The Little Toy Company feedback

[Ark-Ivor]

I was about to say that I received my MP BW Megs last January, then I remembered I got it from AmiAmi, sorry.

Until mid-August I would have said I was satisfied with TheLittleToyCompany's (TLTC) service, not happy, just satisfied. Their replies to clearly worded enquiries leave much to be desired.

I was coming on here to see if anyone was having any difficulties with the store... guess my question has been answered, some yes, some no.

I am posting this here because I really don't know where else would be appropriate, maybe it could help others.

Last December, I asked TLTC if there was any likelihood of any part of my orders being available to ship before Xmas, next thing I received a shipping notification that indicated all of my outstanding orders were included, of course I knew this couldn't be the case given several of them hadn't even been released at that point, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find a small part of my order in it when it arrived.

Since then they upgraded their site and I'd been unable to log into my account on TLTC's old system for a few months, and they never fixed the problem or even replied to me saying they were looking into it… Basically, they've completely ignored any queries I've made about the problem. And I had no problem browsing to their old site to login, it just refused to log me in.

In Mid-July they told me they were waiting on LG EX Big Powered before shipping my order out. In fact I'd asked for specific details about each of 14 individual items remaining to be supplied to me, and was told "We have majority of these items allocated to your orders. There are only a few more items to come into stock" (Their exact words copied & pasted). I assumed they'd misread my request for specifics, and enquired again, and a week later ALL I was told was "The last item is Big Powered due at the end of July". The only specifics in that reply were through omission.

From my order on their old website, I'm still waiting on:
MP-17+, MP-36+, MPM-06, MPM-07, LG EX Repug/Grotes, LG EX Big Powered, SS-18, SS-20, SS-36, WFC-S7, WFC-S8, WFC-S9, WFC-S11 & WFC-S13
Even without a calculator, anyone can see that's several thousand dollars' worth of Transformers.

Not receiving a shipping notice by mid-August, I enquired as to how long until my order was going to be shipped.
After the whole Premium Collectables debacle, which I'd already told them had made me a very uneasy online shopper, I apologetically stated that I would be making a chargeback on my orders in mid-October if I hadn't received my orders, or an updated shipping estimate by then (at the time of PremiumCollectables I didn't know that chargebacks were even a thing until long after the 3 month limit had expired ).
I feel it was not an unreasonable statement to make given that they'd given me no specific confirmation on having anything I'd ordered in stock and all I could be sure of was the 3 month chargeback deadline and their statement of the supposedly last item I'd pre-ordered arriving at "the end of July". I was very specific that all I was doing was reminding them of my rights and that I intended to uphold them, I even gave them two easy "outs" whereby I'd have no need to go through with it, I did not imply they were doing anything untoward, and assumed they may have had so many orders that mine was just way down the list.

Another week later I received an argumentative reply telling me that I hadn't paid for the postage yet, and a poorly worded reiteration of their shipping system. This was the first I knew about owing more postage (I believe that I understand their shipping system better than they do, given their reiteration), I had never been invoiced for any additional postage, and still haven't. I looked back at my orders and discovered that the postage I thought I had paid, they had spent when shipping me the part complete-order last December, a shipment I hadn't asked for, and which, according to their own shipping system, should not have been made until they had received all the items still on pre-order (i.e. "the end of July").
Just a few days before sending me that reply I'd pre-ordered MP-44 from them, another big-ticket Transformer, I hadn't ordered anything from them for months, they had no way to know if I'd ever order anything from them again, and they were just going to hold my order hostage until MP-44 came into stock in, longer in fact since I had only paid the third postage deposit on it, without ever volunteering why. On top of which they stated I was in error for not understanding their shipping system!?

I have since given them a third "out" by buying an in-stock MP-37 and paying the full shipping. That was 7 days ago (5 business days), and I still haven't received a shipping notification, or response other than an order confirmation and a generic auto-response saying they'd get back to me within 48 hours during business hours. I think 48 hours, even 48 business hours, is long up, which brings me here, commenting on their service.

I know that my queries and communications often lack brevity, this being a case in point, but I never sacrifice clarity.
Their responses makes me wonder if they have a legitimate excuse for not comprehending plain English. Are they dyslexic, or have some other medical condition that makes it difficult (there are more than twenty to choose from) or is English not their primary language perhaps, or maybe they're suffering some personal/family problem that means they can't devote much time to customer communications? If any of these is the case I abjectly apologise for my misreading of the situation and insensitivity toward their understanding of my queries, their poorly worded responses, and my public airing of my grievances against their company. Otherwise, they have no valid excuse for their poor communications skills, especially in a business situation.

