Mtgfanatic are liars and crooks!

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

so pretty much i brought
35 scrying sheets nm
and 10 scryings played
and today they put up the same
same amount of them that they
sent me supossibly
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z220/rawfishsushi/51f97d3f5611327f15136dc876b335aa14-Copy2.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z220/rawfishsushi/51f97d3f5611327f15136dc876b335aa14.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z220/rawfishsushi/51f97d3f5611327f15136dc876b335aa14-Copy.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z220/rawfishsushi/51f97d3f5611327f15136dc876b335aa14-Copy2-1.jpg

[Hopo]

It seems to me that you could have waited for their reply before bashing. There's still a chance that you'll end up looking like a complete retard if they come up with an adequate explanation.

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

yes but seriously
what the chance of you have
the exact same amount of cards
that you "shipped out" and then post
the exact same amount of nm cards
and played cards and this is the not
first time online vendors didn't want
to honor an order but atleast they where
honest about it and not try to play it off
like they shipped it to me the tracking never
updated meaning the post office never received
it and the vendor simply printed out the label
so no i am not gonna wait since its obvious they
try to rip me off

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

and just to set the record straight i waited awhile before i decided that they ripped me off
i sent them a email awhile ago questioning them with no reply

[Hopo]

and just to set the record straight i waited awhile before i decided that they ripped me off

Looks like you sent the last mail yesterday. Maybe they are not working on sundays? Usually there's some delay in customer service replies since those people are actually doing some work to find out what's going on.

It is also possible that they don't understand what you are writing, since your english is horrible. Language barrier always makes things slower.

Do they have some limit for buying singles? You might have run into one.

[dethangel666]

lol

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

where was no reason to post the other
emails i sent them since they didn't
response
you think its hard to understand my writing?
well we are on the internet and i dont have
to use perfect spelling and all that other bullshit
my point to get my message straight so dont even
give me that bullshit
"Do they have some limit for buying singles? You might have run into one. "
what are you blind or somthing?
the problem wasnt a limit thing
it was that they never shipped out my package
when they claimed they did get off mtgfanatic's dick

[Zilla]

For fuck's sake. Proper english is required when posting on these boards. That means capitalization, punctuation, spelling, etc. This shit reads like the world's most awkward haikus. Pick it up or kick rocks.

[sclabman]

With writing skills like yours, I wouldn't mail you a damn thing either. Good for mtgfanatic!

[birds of paradise2]

For me, they said the item was not in stock, but it was on the website for a much higher price. Mtgfanatic is the worst mtg-shop ever and my only advice would be to not buy from them. The owner is rude and ignorant as well.

[Purgatory]

I couldn't quite make out everything that has happened, but did they charge your account for the cards? If yes, then you are, of course, within your rights to complain or at least notify them that you have yet to receive an order. However, I would personally have waited a couple of days after e-mailing them on a sunday before sending yet another angry e-mail, and then posting here declaring them "crooks".

If your account has yet to be charged, then I don't see the point in this. No harm, no foul - just get your Scrying Sheets elsewhere.

[jandax]

MtgFanatic also has the right to cancel any orders, it's in the customer aggreement that you clicked on when you made the order. Not saying that happened, just pointing out how unfair you're being. I've made dozens of orders through that website over the years, their rewards programs are awesome, and never ever has myself or anyone I know had a discrepancy that wasn't set straight. Chris is a good business man and how is anyone going to take you seriously if you write like a raging 11 year old?

Doesn't matter if you were posting from an iPhone/whatever, they have comma/period and punctuation apps :really:

[death]

I remember buying 8x Show and Tell from them at $2.50, that was when the card is starting to pick up and about to sell at $10 each on ebay. I didn't have any problem. Just saying. Sucks for you though, I don't think you'll get your cards anymore. At this point the least they can do is issue you a full refund, lesson learned.

[Richard Cheese]

Never dealt with MTGFanatic, but judging by OP's username and terrible english, I'm going to take their side on this one.

