Reporting my experience. Couple of weeks ago I contacted them to ask for combined shipping for three orders, it’s not something they offer, so it was kind of them to agree and they lowered the overall shipping cost and sent me a new invoice. It took a few days for them to respond in the first place and item were stuck on “sender preparing shipment” for a whole week. Then they shipped but items got stuck in HK for the holidays.
I am in no hurry and the shipping costs were cut, so I am still happy.
Then two more preorders released (5 in a month…) and asked again for combined shipping. They replied in under two minutes. Then I contacted them again in regard to the Hunter D blasters and they replied very fast as well, and next day they sent me the preorder link.
When they're good they're very good, and also polite and helpful.
It's the inconsistency of communication and the number of errors that began to turn me off them. Plus the uncertainty of the actual postage costs by the time an item comes into stock. Paying up front was preferable from that perspective, as it was with Deckard who ended up under £120 including delivery.
I've been buying from them for years, as I have from Kit, but in all those years Kit holds the rare distinction of never having made an error on a single order, and of always responding to messages quickly.
In choosing between the two retailers price played a big part. Kit's price includes delivery costs, whereas KGH's don't, so it was always a gamble which would end up being the best deal. I gambled with KGH and sometimes the delivery costs were even cheaper than the initial quote. However, I've come to feel that with Kit I'm also buying peace of mind.
In the few cases where an item had broken or missing parts, as with the figures by LiM and CC some weeks back, the replacement parts were arranged immediately by Kit. (Those orders must've been a headache for numerous retailers as a lot of customers had issues with the QC from the factory used by LiM and CC).
Similar issues with KGH were either left unresolved, probably because they forgot about it, or they sent something different to what had been advised. By that time, which was probably months later, I couldn't be bothered to pester them again.
We can only speak as we find. I still read people saying they've never had an issue with TNS, though I have gotten away very lightly compared to some. My biggest problem with them is communication - they can leave you hanging in the dark for weeks - and there's the fear that if you pester them too much to get a response they'll just delete any other orders out of spite, which they've done to some people.
Even ordering locally through the UK group, where prices can be comparable to those in HK, for greater peace of mind when the pandemic began, isn't always as smooth as hoped. They seem to get their stock pretty quickly, sometimes before some of the HK retailers have even received theirs. Not sure how that can be, but even though they have the stock in hand they can't always get it out for delivery very quickly. It's taken up to a month at times to get the held stock into the post. Communication isn't always easy with them either.
All roads eventually lead back to Kit. Probably even Giantoy, because Kit's stocking DiD product now.