Rightstuf Customer Service: Issues & Problems

[Gouki]

Originally Posted by Gouki

Gah, I was overexcited it was back in stock and forgot to use the code! (even though half my cart was "not eligible for promotional discounts")

So I reordered and opened a support ticket to cancel the first. Saved me $13, thanks!

So Rightstuf will see my ticket and just take care of me, right?

Hahahahaha, Gouki you sweet summer child, this is not normal customer service,

THIS

IS

RIGHTSTUF!!!!!

I had a feeling something stupid was about to happen, so I made another order with the coupon code, as I didn't want KOR to sell out while Rightstuf this out:

(This is on Friday)



Now, at this point both orders are:



Pending fulfillment, which I believe means that the order has been received, but nothing's been packed or shipped.

I receive this morning:



So they have a crack team over at the warehouse that pack orders at 10:00pm at night, huh? And thanks for closing my ticket with no solution, great customer service.

Wait, no, still pending fulfillment:



So then I create a new ticket:



And then I receive:



So in the time in between my response to the first message, they created two shipping labels:



But still, nothing has been shipped yet.

Last thing I sent was:



(I know I'm going to get ten responses with: "Well, I've never had a single problem with them, they are fanatastic!)

I just don't understand why they are hell-bent on sending me two identical orders, and why two different CS reps see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary with this.

Also, I can't believe how shady they are with telling people how far along their order is, when we can see it on the website.

#ThereAreTwoOrders

#PendingFullfilmentDoesNotEqualShipped

#IWantKOR

[Gouki]

And now I come to find out that they went ahead and combined the two identical orders into one.

So someone over there saw my issue, and went out of their way to go and combine both orders to what, prevent me from returning one of the two orders? Or more likely to save them money on shipping, as I've now at this point paid over $32 for shipping.

I am Jack's utter disbelief.

[pikagreg]

That sucks they did that to you. I have always had good luck with them in the past.

[gundamcero]

I agree that while I do have a good experience with them for the most part when it comes to modifying orders they are crap. For instance, recently they had their 32% coupon for in stock items that I would like to apply to existing orders that had not shipped. But when I ask them do it they play dumb and say their system doesn't't allow that. It basically means that loyal customers that pre-order end up paying more in the end and get the shaft. It can be a real back experience and it really sucks.

[different]

Rightstuf has an atrocious return policy too.. I recently returned a book because it had a stain that looked like dried blood on it and the rep told me

"We have checked our current inventory, and would not be able to get a better product than the one you received."

I'm pretty familiar with RS customer service since I order a lot of books, books are damaged pretty easily so I've learned to just pay with PayPal since PayPal refunds return shipping up to 10 times a year AND pray I don't end up talking with Tyler since he's by far the most dismissive rep..

[Nostalgic Twilight]

I used to be a hardcore advocate for RightStuf’s amazing customer service skills, but they have really let me down a few times over the last year or two.

[chronoclast]

Rightstuf's customer service pales in comparison to what it used to be when they were much more flexible with policies and customer experience focused. Something happened a few years ago, probably financial I would guess, that caused them to change. I think it was around the same time when the regular studio sales also went away. They're not much better than their competitors now, if not worse at some things.

[slerch666]

When I want a timely response, I pick up the phone. I've never had an issue like this but can see why you'd be pissed.

Usually when I want a price adjustment it's because I have something pre-ordered and don't need to care about a timely response. On this case, I would have made the call ASAP.


And no. I am not pinning the stupidity on you. Just saying what I would do.

[Raye]

I had a similar issue where I tried to save about $15 on the Haruhi ultimate set. Pre-ordered it and then it went on sale a week later. My copy had not yet shipped, so I asked if I could cancel and reorder. RS CS told me that it was too late and that I'd have to return my not-yet-shipped item because, in fact, it had shipped despite the status reflected on my order page.

This is coming from a company that sent me a free replacement Utena DVD box because I showed a picture that one of the corners was slightly marred upon arrival and allowed me to exchange a manga I purchased over a year later because I finally got to reading it and noticed a page had been covered with ink due to a printing mishap. Granted these are all in the past, I've seen so many similar posts about RS's CS that it makes me glad I only order from them during the holidays now.

