1/6 Hot Toys Avengers: Endgame - Iron Man

[ironmcn]

This whole thing isn't being handled well by Sideshow or Hot Toys. If I hadn't checked this thread I wouldn't have known when Sideshow was even offering the replacement program, I was waiting for them to send an email out to those of us who purchased the 85.

 

[Avery19]

How this is being handled is terrible.

A small blog post on a Thursday or Friday did. And only giving you 10 days from the blog post to sign up? People who buy the Mark 85 after May 7th isn't eligible. Forcing you to pay and handle shipping of the old head sculpt. It makes you think they ("they" being SS and HT) are doing this exchange through gritted teeth. They are doing the very bare minimum for this exchange and nothing else. No sending out e-mails about the exchange. No posts on their social media about the exchange. Giving users a super short amount of time to sign up. Arbitrarily cutting off eligibility buyers for the exchange at May 7th.

It makes you think HT and SS resent ever having to do this exchange in the first place and is purposely making it as inconvenient as possible.

 

[Bleah]

We all know these heads are going in straight the trash.

Makes sense since that's where garbage is supposed to go.

 

[RulerOfAsgard]

Makes sense since that's where garbage is supposed to go.

 

[subzro]

I doubt i'll do the exchange but signed up just in case i change my mind.

 

[NewGoblin23]

As someone who was a retail manager when I was younger, this is just not how it works. The retailer would never give you a replacement for a faulty item and allow you to keep the original faulty item. The cost of the replacement is absolutely not "borne by the seller." If you buy something defective from Target and exchange it, Target does not eat the cost of that item. They charge it back to the manufacture. It gets sent back and then Target gets their own money back.

Sideshow is not the manufacture, they are a retailer. They need the heads to send back to Hot Toys for chargeback/inventory purposes. Most likely Hot Toys is giving money to Sideshow to facilitate the exchanges and so SS needs to account for every one of those heads.

The company coming out to fix the desk most likely already also has a delivery/assembly service. It's a built in part of their business.

A desk is not also not a practical thing that is easy for the consumer to return. It's simply not a 1:1 comparison with something where the weight can be measured in ounces.

Didn't hasbro just do pretty much the exact same process as this with their Power Rangers line, but they let the customer keep the original product? Messed up head sculpt, sent people replacements, allowed them to keep the original.

 

[yacobschlomo]

As someone who was a retail manager when I was younger, this is just not how it works. The retailer would never give you a replacement for a faulty item and allow you to keep the original faulty item. The cost of the replacement is absolutely not "borne by the seller." If you buy something defective from Target and exchange it, Target does not eat the cost of that item. They charge it back to the manufacture. It gets sent back and then Target gets their own money back.

Sideshow is not the manufacture, they are a retailer. They need the heads to send back to Hot Toys for chargeback/inventory purposes. Most likely Hot Toys is giving money to Sideshow to facilitate the exchanges and so SS needs to account for every one of those heads.

The company coming out to fix the desk most likely already also has a delivery/assembly service. It's a built in part of their business.

A desk is not also not a practical thing that is easy for the consumer to return. It's simply not a 1:1 comparison with something where the weight can be measured in ounces.

Sideshow's responsibilities are different. They are a distributor, not just a retailer. They serve as the manufacturer's (Hot Toys) representative in all customer service matters. Which includes bearing responsibilities for replacement costs (which is already built into the pricing). This situation is a bit different as it's not a normal replacement, but a manufacturer offered program. Its obvious that neither Hot Toys or sideshow wanted to shoulder the costs to facilitate the replacement, but it's definitely something that Sideshow, as the distributor and customer facing representative, could have offered. Requiring a return of the original on the customer's dime is just one of the hurdles to minimize the number of replacements.

 

[BLNadal]

Do you guys know if the new batch will already come with this new headsculpt?

 

[Dino_Ranger_White]

Boy, what a cluster****... top to bottom. I'll just buy a parted out revised sculpt next year and call it a day.
They can shove their "replacement program".

 

[Cicada17]

Do you guys know if the new batch will already come with this new headsculpt?

This is what I want to know... I have held off in hopes that if I order in the fall, I will get me the better head sculpt without the hassle.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SwedishHeat]

Do you guys know if the new batch will already come with this new headsculpt?

