WizardUniverse Woes

I've had one buying experience with the online WizardUniverse store. I'll never make that mistake again.

Back on New Year's, I learned that Wizard was selling a set of the new Muppets Series 9 figures from Palisades for $20. An amazing deal. So I ordered that plus an older Muppet figure and a copy of The Escapist #1 (which was on sale for $1).

Then I waited. A toy order I made at another website was delivered, but no word from Wizard. I made eBay purchases and received them, and still no word from Wizard. My credit card had been charged on January 7, but no package appeared. I started e-mailing them on the 15th.

On the 21st, I received my first reply from Wizard, telling me that the Series 9 set was out-of-stock. It said I'd be refunded that amount, and the rest of my order would be processed. A couple of days later, my credit card showed a $21 refund. Unfortunately, this meant I was now paying $5 shipping for a figure and comic, instead of $6 for five figures and a comic. Not the ratio I anticipated when I ordered.

But time continued passing, and no package materialized. More e-mails were sent. I finally got a personal reply on January 31, apologizing for the delay, and telling me that my shipping charges would be refunded and an extra copy of The Escapist would be included.

And guess what? The package still didn't come, and the shipping wasn't refunded. I sent more e-mails, but got no replies. I gave them a deadline, and warned them that I'd file a complaint with the FTC if I didn't get a package and shipping refund. The silence from Wizard was deafening. So I filed a complaint with the FTC.

Before I filed a credit dispute, I figured I should at least try a telephone call. I left a voicemail with customer service on a Saturday, but received no callback on Monday. I tried a second time on February 14, but left another voicemail when I couldn't get a live person. I made another call later on the 14th, when I finally spoke to a live person.

Unfortunately, she wasn't a customer service person, so she couldn't answer all my questions. She seemed to suggest that the comic was out-of-stock, and they were waiting for a new shipment of the figure (which was originally released a couple of years ago). Take note, this is over six weeks after I placed my order. The next day I got an e-mail saying that my order was shipped in January (which I thought suspicious, since I was never sent notice that my package shipped, and no mention was made of a shipped package in the customer service e-mail of January 31).

On February 16, I got an e-mail notice that my package had been shipped. It arrived by week's end. But it contained only the action figure, and no comic. And my shipping refund, promised three weeks earlier, had yet to show up on my credit card. Another e-mail was sent, asking where these things were and when I could expect them.

Finally, on February 24, my online credit card account showed a $6 credit from Wizard, refunding both the shipping charge and the $1 cost of the comic. So after almost eight weeks of haggling, I finally got one of the three items I ordered, and got a refund for the remainder. The only nice thing I can say about Wizard is that they offered the shipping refund as a gesture, but it still took me three and a half weeks to get them to follow through on that promise.

I'm never ordering from WizardUniverse again. Actually, there's one exception. If that Series 9 set shows up in their store again at a higher price, I plan to ask that my original $20 order price be honored. I informed them of this intention back in January. Will they oblige? A good merchant would, but I'll have to wait and see.