[zenpai]

I had a similar but thankfully not as drastic experience back in late February. I placed an order for nearly $500 during their (Valentines’s??) sale at nearly midnight on 2/24. After I put the order through I realized that I would prefer the Rage of Bahamut LE over the SE I ordered, but I knew it was too late that night to call or email them to take that one item off my order. I called them at roughly 8:30 am MST (they open at 7 am MST) while I was driving to work, since I knew I would get hold of a rep much faster that way than through email. Whoever I talked to gave me the exact same spiel you got twice Gouki. My order was “too far along” in the order process to take even one item off the order, even though it still showed as “Pending Fulfillment” on the order page.

Either RS warehouse workers stay extremely late into the night gathering and packing orders (way past their supposed hours of operation), or RS just doesn’t truly care about its customers. Their logic is seriously flawed if the rule is “cancel within 2 hours or you’re SOL” and I call with an hour and a half of them being open the day following a late-night order but still get denied an order change. Not to mention, even if the two hour change policy is what they actually go by, their website still says “call within 3 days of making your order to make any changes” so they are veering extremely far from what they are advertising. I was hoping that what happened to me was just a stroke of bad luck, but it looks like their customer service really has taken an extreme turn for the worst. That’s not how you keep repeat customers.

[InuYashaCrusade]

Barnes & Noble did something similar to me last year. The customer service rep said that there's a 15 minute window to cancel my order before it's moved into fulfillment and there's nothing that they can do. 15 minute window my ass.

[Gouki]

Originally Posted by different

Rightstuf has an atrocious return policy too.. I recently returned a book because it had a stain that looked like dried blood on it and the rep told me




I'm pretty familiar with RS customer service since I order a lot of books, books are damaged pretty easily so I've learned to just pay with PayPal since PayPal refunds return shipping up to 10 times a year AND pray I don't end up talking with Tyler since he's by far the most dismissive rep..

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the return process on this, now that they made it look like I made one large order instead of two:

"Well sir, I see that everything shipped under one shipping number, so this partial return is not covered, even though there are two order numbers."

Originally Posted by chronoclast

Rightstuf's customer service pales in comparison to what it used to be when they were much more flexible with policies and customer experience focused. Something happened a few years ago, probably financial I would guess, that caused them to change. I think it was around the same time when the regular studio sales also went away. They're not much better than their competitors now, if not worse at some things.

For me I can trace it back to around 12/15/2015 when their customer service was still awesome. I had paid for expedited shipping, and they shipped it smartpost, which is literally the slowest you can use.

Then in January of 2017 came the Monogatari Obi saga, where they told me all of their Monogatari BDs don't come with obis. (They do, they all do except newer printings of Bake and Nise, all of the singles do although you may receive a solid white or opaque (milky?) translucent one.)

Then a month later came the Marksman and Vanadis LE Grand Saga (16 messages) during which I was told I could get a replacement box, no box, a new insert, a photocopy of said insert, then that insert was un-offered, then no return, then return.

Originally Posted by slerch666

When I want a timely response, I pick up the phone. I've never had an issue like this but can see why you'd be pissed.

Usually when I want a price adjustment it's because I have something pre-ordered and don't need to care about a timely response. On this case, I would have made the call ASAP.


And no. I am not pinning the stupidity on you. Just saying what I would do.

Yeah, if it wasn't 8:00pm my time, 10:00pm their time on Friday I probably would have called, but seeing as nothing would be done until at the very earliest this morning. And I can't bring myself to be like my co-worker who likes fighting with either his credit card company or debt collector over the phone at work.

But yeah, I'll probably try calling them next time if it's still business hours for them.

(I (stupidly) thought it would be easier typing out a support case ticket for a (simple, lol) "cancel one order keep another" request.)

In hindsight, is all this worth $13?

No.

No it is not.

[zenpai]

Originally Posted by chronoclast

Rightstuf's customer service pales in comparison to what it used to be when they were much more flexible with policies and customer experience focused. Something happened a few years ago, probably financial I would guess, that caused them to change. I think it was around the same time when the regular studio sales also went away. They're not much better than their competitors now, if not worse at some things.