[GGoober]

I read the email you posted, and read what you posted here, you really need to use the Shift and Caps Lock key more often :/

I've had no problems with MTGFanatic, although I've heard multiple complaints before. I try to avoid them but my 3/3 tries with them gave me no issues.

[Zilla]

you really need to use the Shift and Caps Lock key more often
Dude no!

[Solaran_X]

I wonder if MTGFanatic's e-mail explaining why the order didn't ship is among those (probably much more now) 1,866 unread e-mails the OP has in his screenshot.

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

With writing skills like yours, I wouldn't mail you a damn thing either. Good for mtgfanatic!

yea you keep riding mtgfanatic dick
you little cracker fagit:cool:

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

nope i check and searched all my email not to mention i check my email every 5 minutes so no

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

what r you talking i understand that but the point is they didn't say they want to cancel my order
they said they shipped out my items but they obviously didn't.

[WhereDerizSmokeDerisFire]

they charged my card right away i have waited a long time and i have sent them emails(with no response) before resorting to calling them out

[Nihil Credo]

http://i.imgur.com/p4E2o.gif

[Purgatory]

they charged my card right away i have waited a long time and i have sent them emails(with no response) before resorting to calling them out

Well, then you are well within your right to file an official complaint to them, and you are also entitled to a full refund.

However, as a tip from me to you for the future: when dealing with people, specifically in regards to business, I've found that being polite works a lot better than being a dick. Proper (or almost proper) English spelling, capitalization and punctuation is one way of showing respect, make sure you do so. Writing them angry e-mails through, by the looks of it, randomly mashing your face against the keyboard will certainly not make them help you any faster. Neither will threats, nor this thread. I've worked within bartending, just as an example, and I, along with all of my friends also working at the same place, always go for the loud assholes last, and complaining will likely result in a bounce rather than service. Granted, the same may not be true for the customer service at MTGFanatic, but I suspect that anyone reading your e-mails will be put off from helping you.

My advice is to send a new e-mail within a couple of days if you don't get a reply, and make sure that you act like a human being rather than a buffoon this time.

[jamied1981]

How does bad puntuation or grammar in any form make it ok for dealers to not honor customer orders?
I have dealt with these guys and they have straight out lied to me as well. Everyone has a breaking point, I totally understand why you would be pissed. As for people saying they shouldn't say anything because of how he has acted, is totally unnecessary. Get the sticks out of your ass's. If you are going to go after a guys grammar or Puntuation is just pointless. My point is I totally understand this guy, and I think mtg fanatics should be shut down.

[troopatroop]

yea you keep riding mtgfanatic dick
you little cracker fagit:cool:

I find this offensive. You should know better after getting a warning.

[Zilla]

I find this offensive. You should know better after getting a warning.
rofl. Like a warning is going to do anything. This kid is banned.

[umbowta]

well we are on the internet and i dont have
to use perfect spelling and all that other bullshit
my point to get my message straight so dont even
give me that bullshit


Wow. I've just seen a weeks worth of stupidity all in one thread.

Just--Wow.

[dahcmai]

That was entertaining. : )

[lordofthepit]

How does bad puntuation or grammar in any form make it ok for dealers to not honor customer orders?
I have dealt with these guys and they have straight out lied to me as well. Everyone has a breaking point, I totally understand why you would be pissed. As for people saying they shouldn't say anything because of how he has acted, is totally unnecessary. Get the sticks out of your ass's. If you are going to go after a guys grammar or Puntuation is just pointless. My point is I totally understand this guy, and I think mtg fanatics should be shut down.

Solution: don't buy from MTGFanatic and continue to make fun of this guy.

A company remanding an order is a big negative in my mind, but not the worst thing you can do. This is mitigated when someone is trying to buy such a ridiculous quantity for speculative purposes, because I hate speculators too, and I do acknowledge that they maintained their right to cancel orders for any reason. (I assume it's their right legally, I just will avoid those stores in the future if they do so.) However, if you charge your customer, you better send out your order. Lying and getting caught in the act is the worst it gets, and despite the OP's near complete inability to communicate in intelligible English, he has enough evidence that this is how MTGFanatic has acted. I have no intention of ever doing business with MTGFanatic again, and this is not the first time I've heard of such complaints (although I have never previously had issues with them).

