Issues with Digital River Customer Service

[Fugitoid]

Further to my original post, now my credit card has been charged (no pre-authorisation, fully charged) without my order processing on MattyCollector website or receiving any email to say this has shipped.

This is in direct contravention of the policy of Matty not to charge until the order has been sent.

Please see below:

When will my credit card be charged?
We don't think you should pay for your order until it is actually on its way. We will not bill you until your product(s), including backordered or preordered items, are actually shipped. If your items are shipped separately you will be billed each time an item is shipped

Although your credit card won't be charged until the item has shipped, your credit card will be pre-authorized to verify funds are available.

Very disapointing. This service is unacceptable for fans that have been supporters of Mattel their whole lives, and spend good money each month.

EDIT: Just to clarify, my shipment did infact arrive today. Clearly, the credid card did not charge before the items shipped, however there was no notification to indicate that the order had processed on the Matty website, and no confirmation email with tracking. It was lucky I was home when the delivery came.

[The BLAY]

I have had nothing but bad experiences with DR while trying to deal with my missing order.

I have emailed them twice.
and I have called 3 times.
EVERY TIME I call I get the same run around speech and then I am ASSURED I will be contacted within 24-72 hrs and I NEVER have been.
When I called on Thursday for the 3rd time I was again told the exact same thing, further stating that they could do nothing else for me and I had to wait the time period again for a 4th time.
With a problem that has persisted for 2months you think that they would try a little harder to rectify the situation.
I have to call back on Tuesday as I am sure I will not receive a response by then.

DR needs to stop making promises of replying back to the customers and start actually replying back to the customers.
There have been nothing but problems since they took over and it is ridiculous.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

BIG Problem in October: (was eventually resolved after TONS of headaches)

Back in October I ended up having a problem with an order that I placed.

This was the month that Teela, Zodak, and Ray from Ghostbusters came out.

My Teelas were coming from my subscription, but I had placed a fairly large order that included the other figures that I wanted, plus several other figures for some friends of mine who couldn't be on the computer when these went on sale and didn't want to risk them selling out.

So, in total, I ordered 3 Teelas, 5 Zodaks, and 3 of the 6-inch version of Ray from Ghostbusters.

I placed the order right when these went on sale (which was a Thursday, if I recall correctly), and everything seemed to go through fine. I even received my email confirmation shortly there after.

However, at the time I didn't look very thoroughly at the email confirmation (I didn't think that I needed to)....


A few days later, around Monday or Tuesday, after all of the hell was breaking loose over the problems that were occurring with Teela (most commonly the delays in getting the subscriptions shipped out), I decided to check on the order (please note that at this point Teela was SOLD OUT).


I logged into Matty Collector, went to my order history, and found that my order wasn't showing up at all, which really worried me.

So, I went into my email and found the order confirmation. I looked it over.... all of the figures were there, everything seemed fine.. UNTIL I got to the part where my billing and shipping addresses should be listed. Both of those spots were COMPLETELY BLANK!!! I also then copied my order number from the email confirmation, went to findmyorder.com, entered it, brought up the order, which also had both address sections blank.

This made no sense as I filled in both sections using the drop down menu of my saved addresses (and the shipping address is different from billing). I KNOW that I filled them in as I always do because with it being 2 different addresses, I'm always double and triple checking that the right address is in the right section before proceeding to the next section. Plus (and I could be wrong about this as I've never purposely tried to do so), I don't think the site will even allow you to proceed with the order without entering the addresses properly.


So, I call up Matty Collector, and talk to one of their customer service reps, and I explained what happened. He said that either he could attempt to update the address info, or I could place a new order online. Since Teela was sold out, placing a new order wasn't an option, so I asked him to update the address information. He updates the shipping address with no problem, but the billing address won't update for him due to some security problem. He says he has to send this up to some escalation department to see if they can fix it, and that I should hear back from them within 24 to 48 hours. So, I ask him if he knows if they can definitely fix it, and he says he's not sure. So, reluctantly, I tell him to go ahead and send this on to that department.

At this point, here is the dilemma I was in: It could take a day or two to hear anything back, one item had already sold out, and I had no idea how long the other 2 would last (they ended up being on there for a while after the fact, but I had no way of knowing that would be the case at the time).



