Maelstrom Games. THE END!

OFFICIAL NOTICE 

Maelstrom Games Ltd. has ceased trading and will enter liquidation at some point over the next few months. 

A creditor of Maelstrom Games Ltd., Wayland Games Ltd., issued a Statutory Demand under section 123(1)(a) or 221(1)(a) of the Insolvency Act, 1986 on the 17th of October, 2012 for �99,773.61 plus costs of issuing and serving the demand. 

This debt was purchased from Simple Miniature Games by Wayland Games Ltd on the 1st of October, 2012 and payment of this debt was demanded in full by Wayland Games after seven days had elapsed. Unfortunately, Maelstrom Games Ltd. could not pay Wayland Games Ltd. this debt in full within those seven days. 

Previous to the debt purchase, Maelstrom Games Ltd. was servicing the debt owed to Simple Miniature Games at the rate of �500 per working day, claimed by the creditor when convenient for him by charging a credit card owned by Maelstrom Games Ltd., which had been occurring since mid-June and continued to late September, the last payment being taken on the 25th. Maelstrom Games Ltd. did not cancel these payments and were not aware that this debt was being transferred. 

Maelstrom Games Ltd. offered to pay the debt purchased by Wayland Games Ltd. in the same manner as it had paid Simple Miniature Games, but this was not taken up by Wayland Games Ltd. 

Maelstrom Games Ltd. can only apologise to those customers whose orders have not been fulfilled as it is now impossible for Maelstrom Games Ltd. to fulfil them, excepting those for Mierce Miniatures products (fulfilled by Mierce Miniatures in November) and Battlefront Miniatures products (fulfilled by Maelstrom Games in partnership with Battlefront Miniatures and Maunsfeld Gaming in November), all of which will be sent by Maelstrom Games Ltd. Other customer orders for certain ranges may be fulfilled in the future and any customers whose orders can be fulfilled will be contacted by Maelstrom Games in due course. 

All creditors will be issued the relevant notices by the assigned Insolvency Practitioner when Maelstrom Games Ltd. enters liquidation.

So now it has finally gone official. But of course Maelstrom tries to play the victim. Just like when they breached Battlefronts terms last year. Wayland also confirmed over on Dakka that the transfer of Maelstroms debt wasn't done in order to put Maelstrom out of business (although I guess it was a nice synergy) and also that the repayments being done in an orderly fashion is a fabrication. 


Anyhow... I'm too tired to write anymore about this mess. Hopefully you who has outstanding orders with Maelstrom can get this solved via Paypal or your bank.

Maelstrom Games, the end?!

Since friday the Maelstrom Games website has been showing as "Under Maintenance". And now, a couple of hours ago North Star Miniatures confirmed on their Facebook that Maelstrom Games isn't anymore. The business will be taken over by Eye of the Storm.

So if you have any outstanding orders with MG, what do you do?

First. Contact them (Maelstrom Games). Second. Contact your bank (if using VISA) or Paypal and explain the situation. Request a chargeback.

I can't say I'm sad to see them go. I would've been a couple of weeks ago. But now, after having more or less scammed a bunch of people still waiting for their stuff, with no word from Robert Lane (who owns both Maunsfield Games and Maelstrom Games). I'm not! I hope they burn, slowly.

PSA: Maelstrom rumour confirmation

The rumour that Maelstrom was in massive debt can now hopefully be confirmed. On the Wyrd forum Graham posted;

Maelstrom won't be getting any more Malifaux from us as he's been cut off due to his massive debt, which has now been sold via a debt purchase company who will be pursuing the debt and legal action. 

MG is running his final sales (several of them) and there is nothing much left. No further stock will be sent from us. 

All fate Decks, Retro Decks, rulebooks etc are all in stock here and you'll find them at any other stockist in the UK who have ordered them in. Try Firestorm, Wargames Workshop, Waugh Games, Arcane, Wayland Games, Waylands Forge, Spirit Games, Total Wargamer, Worthy Wargaming, Titan Games or any of the dozens of others who have plenty of Malifaux on the shelves. 

We have re-stocks coming in every other week and pretty much running straight out the door to all the stockists, so we're just ordering even more

This is further compunded by Taban Miniatures also cutting their ties with Maelstrom. So, if you have outstanding orders with Maelstrom, try calling them. When they don't answer, contact Paypal and/or your bank and request a chargeback.

Maelstrom & Ponzi, sitting in a tree...

So... the latest "We have everything on sale" came from Malestrom Games. This time with some sort of explanation. Let's read that and then discuss...

Here at Maelstrom Games we have decided to clear as much of our hard-earned stock as we possibly can over the next few days - and therefore generate some much-needed cashflow - in order to ensure we can fulfil the orders that you, our valued customers, have placed over the last few weeks. To that end, we have decided - in consultation with our trading partners - to sell our remaining stock of [list of manufacturers]. All other ranges' stock will now be sold at 40% off UK RRP - we hold good stocks of Gamezone Miniatures, Dark Age, Cool Mini or Not and Scibor Miniatures, and there's a fair bit of Privateer Press and Malifaux left too. As well as that, from this moment onwards we have decided to stop any customer from placing orders for items that are not in stock, simply so that we can clear the orders that have already been placed. 

We have not made this decision lightly, and please note that we have absolutely no issues with any of the above manufacturers or suppliers; we are simply trying to sell off stock in order to clear older orders and ease any worries our customers may have regarding the speculation that is currently rife on the internet. As well as that, we believe that our retailing model must now change to selling products that are in stock at the time of purchase, and as such that will continue to be in place in the future, once our orders are cleared and our stock is sold. 

I would ask all of our customers to remain as patient as they can with Maelstrom Games and, indeed, our staff, for we will use the money generated by the sale of our stock to ensure all of your orders are fulfilled in their entirety as quickly as possible. We remain committed to servicing our customers first and foremost and will continue to do so in the future. 

Now... this I guess is all good unless you have an interest in economics and can see a Ponzi-scheme for what it is. As I read it it says: "We have no money so we cannot fulfill orders placed earlier. Please spend more so we can fulfill orders already placed" And then? 40% discount doesn't really give much profit in order to re-stock your [new] warehouse?

So, what happened Maelstrom? I can only guess. This newest information sounds a lot like the "speculation" that Maelstrom had lost their credit from distributors were true. So in order to fulfill orders placed a couple of weeks ago they actually have to buy it instead of request it on credit from their distributor. Clearly not an indication of a healthy and thriving business.

Couple that with Paypal not being a payment option anymore(!) and my advice is to abandon ship before it sails away with your money. -.-

I really hope all this is a giant misunderstanding. I really really do.

PSA: Maelstrom Games going bust?

It seems like Maelstrom Games is going under. The thread on Dakka has been going on for quite some time now without any representing MG chiming in. A lot of people have been posting there to tell about orders taking forever to ship, or in many cases, so long that they have requested a refund.


Rumours say that they have a huge debt and are moving stock & current assets to other companies in order to be able to fold the company in debt. Which means that if you order from Maelstrom Games (if this all turns out to be true) your money will be in limbo.

Of course, forums are what they are, and I can understand if you as a business really don't care about all that's written on them. But if you look at their website there sure isn't much in stock. It's actually hard finding anything that's in stock at the moment. Further reinforcing the rumour that they're out of money. Even though they supposedly are moving warehouses and such (and has been for a while now...) it seems like a -really-bad- business decision to let 90% of your website show items as "Out of Stock".

I suggest you subscribe to the forum thread to watch for further development. Hopefully this is just a rumour that's gotten a bit inflated. Hopefully.