Policy change without warning by Triad Toys

[EVILFACE]

Re: Preorder Question (Split Post)
by daddykane » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:02 am

And the usual suspects get on board with it: https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forum ... hp?t=73589

You can always leave it to the Freaks forum to conjure up wild, imaginative things to say. I like the tone of the responses. . . "I don't buy anything from Triad. I don't like Triad in the first place. I don't like them even more now, but I'll post anyways to say how much I don't like them and how much more they suck."

Reminds me of Chung, but times 100

 

[Cryoguns]

Thanks, I missed that as I was looking at the "Announcements" section. Still weird no one has posted there all day. . .

They have, I've been following the threads. I think the default clock on their forums is off.

I did call Triad today and spoke with Drew. He was a very nice guy and understanding, and did take care of cancelling my open orders as requested.

 

[karamazov80]

don't throw me under the bus karamazov, i made a blanket statement about multiple bad transactions i've had in the custom forum, not 1 particular person, i deleted my comment as not to appear to be about 1 person, please edit/delete yours.

Fair enough. If I misinterpreted the motivations behind your post, then you can disregard my post. However, it seemed a logical extension of your post's in DA's thread, so I assumed that you hadn't changed your tune. But I'm not keen on deleting my posts, sorry. If you can dish out criticisms and assumptions about others' behavior and motivations, I figure you should be able to take it, too.

That's pretty funny.

 

[galactiboy]

Gotta love board politics

 

[wofford29]

I had an order from 2008 for the EVO/EVA body. I don't even remember what card I used. Hopefully it's expired and they can't charge me. Either way I went through their sites contact us link and sent in a request for cancellation. Not sure who gets contacted but hopefully I'll hear something.

 

[ProgMatinee]

Fair enough. If I misinterpreted the motivations behind your post, then you can disregard my post. However, it seemed a logical extension of your post's in DA's thread, so I assumed that you hadn't changed your tune. But I'm not keen on deleting my posts, sorry. If you can dish out criticisms and assumptions about others' behavior and motivations, I figure you should be able to take it, too.



That's pretty funny.

Fair enough. I dig myself enough holes, whats one more.

 

[thenammagazine]

Amoktime has crappy release dates as well..it took over two years for the NOTLD figures to come out! and they cancelled the little girl zombie w/o reason!

Delays are due to China. She's on her way along with Russo's zombie too.

Fair enough. I dig myself enough holes, whats one more.

Digging? Or blasting?

 

[ProgMatinee]

specially made hydrolic drill the one used in one of the stupid Journey to the Centre of the Earth remakes. it works wonders. carves a way right into everyone's hearts forever.

 

[Studio49]

My Triad headache just got worse.

A few months ago, after my credit card number got stolen when another internet retailer got hacked, I started a new bank account separate from my household checking account. I use this other account for my online purchases, and I keep very little money in it. This is the account that Triad charged without warning a couple of days ago.

The Triad charge cleared, but I was in the process of ordering a few parts from various retailers. Triad promised to cancel my order, but the charge still appears in my account as a temporary hold. With what has to be the worst timing ever, all of these charges caused the account to be overdrawn. Well, it wouldn't be overdrawn, except for the $140 dollar charge from Triad!!! $#@&$*%($*#!!!!!!!! Now I have $175 in overdrawn account fees.

So I called the bank and explained it to the representative and I have two options. If the charge from Triad actually goes from temporary hold to official debit, I have to file a fraud complaint to get my account straightened out. If the temporary hold disappears on its own, they will credit my account for the overdrawn account fees.

This never should have happened. Triad sucks. I will make sure I let other 1/6 collectors know that every chance I get from now on.

 

[jinroh75]

that sucks man. hope you can sort it out.

that happened to me once on an order i had with apcollectibles. i love em and they're awesome. i think it was the ht ironman order, but the exact same thing happened. i used my debit card and placed the order. the figure didnt come in until like 3 months later and at the time i was getting some other things. i was only short like $20 and the payment was still pending in my account. i called up chase and they reversed the charges with no problems. i guess it boils down to having more than enough funds in your account especially if you know you placed orders and for what amounts

apcollectibles didnt give me any notice when they charged either but i know i placed the order for about $180 so i never used more than what i had in the account

i've had nothing but good experiences with triad and their customer service is pretty awesome too. hope you can clear things up with your bank bro

 

[The Drizzle]

This smells of company cash flow issues. The Triad ship is sinking, methinks.

That was my first thought, too.

If it's not illegal (and I think it is), it's extremely unethical to change terms of a preorder after the fact and charge you. Glad I think their stuff is junk anyway.

Well, I think some of their stuff has been okay (but not the lion's share of it), I have to agree that this does seem awfully unethical. Like others have said, if anything they should have said "After X__Date, we will begin charging at the time of order." They are far too slow getting product to market for me to do that.
I wondered why I got an email saying they had tried to charge me- I knew there was no way it was all ready. They will not be getting my updated CC info, I will be canceling. That's $250 bucks they just lost, and I won't order from them again. If I want a Triad product, it will be from another retailer, and then only after I see people have gotten the item and if it seems to be of acceptable quality. (Especially after seeing those proto "House" figures...yuck.)

