Mother's Basement

[RaZaTrOn]

Paybreak isn't the 3 monthly payments though. If you look in the T&C's, all they have is Paybreak and that's normally a 5% deposit and the rest when the figure is due in.

I can only assume it's because of the switchover then. Hopefully things will be fixed for the new year.

 

[Captain Hindsight]

Confused.

I ordered an item yesterday that should be in stock next week. The only option was paybreak. Not sure what that is but i clicked it. My order went through but i haven't given any card details or anything like that.

I know they are not going to give it to me for free so how do they take payment?

They have a 0% deposit pre-order offer for December so you won't have to pay anything until the figure's ready to be shipped.

 

[DeadGhostKnight]

I ordered my ArtFX Superman through them at £95 shipped and i put a PO in for the Cody PF at £260, hoping they come through as the Cody was an amazing price imo.

 

[fett1972]

My experience with Mothers Basement has been very disappointing. In August i paid a deposit for 3 items, Mythos Fett, Sauron PF and Hot Toys Batman Qs001. In early September I received an invoice for the remaining balance for Fett which I immediately paid via paypal. In November, As I had not received the Fett and most UK suppliers had received theirs I decided to contact them for an update. I was informed that their stock was delayed but would be with them within 2 weeks. I also enquired about the Batman as I had received a request to pay the balance during October and was told this item was due in December. Several weeks went by and in mid December i contacted Kate again to request a refund as I was uncomfortable having paid £450 and not received anything. I was informed that my deposit was unrefundable (approx £200). At this point I informed kate about the law regarding breach of contract and pointed out her current T&C process were suspect. We agreed that my deposit would be transferred to the Sauron which was now in stock. Today i received an email informing me that when packing the Sauron for dispatch they heard some rattling and upon opening the item they noticed it was damaged. I have now requested a full refund and if this not processed within a reasonable timeframe I will have no other option but to take legal action. I am not trying to put anyone off ordering from MB as I acept they may have some satisfied customers but based on my own experience this is the worst company I have ever dealt with.

 

[Wanderer]

That's an utter disgrace fett1972. Good to hear you quoted the law to them. Attempting to keep your £200 deposit is tantamount to robbery.

 

[fett1972]

The worst part is that they must think I am an idiot. When I questioned Kate about the Mythos Fett in December she admitted that they had received they initial supplies and were awaiting restock even though I had paid for the item in full in early September. Also, it may be a coincidence but the Sauron PF sold out on their website on Saturday and when they were packing mine today they realised it was damaged even though I had not been invoiced. fortunately my partner works for Trading Standards.

 

[Wanderer]

It's so important to know your consumer rights in matters like these.
I don't know what to make of mothers basement they're either completely naive or crooks.
The problem is that every Tom **** and Harry jumped on this hot toys bandwagon with pound signs in their eyes.
When it comes to the business side of things, they're totally witless.

 

[Jokes & Bats]

I received a lot of nasty messages from mothers basement when trying to get my figure. Their customer services is awful.
About 90% of their website is made up of pre orders.
I really don't believe they know how to run a business and they are taking people's money left, right and centre, well in the knowledge that they don't know when their stock is ever going to arrive.

 

[ditch]

People i have said it before and as a retailer my self i do not want to come across sounding petty but MB don't have a clue.

MB in my opinion are trying to sell every thing before they have it even working at ridiculously low prices to get your preorders. They are not the new FP which they seem to think they are.

MB are now selling on ebay to me that means they need money if you have a website and have spent the amount of money they do advertising every where and then end up on ebay some things wrong.

I have a shop on ebay but i have an actual walk in shop too. I know there prices are good some times but be cautious a lot of the time there saying stock isn't out it is,they just don't have it.

 

[paramoremcr88]

I still haven't had my refund for Selina Kyle yet. I emailed them a few days ago but instantly got an automated response saying they can't respond until 2nd Jan.

I had thought about using all my Power Points on the NECA Keaton Batman, so I could get him for just over £30. But I'm going to hold off until my refund comes through. Even then it says he's 'in stock' but could take up to 3 working days before they dispatch him?!

 

[soundwave]

Has anyone had their latest mailshot??

I got mine on Friday & there is a big blurb at the bottom about pre-orders...

