That was pretty epic. My last Midtown order arrived half damaged (box corner was smashed) and all they’d offer were replacement books after I sent the damages back, with shipping paid out of pocket, or a 25% refund.
Partial refund for books they had damaged?! That’s horrendous!
Not much you can really do unless you want to burn a bridge with a charge-back and/or never shop at a place again. I opt for the partial refund in most cases with stores, because the postage and gas cost ain’t worth it.
Shoot, I have done charge backs on Midtown numerous times and they still let me order, In fact, they have never once responded to any of my charge backs and my cards have always been refunded I put in for damaged book and a percentage of the shipping.
I’ve ordered from Midtown many times, and not had a lot of damages to my books (But I’m not very picky about my condition). Never had any missing books or allocations. Probably two times where I’ve had damaged books and they did ask me to send pics, and then refunded me. I did have to wait for them to respond to my email (about a week) and then got the response. I’m not sure why they took so long to check your email response, and then why the refund wasnt offered in the first place. Not defending them, but for what its worth, I wouldn’t be too hard or waste time challenging their CSR’s. The CSR just responds the way they were trained to do. The CSRs in your case, while not really addressing your points, and maybe he/she could not offer anything more, didnt seem to insult you in anyway. Considering that many here have had similar experiences with Midtown, I chalk it up to the business not upgrading their training or business practices, and putting their CSR’s in a bad spot. Most of you know how I feel about TFAW, but I cant blame their CSRs for bad business practices. IMO, Midtown is more dependable than TFAW for their selection, speed of handling and shipping, and charges. TFAW is more suited for their variants, if you luck on to them. For both, the shipping condition is mostly a hit, rather than a miss (for me). I feel your frustration though !
I recently ordered from Midtown and one of my books was damaged. I started a chat yesterday with them and was told the same thing. A replacement would be added to my next order. Initially I was fine with it but then realized I don’t have any pending orders and had no intention of ordering again soon. I’m not buying more shit to get a refund on a book that should never have been shipped in the first place. I think it’ll be my last order from Midtown.
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I had no intention of “taking anything out” on their CSRs, but simply challenging a customer-unfriendly and flawed policy. Was put-off to some degree, however that I was speaking to a Victor von Deny and later a Cassandra Cain. That sort of smugness was uncalled for. The post was mostly done as a warning.
My experiences with TFAW have been nothing short of excellent.
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I agree TFAW’s CS chat has been a lot better lately. Processing/pre screening of the books condition, shipping are a different story. With TFAW on a book replacement for me anyway…anything over a 1:10 ratio you are SOL and I have never had a ratio 1:25, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200 replaced ever.
Regular books yes, over a 1:10 nope…don’t think they order enough higher ratios to offer replacements?. If they do it’s not many I have never had one replaced just the dreaded TFAW “Sorry that is out of stock”. Refunds are fast and CS is great though
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Unfortunately, by the time you get the ratio and it is reported as damaged, the distributor has already run out and there isn’t much a shop can do to get a replacement. It’s also not in the shops best interest to hold them back and not get the cash for their operations ;). As long as customer service does their job and gives a quick refund I think us as customers can just move on to the next one no harm no foul.
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At what price I wonder
They’re auctioning them over the next 12 weeks.
So here’s the deal with these- over the next 12 weeks, there will be one of these in each of our weekly auctions with ALL PROCEEDS going to the
@heroinitiative
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That’s actually pretty honorable. There must be a catch.
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Other than publicity, I doubt it.
I agree with you that the CSR’s need to have a better policy. Didnt catch the impact of the names; I should pay attention to the names when I contact Midtown. I did take your post as being very informative; I did appreciate you sharing the experience. I do see the problem of being forced to place a second order to get the replacement; another thing that TFAW does not do. I do understand your frustration. My dealings with TFAW CSR’s have mostly been excellent too. My point is that all businesses need to address their customer handling policies, rather than put their CSR’s in a tough spot. Hope you get your books and your refund !
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As long as reship is irrespective of future orders. For wrong books, TFAW asks me to keep the book and resends a new one separately. I hope I am not jinxing future dealings.
I dont order variants from Midtown because of the price and try my luck with TFAW for variants. The problem with TFAW though besides what you mention, is that TFAW takes so long to just process, forget ship, that even if I want to try elsewhere the variant is way out of my price range or not available. But its the risk I take with TFAW !
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They used to offer 20%. Used to order books prior to FOC for about $2.50 ea. 20% = 50 cents…I didn’t even get offered replacements.
This was 4 years ago.
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Midtown sent me 2 books yesterday. One is perfect and the other has a corner chopped off. They are offering me 25% credit or I pay to send it back for replacement. The damaged book was $13.50. They are clearly taking advantage of me, but I have to weigh my options: A) $3.38 refund or B) charge back and move on. I’m going to wait and see how they respond back to my reply.
I believe Anthony had a post that said he has charged back multiple times with Midtown and is still able to order books from them.
I would move on… and have moved on personally, from them