Mother's Basement

[RaZaTrOn]

What he said,it is up to Sideshow and Hot Toys to do some thing about it lower prices for the UK!

Why are we forced to charge so much more than China and even the USA (yes it is stil cheaper to grey import from the USA than buy from the UK distributor).
eg to make some profit these are the sort of prices you have to charge if your buying from the official UK distributor.

Hot Toys Thor 2 1/6 figure £199.95-£225.00
Sideshow Snake Plissken 1/6 figure £150-£160

Please note that prices vary from shops to warehouse dealers as shops have more overheads so we make less profit or have to charge more.

Its a shame it has taken all the negativity against Mothers Basement to bring this issue to light but hopefuly it will help others understand.

It's one of the reasons I've been quite vocal about Mother's Basement, I can't speak for everything but when it comes to pricing and the Christmas delays and people have been getting on at them for it, I think it's very ignorant of people to do so when both of those issues are out of their control.

Customer service, people can rate because everyone's experience is different I can only say I have never had a negative experience in that respect.

I support as many sellers as I can. I am not loyal to one particular seller and have bought from the UK and Internationally. I think if more sellers are vocal about this price difference then change could happen, the only issue is grey importers do not help the cause and would probably not want to see this change. (Which is again bad for the consumer).

 

[Dr Lexus]

I've used MB in the past (Enterbay Batman 1/4). Price was good, the delivery was quick, so thought they were decent enough.

I tend to avoid pre-orders from any retailer though, last time round was buying from the EU and paid by paypal, doh, bad move because then the date slipped beyond paypal's protection period and I could either ask for a refund but forfiet my deposit or wait it out having paid in full. Course in the end, everything was fine, it just arrived later than anticipated, but it wasn't the retailers fault really as the production is delayed. So yeah in general I think for instock stuff it's cool buying local, for pre-order it's a bit more ancy but in most cases as long as you are patient most ppl aren't out to screw you.

 

[Frank Jaeger]

To be fair apparently the 1:4 Batman arrived in stock 3 weeks ago.

Nobody who runs a business should make their customers wait that long, I understand it's the holiday season so some delays sure but come on

If you have a lot of work, get extra staff in to make sure you can deal with the amount of work you have so customers aren't the ones paying

Nobody should have to wait +3 weeks for an item AFTER it's come into stock, regardless of the size of the company

Also I call up every week and they have given me the same story, due to the Christmas period we are still catching up, small family run business you should receive the call at the end of this week...

Why don't they just ask my order number, see how far down the list I am and then give me a proper eta. Perpetual lying just to sweet over a customer will only annoy customers more

Would you be annoyed if you got told it should be getting sent out at the end of the week only to then be told the same next week

Or would you rather be told it's gonna be at least 2 weeks given the pace we are dispatching and your place in the queue

 

[Jokes & Bats]

Just had a look on their site. They are selling true types for £119.99!!!! I'm in shock. They are about £39 to £49 on eBay.

Their Iron Man Mark 1 figure is a pre-order. Hasn't that figure been out for around a year?

I hope everyone has had their orders fulfilled now, especially the HT 1/4 scale Batman. A lot of the guys in the DC section had had that pre-ordered since August.

 

[emotionalvampire]

Im still waiting for a pre-order that came in before Xmas. They way they are shipping by the way, isnt per customer its per item. They are working through by getting all the orders together who ordered the same item and shipping all them in one day. The next day they do the same but with a different item. If you have two or more items outstanding, you will only get the one thats being sent that day.
My concern is that if they had about 2500 items come in before Christmas that needs shipping out and are sending between 75 - 100 items a day, this is going to take between 25 -33 working days to complete. Christmas week, they were open for about 2 half days, New Years week it was 2 full days and a half day and last week was a full 5 day week. So it could up to a possible 3 week wait for outstanding orders.

Is anyone else waiting for stuff that cam in before Xmas?

 

[Username]

No, but i got an email a few days back saying my seven piece Hall Of Armour has been delayed till the end of Feb.
I replied asking if that was a guaranteed date, but the reply i just got today says that it might still be subject to change.
And considering that SS is shipping the HOA right now, i am getting antsy.

