This is just so bittersweet. I'm super stoked I got one and it's on the way, but I am beyond bummed Barb and ZombieReign aren't here with us at the finish line.
I think I'll have to type up an e-mail to send to Sideshow to let them know exactly what I think of their BS no grace period policy. I suggest you all do the same. This shouldn't happen to anybody, especially somebody who called THE F'N MORNING CARDS WERE PROCESSING so he could be on the phone to prevent a problem like this from happening, but being denied.
Barb did everything he could and was told no, he could not be "present" on the phone as his order was processed, and then got his order canceled as a result of it. And it sounds like wait lists are being converted already. WTF is the rush? Why couldn't Barb and Zombie's issues be looked into? They were right on top of it when their orders were canceled, and in Barb's case, before the order was canceled. These guys are doing everything and Sideshow is doing nothing but passing their orders on to the next guy.
Why does ordering from Sideshow require so much effort on the customer's part? It didn't use to be like this. I used to be able to put a preorder in and have the security knowing that I would receive my order no matter what. I thought that would be doubly true with the NRD. Today, it seems like a total crapshoot.
This whole thing has been a cluster____ from the beginning:
When can we order? Who knows?
Once we knew this product would be available for order the day after Thanksgiving (we learned this on November 19) we were all set. But what time could we order? Who knows?
The faithful waited by their computers, phones, whatever, hitting refresh and were greeted by a slow and buggy web site. Did my order go through? Who knows?
If you were lucky, you got your confirmation e-mail. Now we just had to suffer through the delays. When will it ship? Nobody knows. It never showed up in the newsletter "Coming in the Next 30 Days" section. We had to hear the news from a Freak who happened to check the product page shortly before the ship date.
Then came the e-mail announcing when it would be charged and were told if there were any problems whatsoever, we would be SOL. For my part, I called Sideshow several times to try to put everything in order and was told time and again that there was nothing I could do but wait for the order to process. And if there was a problem, I was SOL.
So then processing started. Would I get an e-mail when my order processes? No, I have to wait until my order ships, which may not happen until Monday. During that time, I read horror stories on this message board about bull____ cancelations. So I start panicking even more so than I was before and hoping for my shipping e-mail.
Thankfully, I got my shipping confirmation. But why did it take so much work and a bit of luck?
Now before I hear a comment about how we shouldn't get so worked up over polystone, I'd like to remind you that we pay $275+ for said polystone. This ____ is important to us, otherwise we wouldn't pay so much for it.
We had a running joke here where we were saying "Exclusive or fail" about this piece. Honestly, now that I know how much work is involved in securing an exclusive piece direct from Sideshow, I'll gladly "fail" and order from somewhere else or not at all.