So, I called customer service back not long after talking to the previous guy, got another rep, explained to her that I had just called and what happened during that previous call. I then proceeded to ask her if I could have the Zodaks and Rays canceled from the order, and leave only the Teelas in there.

My reasoning on this was that Teela was already sold out, so pretty much my only option to get her was to see if they could fix this order (which, according to the guy I talked to the first time, wasn't guaranteed that they could). And then I would just place a new order for the Zodaks and Rays, which were still available. This way, I would definitely get the Zodaks and Rays, and at least Teela was still a possibility. I would have to pay some extra shipping, which sucked, but it was something that I was willing to deal with just to do everything I could to get everything.

So, the woman that I was talking to said that canceling them was no problem, and proceeded to set them to be canceled. She said I'll receive a confirmation of their cancellation within a few hours. So, I hang up with her, and proceed to place the new order for the Zodaks and Rays.


Here's where things get complicated. I never did get an email confirming the cancellation of the Zodaks and Rays from that first order later that day like I was supposed to.

The next day, the address info is showing up in that first order and the order, itself, is now showing up in my order history (I, however, never did get a phone call, as I was promised, letting me know that the address info had been successfully updated). However, I still didn't have a confirmation of the cancellation of the Zodaks and Rays from that first order.

The interesting thing was this... when logging into Matty Collector directly and looking up that first order, it simply listed all of the items, with no indication at all that any request had been made to cancel the Rays and Zodaks. HOWEVER, when looking my order up through findmyorder.com, I would get to pretty much the same order confirmation page, with all items listed, but at the bottom was a link that said "previous cancellation requests"...

When I clicked on it, it took me to a page that show the items that were requested for cancellation. And there were various columns for that status of the cancellation (requested, approved, denied, and a few others I think). Mine were just in the requested section, meaning that a cancellation was requested, but had not gone through yet.


So, I called up customer service again to check on this, explained what happened, and to see why the cancellation hasn't gone through. They weren't sure why, and were sending it up to the escalation department, which I should hear back from within 24 hours or so. I NEVER heard back from them (again).


This ends up pretty much being the cycle that I went through for about the next week and a half. I would check on my first order each day online... the status during this time NEVER changed... the items that I requested to be canceled were still 'pending' the entire time, no status change... this order never shipped, in full or in part... it was just hanging there in limbo.

Every day or two, I would call up customer service to see what was going on (so there was probably at least 4 or 5 occasions, if not more, of me calling them and checking on this AFTER this cancellation problem started up.... so that's not even including the couple of calls that I made before this was specifically the issue). Each time I would call, I talked to someone different, so I would have to explain the WHOLE story to them each time about the address information not showing up (which at this point was no longer the issue), to what I was trying to do in canceling the items and placing the new order, and that I was trying to find out why the items never fully canceled. Each time, they basically said there was nothing that they could directly do, and it would get send it up to the escalation department... which they said I would hear back from within 24 hours, but then I would get no call (and I made sure each time that they had my proper phone number).

At one point I think I even talked to a supervisor, who gave me the same escalation department shpeel again, only for it to wield no results.



Finally what happened was this.... after this crap was going on for so long, I had posted here on he-man.org about it. Some people were mentioning how they had actually been in contact with people on this escalation department, and that the people there were actually very helpful once you get to that point. Well, I was anxious to get through, but I never did get a call back, so I explained the ordeal that I was going through and asked if someone could give me some kind of contact info to get through to one of these people so that I could hopefully get this problem resolved.

Another forum member PMed me with an email address for one of these escalation department people.

That night (which was a Thursday, if I recall correctly, exactly 2 weeks since the figures first went on sale), I sat down and typed out a very long email... detailing everything that had happened, what I was trying to accomplish, and how I had been told repeatedly that I would get a call back, but never did... etc.

The next day, Friday, after I got home from work, I almost crapped myself to find a message on my answering machine from someone who could actually help me! It was a different person than the one I had emailed, so I'm not sure if it was the email that caused this or if one of the requests from one of my many previous phone calls that resulted in this (I'm assuming its the email since even though it wasn't the same person, the person that I did email could have simply referred it over to her, but I'm still not sure).

At any rate, she left a call back number and extension to get ahold of her, and said that what she would have to do is completely cancel that original order, and that she could actually place a new order for the Teelas.

