AAARRGGH, the final end to my MR Obi Elite

Ordered the obi-wan saber elite from MR and ended up receiving a Broken saber. Badly mis-aligned parts and a metal clanking sound coming from the middle of the hilt. I called MR and explained the situation. They said no problem, we can get a quick exchange for you.
Get the e-mailed return label for FedEx ground, ship out and wait. And wait.

So I give MR a call today to see the status and the gal on the phone can't seem to be able to look me up, the order or give me an answer. Finally was able to find me in the system. Asked me for proof I sent it back to them. Ooookay, they issued the tracking label afterall. A little more time looking their label up for them.
Get home at lunch. Pull the tracking label on the computer, find out it made it back to them on Feb 2nd so I give them a call, go over the situation again and find out my order was in limbo. They showed no exchange, nothing after the return label was issued.
AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH.

That was it for me, cancelled the order, hope they can refund me without another screwup. MR just can't get it right with my orders lately. Last four orders screwed up in some way, over struck out with me. Been a great customer for them and some say quite a cheerleader for them here and on other boards. Can't speak positive for them now, they just keep getting it wrong.

I have the Luke sig on order and a couple minis for my son, not planning on ordering any more as of now. I will look at other companies, just had enough of MRs quality and service as of late.

 

Sorry to hear you were having such a bad time with the return, it's too bad they couldn't make it right for you. I know over at the boards on RS they have a thread or you can PM AMY of ask Amy and she usually jumps through hoops to help people out, she's the customer service manager for MR.

 

They monitor the boards here, this is the second post with this latest problem. I am not going to chase her down on something like this nor should I have had to. My guess would be they thought their shipping department could handle it. Of cousre it was one of the source of problems with my last few shipments. Another fumble, MR REALLY needs to look into their QC completely.
When they sent me the wrong item on my past order, the phone rep said" Oh crap, not another one." Seems they were having bad day or two with shipping. Even thge return label showed me sending back a FX saber instead of the Sidious saber. I have to say MR should be taking a hard hard look at how their shipping and returns are being handled.

 

That sucks man.

I'm * that I paid $65.20 on June 14th for the 2005 Collector's Society Membership and it isn't even good for the entire year. My coupons aren't even good any longer.

If I had wanted the Qui-Gon, I would have had to plunk down another $65.20. I said F them.

MR, if you are going to offer a yearly membership, make it valid the ENTIRE year. Don't offer the * thing in June then cancel it in January.

I will not be placing another order with Master Replicas. :unsure

 

IÂ’m very sorry to here this, youÂ’ve been a loyal supporter and have always tried to be positive about MR even when things were not going right, with all that seems to be going wrong at MR lately IÂ’m also taking a wait and see attitude before ordering anything new from them this year. I enjoy the items I've purchased from them a lot and still hold out hope that things will turn around for MRÂ’s quality control and customer service but itÂ’s really not looking very good.

Like mentioned above I was also put off by the Collectors Society membership not being good for a full year, the coupons should have been good for a full year from the date of joining, not run out at the years end.

Jim

 

The coupons are good for another full year - MR extended the 2005 coupons all the way through this year.

http://masterreplicas.com/customer/blogs/b....php?1s=Coupons

 

All this is making me glad ive never tried to order anything from them. If I get an FX, ill buy it locally.

 

My coupons no longer show on the "My Account" page since my "Membership" expired. Nice of them to extend the coupons, but really stupid of them to cancel the rest of the "Member" benefits after less than 6 months. :thumbsdown

 

sorry....I was reading this thread all serious...then I saw positronics animated sig...that all went through the window .. lol .


okay, on a serious note - it IS rather sad to see Tripoli in this state of affairs. I know he's a good guy after meeting him and his kid last year at the CIII MR banquet no less - but to see it turn to this really speaks loudly how far MR is falling off the apple cart. I think we all can say something about how the state of affairs has been, but I sincerely won't dwell but hope that some major changes are made before it comes to ruin the fan base that has loyally supported the company.

 

Amy called to let me know they would get the refund done in a timely manner.

