1/6 Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise

[Matt S]

Fine with me, so long as they give us han first.

Yup.....

 

[YankeesFanboy]

So how much do you all wanna bet HT will do Luke Stormtrooper 2.0. Trash compactor style? Slicked hair, and dirty. We need a dirty stormtrooper!!!

Of course we'll get one. To go with the 1/6 Trash Compactor diorama.

 

[evenflow]

Bring on the 1/6 Dianoga!

 

[jedijim3002]

Got my TK-421 today

No Luke head but still think it's a great figure!

Looks awesome! Great pic!

 

[Protozaius]

So is this guy still processing this Friday or has it been delayed? I haven't received any other email except for the one I got back on November 25th.

I paid in full via Paypal...

 

[subzro]

I got another email this morning saying that this is still charging friday.

 

[Racetrack]

I wasn't happy with the googly eyes on mine. I bought it from HK from a reseller so i contacted HT directly and told them that i bought this, it's only been out for a week. It clearly has a QC issue and asked if they could help? They said since it wasn't from an official distributer and they can't help. So i replied very politely and said that this is still an official HT product, it had only been out for a week AND that i would cover the cost of shipping AND the cost of a new headsculpt AND destroy my current one AND send pics to prove i wasn't playing any games. They bluntly said no and did not give a crap.

After spending thousands of dollars on their products i felt that was a really crappy way to treat their customers. I don't blame the reseller at all though. I ended up selling it for a loss because it ruined the figure for me. Made me reconsider supporting HT in future beyond what i already have ordered. Not that they care but bad customer service should be called out.

 

[Protozaius]

Yeah, Hot Toys really could use a little improvement in their customer service department. Their reputation sucks.

And Sideshow's rep has slipped over the years. It used to be such a fun company to buy from.

But then again, I've been doing this for too long....

 

[Aliaz]

Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper ...

I think that is being a bit harsh on HT.

I don't think it's strange that they don't approve replacements on anything bought outside official channels.

Looks awesome! Great pic!

Thank you! And thanks again for selling!

 

[Racetrack]

Re: Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper ...

I think that is being a bit harsh on HT.

I don't think it's strange that they don't approve replacements on anything bought outside official channels.



Thank you! And thanks again for selling!

Even when you offer to pay all the costs? For a fault that is their own? On a product that had only been released a week?

 

[Centrocal]

Even when you offer to pay all the costs? For a fault that is their own? On a product that had only been released a week?

Its a long standing policy not to replace products bought on ebay, not surprising. But why didn't you ask the seller for a replacement

 

[Aliaz]

Re: Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper ...

Even when you offer to pay all the costs? For a fault that is their own? On a product that had only been released a week?

I still think they are in the right. Don't know of any company that would offer replacements on things bought second hand.

 

[Racetrack]

Re: Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper ...

I still think they are in the right. Don't know of any company that would offer replacements on things bought second hand.

I hope you never have a faulty figure in future you buy outside of Sideshow so you never know how it feels to have your $300 item be broken and not being able to get help even when you were willing to cover the costs. Never buy a factory sealed soldout figure either basically because you know, even if the company makes the mistake with a poor product then it's still your problem.

 

[Aliaz]

Re: Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper ...

I hope you never have a faulty figure in future you buy outside of Sideshow so you never know how it feels to have your $300 item be broken and not being able to get help even when you were willing to cover the costs. Never buy a factory sealed soldout figure either basically because you know, even if the company makes the mistake with a poor product then it's still your problem.

I guess I can see their point of view and not just your I want a new head side of things.

You can't really argue with the policy of no replacements when you buy it outside of official channels. Even if you pay for everything, it's still a "dangerous" road for them to take. Next thing you know, word gets around and everyone will want help/refunds/replacements on figures bought on eBay/second hand.

I just get irritated when people throw around the "terrible customer service" card without cause. Bad CS would be if they denied the original seller a replacement, now it's just following the rules.

 

[Racetrack]

Re: Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper ...

I guess I can see their point of view and not just your I want a new head side of things.

You can't really argue with the policy of no replacements when you buy it outside of official channels. Even if you pay for everything, it's still a "dangerous" road for them to take. Next thing you know, word gets around and everyone will want help/refunds/replacements on figures bought on eBay/second hand.

I just get irritated when people throw around the "terrible customer service" card without cause. Bad CS would be if they denied the original seller a replacement, now it's just following the rules.

Every company offers replacement parts on expensive items if you are willing to pay for it. Car, phone, computer, you name it.

Also they will not help the original customer. They have to go to the retailer who then go to HT. But they need the original figure back to do that. Good luck with that in HK/China since all these are sold from market stalls who don't give a crap about your damaged figure if it was sold sealed. I know because i bought a sealed Babydoll which was rotted and was told nothing could be done. They must have bought it from Secret Base basically and resellers don't buy from there as you have to order months in advance. In other words don't ever buy a figure from HK according to you.

