Expedited Shipping and Free Upgrades - Spine Tooth Cavern Shipping - Update #65
almost 6 years ago – Thu, May 10, 2018 at 12:46:44 AM

The Fog Monster Journey, and a few free upgrades along the way. Here is what you will receive.

• Free water pump upgrade - The original quoted pump showed signs of rusting inside and was traded for a much better industrial design.
  
• Free pipe upgrade - We inspected the quoted pipes and they were thin and cheaply made so we upgraded to medical grade clear pipes. Most do not realize the manufacturing cost this free upgrade represents. If you want to see the MSRP on some of the pipes you are receiving take a look here.
  
• Free custom power supply upgrade - 3 x the function. We looked at the fact that our customers would need to use 3 separate power supplies to power the Fog Monster, the water pump, and the optional fan so we sprung for a new mold and designed a custom made power supply with 3 built in DC power plugs.
• RoHS, CE, and FCC compliance -  The new Power Supply required testing and certification. This ensured our international EU customers their delivery would arrive safely through customs.
  

We think these upgrades nicely hold their own with any Kickstarter project. We are not going to get into the extra cost on these items but it was a substantial investment. Nevertheless we have produced a much higher quality product for all.

Journey of the Fog Monster. USA delivery arrived first by Ocean freight to the port of Long Beach, California, then traveled by rail to Shipbob in Dallas. Once ShipBob fulfills delivery the remaining inventory will travel by truck to our warehouse in South Florida around the end of May to fulfill some free shipping items.

Parts that could not be shipped by boat had to be express air mailed from overseas to ShipBob in Dallas to coordinate with packaging.

Resin parts like the Spine Tooth Cavern were express air mailed from overseas to our warehouse in South Florida to coordinate with customer fulfillment through our office. That was a lot of work! But now the real work begins.

 Why ShipBob along the way? First the Dallas central location helps balance out cost to all shipping zones rather than from east or west locations. Second as we said in past updates ShipBob is able to expedite the order quickly. We estimate it would take our office staff from 6-8 weeks to deliver the remaining order using local PO parcel post (not including 5-9 day delivery time). ShipBob has the fulfillment power to ship the entire remaining order in one week or less. This is not to say the entire order will ship in one week.

Expedited shipping by ShipBob is not overnight express mail. As you can see from the graphic above, parts that were not allowed to be shipped by boat due to export restrictions needed to be air express mailed. ShipBob does charge us a small pick and pack fee but we were able to minimize that by having the factory overseas pick and pack all they could into backer orders in advance. This means ShipBob only opens the package to pick and pack the air freight items and reseals the package for shipment. Again, it would take our office staff 6-8 weeks to accomplish the same.

If we did not expedite this process through ShipBob it would mean the cost of sending two separate packages to backers, one for ocean delivery items, and one for the air freight delivery items. The way we have set this up through ShipBob actually saves on delivery costs and gets you your reward several weeks earlier.

We have not found expedited ShipBob prices to be high. In fact we have priced out several shipping options from our East Coast office to backers, and pricing from USPS parcel post or priority mail is, in some cases, nearly the same. This may be due to our extreme southeast location.

A Possible workaround for those that have free shipping rewards with no Add-On's and dont want to wait until June for delivery. As we said ShipBob charges us a small fee for their services. We cannot pick up those extra charges in addition to the cost of free shipping. We may however be able to offer a way to contribute toward those additional costs and receive quicker delivery through ShipBob. If we decide to move forward with this option we will do so on a one by one basis and send out shipping invitations when it is time.

We may also extend this option to backers with free rewards that have only a small Add-On that can be bundled in the existing reward box. For example a Fog Monster with an 8 Pack of Lights. Again, if we decide to move forward with this option we will do so on a one by one basis and send out shipping invitations when it is time.

ShipBob will definitely be faster, for those in a hurry we want to give you the option, if not don't worry about it, free delivery without Add-On's will be fulfilled in June.

Good News on shipping costs and bundled items! Shipping cost invitations to USA backers now includes Pick and Pack items from our office such as the Spine Tooth Cavern. In some cases for international orders we will need to wait for the inventory to arrive from ShipBob aound the end of May in order to bundle your items in our Florida warehouse.

All the best from RGFX

Fog Monster Shipping from ShipBob Begins! - Spine Tooth Cavern Shipping - Update #64
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 04, 2018 at 09:56:52 PM

We are happy to say all Fog Monster inventory is now safely in the ShipBob warehouse in the USA and ready for fulfillment!

All shipping costs using ShipBob are in. You will soon receive a shipping invitation email to pay for your shipping cost.

On Expedited shipping from ShipBob - Using ShipBob's professional team allows us faster and better shipping options from providers like UPS as opposed to slower services like parcel post. The expedited service covers insurance and tracking for your reward. It will also greatly speed up delivery.

On Free shipping in house - If you have no Add-On's and chose a Free Shipping reward your package will be sent by USPS parcel post after ShipBob has fulfilled all expedited orders. Once ShipBob sends the remaining inventory to our office (end of May) these orders will be fulfilled.

Why is Free Shipping with no Add-Ons fulfilled after ShipBob? - All expedited orders receive priority handling using ShipBob's fulfillment service. Second we are able to bypass ShipBob handling fees by shipping in house directly. Third we will not have access to the inventory in our office until ShipBob is finished.

