Southren Island.com

[Darc Galadriel]

hey guys i order three street fighter figures from them on the 26 of sept.orange trunks sagat.white bison,and evil ryu all of whon were in stock. i have sent them four emails and five phone calls and only once did i get somebody,i told him about the order and and that i have been tring to get in touch with them he says they moved warehouses and emails i told him you mean changed emails he says no moved! HOW DO YOU MOVE AN EMAIL. he just blows it off and says yeah sota is late with the figures it should be in a two weeks.i told him that they were instock items wihout and estimated shipping date like the series two exclusives have they show november for release.after i told him that he got kinda smart.i asked about a refund and he says they will refund all but eight dollarsWTF he says it for processing,then i asked to process what.i sent sota a email i have not heard back from them.it has been two and a half weeks since i talked to the guy.any body else experincing this too,or any helpful advice would be great.thanks for listening or reading.

[Scott]

I never ordered from them but I have been reading alot of horror stories about them all over the net lately. I would probably take the refund, eat the $8 and never do business with them again. Contatcting Sota is probably a good idea to, they may hook you up. I have read on other boards were people have said that Sota sent them free stuff for screw ups like this.

 

On a side note I think etailers should quit taking pre-orders on things. It never seems to work out right and 9 times out of 10 you end up hearing stories like this.

[JosephSI]

Just as an FYI. Street Fighter Figures have never hit the USA yet. Check out this link where Jerry from Sota (The Manufacturer) talks about this.

 

Link: http://www.banned/index.php?nam...iewtopic&t=8173

 

You need patience. It is not like SI is the manufacturer. They cannot make the toys or distribute them iof the manufacturer is delayed.

[JosephSI]

i asked about a refund and he says they will refund all but eight dollarsWTF he says it for processing,then i asked to process what.

This is a lie. As the owner of the company I can tell you that we give full refunds on any product that has not shipped. Not only that but we price match any competitor. Also we do not charge restocking fees or any other fee associated with refunds. We also do not charge any fee on returns for broken items or people who just change their mind.

 

This business is the way I and my employees eat. By spreading false rumors you make it hard for us to sell. The toy business is suffering as it is. Adding lies and deception on top of it only hurts the industry and innocent workers who are trying to make a living.

 

I must apoligize for being so harsh but I am passionate about my job. It is the life blood of my existence. I want to not only protect the name of the company but those workers who bust their butt every day trying to do their best.

 

If you have any concerns email me direct at jreiter@southernisland(avoidthespam) .com

[Jeff]

I don't know about any of the other stuff but they are out in the U.S.

 

http://adctalk.com/index.php?showtopic=1975401

[cyclonus77]

People need to relax. The ones that are in stores were air shipped in. The others are stuck in customs at the docks. BBTS and qwiksand collectibles havent received their orders yet. Go play a video game or something they will be here before you know it

[SUPERK]

Since NO ON-LINE STORES have these yet it is a little early to judge how they will be handled. Sota themselves endorse SI and they both frequently answer question and discuss all problems openly on another board. I personally have had a situation come up with them when they went thruogh some changes in the begining of having the store open. They have since replied to this and assured me that it will be fixed when the toys arrive. So wait and see before we start ranting about things that arent even in the makers of the toys control.

[Darc Galadriel]

i asked about a refund and he says they will refund all but eight dollarsWTF he says it for processing,then i asked to process what.

This is a lie. As the owner of the company I can tell you that we give full refunds on any product that has not shipped. Not only that but we price match any competitor. Also we do not charge restocking fees or any other fee associated with refunds. We also do not charge any fee on returns for broken items or people who just change their mind.

 

This business is the way I and my employees eat. By spreading false rumors you make it hard for us to sell. The toy business is suffering as it is. Adding lies and deception on top of it only hurts the industry and innocent workers who are trying to make a living.

 

I must apoligize for being so harsh but I am passionate about my job. It is the life blood of my existence. I want to not only protect the name of the company but those workers who bust their butt every day trying to do their best.

 

If you have any concerns email me direct at jreiter@southernisland(avoidthespam) .com

you do not know what you are talking about josephsi

 

 

Return Policy

Items must be returned within 30 days of receipt.

All products MUST be returned in their entirety, in the original condition and packaging, in saleable condition, without missing parts/pieces, and with the invoice.

Shipping and handling charges will not be refunded.

 

this was taken straight from southern island's return policies page at the southern island website.it is the only way to get a refund and it is clearly certain because you can never get anyone on the phone to talk to much less get you a refund.

street fighter toys are out in the us some people have found them at hot topic which is a us store.next the items were INSTOCK not preorders i never do preorders and instock means they are in the back of the store not delayed or not released .i know what i am talking about.so don't go calling me a liar, i never spread false rumors of such.just because southern island does not know how to operate. your whole email is incorrect,and the sad part about it is you know IT.

[infocussvt]

dude im pretty sure joseph knows what he is talking about, because as far as i know he owns the damn company.

 

i have called them numerous times and gotten a person everytime. the exclusives have never been listed as in stock. Al street fighter figures purchases up until the last wekk or so in the usa have been preorders. This is because other than Suncoast, hot topic, sam goody, FYE, and tower records who had theirs air shipped in, ALL of the Street fighter figs for the USA are stuck in customs.

 

Everybody seriously needs to calm the F--- down about these toys, you preordered them and you wil get them soon.

 

on another note southern island did move there warehouse like 2 weeks ago, and there email address was messed up because thye had to get a new server for there network form what joseph told me.