Those problems with MTGFanatic are entirely separate from the issue of this guy acting like a douche and making no effort whatsoever to express his concerns coherently.

[Nihil Credo]

How does bad puntuation or grammar in any form make it ok for dealers to not honor customer orders?
It doesn't. The reason this thread is still open is because someone else might have something relevant to the issue to add.

[clavio]

I love his avatar.

[Octopusman]

Many times, an e-commerce company won't actually charge the payment method until product is shipped. The charge that he saw might have just been an authorization for the amount of the order. A call to the card-issuing bank can help clear up confusion about that.

However, if the provided a tracking number, it's likely that they charged him. In that case, at least the tracking shows that there was never any movement on the package and it really isn't difficult to then file a charge back.

It's just annoying getting the run around and, especially in mtg's case, losing the chance to acquire a card that is rising in value for the cheaper cost.

Thank you for banning that member. I believe that much of this site's success is related to competent moderation.

[majikal]

All of the MTGFanatic complaints that pop up on here could fill their own forum, easily.

Also, I'm willing to bet that guy's native language is English.

[lordofthepit]

Also, I'm willing to bet that guy's native language is English.

Agreed. No one from Europe, Africa, or Asia ever called me cracker. (Then again, I'm not white.)

[Purgatory]

How does bad puntuation or grammar in any form make it ok for dealers to not honor customer orders?
I have dealt with these guys and they have straight out lied to me as well. Everyone has a breaking point, I totally understand why you would be pissed. As for people saying they shouldn't say anything because of how he has acted, is totally unnecessary. Get the sticks out of your ass's. If you are going to go after a guys grammar or Puntuation is just pointless. My point is I totally understand this guy, and I think mtg fanatics should be shut down.


That was not was I was doing, and it was not the point of my post. My point is: if you are going to deal with something like this, it is always better to be polite. Writing a lot more properly is in this case one step in the right direction.

[birds of paradise2]

Never dealt with MTGFanatic, but judging by OP's username and terrible english, I'm going to take their side on this one.

And by doing this you're proven yourself to be an ignorant idiot.
He presented the facts and what happened, even if his grammar wasn't correct. Does this change anything though?

[kiblast]

Our last orders on MTGF.

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j446/TheKiblast/mtgf.jpg

They all arrived. Me and my friends spent almost 2.5K$ with my account, and 1.2$ with another account in the last year. Everything always arrived.

[android]

I've ordered from them dozens of times and everything arrived. I wouldn't want to get into a "who's the biggest douche" in the online Magic vendor community because they all tend to be douches every now and then. Especially since a few year ago when prices really started to fluctuate overnight.

Maybe vendors should just freeze all sales during a big tournament or maybe they should just speculatively inflate all their prices until the dust settles. I don't know the answers but if a vendor has 10,000 Mirage Flashes priced at 10¢ and overnight they leap to $20, you can't expect them to liquidate them at the posted price when it means pretty much their biggest profit from the year.

[birds of paradise2]

It's when prices of cards are rising that they got some shady excuse. They're not ripping people when they buy cards for "fair" prices - so that order history doesn't really say anything.

Android, what "douche" dealers are you talking about? CKD, SCG, ABU all honor they orders, even if you get a bargain.

[oldbsturgeon]

Yes I can attest that ABU just notified me of shipment that included blazing shoal at a low price. So I doubt they are a problem.
I've yet to have any issue with SCG not shipping anything, nor with coolstuff, the place I've done the most business with.

[Mr.C]

If he wants to speculate on Sheets, of all things, why didn't he go to eBay and pick them up for cheaper?

Sheets sucks anyway without control.

[MattH]

Maybe vendors should just freeze all sales during a big tournament or maybe they should just speculatively inflate all their prices until the dust settles.
I took this screenshot on Saturday (while the PT was going on):
http://i.imgur.com/WABPf.png

[dahcmai]

Nice one. Gotta give those guys credit for that.