Do free shipping rewards mean free shipping for everything? - No. If you ordered Add-On's they will need to be bundled together with the reward wherever possible. Add-On's obviously increase the size and weight of the package and thus the cost of the shipping. We will review each order and do what we can to save shipping costs.

Spine Tooth Cavern Shipping - Good news Spine Tooth Lovers! We received the Spine Tooth Cavern in our office and they came out great!  For those who purchased we will notify you of a new shipping option in your email invitation.

As Promised below is a special preview of something we wanted to share with our backers first before we make the public announcement of our new project. More to come soon :) Thank you again for all your support. We look forward to delivering your Fog Monster a.s.a.p. and can't wait to see what you will do with it in your game!

All the best,

RGFX

The Fog Monster Has Arrived!
about 6 years ago – Sun, Apr 22, 2018 at 01:51:19 AM

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Good News Everyone, The Fog Monster Has Arrived In The USA!

What does this mean for USA and international backers?

For USA backers - We will begin to send out invitations for shipping costs as soon as we have all the packaging data in from Shipbob for shipping costs. This will take some time so please be patient, we have not sent out any invitations yet and probably will not for up to a week or two from this update.

For International Backers - As above we will begin to send out invitations for shipping costs (unless of course you have already paid) as soon as we have all the packaging data in from Shipbob. This will take some time so please be patient, we have not sent out any invitations yet and probably will not for up to a week or two from this update.

FAQ's

Does this mean updates 58 and 60 have changed and now orders will arrive early? - No, updates 58 and 60 are still in effect. We will try and have all orders finished by sometime in May.

How can I make sure my order is delivered quickly? - Shipping is first come first served so please make sure to pay your shipping invitation as soon as you receive it. We will notify Shipbob to send your package as soon as we receive payment. (Don't worry, we will notify you in a reasonable amount of time if we think you missed the invitation email or it went into your spam.)

Do people who chose free shipping rewards get free shipping on everything? - No, free shipping is only as called out in the reward, it does not include Add-Ons. If you have chosen Add-Ons you will be charged for shipping, no exceptions.

Will USA and Canada backers receive LED lights in the package? - Yes, Shipbob will be opening all packages from the factory and inserting the LED lights.

Will USA and International backers get the Spine Tooth Cavern bundled in the box? - No, as we mentioned on the store page this is a separate shipment. These items will be shipped to our office soon and we will notify you when they arrive and are available to ship.

I have a part I did not receive or need replaced when will I receive it? -  As soon as we have all the components in our office warehouse we will begin shipping out parts. This will be after we receive them sometime in May.

What do I do if I only receive part of my order or something is wrong? - Have no fear, we are here. Mistakes will happen, especially with thousands of parts. Just write us to let us know and we will take care of it. We have had very good results with hundreds of packages sent to our international customers and we expect the same from the USA.

So what's on the horizon for Real Game FX next project? - We have some very exciting news we will be sharing with you here first since you helped us with this project. The Fog Monster was originally intended to be an Add-On accessory to our major release. What is it? We can only say it will be no less than next level tabletop gaming. More to come soon :)

Thank you again for all your support

RGFX

#62 Fog Monster / Dark Crypt Start Up Tips - Some Demineralised Tablets May Interfere with Fog
about 6 years ago – Wed, Mar 21, 2018 at 10:57:52 PM

Just a couple tips and a brief overview of parts for the Fog Monster and Dark Crypt fog machines. Click on the pictures for the downloadable pdf sheets. Each contains a QR code for quick access to the instructional videos.

It is vital to pay attention to the plugs on the power supply for proper use and to avoid potentially damaging the pump.

We have also found some demineralised tablets may interfere with the fog production so at this time we are recommending using plain tap water for normal operation.

#61 Update on International Packages With Lights and Batteries
about 6 years ago – Mon, Mar 19, 2018 at 06:35:23 PM

2nd wave shipping has gone out this week and backers are already receiving their orders! Do not worry if you have not received a tracking number as you may receive your order before a tracking number is sent by email.

Important Announcement: We were informed by the factory that while they were able to arrange for bulk shipping of Light Pods containing batteries by boat to the USA, Air Freight shipping requires a special battery export license. It could take the factory up to 60 days to acquire the license and delay the shipping.

We do not wish to delay international shipping so the factory is sending all international orders without the Light Pods. Light Box Add-On's will still be included but the Light Pod Portion will not. We are refunding the Light Pod cost and providing links below that will allow for identical replacements locally.

This is only for International Shipments and will not effect USA shipments. All USA orders will ship with Light Pods as we are able to ship by ground shipping. Canada backers with ground shipping should be able to receive packages with Light Pods as well. We will be contacting Canada ground shipment backers by email with confirmation in May.

Why is this necessary? - The shipping forwarder states that sending out the packages by Air Mail with batteries inside without a proper battery export license may subject the entire package to destruction by customs agents. Obviously we cannot allow that to happen.

Identical LED lights to replace the Light Pods and will fit into the Light Box Add-On are readily available world wide and we are providing links that will easily replace them through Ebay, Amazon, and AliExpress

As they only make one size, the Light Pods purchased online will fit inside all the Light Box Add-On's as well as replace the Light Pod 8 Pack Add On.

We apologize for the inconvenience, it is the last thing we want to do and it comes at a tremendous cost for us to refund the lights, but it is the best way to make ensure that all the packages arrive to the international backers safely and without question by customs agents and not delay the shipping dates.

We have already begun sending Light Pod refunds for international backers. Please allow up to 10 days to receive the refund.