XM Studios will repair and replace and repaint and damaged figures/parts. They officially say it doesn't matter where you got it from because it's an official XM product and they stand behind it. Now that's GOOD customer service.

 

[karamazov80]

Well in fairness, it's a rational move. HT doesn't need to have good customer service for people to buy from them. It's more cost effective for them to pass the responsibilities on to their distributors. Yeah, it can suck for customers sometime, but if you step into HT's shoes you can understand why they behave that way.

The bigger problem there, in my eyes, is that SSC doesn't do nearly as good a job as they used to (or should) in this domain, even though that's their role. Damaged HT figure? "They're all like that. And these are hand-crafted artisan products anyway, and they're all different, so that stain/chip/warping is to be expected. Return the whole figure and eat the shipping costs if you don't like it."

XM Studios probably does need to concern itself with stuff like this at this point, being a small company trying to make it without a license to even sell in the U.S. They don't have the reputation or footprint that HT does, and furthermore, have such small edition sizes that they can more easily handle those kinds of complaints. HT produces a typical figure in the thousands. Probably 10K plus. Iron Men even more than that.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

I agree SS has gotten a little bad with returns/exchanges. Most of the time they do it, but it also feels like it’s somehow your fault and they are doing you a very imposing favor. And they make it very clear that there will be no more exchanges after that one. I understand that they are trying to prevent people from taking advantage of their policy, but these ARE very expensive items we’re buying. We should be assured that we’re covered if something turned out broken or damaged.

And Sideshow is HT’s only “official” distributor in the US, so if you didn’t get your HT from SS, then HT won’t do anything. Of course you would go to SS anyway in that case. I had gotten HT Indy from CornerStoreComics and he came with a broken pistol. I contacted HT directly and they actually agreed to replace it but told me sternly that it was the one and only time and that next time I had to have bought from Sideshow. I know HT has drawn the hard line since then.

So now I only get things through Sideshow. Most of the time you can’t find better prices, and if you do it’s only $10 or so and it’s worth that little bit extra to me to have the option to exchange or replace a faulty part. I guess their strategy worked!

 

[karamazov80]

Totally agree with your appraisal there. But I find BBTS and Alter Ego Comics actually have better customer service than SSC does nowadays. My only encounter with HT was with the oily abs Batman DX figure, and that was a long, long time ago, but I had to actually send them the messed up body in the mail before they would send me a replacement.

 

[TonTon]

Sideshow replaced a faulty dome for an eBay buyer who bought an R2 figure from me, but the exchange had to go through me, the original buyer, and I was still in the 30-day window for my purchase. Replacement was sent to me and I had to send it to the buyer. It's possible the seller could have gotten a new head for you but I don't think Hot Toys return policy is anywhere close to as good as Sideshow's is. I heard it is 7 days from secret base.

But honestly, this is a pretty known issue that SS/HT generally only replace a purchase like this when it is through an official dealer. Sounds like you were able to resell, Racetrack, so you're not at a total loss.

Didn't seem to be the case with Luke but Kenobi had tons of "custom" head sculpts that popped up on eBay immediately after the figure came out so that type of thing further complicates the issue.

 

[Aliaz]

Re: Hot Toys - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper ...

Every company offers replacement parts on expensive items if you are willing to pay for it. Car, phone, computer, you name it.

Of course they do, but it doesn't mean they have to.

E
Also they will not help the original customer. They have to go to the retailer who then go to HT. But they need the original figure back to do that. Good luck with that in HK/China since all these are sold from market stalls who don't give a crap about your damaged figure if it was sold sealed. I know because i bought a sealed Babydoll which was rotted and was told nothing could be done. They must have bought it from Secret Base basically and resellers don't buy from there as you have to order months in advance. In other words don't ever buy a figure from HK according to you.

I'm not saying never buy a figure from HK, I'm saying don't be upset when something is wrong and HT won't help with replacing something bought second hand. Or in this case retailer-reseller-you. Going through the retailer is the obvious way to do it, and if the retailer sucks that is not HT's fault.

E
XM Studios will repair and replace and repaint and damaged figures/parts. They officially say it doesn't matter where you got it from because it's an official XM product and they stand behind it. Now that's GOOD customer service.

We will have to agree to disagree here. That is exceptional customer service, but comparing it is unfair IMO.

Again, I don't like seeing bad customer service thrown around when the company is clearly following their own policy and rules. Not the kind of service other companies might have, and you obviously don't like it since they said no to your request, but that doesn't mean it's bad IMO. It's unfair to expect such service from HT when they have never done it before.