I wasn't able to call her back until Monday (I tried on Friday, but by the time I got the message, they were closed for the day). But when I did, she was VERY helpful! She said that the attempt to cancel the other items from the first order caused it to get hung up in the system (so, in a sense, if I had just let the address fix go through and didn't ask for any items to be canceled, a large part of this mess probably wouldn't have happened, BUT I had NO WAY of knowing that at the time this all started, and the rep that I originally talked to made it sound like canceling was no big deal at all).

I asked her if she was really able to put in an order for the Teelas since they were sold out, and she said yes because they keep a small amount aside for customer service and replacement issues (plus, when you think about it, technically 3 Teelas were allocated to my original order, which never shipped out), and people like herself have the ability to bypass the system or whatever to generate an order. She entered the order, the 3 Teelas were shipped and charged accordingly, and FINALLY, after 2+ weeks of frustration and crap, I was able to relax as all of the figures were on their way (I think at this point I may have already received the Rays and Zodaks).




So, there really seems to be a few problems here. For one, getting the info from the initial customer service rep to this escalation department doesn't seem to be going as well as it should (or something it happening that is causing a communication breakdown).

Also, the initial customer service reps don't really have enough power to actually do anything to resolve problems. They are basically just information drones. They will tell you the same thing that you can see by looking up your order online, and any information beyond that they either can't tell you or have to refer it to some other department who will call you back but never actually does. Frankly, when I call up customer service, the person that I talk to there should have the ability to bypass the system and create a replacement order after something is "sold out" online for an order that is hung up or having problems that stock was clearly allocated to in the first place. I can understand them saying "no" to putting in an order for someone who simply missed out on placing an order when things went online, but since they are CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES.... I think they should have the ability to do things like PROVIDE CUSTOMER SERVICE.

With very few exceptions, the extent of what they can do is just overly limited. They really need to be able to do more to actually help people who are having issues with their orders.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEPARATE ISSUE

Getting charged Tax:

I live in Illinois, and for the past couple of months (I believe it started in November) I've been getting charged tax on my orders.

I never did call up customer service directly regarding this, but I know others who have and have gotten no where as to a response on why we are getting charged tax.

I haven't bothered to call myself because I figure I won't get anywhere on the matter.

I'm not aware of any new IL laws that require taxed to be charged, and the only time that tax is normally charged is if the company in question has a physical presence (like a store or an office) in the state that the order is being charged to. I'm not aware of Digital River or Mattel having a specific physical presence here (and I'm not sure which of these two companies the physical-presence tax law would apply to... I assume Mattel since I'm technically buying the figures from them, and DR is just fulfilling them).

Basically what I want to know is whether or not I really should be getting charged tax, and if so, why (meaning what is the specific law/reason why the tax is being charged).

If I truly am supposed to be charged tax by law on these orders, that's fine, but I want to make sure that I'm being charged tax because I'm really supposed to be (and I'd like the understand the basis as to WHY I am supposed to be), and not because Digital River has screwed something up for the 9 millionth time.

I think that it would be nice if a list could be compiled of the states that get charged tax for Matty Collector orders and the reasoning as to why. It would make it easier for us to understand why were are being taxed and to identify if/when someone is getting charged tax and shouldn't be.

[Artistix]

I am in Australia & wanted to use the fastest shipping option for my subscription so I was not waiting several weeks for Adora.

3 times I tried to put the order through using the express post option which was $45, & each time when I got to the end of the ordering process I was told I had selected the $10 slow shipping.

Not happy. Not happy at all.

[boricua11220]

I had my credit card stolen and was isued a new one with a differrent number I called d.r. and they said they couldn't change info but I used the other card for my sub and I'm afraid they will cancel my subscibtion

[vancak]

I live in Illinois, and when I started getting charged tax in November, I contacted DR and was refunded the tax.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SEPARATE ISSUE

Getting charged Tax:

I live in Illinois, and for the past couple of months (I believe it started in November) I've been getting charged tax on my orders.

I never did call up customer service directly regarding this, but I know others who have and have gotten no where as to a response on why we are getting charged tax.

I haven't bothered to call myself because I figure I won't get anywhere on the matter.

I'm not aware of any new IL laws that require taxed to be charged, and the only time that tax is normally charged is if the company in question has a physical presence (like a store or an office) in the state that the order is being charged to. I'm not aware of Digital River or Mattel having a specific physical presence here (and I'm not sure which of these two companies the physical-presence tax law would apply to... I assume Mattel since I'm technically buying the figures from them, and DR is just fulfilling them).