[Phoenix Ignition]

If anyone cares I now hate Cardaddiction.com for cancelling a reasonable order of a playset of blue shoals BEFORE THE PRO TOUR STARTED. Just needed somewhere to bitch about it.

[Comrade]

Something to ponder: is everyone with the name magic fanatic a crook and a liar?

[lordofthepit]

Something to ponder: is everyone with the name magic fanatic a crook and a liar?

Why are you so obsessed with that guy?

[elpacifismo]

I have also had a bad experience with MtgFanatic, I placed several orders with them, and they canceled my orders because the cards went up in value. They posted tracking numbers for the orders online, and marked them as shipped. I realized that my cards were not coming about a week and a half afetr Ipaid when I had refunds on my card for 2 of the 3 orders. I emailed them and asked why my orders were canceled, and ,ore importantly, why I was not notified that my orders were being canceled. They sent me a response email that was simply a link to their "legal" page. I then replied and told them that I felt as though I deserved better customer service than that, like a notification that my order was canceled, or at least a real reply when I asked them about it. Here is the full email back and forth for this incident:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: CS@MtgFanatic.com [mailto:CS@MtgFanatic.com] On Behalf Of
elpacifismo@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 9:46 AM
To: CS@MtgFanatic.com
Subject: orders

I placed 3 orders with you in the past few weeks, and I had not received
any of them. I went to my order history, and the orders have tracking
numbers, but they say N/A in the shipped section. I have also received
debit card refunds for 2 of the 3 orders. What is going on here?

-----Original Message-----
From: MtgFanatic Customer Service <cs@mtgfanatic.com>
To: elpacifismo <elpacifismo@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Sep 7, 2011 8:12 am
Subject: RE: orders
http://www.mtgfanatic.com/Company/FAQs.aspx?ID=262#58349

Sincerely,

Chris Tremblay
President
MtgFanatic.com, Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------
From: Damien Miller [mailto:elpacifismo@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 12:45 PM
To: cs@mtgfanatic.com
Subject: Re: orders

Ok, I see that, but why was I not notified that my order was being canceled?
I did not get an email or a telephone call or anything so that I could try to make my purchases elsewhere? I see that it says you can cancel a transaction for any reason, but I was given NO reason. so I still feel as though, even buy your own "Legal Stuff" as though I have not been taken care of properly. This just seems like poor customer relations on your part twice over now. First by canceling my orders and not notifying me, and now by sending me a response to my email that is just a copy/paste of a legal page on the site.

-----Original Message-----
From: MtgFanatic Customer Service <cs@mtgfanatic.com>
To: 'Damien Miller' <elpacifismo@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Sep 7, 2011 10:17 am
Subject: RE: orders

I am sorry, but we don’t exactly appreciate being cherry picked for cards that will cost us hundreds of dollars to replace. Every single order that you have placed with our company is simply purchasing our entire stock of items that have spiked significantly in price. If this is the kind of business that we can continue to expect from you, then I request you take your business elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Chris Tremblay
President
MtgFanatic.com, Inc.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for being rude to me right from the start, I have asked why my order was canceled, and why I was not even notified when it had been canceled, and your response is that if I want these things to be done, that I can take my business elsewhere. If the reason that the orders were canceled is that the cards have gone up in value, I would suggest changing the price. If that is why my order was canceled in the first place though, then why is it too much for me to ask for an email explaining this?

And it is very rude of you to attack me about how you don't appreciate me buying cards from your listed inventory at your listed prices.

If you aren't going to sell them, I am fine with that, I felt that an email explaining this was more than reasonable to ask for on my end, as I have done $9322.72 in business with you in the past, prior to these canceled orders, and you would rather tell me to screw off than send me a simple email stating that the order is being canceled, and why.

I do appreciate this email, and I plan to contact the better business burea in Houston and South Texas to let them know how poorly you have treated me in this situation.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have also contacted and filed a claim with the better business bureau regarding my transaction with them, and I also was so fortunate as to have been selected by bizrate to leave a feedback with them regarding one of the transactions.

