Game Toppers: Quality, Affordable, Portable Gaming Table Top

Let the Holmes Toppers begin! Delivery update 5-22-18 Special Announcment!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, May 22, 2018 at 09:35:41 PM

Greeting Game Topper Nation!

I have some significantly awesome announcements!

If you have not seen an update it doesn’t not mean I’m on vacation, in fact, it means I’m crazy busy getting these delicious gaming upgrades to you in the best and fast means possible. Currently, I have worked 16 days without a day off. I’m committed to making this great for you.

I was just at Geekway of the West and people loved the Game Toppers. I heard it over and over, “These are way better than the pictures do justice.” I grabbed 1 lux Holmes on the way out of town right off the production line to demonstrate at Geekway. I could have sold it a dozen times over, but had to say sorry, backers come first! Our fellow backer and my friend Kelly Hughes helped in the booth. What breath of fresh air having his help! Derek Funkhouser from Board Game Spotlight shot a fun Facebook live video. Check it out. Derek loves him some Game Toppers! https://www.facebook.com/groups/165557547493422/permalink/177760889606421/

Announcement 1:

I’m pleased to announce that all of the standard Game Toppers including Mycroft packages have been shipped. People are getting their toppers with great joy and excitement.

In addition to that, our pre-orders of my additional stock are selling out very fast. See our Facebook group Game Topper Nation. Please share the fun!

Announcement 2:

I’m also excited to announce that the luxuriant Holmes Toppers are nearly all finished and look fantastic!

I sent out the 48 hour notice to give anyone that has a address change time to change it. that means this Thursday we will start pulling all the “Lux” Holmes Topper Kickstarter Pledges.

We are shipping out all of the “Lux” Holmes Toppers with HDPE CUP HOLDER TRAYS first. Then the wood cup trays. It’s best to segment them that way.

If you want to change from “Lux” (wood) cup holders to the HDPE cup holders for your Holmes Topper, I need to know by Wed 23th night. Because this segment will start to ship Thursday (no expectations!) Here is the offer again...

Offer: FOR ANYONE that has NOT received their Holmes or Watson “Lux” topper, I want to offer you an opportunity to upgrade your order with our new HDPE high density Polypropylene accessory products. (...and any other add on you would like.)

As I’ve discussed in the past, I really love high-quality wood “Lux” wood crafted products, however after seeing the strength of the HDPE Accessories, and how aesthetically pleasing they are against the powder coated rail, I feel they are a far superior product to wood.

They are basically lifetime products. They’re fully dishwasher safe, so they can be washed without any fear of the finish wearing off or damage to them do the breakage or warpage that can occur with wood. I am so very impressed with the HDPE products that going forward I may only offer them. They are slightly more expensive, but I think it’s well worth it. One of the additional features is; the double component tray can go over the center connector cleat which makes it much more functional than wood, and does not lose any strength. The goblet holders also have a component tray that wood does not. If you would like to upgrade your BAKER STREET or SCOTLAND YARD Package it’s an upgrade charge of $50.00. If you have a single Lux Topper and one of our other accessory bundles it’s an extra $30.00

I can still make add-ons or upgrades for you. The best way to do this is to email me at [email protected] and I can make the update. It’s quite simple and quick for me to do this for you and would be happy to assist anyone with this.

Announcement 3:

White glove delivery extended to all Topper backers.

Due to the complicated nature of our package size, it has taken some time to improve our delivery. I will not bore you with all the packaging options and painstaking efforts I took, but I can say we believe we have a far superior method to deliver to you now over Fedx and UPS. Over the last few weeks, I have been negotiating with a “white glove” type of home LTL delivery nation wide freight company set up to deliver to the residence. This is costing me more money, but will allow the package to be delivered to the customer and brought to your door. I have negotiated a rate I can live with, with Pilot Express to ensure a quality handling of your Topper. They have less than a 1 percent failure rate and actually will call you for delivery time. They do quality home delivery of appliances and furniture to your door.