 

[Racetrack]

They are terrible.

Item was due on Dec 5th, then delayed to Dec 28th. Ok i said, no problem. Delays happen after all.

Called them and asked when they would get it after Christmas and they told me the item was in transit for delivery and would be there at the end of the week so i ordered it.

A couple weeks later and now they say it's expected on Feb 28th. Really? How can it be in transit and scheduled to arrive in a few days and then delayed another 2 months?

 

[soundwave]

I would expect that the crux of all this is that they have overstretched themselves financially.

I'm not saying they are in trouble but they may not be given credit themselves by Amerang or their suppliers which means that they will not receive a shipment until they have paid for the goods ordered.

I work in Shipping & Freight Forwarding & it's common practice for our invoices to be settled in full before we release shipments for delivery.

If they are the same then it might be the delays are caused by themselves not settling invoices in full & this delays the shipments to them.

If they were allowed a credit system say 30 days then I wouldn't expect to see the delays that they are having & the lack of a credit system would also explain them requesting full payment well in advance of the products arrival, without us paying them they cannot pay suppliers which means no product to ship.

Neil

 

[Captain Hindsight]

MB have "just" got in new stock of the Poison Ivy Premium Format which is one I missed and would be tempted with, but...

1) People are still *****ing on their Facebook page about not getting stuff they ordered before Christmas, although...

2) It's the same price on their eBay site where there are multiple pieces of feedback in the past week all saying sent quickly/received straight away etc, suggesting they are fulfilling eBay orders as and when they come in, but...

3) This statue has loooong been unavailable so I'm suspicious about where they have suddenly got stock of brand new unopened statues from. Certainly not Amerang and I can't see that any other distributor would have them as nobody else has any in stock. Which leaves me slightly concerned. They recently had a whole ton of "new" Hot Toys figures arrive in stock, like the Demon Batman as an example and they haven't been available for years so I'm really curious as to where they are finding all this new stock from, as it won't be an official distributor like Amerang.

 

[soundwave]

MB have "just" got in new stock of the Poison Ivy Premium Format which is one I missed and would be tempted with, but...

1) People are still *****ing on their Facebook page about not getting stuff they ordered before Christmas, although...

2) It's the same price on their eBay site where there are multiple pieces of feedback in the past week all saying sent quickly/received straight away etc, suggesting they are fulfilling eBay orders as and when they come in, but...

3) This statue has loooong been unavailable so I'm suspicious about where they have suddenly got stock of brand new unopened statues from. Certainly not Amerang and I can't see that any other distributor would have them as nobody else has any in stock. Which leaves me slightly concerned. They recently had a whole ton of "new" Hot Toys figures arrive in stock, like the Demon Batman as an example and they haven't been available for years so I'm really curious as to where they are finding all this new stock from, as it won't be an official distributor like Amerang.

Hmmm now that's odd.
I could be tempted by Ivy as well, I had her on order from SS but cancelled as I couldn't afford her at the time & switched my NRD to Harley instead but I could be in a position to pick her up now.
I'd be a bit suspicious as well tbh...seems strange to suddenly get more stock.
I think I noticed the same with the Darth Maul Mythos, I'm sure that was OOS about a week ago but looking now appears to have come back in.

It could be that after all the stuff lately they have had cancellations & this is now non allocated stock.
The big worry could be that if they arrive to you damaged, what would their returns be like if you need too??

They also have the Hot Toys Demon Bats / Scarecrow pack showing in stock as well.

Seems weird that so much long sold out stock is becoming available again.

Neil

 

[Captain Hindsight]

Neil mate, I think you should take one for the team and order it and see what happens. If it's all good I'll jump on board

 

[soundwave]

Neil mate, I think you should take one for the team and order it and see what happens. If it's all good I'll jump on board

Lol Hmmm let me think
I might consider doing an order for an in stock item anyway & see.
I like the way that their site still says...order in stock items before 2pm for same day dispatch

They have also put a notice under their email address saying email replies within 3 days!
That's pretty slow tbh

Neil

 

[bonehunter1200]

Little concerned about my item now! Paid a deposit for Deadpool PF back in June on a 6 month pay scheme, said pay scheme was then stopped and I was asked to pay in full in September as item was due in...not to impressed but I had the money so paid.