I plan on only making two more orders from TheLittleToyCompany, primarily to complete the postage requirements for MP-44. After that, I will not be buying from them ever again, if it takes more than a week for them to ship an in stock item, my patronage obviously means little to nothing to them. However, if they don't resolve the current issue of my outstanding orders by Mid-October, I'm cancelling everything, including MP-37 & MP-44 and making a chargeback… I most certainly will not allow myself to be charged an unreasonable 10% restocking fee for items I have been given no proof or assurance were ever in stock, let alone items for which there is no provided evidence of them having been pre-ordered by TLTC in the first place.

After PremiumCollectables proved to me that the ACCC has no clout, that Australian State Consumer Protection is a joke, that the Australian Police are powerless against confidence tricksters, and that there is no way to enforce repayment of monies stolen within Australian Corporate Law/Small Claims Court, even though it can prove it was stolen, I will not be wasting my time with any of them again.
Thanks for the advice Griffin, on the PremiumCollectables Thread, even though it was worthless.
The only law/legal recourse that has any chance of doing anything helpful is Australian Common Law, which I am in the process of instigating against Scott Dwyer. If anyone else still has issue with him/PremiumCollectables, and the interest in pursuing it, feel free to message me and I'll give you specifics, by way of statement requirements, and make it a group action, the more complainants, the more clout.

[jaydisc]

After PremiumCollectables proved to me that the ACCC has no clout, that Australian State Consumer Protection is a joke, that the Australian Police are powerless against confidence tricksters, and that there is no way to enforce repayment of monies stolen within Australian Corporate Law/Small Claims Court, even though it can prove it was stolen, I will not be wasting my time with any of them again.
Thanks for the advice Griffin, on the PremiumCollectables Thread, even though it was worthless.
The only law/legal recourse that has any chance of doing anything helpful is Australian Common Law, which I am in the process of instigating against Scott Dwyer. If anyone else still has issue with him/PremiumCollectables, and the interest in pursuing it, feel free to message me and I'll give you specifics, by way of statement requirements, and make it a group action, the more complainants, the more clout.

My condolences for your suffering. I have felt your pain.

But it seems a worthy time to reiterate to everyone that virtually every problem with every retailer evaporates when you pay with a credit card, or fund your PayPal transactions with a credit card. ("credit cards" includes debit cards, etc - anything with a Visa/MC/Amex logo).

I know that's not going to help anyone with past transactions, but forget Oxipay, Afterpay, your EFT bank, Fair Trading, ACCC, small claims court, etc, etc, etc....

There is only one way forward, for your own sanity and protection, always use a credit card.

[DaptoDog]

My condolences for your suffering. I have felt your pain.

But it seems a worthy time to reiterate to everyone that virtually every problem with every retailer evaporates when you pay with a credit card, or fund your PayPal transactions with a credit card. ("credit cards" includes debit cards, etc - anything with a Visa/MC/Amex logo).

I know that's not going to help anyone with past transactions, but forget Oxipay, Afterpay, your EFT bank, Fair Trading, ACCC, small claims court, etc, etc, etc....

There is only one way forward, for your own sanity and protection, always use a credit card.

Truth. I didn't lose a $ on my PC orders because of the credit card chargeback process.

Ark-Ivor, I have to say I find it odd that you are even considering making another two orders with them given what you have gone through?

[Ark-Ivor]

My condolences for your suffering. I have felt your pain.

But it seems a worthy time to reiterate to everyone that virtually every problem with every retailer evaporates when you pay with a credit card, or fund your PayPal transactions with a credit card. ("credit cards" includes debit cards, etc - anything with a Visa/MC/Amex logo).

I know that's not going to help anyone with past transactions, but forget Oxipay, Afterpay, your EFT bank, Fair Trading, ACCC, small claims court, etc, etc, etc....

There is only one way forward, for your own sanity and protection, always use a credit card.

Too true, just wish I'd known about chargebacks and the 3-month limit earlier.

I did sign up with ?Zipay?/?ZipPay? at one point, but luckily I could never use them, you have to confirm orders with a mobile phone, and it's a 10 minute jog before I can even get the slightest signal , and by the time I'd get back to my computer the txt codes had always expired. I think it's the same with several of those other services, so I never even tried them, thanks for the heads up, not that I'd thought about using them, but I'll avoid them now.

Ark-Ivor, I have to say I find it odd that you are even considering making another two orders with them given what you have gone through?

