Northmen Collectibles NMC Toys - not impressed
 

So I preordered Swoop and Ricochet last DECEMBER from Northmen Collectibles. Support a Canadian store, get a good price, okay. Sounds good.

As has been reported elsewhere, the preorder (due February) has still not come in. There is no info. I feel for them, as they are apparently at the mercy of Hasbro distro.

So I and my friends finally decided to cancel the preorder (which was required to be fully paid for to preorder).

They deducted a 15% as "per store policy."

I appreciate that this is a policy. I don't appreciate that they are dinging me all this money for a product we paid for EIGHT MONTHS AGO and they have not been able to make it happen or find any information whatsoever. On a preorder.

I'm really unimpressed with this way of doing business. After all this crap you want to take money from us? I plan to call them later and argue over it. It was a large-ish order.

I'm not telling anybody what to do. Not gonna say any "DON'T SHOP THERE WAAAAAH" bullshit. But I am gonna share my experience to let you know. Wish we'd gotten Swoop/Ricochet through more reputable and reliable sources.

Cheers.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

The 15% is unacceptable. Thanks for the heads up.

I also canceled my Ricochet order earlier this summer, but from CMD Store. They also had distribution issues. There was no fuss and they were super courteous.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Bro I hear you .. basically to summarize you ordered in good will they unfortunately could not fulfill the order within a timely manner (what is timely is debatable but I think 6 months is more than reasonable). They need to reimburse you all your money and take it up with their supplier. End of story.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Thanks for sharing. I might think twice about ordering from them in the future now.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Holy cow, that's utter bullshit

Sorry to hear your experience w/ them

Agreed posting about it helps to spread the word, glad I never put down my preorders for same figs with them
(was waiting for stock to come in, then considering visiting the storefront)

Interested to hear if they refund your money

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Amazon at least bends over backwards if they mess up your stuff. That 15% thing is a dick move.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

we'll find out. sent off a strongly worded email.

phonecall is next. totally unacceptable. they kept 28 dollars of our money on an order they could not fulfill in reasonable time. that's the fucking cost of Swoop.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Ya not a good way to do business let alone try to sway customers to keep coming back. Ya $28 is close to half a tank (well my lil' car neway) of toy-hunting gas. ;)

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

I'm really sorry to hear that this is happening at Northern Collectibles. When I last visited, it was a one man show.

He's/they're so small that I think he/they get his/their goods from a third-party distributor, rather than from Hasbro themselves. I bought one figure from them a while back and it had a price tag on it, which I thought was strange for an online store.

I understand their policy, given mass cancellations would result in overstocking a toy, which would be a death knell for such a small store.

On the other hand, I do agree they shouldn't keep any money in this case, given they did not hold up their end of the bargain.

Are they on social media? Would posting something there pressure them to act?

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

That's bs. Definitely give them a call because they can't keep money for a good that was never provided.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

It's tough. I do appreciate the "small operation" aspect of it. At the same time, I would argue "don't offer a product you can't produce." It's one thing for people to order shit and cancel it randomly and hurt you. This is a pre-order, that was listed in limited quantities, that is now six months past ETA and eight months past cash given.

That said, I'd rather not do the social media shaming bit. Y'know? They're just a small store. Probably fine for in-stock ordering and on-site sales. Maybe doing a bit more than they are capable of, but no need to bring the mob on them. Certainly if they don't make good I'll leave a negative FB review or something but that would be the extent.

Good call. I didn't cancel an item that was there, in the store, in stock, ready for me. I cancelled an order that (six months later) still had no indication of shipping.

I'll call tomorrow if the reply to today's email is not acceptable.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Funny. I am in the same boat.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

If you paid via paypal or credit card, get them to refund you the money (if the call to Northmen is unsuccessful). You have full grounds for getting a refund.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

I complained and was offered the 15% restocking fee as store credit. I told them that wasn’t going to shop at their store again because of the BS policy.

This is their FAQ policy:

Can you cancel my order/part of my order?
We generally do not accept cancellations. However, please notify us as soon as possible if you are absolutely in need of a cancellation by sending an email to support@northmencollectibles.ca explaining the reason for the cancellation. These cancellations will be handled on a case by case basis as we understand sometimes life gets in the way of collecting; please be advised that the cancellations will remain in your account history and will affect your account/purchase status. Abusing this system can result in losing your ability to purchase items and cancellation of all existing pre-orders. Please only place an order if you are sure that you will complete the purchase and absolutely want the item.