This is how it works.... You will receive a email tracking notice 3 to 4 days before delivery when your order is pulled. Then.... You will get a phone notification from the carrier to set up the delivery time. This requires the customer or representative to be present.

Honestly I’m thrilled about this even though it is expensive to me, but is worth it to me insure your experience. I feel we have arrived at the best solution and,I think this home delivery method may turn out to be a blessing for most everyone.

Announcement 4:

Luxuriant product update:

1. The Holmes Lux Toppers with HDPE Accessories start shipping May 23rd.

2. Holmes “Lux” Toppers with wood accessories about 1 week later.

The reason we are segmenting like product is for streamlined efficiency.

Our goal is to have all “Lux” US. Holmes orders completed in 7-10 days.

3. The next batch of of shipments will be luxuriant Watson Toppers in the same order.

We are anticipating that Watson’s will start arriving at our fulfillment center the week of May 25th and start those segments shipping right after The “Lux” Holmes are completed.

Storage bags... 

We are expecting these to arrive about the end of June and they will be sent separately to all US backers with the exception of Canada and Hawaii and a couple of unique situations.

Canada shipment: 

In our efforts to reduce shipping costs and duty brokerage fees to our Canadian backers we will be shipping all of these orders at once via truck to the warehouse in New York and that will go to the warehouse in Canada to distribute all the orders. While it was never my intention to deliver to Canadian backers last, it was the most efficient and inexpensive way to help all the Canadian backers not have significant extra chargers. This requires me to have all items produced and in stock. It appears that I may not have to charge anybody any extra. This is an amazing saving for our neighbors in Canada. Because of the situation, I have even found a way to be able to continue to deliver to Canadian backers efficiently and at a lower cost than normal international shipping methods.

We would expect that when the bags arrive about the end of June we will be able to package all of these orders and have that in route.

Halfsies Dice: 

I get a fair amount of questions regarding the Dwarf Dice, I've spoken with Gate Keeper Games and they are working hard to overcome the issues causing the delay of the production of the Dwarf Dice line.  They've graciously accepted responsibility of shipping the dice directly to you, at their cost, when they are completed.  Timelines are still uncertain, but they're coming.  If you have any further questions regarding the Dwarf Dice portion of your pledge you've been invited by John to contact Gate Keeper Games directly at [email protected].  -  Thanks for your patience in this matter.  I have the utmost confidence in the quality of GKG's dice as well as the service they provide.  I have no doubts your dice will be coming as soon as possible and will update you as soon as we have more word."

I think that is about it for now. I will continue to keep you up to date on any changes. I know everyone is excited to get their Toppers. I’m excited to get them to you. I’m working very hard to do this as quickly as possible. If you want to upgrade or add anything to your order do it now, and save on the extra shipping.

Also, I have to continue to thank you so much for all the fantastic feedback, words of encouragement, and support for this project. It’s truly something remarkable that’s happening, and just to tease you a little bit we have some amazing things coming up in the future. As soon as we get done with this stage, you’re going to be hearing a lot more about it. I will be at Origins, Dice Tower Con in Florida, and then at Gen Con. I hope to see you at some of these conventions, please come and talk with me I would love to meet you.

Thank you all again, Burky

P.S. Quick FYI- we had a few isolated issues with notifications going out late. I can’t always control how that gets digitally handled, or if for some reason you do not get them due spam accounts, or bad email address, but we have dialed in a few procedures so notifications will be sent by the email listed in Backerkit as soon as your items are ready to ship. So if you do not receive a shipping notification, please be patient, when your order is ready to ship you will get one. If for some reason you do not receive one, when I have said that everybody should have received their products please email me [email protected]

Game Toppers Mycroft, Lux, and Canada delivery update. 5-11-18
almost 6 years ago – Sat, May 12, 2018 at 12:18:14 AM

Greeting Game Topper Nation!

I’m pleased to announce that all of the Standard Game Toppers except the (soon to be released) Mycroft packages (see update below) have been shipped. People are getting their toppers with great joy and excitement. In addition to that, our pre-orders of my additional stock are selling out very fast. See our Facebook group Game Topper Nation.