I'm not a fan of conflict, and it really doesn't feel good berating a company that really might just be doing their best. I mean to say that I really don't know their situation, and if it's actually bad and I were in their shoes, I'd appreciate some understanding from my customers. But at the same time, their communications failings mean I've got to protect myself too. I guess I'm just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. Given PC, maybe I shouldn't.

The two purchases are probably just going to be a single purchase of $10 (so they've got the $15 they require for shipping my already ordered MP-44). If I had a slightly better income I wouldn't consider extra purchases. However, they do have fair-ish prices (for Australia), and they did ship out some of my earier orders without any problems, so if they get another two items in stock that I really truly can't live without (apologies for the hyperbole), I might as well save a little by combining the postage. But as I say, any further mucking about and it'll all be over in mid-October.

[Ark-Ivor]

Well, at 8:05 pm today (2019-09-20 or 20-09-2019 or 09-20-2019 depending on how you read dates), I received shipping notices that included MP-17+, MP-36+, MPM-06, MPM-07, LG EX Repug/Grotes, LG EX Big Powered, SS-18, SS-20, SS-36, WFC-S7, WFC-S8, WFC-S9, WFC-S11 & WFC-S13, along with the other items they'd already sent me, so not really a shipping notice or confirmation of shipping for any particular item.

But no shipping notification for MP-37, which was the one I just bought and paid for the shipping to cover ALL my in-stock orders.

As usual, I'll have to wait and see what actually arrives... No MP-37 and the countdown to chargeback begins again, especially given how explicit I was in my message that it's postage was to cover all their shipping...

Strange that they managed to ship it out at 8:05pm WST on a Friday night, don't you think? I can't think of any parcel delivery service that makes pick-ups that late. Yeah, I know, "Order Shipped" only means they've logged a pick-up request with the shipping company and had a tracking number generated, two in this case... or maybe three, very hard to tell from the notifications.

Also no response to my direct communications, however, by now that's only to be expected.

Update: I did also received a separate shipping notice for MP-37, a minute earlier, which Microsoft Mail had decided was spam and sent to the junk folder before I even saw it. So, so far all overdue items are apparently being shipped.

[Ark-Ivor]

Another Update:

On 2019-09-20 TLTC informed me that my orders had been sent.
It was 2019-09-24 (4 days) before Australia Post approved the shipping information.
It is now 2019-10-08 (18 days since TLTC claimed to have sent my parcels) and they have neither been scanned into Australia Posts custody nor been delivered.
I have contacted Australia Post and they have confirmed that the parcels have never been scanned by Australia Post, they say that this is virtually impossible if they have indeed been received by them. Which leaves me no choice but to assume that TLTC never sent the parcels.
Just in case the virually impossible has happened, as suggested by Australia Post, I have contacted Adam Leech and requested that he start a tracking enquiry - which can only be started by the person/company who sent the parcel, not the person waiting on it... I have little faith that he will undertake this action in a timely fashion.
If I have not received news of my two parcels before 9 am on the 21st of October 2019, I will be commencing the chargebacks, as I warned them I would back on the 15th of September.

I do strongly advise against anyone dealing with or making purchased from the highly unprofessional company, "TheLittleToyCompany".

I have nothing against Family Businesses, but they need to understand that using the word "family" to describe themselves only means they have no unrelated employees, it does not negate the fact that first and foremost it is a business and must be operated as such in a professional manner.

[The Letter M]

Strange that they managed to ship it out at 8:05pm WST on a Friday night, don't you think? I can't think of any parcel delivery service that makes pick-ups that late. Yeah, I know, "Order Shipped" only means they've logged a pick-up request with the shipping company and had a tracking number generated, two in this case... or maybe three, very hard to tell from the notifications.

If it's sent via AustPost, you can drop parcels for sending at Parcel Lockers. Obviously based on your next post, something ain't right, but that's a plausible explanation for the time.

[Omega Metro]

I had a similar situation a few months back where the parcel tracking had been activated but no scan events. Aust Post basically wrote it off and told me to contact LTC which said they would look into it. 2 weeks later, it started scanning and recieved it.
On a unrelated matter, I thought I’d give them another chance and did an order last month for supposedly in stock items. 2 weeks went by without any shipping email. Contacted them. No reply. Opened a PayPal case and got refunded. Their excuse was it was a preorder but nothing on the listing said it was a preorder. Never again.

[Ark-Ivor]

I had a similar situation a few months back where the parcel tracking had been activated but no scan events. Aust Post basically wrote it off and told me to contact LTC which said they would look into it. 2 weeks later, it started scanning and received it.