Xmas came and went with no sign of Deadpool, after new year and the holidays finished I started chasing it up again and was assured that he was in stock and would be sent soon, as they were still sorting through the big delivery before Xmas... ok great.

One week later still no sign so again I got in touch and now they were not sure if it was in as they "couldn't see behind all the other boxes" and it was far to much hassle for them to go and have a check! I left it a few days and then contacted again to see if they had managed to locate Deadpool in amongst the mass of boxes??? The reply was the 3 Deadpool PFs they got in were all damaged, but this was no problem as they could get more from their supplier.............at the end of Feb .

Sorry for waffling on but this is my first statue purchase from a retailer and at the moment I feel like my £289 is being held hostage, is this normal? should I just carry on waiting?? The thing is I'm sure it's been to other retailers in the U.K. and is now pretty much sold out?

 

[Captain Hindsight]

Is this normal? For MB apparently it's very normal, from any other supplier, no, not in my experience.

If it was me I'd ask for my money back, suppliers can't just take money for something on the basis that they will send it and then not send it, regardless of the reason. But thanks for posting, you've made me realise I had temporary insanity thinking of ordering from this company.

I also notice they've now removed all the recent posts from their facebook page where people were complaining about not receiving items paid for. How the hell do they still have such great feedback? I've seen people saying well I've paid for this or that and not had them, but anyways, ummm I've just pre-ordered 5 more items because you can't beat these prices (generally completely untrue, they aren't that competitive).

It's madness.

Your comments about their pay scheme are also completely out of order, if you want to scrap a pay scheme then fine, but you can't do it to people who have already signed up to it!!

These people haven't a clue how to run a business.

 

[paramoremcr88]

I've been trying for about 2 months to get my refund. Some emails were ignored, the others were replied to with lame excuses, one of which I was told 'it's quicker to do the refund over the phone'. I finally phoned them yesterday only to be told ' we can't do refunds over the phone, we'll sort it today via PayPal'. And guess what? No refund came through.

Perhaps I should email them again and say, 'if you can't find the money for a refund, why don't you send me some in stock items to same value of the refund?'. They seem to be a struggling company on the verge of collapse, no normal company I've ever dealt with have behaved like this.

They seem like a prime candidate for BBC Rouge Traders!

 

[ditch]

I can't believe this company i defended them about Hot Toys and Sideshow because of grey importers but this is moronic behaviour.
I would have been out of business years ago if i treated my customers like this. They have the Scarecrow/Batman set on ebay and the
discription is used may be they just have the one and not a restock.

 

[RobertoBagg10]

Not that I was ever thinking of using Mothers Basement but I just cant believe the manner in which they continue to do business in! It really is incredible to hear so many reports of customers having fully paid for their items with the promise of it being sent and then when it comes to constantly chasing them for a delivery time, all they receive is an excuse that it was damaged!!! Or others who are chasing refunds for months and have yet to be refunded??!! WTF!!! How long have this company even been in business for? Do they actually have ANY happy customers?

 

[seewhatyouthink]

i know I'm adding fuel to the fire, but they use competitors names as key words (even yours HotToysUK). Is that just not a slimey way to do business, using establish companies names to direct traffic to a site? Ethically I don't think I'll ever use them.

 

[DeadGhostKnight]

Well they have the ArtFX 1/6 Superman for Tomorrow statue in stock now and i've had no shipping notification and my order hasn't updated. I paid in full back in November so i sent them a message to see what's going on.

 

[soundwave]

Well they have the ArtFX 1/6 Superman for Tomorrow statue in stock now and i've had no shipping notification and my order hasn't updated. I paid in full back in November so i sent them a message to see what's going on.

Hope you hear back soon buddy.
They seem keen on not replying though so you might be in for a wait

If it helps Collectibles Direct still have him for Pre-order but the dates slipped right back to March with them.

Neil

EDIT - Their Ebay listing shows in stock as well...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kotobuki...nFigures_ActionFigures_JN&hash=item4d179f04cb