We reserve the right to withhold a 15% cancellation/re-stocking fee if your order is cancelled without a valid reason.

Any cancellations/refunds that are done as the result of a charge back being filed are subject to a 25$ fee. This is the fee charged by the payment processor for filing the dispute. The cardholder will be held responsible for paying the 25$ fee on top of the 15% cancellation fee. A cancellation as the result of a charge back will be automatically deemed an invalid cancellation.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

*blinks* That seems like seem overly intense wording.

I'm gonna suggest I have a very valid reason.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

This reminds me of the whole Premium Collectables thing. Not saying Northmen are trying the same thing but what came out because of the whole case which is: a store’s responsibility is to provide the purchased product within a reasonable amount of time from when the stock is expected to arrive. Failing to do so, it is the responsibility of the store to provide reasonable options including offering full refunds.
Preorders are a great way to gauge interest in a product and allow a store to order sufficient product to fill demand. However if it’s been an excessive amount of time after the expected arrival date (and 6 months is certainly enough), it shouldn’t even be a question for the store to offer full refunds for unfulfilled orders.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

A lot of things to go over here so I'll try and hit them 1 by 1.

"I appreciate that this is a policy. I don't appreciate that they are dinging me all this money for a product we paid for EIGHT MONTHS AGO and they have not been able to make it happen or find any information whatsoever. On a preorder."

All orders must be paid for upon checkout. This is going to be a recurring theme here but people repeatedly abusing my site as a backup service just in case they can't find something at big box stores locally has resulted in me having to change a lot of my flexible policies. How long it's been since the cash was taken is irrelevant to the complaint as every single order placed on the site must be paid for upon checkout regardless of when the item is scheduled to come out. There are items I put up for pre-order that are only scheduled to come out 12+ months later and those have to be paid upon checkout.

I used to offer a flexible cancellation policy, no cancellation fee, and a pay-later option and after having these policies abused over and over and over again I had to turn into a fascist. Do these restrictive policies lose me business? Almost for sure. But at the scale the store is currently at this is a non-issue because these restrictive policies also prevent 95% of the problems I've had to deal with prior to implementing them.

"I'm really unimpressed with this way of doing business. After all this crap you want to take money from us? I plan to call them later and argue over it. It was a large-ish order."

You can try calling. I currently have someone helping me with phone calls so I can't predict exactly what he'll say in response to the "arguing" but I can say it won't make a difference regarding the 15% cancellation fee.

This was the support ticket you submitted: "re: order # FYC105279

I would like to cancel this preorder and receive a full refund, immediately.

Thank you
R."

I proceeded with your request accordingly. You demanded a refund immediately, didn't provide any explanation as to the reason for cancellation, demanded it be done in full. I mean, that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room there? Normally when someone emails me inquiring as to what their options are for a particularly stubborn order we can usually figure out a compromise but when someone emails me "full refund immediately" the policy gets administered by default. Any time someone emails me "demanding" or "immediately" or any kind of strong "customer is always right" style language the default action just falls down to administer the store policy and wash your hands of it.

I realize the above is all very frustrating for you, and personally from this post here you seem fairly level headed and I wish you'd have responded to me in a tone similar to what you used when making this post but this is a one man show and I don't have the time to attempt to decipher how someone is going to react. I literally had someone email me telling me I was "lucky he didn't knock me out" the other day because he was charged a shipping fee for an order that was under the $99 free shipping threshold...

"They need to reimburse you all your money and take it up with their supplier. End of story."

No I don't. I make the policies very clear including the fact that people are charged upon checkout for all orders. There is nothing to take up with the supplier because Diamond is in the exact same position I'm in which is at the mercy of Hasbro. 90% of the time if not more I have any kinds of problems like this it's with Hasbro product. This is very much so a Hasbro problem and frankly it's soured me on them to such a point that I don't even personally collect Legends and SWBS anymore. Now if more consumers vote with their wallets and stop supporting big box retailers or go out in droves and email Hasbro expressing their dissatisfaction with them not fulfilling specialty shop orders maybe something might actually change. My policies are all laid out on the site, it is the consumer's responsibility to look up a store's cancellation policy prior to placing an order. I can't force people to do it, I can simply provide them with the information. I am more than willing to be flexible with people who email me in a respectful manner and are willing to work with me on the issue but when someone emails me once in regard to an order and states they want a refund "immediately" they are immediately provided with a refund according to the store policy.