Honestly, I never had any issues with RS when they were the old RightStuf, but after they changed over to RightStuf Anime it’s like something went off in their business model and they all went “ayyee let’s screw over our customers a lil (or not lil) bit so we can make more money off these chumps! lol”

I basically only order over the holidays in November/December now, and no longer buy the GA membership so I have as little reason to support them as possible.

[Nothing371]

Originally Posted by Gouki

(I know I'm going to get ten responses with: "Well, I've never had a single problem with them, they are fanatastic!)

Yeah. That's the most annoying response to the venting of every online ordering problem ever. "well I've never had a problem!" Oh okay, I guess that invalidates my issues and everyone else who has had a problem then.

"well I bought xxxx from them and it was great!" is like nails on the chalkboard. You read it all the time.

[Gouki]

Originally Posted by zenpai

Honestly, I never had any issues with RS when they were the old RightStuf, but after they changed over to RightStuf Anime it’s like something went off in their business model and they all went “ayyee let’s screw over our customers a lil (or not lil) bit so we can make more money off these chumps! lol”

I basically only order over the holidays in November/December now, and no longer buy the GA membership so I have as little reason to support them as possible.

I'd buy a lot less from them if they weren't the exclusive Aniplex distributor. (I'm not counting "We'll ship in 6 to 8 months TOM", nor The Scalper's Anime Corner Store.)

Add in the fact that I'm now conditioned to order additional titles/manga in order to get them to ship in an actual box...

(The only good thing to come out of this is that all these doubles are probably being shipped in a pretty good sized box, and I'll have two to pick between condition wise. Sounds like Darling has some box issues.)

[Kyle15]

The Utena set was my first experience with RightStuf. I can't remember if I posted about this or not, but the cases came un-shinkwrapped and the discs were covered in greasy fingerprints. Not all of them, mind you. Also there are hairline scratches on a couple of them. I ran em through a condition test and they're fine so I never sent them a message about it. That was pretty unusual, it's like they unwrapped the cases for packaging as special editions & took the discs out too while handling them like children. lmao

[Gouki]

Mine came shrinkwrapped, but I never bothered to open it. Now you have me worried... Almost like they had to scramble to put together more sets after the fact. Did you preorder?

So I just checked my email, and the last "Oh, it looks like you tried to cancel one order, but it made it's way back to the warehouse and was picked, too late to do anything 'bout it" email came at 8:25, with shipping confirmation at 8:30am. I know the times are screwy with MST->PST, but well played Rightstuf...

[Marcus Carr]

Mine also had smudges. I wiped them with a wet tissue and they played.

[Nothing371]

One thing that we need to remember is that other online webstores simply cannot provide the same conveniences that we get when using Amazon, and the ease of cancelling and modifying orders. Rightstuf has an Operations Management System in place that works for them and that's how they're able to keep their doors open.

Customers are so used to the level of service by Amazon now that we feel like every other web store has to live up to that level of ordering convenience. But it's an assembly line / conveyor belt situation. It can't always be interrupted with ease. I'm sure they would have helped you if they could have. RS has also been sending a message lately that customers have been bothering them with 1)too many returns 2)too picky on condition and 3)modification of orders after the fact. So it's important to take note of these things. Either their CS hasn't been able to keep up with the workload or else they're not interested in accommodating people any longer because it's costing them too much money and time. I get that.

There are lots of places we shop online where you can't cancel or modify your order a few minutes or couple hours later. Sometimes the products have been picked or they have been weighed and a shipping label has been created. We have to be more responsible when we submit our orders too.

In any case it's good for everyone here to take notice and become aware of RS new ordering and shipping practices, so this thread is helpful for everyone.

I hope that you're able to get everything sorted out. Good luck.

[Gorgon]

^^ Though I understand what you are saying (and agree with a lot) I still prefer to see "customer satisfaction" outweigh expediency.

Yeah, I'm sure the online sellers game is cut-throat and the behemoth Amazon can no doubt shoulder much of that blame but still, having only minutes or at most hours, to change your mind and failing that, you're stuck, is pushing the envelope a bit too far, imho.

Zavvi went through a rough spot for a while wrt cancelling and/or modifying orders but they seem to have gotten a better handle on it as of late (just went through it with them).
It was only by virtue of customers raising hell that happened though.

So, if RS (and others) plan to compete, they need to focus on customers more. I STILL believe in the long run, it will prove more profitable.