Basically what I want to know is whether or not I really should be getting charged tax, and if so, why (meaning what is the specific law/reason why the tax is being charged).

If I truly am supposed to be charged tax by law on these orders, that's fine, but I want to make sure that I'm being charged tax because I'm really supposed to be (and I'd like the understand the basis as to WHY I am supposed to be), and not because Digital River has screwed something up for the 9 millionth time.

I think that it would be nice if a list could be compiled of the states that get charged tax for Matty Collector orders and the reasoning as to why. It would make it easier for us to understand why were are being taxed and to identify if/when someone is getting charged tax and shouldn't be.[/QUOTE]

[Zordak]

Even after Toyguru said time and time again that subscriptions weren't canceled ..mine sure was. I contacted DR, all I got was a vague "we're working on it". Two days went by,contacted them again, by this time Teela was already sold out. They said it was a Mattel's problem, not theirs. Called a third time, this time they told me there was nothing they could do. Basically there was no way for them to reinstate my account...

[adol]

It took two months of runaround, phone calls, emails, and headaches just to get DR to update my shipping address. It took me contacting a supervisor to get it straightened out.

[demonicfirefly]

I changed my address 2 weeks ago and i went and checked the info on the website. It was wrong after i had to tell them 3 times on that phone call. So i had to call back and get them to fix it which they did. However i logged in this morning and they changed it back to the address which they input worng. waiting 30+ minutes so far on hold to try and get something fixed that was supposedly fixed 2 weeks ago.

Edit: a holur later and i finally got to tlak to a rep. hopefully the changes are correct this time.

[Rainboy]

I read through this thread, and think that mine may take the cake thus far for being the worst horror story with DR's customer service.

I ordered the subscription for the remainder of 2009. Before the sub began, I moved to a different address. I simply went on to Matty.com and updated my address, thinking that the figs would come to the new address. Once the first sub hit, it was sent to my old addy. I thought, no worries, I'll call them and make sure it's updated, and then go to the old address to pick it up. I got Webstor fine by making a trip to my old apt complex (thankfully), and when called DR, they told me it just takes a while for the change to go through. Well, I updated well over a month before the sub began, but whatever, maybe it was a fluke. Once the second figure, Teela, hit, I then again checked through UPS and the figure was shipped to my old addy. Went there, and they (the apt complex) claimed nobody by that name that signed worked at their facility. Making me think that the person who moved into my old apt signed for it, since sadly UPS does not have to have the name on the pkg for signature. I called DR/Matty, and again was informed they would update my address. I was told they would file a ticket to have Teela re-shipped to my new address.

So, here we were now in Nov. and yet again, Scareglow was being shipped to my old addy. I called DR/Matty and they told me the address is correct, and they couldn't figure out why it's being shipped to my old address continually. I requested, like I did for Teela, a replacement, to which another ticket was filed.

Finally, Randor comes along, and to my surprise he was shipped to my current address. Shortly after receiving him I contacted DR again to check that status of my replacement figures. They said it should be 72 hrs before I hear something back. Waited almost a week and never heard anything. I called again. This time, I requested a refund since nothing was being done about replacing the figs. They said (again) that after 72 hrs I would receive notification of my refund via email....72 hrs came and went, nothing had happened. I called and spoke with a supervisor this time. Now, I had 3 subscroptions purchased. After getting a mgr to understand what was happening, he decided to refund the amt for the two monthly figures (x3 subs). However, it took nearly 20 minutes to explain to him that I had 3 subs and thus (with shipping) should have been refunded roughly $70 x2 monthly figures I didn't get.

Each time I called, I had to spend a minimum of ten minutes (no joke) explaining myself and the situation. It's very easy to understand....I ordered a sub, I moved, it therefore needs to be changed to my new address. Simple. Easy. So tell me why this was so hard for these reps to understand this? Part of customer service is understanding and resolving customers concerns. These are skills that the reps at DR apparently lack. I mean no disrespect towards the reps as people, but they have clearly hired the wrong folks to work in the customer service industry. I've never experienced such poor problem solving skills through customer service in my entire life. Even the manager I spoke to seemed to have a hard time resolving my issue.