PRE-ORDERS POLICY

We are changing our pre-order payment policy by removing the option to pay up front in full for any pre-order items and making it mandatory to pay via PayBreak. We are also changing the deposit from 15% to 5% as soon as our 0% deposit promotion is over next week.

We're doing this because a lot of pre-orders have been massively delayed this year and although we have had absolutely no control over these delays, we are tired of letting people down. We don't think it's fair that any customer should be without a chunk of cash for long periods of time but at the same time we understand that the majority of our customers would prefer to pay something up front to secure the stock. We think that a 5% deposit is enough to secure an order but not enough to cause unnecessary stress if an item is delayed. Hopefully, you will agree and understand why we have made the changes.

We're also very embarrassed because time after time we have been given delivery dates by suppliers that have never materialised but on the request of most of our customers, we have asked for balances to paid around 14 days before this so-called 'delivery date' . When that delivery doesn't happen and is delayed again and again, it makes us look ridiculous in front of the customers who have paid their balances. We are therefore making another big change to PayBreak to prevent this from happening again.

From January onwards, the 5% PayBreak deposit will be taken automatically at time of ordering and your order will display as 'PENDING PRE-ORDER' on your online account dashboard. When the item is physically barcoded in to stock (ie when the item is in our hands), the status of your order will change to 'PENDING' and a link will appear in your online account to pay the balance. You then have 7 days to pay the balance.

We would love to give you more exact delivery dates but we are simply not able to do so. We can only feedback the information that we are given and this is often changed at the last minute. The best we can do is make sure your financial outlay is at a minimum but enough to secure the stock without the need to oversell like some companies who take nothing up front, relay the information we have as quickly as possible via newsletters and social media and then only accept balance payments when the item is physically in our hands. That way we can completely control your service.

We understand that due to severe delays, some customersmay have lost some faith in us and we completely understand that. All we can do is apologise and make these changes to win back your confidence.

We are also very aware of a small group of very vocal forum users (some of which are competitors posing as customers) trying to cause an issue for us due to the recent delays, especially surrounding Hot Toys. If you are looking for genuine feedback, please see our Feefo review system which is completely independant and something we cannot moderate. This can be seen by clicking here

If you haven't purchased from us before and are on the fence because of these delays, we'd suggest placing a pre-order in December so there's absolutely no financial risk on your part, read our existing genuine feedback and experience our service first hand for yourself.

The fact is, yes, we are a small family run business who have been around for less than 2 years but we are all collectors, we absolutely love this industry and we are 100% dedicated to this business. The fact that this is a family run business means that this isn't just business to us, it's personal. We are incredibly passionate about our customer service, we are constantly looking for ways to improve ourselves and we aren't going anywhere.

Thanks

Kate & Liam

I did chuckle a little when I read this bit...

We are also very aware of a small group of very vocal forum users (some of which are competitors posing as customers) trying to cause an issue for us due to the recent delays, especially surrounding Hot Toys. If you are looking for genuine feedback, please see our Feefo review system which is completely independant and something we cannot moderate. This can be seen by clicking here

Now I'm pretty sure most of us here that have had issues aren't traders just trying to run them out of business.

The 0% pre-order thing is a good move on their part tbh & might rebuild some trust but I do feel that most have already been burnt & it's too little too late now.

Neil

 

[fett1972]

I do not doubt for a second that I will get my refund although this may have to be achieved by going through the small claims court.
From reading members comments on here my experience seems common place. I will never deal with them again and from now on will only buy direct from Sideshow and PCS although I have found Collectibles Direct to be very good along with Toy Palace.

 

[fett1972]

Just read their mailshot. I am not a competitor but when I spoke to Kate on December 13 I did point out toher that her current business practices were unlawful in terms of "breach of contract". It appears they have taken my feedback on board.
In terms of their 'embarressment' I feel totally let down by the email I received yesterday informing me that my Sauron statue which was going to be dispatched yesterday was damaged and they could tell this by the rattling sound the package was making. If this was the case why did they not send me another one as this only sold out this weekend and surely my order which I placed in August and had over £400 deposited agaibst it should take priority over an order placed within the last few days. As I saidin my message above I am not trying to put anyone off from ordering from MB but you may end up disappointed especially if say the currency markets change and they cannot honor their current prices.

