Take your hard earned money elsewhere. (Copied and pasted from my Google review)
This review is based off my personal experience with ordering online for in-store pickup.
Here is the timeline of events:
09.22 - Placed an online order for in-store pickup at the Vaughan location. (My son and I collect Pokemon)
09.28 - 6 days later, I get an email from "ALEX" notifying me that one of the items I ordered is out of stock.
(I understand this can happen, but why was it almost a full week before anyone contacted me?)
ALEX says, "We are contacting you to ask how you would like to proceed with your order, whether that's to receive a full refund on your missing item(s) or something else."
("Something else"? This is the first of many vague responses you will get from 401 Games)
I respond asking for a little more clarification. "Are my choices a refund, or selecting an item that is of the same price?"
09.29 - The next day, "KEVIN" responds. "For the missing item, you may either have it refunded in full, replaced with either an item of lesser value (We would refund the difference), something of equal value for simplicity or something of greater value (we would invoice you the difference)."
(Great, I pick out 3 replacement items equal to the value of the item that was out of stock. Easy, right?)
I get a response back from "CHRISTIAN". (If you are counting, this is the 3rd different person to respond)
CHRISTIAN says, "Please make another order with the location set to Downtown pickup and we can have these orders combined for you." (Huh?)
Confused, I reply: "Sorry, I'm trying to understand the process. Do you want me to spend more money to place an order for these 3 replacement items?"
(At this point, I'm wondering how this 401 Games operation works. Are there just a million employees taking turns answering customer concerns, having no context?)
CHRISTIAN responds, claiming responsibility for the mistake: "Yes we can add these cards to your order. Im having them set up to our Vaughan location as our singles department is at our Downtown location."
(Great, back on the same page! It's Monday at this point, 1 week after I placed the original order. "Great, I can probably come pick this up on the weekend so that my son and I can rip Pokemon packs!")
I thank CHRISTIAN for the quick response and his help.
10.03 - Friday. 4 days have gone by without a response. The weekend is creeping up, so I send an email out to 401 Games asking the status as it would be great to pick up my order that weekend.
"POLLY" answers: "Apologies, we had some delay with the singles but we are going to be sending them up tomorrow."
(Employee #4 is on it now and says they will be there the next day, Saturday. I think? What does POLLY mean, are they sending them on Saturday or it'll be there on Saturday? I'm confused, but I know it's been 4 days since the previous email and it will be day 5 the next day, so it can't take this long to get my order ready, right?)
I thank POLLY for the update, and now my son and I are excited to finally pick up our order.
Saturday goes by with silence. I hear nothing.
10.05 - Sunday. I send an email asking if I can come pick up my order that day.
"RYAN F" now responds, "Once the singles arrive at our Vaughan location, you will receive an update in regards to them being available for pick up."
I don't know about you, faithful reader, but at this point I'm pretty fed up.
Here's what I know:
1) It shouldn't take 2 weeks to have an order ready for in-store pickup.
2) It shouldn't take 6 days to tell someone an item that was out of stock, even though it was in stock on the website.
3) 5 different employees should not be handling a customer concern for one person, and if they are, shouldn't the communication be better?
4) I have no idea if this is normal for this place but the whole operation just seems disorganized and disrespectful.
5) I am out of excuses for my son and I would rather spend the money at another business.
So there you have it. I requested a refund on Sunday.
In conclusion, shop at 401 Games if you want, but I never will again. read more