 

no need to bash a company that has done nothing wrong

[Jeff]

Well if you look here, no where does it say pre-order

 

http://www.southernisland.com/ProductInfo....uctid=SOTAEX101

 

As apposed to this series 2 figure that does say pre-order

 

http://www.southernisland.com/ProductInfo....?productid=5662

 

So seems like Darc has a point, and this isn't the first guy I have seen complain about thesee guys, not to mention he started this thread asking for advice, the owner of the store running on here calling him a liar doesnt seem to be the best way to conduct customer service.

[Andrew@SOTA]

OK, deep breath everyone!

 

Here's a quick story of the toy business:

 

Not all toys get to the US at the same time and not all get to distributors at the same time. Some stores pay to have toys air frieghted to the US and distribution centers in order to get their toys in first. Remember last year when Marvel Legends showed up at Wal-Marts nearly a month before anyone else had it?

 

Large stores can pay to get it to consumers faster. It happens. So please don't denigrate Southern Island as somehow trying to "rip you off". They want to send out you Street Fighter figure to you even more than you want it!

 

Just a little patience is required and I'm sure you'll all get a chance to get a hold of the figures, especially those that pre-ordered.

 

I'm Andrew@SOTA and I'll be Net Answer Man for today.

[Snout Spout]

The series 1 exclusives were always pre-orders. If you ever kept up with the news, you should had known that. The figures are still in customs, I think, which is beyond the control of SI or SOTA. I also ordered a month ago, I hate to wait, but I can also understand the situation. The real problem are those people here who propagate misinformation.

[Jeff]

Andrew,

 

I appreciate you coming over and talking to us, but I think a point is being missed here. Nobody is doubting that SI wants to have the stuff in stock or why its not in stock. I think the point Darc is making, and maybe he should be the one to respond but that no where on their site does it say pre-order or back order for those figures. If I happen to be joe blow placing an order for something that indicates is in stock then im gonna expect it to ship out in the next few days. If it clearly states pre-order or out of stock and I place the order anyway then I should be expected to wait patiently. I in particular don't pre-order cause almost always the retailers that can afford to pay for the faster shipping is gonna get it first and thats were Im gonna buy it from, but I think Darc is pissed cause he ordered those figures under the impression they were in stock and then when he tried to contact someone at SI about it has gotten alot of grief. Now to make it worse instead of the owner coming over here and tring to straighten what might be a mis-communication between one of his customers and one of his employees, he basically called the customer a liar. Ive worked enough retail myself to no thats a major no no. Even if the customer is wrong you should never tell them they are a liar. Well thats how I see it and I hope the 2 parites can work things out.

[Jeff]

The series 1 exclusives were always pre-orders. If you ever kept up with the news, you should had known that. The figures are still in customs, I think, which is beyond the control of SI or SOTA. I also ordered a month ago, I hate to wait, but I can also understand the situation. The real problem are those people here who propagate misinformation.

Sorry I should have to read message boards and rumors to know something is not in stock instead of the site selling the product not clearly indicating wheather it is or isn't in stock????

[infocussvt]

actually at the time i ordered my exclusives(sept 17th) they were listed as a preorder. so yes they are not now but were at one point.

 

another note is that it definately does not say ANYWHERE that they were in stock......that was an assumption on his part.

[Psycho_JOhnny]

But what if the customer IS a liar ?

 

JOhnny

[Cloud]

So far of what I heard hear. It's just a mess. I might understand how come JosephSI is so anooyed about this but it would be better if he comes with a better explaination and ship out everything as soon as possible.

 

I was thinking of ordering an Evil Ryu fig on SI but...

guess I'll wait till I see the SF figs are out in stores

[Ledezman]

I'm not ordering any SF figures till they are in USA ground. I'm still wating for my SDCC Exclusive two-pack, but hey, I understand the delays, so it's just a matter of patience.

[infocussvt]

I suppose we will never know who is lying. However that should not effect behavior. I believe that it would have been more appropriate for JosephSI to say something like "I will check with my customer service reps to see what is going on", then if none provide a similar story he could have said "unfortunately none of my customer service reps recall having this conversation, but If you did have a bad experience with us I am deeply sorry and want you to know that your business is appreciated. I will ensure that my customer service reps follow our store policies and ensure you have the best experience shopping with us".

i think a lot of why joseph freaked out a little is that he IS the customer service rep. i think SI is a very small company and i have noticed that joseph does a lot of this himself, and out of the 20-30 times i have called them he has ALWAYS been the one to answer the phone so i assume its always him but not sure.

[JosephSI]

Exactly. We are a small company. We only have six employees. That being said we are larger than some manufacturers. I just am very protective of my staff since they are like family to me.

 

I also am protective of our customers and will do anything possible to make them happy. Good example is with Marvel Legends. So Toy Biz left us high and dry on Legends 6. What we did is issue checks (Which are going out this monday) and we are sending out an email to offer free $10 gift certificates. The thing is we are all collectors here. Just because a manufacture (Toy Biz) shafts us does not mean the customer should get hurt. As a matter of fact I personally called a ton of my competitors to try to get replacements at retail cost (meaning we would make no money but our customers would have their legends). Unfortunatly a ton of our competitors were left hanging by Toy Biz as well.

 

In short we only want what is best for you. I started this company with a kinda messed up dream. I wanted to open a factory in the US and make toys (I watched a lot of Charlie in the Chocolate Factory). First step reselling, then distribution, then manufacturing. A few of you know this year at Toy Fair in NY (February) we will be announcing our first line of toys we are manufacturing. So more than ever we want you the customers to be involved. We have already started on taking feedback on what makes a good figure. The first thing from this we implimented is 18 POA.

 

Wow.. I really got off topic. In short we want you to be happy and are willing to work with you to achieve this. If you ever have questions just email or AIM us. AIM is Custservsi.

[JayC]

I well I think Darc concerns have been addressed and the folks at SI are willing to help him out so im gonna lock this thread now.