I’ve bought from most every major company in the country…Midtown, Mycomicshop, Mile High, TFAW, Golden Apple, Sanctum, thousands of ebay sellers, etc…I’ve never been asked to destroy a book.
That goes across all retail as well. Amazon, major retailers, etc…no one has ever asked me to destroy a product and send me evidence of said destruction.
I’m not taking it personal. More surprised as this was a first in many years buying online. And I don’t think it’s singling me out at all, I’m sure it’s just their process.
I think it also probably struck me odd as at the same time as this was going on I had a big box damaged in the mail from TFAW, after sending pics, they refunding me over $100 and send me replacements of each one they still had in stock. No issues, solved in one email. And then at the same time Unknown is asking me to destroy a $4 book as evidence before they will process anything.
What happens if you do that and then they don’t send a replacement or refund? Makes one think they should just open up a dispute with the credit card company and let them handle it. You paid for a item and service and didn’t get such service.
If I was a business, you write it off as a loss. It’s just a few bucks at this point. I would rather win the customer over long term than lose all future potential business with them. Now, notate the accounts with damaged books and if it becomes a ongoing habit that Customer X always has damaged books, start taking notes and reviewing past notes to address, but until then, there’s still more honest people out there than dishonest.
Basically the way I see this is, they’re punishing this first time customer for other customers bad behavior, which to me is just bad for business.
To further what Poyo says, if they say sorry about that here’s a replacement, or if they make me tear up the copy, their cost is exactly the same. Either scenario they send the second copy. There is no financial benefit or loss choosing one option over the other.
The only thing they accomplish is preventing me from having a reader copy.
(I’ve never sold a book in my life).
So for the satisfaction of me not having a reader copy, they potentially lose all my future business. Which is tangible as my pending outstanding orders alone very much out weight this one book. It’s just bad business. Nothing to gain, everything to lose.
Now I’m not saying I’m necessarily not buying from them again. But there’s lots of shops online, instead of being my number 2 option, they may go a further bit down my list.
If I were the store in this situation, I would eat the $4 too if it were the first time.
@Comp82, please forgive me for being brutally honest and for the assumption I’m about to make here, but is it the first time?
Does it make sense to publicly drag a business’s name through the mud over $4 when they’ve offered to replace the book?
Does it make sense to publicly question their integrity about whether or not they’ll replace the book when they haven’t had the opportunity to even do so yet?
You stated 1 book out of a “large” order was bad. This happens to me all the time and I expect that an occasional book will be bad. I don’t even bother a retailer if it’s a one-off out of a large order. It happens.
Perhaps they’re asking for a picture because most people don’t complain about 1 bad book in large order.
I do, well, to an extent. If the package wasn’t damaged and all the other books weren’t damaged, then that means it was damaged prior to shipment. So if you expect NM but get F or VF, I think any and everyone has the right to ask for a replacement and or refund.
I don’t get the sense anyone is dragging Unknowns name through the mud per se, I can side with him that being asked to destroy a copy just to get a replacement or refund is just odd, particularly when we’re talking a couple of bucks.
Does a shop care that much about what a customer does with a product after it’s been purchased? Honestly the best way to win over a customer is send them a pre-paid return label to replace or refund if they truly care that much instead of asking someone to take the time to destroy something, putting them on the spot cause damaged or not, could still be a reader copy, donated, etc.
If the business has integrity, they should not mind being mentioned in a forum that is geared completely towards their product and customer base. It would make sense, to me, to enquire to others on a comic forum, about a comic business, if I’m dealing with said business and said business is running their business like a clown show. The said business in this case is unknown comics because they are making a customer jump through their hoops in order to replace the damaged copy they sent the customer. M2c.
Sure I don’t mind at all. To answer your various questions…
This is my first time I’ve interacted with them. There is no prior history.
This order is not a large order. It was 3 books. It was not damaged during shipping, the cover was previously creased and folded back over. Color breaking crease. Other two books fine.
I don’t feel I’m dragging their name through the mud at all. I asked if others had the same experience as I found their policy quite odd. And that being said, I think it is perfectly fine to discuss a company or even complain if you don’t agree with the service a company provides you. That is a consumers right to speak up and also potentially warn fellow collectors.
They questioned my honesty by refusing to provide any additional service until I first provide them evidence I have destroyed a reader copy of a book. They did not trust me to destroy it myself (as Diamond does). I think I’m perfectly fine to not trust them to follow through if they first don’t trust me to follow through. Especially with posts above saying they’ve gone back on their word to them in other instances.
I don’t mind at all asking for a picture to verify the book is damaged, all companies do that and is perfectly understandable. What I found odd was after they already received photos, confirmed with me the damage and that it was their error that did not happen during shipping (i had to photograph the shipping invoice signed by their employee so they could tell who packaged it and shipped me an already damaged book) they would not act further until I tore up the book and provided them evidence that I tore the book up. Me keeping a reader copy of a damaged book (that was their error) should not be their concern.
As a business it’s all how you handle things.
Sorry about that, let me mail you another copy.
Sorry about that, I will mail you another copy, please destroy it when you get the new one.
I see that we screwed up, but i will not rectify the situation until you shred the book, and send me evidence of said shredding as I don’t trust you to do it yourself, then I will mail you a replacement.
Each of the 3 scenarios cost them $2 in the additional book. Their cost is no different in any of the 3 scenarios. 1 and 2 keep you a happy customer (especially ones with multiple pending orders) and keep that stream of revenue going. 3 gives the chance the customer may take it the wrong way (intended or not) and may lose you future business. None of the 3 options cost you any different in book cost, so wouldn’t it be good business to keep the customer happy over risk losing future business with nothing to gain?
Sorry I numbered my responses. Just easier to reply that way. Not trying to talk down by numbering. I very much am thankful for the replies and the conversation is why I created the post. Cheers.
Absolutely. If I get a damaged book and the seller wants me to destroy it and provide proof before getting a replacement, I’d tell them to eff off and take by business elsewhere. It’s an odd request from a seller and Unknown is notorious for not filling orders. Ask some of the members (founder) about unknown.
