Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

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Noddy
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Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by Noddy »

Have had good service from Hobby Search / 1999 but I have to say their policies leave a bit to be desired. It may be a regional or cultural difference but some of their language is a bit almost threatening and maybe doesn't translate perfectly and, honestly, it's kind of irritating.

Example: placed a pre-order months ago for a future release. Been long enough that I had just about forgotten about the item. Last week there was an email which said that the model is delayed, no idea of delivery date. Decided that the time for that project has passed and I'm no longer interested in the kit. There is no way to cancel a pre-order through the order status page so I emailed them to cancel it. Days later I get an email in response saying that they will make a one-time exception to their policy and cancel this order but that if I cancel anything in the future I will be charged 10% of the price of the item and some other threatening language.

I understand that merchants, particularly smaller ones which doesn't apply here, need to be able to order accurate quantities and do some forecasting and so on but you can't "force" a customer to stay committed to an order that you have no idea if / when you'll be able to deliver the item. We are not talking about something custom made or anything!

My issue with this is that no credit card company in this country, and almost certainly anywhere in the world, will permit a merchant to operate in this manner. You can not be charged a "punishment fee" for canceling an item that the merchant can't immediately deliver and can't even provide a delivery date on. Flat-out NO - it's a violation of their credit card agreement. You also, obviously, can't be forced to stay locked in to an order that you've changed your mind about.

In my part of the world we may be a bit spoiled as our return policies and sales terms are generally pretty liberal and heavily slanted towards the consumer. Having said that we are now well into a global economy driven by the internet and there are many, many other choices besides 1999 and I'll probably not be placing any more pre-orders with them.
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Roncla
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Re: Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by Roncla »

It was Hobby Search that had a staff member fraudulently using customers credit cards some years back now wasn't it.
I remember i missed getting caught up in that by only a couple of days but ever since I prefer to only deal with businesses that take Paypal
I only deal with HLJ when purchasing from Japan and paying by PayPal I've never had an issue of any kind even with back orders.
With HLJ being an american run company in Japan you don't get any issues with language and culture.
At least there are plenty of other online retailers to choose from if one companies business practices aren't to our liking.
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Re: Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by bossy122 »

It used to be common practice to get a 10% deposit on pre ordered/ reserved items, so it's not that out of the ordinary....

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Re: Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by jaydar »

I used to order about equal amounts from Hobby Search and Hobby Link Japan. Now with the creation of the Private Warehouse at Hobby Link, my purchases are almost exclusively from HLJ, including MFH 1/12 kits. It really cuts down on shipping costs.

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Re: Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by CTurbert »

In addition to HLJ, plazajapan.com is also a good, reliable retailer. They also take paypal.


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Noddy
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Re: Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by Noddy »

Roncla wrote:I prefer to only deal with businesses that take Paypal
At least there are plenty of other online retailers to choose from if one companies business practices aren't to our liking.
1999 does take Paypal - I have my account setup so that even on pre-orders they have to ask for the payment to be sent precisely so that they can't bang my credit card whenever they feel like it.
bossy122 wrote:It used to be common practice to get a 10% deposit on pre ordered/ reserved items, so it's not that out of the ordinary....
No deposit was asked for and that wasn't part of my remarks about them. Whether it is out of the ordinary or not is debatable. No web merchant accepting MasterCard or Visa can accept payment in full or a deposit without giving the option to cancel the order when no delivery date can be arranged without violating the terms of the agreement with the card companies.
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Re: Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by SteveNoble »

Always had good service and polite responses from 1999 HSearch. I use them, Hlj, Spotmodel and Mediamix most of the time..
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Re: Hobby Search / 1999.co.jp

Post by Noddy »

SteveNoble wrote:Always had good service and polite responses from 1999 HSearch. I use them, Hlj, Spotmodel and Mediamix most of the time..
Yup. First words in my post were "Have had good service from Hobby Search / 1999".
Their "service" isn't really in question but when a retailer starts threatening you with a 10% cancellation fee on an item that they can't even give a guess on as far as delivery date it is time to say something.

I may well continue using them - just not for something that I can get elsewhere and certainly not for anything that is not sitting in their inventory when the order is placed.
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