"Interested to hear if they refund your money"

I'm sure it's clear by now but I have not. What I have been willing to do in the past is refund the cancellation fee as a store credit to be used at a future date. The policy is the policy and it is completely unfair to treat someone special because they posted a complaint to a forum or wrote me a "sternly worded email". A lot of customers (including repeat customers) have paid the cancellation fee without any complaint and it is a slap in the face to every person that paid it without issue to void the policy just because someone causes a fuss.

"we'll find out. sent off a strongly worded email."

Where was the email sent? I haven't received any yet. If you could please resend it to info@northmencollectibles.ca that would be greatly appreciated because I don't think it went through however it was sent or it could have been sent to an out of service email address.

"don't offer a product you can't produce."

So don't ever put anything up for pre-order and thus basically shut down the business because there are never any guarantees? Furthermore, nothing has been cancelled by my distributor. I don't use a back alley small time company, I order Hasbro product from Diamond, the largest distributor of this stuff in the world. I placed my order for these as soon as they went up and then posted the pre-orders to my site based on the information provided during the solicitation. By virtue of that statement basically every single collectibles store should shut down because there is no way to guarantee anything ordered arrives on time and frankly 99% of items arrive early or late and not when scheduled.

"It's one thing for people to order shit and cancel it randomly and hurt you."

I used to allow people to cancel orders as well as pay once the item arrived in stock. Do you know what the result was? People's cards expiring and not telling me then not answering emails for the new info. People buying the item elsewhere and not telling me and just not paying for it. People not having enough space on their card and not answering emails regarding putting the charge through. Meanwhile every single one of those prevented someone else from buying it who likely turned around and bought it elsewhere leaving me stuck with inventory.

I was outright being used as a back-up service for people who could not find items locally at big box stores. The second I saw people posting on the FB trading groups that their local wal-mart had an item in stock I started getting cancellation emails up the ass because there were NO repercussions for cancelling orders so people just went out to the first store that received inventory and then cancelled their order or even worse didn't even email me the cancellation request but simply refused to pay for it once it arrived.

Do you know what removing the pay-later option and instituting a 15% cancellation fee did? It solved the VAST majority of the problems I was experiencing via customers abusing my website for pre-orders they had no intention of keeping.

Whether the item was in-stock or a pre-order is irrelevant. A cancellation is a cancellation. Obviously in instances where the item's availability is up in the air (recently occurred with TMNT Mikey Batman and Marvel Legends Mysterio) requests for cancellation are done without any penalty. But for these items there are a lot of other specialty stores who have yet to receive their inventory and Diamond has not gotten any of their shipment sent in yet. So it's not a case of it being cancelled, or allocated, or some sort of other issue, it's just usual Hasbro incompetence. These policies are the only way I can offer Hasbro product for pre-order because of the way hasbro chooses to run their business.

"If you paid via paypal or credit card, get them to refund you the money (if the call to Northmen is unsuccessful). You have full grounds for getting a refund."

This is not true and incredibly misleading. Store policies are store policies. Neither paypal nor a credit card company will reverse those funds if disputed. People have tried. I have won every single dispute that has attempted it. If you honestly tell the card company what happened and that you cancelled an order and were charged a 15% fee they won't even file the chargeback, you'd have to lie about it which would then result in you losing anyways because presumably you were informed of everything via email.

"Preorders are a great way to gauge interest in a product and allow a store to order sufficient product to fill demand."

I have NEVER put a product up for pre-order on my site that I did not already place my order for. Pre-orders are not used to gauge interest. I gauge interest prior to even putting the items up for order. I place my order for a quantity of units I think will sell and then I put that up for pre-order. If the pre-order sells out right away (very rare) I will order more units and put them up. If the pre-order sells out after like 1-2 weeks I will place a new order for inventory but will not put them up on the site for order or will put them up with a warning. Once a product has been solicited as more time passes the higher the risk of the order not being fulfilled in full becomes and as such I avoid putting product up on the site that I think might not be fulfilled.