That's a question for Sideshow.

Though with how this replacement program works, I think the answer is 'no'. Otherwise, you'd think it would be easy enough for Sideshow to toss in the head when shipping out each figure. But considering how they simply slap shipping labels on the Hot Toys shipper, they're not going to go through the trouble of packing the figure and the head in an outer shipping box.

 

[Austano]

So I called and spoke with the customer service number of Sideshow today. They said that even if you placed the order after the May 7th date you are still eligible to send the head back for replacement.

 

[MyenShi]

It's possible the cutoff date is so recent because whatever batch being shipped after May 7th has the new sculpt from the factory and/or Sideshow has been swapping them out.

If new stock doesn't have the new sculpt moving forward, then this would all be pretty pointless and even more a joke than it already is.

But we won't know that without asking them, or if someone here receives one that they ordered within the last couple of weeks.

 

[Austano]

It's possible the cutoff date is so recent because whatever batch being shipped after May 7th has the new sculpt from the factory and/or Sideshow has been swapping them out.

But we won't know that without asking them, or if someone here receives one that they ordered within the last couple of weeks.

I had placed my order on May 13th. The head that shipped out to me was the 1st Batch non updated one. Hence why I was worried when I saw that date originally. They confirmed thankfully that I would be able to send the head back for the updated one.

 

[MyenShi]

I had placed my order on May 13th. The head that shipped out to me was the 1st Batch non updated one. Hence why I was worried when I saw that date originally. They confirmed thankfully that I would be able to send the head back for the updated one.

I am glad to hear they took care of you, but it is not good that the figures are shipped with the first head sculpt.

Are they just hoping most people will not care?

Why even have a date cutoff like that, then? Anyone that wants a replacement head sculpt should be able to for as long as they continue to ship the figures with them.

 

[Austano]

I am glad to hear they took care of you, but it is not good that the figures are shipped with the first head sculpt.

Are they just hoping most people will not care?

Why even have a date cutoff like that, then? Anyone that wants a replacement head sculpt should be able to for as long as they continue to ship the figures with them.

I agree. It makes zero sense why have a cut off date? It seems like once they send replacement for the people who ordered they are gonna be forced to only received the original head to people once the cut off date? Makes me think that Hot Toys only made enough replacements and then once gone sorry you are stuck with the 1st batch head.

 

[Starfleet Captain]

I just signed up for SSC replacement program. Had I not checked here, I wouldn?t have known about having to sign up (and to sign up quickly) in order to be eligible for this stupid exchange program.

I also think a lot of the stupid rules probably came from HT and not from SSC. I think SSC can only get a certain number of replacement HS and they have to draw the line in the sand.

As for the ones who didn?t purchase from SSC. I once bought the old plastic Mark VI from Japan and it had a bad open palm without the clear plastic piece in the middle. I sent HT a copy of my purchase invoice, along with the defective palm back to Hong Kong. They actually mailed me a replacement palm a couple months later. Of course, that was 10 years ago and I think HT HK is not as generous anymore. But just a thought?

 

[Mad Old Lu]

I signed up for the exchange. So, now just wait to hear from them?

I too would never have seen the notice if not for being on this board. Posting about it on social media was a lousy decision and a little underhanded. They can say, "well, we posted about the exchange on MySpace! It's your own fault for not finding it!"

As far as that cut off date, they're also pretty much discouraging anyone from buying the figure until it's guaranteed they're shipping with the new head. It IS still in stock in Sideshow, but I'm 100% sure it's the old sculpt shipping from them. I know SS has stated that they will still honor the exchange if you purchased it after May 7, but people who aren't on this board probably don't know that. They should at least have some kind of message on the figure's page about the whole head sculpt thing to warn any unsuspecting customers.

So will Sideshow honor the sculpt swap if one was to buy the figure today?

 

[MyenShi]

It IS still in stock in Sideshow, but I'm 100% sure it's the old sculpt shipping from them.

The Sideshow product page photos show the old sculpt.

If/when they start shipping out the figures with the replacement sculpt instead, I imagine the product page photos will be changed to reflect that. (If not, then that's a big oversight.)

 

[gmoney5000]

So has anyone heard from authorized 3rd party sellers about this exchange program yet??? Alter Ego? Timewalker? Etc.?