Anyone had problems with Diecast Direct?

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Wed May 11, 2005 6:27 pm

I am, they seem to be ignoring my requests to cancel an order, a request I've made for the last 3 weeks! Re: IXO Raiden, didn't show up by the promise date etc so cancelled the order as they were already on ebay. Got charged for it yesterday.

Tshintl · Post by **Tshintl** » Wed May 11, 2005 8:12 pm

I ordered from them once and didn't have a problem. If they're ignoring your request to cancel an order and you've tried to cancel it for a while, then I suggest calling your credit card company and they will reverse the charge.

hworth18 · Post by **hworth18** » Wed May 11, 2005 8:53 pm

The first 5 IXO planes are just now arriving at the US Retailers.. Onmark just got theirs today.. I am sure that if Diecast Direct charged your card, then they have arrived there also and are probably being shipped as we speak.. I would give them a few days and see if you get a shipping notice and go from there..

Mr. Football · Post by **Mr. Football** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:27 pm

I've had no problems with them, either.

OnWu · Post by **OnWu** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:45 pm

Do not call your cc company to remove the charge. There are several reasons why this is a bad idea:

1. Removing a charge causes a "score" to be generated on your record, as do other negative activities (like losing your card, etc.). Retailers have the ability to set screens to filter out any old or new customers that have achieved a certain score. By removing a charge, you'll unwittingly eliminate a large spectrum of merchants you may wish to do business with in the future. Instead, the card will be rejected during future checkouts at businesses around the globe.

2. The merchant will receive a hefty chargeback fee from the bank, usually on the order of $25. This guarantees one burnt bridge. Plus, a merchant can add this fee to the invoice and write the whole enchilada off to a professional collection agency which will lower a credit score and be a real hassle to fix.

3. Diecast Direct is the primary distributor in North America for IXO. Most retailers get their product from them. Their shipment came by boat. Any other pieces that are here already arrived by very expensive air freight.

The best call to make is to the folks who help make the hobby happen. And do your best to get things sorted out.

Mr. Football · Post by **Mr. Football** » Wed May 11, 2005 9:49 pm

I concur with the above. Call Diecast Direct and work it out with them before you contact your CC company. Diecast Direct is very reputable, I'm sure they'd rather deal with you rationally than incur a chargeback plus the fee.

WGP Klaus · Post by **WGP Klaus** » Thu May 12, 2005 5:12 am

Never had a problem with them the two times I've placed orders. I'm with Mr. Football, don't waste time emailing, call them directly as you're bound to get further, faster, that way.

Windspruce · Post by **Windspruce** » Thu May 12, 2005 5:37 am

I have ordered from Diecast Direct many times over the last two years and have never had a problem. Always received e-mails notifying me of the status of my order. Definitely give them a call.

Mike

OnWu · Post by **OnWu** » Thu May 12, 2005 6:08 am

Another great reason to never chargeback a credit card, this is an excerpt from the Hobby Link Japan policy section:

". . . Because we're committed to helping you, under no circumstances should you ever contact your credit card company or PayPal to dispute charges from HobbyLink Japan, particularly without contacting us first. We will solve all genuine customer service problems through refunds, reshipments, discounts or whatever else it takes to reach a fair solution to the problem, and that's our promise! But it's your job to tell us a problem has occurred. As such, not only will we vigorously contest any credit card "chargebacks" (refusals to pay) filed by customers or complaints with PayPal, but such customers may be blacklisted from using our service, meaning we will accept no further orders from them, ever. We also share information about blacklisted customers with other online merchants offering similar merchandise."

Sgt. Stryker · Post by **Sgt. Stryker** » Thu May 12, 2005 10:53 am

Diecast Direct is a good business.
However, there have been several Corgi items that arrived with a "fair" box (that is, defintely not "mint" because the box had a crumpled side or corner).

EnemyAce · Post by **EnemyAce** » Thu May 12, 2005 11:37 am

I've only had good experiences with them.

No offense, but it sounds like this is a problem of your making, not DD's. This is one of the deals you can get in when you decide to pre-order: someone else getting the thing first. If everyone could preorder what they wanted and then just cancel the order when they find it somewhere else sooner, dealers would be stuck with tons of unsold stuff, since most places will order the number of products according to how many pre-orders they have. If everyone behaves this way, they would just go out and make pre-orders at every online company they could find, and then cancel all of them except the first one to get the box from Hong Kong. That'd be real bad news all around and the end of pre-ordering as we know it.