 

[The Drizzle]

So this is what I sent them:

Hi,

I just read about your new order policy, thanks to friends on a forum that pointed it out to me. Sorry if I come across as a bit harsh, but it smacks of desperation and cashflow problems, exactly the sort of business I *don't* want my money tied up with for multiple quarters or longer. I had just changed credit cards due to a bank security situation, that's why your charge didn't go through- I guess it was my good fortune it occurred, as I would have been mad as hell if you had charged me that much money with no warning, and no finished product to show for it. I just can't abide tying my money up for that long, so feel free to cancel the order. Your products simply take too long from preorder to delivery to charge in full at time of order. That's just the reality of things in the new economy. Other companies are more consistent with their announcements, preorders, and delivery of product, so I know it can be done, even with difficult licensing. I will just order the occasional item I want from a retailer if I am interested, and I know it has been received into their stock. I do wish you the best, and hope that you can get your process from announcement to delivery to be a more timely process that makes your new time-of-order charge a bit more realistic proposition.
Take care,
Me

and this is the reply I got:

Order has been canceled. If look at our forums and all of our explanations to the situation you will realize that the change had nothing to do with cash flow issues but believe what you want. I also don’t believe that we are the only company with longer than expected preorder to release dates. But again Im sure we see things differently.

Thank you

Them

It's just sad, and we definitely do see things differently. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Bet you anything that they are seeing a lot bigger backlash to this than they are letting on. Heaven knows how many preorders they lost.
I'm a big fan of small companies, and I am pretty forgiving and patient, but this act just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Arbitrarily changing policy on pre-existing orders is a huge mistake.
Of course it will look to be in their favor on their forum, that's where all their fanboys and sycophants are.

 

[thenammagazine]

So what was their excuse as to why they all of a sudden, without notice, charged all the preorders?

 

[The Drizzle]

So what was their excuse as to why they all of a sudden, without notice, charged all the preorders?

I went and read various things on their forums, about agonizing about whether to do it, blah blah blah, but what I read just seems to go in circles to me. I can't nail down an exact reason, maybe someone else can, but it's still bad form no matter what to charge pre-existing orders that were understood to be charged at time of shipping. The charge should only have been on new orders.

They claimed they sent notice, but most of us didn't get one.

I still don't dislike them as people, but as businessmen I think they made a bad, rash choice.

 

[Boba Ben]

Notifying customers and changing policy on all future orders is fine. Charging inforce pre-orders that were originally agreed upon to be charged when item is ready to ship is not fine.

 

[Darklord Dave]

Re: Preorder Question (Split Post)
by daddykane » Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:02 am

And the usual suspects get on board with it: https://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forum ... hp?t=73589

You can always leave it to the Freaks forum to conjure up wild, imaginative things to say. I like the tone of the responses. . . "I don't buy anything from Triad. I don't like Triad in the first place. I don't like them even more now, but I'll post anyways to say how much I don't like them and how much more they suck."

Reminds me of Chung, but times 100

The items I've gotten from Triad I've been very happy with. Far from bad quality in any way. Great suits, great paint - bodies that don't break (which is unusual in the low end 1/6 market nowadays - see aforementioned AMOKTIME). I think most people have had nothing but good things to say about their product.

As for the policy change - If they sent notice with an explanation for the change in policy and an offer to cancel your preorders I can see no real reason to be mad about the change. Some retailers require deposits, some have cancellation fees, others charge up front. As long as you know about a major change and can adjust if you're unhappy with it, then a retailer has done their part.

However if the above didn't happen - then they really should expect to get abuse rained down on them.

 

[Solidus]

That's B.S, on Triad's part. I thought that there was a Federal trade law that prevented sellers from charging for something that they didn't have in hand.

But, you can purchase Triad figures from A LOT of other online stores (besides the main site). For example, vikingplayground.com is a place that sells Triad figures, but they only charge when they're ready to ship.

 

[Cryoguns]

That's B.S, on Triad's part. I thought that there was a Federal trade law that prevented sellers from charging for something that they didn't have in hand.

I don't believe that's correct. There are plenty of sellers out there willing to charge up front.

Arbitrarily changing their pre-order policy to start changing past orders and then failing to notify their customers still strikes me as being questionable. I haven't seen any laws quoted for this, and I doubt anyone would actually get upset enough to take them to court over it even if this was the case.

Anyway, Triad still hasn't sent out that email to the best of my knowledge. Not everyone follows the message boards and I'm sure there's still plenty of their customers out there unaware of this.

 

[The Drizzle]

That's B.S, on Triad's part. I thought that there was a Federal trade law that prevented sellers from charging for something that they didn't have in hand.

But, you can purchase Triad figures from A LOT of other online stores (besides the main site). For example, vikingplayground.com is a place that sells Triad figures, but they only charge when they're ready to ship.

Not only that, the pre-order prices are usually a decent percentage lower by going this route.

 

[Darklord Dave]

I don't believe that's correct. There are plenty of sellers out there willing to charge up front.

Arbitrarily changing their pre-order policy to start changing past orders and then failing to notify their customers still strikes me as being questionable. I haven't seen any laws quoted for this, and I doubt anyone would actually get upset enough to take them to court over it even if this was the case.

Anyway, Triad still hasn't sent out that email to the best of my knowledge. Not everyone follows the message boards and I'm sure there's still plenty of their customers out there unaware of this.

Actually I think he's right - it's not a law but a rule from the credit card companies. Something has to ship within 30 days. I think there's a way around it for deposits though.