This is just business as usual when it comes to Hasbro product. Hell just recently it was posted everywhere that the Marvel Legends X-Force wave is going to show up at EB Games 2 months late at the earliest meanwhile it's released at a few other big box stores already. Even the big boys aren't immune to Hasbro BS.

People can or cannot place orders with me as they see fit but I am not misleading about my policies and everything is clearly stated on the website. Hell if an item hasn't come in I've gone out of my way in the past to find it somewhere else (including sometimes paying retail and losing money on the sale) just to ensure the order can be fulfilled and the customer isn't inconvenienced.

I bust my ass running this store and I don't do that so people can just on a whim decide something is taking too long and go buy it somewhere else. When someone places an order they're expected to commit to that order unless there is a valid reason for the cancellation. Or hell at the very least email me with respect, show a little courtesy, try and see things from my point of view, and offer a compromise. I've cancelled items for people in the past without a fee by providing a store credit or swapping out items. Emailing me demanding "a full refund immediately" though is a great way to just have policy slapped on your request by default.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

The email was sent to the address listed on your website. support@northmencollectibles.ca

If that email is incorrect then... What else should your customers do? I also attempted to contact to reopen the ticket by replying to the ticket email.

I appreciate your position. I did not abuse you or use you as a backup. I would like a full refund back on the product I paid for eight months ago that is six months past its eta. "Taking too long." My friends and I paid you eight months ago. This is far beyond a reasonable timeframe. And this wait with no end in site is a valid reason for full refund. You're right. I should have put the reason on the initial ticket.

The couple times I've asked for any news --- patiently --- have been "our hands our tied, we don't have any news until it ships from our distributor." Ok. Sucks but ok. In this case Northmen hasn't gone out it its way to find it somewhere else.

Anyhoo. I'll re email you to the account you listed. I expect a full refund due to the unreasonable amount of time the order has taken. I do no want store credit. I do not want to shop your store again. I genuinely was excited to find a new Canadian shop that seemed to have fair prices and a great shipping offer. I am not changing my position. I'm pissed off. And while you need to protect your business, I'm not here to exploit your take advantage. I and my friends have been extraordinarily patient. None of us have the toys from alternate vendors. If diamond routinely sucks at this kind of thing, I mean this sincerely, perhaps it's just not something you need to be offering. I don't know for sure.

Thanks.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

It's unfortunate but really this is Hasbro's fault. It's not like video game and movie theatre releases that there is strict release dates.

Dorkside toys in the US still has pre-orders for these figures so I'm sure they must have a ton of people pissed off even more so given their population

https://www.dorksidetoys.com/Transfo.../e6720as00.htm

https://www.dorksidetoys.com/Transfo.../e6720as00.htm

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

For an overworked one man show, this guy sure has plenty of time to write long winded e-mails and crack back on every one of his low star reviews on Google. That and he's not open weekends? Very telling...

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

haha got sidetracked reading all the negative google reviews, thanks a lot zenith :p

there does seem to be a common theme with the complaints though.

I’m curious to how the distribution works. Do certain stores get a higher priority or are they using different distribution? I walked into a3u way back and saw red swoop and ricochet on the shelf and preorders behind the counter

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

So here's what I'm not going to do:

I'm not going to directly post private correspondence on a public forum, as the owner of Northmen Collectibles did with my support ticket asking for a refund.

Refuses to refund my 15%. Reasons include:

- it's Policy.
- can't break it every time somebody complains but charge people who don't
- this happens all the time?
- it's the nature of the industry
- swoop and ricochet have only actually been available for a month, so they're only a month late, not six months. other retailers who've had them for two, three, four,five months are... I don't know, exactly?
- store credit only but sorry if you don't want that
- didn't have info so couldn't update (NOTE: the preorder listing on the site has never been updated to reflect a new ETA, nor was I ever informed that it only became available "one month ago", so there certainly was something to be updated on)
- it's common! Hasbro does this all the time!!! (????)

THEREFORE

because it happens all the time and shit is always super late, it's not an unreasonable circumstance to refund the full amount.



