Question about dealing with HT Customer Service

[zidane]

Hi, this is for US collectors.

I just received an email reply asking me to send back my T-800 parts for an exchange. My question for anyone who's done this in the past is what can I expect out of the transaction? How did you ship the pieces? How long did it take to arrive (via USPS)? How long did it take from the day you sent it back to when you recieved your replacement? And anything else about the transaction worth knowing.

If you're wondering, one of the lapel buttons from the jacket was missing/lost after a few days and the endo arm had a broken thumb the moment I took it out of the box. The numb from the wrist peg snapped off inside the fistand I can't get it out---didn't mention that though as they include two extra pegs and they could say that was my fault but they should be aware by now that the wrist pegs are the weakest feature on the TT.

https://sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69545&page=968

https://sideshowcollectors.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69545&page=970

 

[brothersrobber]

They take care of you directly? I always thought if something is wrong, I would need to return it to my retail store, like Sideshow or whatever. If you buy it on eBay, will HT service you too?

 

[iron.jedi83]

they asked you to send the piece to them? they didnt ask me to do that when i asked for a replacement left arm for sheva. i sent them a picture and my invoice so they could see that it was purchased within their 30 day window and they sent me a replacement arm a couple weeks later

 

[zidane]

They take care of you directly? I always thought if something is wrong, I would need to return it to my retail store, like Sideshow or whatever. If you buy it on eBay, will HT service you too?

I called up gohastings but they were no help. I'm under the impression you have to go through the dealer if its for a straight up return/exchange of the entire figure. Since that's not what I was looking for and dealers don't carry spare parts I emailed HT directly.

 

[zidane]

they asked you to send the piece to them? they didnt ask me to do that when i asked for a replacement left arm for sheva. i sent them a picture and my invoice so they could see that it was purchased within their 30 day window and they sent me a replacement arm a couple weeks later

Yeah they did? I sent the pics and invoice but the response was to send them the damaged parts within a week of the email (today). I'm just trying to see if someone did this before without any problems. Bad enough I have a less than pristine figure in the detolf but I'd hate to have him bare bones for an indeterminate amount of time. I certainly don't want to risk not having any parts in the long run.

 

[brothersrobber]

I called up gohastings but they were no help. I'm under the impression you have to go through the dealer if its for a straight up return/exchange of the entire figure. Since that's not what I was looking for and dealers don't carry spare parts I emailed HT directly.

Cool, that's good to know!

I took advantage of Gohastings sale awhile ago and I kid you not, one of my Hot Toys Mark III battle damaged came with just 1 layer of thin brown paper wrap around the actual box. It was amazing that nothing was majorly dented. Some of the others were packaged carefully in cardboard shipping boxes, but man... one of them came like that. If not for the sale, I would have been pissed. It was so comical, I had to take a picture of it.

<a href="https://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gohastingpacking.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9740/gohastingpacking.jpg" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" border="0"/></a>

 

[zidane]

...anybody?

 

[dominishin]

You have to pay shipping to them, and it'll probably take like two weeks. I've had them replace some stuff three times so far.

 

[zidane]

You have to pay shipping to them, and it'll probably take like two weeks. I've had them replace some stuff three times so far.

Thanks, were you able to track it on its way there? USPS told me international tracking wasn't available on regular mail?

 

[dominishin]

Nah, didn't track.

 

[iampoch]

If you buy it on eBay, will HT service you too?

I got a reply from HT regarding this a while ago (inquiry about my Predalien), and this is what they told me:

Thanks for your photo.
However, we are sorry that no replacement can be offered.
After-sales service will only be provided for first-hand purchase via official channels.
After-sales service is not applicable for purchase on online auction sites (e.g. eBay, Yahoo) and unofficial channels.

Your understanding will appreciated.

This is even after telling them that I'm willing to pay for the replacement part. It really sucks when they tell you you're on your own. This community's support is much better than HT's almost non-existent CS.