Nothing else, which unfortunately pretty much sums up the customer service mentality as of late.
I hope I am an anomaly, that others are not getting the same type of service and flat reply.
But what I see with the past few releases have been exactly poor product and service. From the rocketeer helmet and Narnia prop designed with no place to put their own plaques in the display, to shipping them out and with flaws that no one could miss. I don't want to see a product produced in a way that takes away the past expectations to the point even in the display design they pull away from the identity MR had worked so hard to create; by not even allowing space for the company plaque on their own product.
When replying about the Vader helmets commenting they knew the paint had not cured, they knew they had a problem with the packaging and they just went ahead and sent it out. Buried thier heads and darn the consequences.
When I called in to say I had gotten the sidious saber instead of narnia minis to customer service replied "crap not another one today. This is happening a lot." No we will make it up for you or just a simple sorry. Not then, not now.

In their position, I would want to know every detail from the customer. Trace it down and see that it does not happen again with any customer and never something as continually like my situation.

And frankly, there are times when too much information is harmful.
I don't want to know the McDonalds cook threw up on the grill but its clean now and my burger is just sterile and fine to eat.
Sometimes itÂ’s better to just say we screwed up, we are aware of it now and doing everything we can to fix the problem. Rather than point out the blind way QC allowed the problem to progress to the point of recalling checking and repairing so much of the end product. The public relations damage by this excuse is much worse than any delay and sure to cause a much more negative reaction than just saying we are not ready yet to send them out and handling it before the damage was done. Every company has control over their product, if they allow that control to slip away, itÂ’s their own fault.

MR has done some incredible work. I would hate to see them sacrifice pride and quality away that work for producing more items in a cheaper and faster manner. ThatÂ’s certainly what my perspective from first hand experience seems to be and given the past, itÂ’s quite a disappointment to see directly so strongly.

I took a lot of flack in the past noting how good their product was. Being too positive in my reviews here. Frankly, it was objective; they were producing solid super replicas for the most part. And when they did not, I noted it, but it was a rarity, until now.
Now I am cringing and wondering whatÂ’s happened to them. I hope they turn it around, really do, and I will keep a watch and if it turns around, may eventually buy more products. Still hope they do well with the next signature piece I have on order. But if it does not turn around, MR has some real problems. I hope they pull themselves together, because my last few orders have been a down right disappointment knowing the potential of a great replica lost makes it only more so.

 

That's fine with the exception that when I log in at MR I no longer get the coupon codes, any one have them? I had them printed out but when they stated they would run out at the end of 2005 I tossed the paper with the codes in the trash, I figured that was the end of them.

Some may say that MR listened and extended the coupons, I say it was a lack of thought in the first place to have a membership that some folks may have had for less than six months run out at the years end. If you pay MR for a years membership that's what you should get, full benefits nothing less.

I too was a loyal customer and may be again but something needs to change because all the "sorry for the problem" posts from MR in the world are not going to change the root of the problem, poorly made recent products and with the exception of Amy, really poor customer service.

Jim

 

What was always so great about MR's money-back guarantee was that you never actually needed it. Now it seems to be their answer for everything.

 

Sorry about your bad experience trip. In December I received the wrong item from MR in place of one I ordered. I emailed them about the trouble and they sent me a return label in email that day. Plus they shipped me the correct item (no additional charge) the same day - before they even got the incorrect one back. It's unfortunate that these problems can and do happen. Personally, my theory is MR doesn't have the right amount of well trained staff they need at certain times. Especially at the end of 2005 when everything seemed to be releasing at once. Hope it all works out in the end for you.

 

I was watching an episode from season 2 of Frasier last night. Frasier and Niles bought an old restaurant and reopened it with their vision. On opening night, everything was going splendidly until a misunderstanding between the brothers and their head chef went completely awry, causing him (and eventually the rest of the staff) to walk out. The evening got worse and worse until the place basically got wrecked. All through it, the Cranes did all they could to fix the situation, but to no avail. In the end it wasn't their fault, but they had to give up.

Parts of that sound eerily familiar.

Now the MR people seem to be genuine enthusiasts that care, bu things seem to really be going wrong lately. I really hope they keep the boat floating and turn this around because the few items I have from them are flawless pieces of beauty and I'm waiting in anticipation for my first FX (Mace). I'm also waiting on the Qui Gon CE.