That's what I call service!

I cannot recommend the North American producer and distributor of MiniFigs enough -- Tom Dye and his small crew at Game Figures Incorporated are on the ball! I just gave them a ring a few minutes ago to check on the availability of Prussian and “German” Austrian infantry standard bearers. You might recall that I intend to replace the figures that came with the Revell 1/72 SYW sets with heavier metal figures, so I can use the wonderful standards from the WarFlag and NapFlags websites.

Anyway, the man I spoke to, “Ted”, checked on figure availability immediately. He told me GFI had molds for both and, although my order is only for 12 figures, that they would “spin” enough to fill it. No problem. Best of all, he added that the order should ship early next week. Plus they already had my address and payment information at hand, so we were only on the phone for about 5 minutes. It was an impressive display of customer service. If all goes well, I might have the figures here in Central Illinois by late next week!

Since the Christmas season is coming (and the pigs are getting fat), I also thought to ask about the availability of Prussian cuirassier figures and horses. Stollen and Zichenau need two heavy cavalry regiments -- one for each respectively, of about 30 figures each. I’m going to drop a rather large Christmas hint to my wife in the hopes that she or “Santa Claus” might fill all or part of the request.

Well, Ted checked on mold availability for the SYW Prussian cuirassier figures and associated horse castings. In seconds, he confirmed that GFI indeed has all of the molds necessary for those figures too. How is that for rapid and personal service?

Now, if and when any of you in North America decide to call GFI with a question of figure availability or an order in mind, there are a couple of things you should do to expedite the process. First, visit the mother ship -- MiniFigs UK – website, to note the item numbers and description of the figures and/or equipment you would like. These are common to both retail outlets on either side of the Atlantic.

Keep in mind too that GFI might no necessarily have ALL of the molds in question. So, as the Duke of Wellington suggested, it is a good idea to have an alternate plan in mind should GFI lack a mold for the particular figure(s) you want or need. Based on my experience in recent weeks though, they have come through marvelously.

In sum, based on various frustrating, and sometimes disappointing, service from other figure retailers in the passed 22 years, I cannot say enough good things about GFI. More generally, MiniFigs has always provided me with excellent service, and I’ve purchased figures by mail, in person, and online on both sides of the Atlantic at one time or another. Well done GFI (USA) and MiniFigs UK!!!