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New Copy of SR5 has pages falling out!

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VonEros

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« on: <09-07-13/0202:18> »
Hello. I am not sure if this is the correct thread for this. I purchased SR5 at Dragon-Con over Labor day weekend. I have really enjoyed the book and have treated it with the respect due a volume of that cost and quality. However, pages are starting to fall out of the book. I am barely 40 pages into it! Is there anything that can be done for this? I can give you what ever kind of verification data you need to verify that I bought the book legit. Just let me know. Thanks. You guys are doing great work and have done right by the fans and the source material.

VonEros

AJCarrington

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« Reply #1 on: <09-07-13/0802:56> »
I strongly suggest you contact the CGL BattleShop directly:

http://www.battlecorps.com/BC2/static.php?page=5

VonEros

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« Reply #2 on: <09-09-13/0954:29> »
Thank you, AJ.

I sent word off to them. The binding seems to be getting worse. UGH. I hope someone can help, though I am not sure what can be done other than replacing the book...

ambarmetta

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« Reply #3 on: <09-17-13/1102:44> »
I finally received my pre-order yesterday afternoon and had time to read through it.  Love the book, except this issue with pages falling out of the standard Hard Cover copy is happening to me too.  Specifically, a chunk of pages around p. 84 (you know, the all important character creation section) is loose. 

I am sneding an email to Randall since I had tried that address earlier.  he's out doing promotion or something, presumably, so he probably can't deal with that...I hope they can address this, but they probably won't until after the street date hits, which pushes back any kind of replacement options.

Will update when I hear back--IF i hear back.

VonEros

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« Reply #4 on: <09-30-13/1550:34> »
Yeah. I have not heard word one either. The binding continues to let go. I am looking into alternate means of addressing the issue. Prolly going to have to sleeve all of the pages and put the whole thing in a binder. Not really pleased with that option. For one, it will set me back another $20 or $30 bucks in page sleeves. Anybody else seeing this? Has there been ANY official response? Please, help!
I will not front here and say that this will turn me off of buying goods from you guys. I am a gaming junkie and you guys sell the pure "blue" stuff. I just wanted you to know that we are customers and we are being let down. I hope I here from someone soon. Thank you.

Ralff11

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« Reply #5 on: <09-30-13/2033:04> »
I had the exact same issue with my LE copy (red dragon cover).  Within a week, the pages started falling out near the first fold out.  By a week later, a large section had come out.  Contacted Catalyst and never heard back.  Contacted Battlecorps support and they are sending me a new copy.

I'm concerned that it's some defect with the binding and that my new copy will have the same issue.

Has anyone seen a standard copy to see if the binding differs?  I know the fourth edition I have hasn't given me any issues, and, though I'm not hard on my books at all, I need a book that will stay in one piece, or I might as well have gotten the corebook pdf only and printed it...

VonEros

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« Reply #6 on: <10-01-13/0900:28> »
Agreed! I have, what I believe is, the official first printing. My 4th Ed. book was a beast. What happened to that binding? I paid $60 for this book. Yeah, the art is lovely. Yeah, I love the fic included. However, if all of the production money got spent before the binding was secured, that seems silly.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #7 on: <10-01-13/1003:51> »
That last line is a bit silly. It's not as if Catalyst bound the book themselves and went cheap there to save money, they hired a printer and apparently the printer screwed up the job.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

VonEros

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« Reply #8 on: <10-02-13/1555:43> »
Mayhap that is the case. However, I have not seen word one from Catalyst on this. I have sent several emails to the company through, what I have been told are, the correct channels. The fact is that I have book that is disintegrating a month after I bought it, and I have not even read the whole thing yet. That is bloody silly.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #9 on: <10-02-13/1749:18> »
It is. But so is assuming Catalyst went cheap due to being broke.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

CanRay

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« Reply #10 on: <10-03-13/0012:43> »
"Made In America" used to mean something.

