FunPub are now refunding overcharged shipping amounts

[griffin]

After a fair bit of chasing up on my part, including cornering a few staff members at BotCon, I was finally able to get them to admit that they do recheck the amounts paid for shipping, after an item is shipped (which is why someone here was re-charged $10 when they were under-quoted).

The Club store has to estimate shipping, which is fair enough, but us foreigners were getting a bit of a raw deal, with over-estimates being anywhere up to $80.
And that was the problem - why were they chasing after people for an extra $10, but not refund people who were being over-charged up to $80 on their orders, if it was clear that they were rechecking everyone's orders after they were shipped (to make sure postage wasn't coming out of their pockets).

So when one of the senior FunPub people were asking me about the upcoming Subscription Service (the six new figures for next year), I told her that people outside of America might be hesitant, based on how much they get over-charged for shipping by FunPub. She didn't know what I meant at first, so I had to explain the situation.
To prove my point, I brought with me the last two invoices from them, and an actual shipping label showing the $71 difference.

Last week they issued a refund for the last two orders, and said this:

You are welcome to post on your blog that members of the TF Club are reminded to check shipping charges. TF Club tries to catch any under or over charges, but are aware that several slip through. We are happy to look into any overcharges that might have occurred with our members when placing an order. Please remind customers to read our Order Terms and Conditions and that contacting us within 30 days from receipt would also be helpful if errors have occurred in shipping cost.

So, in future, if you are ordering from the Club Store, check the actual shipping amount when the order arrives, and ask them if a refund is warranted if it is more than a few dollars over (to allow for a handling fee).
But don't leave it too long though.
Chase up any overcharges that you recorded in the last 12 months, and then keep an eye on future shipments (until such time that they use a shipping method that doesn't show the actual postage cost - like online stores like BBTS).

Here's hoping that they start being proactive on the refunds in future, especially with a lot more toys being released, and more shipments coming to members.... because the claim is there, that they check and refund, but none of my orders ever had a refund, and I've had a few hundred dollars of over-charges in my 7 years with the Club.

They only refunded over-charges from the last two orders, but they have the rest on file, so could have easily looked them up at the same time... but I won't bother chasing them up, as half the stuff I order is for other people, so only getting half the money back from FunPub means I won't be profiting off fellow fans I bought stuff for.

[iceburn]

My Botcon items arrived and shipping charged was about US$55+ (not inclusive of the US$6 admin charge). The invoice shown for the actual shipping is about US$58 so I think mine is fine...

[primatives]

I have a question does it really cost them $55 to ship these out? Its extremely excessive and we all know it cost much less to get items from the US to ship over here.

They may or may not be making money off international fans from overcharging for shipping rates, I'd say there are fans out there that won't agree to fork out that much, knowing that they are being ripped off. But if Fun Pub were to charge much more reasonable rates then I'd say more would be willing to join for their figures, would you guys agree?

I'd really like to see all the international TF fans band together and create a thread or something to ask them why, it'd be nice to get an answer.

At the same time there may be reasons why it cost that much and we just don't know. In the mean time I'm very grateful to all those that offer the time and effort to do group orders so we don't miss out.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I have a question does it really cost them $55 to ship these out? .

Yes, it appears it does.

My Botcon items arrived and shipping charged was about US$55+ (not inclusive of the US$6 admin charge). The invoice shown for the actual shipping is about US$58 so I think mine is fine...

Usually on the Botcon Box sets, the shipping is about right. Last year I think I paid $40US shipping and it cost $55us for them to post it. Big boxes (as the box sets are usually big and on some express shipping) do cost a fair bit to come from the US.

Gonna have to dig though the orders I have done over the years now and check up. The last two should be easy enough though. Hmmm. Would have been nice if they had done it themselves though, you know, show a bit of that thing we call integrity....

[canofwhoopass_87]

I don't buy any of that. If they can check shipping receipts and chase up $10 from underpaying international buyers, then they can refund excess shipping. Being overcharged $80 is ridiculous.

They're fully staffed and can easily use the usps online shipping estimator to charge people the correct amount. funpub has no workable system and is completely scattered.

Don't know how anyone can put up with them. If I was keen on their figures I'd just pay inflated ebay prices.

Their whole "You are welcome to post on your blog that members of the TF Club are reminded to check shipping charges" approach is a pretty crappy attempt at appeasing international buyers as well. I'm sure they've been aware of the negativity surrounding this issue for quite some time - but it's good to see they've opened their eyes up about it.

Although it did take a crazed man with a stick and a couple of old invoices cornering them at a convention...

[5FDP]

I'm surprised that these people are still in business after the last 12 months they've had. Never been a member, never will be a member.

[Gutsman Heavy]

Yeah, I won't be renewing my sub. Due to the card fraud thing I did score my membership for free though so not all bad