 

[Irvy]

I cancelled my batmobile with them as the delays were dragging on, had to remind them to refund me several times. They seem like genuinely nice people and it's tough for anyone to set up a new busness in this climate.

It seems like they've bit off more than they can chew and would benefit from some business advice and restructuring.

 

[Jmek]

Has anyone received the Hot Toys QS001 Batman from them yet?

 

[fett1972]

It's supposedly in stock unless they have over sold, like they dis with my Sauron

 

[emotionalvampire]

My opinion is that they are over selling on pre-orders, expecting people to drop out.
My reasons behind this are simple. I spoke to Kate back at the end of June/begining of July regarding the HT Hulk as I had ordered from Model Zone. She had said that she was speaking to Amarang to get some of the earmarked stock from them that was for Model Zone customers. A couple of days later, the pre-orders went up with higher prices. I needed the figure, so snapped up the chance.
Now November comes, they have their delivery, yet no Hulk for me. I was told that these were for people who ordered early. Thats the first indication I got of possible over selling, either that or they didnt actually get any extras.
Then the week before Christmas I spoke to them and was told that they have got deliveries coming from China and America directly to them to meet demand.
To this day, Im still waiting for my deliveries from them but keep being told that becuase they had so much delivererd before Christmas they are still working through them.

 

[ditch]

I have nothing against competition and i have been in business for well over 20 years and have had a shop for over 15 years. I do think MB have tried to run before they can walk though.

MB have the same problem the rest of us retailers in the UK have unfair competition from grey importers. There is very little mark up on Hot Toys and Sideshow products in the UK when you are competing with Chinese grey import prices. If MB buy from the official UK supplier they will find that they are paying wholesale what the grey importers are charging retail.

I am fed up with having to defend my prices because customers do not understand how much more we have to pay in the UK to the official Sideshow distributors. The trouble is you see these £150 prices on websites and ebay and there is no way in hell these are from the official UK distributor.

I will defend MB if they buy from the official UK distributor because i understand at these prices the only way you can afford to compete is by selling as much quantity as possible before you get the stock.
There are quite a few sellers who either pull there stock in direct from China or the USA and ignorer the UK officaial distributor.

Amerang had no spare Model Zone stock because i tried like hell to get it as soon as i heard they went into administration. I have always wanted to know where the allocated stock went to as there must have been some.

 

[RaZaTrOn]

MB have the same problem the rest of us retailers in the UK have unfair competition from grey importers. There is very little mark up on Hot Toys and Sideshow products in the UK when you are competing with Chinese grey import prices. If MB buy from the official UK supplier they will find that they are paying wholesale what the grey importers are charging retail.

I am fed up with having to defend my prices because customers do not understand how much more we have to pay in the UK to the official Sideshow distributors. The trouble is you see these £150 prices on websites and ebay and there is no way in hell these are from the official UK distributor.

I will defend MB if they buy from the official UK distributor because i understand at these prices the only way you can afford to compete is by selling as much quantity as possible before you get the stock.
There are quite a few sellers who either pull there stock in direct from China or the USA and ignorer the UK officaial distributor.

This is really refreshing to hear, because numerous times I see people complain about pricing but it's because it's through official channels. Grey importing whilst is great for collectors really makes it hard on official businesses never mind Hot Toys being oblivious to it.

Also, Mother's Basement posted an update of stock that arrived a week or so before Xmas, this included the Hulk. Obviously with Xmas and New Year work days are limited and time off is had so they can't get everything out despite them working very hard to do so. I still haven't got my Tony Stark but I understand why, I appreciate that and I have spoken directly to Kate about all of this because all it takes is a phone call to understand everything.

 

[Jokes & Bats]

This is really refreshing to hear, because numerous times I see people complain about pricing but it's because it's through official channels. Grey importing whilst is great for collectors really makes it hard on official businesses never mind Hot Toys being oblivious to it.

Also, Mother's Basement posted an update of stock that arrived a week or so before Xmas, this included the Hulk. Obviously with Xmas and New Year work days are limited and time off is had so they can't get everything out despite them working very hard to do so. I still haven't got my Tony Stark but I understand why, I appreciate that and [B]I have spoken directly to Kate about all of this because all it takes is a phone call to understand everything[/B].

They are very clever on the phone - they play innocent and always reassure you that the stock will arrive. That is what they told me....then four months later...still nothing.