I would strongly suggest not doing business with this company anymore, as they have made some sort of change internally, or something else has happened, but they are suddenly a very rude company, they cancel orders if they believe that they could hold the items for more profit later, they hold the payments for the items well after they have decided that they will not be selling them, and they are all around rude for no good reason.

[Mark Sun]

Honestly, I'm just surprised that people still shop there.

Can we just slap this on the first page on Google?

[Mr. Safety]

I have been a loyal customer of mtgfanatic for almost 5 years now. I have placed uncountable orders with them, and I have *never* had any problems with them.

Chris Tremblay is a smart business man. He probably checked the source of the OP's payment method...and it may have been fraudulent. Someone mentioned he seems like an enraged 11 year old...it's possible he IS an 11 year old. I know if I were a business and a credit card name didn't match the buyer, I'd cancel the order.

Now for this:


I am sorry, but we don’t exactly appreciate being cherry picked for cards that will cost us hundreds of dollars to replace. Every single order that you have placed with our company is simply purchasing our entire stock of items that have spiked significantly in price. If this is the kind of business that we can continue to expect from you, then I request you take your business elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Chris Tremblay
President
MtgFanatic.com, Inc

Kudos to mtgfanatic for this. I don't blame them for stopping someone from taking advantage of them.

[sauce]

very unbiased opinion ^^

ps: nice signature.

[Michael Keller]

Kudos to mtgfanatic for this. I don't blame them for stopping someone from taking advantage of them.

Are you being serious?

"elpacifismo" was completely and wholly correct in his line of communication with these people. Under no circumstances what so ever should anyone speak to a customer the way he did - especially after doing nearly ten THOUSAND dollars in business with them - only to be shrugged off like some jerk who only shops with them because they think he's trying to cut their profits by making smart buying decisions. To think otherwise is ludicrous on your part, as the evidence clearly supports a bogus business decision to cancel an order without explanation and subsequently berate a customer because they bought stock that they had every right to buy in the first place.

Not only is this astronomically poor customer service, but it completely defies the very essence of the term "customer service" to begin with. Kudos to him for circling the wagons on this.

[UnderwaterGuy]

Kudos to mtgfanatic for this. I don't blame them for stopping someone from taking advantage of them.

Since when does buying product from a store count as "taking advantage"?

Apparently the guy that runs MTGFanatic can't keep his prices up to date and rather than provide a reliable store he would like to use customer's purchases as a way to decide on his prices. If he was a good business man he would price his inventory responsibly and wouldn't try to take advantage of his customers by canceling their orders.

As for calling the buyer an 11 year old, he spent almost $10,000 at that store alone. He is obviously not a child and is also a significant customer that the store owner was a fool to turn away.

[death]

I am sorry, but we don’t exactly appreciate being cherry picked for cards that will cost us hundreds of dollars to replace. Every single order that you have placed with our company is simply purchasing our entire stock of items that have spiked significantly in price. If this is the kind of business that we can continue to expect from you, then I request you take your business elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Chris Tremblay
President
MtgFanatic.com, Inc.


I don't appreciate this kind of responses. I mean if every transaction would feel like there's a 50/50 chance of you actually shippping the items then forget it, you can bet I'd take my business elsewhere from now on.

[troopatroop]

Kudos to mtgfanatic for this. I don't blame them for stopping someone from taking advantage of them.

Yeah, they're a store. When you have something listed at a price online, and someone purchases it from your store, it shouldn't be within your rights to take the order back because you "intended" to raise the price due to fluxuations in the market. You're punished for being a Lazy store that didn't keep up with it. The store took advantage of him in a sense, that he'd found a good deal at their store, which they refused to honor. Seller's responsibility, basically.

[Esper3k]

Yeah, a few years back, they were a pretty good store - quick shipping, good prices, the cards were just fine.

However, these days, I know they've had internal issues with the store and quality really seems to have declined.

I've had an order where cards were missing and I had to bug them to be reimbursed (they didn't even give me my money back, just gave me store credit). I've also had them send me cards with bends and creases in them, yet they claimed they were in M/NM condition.