Also, remember this: ebay will almost always have something before a dealer, if you're willing to pay. So if you really have to be the first kid on the block to have the first one, just play the ebay game, and don't ruin pre-ordering for the rest of us.

Again, no offense intended.

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:11 pm

EnemyAce wrote:I've only had good experiences with them.

No offense, but it sounds like this is a problem of your making, not DD's. This is one of the deals you can get in when you decide to pre-order: someone else getting the thing first. If everyone could preorder what they wanted and then just cancel the order when they find it somewhere else sooner, dealers would be stuck with tons of unsold stuff, since most places will order the number of products according to how many pre-orders they have. If everyone behaves this way, they would just go out and make pre-orders at every online company they could find, and then cancel all of them except the first one to get the box from Hong Kong. That'd be real bad news all around and the end of pre-ordering as we know it.

Also, remember this: ebay will almost always have something before a dealer, if you're willing to pay. So if you really have to be the first kid on the block to have the first one, just play the ebay game, and don't ruin pre-ordering for the rest of us.

Again, no offense intended.

Don't give me a speech as if I'm a child new to collecting. I doubt anything will be "ruined" for anyone. I've been collecting specifically toy planes and tanks for over 30 yrs to include model kits and gas planes. No stranger to the pre-order system. DD was running almost a month late on the release and it showed on ebay and cheaper...damn right I cancelled the order. And yes I do know to call before contacting the bank to report. I too am not a rooky in dealing with DD. This link was a simple question asking if anyone else had been having problems, not a request for a spanking. Please accept your 2 cents back. But thanks to all those whose intent was helpful suggestions and not a novel scolding. Rant secured, out.

bboc · Post by **bboc** » Thu May 12, 2005 4:27 pm

I've ordered about three times from Diecast Direct with no problems.

But let me tell you, after reading the Hobby Link message, I won't go near them. Their policy message starts off reasonably well, but after that it goes downhill fast.

Tshintl · Post by **Tshintl** » Thu May 12, 2005 6:38 pm

bboc wrote: But let me tell you, after reading the Hobby Link message, I won't go near them. Their policy message starts off reasonably well, but after that it goes downhill fast.

I agree, I'm very surprised they would state such a thing. With all the other online vendors to choose from (and there are plenty that could care less about their "black list"), I think I'll stick with ones that don't threaten their customers.

I can certainly see their overall point, but there could be a much better way to get their message across than threatening you. I'm very glad I got to read this. They won't get a cent from me.

Mr. Football · Post by **Mr. Football** » Thu May 12, 2005 6:59 pm

If you've ever run a business that shipped product overseas, you'd sympathize with Hobby Link Japan's policies.

The amount of fraud is astounding! People place orders then once they're shipped...cancel the order and dispute the charge once product is in hand. Lot's of BS that cannot be remedied by US Courts. A lot of which can be avoided by requiring that overseas customers use Paypal.

I totally agree with HLJ's tough stance.

WGP Klaus · Post by **WGP Klaus** » Thu May 12, 2005 7:57 pm

Regarding HLJ, they're OUTSTANDING!! service is bar none, among the top 4-5 online merchants I've dealt with in my 10-12 years of dealing with E-Companies. I wouldn't hesitate for a moment to deal with them, and they're overseas for me, so that tells quite alot about such a company. Mr Football hit the nail on the head, several companies years back had a rash of fraud pretaining to Paypal and CC chargebacks, and I fully understand and agree with their stance as well. I know early on with my internet dealings, one thing I often forgot, and that was I shouldn't rely primarily on email as a method of contact, but rather should call and speak with someone as that typically gets the ball rolling quicker than an email does. Regardless, just wanted to put HLJ in a good light given some peoples misgivings about their policies.

mikestanks · Post by **mikestanks** » Fri May 13, 2005 9:00 am

I have dealt extensively with Diecast Direct and HLJ. Absolutely no problems.

Mike

www.mikes-tanks.com

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Fri May 13, 2005 5:16 pm

Latest update is DD won't do anything till I can provide a name of who I spoke to...A) Initial email was to the company not an individual, B) when did call it was 3 wks ago, I've bloody slept since then, who the hell knows who I talked to, they said they'd process the cancellation, I apologized for the cancellation and they said no problem. This is nothing more than passing the buck. I've spent alot of money with them the last couple years...NO MORE!

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