Hi Guys,

I placed my order for the Bonaparte Mounted Samurai Bust when it was newly released in September. I was very excited when the package arrived two weeks ago. The kit was shipped in a flimsy cardboard box and was compacted during shipping. I was surprised the kit was not well packed and was shipped without an outer box for protection. Upon opening the box and inspecting the parts. I was disappointed, the castings were bad. This was supposed to be the first batch of casting from the first set of mould. There were parts missing details and the parts inside the sealed plastic bag were damaged. There was no part list and instruction sheet. Not sure why the kit was not inspected before shipping out. I took some pictures and email to Bonaparte.

Respond from Bonaparte was very slow. After two weeks of email, the latest offering from Bonaparte is, if I repair the kit they will give me a discount or return the kit and they will pay the postage for the cheapest service and send me a replacement upon receipt of the kit or proof of postage. They did not specific how much of a discount.

I have ordered from other kit company and producer before, for situation like this they will send me replacement parts or a new kit right away and I don't have to return anything. This is my terrible experience with a reputable kit company.

I was going to do an open box review but there is no point to do it now. Here are the pictures of the kit that I received.

Felix

Respond from Bonaparte was very slow. I have to PM Paul through this forum to ask him to reply to my email. It seems like they never check their email. Very disappointed!

Felix

Everyone can make a mistake.
It's how you deal with it that really counts.
Customer Service is the only true measure of any business.

Cheers,
Andrew

Hi Felix
You have purchased this kit in good faith so Bonapartes sure ain't doing themselves any favours here are they?
The missing & mis-casted parts should be replaced for you, or a complete sound kit should be sent out to you free of charge asap and shipped in suitable sturdy packaging to make sure it's get all the way to Canada from the U.K. in good condition.
Your faulty kit should be returned to Bonapartes free of any shipping charges incurred to you.
I hope Bonapartes do the right thing by you, as they have been around many years, and in this international age of high competition within the model figure industry, they can't really afford to allow this sort of thing to go by without it being correctly addressed, customer speed of service & communication is important.
I find it unusual though regarding the bad casting as I have always found Bonapartes castings to be of a high quality, so is your particular kit just a "rogue" kit that's slipped through quality control?
Never the less you have supplied photos of the issue's, so hopefully it will be dealt with to your satisfaction.
Jim

I've recently ordered from them (not the samurai bust) and received the kit with the name & address label straight onto the kit box - no outer box. Fortunately there was nothing damaged.
The samurai kit was high on my wants list but I'm going to hold fire until there are some positive reports.

Geoff

Bonaparte used to use ys castings which are normally first class...maybe they have changed supplier?

This is indeed very bad casting.
The only thing is Bonaparte has you send a new one. You paid for it, they didn't deliver where you paid for.

Marc

lol.. I mean lol... how could you ship such a kit with so delicate parts without protecting them ??

You know what, not only do I paint figures but I also distribute them. You can have problematic castings in metal but more often than not it is the resin figure which is usually in bad shape. Air bubbles, worn moulds, missing casting details, etc. A lot of people think it is easy to cast resin figures but it is not. The companies which I deal with often think that I am a 'complicated' dealer but I am not. I would never resell a casting which I know I would never lose my time fixing it myself. Yes you can fix air bubbles but missing details and shifting mould lines are not worth it.

lol......... They even told me "Most of the damage is superficially, just bits of wire, a small amount of fuse wire would do" , "The base just needs to be trimmed around and rubbed or sanded down".
Yeah right, if I trimmed down the base; the base will be losing at least 2 mm of height plus detail. Not to mention dirty resin too. I can rescuplt everything but do I really want to do it?

Your experiences and Geoff's ('polyphemus') are leading me to conclude that this Company does not care about its customers.
I hope I'm wrong!

Cheers,
Andrew

Poop happens..to everyone..but it’s how a company deals with it that shows care or lack thereof. Seems clear here, you gave them a full report and I’d be unhappy with the answers so far

Looking at this from a moulding standpoint, looks like a complex casting which has airlocked on much of the detail. An experienced mouldmaker would preempt such problems and place the fill holes to allow a clean flow of resin and maybe add vent holes, where there is nowhere for the air to escape. The master should be carefully checked to assess potential problems and any undercuts and projections dealt with prior to moulding. The placing of seams is also paramount and just cutting the mould in random places is asking for problems.

The plinth should have, what we refer to as a "spare", added to the base which can then be sanded back to the actual part and acts a a reservoir for the resin, which would prevent the resin sinking. Just filling the mould and de gassing will not release air locked in parts of the mould and it is a real skill to create good working moulds which will not cause damage to the parts upon removal.

The black deposit on the base is unmixed colour which has floated to the top of the resin in its liquid form during casting. I would expect that the manufacturer should replace this kit as a matter of course, although looking at the castings, a new kit may not be any better.....

Steve

This looks like a train crash for Bonapartes unless they act quickly to redress the situation- In mitigation I have to say that all of the previous resin kits I have bought from Bonapartes have been first class, as I am allergic to resin dust I am only able to buy resin kits that require a minimum of clean up. This seems to be a dogs breakfast, the pictures tell the story.

Given the cost to the manufacturer to make things right is not much more than postage, that in all likelihood Felix would have posted a high five compliment if they had stepped up promptly....it’s a miss for them...the bad publicity vs potential kudos...

This kind of critique to a manufacturer is somewhat rare on PF and disappointing. I have always liked what Bonapartes has to offer in unique and detailed sculpts. Another case of milking the mould or poor quality control?...Whatever ;I hope it gets straightened out as they have a piece I was just getting ready to pull the trigger on....

Wayne

Agree with you in terms of these things often having two sides and this is hardly a business with manufacturers making bank profits! But here Steve knows casting and backs up the visuals ...nobody has it in for any company, even if we don’t find bliss every time out, so would be great to have things settled properly and get on with things

I had a long delay and poor packaging but everything was okay as there was no damage.

I only post this in the hope Bonapartes will try to improve things.

Otherwise I have no problems. I guess I am used to buying garage kits and that's Another story!