I’m also excited to announce that the luxuriant Holmes Toppers are being produced in quantity right now. The new wood has arrived and it looks fantastic!

 My commitment and priority is to make sure I deliver a product that not only is durable, functional, but is aesthetically pleasing. These really are high-quality heirloom type of products, made from premium components at a very affordable price. I am sorry for the delays that this commitment has caused, but I knew that I would not be at peace delivering anything less than what I would want in my own home.

I want to cover our projected timelines of each segment of Game Topper shipments, but before I do that I wanted to give everyone an opportunity.

Offer: 

FOR ANYONE that has NOT received their topper, I want to offer you an opportunity to upgrade your order with our new HDPE high density polypropylene products. ...and any other add-on you would like.

As I’ve discussed in the past, I really love high-quality wood “Lux” crafted products, however after seeing the strength of the HDPE Accessories, and how aesthetically pleasing they are against the powder coated rail, I feel they are a far superior product to wood.

They are basically lifetime products. They’re fully dishwasher safe, so they can be washed without any fear of the finish wearing off or damage to them do the breakage or warpage that can occur with wood. I am so very impressed with the HDPE products that going forward I may only offer them. They are slightly more expensive, but I think it’s well worth it. One of the additional features is; the double component tray can go over the center connector cleat which makes it much more functional than wood, and does not lose any strength. The goblet holders also have a component tray that wood does not have.

If you would like to upgrade your BAKER STREET or SCOTLAND YARD Package it’s an upgrade charge of $50.00. If you have a single Lux Topper and one of our other accessory bundles it’s an extra $30.00

I can still facilitate any add-ons or upgrades for you before the 48 hour notice is sent to you. The best way to do this is to email me at [email protected] and I can make the update. It’s quite simple and quick for me to do this for you, and I would be happy to assist anyone with this.

OK onto the update:

Quick FYI- we had a few isolated issues with notifications going out late. I can’t always control how that gets digitally handled, or if for some reason you do not get them due spam accounts, or bad email address, but we have dialed in a few procedures so notifications will be sent by the email listed in Backerkit as soon as your items are ready to ship. So if you do NOT receive a shipping notification, please be patient, when your order is ready to ship you will get one. If for some reason you do not receive one, when I have said that everybody should have received their products, please email me [email protected]

Mycroft deliveries ONLY:

We mailed out 16 Mycroft’s and we had four of them that got damaged. Albeit, it was extremely poor handling by the carrier, but this was unacceptable to me, so our team went to work on solving this problem. Due to the complicated nature of this particular package size, it has taken some time to re-evaluate our delivery. I will not bore you with all the packaging options and painstaking efforts I took, but I can say we believe we have a far superior method to deliver this now. 

Over the last few weeks I have been negotiating with a “white glove” type of home LTL nation wide freight company set up to deliver to the residence. This is costing me more money, but will allow the package to be put on a pallet, and delivered to the customer and lowered to the ground via lift gate. I’m very grateful for this solution as it has allowed me to start pulling these orders as we speak and insure the safest delivery possible. Starting Monday May 14th.

I do need to make you aware of a couple of things... You will get a phone notification from the carrier to set up the delivery time. You will also receive a email tracking notice. This requires the customer to be present and assist in unloading the product. The driver generally will NOT deliver to your door. (It’s not quite white glove) This is a large package that can weight from 100lbs. - 120 lbs depending on your order. While it is heavy, it can be picked up on one end and moved from end to end. A better method would be to use a hand truck. The best method is to have two people handle it. Maybe ask a friend or neighbor. 

Honestly, I’m thrilled about this even though it is expensive to me, but is worth it to insure your positive experience. My only other option was to redesign the packaging, adding additional cushioning to the package at significant cost and delay the shipping of Mycroft’s 6 weeks or more. I feel we have arrived at the best solution and as we move forward will be able to dial in this package more in the future, but actually I think this home delivery method may turn out to be a blessing for most everyone.

