TFARCHIVE FORUMS

If this is off topic/in the wrong area/ or something along those lines. I do apologize. I just need to work some steam off.

7 months after buying Metroplex (Generations), I find a manufucture's flaw with him. I am not too keen about fixing him myself, so I contacted Hasbro. Several e-mails later I get told to call them.

Today I spoke with them, and this is what I got.

For the record after hearing mine, they agreeded, it's a manufacture's defect. YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!

I could get a full refund IF, If I had a receipt/invoice, you get the idea.
Or I MIGHT, Might get a replacement if I sent him in.

I mentioned how several other sites had him for sale, but at more than what I paid. I would like to get the money in full so I could buy him. I got told no.

I get Hasbro's position, they don't want to lose money anymore than I do. But I am not the one who made a defective product here. I am not the one who earned millions last year selling this stuff.

I hate it when companies pull off this idea of narrowing the solutuions aviable to the customer. I had the same problem with Staples, my old cell carrier, my old bank. Don't these companies realize the more you treat the customer with no respect, the more likely they are to take thier business elsewhere? Or limit the business they do with you?

I'm not sure how it's their responsibility to match after-market prices seven months down the line; a refund for what you paid seems like a fair offer.

The question I'd be asking if I was Hasbro is why it took you seven months to spot what is presumably a chronic problem, rather than noticing it at the time and exchanging it in-store.

Offering cash refunds without proof of purchase is inviting fraud. Add to that the margin on a large item is likely to be wiped out several times over by either shipping or replacement, and they're probably not that bothered about a few potential lost sales. Has more impact when you're dealing with cars, large IT or service contracts, etc.

For context, consumer protection legislation is broader over here in the UK than most people realise (six months/six years) but something that goes after several months of use would be hard to prove is a manufacturing defect. That part of the script's more humouring the customer than anything else, and is likely to contain instances of "probably" and "it could be".

Cliffjumper wrote:I'm not sure how it's their responsibility to match after-market prices seven months down the line; a refund for what you paid seems like a fair offer.

The question I'd be asking if I was Hasbro is why it took you seven months to spot what is presumably a chronic problem, rather than noticing it at the time and exchanging it in-store.

They originally offered to "possibily" replace Metroplex for me. This hints to me that they're open to paying a reasonable price for him for me. It's not like I am asking for a gold plated one signed by a dozen actors. I am asking for what I bought originally.

I mean frankly they're offering me less than what I paid originally, and to top it off, banking fees would take money from that to get it into local currency.

As per your later point I can explain it via experience.

1. I bought a Wii at launch, and a few games. The system had defects, one of the games was physically unplayable.
2. I bought a 3DS at launch, and the bottom screen scratched up the top screen to launch.
3. Even my car, it felt fine when I drove it off the lot, but manufactures defects appeared afterwards.

I view it as the nature of the industrial beast. It might look perfect in the labs, but when something goes to production, or to the public errors crop up.

I expect as a consumer to pay more to cover their loses when these mistakes appear. Just as I expect to not get the short end of the stick.

HotShot81 wrote:They originally offered to "possibily" replace Metroplex for me. This hints to me that they're open to paying a reasonable price for him for me.

Really? I don't think they'd be going out and buying another one. It sounds more like they'd fire off a few emails and find out if they had unsold units kicking around somewhere, still had display models etc but weren't going to make any promises they can't keep.

I mean frankly they're offering me less than what I paid originally, and to top it off, banking fees would take money from that to get it into local currency.

It's not their fault if you, say, paid over retail, anymore that it is that secondary prices for the figure are higher than what you paid. Similarly, the banking fees and the like are not their problem either. As Denyer says, cash refunds will be given sparingly in these situations simply because otherwise they'd get taken to the cleaners, especially on big ticket items.

Let's be clear, here - is this the sound problem you were talking about in the other thread? Do you realise they quite likely agreed it was a manufacturing error because customer service assistants are trained to not just say "sounds like you broke it" and instead take the blame?

If it is the sound chip it probably wasn't up to being dropped on a bed; electronics systems on toys are often very delicate. Drop tests generally establish whether a figure is going to become dangerous, not defective. Hasbro do not make sound chips that work fine for seven months then randomly cut out; something you have done has caused that situation to come about.

Your various comparisons don't really work as they involve goods which do not appreciate in value on the used market and/or goods which are immediately and obviously faulty. In all of those situations a straight swap would have been possible due to the quantities of each made (a quick glance shows Nintendo to have offered free repairs or exchange for the faulty Wii consoles). If you'd, say, paid five times the RRP to get a Wii from a scalper ahead of street date, it would not be up to Nintendo to reimburse you to that degree. If the Wii had been limited edition and only shipped for a couple of months, it would not be up to them to reimburse you for the aftermarket value.

Do you realise how entitled you sound? I get that you're pissed off (probably as much with yourself as anyone else) but it sounds like Hasbro are being more than helpful and you're asking them to go beyond that.

Believe it or not I paid normal retail prices for Metroplex, and I am not talking online collector fan boy normal.