Something needs to change. Simply because of this whole fiasco I ended up cancelling my 2010 sub. These figures became nothing more than a huge headache.

[Gimporama]

I don't get a listing on my Matty order pages for my monthly subscription until after the 21st for the last 3 subscriptions. This means all my subs have shipped late.

I assume it's because I changed my credit card details.

I have emailed Mattycollector multiple times asking why I don't have a listing for my sub yet and all I get is a return email with a copy of the original subsciption.

Why have an email service when they do not have the ability to resolve issues?

I don't have a listing for Adora this month so I will have to pay up and call the U.S to find out why my subs are always late.

[Slayor]

I needed to update the credit card info for my 2010 sub, so I called DR last week. I was told that I had to change the default card on my account online, so I did. Guess which card was charged this month? The wrong one. So now my account is over the limit. Is DR planning on paying the over limit fee on my card?

[kalel0201]

This is a message I have sent you and am reposting just in case you dont get to it. Thank You for any help you can give me


Hi
I am kinda a loss of what to do. So I thought I would try you. I know that your super busy and probably have a million messages to go through...thought I'd give it a shot anyhow. I never complain on these boards and am not one to get all fired up over little things. I am already out of 120.00 and four figures because of this problem.I am really frustrated with Mattycollector/ Digital River. Let me start from the beginning.
A month before Tri-clops was released I decided to leave my current address and move. I have the very first subscription offered that lasts till December 2009. So I called Digital River and told them of my address change thus giving them a month advance. I wanted my figure and am aware sometimes it takes time to change the info so I did so to prevent any issues. I also had to change the billing address on my credit card, so they had to be made aware in order to get the payment. Somehow, they managed to change the billing address to charge my card but not the address to ship my purchase. Tri-clops was then shipped to an address I no longer resided at and my item has never gotten to me. This had been repeated since then with many calls to change my address to no avail. I continue to be charged and not sent my items despite the many promises that the address has been changed. I even get shipping confirmations with my correct address and UPS is still getting the incorrect information. UPS will not do anything about it because the are shipping to the address given to them. I have been patient Toyguru but I really can't afford to pay MAtty my money to ship my items to someone else. I am considering cancelling my year long subscription. I am a loyal customer and would purchase the subscriptions till the end of this line.....but as is, I am getting nothing and being charged for it. I have contacted Matty yet again and asked for a refund or preferably the actual figures! I never got Tri-clops, Webstor, Teela or Scareglow! I'm very saddened that the awakening of my favorite toy line has been marred by this experience. I hope that you can do something to help me....[/QUOTE]

Response from ToyGuru:
If you provide your order number I can follow up.[/QUOTE]

My current as of 1/20/2010
HI, I know its been awhile but I tried following up with Digital River who sent me information that they were tracking the package. Haven't heard from them since. They keep putting the responsibility onto UPS whose fault it is not because pretty much, they were delivered to the address provided by Digital River....which unfortunately is to somebody else. I had decided that I was soo frustrated with this that I was actually gonna let it go as long as continued to receive my figures from here on. I am apparently am not. First subscription figure of the New Year, Adora, which by the way is the main reason I got the subscription because I knew she'd sell out fast, and they are sending it to my old address yet again. Another 30 dollars to have it sent somewhere I dont live, to give to somebody else who happens to decide to swoop it up. I am extremely upset. Im posting this in the complaint section as well just in case you dont see it. The order numbers for the past missing figures are 8712894400,7407326412,8758849200 and the Adora one is 6080297214. I really need your help. Thanks

[Hoosfn]

This is a message I have sent you and am reposting just in case you dont get to it. Thank You for any help you can give me