Luxuriant product update:

The Holmes Lux Toppers are being produced right now. I am told that 130 units will be done this Friday with a remaining 120 to be completed early next week. They will start arriving at out fulfillment center Monday the 14th with the remainder by 18th.

Super thrilled with these!!! They look awesome!!!!

We are shipping these by segments of like product for streamlined efficiency. Our first batch of shipments will be all Holmes Toppers that have HDPE components. The next segment will be those with wood “Lux” components.

The next batch of of shipments will be luxuriant Watson Toppers in the same order. We are anticipating that Watson’s will start arriving at our fulfillment center the week of May 25th.

So how does this affect shipping of your product? To recap the procedure... our product hits our fulfillment center, I then send out a 48 hour notice to finalize your address to make sure that they are correct. If it is correct, you do not have to do anything. (You will have till Thursday May 17th to upgrade you Holmes Toppers pledges to HDPE or add any other items to your order.) (Probably May 24th on Watson orders.) Then the product will be set up to ship in segments. We are going to segment everything so that the pulling of each order is simple and efficient with less possibilities of pulling the wrong items. What do I mean by that? I’m so glad you asked...

For instance, the Holmes "Lux" Toppers with everyone who has ordered or upgraded to HDPE components will go out first. Then the Holmes Lux Toppers that have luxuriant wood accessories. We expect all to be shipped within one week to 10 days.

Then start this exact same process with the Watson toppers. 

Storage bags:

I get a lot of people that obviously don’t receive these updates for some reason, or perhaps just don’t read them because they’re so stinking long, lol. We are expecting these to arrive about the middle of June and they will be sent separately to all US backers with the exception of Canada and Hawaii and a couple of unique situations.

My samples just arrived and are Fantastic!!! I'll try to make a video later.

Canada shipment: 

In our efforts to reduce shipping costs and duty brokerage fees to our Canadian backers we will be shipping all of these orders at once via truck to the warehouse in New York and that will go to the warehouse in Canada to distribute all the orders. While it was never my intention to deliver to Canadian backers last, it was the most efficient and inexpensive way to help all the Canadian backers not have significant extra chargers. This requires me to have all items produced and in stock. It appears that I may not have to charge anybody any extra except one remote one. This is an amazing saving for our neighbors in Canada. Because of this great partnership situation, I have even found a way to be able to continue to deliver to Canadian backers efficiently and at a lower cost than normal international shipping methods in the future.

We would expect that when the bags arrive about the second week of June we will be able to package all of these orders and have that in route. So I think it would be fair to say that Canadian backers should receive their orders by the end of June.

Halfsies Dice: 

I get a fair amount of questions regarding the Dwarf Dice, I've spoken with Gate Keeper Games and they are working hard to overcome the issues causing the delay of the production of the Dwarf Dice line.  They've graciously accepted responsibility of shipping the dice directly to you, at their cost, when they are completed.  Timelines are still uncertain, but they're coming.  If you have any further questions regarding the Dwarf Dice portion of your pledge you've been invited by John to contact Gate Keeper Games directly at [email protected].  -  Thanks for your patience in this matter.  I have the utmost confidence in the quality of GKG's dice as well as the service they provide.  I have no doubts your dice will be coming as soon as possible and will update you as soon as we have more word."

I think that is about it for now. I will continue to keep you up to date on any changes. I know everyone is excited to get their Toppers. I’m excited to get them to you. I’m working very hard to do this as quickly as possible. If you want to upgrade or add anything to your order do it now, and save on the extra shipping.

Also, I have to continue to thank you so much for all the fantastic feedback, words of encouragement, and support for this project. It’s truly something remarkable that’s happening, and just to tease you a little bit we have some amazing things coming up in the future. As soon as we get done with this stage, you’re going to be hearing a lot more about it. I will be at the Geekway of the West convention, Origins, Dice Tower Con in Florida, and then at Gen Con. I hope to see you at some of these conventions, please come and talk with me I would love to meet you.