I mean TRU was selling him for $135+tx.
I paid $134+tx.

Hasbro is offering less than those figures.

I would agree in a heart beat if I paid say $200+ for one before street date. I know there would no way to get my money back.

Let's compare apples with apples then. I have Unicron, Typiticon, Sky Lynx, all of them bots with electronics. All who I've moved around at one point at another for photo shoots, storage and so forth. All who have electronics that work.

These are toys, they're suppose to in theory have a high durability factor. Somehow the sound system dying if I did something casual like place it on the bed, it doesn't add up. I am more inclined to believe that by moving him the wrong way somehow the chip got damaged inside.

Now that I think about it, the electronic nerd in me see's how the whole system could be made better and of higher quality than what he was sold with.

HotShot81 wrote:Hasbro is offering less than those figures.

I'm amazed they're offering money at all. Metroplex has been clearanced in many outlets, they're not going to offer what you claim to have paid without at least proof of purchase, especially for a large ticket item. What's to stop you buying one for $50, claiming it's defective and cleaning them out of $85 difference?

Let's compare apples with apples then. I have Unicron, Typiticon, Sky Lynx, all of them bots with electronics. All who I've moved around at one point at another for photo shoots, storage and so forth. All who have electronics that work.

That's not apples with apples. Those toys are all different to Metroplex, and the way you treat them could be different too.

These are toys, they're suppose to in theory have a high durability factor. Somehow the sound system dying if I did something casual like place it on the bed, it doesn't add up. I am more inclined to believe that by moving him the wrong way somehow the chip got damaged inside.

That well-known manufacturing defect of the consumer moving something the wrong way and damaging something inside.

Now that I think about it, the electronic nerd in me see's how the whole system could be made better and of higher quality than what he was sold with.

It's a bonus feature on a fan-orientated figure sold largely on its' size, not a missile guidance system.

Hmm. Yeah, you have to look at it from the outside. Say I'm Hasbro and you come to me. I could think that you either

A) have had everything happen exactly as you say and I should believe you
B) have picked it up on clearance and want the original retail value in cash without a receipt
C) have stolen it from a small child (because children are small and it's easy) and want the original retail value in cash without a receipt
D) had your fill of it and want your money back
E) broke it and want your money back or a replacement

Except for B and C, a receipt becomes a golden ticket of sorts that disproves fraud. Additionally, the problem with you wanting cash money without a receipt from me, Hasbro, is that cash has to come out of the profit pile. If Metroplex retails for $120 and costs Hasbro $90 a unit, I'd have to sell four Metroplexes just to have the cash to give back to you to buy one somewhere else. That's why you don't get cash refunds without receipts. It's just cheaper and safer for a company to replace the item and eat only the wholesale cost (I'd only have to sell three Metroplexes instead of four in this example).

While I have no doubt that the unit cost of Metroplex was well below $90, I have the suspicion that the physical size of the thing is what's keeping them so "by-the-book" with replacement. I imagine the shipping cost, even just from the US to Canada, could very well equal or exceed the wholesale cost of the figure. It's not like the postage for mailing a deluxe figure.

THE ONE KNOWN AS CLAY IS NOT HASBRO, BUT IS CORRECT. OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ABOVE REPROACH. WE ARE THE GREATEST TOY COMPANY OF ALL TIME. DO NOT DOUBT!

I got a RTS Lugnut missing a foot once, and didn't have a receipt to return him. So I contacted Hasbro in the UK and they were extremely helpful. They tried to replace him, but it was after the line had finished and they had no stock so they gave me a choice of DOTM Voyagers for free. Of course, the DOTM Voyagers were largely pants, but that's an issue with that line rather than the customer services department, who were absolutely excellent.

I had good experiences with them with a damaged ROTF Jolt too (it came without a head). The deciding factors are size and stock, I suspect. When I spoke to them about Jolt he'd been out a month, was clogging shelves everywhere and as a Deluxe wouldn't have cost much to send.

However, with Metroplex there're a whole new set of variables - he's bigger, his unit cost is higher, his shipping cost is higher, he's stopped shipping from Hasbro and is basically a discontinued item, there's a greater opportunity for fraud (especially if they set a precedent for refunding $135 without proof of purchase and based on someone's say-so), they probably think you've broken the toy even if they're not saying so, they probably don't think it drastically affects the toy's play value etc, etc.

They have also possibly pegged you as an adult collector (which means, say, you aren't going to get much symapthy from social networks, local media etc); if they haven't and it's not too late have a go on the "it's my kid's birthday present" route, which might make someone break a couple of rules.

I should add, I actually did have to post Lugnut to Hasbro, so they could verify that it had come damaged, and to see if they could repair him before they offered a replacement. They covered the cost of postage, and were very good about it all. Sure, it was a hassle, but they need to cover themselves. To be honest, I would have loved to have found out they could fix him - it took me well over 6 months before I managed to track down a replacement myself! (And DOTM Voyager Sentinel Prime is rubbish, but again that's not in any way the fault of Hasbro customer services who were excellent.)