Beware

[AmShak]

I am planning on attending the Scifi show in dallas in a week or so and one of the things that i collect are autographs on figures from the actors that played them, or in this case, provided the voice for. Andrew Secombe will be one of the guests attending, so i thought i would grab his autograph on an ep1 watto carded figure. I always try and find a carded figure in the best condition possible for this and the one extra that i have is in less than perfect condition. So, i decided to go to an online dealer and pick one up for the show. This is a dealer that i normally try to avoid, but in this case, i used them because i thought it would be easier and i thought that i could trust them to send me a figure on a decent card. My package arrived today and i have to say that i am very disappointed.
Below are images of the figure and this is what this dealer considers to be C9.
Note the big Kmart price tag right in the middle of the card, the major corner damage, the nice size dent in the bubble and the scuff marks across the face of the card.

there was no damage to the package that it was shipped in, so i have no doubt that this is the condition of the figure before it shipped.

Beware

 

[RYAN-J]

Man that stinks. I hate when people do that to other people. I hope you can find another one soon. Good luck!

RYAN J.

 

[AmShak]

as it turns out, the spare that i have is a C10+ compared to this "C9"

 

[Barada]

I assume you called and complained?

Brian's Toys may be a lot of things, but in any dealings I have ever had - or heard of from other people that have dealt with him - his gradings are usually better than what you'd expect for what they classify it as.

I know this is of little consolation, as they will most certainly want the returned figure before sending a replacement, and with a week to go, you won't get it in time.

Still, I imagine they will make this right AmShak. Scalpers yes. Overgrading items? Not that I've heard of.

Good luck,

Barada

 

[Darth Aussie]

Unlucky Shak, thats pretty bad service really.

 

[AmShak]

I know this is of little consolation, as they will most certainly want the returned figure before sending a replacement, and with a week to go, you won't get it in time.

Yes, if a bought a C9 figure from them, i had little worry that was what i would get, until this crap showed up. i'm sure they will refund the money or replace the figures, but there isn't enough time to correct the problem. Also, if you read their return policy, they expect you to pay for the shipping (again) and there is no refund on shipping charges.
this must be "crap on amshak" month

 

[Darth Boru]

Not good, sorry to hear it went sour. Keep us updated on the outcome.

 

[AmShak]

well, it took 2 emails and 7 days to get a response out of them (at least gentle giant was kind enough to tell me that i was screwed within 24hrs).

They did offer to replace the figure and refund the cost of shipping it back to them. but, lets do the math ... they sell this figure (C9) at their place for $6. i would say that this figure is C7 at best, making it worth (their scale) $4 at best. they seem to think it is worth $5, which is what they sell a C7/8 watto figure for.
Now, assuming that they are not going to try and resell this figure as a C9 figure, that makes the figure worth $5 at best. Shipping it back to them will cost them around $3. So, now the figure is worth $2. Is that $2 (which is a generous estimate) worth it? worth the added irritation for the customer? would you not just eat the $2 loss and do what you need to do to make the customer happy? Perhaps we could call it a handling fee on the customers part. They have no problem charging that fee, why couldn't the customer?
In the end, they will have to pay the shipping 3 times instead of once because they tried to pass this off as something less than it is. that's not smart business and it pisses the customer off.
In my case, i don't have time to wait for my figure to get back to them and then have a new one sent out, even if they did reply to my email in a timely manner.


and the #1 reason i'm still *****ing about this ......
Not once did they even come close to saying that they were sorry for not sending me what i had ordered, which is what i was after. Instead, i get the feeling that this is more of a common practice.

 

[Darth Boru]

Very NOT cool. Mushroom management method of customer service is always pretty rotten. Sounds like a place I'll be avoiding!