Thank you all again, 

 Burky

Lestrade’s and Holmes’s away! Lux & Mycroft Update 4-21-18
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Apr 21, 2018 at 09:43:58 PM

Greetings Topper Nation!

Spring is actually starting to happen in MN! I love the different seasons. I often relate to the changing of seasons to life. Some seasons, like winter can be prolonged, but I’m always hopeful that change is just around the corner.

We have had a bit of shipping delays this last two weeks, but I’m thrilled to report, that all of the Standard US Backers for Watson, Holmes, and Lestrades are on their way!!

Many are already getting thier package of fun. The feedback has been glowing! Check out and join the Facebook group Game Topper Nation. I am so happy to see the joy our product is bringing people!

I do apologize for the prolonged “Winter” regarding this last two weeks for those affected by my shipping center delays. They had some challenges (not related to us) last week, and they are back on track.

If you are in either of those categories you should start receiving tracking info, and should only be a week away from receiving your Topper. 

Pre-Order Standard Toppers Backers will get notification this week for finalization of address and start shipping. 

(It is very unfair that pre orders are going out before our Lux Topper Backers, but because the lux die issue delaying the lux product, and warehouse issues, it would be a problem delaying sending out the rest of the finished product. It was never my intention for this to happen. So sorry about this.)

The Hudson Standard US Backers are scheduled to go out Monday with 9 Mycroft Orders. (I cannot check on which ones until they send me the tracking info, and then honestly, it is very time consuming to look up individual requests) Of course if you have a pending emergency please let me know by email at [email protected] and I will always help you! 

Honestly, I am still evaluating our Mycroft Packaging. This package is so large that it causes several very complex issues regarding shipping’s so that it does not have to go LTL freight. We have designed our boxes to including the rail bundles and componnents. This is definitely the most cost-effective way to do it. We have made some  further improvements to protecting the corners more.

After I get the feedback, late next week, we are going to evaluate the new cross supports we have put in that particular box.  If we feel we need additional cushioning in the corners we are going to have to redesign that box which will be a very expensive proposition, but if that’s what’s needed to ensure good delivery that’s what I will do. If we need to do this, it would result in delay of these shipments of 3 weeks.

This has been very stressful for me. I am so excited  to get these Toppers to you and every delay grieves me to no end! I have worked tirelessly to do due diligence, by employing seasoned engineers and packaging experts at significant expense to insure a good experience for you, but I am still learning some things about the shipping industry and this entire process. Most will have never have a problem! We have successfully delivered over 80 units, but we have had a few poor handling situations that I am trying to mitigate. I hope you can understand why I am being cautious and taking my time with this package. Rest assured I am not putting anything off. This is one of my top priorities!

I have had another very frustrating experience I wanted to make you aware of.

Lux Topper Production:

Last update I spoke with you about the wood inlay finishing quality we deemed unacceptable. Last Friday, I was notified that the order of 5 pallets of Wood had arrived. Monday, I promptly went to our manufacturer and inspected the product. Much to my dismay, there was a very high failure ratio of wood strips, again due to finish. It appears that they where stacked not fully cured and in a less that filtered environment. We sorted an entire pallet and only found about 40 good pieces. Kevin Burkhardsmeier had all he could do from keeping some choice words from come out of his mouth. We immediately took action to get this resolved.

 I do need to clarify, I have been very transparent (maybe too detailed) with you about our process, things I’m experiencing, challenges, and the commitment I have made to make this right, and ultimately provide the best gaming accessory ever made. It absolutely drives me. I realize the intense excitement for the arrival of this upgrade to every game you play.  A project of this scale, with as many moving parts as this has, requires an incredible amount of diligence, and commitment. I have that! 