I don't really have much to add. Policies aren't fundamental laws of physics. I get why they exist. I work in jobs with policies. And sometimes, you bend or break them or make compromises because it's the right decision. Most of us, I'm sure, have lots of other experiences doing preorders with retailers that aren't Amazon, TRU, or Walmart. Or even BBTS or TFsource among larger third-party toy retailers. I've never encountered a delay this bad. I've literally SEEN Red Swoop and Ricochet in a specialty independent toy store here in Edmonton and, rather than walking out with it in my hands, passed in order to continue waiting for our good faith preorder. Automaton was always good with preorders. Most local shops or small etailers have been good. As my friend just said, blaming the BIGGEST TOY COMPANY ON THE PLANET for huge delays on preorders ALL THE TIME is some "it's not me, it's you" bullshit. It's one thing when a release like MP Dinobot is delayed FROM the source, not even released to distribution by HasTak. That's not the norm. If it is, maybe get out of the preorder business or find a different solution. Cos if you're running into THIS many issues with customers and preorders on a regular basis you have to institute a wild 15% cancellation fee that is unique to your store and far from the norm, I dunno.

I don't really know what to say here. You're all free to make your own decisions but I will have to say: "Buyer Beware."

End of the day, you're stealing from me. You stole 28 bucks, dude. Is that worth the bad word of mouth?

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

As far as I can see, if your purchase is over $50, you are protected by the Consumer Protection Act in Ontario.

Late delivery
26 (1) A consumer may cancel a future performance agreement at any time before delivery under the agreement or the commencement of performance under the agreement if the supplier,

(a) does not make delivery within 30 days after the delivery date specified in the agreement or an amended delivery date agreed to by the consumer in writing; or

(b) does not begin performance of his, her or its obligations within 30 days after the commencement date specified in the agreement or an amended commencement date agreed to by the consumer in writing. 2002, c. 30, Sched. A, s. 26 (1).

So there may be other avenues to pursue if he insists on charging the cancellation fee. If you have time, I'm sure you could follow up with the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Protection to see what your rights are.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Unfortunately, it isn't "Buyer Beware", it should be "Buyer Avoid".



All I have seen is a lack of customer service from this guy. I emailled him prior to my surgery in July stating that I want a refund as I would be going into surgery and won't have any income during my recovery. Since it's been half a year since the product was to be available, I didn't think that would qualify as a whim, but hey, it does.



I won't be buying from him again. I wasn't blaming him for the delay in product, but I do blame him for how he handled the situation. I would have given him another chance. But now, screw him.



Vote with your wallets - DON'T BUY FROM NORTHMEN COLLECTIBLES!!

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

"The email was sent to the address listed on your website. support@northmencollectibles.ca"

This was already answered to him via email however for anyone else wondering the support email went out of service when the support ticket system went online. An auto-response email goes out to everyone that sends an email to support@ with information on how to proceed and that the email won't be answered. He is right though in that it shouldn't be listed on the site, definitely an oversight, and I'll have that changed as soon as I find out where it is listed.

"In this case Northmen hasn't gone out it its way to find it somewhere else."

As previously stated these items haven't shipped at all to Diamond yet. Contrary to what some people might think I do track delayed items. I just can't provide any updates until I'm given something to update. So I'm not going to go and find them somewhere else only to have my case of 24 arrive at diamond a week later. It hasn't hit that point yet.

"I expect a full refund due to the unreasonable amount of time the order has taken"

I've stated multiple times that this isn't going to happen. I'm not voiding my policy simply because someone makes a fuss versus someone that doesn't.

"I do not want to shop your store again."

Furthermore, why in the world would I go out of my way to void my policy for you at the expense of customers who I did not do this with when you literally just told me I'm never getting your business again?

"I'm not here to exploit your take advantage. I and my friends have been extraordinarily patient."

No one said you were. But people abusing my policies is exactly why they had to change. There is no way to pre-emptively know who will and will not abuse a policy. Thus the policy changes and needs to be enforced. Imagine you're someone who paid a 15% cancellation fee and didn't complain, didn't make a fuss, didn't say shit. Then you find out that someone else in the same situation as you were in was refunded the 15% because they made a fuss? I'd be furious if that happened to me.

"If diamond routinely sucks at this kind of thing, I mean this sincerely, perhaps it's just not something you need to be offering. I don't know for sure."

