Mother's Basement

[snedders1]

They have clearly robbed people of there cash.
I am currently on a FB page where people have paid for goods on the Sunday only to
Receive a email on the Monday that they have ceased trading.
That to me is daylight theft!

 

[breakersrevenge]

They have clearly robbed people of there cash.
I am currently on a FB page where people have paid for goods on the Sunday only to
Receive a email on the Monday that they have ceased trading.
That to me is daylight theft!

I just read that. Shocking!!

 

[Racetrack]

I feel so bad for the people who lost money. I can't imagine what you guys are going through. It's happened to me before and I was furious but some of the numbers being thrown around are just such a big hit to take. I pray you will get it back.

I have opened a PayPal case but I'm not out of pocket by much and got very lucky.

 

[Tbolt]

Man, that really sucks for all involved. I am still pissed about getting $60 for a kickstarter stolen by John Kricfalusi (Creater of Ren and Stimpy) who raised $136,723 and in two years delivered little more than excuses. Cant imagine sleeping well for getting taken for so much without recourse, as that $60 sticks in my craw and I am done with kickstarter as a result.

Kicked the tires on MB a few times being in Germany but never ordered. I am not sure if anything except maybe orders taken over the last weekend when they knew they were insolvent was actually criminal though? Maybe the LLC was set up to secure financing? Sounds like they had major cash flow issues and were robbing Peter to pay Paul. Given that they were still shipping Batmobiles a few days ago that people could not have gotten their money back on, seems like they were trying to actually be a business and not a total sham. Perhaps the 'friday meeting' was a last ditch attempt to secure financing? Not that it makes it any better, just trying to understand the hows and whys.

The worst part in all this, as I found out with my kickstarter fiasco, is that as consumers, we are largely swimming with sharks if things go south.

 

[Taibhse]

Man, that really sucks for all involved. I am still pissed about getting $60 for a kickstarter stolen by John Kricfalusi (Creater of Ren and Stimpy) who raised $136,723 and in two years delivered little more than excuses. Cant imagine sleeping well for getting taken for so much without recourse, as that $60 sticks in my craw and I am done with kickstarter as a result.

Kicked the tires on MB a few times being in Germany but never ordered. I am not sure if anything except maybe orders taken over the last weekend when they knew they were insolvent was actually criminal though? Maybe the LLC was set up to secure financing? Sounds like they had major cash flow issues and were robbing Peter to pay Paul. Given that they were still shipping Batmobiles a few days ago that people could not have gotten their money back on, seems like they were trying to actually be a business and not a total sham. Perhaps the 'friday meeting' was a last ditch attempt to secure financing? Not that it makes it any better, just trying to understand the hows and whys.

The worst part in all this, as I found out with my kickstarter fiasco, is that as consumers, we are largely swimming with sharks if things go south.

Sorry to hear you lost money on a Kickstarter project.. I have always been rather confuzzled about how people actually get a return (and at what rate) on their money from those projects, so have never got involved.

I have used Toy Palace in Germany a few times for 'in stock' items and not had any problems.

 

[Metatron]

So I recived the form from my bank today, there is a question asking "what have you done to try to get your money back from the receiver/company? And it says below the bank can't do anything if I haven't tried to get my money back. Any advice on what I should do would be much appreciated.

 

[galmando]

So I recived the form from my bank today, there is a question asking "what have you done to try to get your money back from the receiver/company? And it says below the bank can't do anything if I haven't tried to get my money back. Any advice on what I should do would be much appreciated.

I would probably explain that MB have issued a statement on their site to say that they cannot refund and have advised to go to our banks/paypal etc.

In all likely hood any contact with them would yield the same response, so there is no need to get in touch with them.

I think the form you have may be somewhat generic and not all sections will apply 100%, just fill it in best that you can and be compeltely honest.

 

[Username]

So I recived the form from my bank today, there is a question asking "what have you done to try to get your money back from the receiver/company? And it says below the bank can't do anything if I haven't tried to get my money back. Any advice on what I should do would be much appreciated.

Tell them you have called MB and no-one is answering. Try it to cover yourself anyway. Then send an email to MB and tell them you want your money back, and let the bank know you have emailed them too.

 

[V8_Club]

May I suggest the following : I have been in constant contact with the merchant however have received nothing besides broken promises before the final message on their website and follow up email. The merchant has constantly promised to ship the items and used shipment back logs as an excuse to persuade me and other buyers to wait.

 

[Metatron]

Thanks for the replys guys I'm going to print out the email they sent out and send that along with the other emails to the bank.

