Think Geek, Inc.

Review: I ordered about $500 worth of merchandise from ThinkGeek in November. I noticed my computer goofed up and add one item twice to the order. According to their website, they have 24 hour customer service and if a situation, such as mine, occurs before it is processed it can be changed. I emailed them immediately after I received the confirmation email the night I made the purchase. I explained my situation and asked for them to either refund me the money or send me another item that was the same price. 4 days past and still no response. I proceeded to chat online with a representative. According to the order status page, my order had not been processed at this point, I tell the guy my situation and he said there was nothing he could do, because my order was about to ship. That is when I noticed I was charged shipping for my order. According to their website, an order over $75 dollars allows you to have free shipping. I inquired about this issue and the guy said since I used a coupon for 30%, I waived my right to have free shipping. I proceeded to tell him no where on the website says that. He proceeded to go on and tried to end the conversation. A couple more days pass, no response to my email and no email regarding my tracking number for my shipment. I decided to call them, the lady on the phone told me my order had not been processed yet. I told her about my email and my conversation with the man. She said she couldn't do anything about my issues and hung up. A week passes and I still had not received an email or a tracking number and online the status of my order said "under review". I give them another call, the guy on the phone said my order had been shipped and to expect it within a few days. I asked for a tracking number and he wouldn't give me one. I asked for a refund and he said I couldn't get one because the order had been shipped. My package did not show up until the week before Christmas. Too late to send everything back. January 20, 2015 is the day I received a response about my initial issue about the double item. According to the email, I could return it for a full refund within 7 days of the receipt.Desired Settlement: I believe they need to update their computer system making it clear to the customers what exactly is going on with their orders. I believe their customer services needs to be reevaluated and those on the team go under training. I believe if you offer free shipping, a company should honor it and not say it is a one coupon situation; or at least make it known or give a warning when checking out.

Business

Response:

Hi [redacted].I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience shopping with us. Customer satisfaction is very important to us and we are sorry that we failed to meet your expectations. I took a look at your order, and I am unable to find a $500 order placed on 11/25. The only order associated with your email address that I was able to locate is [redacted] which was placed on 12/3 at 11pm and was for $257.68. Is that the order you are referring to, as it does have 2 [redacted] Rebel Mugs?During the holidays, we have a slightly longer warehouse processing time for non-expedited orders, due to the high order volume, so when you placed this order, on the checkout page there was verbiage stating we had a 3-4 day processing time. Since your order was placed after our 1pm ET order cut off, it was considered a 12/4 order. It shipped out on 12/8, which was still within the advertised timeframe. In regards to the delivery, the tracking shows that the [redacted] trash can arrived on 12/11 and everything else arrived on 12/15. I will definitely pass along your feedback about making the order tracking process easier for customer, as I agree with you on that!I apologize that you were not happy with the quality of our Customer Care Agents. Though there is really no excuse for poor service, we ramp up staffing very quickly to support our increased contact volume during the holiday season. Due to this, we have a lot of new agents on the floor, which can unfortunately result in some less than stellar interactions. In regards to the promotion not combining with free shipping, we try to make the details of promotions very clear on our website, so I am sorry if it came as a surprise to you. On the Free Shipping banner, if you click where it says "(click here for details)" you will see the following: (no coupon required; FREE shipping does not combine with other offers). Also, on the promotion itself, there were details stating that it did not combine with free shipping.With all that said, we really don't like to see anyone walk away from us disappointed, since we consider our customer our friends and we do what it takes to keep our friends happy. I've issued a $30 gift card, [redacted], as an apology for this experience. If there is anything else I can do to make this right for you, please don't hesitate to ask. Again, I apologize for this major inconvenience, however I hope you will give us another chance in the future to provide you with geeky loot.Eva E[redacted]Customer Service Manager

Review: I'll start with the beginning of my story. And I will tell you that I am in tears right now.