This isn't a Diamond problem, it's a Hasbro problem. As for not offering Hasbro product anymore I have plenty of customers who are thankful that I am able to put up pre-orders for the stuff they want at a fair prices so that they don't have to go hunting around for it. You might not believe this but you're the anomaly here. Your response and reaction to this situation is a rarity. The rest of my customers are HAPPY I'm offering these products. So I appreciate your feedback but I will continue to offer Hasbro products so long as the vast majority of my customers continue to have no problem placing orders for them.

"For an overworked one man show, this guy sure has plenty of time to write long winded e-mails and crack back on every one of his low star reviews on Google. That and he's not open weekends? Very telling..."

No, writing that post at almost 1am last night wasn't ideal and instead of winding down for the night I had to keep working but these explanations are useful to people who appreciate them, which obviously you aren't one of. Btw you want to know why I even saw your email that late? I was working from home answering customer inquiries.

The store isn't physically opened on weekends because the building is closed on weekends. Nothing I can do about it. I'm not going to pay double in rent for a space that's opened on weekends. My landlords here are amazing and it's a great space for the price. Furthermore, yes, I am allowed to take days off. Not only am I allowed to take days off but it's just unhealthy not to, I'm not going to sacrifice my physical and mental health just to get a few orders out faster.

"haha got sidetracked reading all the negative google reviews, thanks a lot zenith"

It's funny to me whenever someone brings up negative reviews that they completely ignore the even larger number of 5 star positive reviews complimenting me on my customer service.

"End of the day, you're stealing from me. You stole 28 bucks, dude. Is that worth the bad word of mouth?"

Stealing from you? Really? I'm stealing from you because you did not educate yourself regarding the store's policies prior to placing the order? Incredible. Yes 28$ is worth the bad word of mouth considering the context behind it. You know what would be even worse? Having the number of people who have willingly paid the fee without complaint find out all they have to do is make a fuss and post online somewhere bad mouthing me to have me void my policy. I'll take this outcome any day over that one.

"If it is, maybe get out of the preorder business or find a different solution. Cos if you're running into THIS many issues with customers and preorders on a regular basis you have to institute a wild 15% cancellation fee that is unique to your store and far from the norm, I dunno."

Yeah, I'm going to pass on that little nugget of wisdom considering there are far more people out there perfectly happy to pre-order from me under these circumstances than those like you who are not. Not to mention the fact that instituting the policy solved the vast majority of the issues I was dealing with so it was obviously the right move to make. I'm having absolutely no problem continuing to sell Hasbro product even with all of the issues they cause me. Instituting the 15% cancellation fee got rid of 95% of the business I don't want and has maintained a great group of return customers that are a joy to deal with. Furthermore, there are plenty of other online specialty shops that have a cancellation fees, that take non-refundable deposits, or that don't allow for cancellations or returns at all. There are actually quite a few stores that have a "no cancellations" policy, at least I still offer the option albeit with a fee attached to it. The Silver Snail (largest comic shop in Canada) has a strict no returns policy. You can't buy something there, then go back a few days later and return it because you changed your mind.

"So there may be other avenues to pursue if he insists on charging the cancellation fee. If you have time, I'm sure you could follow up with the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Protection to see what your rights are."

This is regarding the delivery of product, not pre-orders. This is to protect consumers from placing an order for a product and the store not shipping it out for weeks. There are no delivery dates provided. The only date provided is an "estimated arrival" date which is just an estimate. I mean you can try contacting the ministry of consumer protection but it is within my right as a business to charge a 15% fee on cancellations. Contrary to what is being argued here I make exceptions to this policy regarding problem items all the time which has recently occurred with the TMNT Batman Mikey and Marvel Legends Mysterio. As Diamond has yet to receive their shipment yet, I haven't been notified of any issues by them, and the items have not been cancelled, I am not willing to void the fee for these items.

At this point I've covered the pertinent points. If anyone reading these posts has any questions for me please feel free to email info@northmencollectibles.ca and I'll try and respond as soon as I can. I'm passionate about this stuff and I always like chatting about toys. I won't be visiting this thread beyond this response though, so please if you have any further comments/inquiries send them via email.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

His answer here is not true. He has no more rights than a seller on Ebay. If you ask Paypal to step in here and they ask him where the product is and he says that he does not have it, that's grounds enough to get a refund. If his supplier is not effective at getting him products for his store, then he should find another way of getting his product, or don't sell any of it altogether.