 

[Taibhse]

May I suggest the following : I have been in constant contact with the merchant however have received nothing besides broken promises before the final message on their website and follow up email. The merchant has constantly promised to ship the items and used shipment back logs as an excuse to persuade me and other buyers to wait.

Metatron, make sure you have a note of the date of payments and all correspondence (phone calls, texts, emails, letters, etc) between you and Mother's Basement, then pop into your local Citizens Advice bureau to get the exact details of your Consumer rights in these circumstances.. as Galmando has pointed out the Bank form will be fairly generic and designed to make sure you exhaust all other possibilities to recover the money, before considering refunding you themselves (a bit like many insurance companies).

Make sure you know what you can legally insist on from your bank under Consumer law and do this at the earliest opportunity.. timescales can be critical to making claims.. also make sure any subsequent correspondence between you and your Bank and Mother's Basement / MB's receiver, is in a written format.. letter or email.. so it can be referred back to, with a date.
The Office of Fair Trading should also be able to advise you of your Consumer rights.

 

[Metatron]

I only have the order confirmation emails for two of the three items I paid in full for, and the worldpay emails of course. I never had to phone them as all my orders were pre orders and I recived all the items that were released including the hot toys dx13. The only problem is when I ordered the dx13 I ordered the hot toys robocop at the same time and paid the full amount for them both (209.99 dx13 219.99 robocop) I never recived a confirmation email for this order so I emailed them about it and got a reply saying they were having problems with their system but the order had gone through fine. Obviously they got the order cos I got the dx13 in December. I have confirmation emails for the wolverine and crow figures I payed for as well but I think I'll probably struggle to get anything back off the robocop order.

 

[The_One]

Guys, I know this whole situation sucks and I really do feel for you.
It has really knocked the confidence in this market but please don't think us UK sellers are the same as MB.
You have to remember, OSB has been around as probably the original seller in this marketplace and set up in the 90's
Matt @ ToyHQ has been around 5 years ( I think) sorry Matt!
I have been trading since 2007 and met many wonderful people inside and outside this forum.....

The market place as a dealer has always historically been a harmonic and peaceful industry.
We all get on with one another, we warn each other of potential concerns and generally watch each others backs!
That relationship and peace was almost shattered by MB with dirty business tactics and unpleasantness but yet we still remain united!

Like WM said, it's all about how a business is run! MB came into a market where there simply was no more room, especially for a major outfit.
The only way they could win the hearts of customers was gimmicky incentives and give away prices.
There just simply isnt the mark up in these items!!
Ultimately this lead to large orders with no profit and boom!!

For all of you concerned about me and my "small business" it is no secret that my wife helps me run this and I work full time.
Like Breakersrevenge, I would be devastated if I lost peoples money. The very thought of that happening would be horrendous!
I have taken very careful steps to ensure that if I had no custom and yet deposits on preorders, this would always be covered.
Yes it would put me in debt if it ever happened but that is my problem and not my innocent customers!

If I can help try to source any preorders you have lost, please drop me a PM and we can have a chat about it.

I have kept quiet throughout this whole situation but felt I had to say something after reading concerned customers and their confidence in UK dealers!
Trust me, I'm sure we will see more come and go!!

Good luck to all that are out of pocket, my thoughts are with you

Lee

 

[inked]

Good post Lee

 

[Username]

Great post Lee.
I have lost out on a set of seven Hall Of Armour, but many have lost a lot more than i.
My bank will not cover the loss, and Paypal are the same.
I have contacted the Financial Ombudsman. Fingers crossed they rule in my favour, lol.
If not, then it's a lesson not to be taken in by gimmicky incentives and give away prices!

 

[Crimsonbob]

I'd like to back up both what Lee and Wai man have said as they are both great guys as well as established sellers. I have bought loads of figs from them both over the lst 6 or so years with never a problem and both have 100% trust from me. That also goes for Collectiblekitbash and CDUK.

MB spent ton's of money on advertising and growing way too fast whilst not watching the numbers or having the staff which led to their very quick downfall.

 

[Collectorcol]

Were they that cheap? I only collect statues and their prices were nothing special.
Maybe they went after the 1:6 market more.

 

[Crimsonbob]

They were selling a bit of everything which didn't help with their staff shortage.

 

[paramoremcr88]

Well said Lee

 

[Jmek]

There's a shocking post on the mothersbasementhasmymoney Facebook page. Some poor woman had a refund of £167.39 that MB gave her in January debited from her account by them today! She's been advised that anyone that has received a refund from them should check their credit / debit card.