The wood company we have contracted with is a very large, highly capable, fully vetted company. I produced over 100 Toppers using their wood and it has been fantastic! The president of the company is involved now, to assure us a quality shipment as soon as possible.  We are going to take a slightly different approach, however. He is going to send us one pallet at a time in stages every few days so that our production can continue at the manufacturer, but not push them to hurry the finishing process. I honestly do not know how much of a delay this will make on our luxuriant toppers. My manufacture thinks it won’t be more than a week given this new production schedule. I’m hesitant to think that way right now. 

It’s very difficult to explain in detail the many steps that we employ at the manufacture to produce the product, but it starts with the rails and the corners, and that is being done now. The last thing that happens is the insertion of the strips, so overall this is not going to set us back as long as one might think, but I’m coming to realize the things never go as quickly as I hope. I would expect by May 14, we will see a significant amount of our first batch of Lux Toppers hitting fulfillment. Realistically, I think backers will start receiving them towards the end of May which is coincidentally about when the Storage bags should arrive.

My hands went up in the air for a minute when this happened. Vince Lombardi said something I have come to embrace. “Fatigue makes cowards of us all” Very true. He also concluded that speech with, “winners never give up, they persevere until the very last, they never give in or give up.” I have tried to live my life by these principles of quality, integrity, and never give up grit. I’m tired, but it will not be winter in Narnia much longer. Spring is around the corner and your Toppers will be delivered, just a bit later than I had hoped and estimated. (Another lessened learned) 

Please accept my apologies. I feel I owe it to you to share with you the ups and the downs I am having. I will continue to push and see each aspect of our fulfillment to your benefit. If you every have a problem or issue with your order, I will treat you with the utmost care and concern that I can. You are, and have been the best backers I could ever imagine. I cannot express the gratitude in my heart for your patience, understanding, and encouragement. Thank you!

All my best!

Burky

P.S. 

I had the honor of hand delivering a Mycroft to one of our US military veterans while I was traveling to western North Dakota. I have such great respect for those that serve our country in so many ways. It was a pleasure and such a joy to spend some time with this wonderful man. I only wish I would have had time to play a game with him. Rain check Cory?

Update 4-13-18, 48 hour address finalization notices are out on standard Lestrade and Hudson Kickstarter backers!
about 6 years ago – Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 09:32:24 PM

Greetings Topper Nation!!!

I am overflowing with gratitude to all our awesome backers. Seeing all the great feedback coming in on the Game Topper Nation Facebook page is amazing!!!!

I just sent out 48 hour notifications for Standard US Lestrade and Hudson Backers.

If you have an address change please make them. I will finalize these addresses Monday.

This does not mean the product has shipped. IMPORTANT: You will receive a notification when the labels are printed, then it takes 2-3 days for the orders to be pulled, then the transit time to ship normally 3-5 days depending on location from MN)

I also wanted to let you know how much I enjoy interacting with each of you!!! It is truly such a pleasure to meet you. I feel enriched for getting to know you.

When I started this campaign, I asked my wife, " Honey, are you ready for this? I don't really know what to expect, but I do know that I want to interact with each person." 

Well, we found out what that meant...6 am to 10 PM for 35 days. ha. The reason I talked with her about it is because I had hopes this could be a real long term successful business. I have started several businesses (one that had over 20 million in sales in today's money) I knew the commitment this would take and the price she would be paying with me. She is always supportive and an incredible strength. I couldn't do it without her.

I have two main philosophies in business...

1. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

2. Give the customer more than they expect.

I really don't like it personally, to be treated like a number. I don't like an antiseptic sales experience. I like people who care about helping me get what I really want and not just trying to sell me something they want to sell me. I hate poor, impersonal customer service.

That is why I have really tried to deliver a personal, interactive, high quality, customer experience.

This last few weeks have been incredible stressful with dealing with problem solving some third party mistakes and inefficiencies, and some other things that have been out of my control.  They each take a lot of time, and you just have to work through them. 

I think in attempt to be transparent and provide quality, relevant information in my last few updates, I may have come off a bit more terse or direct in my communications.

I never, and I repeat never, want anyone to feel that they cannot reach out to me if they need help. That would go against who I am, and what I believe in.