Hi
I am kinda a loss of what to do. So I thought I would try you. I know that your super busy and probably have a million messages to go through...thought I'd give it a shot anyhow. I never complain on these boards and am not one to get all fired up over little things. I am already out of 120.00 and four figures because of this problem.I am really frustrated with Mattycollector/ Digital River. Let me start from the beginning.
A month before Tri-clops was released I decided to leave my current address and move. I have the very first subscription offered that lasts till December 2009. So I called Digital River and told them of my address change thus giving them a month advance. I wanted my figure and am aware sometimes it takes time to change the info so I did so to prevent any issues. I also had to change the billing address on my credit card, so they had to be made aware in order to get the payment. Somehow, they managed to change the billing address to charge my card but not the address to ship my purchase. Tri-clops was then shipped to an address I no longer resided at and my item has never gotten to me. This had been repeated since then with many calls to change my address to no avail. I continue to be charged and not sent my items despite the many promises that the address has been changed. I even get shipping confirmations with my correct address and UPS is still getting the incorrect information. UPS will not do anything about it because the are shipping to the address given to them. I have been patient Toyguru but I really can't afford to pay MAtty my money to ship my items to someone else. I am considering cancelling my year long subscription. I am a loyal customer and would purchase the subscriptions till the end of this line.....but as is, I am getting nothing and being charged for it. I have contacted Matty yet again and asked for a refund or preferably the actual figures! I never got Tri-clops, Webstor, Teela or Scareglow! I'm very saddened that the awakening of my favorite toy line has been marred by this experience. I hope that you can do something to help me....

Response from ToyGuru:
If you provide your order number I can follow up.[/QUOTE]

My current as of 1/20/2010
HI, I know its been awhile but I tried following up with Digital River who sent me information that they were tracking the package. Haven't heard from them since. They keep putting the responsibility onto UPS whose fault it is not because pretty much, they were delivered to the address provided by Digital River....which unfortunately is to somebody else. I had decided that I was soo frustrated with this that I was actually gonna let it go as long as continued to receive my figures from here on. I am apparently am not. First subscription figure of the New Year, Adora, which by the way is the main reason I got the subscription because I knew she'd sell out fast, and they are sending it to my old address yet again. Another 30 dollars to have it sent somewhere I dont live, to give to somebody else who happens to decide to swoop it up. I am extremely upset. Im posting this in the complaint section as well just in case you dont see it. The order numbers for the past missing figures are 8712894400,7407326412,8758849200 and the Adora one is 6080297214. I really need your help. Thanks[/QUOTE]


I feel your pain as the same thing happened to me and I updated my info over 2 months before she came out and they said I was good to go. I called them today they told me to go outside and check again. No wonder why everyone wants out of their subscription

[Khror]

I don’t know if this can be considered as an issue or not since according to Digital river, this is normal :

The fact is that after receiving my Adora figure (2010 subscription january figure), I sent an email to DR to change the shipping method of my 2010 subscription.
The answer from DR was :

We have received your request to change the method for shipment of
your order. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so. Your order was
processed for shipment immediately upon completion of your order, and no changes were able to be made to this or future orders on the subscription.

The problem is that now, because of my mistake (wrong shipping method : "UPS International" instead of "International Post") now I have to pay a taxe for all the figures that will be delivered.
And I will pay more than 65$ for each shippment!

I find totally ridiculous the shipping method can’t be changed for the other 11 figures.
I will have to pay 11 * 65 = 715 extra USD for my 2010 Subscription simply because it’s impossible to change a shipping method!?



When will this be changed?
When will it be possible to change the shipping method?

[super-munkyboy]

In August 2009 my credit was stolen.

I called Matty and asked them if my 2009 sub would be ok. I was told as long as y new card was the Default on the system, my sub would be fine. I deleted all traces of my old card and the only card was new one.

Sub 2009 failed and I was given no reason why. After 5 calls, each upgrading my state of frustration, I managed to get a new sub and that was only by accident.

Sub 2010 - In December I rang DR and got the same answer, that my default card would be shipped (I bought my 2010 with my old card which was stolen). As Adora comes round I get a confirmation email to tell me all is well and shipped. Imagine my surprise to get an email on 23rd of January telling Sub Order 7210291012 has been cancelled and my Adora has been returned.

So now what? I've rung Digital River and awaiting billing to get back to me.

Will i still get Wun-Dar and the map? I paid for that in advance. Or have DR & Matty taken the money for that and I'll get no refund?

[Grayskull]

The card I have on file expires next month. So, I called DR about it, and I've been told that the new card I added will be charged for the sub as per my request.

...we'll see next month.

EDIT: They canceled my subscription! What do I do now?

[SirBushnell]

The card I have on file expires next month. So, I called DR about it, and I've been told that the new card I added will be charged for the sub as per my request.

...we'll see next month.

EDIT: They canceled my subscription! What do I do now?

