If you’re a member of a Funko community, this story is dedicated to you.
Hot Topic is pretty good at hyping up their store exclusives and one in particular caught not only my attention, but many others.
The 1957 Detective Comics Edition Dorbz Rainbow Batman.
There were many jokes about it looking like Fruit Stripe Gum, which is accurate and personally brought back memories of me buying it at the local convenience store. Despite this comparison, Rainbow Batman looked awesome and everyone was ready to order it when it went live…
…whenever that was.
After a few weeks, Rainbow Batman quietly went live on September 1st in the early afternoon and it sold out pretty quickly. Some got lucky and got their order in. Others missed out and were pretty bummed. I was part of the latter.
Less than 24 hours later, Rainbow Batman returned in the wee morning hours (EST). Currently working on the night shift paid off for me as I picked up one, along with a couple of Funko Pop! Protectors and the X-Men Storm Hot Topic Exclusive.
Fast forward to last Tuesday and the order finally came. I eagerly opened up the package and was ready for Rainbow Batman to smile at me.
He was, but what caught my eye more was the CRUSHED box it came in.
I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of it, but imagine the opening scene in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective when Jim Carrey is basically playing football with a mail package. One side of the box was completely caved in, ripped up, you name it.
It wasn’t just the Rainbow Batman box that was in rough shape. Storm also had torn box edges and a slightly caved in right side as well.
For the most part, I’m an Out-of-Box (OOB) collector and the actual figures was in fine shape. That’s not the point here.
The point is that Hot Topic shipped out their merchandise in terrible shape. The shipping box it all came in was perfectly acceptable. This means that unless someone opened up the package and messed around with the contents during its journey to my doorstep, Hot Topic sent me my order without any regard for how the boxes looked.
I ended up sending my experience to Hot Topic via their website and received the standard answer that the contents may have shifted during shipment and I could go down to the nearest Hot Topic and exchange the item, or ship it back for a refund.
This isn’t a major league slam against Hot Topic or me leading a crusade against them. I like their selection, both in-store and online. My experiences in-store have been mostly positive.
However, it’s inexcusable that they, or any company for that matter, would send out an order in this terrible shape. A
It’s not just Hot Topic either. Other online stores have been guilty of this as well.
And yet, in my numerous eBay purchases, I’ve received Pops that have been put in bubble wrap many times over with newspapers used as cushioning. Each time, my item(s) have come in perfect.
Is it because other collectors look out for each other? Or is it just common sense?
So consider this friendly advice to you, the reader, if this happens to you in the future.
Send a friendly yet stern e-mail to the store in question. Or if phone calls are more of your thing, call their customer service which may be comprised of a Virtual Coworker.
Before my current job, I worked in retail and nothing is usually accomplished if you send feedback full of threats or expletives. Or yelling at them on the phone, no matter how good it might feel to do so.
Pretend that you’re writing a cover letter for a job that you want, but substitute your qualifications for what happened with your order and indicate your disappointment.
You may or may not get an apology, but feedback is very important. Companies do and should take it seriously since bad feedback means less business for them.
Let me know your experiences with receiving packages, good and bad.
Matt Norris