If I ever fail you in this regard, or make a mistake please, reach out to me. If you have any issues please let me know. 

I'm handling way more that one person should right now, that will change in the future, but right now I'm a one pony show (2 pony with my wife Joan) with great partners trying to do this with excellence.

It does greatly help me  to "not drop the ball" if that correspondence can be done by Email, ([email protected]) especially now as I am having a hard time keeping everything straight when I get request from my 5 different social media accounts, and the comments segment in KS.

The shipping notification going out and halting shipping while I addresses a few issues, really made it frustrating for several folks who got the notification, but product wasn't shipped. I'm so sorry. I wish I could have fixed it quicker, but that is just what happened. Thank you for your understanding.

Status:

The Standard Watson US. Kickstarter backers should have all gone out this week. If you haven't received yours by the end of next week please let me know.

We started shipping Standard Holmes US. Kickstarter backers this week. Because of a few damage claims, we enlisted some addition help to evaluate our packaging and have made some improvements to each corner and added cross struts to further strengthen or box. Our team feels good about it, but I wanted to do a test before releasing all the  Standard pre- orders. So if all goes well by the end of next week we expect all Standard Holmes, Watson, Lestrade and Hudson US based Kickstarter Toppers will be shipped.

Then we will proceed with Pre-orders. 

We are in no way giving intentional priority to our standard product. I would have preferred to ship all the "lux" first, but because of the die failure discussed in previous updates and the wood delay, they have to go in that order. 

Those that had local pick-up should be notified when ready.

Our wood inlays arrived today, I am told they are good. I will be personally inspecting it Monday. (Trust, but verify) I expect it will be like our past wood products and production will resume on all Lux Toppers.

Lastly,

We are sending an additional 5 Mycroft's Monday to do a mini test. We have concerns about the size of the box not being able to accommodate more cushioning on the exposed side of the half. We made the corner improvements and can still keep it under that 500.00 over max shipping fee, but barely. If this is not sufficient, we will have to redesign the box to be less deep and longer. This will be big expense to me, and I will have to mail accessory rails separate if we have to take this approach. This will be on me, not you.  My main objective is to be confident I am doing everything in my ability to provide you with a great customer experience and mitigate as much poor handling situations as I can. I'll keep you up to date best I can on this. I have hopes either way, Mycroft's will be delivered in two to three weeks. It is one of my most pressing issues.

Thanks for enduring these long posts. I'm not good at being concise and so much to explain. I also like to let you get to know me and how I think.

Thank you all!!!

All my best 

Burky

Shipping notifications and delays 4-7-18
about 6 years ago – Sat, Apr 07, 2018 at 10:53:46 PM

Greetings Topper Nation. 

I realize how excited every one is to get their Toppers. I want to assure your Toppers are being delivered as fast as possible.

I think I have failed to update the larger Topper audience, as my work load this last couple weeks has been really intense. All I can say is I work non stop 12-16 hrs a day 6-7 days a week, managing more things than you will ever know or be told. Things take time and I’m doing best. My apologies. No one is more excited about getting these items to you than me. Maybe I’m wrong, it’s obvious you are.  When you see people posting all this amazing awesomeness in the Game Topper Nation Facebook group we just created, it must be excruciatingly difficult to be patient. Btw please join the page, but it is NOT a customer service portal. It is a place to share our Toppers, games, and tips.

My last couple updates I have explained the process. It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to respond to individual requests especially in the comments section about shipments. It also is not an easy check to find this specific shipping information as I have to call my fulfillment center. I do not pack each order personally, and do not have timing information. I cannot make constant status requests of them as well. I can make general estimates.  I hope you can understand.

I will reiterate that when a shipping label is printed, you should get a notification, but that may mean that it'll take two or three days to pull your order, and then it takes another four or five days for it to get to you. So if your notification comes, it may still be a week away. 

We had a slight delay last week, because of fixing a couple situations, and an injury that delayed some orders that labels where printed for, but not shipped. I certainly understand the questions if this happened to you, and I apologize for the delay and confusion. 

