Ordering Replacement tiles from Cundco

[axelsson]

I ordered the Cult-tiles from Cundco, I picked them individually from the spare tiles and got all five of them. The artwork is similar to spielbox version, but the watermark is different. I´m not sure if that´s technically allowed, as they state that no full expansions may be ordered as individual tiles, but then again, the Cult is part of the CS&C expansion... 

Just wanted to thank everyone for this list.
It greatly helped me with my completionnist addiction !

Sadly, some items are no longer available on cundco &/or spielbox :
Cult Places/ Shrines (5-tile version) (spielbox)
Halflings/ Half and Half (cundco) - managed to buy it there late august
Wind Roses I (cundco) - bought it last august, and got lost in my last moving...

And one is back :
The school

I'll have to track down the precious that everyone seems to miss (Cathars, Tunnel and Plague :p). I've got my eyes on a Jubilee edition at my local store

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=3795.0

[Just a Bill]

Since you asked (sort of)...

Based on the letter they sent out a while back, that would he part of what Cundco refers to as "abuse" of the spare parts service. They have said that that kind of misuse could cause them to cancel the service, and I totally understand their position. The whole thing is a goodwill gesture on their part that they already lose money on, and when we as players use it in the wrong way then they have to ask themselves whether the service is actually fulfilling the purpose it was set up for.

As someone who has twice ordered replacements for tiles and/or followers missing from used sets I have bought on eBay, I would be very unhappy if it became impossible to get replacements for legitimately lost/damaged components because of people using this system the wrong way. Imagine if one day you found that one of your tiles from an expensive expansion went missing, and there was no way to replace it except to buy the expensive set again. That's the consequence of us giving into the temptation to use the spare-part service as a shortcut for ordering, say, a Cult expansion, instead of just buying it for $5-8 on eBay, or ordering expansion 6 from Germany for maybe $20.

I was tempted, too. But let's all "just say no" to the temptation and respect the service for what it's intended to be.

[Decar]

The cult tiles are in Expansion 6 - "Count, King & Robber" - they're not particularly hard to find, it seem strange to order only the cult tiles and miss out on The River 2 and The King and Robber expansion.  C,S&S has 6-cult tiles.

I believe Cundco has the ability to cancel an order if they feel it is being abused.  They've contacted me a few times for odds and ends I've requested or ended up sending me something else entirely.  I can't see them deciding to keep tiles on the off chance someone will lose one, when they could get some money for them now tbh.

[Just a Bill]

I can't see them deciding to keep tiles on the off chance someone will lose one, when they could get some money for them now tbh.

I was in the game publishing business for 10 years. We offered a replacement parts service, and our customer service policies were initially very liberal; then later they had to be tightened up as we got taken advantage of over and over and over again. Even then, it was still an expensive effort, and never-ending.

Two things here argue against your rebuttal attempt. I already touched on these, but now I will back up my points with documentation. (1) Selling individual tiles (which are profoundly labor-intensive to fulfill) for 0.30 € each doesn't make them money, it loses them money. (2) They have expressly stated that the purpose of these tiles is to facilitate a replacement service. Would you have us believe that the "spare parts" section of their open letter, which was in part a response to player abuse of the system to obtain complete sets of 6 Crop Circles tiles at a huge discount, was just a big, fat lie?

Excerpt (emphasis mine):

• Spare parts & rarities
  
  This leads to the next topic, our spare part service. As the name says, it is a service to replace lost or broken single tiles. There are ten-thousands of different tiles in millions of sold games, so you can imagine how hard it is to handle that in a way which satisfies all hypothetical needs. Since years we got a lot of compliments, that we care so much, even when it's just a single tile. Economically, the spare part service is a minus deal for us, since the effort is bigger than the profit. But we want to offer long-term support for our customers, because we see this as a part of our games. We built them to last (mechanically and physically), but due to a natural product, this is hard to keep up for all the time.
  
  In fact, no single tile is produced separately. Every single game or expansion is designed and produced as a whole in one product. The separate production of every tile is simply not possible due to economical reasons (see above). So what we do is opening new games and salvage them. We just have one big shelf with a few editions of all our games and take the needed tiles out of them. It's obvious that this procedure is not able to deliver huge amounts of tiles, complete sets or even rarities. And a precise stock management of every tile is also impossible. It's all about a handful of regular tiles, which are hopefully left, so we don't have to open a new game because of a single tile.
  
  Unfortunately we have serious problems with the “misuse” of the service. People try to order whole expansions, the half of a whole game, or rarities which where never been seen since years. Every order of this type, means a slightly annoying effort of cancelation the order, refunding the payment, informing the customer (who mostly writes back and has another question) and so on. But due to the nearly infinite possibilities, we have to keep the ordering options for spare parts open, since the effort to create a single article for every single tile would occupy us for years. As you know, Carcassonne is an always changing product.

[Just a Bill]

Now, having said all that, what should we do in these cases? Simple: Write them first and ask. I bought several Carcassonne auctions on eBay last year, and a few sets were missing some things. In a couple of cases, an unexpectedly substantial amount of stuff was missing: one entire punchboard sheet from a large expansion, and one set of wood pieces. Neither of these were from hard-to-find sets, but I still thought it best to write Cundco first to ask if it would be okay to purchase those things through the replacement service. To my delight, they said yes.

Would it have been a no if I hadn't asked first? I guess I'll never know. But even if they had refused my inquiry, then I would have understood that and chalked it up to my risk of taking a chance on a couple of eBay lots that didn't have good pictures.

