sellers who specialize in rare and out of stock items wait for an order to come in, then work to acquire the item from their own usual wholesale sources. The silence is them waiting to see if they can obtain the item at a reasonable price then supply it to the customer. If that fails after several months and the customer starts to become irate, they can then refund the purchase price and inform the customer that their item was out of stock.

But if the item was out of stock, they could have informed the customer during the same week the order came in.

The solution? Go to FIGZ as soon as it is back on, and hold the item desired in your hands immediately prior to purchasing.
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Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
Posts: 3575
Member since:
23 Dec 2010, 07:57

Posted by Susofrick on 05 Nov 2020, 11:18

I am waiting for some sets that were hard to get at another shop. Two was impossible as expected, one of them I have found somewhere else, but now I have to wait for the next shopping spree and hope he still got it. And the other ones can be a little hard to come by because of the maker's health I know. Haven't heard anything recently, but I know he's ill sometimes so I'll wait a while longer. Then I'll ask again about them.
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Susofrick  Sweden
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19 Feb 2008, 12:10

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