Sponsor News: Ages Three and Up Super Summer Sale

[chovner]

They've taken up to a full week to actually ship my stuff after it's been changed to "awaiting shipment"... Also, they're not known for good communication. I tend to buy off that site twice a year, when they have 20% off sales, and that's it...

Also, I've heard about their shady "coupons" and "gift cards" that at first seem good, but then you realize aren't good for anything on the site, and only usable in store (even then it's probably only on items for sale during a full moon, on the 4 Monday at 1:03:05 PM).

[Wheeljack Off]

To be fair, they do list CDN prices on their website as well...though I think that's a new-ish change.

I just wish that being local to such a great store for TF's that there was some kind of advantage for me.

Instead, sometimes it seems like they totally alienate the local collector community.

When they brought in the 3 dollar in store pick up fee, to me, that was like saying local collectors are of no more value to us than any other customer, even though we see them in person and spend more time in their store which would give us more opportunity to spend dollars (oh the o'mighty impulse buy) with them.

So from that point on, the feeling has been mutual and HLJ/BBTS has gotten a lot of my business.

Loyalty is a two way street.

Now I rarely buy from a3u even though I love going in their store and looking around. It's a seriously cool store with decent people working in it...a couple of whom are incredibly knowledgeable about the industry.

Seems like a missed opportunity to me.
with a few tweaks, they could have nearly every dollar I spend in the hobby, I wonder if any other local collectors feel the same way.

[Darth Cylon]

I appreciate what A3U had done over the years. Spencer is awesome to deal with, having gone out of his way to replace my defective figure. But he moved to HK and the new store staff seems rather clueless. Some kids and emo anime girl. There used to be another Asian guy who knows this hobby but I haven't seen him for a while.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

Originally Posted by Wheeljack Off

To be fair, they do list CDN prices on their website as well...though I think that's a new-ish change.

Actually, that's been there for as long as I can remember.

Originally Posted by Wheeljack Off

When they brought in the 3 dollar in store pick up fee, to me, that was like saying local collectors are of no more value to us than any other customer

I honestly don't have a problem with the pick up fee. Pick-up orders take up space vs. mailed orders that go out ASAP. I think 3 dollars is a small price to pay for them holding an item for a week while I find the time to get out there.

Originally Posted by Wheeljack Off

Loyalty is a two way street.

Seems like a missed opportunity to me.
with a few tweaks, they could have nearly every dollar I spend in the hobby, I wonder if any other local collectors feel the same way.

To me A3U is straight up business. My experience with the their online customer service is they will do exactly the minimum required and not any more. I had the intention of moving all my online purchases to them, but after a couple of underwhelming experiences, I'm not so eager to.

Don't get me wrong, they are a straight up and honest business. I never get bad vibes in terms of them being disreputable, but I never get the feeling that I'm anything more than a credit card number to them either.

I had two minor situations with their online side. Each time, they had opportunities with their customer service to impress me, to satisfy me, or to underwhelm me. Guess which of the three they did?

And I'm not even talking about going the extra mile. I'm talking about situations where they just had to go the extra foot to impress me, but they didn't. You'd think they'd want to try at least a little with someone who had a $400+ purchase.

So, yeah. I buy from them, but I'm not loyal, and I don't expect anything except the minimum in customer service. If I do, I'll probably be disappointed.

[Wheeljack Off]

Originally Posted by Sun Swipe Prime

Actually, that's been there for as long as I can remember.



I honestly don't have a problem with the pick up fee. Pick-up orders take up space vs. mailed orders that go out ASAP. I think 3 dollars is a small price to pay for them holding an item for a week while I find the time to get out there.



To me A3U is straight up business. My experience with the their online customer service is they will do exactly the minimum required and not any more. I had the intention of moving all my online purchases to them, but after a couple of underwhelming experiences, I'm not so eager to.

Don't get me wrong, they are a straight up and honest business. I never get bad vibes in terms of them being disreputable, but I never get the feeling that I'm anything more than a credit card number to them either.