In cases where the parts we need might be questionable, or numerous, writing first and asking is the right thing to do. If they don't have what we need available, or they aren't willing to provide parts that they feel are not in the spirit of a reasonable replacement request, then we're saving them all the wasted time and money of having to deal with this after the order is placed. Either way, we're holding up our side of this voluntary partnership between publisher and player.

And, if we don't feel comfortable even asking the question because we are hoping our sketchy order flies under the radar, then that right there says something about the ethics of what we are setting out to do.

[Decar]

All I will say is that Cundco makes very pragmatic business decisions.

I can only assume given the millions of permutations that they are willing to support, that Cundco must have a room full of kallax shelves from ikea just full of spare parts.  Spare parts, just like my spare-tire I keep in the boot of my car in the eventually I need to replace one of the 4 I'm using in the future.

With regard to the Crop-cicles Cundco made the choice to accept the dozens upon dozens of requests for this expansion.  One member here boasted receiving 3 copies of it, because he and two friends all managed to wear out all 6 tiles.  If it's easier for them to take the money than refuse a transaction like this, it's pretty clear: they want to take the money.  I think the only trouble for Cundco was they needed to refund all the people who suddenly also needed spare tiles, after their box was empty.

As for the cult tiles: they probably have a few more boxes full of them, gathering dust since 2007.  An expansions that's now EOL'd; you can't buy it.  When someone places an order for 6 tiles.  They'll make a business decision, as they are not obliged to accept it.  Is it easier to take the money, or easier to tell them no: They are saving these tiles for someone else.

And with regard to the spare-part service I said I used:  I emailed them to see if I could have a grey-abbot...having not got a reply I ordered one anyway.  Rather than say it wasn't possible, it was easier for them to take the money and send me a wooden one and write a note on my receipt:  "no grey, paint it".  3 weeks later they were selling Grey Abbots in their store.

[danisthirty]

I don't particularly want to add fuel to this fire, but what I will say is that Cundco are in charge of their spare parts service and if they don't like anything about the way it's being run by them or used by their customers then they need to be the ones to initiate the change:

- If they don't like people ordering full expansions then they shouldn't fulfil those orders

- If they don't like having to communicate this back to their customers or taking part in the exchanges that ensure then they should remind us that all decisions to cancel orders are final, and that subsequent responses will be ignored (perhaps harsh, but if it would otherwise threaten the availability of the spare parts service then it's a small price to pat)

- If they don't like people ordering stuff because they think they're going to sell it on eBay then they should publish a list of what is and isn't available, and should remove anything of significant resale value

It's like being given a credit card that you can use to spend on whatever you like, as long as you don't go over the limit. What's the limit? We're not going to say, but if you do exceed it we're cancelling the card. Or to put it another way, it's like me stopping my annual giveaways because somebody requested something that I didn't want to give away. But it was on the list? I know, but I didn't want to give it away and now you've spoilt it for everyone by asking for it...

I'm not trying to play devil's advocate here , but my two main feelings are this:

1) If it's a major problem for them dealing with so many random orders then they need to be clear about what's acceptable and what isn't
2) We're a fan-community with no direct affiliation with Cundco and it isn't up to us to be enforcing rules on their behalf, or guilt-tripping others who may have made decisions we deem to be questionable

Communication is key! If everyone knows where we are then everyone wins; us and them

[Decar]

I should just add that I'm not intent on attacking cundco's reputation. We living in a capitalist world, i don't think there's anything wrong with the 'take the money' approach.  I think they operate with integrity.  In fact they even rectified issues too.

[Willem]

not to take some fuel of the fire, but they have a list of available tiles, that has been updated November 2017, that states the tiles available
https://cundco.de/media/pdf/cc/1b/d9/aktuell-im-web-Komplett-Pla-ttchenliste-CundCo-aktuell.pdf

The sheet is now up to date with all the spin offs and everything

and they state on the website that they cannot guarantee the tiles will be available, and a refund will be given if not.
They also state do not deliver complete sets / almost complete sets.
And i kinda assume they don't deliver if they suspect someone is misusing the service

[danisthirty]

Thanks Willem, I hadn't spotted any of that!

Now all they need to do is stick by what they've said they will and won't fulfil. The minute they start sending people stuff that isn't on the list is where it all falls apart and nobody knows what is and isn't acceptable.

[dirk2112]

They need to cross out the Katherer tiles before someone makes a go of it. 

[txema25]

I 've to confess it. I tryed to get mini 5 Magic and Mage by this way. I obviously recieved a letter with all you say above(Just a Bill). I bought  it to a private. I will follow Just a Bill's advice, the next time I need to get something.

I take this situation to indicate my doubts in this regard.

Why do not they sell full expansions? If they are expensives make one, they make plenty of them. there are many of us very interesting about them.

why don't make full expansion preorder?

Dan, they don't give me my money back, when I ordered my grey abbot.  they said...

"Unfortunately, the abbot in gray is not available in the moment. Therefore you will get the following voucher code (€ 0,30) for your next buying in our webshop."

I don't know if they sell me now.

I would like more opinions about Cundco service. Please...

And Finaly, Peace between us.

[Sinscerly]

They need to cross out the Katherer tiles before someone makes a go of it.

Maybe they found some spare ones

[danisthirty]

They need to cross out the Katherer tiles before someone makes a go of it.

Maybe they found some spare ones

Great! I used to have 15 sets of this but I lost them all. I wonder if they'd replace them?

[Sinscerly]

They need to cross out the Katherer tiles before someone makes a go of it.

Maybe they found some spare ones

Great! I used to have 15 sets of this but I lost them all. I wonder if they'd replace them?

You can have mine. 
They are very beautifull