I think it means something different nowadays.
Si vis pacem, para bellum

#ThisTaserGoesTo11

VonEros

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« Reply #11 on: <10-03-13/0902:41> »
I am not implying that they are broke. I know that they are not broke. Sure. They aren't pulling down WOTC kinds of cash, but they are not hurting. What I am upset about is the lack of explanation from Catalyst and the lack of quality in the product that we have purchased.
Whatever the reasoning behind the bad batch of books, someone from Catalyst should say something to the poor sods that got them.
Maybe a :
"We are going to offer you guys a download of the PDF"
or a:
"We can offer you another copy of SR5 at cost"
or even a:
"We are embroiled in a heated debate with the binding company to get them to cover what losses any kind of recompense we might offer you, as a consumer, would incur".
Hell! At this point, I would feel better about it if I got a:
"We can not offer you anything at this time. We are very sorry that this happened and we hope that you continue to support our releases".
Does any of that sound silly or unreasonable?
I get that you are on their Demo Team, I have plans to run SR5 at conventions in 2014, but this is a bad way to run a business.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #12 on: <10-03-13/1001:58> »
Demo Team isn't really an official employee thing though, it's not why I'm defending them. And I too am surprised they haven't made any statements yet, but on the other hand they might be trying to inventarize the size of the problem before action is taken. I don't know how swamped they are right now so do not know why exactly no response was given and what they're currently internally debating on the manner. So yes, I am feeling rather uncomfortable under the fact all I hear so far is "they haven't said anything yet".

But that part is their responsibility, while responsibility for the wrong binding lies with the printer, not with Catalyst. And it was only that last part that I was responding to. I perfectly understand frustration and I understand the way you feel about the lack of information from Catalyst, and have no intent of downplaying that. All I am saying is that it's rather weird to assume Catalyst deliberately went cheap on printing the $100 books.
« Last Edit: <10-03-13/1003:36> by Michael Chandra »
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

ambarmetta

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« Reply #13 on: <10-09-13/0019:46> »
Not to drag a potentially dead topic around, but I did eventually receive a replacement copy, thanks to Dawn and whomever else she worked with at CGL Cares.  To the point, the replacement standard has sufficient binding.  Something tells me it won't last.

There was some confusion just getting someone to let me know if it had shipped or not.  For instance, I was given the UPS tracking number of the original order (not going to help), and had to insist again.  Still they came through for me on this matter.  What is relevant here is that I love Shadowrun.  I want to love Fifth Edition, despite the massive need of errata, interesting layout decisions, intial binding issues and clear rush-to-market this book came through. 

I'm not sure I can, honestly, because of the kind of pulling teeth it has felt like so far to get responses.  Still, they did respond.  Additionally, and this comes from the consumer mentality thing, I have less confidence in purchasing any additional pre-orders if Catalyst doesn't proofread prior to publication.  I know other companies drop the PDF first, and have time to edit it -- I'll admit to not knowing how rare that scenario is in the current RPG world, but I do know it is possible. 

I will say that Catalyst came through, but after a few days mulling it over, I think I'm going to pass on my concerns over their handling of this incident and the book back to them.  Hopefully we see an improvement in this matter by December, because what they were trying to do is amazing. 

if you haven't received your replacement, folks, keep at it. 

Bull

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« Reply #14 on: <10-09-13/0330:31> »
One thing to keep in mind is that unfortunately, CGL is a VERY small company with only a handful of full time employees, and of those only two or three don't do something else on the side.  Most of us are part time and have other, full time jobs we maintain.  Customer Service is not an area that has a full time position, as most of the time it doesn't require that much attention.  this is one of those rare times that it does, and you can bet the volume of emails going in is through the roof, between real issues and people who are simply very impatient (Understandably so, but still).

There's also the fact that we don't ship and warehouse our own product.  We have another company, PSI, that handles that.  But I'm not certain of the exact logistics, but having another party involved can't help speed up inquiries.

I do know that Jason, Dawn, and the rest of CGL are working behind the scenes to follow up on issues and try to handle them, as I occasionally see a few of the emails flying back and forth. But, it takes time.  Sorry :(

Bull