That all being said, this coming week all remaining Watson Kickstarter standard orders and Holmes kickstarter standard orders should be mailed out by the end of the week, so you should receive toppers by the following week. Then the pre-order standard Watson and standard Holmes Toppers will go out. (All Canadian orders will be sent in one large shipment when the Lux orders are fulfilled.)

If you have a will call/pick up you'll be notified by email that your order is ready to pick up  you'll be able to arrange that. This is a very difficult logistical management situation with our current segment shipping and it's costing me a lot more than originally planned. I ask for continued patience as I have absorbed a lot of cost and time to make this even available.

Shipping Boxes:

We have some concern about the shipping of our Mycrofts. It is very complicated. I spent a fortune on these amazing boxes, but we sent out a 5 Mycrotft packages and had two with shipping damage. We are in a situation with the current size of box only has a small about of space for us to add reinforcement that we are packing it in. If we are even a half an inch larger on any dimension, it would be a $500 shipment. So we are reevaluating our Microsoft package box. I have invested extra money and enlisted a team of packaging professionals and our box manufacture to re-evaluate this.

This led us to further reinforce all our Holmes and Watson boxes with extra corner and filler support inside of the box as well as cross support across the rails to provide further strength to the sidewalls and corners. We feel good about this. Outside of a steel box, I’m not sure how to “fix stupid” by the national carriers.  You  can’t drop this box down a stairs or drive over it with a forklift, and expect it to be intact, but we are doing everything in our power to protect against that if it happens. I just want to sleep at night knowing I am delivering each Topper well.

We feel at this point this should alleviate any problem. We are also putting fragile stickers on every box and overweight labels so people don’t accidentally pick up a box thinking it’s light and dropping it. We have notified our shippers when the trucks arrive as well that these items are coming and demand careful attention, but these national shippers are notorious for not handling product well. I’m not trying to alarm you, but want to make you aware of what we are doing to mitigate any problems.

We are going to test this new solution with 5 Mycofts.  If we have no problem we will send the rest. If not, I will have to make new packaging that is smaller to avoid the $500 over max fee and ship rail kits separately. I hope that is not the case, but one way or another I will make sure I am doing this right for each of you. I’m sorry for this delay, but I need some time to work this out.

It has been a very difficult week with trying to solve these issues that have been out of my control, but I’m am a fighter, and never give up! We will never surrender! Too much is riding on this for me to fail you. 

Lux Toppers

That being said, my manufacturer called me Thursday,  notifying me all Lux wood inserts had been delivered, but the finish was bubbled. You can imagine my response. The owner of the wood manufacture (not a small one I might add) drove three hours to look at the situation. My manufacture said he could talk with me, but knew my response. He is well aware of my commit to attention to detail. Everyone agreed these where unacceptable. 

Long and short of that, Lux rail production, assembling corners is still continuing, but new wood will not arrive until next Friday. This simply means we will be delayed 1-2 weeks.

If we don’t have any more of these issues we still should start shipping Lux Toppers by the last week of April to our fulfillment center.

I estimate we will be mailing over 400 units in 10 - 14 days.

Honestly, for me to alter the segments and give anyone priority is just unrealistic. Perhaps a very extreme case I can intervine, but it will need to extreme.

Again, I would ask everybody if you have a concern or special request that are urgent or critical, please email me at [email protected]. I respond to every email I get. Close to 40 a day. It's much easier for me to respond to you by email than in the comments segments or on Facebook, I really try, but I only have so much bandwidth, as  I have a lot on my plate now.

Thank you all again for being such a great supporters and I appreciate all the enthusiasm.

Those that have sent encouragement and pictures, it honestly is what keeps me going. The joy of seeing you delighted and upgrading every game you play with friends and family has been my vision and dream fulfilled. It fuels me! Thank you for your kindness and understanding.

I'm taking the weekend off to recharge. So I may be silent for for a bit. I hope you understand.

Here is my little “Boxing Video” before we added additional reinforcement.

All my best!

Burky