Hot Topic, Inc.

I am writing to say that my experience with this store has been terribleThis was the first time I had shopped with them and it certainly is my lastI had ordered items for a birthday gift When the items came, the recipient didn't like all of it, so I followed the instructions on the slip by going to a local store at the *** *** to return itMind you the local store for me is a minute driveWhen I got to the store, the sales person told me that they couldn't process the return for me for the R2-Dswim trunks, since they were a clearance itemI told the sales person that I if he looked at the receipt, I didn't buy them on clearanceI had only ordered them about a week before at full priceHe told me, I'm sorry that's company policyI told him that I had never heard of that beforeAny other store would have gladly done the return since I had the original receipt and the item with the tags still on itThe sales person then could see that I was getting very annoyed and told me that as a courtesy, he could do take the return, but could only give me back the clearance price, so that, "I don't have a bad day"I told him that that's ridiculousThis took place on a Sunday, May 1stI then called the customer service number on Monday, May 2nd to get the rest of my refund and the customer service representative, Martin, told me that I should have gotten the refund for the full price of the item, since I had the original receipt and itemMartin then proceeded to tell me that I had to go back to the store to get the rest of my refundI told Martin, that I am not taking my time and wasting my gas to go back the store that is out of my way and a minute drive each wayHe told me that he can't process the rest of the refund on the phone, because he couldn't see my transaction historyHe told me that I had to e-mail the return/exchange department with copies of my receipts explaining what had transpired and that they would have to give me the refundSo, I took more time out of my day, to type up an e-mail and scan in receipts to the exchange/return department, who I have not heard back from stillI e-mailed the return/exchange department on Monday, May 2nd and then again on Wednesday, May 4th and still nothingSo today, Friday, May 5th, having checked my credit only to see that I have not received the rest of my refund, I called the customer service number to see what's going onThe customer service representative put me on hold to check the status of my order and told me that they had completed a refund for the rest of the money just yesterdayI told her that I had just checked my credit card statement and I didn't see a credit for the rest of the money and she said that it will take a couple of days to appearI asked her why no one thought to have the courtesy to contact me about this and she told me that she couldn't answer that, because it wasn't in the notesSeriously???? And the best part about the whole thing is that my difference owed to be is just $9.50, but it's my $and I work hard for my moneySo over a simple $9.50, your store lost another customer and received a bad reviewYour store's customer skills are sub-par at bestI will be sure to tell everyone that I know, not to go to your store or shop online at your storeIn this day and age, quality needs to be there and it certainly was lacking everywhere

I placed an order 8 days ago and have not even received a confirmation email. When checking my order it only says processing. I was under the impression I would receive my products in a timely fashion since the website says to order by the 17th to receive by the 25th. Messages go unanswered and cannot get through to customer service by phone.

Placed order online on cyber monday.
Was billed for order.
Order was shipped over a week later with canceled items that was out of stock.
Here it is well after christmas and still not delivery.
Usps says delivery date will be 18th of december.
Cusromer service os not helping.
Ruined part of my kids christmas presents.

On December 8th I ordered items online to give as gifts for Christmas. The website had messages on it saying that I could get my items by Christmas if I ordered before a certain date- and I did order it before that date. I immediately received an e-mail stating that they received my order and that they would e-mail me again when my order has shipped. I never got that second e-mail.
So on December 17th I e-mailed them and asked about my package. They gave me some stock answer about how they can't control FedEx's timing and delivery- but I ordered the item site to store... so it should have been shipped through Hot Topic's freight- not Fed Ex. So that tells me that this person has NO idea what my situation is, and also doesn't care.
So I wait some more. January 14th... it's well after Christmas and still no word. So I e-mail them again to tell them just to cancel my order and refund my money. They tell me that the order must have been lost, and that they would give me a full refund within 3-10 business days. I was satisfied with that response.
Now it is February 2nd and my credit card STILL hasn't been credited the price I was charged. I e-mailed them again yesterday but nobody has responded to it.
I will never shop at Hot Topic again. This has been the worst shopping experience I have ever had. I should not have to keep bugging them to find out that they lost my order, and then keep bugging them to give me my money back.

I used to order from hottopic.com all the time despite the ridiculous shipping to international customers. I would usually just wait until a 50% off international shipping sale so I was only paying slightly more than their competitors for shipping (which is sad).

Despite that they're site used to at least provide me with what I ordered most of the time and ship within a reasonable time. I was Ok with that. They were at least a 3 star site at one point.

Then... the site changed. Now they are just awful. I was dealing with them for nearly a month just to get one of my orders shipped from their warehouse. By the time they actually starting packing it half the items were missing and I wasted my special discount code. Their site also never properly reflects the stock in their warehouse.

It took me quite a while before I actually got a hold of a customer service rep that was helpful. The email customer service is terrible and they spout off stock answers and move on. The Facebook message customer service line is hit and miss. Some phone people are OK, others are just awful. I did praise the helpful ones to the customer service supervisor just so they know they were actually good amongst a pool of unhelpful employees. I had to call multiple times and leave public messages on their facebook site to finally get some movement on my order. I actually had placed another order a week later and received it a week ago. I am STILL waiting on that first order though I AM told it is shipped now. When I did get someone good on my first problem she was helpful, but it was not easy and luck of the draw when I got her. On Facebook they said that they would get someone to call me between a certain hour. I waited 2 days and contacted them again on Facebook only to find out the agent that was told to contact me just plain didn't so they got another person to call me immediately.

I placed another order later and used five $5 instant rebates on it totaling $25. One of the items I ordered was $15. It wasn't in stock so they refunded me for the item. But what they did was they refunded me for how much the item was on the order after the discounts were applied so instead of the $15 for the item I was given $3.15 back on the order and my $5 rewards rebates were thrown away, effectively dangling a carrot in front of me to make up for previous mistakes only to snatch them away. I was not refunded the full amount for the item nor given my rebates back and I argued this for 2 days of which I eventually just gave up. After a month of dealing with nothing but problems from this company I just don't even care about what I'm owed anymore. They have lost a regular customer who has spent nearly $1000 there just in approximately the last 2 months. If that's how they treat a customer like that imagine how they will treat the person who only spends $50 here and there.

I've been online trying to use my "Hot Cash" (in Illinois) and I can't believe I've been on my desktop trying to place an order for the past 4.5 hours!! First, it seems they have a new website which requires 'veteran' HT customers to create a new password because of the [new website]. I followed the steps and waited over 45 minutes, with no email reset sent to my gmail account. I decided to call in a few times (4 different times) and was hung up on (by Hot Topic Reps) mid explanation. Looks like HT Agents are unwilling to help! A little frustrated, I attempted to check out as a "Guest" and was redirected to an HT page that indicated I had an existing account and needed to "please try again later" and provided me with a number to call for assistance. I called and spoke with a young lady by the name of Remy, who insisted I use a different computer or tablet. I explained I was on a [redacted] Desktop and didn't have a tablet. She advised me she was sorry, but she couldn't assist me. I asked to speak with a Manager or Supervisor; she stated they were busy with other upset customers. I told her I didn't mind to wait for them to be available. She placed me on hold for 30 minutes with excessively loud music, then came back on the phone to tell me a manager or supervisor would call me back "later on." I asked to know the individuals name, but was then told "please hold, let me ask who wants to call you back." She came back on and said "Ralph" would call me back as soon as he's done with the client he's currently speaking with. It's been 2.5 hrs and he hasn't called since. I guess I'm out $45.00!! Hot Topic, you just lost a loyal customer and will never recommend anyone to your retail locations again!!