A few months ago, I placed an order for [redacted] blind box mini figures. My son is a HUGE fan, and because we live in Canada, I added a few more items to the order since shipping was already so expensive. I used [redacted], and a few days later, when I checked my visa statement, it turns out it was charged 3 times to my credit card. I called in, and they said it was an accident. I provided proof of the extra charges, as per requested, and was given a 50$ gift card because of all the issues. When I tried to use it, it was empty. I spoke with supervisor Renae, who claimed she had fixed it. She was very unpleasant to me. When I received my order, nothing in it was correct. The blind box figures were missing, the shirt was the wrong size, and the pop vinyl figure I ordered was missing as well. I called, and was told an investigation was to be done, and to send the shirt back. I was told to do this on my own dime, and I would be refunded for everything. This never happened, and every time I called to check in on it, I was met with a very confused agent who couldn't understand what I wanted.

This weekend, I noticed you had an amazing sale on. I decided to use that extra gift card, and order a present for my little guy. I am a single mom, and things are often very tight here financially, so I was excited to get him something really exciting. I got my order ready, but surprise surprise, the gift card would not work. I called your number, and spoke to "Iris". Iris struggled with the very basics of the English language. I had to spell my name 11 (that's right, eleven!) times to begin the call, which took over 20 minutes. Finally, she said she would look into the account. I believe she meant to mute her phone, but didn't. I very clearly heard her reading my notes out loud. There were some very nasty notes on my account from Renae. They were so nasty, that I immediately broke out in tears. And Iris? She still didn't realize I could hear her and she began laughing at the notes on my account. She was laughing at me.

I spoke with her supervisor, who, after listening to the call and reading the notes, claimed she fixed the 50$ gift card, and also provided me with 3 more, to make up for the horrible experience I had. I was elated. 200$ is a lot for me. I immediately got my order ready, over joyed with the thought of my little guys face when he opened all his gifts.

However, once again, the gift cards didn't work.

I have honestly been on the phone with your call centre for over seven hours trying to sort this out. I spoke to online agents, who said my order had been placed (it wasn't) and phone agents who couldn't find my account, offered me more gift cards, and hung up on me.

I just spoke with Joelle, who said ThinkGeek would still allow me to use the 30% off coupon if I placed my order with the gift cards offered to me. However, she claims she cannot fix the gift cards, and that there is nothing she can do.Desired Settlement: I would like to have the gift cards offered to me, and an apology from Joelle and Iris.

Business

Response:

Hi [redacted].You filed your previous Revdex.com complaint in Jan 2014 under account [redacted]. We felt you had abused our lenient return policy and misled agents into giving you gift certificates you claimed had been promised to you, however we we honored all of you gift certificates, then advised you to take your business elsewhere. Recently, you placed an order going to a new address, under the name [redacted]. Since then you have contacted our call center 25 times, each time claiming that the previous agent/manager promised you a gift card which you have not received. As mentioned in January, we will be issuing no further accommodations to you and we still advise for you to take your business elsewhere. I'm sorry, but we are not going to honor the desired outcome.Regards,ThinkGeek Customer Service

Review: I placed an order on November 10th for two items with a coupon code, and checked out using my [redacted] account. (The same account I've used for dozens of sites and services for years, without a single hiccup.)

I received a cancellation noticed on Monday (11/11) that my billing information was incorrect (which isn't accurate, as I logged into [redacted] to confirm) and that my order was cancelled and refunded to me. I cannot replace the order as the items are no longer in stock.

I have never in my life had a company cancel an order because the billing address was incorrect - and the most I've encountered was a phone call before they could ship my order.

Think Geek did nothing but send me an email after cancelling my order, and requested I reorder the items (now that the coupon code has expired and the items are no longer available).Desired Settlement: I want the order re-instated and reviewed to confirm that the information is indeed correct, and that it be processed with the payment I provided them.

Order #[redacted]

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced when placing an order through our website. We recently added [redacted] Express Checkout as an enhancement on the ThinkGeek site. We unfortunately experienced a brief connectivity issue between our payment system and the [redacted] payment system which caused a few orders to get rejected. We do not store any payment information, so once an order is deleted, plus one of the items from your order is out of stock, so we do not have a way to reinstate it.