It's well after the release date on Northmen, so Paypal will also take that into consideration when providing you the refund (the credit card company should also work the same way).

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Okay now this response is my actual last one because it's just wrong and I want to make sure people properly understand their rights as a consumer in order to best protect themselves.

You're assumption is correct if you're talking about me having refused to provide a refund. I absolutely would lose a dispute for an undelivered product if I refused to provide a refund. I have not been refusing to provide a refund, what's being disputed here is the 15% cancellation fee. I am telling you right now I have won every single dispute levied against me through credit card chargebacks attempting to recoup the cancellation fee and I have not dealt with a single dispute via paypal regarding this because paypal won't even let you dispute it after it's already been refunded.

So please if you want to best protect yourselves the best course of action is to look up a store's cancellation/return policy prior to making a purchase. If they have any fees listed on their site, and you are not comfortable paying that fee DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THEM. A store is allowed to institute a cancellation/restocking fee. I have discussed this specifically with the chargeback departments at VISA and they confirmed it. What a store is not allowed to do is refuse a cancellation all together and refuse to provide a refund. If a store ever refuses to refund you a product you can absolutely file a dispute.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Lesson of the day: order stuff when it's actually in stock and you'll NEVER, EVER be disappointed.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

lol. you know that sometimes, that means not getting something at all. But it's still technically correct. =D =D =D


I am realllllllly considering posting his response. He's threatened to post my email,followup email, etc to "prove his point" or whatever. I called him on posting our private correspondence (the support ticket) and he bleated about that as well.


Frankly I'm stunned. If nothing else the inability to realize that the responses in this thread, while they're not going to cause any major damage to his business, are only causing potential customers to walk away.

It's not the customer's fault.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

So right! Remember back 10 years ago with A3U when Spencer got screwed by his distributor and people were freaking out?! Same 15% restocking fee, late shipments, slow responses to inquiries, people with pitchforks and torches!

The more things change...

EDIT: This was OLD A3U before Boris bought the name. Don't confuse any issues back then with the current incarnation of A3U!

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Oh, fuck it. I've been patient, reasonable, and decent and guy is inviting conflict and being a twat.

Here's me after the refusal to waive:

annnnd

here

we

gooooooo


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Gotta say that as money gets tight, this appears to be the way to go more and more.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

I cancelled my MP Dinobot preorder (got one of the good prices, I think HLJ) because funds were tight. As much as he still looks amazing now that he's come out and peeps have reported some of the fragility around him I'm relieved.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

That's where a 15% restocking fee is pretty useful. Bot comes out, turns out it's got some issue, a ton of people cancel and you're on the hook for huge coin for a bunch of bots that are gonna take a long time to get rid of.

I'd consider a 5-6 month delay on a figure you're gonna sell pretty quickly anyways if it ever arrives way less of a risk. Especially if you charge the full amount and get to keep the profit after you'e paid Diamond (assuming they invoice before release). Someone cancels, pocket the profit and sell the figure again.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Hoollyyyy shhiietttt that was a read. I'm tired now.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

This would definitely be the best option, but Hasbro's distribution has been so piss poor as of late that you need to put a preorder in for most things. It's a lose-lose situation no matter what now because it really hard to find anything in-store and preorders are getting massively delayed or places like EB are selling your preorders.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Hi NorthmenCollectibles

I know you said you wouldn't respond but I am genuinely hoping you will to the people here given what a tight knit community this is. Having said that I do have a question as an outsider looking at both sides of the argument, all responses etc. As someone who has been involved in running businesses and making sure that customers are satisfied to become repeats and bring in new business, how or why would I be interested in shopping at your location when it would seem like you don't care about your customers at all. People who have bad experiences have a tendency to tell everyone they know, and in this day of social media takes that to a whole new level. I will not speak for anyone else but I am taken aback by what seems like very hostile responses and could not bring myself to shop your store/site because of them. If this same idea goes through everyone's heads how could you say that the $28 is worth all the business you would not be able to grow as a result?

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

Fascinating read, and what a meltdown.

FYI, Red Swoop is in stock at A3U, and Ricochet is available on Amazon.ca. He's more expensive there, but free shipping.

Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed
 

And far less hassle one would imagine