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Old 08-27-2019, 10:48 AM   #21
predahank
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Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed

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

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
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Old 08-27-2019, 12:35 PM   #22
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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?
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:13 PM   #23
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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.
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:19 PM   #24
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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!!
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:23 PM   #25
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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.

Last edited by NorthmenCollectibles; 08-27-2019 at 01:27 PM.
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:27 PM   #26
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Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed

Quote:
"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.
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).
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:34 PM   #27
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Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed

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Originally Posted by ssjgoku22 View Post
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).
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.
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:49 PM   #28
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Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed

Lesson of the day: order stuff when it's actually in stock and you'll NEVER, EVER be disappointed.
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:55 PM   #29
RNSrobot
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Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pascal View Post
Lesson of the day: order stuff when it's actually in stock and you'll NEVER, EVER be disappointed.
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.
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:56 PM   #30
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Re: Northmen Collectibles - not impressed

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Originally Posted by Pascal View Post
Lesson of the day: order stuff when it's actually in stock and you'll NEVER, EVER be disappointed.
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!
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