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Posted: 01.30.2003
The perils of being a geek
Kristine linked to the ThinkGeek Valentine's collection -- and this cute shirt. I really want this tank top, too, but I'm very wary of ordering from them again. I've placed four orders with them in the past six months. This is how they've went.

  1. Birthday gift order never arrived at its final destination. (That happens.) Two months later, they finally made right and reshipped the item.
  2. Ordered a t-shirt for myself, and a gift for someone else. Had it all shipped to my house first this time. Navy t-shirt arrived with bleach-spots on it. Didn't bother trying to replace it so quickly after the last order being such a pain. Gift items in the shipment were ok.
  3. Sent a gift order to Arizona for Christmas, but no communication was included with the items to say who they were from. They had to play a guessing game in their blog. Nothing major, but a pain nonetheless.
  4. Ordered another gift item for Todd at Christmas. Placed the order a full three weeks before Christmas, mind you. Less than a week before Christmas, after e-mailing them at least every other day -- with no response -- wondering why my order was still stuck in the "processing" stage, I was sent a customer service reply that the order had been cancelled due to being stuck in the processing stage for so long. No explanation other than that. The note apologized for the inconvenience and noted I was welcome to place the order once again. When I wrote to complain, and noted it was now less than a week before Christmas, I was out a gift, and there was no possible way they could ship it on time without offering me free-overnight for my trouble -- I never received another reply.
Am I the only one who's had trouble with ThinkGeek? I love their merchandise. But three out of four orders had what I consider to be major problems -- and the fourth had a minor problem. And trying to contact their customer service by e-mail or phone has proven more difficult than contacting Amazon's. That's saying a lot. It appears ThinkGeek isn't the only company giving geeks trouble lately, though...


UPDATE: Yet another screwed up order in April 2003...



Hey boy take a look at me...let me dirty up your mind...



I ordered the stickers and license plate frame for the new car and received them rather quickly. No problems.

¤ ¤ credit: Sekimori | 01.30.03 at 06:52 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

It's the clothing I've had the major problems with -- nothing like stickers. It seems like every problem order has centered around one of their shirts.

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 01.30.03 at 06:54 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

I've ordered a bunch of the caffeinated beverages and some clothing and have never had a problem. Even an exchange that went fine. I'm sure I'll get screwed when it really matters though. Such is life.

¤ ¤ credit: chandra | 01.30.03 at 08:37 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Wow, what a bad record! I ordered a mug and stuffed animal for E at Christmas time and it came speedily and correct... but I haven't tried to order a shirt (yet). I'll be sure to let you know if they screw up!!!

¤ ¤ credit: kristine | 01.30.03 at 09:04 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

here are some funny-as-hell v-day cards a friend makes:

http://www.girleatsboy.com/vday/


¤ ¤ credit: osi | 01.30.03 at 09:29 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

I haven't had any problems either. THe orders I've made have all come through well. ONe order had a backordered item, but I got an e-mail message when they sent it a week later and it arrived fine.

Maybe it IS just the clothing. Second vendor?

CS

¤ ¤ credit: Captain Sunshine | 01.30.03 at 11:14 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

I haven't had a problem either, and I own half of their frustrations line. And when they ship to me, they ship out of country... *Shrugs*

¤ ¤ credit: Veshka | 01.31.03 at 12:15 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

Ok, I am officially cursed -- and getting that tank. It will be a fun science experiment! ;-) Thanks everyone!

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 01.31.03 at 12:19 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

We have ordered severals shirts, a blanket, a pillow, and a mini fridge and they all arrived okay. Of course, now I am worried that I just jinxed myself.

¤ ¤ credit: Camille | 01.31.03 at 08:26 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

I ordered MG a monkey hoody for Christmas. I paid the extra bucks to get it there by Christmas Eve (note, I ordered it on the 23rd). It arrived in time, but when I got it there was a hole in the arm. It took several days to clear the situation up. They are definately hard to get a hold of. I think i emailed them like a zillion times.

¤ ¤ credit: whistler | 01.31.03 at 08:27 AM | link--this ¤ ¤




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