A partially similar thing is occurring here.
And another update

2019-10-08 (after my previous update) The Little Toy Company opened an investigation with Australia Post as to the whereabouts of one of the two parcels… The one that to the best of my knowledge contains only MP-36 (Artfire), hereafter called "Parcel 1". No attempt was made to track the other package, assumed to contain the bulk of my outstanding orders, worth $1184, hereafter called "Parcel 2".
2019-10-10 I contacted TLTC specifically requesting that they start an investigation on Parcel 2 as well.
2019-10-14 The Australia Post site suddenly had a "Submit an enquiry" box on it, it might have been there before but I was too busy fuming to notice it (stupid, stupid me, if it was), so I started my own two enquiries with Australia Post as to the locations of both Parcels 1 & 2.
2019-10-14 (continued) I received another shipping notification from TLTC stating that SS-20 (Bumblebee Vol 2) was suddenly also in Parcel 1, this is strange since I had assumed from their earlier shipping notifications that it was in Parcel 2.
2019-10-16 Parcel 1 is scanned in Melbourne, the delivery date is set to 2019-10-23. Irritatingly on Australia Posts tracking site, this indicates that both parcels in the consignment were scanned, you have to browse further to find that it's actually only one that has been scanned.
2019-10-17 ~6:30am Receive result from the Australia Post investigations I opened: Parcel 1 (as for the 16th); Parcel 2, contact the sender and get them to open an enquiry.
~9am I accept the findings for Parcel 1, but query them for Parcel 2.
~9:30am I received a phone call from Australia Post. The Australia Post guy was very helpful. He explained that:

• "Shipping information received by Australia Post" means they have received an order for a Shipping Ticket from the sender.
• "Shipping information approved by Australia Post" means the senders payment has been confirmed and they have downloaded/received the Shipping Ticket.
• Until the parcel is "Item processed at facility {insert facility name here}" it is not in the custody of Australia Post.

There are only two reasons the third Tracking item doesn't show up on items for which tracking/signature have been purchased:

• "A" - The sender never delivered the parcel into Australia Posts Custody. And
• "B" - The sender failed to correctly attach an address and the Shipping Ticket.

Just in case "B" had occurred he checked their registry for parcels without an address or shipping ticket (Lost & Found/Dead Letter Office, type of thing). All parcels and letters that arrive here are opened in an effort to locate a recipients address or senders details, and in the case of parcels, their contents are catalogued in a database that he was able to search for me. He was able to quote Transformers, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Starscream, Megatron, Ironhide, Shockwave as common names previously uploaded to the database for items that had been previously diverted to Lost & Found - since Parcel 2 should contain Transformers including 2 Bumblebee's, an Ironhide, a Megatron and an Optimus Prime, it should have shown up.
Apparently there are no parcels of any size, or arrival date, containing Transformers in Australia Post's Lost & Found/Dead Letter Office as of 9:30am on the 17th of October 2019.
He also informed me that the postage paid by TLTC for Parcel 2 put it in Australia Posts 6~7kg category, which, by my estimations, tracks with Parcel 2 containing $1184 worth of Transformers, although I haven't been able to confirm the shipping weights for a few of them, so I can't be sure.
He suggested that "A" was the most likely explanation and recommended that I contact the Sender… again.

Given that the only communications I've received from TLTC since the 24th of September have been evidentially fallacious shipping notifications, I'm feeling pretty confident I'll receive no response again, but I did as he suggested.
I have also reported TLTC/Adam Leech to the ACCC, even though I already know how little good that will do. If they even have an ABN, it's not on their website or communications as it should be, meaning they're barely even an actual business.
I am sorely tempted to start chargebacks on the 21st of October (next Monday) as I warned them I would, however, I now think I should wait at least until Parcel 1 arrives (sometime next week before or on the 23rd). My reasoning is:

• I - Even though the shipping notices were blatantly false, they do serve to extend the 3-month VISA chargeback deadline.
• II - I'm not vindictive, I don't want to force TLTC to refund me for items they actually supplied, despite the nasty way they have treated me as a customer, and extorted my orders for additional postage fees.
• III - I am still ridiculously hoping they'll actually supply me with the items I've ordered and paid for, because it'll be even more of a hassle trying to find them again from other places for even slightly similar prices.

Again: I must strongly advise against anyone dealing with or making purchases from the highly unprofessional company, "TheLittleToyCompany", its eBay store "Action Figure Warehouse" or its proprietor Adam Leech.

[Tober]

I have also reported TLTC/Adam Leech to the ACCC, even though I already know how little good that will do. If they even have an ABN, it's not on their website or communications as it should be, meaning they're barely even an actual business.

http://www.abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View/45423201785

You might have more luck with Consumer Affairs Victoria