Costly mistakes were made this week at Mattel and many collectors are feeling the sting. The shortest explanation I can give is that when Matty did their monthly charge for subscription items (which this month included Megator, Egon and Man-E-Faces) they accidentally forgot to charge for Man-E-Faces. In an attempt to fix this in time for him to ship with the other items (thus saving the consumer extra shipping costs) a corrected/adjusted charge was also sent and the original charge was canceled, the problem for most collectors being that even though the original/incorrect charge is canceled it won’t be reflected in their available balance for five days (business days?) meaning in these economic times that many will be practically broke for at least the weekend and many more will watch their accounts go into overdraft. Essentially in an attempt to correct one small mistake and save consumers $10 in shipping costs, they compounded the error and will potentially cause those same consumers to be levied hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees. This bodes particularly bad for Mattel because they have not only caused major financial inconvenience for some of their most die hard customers but they’ve also ensured that entire group have no access to any disposable income on the day of their next big sale (Monday). Here’s Matty’s statement from their Facebook page:
MOTUC & Ghostbusters Subscribers,
In the “oops-we’re humans” department, we forgot to tell Digital River that Man-E-Faces is included in subscriptions. No worries, though… Digital River has it all worked out so if you have either MOTUC or the MOTUC/Ghostbusters combo subscription, you’ll not only get your Man-E-Faces figure on schedule this month, there will be no additional shipping charges. Here’s how it’s going to work:
Last night, Digital River ran a program that CANCELED THE ORIGINAL renewal orders and PLACED NEW renewal orders for all August MOTUC and MOTUC/Ghostbusters subscriptions (if you only have Ghostbusters, your order is not affected) . If you haven’t already, you’ll soon receive a new order renewal notification for the correct order that includes Man-E-Faces.
The other thing to note is that you’ll have multiple authorizations on your credit cards: one authorization for the incorrect order which has been canceled and one authorization for the new, correct order which will shipping starting today and Monday.
The original (incorrect) authorization will fall off within 5 days. This means that if you didn’t have enough money in your account to cover both authorizations, the second renewal attempt (which will happen approximately 5 business days after the first) should happen after the first authorization has fallen off. If you have any issues or if the second authorization fails and you’re still concerned, please contact Customer Service and they will help you. Should the second renewal attempt fail, there will be a third renewal attempt 7 days after the second.
We want to thank Digital River for stepping in and helping to save the day. We apologize for the confusion and are happy to report the good news that all sub holders will get Man-E-Faces in August right on schedule and there will be NO additional shipping charges. (end)
The following week should be VERY interesting. Let’s hope it works out for any collectors affected by this!
Megator wants to know why his checking account only has $3.48 in it!
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About the Author: Review-Or
Review-Or has been collecting Masters of the Universe action figures since they first became available in the early 80's. He's stuck with He-Man through his lowest points (MeteOrbs, New Adventures, Disco Skeletor, Smash Blade He-Man etc.) and he's happily reaping the rewards of the new golden age in MOTU collecting: Masters of the Universe Classics! When he's not in his dungeon writing about the latest MOTUC news, he's more than likely taking a figure out of the package and finding some cool way to display it! In his off time this mysterious contributor to AFHUB.COM enjoys counting calories and revising his ever-expanding Enemies List!
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Another day, another Matty frak up! Thanks for the heads up.
That explains the email I got from Matty regarding an authorization failure on my subscription renewal. Dang!
Wow.
When news of this hits the DCUC Subscription naysayers …
I shudder to think of the very far-reaching fallout this little blunder (and, really, it is a simple “logistical issue” for Matty and DR) is going to cause.
the wrong charges didn’t reflect on my card statement, thankfully. unfortunately for me, i encountered a bigger problem.
when digital river renewed my group subscription of 13, they set a cap of 10 for man-e-faces citing a buy-limit. when i emailed and called and emailed (again) customer service, i realized that none of them even knew what a ‘subscription’ was. the issue is still being resolved, i’m afraid.
i’m now wondering if other folks (international bulk buyers, like me) encountered the same problem. it’s almost funny that these customer service reps are very likely to be based in the same city as i am, except we’re both forced to communicate in a second language. =)