Nothing. Because it sounds to me like the timing is merely coincidental... between you updating your card info and later receiving what I presume to be a cancellation notice via email. If so, it's almost certainly the bizarre notification that everyone received today from DR - telling us all that our subs were cancelled. It's actually just their system pulling the plug on the 2009 subscription - which is of course finished.

So check the email again and you should see it dated December 15th, 2009, and refer to the 2009 subscription. Not 2010. There's a thread about it here on the .org, and Matty made a post on Facebook about it, too.

[nightcraw]

I live in California and I am being charged sales tax for my orders. I notice all my orders for MOTU (since I first ordered in Oct, 2009) charged the sales tax on the shipping as well. While my My earlier DCUC orders did not. I never had an on-line store charging sales tax for shipping before. We are already paying the same for much less shipping (consider we are so close and it's flat rate shipping) then I end up paying more than people who live on the east coast.
I sent a message to Custom Service, let see what they will say.

[He-Ryno]

Well....todays transaction was as smooth as can be. It was so smooth that I am actually surprised that I have not received shipping confirmation. Oh well...I bet it ships like tomorrow and I get ol Skelly by Monday

Good job on steppin it up.............so far

[HE-Fan78]

I had a problem with one of my Adora figures, so I called today to return the figure and request a refund. So far the process went smoothly, got an email confirming my request, we'll see how it progresses. My concern is why Matty is not willing to pay shipping charges back to them. After all, most major retailers like Hasbro Toy Shop do.

[Slayor]

The card I have on file expires next month. So, I called DR about it, and I've been told that the new card I added will be charged for the sub as per my request.

Yeah, good luck with that! They told me the same thing and charged the old card that wasn't supposed to be on file anymore.

[nightcraw]

Here is the update regarding my sales tax questions to Digital River.

Thank you for contacting the MattyCollector.com online store.

The charge that you are referring to is the sales tax for the purchase.

Applicable sales tax is automatically computed on both product(s) and
shipping costs.

... parts regarding digital products not related to MOTU removed ...

Any physical products sold into the European Union include a VAT charge.
However, the VAT rate, and hence the total price, may alter once your
shipping destination has been selected.

For customers from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland,
Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and UK the national VAT rate will be
applied. For all other EU customers, the UK VAT rate of 15.0% will be
applied. A VAT invoice can be viewed and printed at the end of your
purchase. (NOTE: If your product is being delivered outside of the EU,
you will not be charged VAT once you have entered your payment
information.)

I still don't understand this. I never had a on-line retailer charge tax on shipping (besides this one of course). Why is Mattel choose to work with company like this. I guess I should feel lucky only paying close to $1 extra on tax as long as I choose the cheapest method of delivery. According to this many of the international buyer will end up paying VAT close if not more than $20. Why would any international user buy direct from MattyCollector.com? I would think it cost less for them to buy from eBay even if they paid $30~35 a figure. the shipping will end up cheaper and guaranteed delivery

[EuroCoin]

Why would any international user buy direct from MattyCollector.com? I would think it cost less for them to buy from eBay even if they paid $30~35 a figure. the shipping will end up cheaper and guaranteed delivery

I can only speak about how things are in the EU, since that is where I live. In the EU, countries charge VAT from almost all good and services. DR/Mattel/Mattycollector cannot charge/collect the VAT (unless bought product can be classified as a digital/downloadable product), it is job for our own local customs offices when item(s) enter our country. Also items that are valued under certain limit are not charged with VAT. One regular figure plus cheap shipping ($20+$9.95) is in most cases just below that limit (there are also countries with higher limits). For example, here in Finland, the limit is 45.45€ (because of administrative reasons), which is about $60, so I can buy two figures without any extra costs (with some luck maybe even three figures).

- Joni -

[SirBushnell]

Yeah, that statement is completely bogus. I checked with UK customs and it is completely illegal for any foreign company (outside the EU) to collect any V.A.T. or customs charges - which would be due upon entering the country, never before - on their behalf. Even if DR collected these fees prior to shipment, they wouldn't be able to forward them to the correct place, and you would still be taxed (again) upon receipt of the items in your country.

On top of that, as has already been pointed out, there is a limit for imports under which any V.A.T. is waived... with an even higher limit for customs duty. For the UK, the lower limit for retail products is 18 pounds (about $28), and shipping is not factored into this equation. Hence, most single figure shipments are exempt from paying any charges.

So there's no way in the world that DR can legally do what has just been claimed.