I had two minor situations with their online side. Each time, they had opportunities with their customer service to impress me, to satisfy me, to or underwhelm me. Guess which of the three they did?

And I'm not even talking about going the extra mile. I'm talking about situations where they just had to go the extra foot to impress me, but they didn't. You'd think they'd want to try at least a little with someone who had a $400 purchase.

So, yeah. I buy from them, but I'm not loyal, and I don't expect anything except the minimum in customer service. If I do, I'll probably be disappointed.

Bang on.

Except for the pick up fee.
They have a store, product taking up space is what they pay the rent for.

the 3 dollar fee feels punitive.

They are also SAVING time in packaging and shipping anything picked up in store...no boxing and no bills of lading to make out.

A missed opportunity for sure.

It just seems like a lot of dollars, especially from the local collectors, COULD be theirs for the taking if they considered straying from the "all business" model.

I sense (and feel) a lot of resentment from locals...on this board and in shooting the proverbial shi* when discussing A3U's policies and general attitude towards their customers.

maybe this will change as more distributors open up online vending options and overseas companies become more accessible to North Americans.

[wervenom]

Who do these guys ship with? The order has now shipped but the tracking number looks way to long for Canada Post.

EDIT: Never mind. Seems it is Canada Post and info was updated this morning

[KoreanInferno]

I'm not a fan of the inconsistency between the site and the store. I understand that the site is in USD and the store is in CAD, but there should be some similarity in pricing.

Ex, MP-10b on the site right now is $169.95 USD/$183.75 CAD in store MP-10b is $189.99 CAD if I remember correctly. So, if I ordered online for pick-up it would be $186.75 CAD cheaper than if I went into the store and didn't pre-buy the item online.

The other qualm is that the online stock is also the store stock, but sometimes the online stock isn't the store stock?!?!?! WTF?!?! Another inconsistency.

Ex, TFC Dino combiners/Protectorbot was in stock online, but was never in stock in store and was shipped from their warehouse. I spoke with them by e-mail and on the phone to see if they had any in store, but they said that item was online only. MP-10b was taken off the shelves by people who bought it online at midnight (smarter than me for sure, I'll do that next time). So I went into the store with the intentions of getting MP-10b thinking that the stock online was independent of the stock in store and I found out they were sold out. A wasted trip from Surrey to Lougheed and back (my own fault I admit, even if I checked the stock online I wasn't sure if this indicated the in store stock, now I know)

Regardless of service or inconsistencies, they have pretty reasonable prices for a local collectables store and you can guarantee that you won't get hit by customs when ordering online from outside of Canada by getting the items from them instead.

The lesson to learn here ladies and gentlemen, buy the item online and select pick-up in store. The item will be cheaper and you'll guarantee your purchase.

PS. I'm not a fan of the $3 pick-up fee, but it guarantees you your item. I think they should only charge the $3 pick-up fee if they have no other orders in stock or if the item is selling out. I remember I bought Maketoys Paladin way back when and I pre-ordered it online. Got to the store and they charged me the $3. I looked over my shoulder and there were 3 more Paladins on the shelf. Could've just come in myself and saved $3.

[Darth Cylon]

Not to mention MP-10B is now back online after the 20% off sales...after it was supposedly "sold out"

[wervenom]

Originally Posted by Darth Cylon

Not to mention MP-10B is now back online after the 20% off sales...after it was supposedly "sold out"

That's just brutal. I will never be inclined to business with this company through their online site ever again. Unless they are at a convention that I happen to be at, A3U will not get my money again

[KoreanInferno]

Originally Posted by Darth Cylon

Not to mention MP-10B is now back online after the 20% off sales...after it was supposedly "sold out"

They told me it was because they had some MP-10Bs coming back from TFcon. Makes sense to me, but it would also make sense that inventory would be easily kept track of what wasn't sold at TFcon and the online stock could be updated as well.