We never want one of our customers to walk away unhappy, especially when the goof is not your fault. We have sent you a promo code that will mirror the promotion we were offering on our website. As an added apology, I am issuing a $20 gift card for you to use towards your next purchase with us. If you have any issues placing a new order, please feel free to contact us an we will be happy to assist you. Customer Service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Regards,

ThinkGeek Customer Service

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: I placed an order through thinkgeek.com for a birthday tomorrow and they charged my [redacted] account and then immediately cancelled my order and refunded the [redacted] account.

Now it will take 3-5 business days...well after the intended birthday tomorrow where I was supposed to buy a gift for someone and now am out $125 because of the hold put on the account as a result of their negligence.

They have no good reason for why they refunded my money and cancelled my order.

Additionally, I was verbally told by one of their reps over the phone that they could release the hold and just put the order through until a supervisor just called me and told me that it can't be done... that I would need to "Place another order" at another $125!!! That means I'm out an extra $125 for the next 3-5 business days BECAUSE OF THIS COMPANY'S NEGLIGENCE!Desired Settlement: I want confirmation that they will NEVER do this to their customers again and I want this to go on record with the Revdex.com. That is all I am seeking.

Business

Response:

[redacted],

I apologize for the negative experience you encountered placing an order through our website. We have been unfortunately been experiencing some connectivity issues between our payment system and [redacted]. Our IT department will be implementing a fix in just a few weeks when we roll out [redacted] Express Checkout. I am also sorry that you were misinformed about the amount of time it will take for a [redacted] payment to be refunded. All [redacted] refunds occur within 24 hours, not the 3-5 business day time frame our agent quoted.

However, I am glad to see that you were able to successfully place you order. We sincerely appreciate your business and do not want anyone to walk away from ThinkGeek with a less than stellar customer experience. We consider all of our customers our friends, so we try to do whatever it takes to make our friends happy geeks. I am issuing a $15 gift card as an apology for what happened to you. The gift certificate will arrive in a separate email. If there is anything else I can do to make this right for you, please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards,

ThinkGeek Customer Service Manager

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: Order #[redacted]

Order placed on http://www.thinkgeek.com for 2 items. They were running a few promotions with coupon codes. They cancelled the order the next day stating "Often this happens when your billing address does not match the address

on file with your credit card company. If you are sure you entered the

correct billing address, you may want to call your credit card provider

to ask them why the payment method you entered was declined.

". I contacted my Credit Card company who denied having any involvement. Then I contacted ThinkGeek Customer Service who advised me to place the order again. I tried and the codes were no longer valid. I contacted Customer Service again and this time they said that they cancelled my order because they do not allow stacking codes (even though they worked fine!). These are codes sent out by ThinkGeek and published by them to drive up sales. To send them out and then not honor them seems very dishonest. Also, why lie and say my financial institution was the problem? That wasted more of my time.Desired Settlement: How about they honor the order? Or don't send out codes that they don't plan to allow.

Business

Response:

Hi [redacted],

We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced while placing an order with us. We have an order verification system, provided by [redacted], which all orders must pass through before we can fulfill them. In your situation, the order was rejected because the name on your card ([redacted]) did not match the name you provided in your billing information ([redacted]). When you emailed us and expressed your frustration, we sent you a $20 gift card and offered to place your order for you over the phone. You have already placed an order to redeem the gift card, but we have not received any contact from you.

If you place an order with us in the future, please make sure you enter the billing information fields in with the information on your credit card so this does not happen again. You can also pay with a verified [redacted] account if you run into any issues using a credit card. Please feel free to contact us if you run into any problems. Customer Service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Regards,

ThinkGeek Customer Service

Placed an order on December 6th, for which I was provided a receipt. Family members went to retrieve ordered gifts at their registered and locked physical mailbox prior to the holidays only to find no order was sent. Upon checking website order status, they were marked as 'Cancelled'.
There was never any indication of an issue with either the billing or shipping addresses, and no attempt whatsoever was made to contact me to inform that the order had been silently cancelled.