The thing where they just cancel orders because they didn't catch the price is just bad business. As a store owner, it's your own responsibility to keep up with prices. If you want people to keep coming back, you need to honor the price you have advertised, no matter what.

And really, why should they be offended that someone bought cards from them at the price they advertised? If they didn't have a low price, the customer would've just gone elsewhere...

[Mr. Safety]

This is all speculation...we don't really know what happened do we? All we know is mtgfanatic has a disgruntled customer that can't spell or write properly.

In regards to elpacifismo...the guidelines were clearly stated:


2.We Reserve the Right to Decline Purchase Of Any Item.

We reserve the right to decline purchase of any item sold to our company for any reason. Possible reasons for opting not to purchase an item included, but are not limited to the following:


1.Item does not meet our standards.
2.Rapid price fluctuations. Due to the sometimes volatile nature of collectible products, sometimes prices will rapidly rise or fall significantly. Due to this, we reserve the right to send back any item for any reason.

He may not have liked it, but he agreed to it when he confirmed his order. This isn't Dominaria. That's how the real world works. Read the fine print, it always pays off. I read the fine print on all of the sites I buy from, and any contracted item I purchase. Having built my own home, I worked with a lot of sub-contractors. Things work this way so people can have insurance against losing money.

[Koby]

If anyone cares I now hate Cardaddiction.com for cancelling a reasonable order of a playset of blue shoals BEFORE THE PRO TOUR STARTED. Just needed somewhere to bitch about it.

I am not surprised at all. I would also avoid this seller as well at all costs.

Calling cards NM then taking a sharpie to the edges to "ink out" any signs of wear is a true sign of shadiness.

[troopatroop]

Read the fine print, it always pays off.

Point taken, but I don't see how that's so likeable to you. It basically stops all potential for good buys, and turns every customer into a guaranteed donkey. "Oh... lets check ebay... yep ship the cards!", is shitty imo. At least it explicitly states that they're going to bone you.

[trivial_matters]

This is all speculation...we don't really know what happened do we? All we know is mtgfanatic has a disgruntled customer that can't spell or write properly.

In regards to elpacifismo...the guidelines were clearly stated:

[...]

He may not have liked it, but he agreed to it when he confirmed his order. This isn't Dominaria. That's how the real world works. Read the fine print, it always pays off. I read the fine print on all of the sites I buy from, and any contracted item I purchase. Having built my own home, I worked with a lot of sub-contractors. Things work this way so people can have insurance against losing money.

What the fuck are you on?
First, I see no customer who can't spell or write properly.
Second, your quote from their guidelines makes absolutely no sense. Your quote is about them (the store) buying from you, not the other way around.

Epic fail right there.

Your signature is a dead giveaway btw.

[Rune]

Agree with Esper3k. MTGFanatic was the stone cold nuts when I first started buying from them. Reasonable prices, cards in gem mint condition, basically every Magic card in stock at all times, etc. But later it seemed like they became really sloppy. They sent me cards in the wrong condition, and sometimes stuff from the original order was missing. Seems very asshol-ish to just send out an incomplete order without at least asking me if I was OK with it. I dunno what caused this gigantic drop in service quality, but I'm hoping it'll be fixed because they used to be the #1 Magic dealer, in my opinion.

[Sea R Hill]

I had the exact same problem with MTGFanatic one year and a half ago.

I bought cards from them and sent an email to their "customer service" (apparently there is just this one guy Chris Tremblay in the whole business) 2 to 3 days later because my order didn't appeared as "shipped" on their website.
He said that he would send me the cards "tomorrow" because "yesterday was a holiday so mail could
not be shipped".

One week after this email I receive a new message which says they are cancelling my order because the price has changed...

Well shouldn't have it been shipped by now anyway?!?
They just lied to my face with lame excuses (holidays and a so-called "day off" from their employees - and there is a good chance there is no other employee anyway).

This is just the poorest MtG related business transaction I have ever had!
This store shouldn't even be legal, there is no such tings as keeping the right to cancel orders because they are too bad to list the correct market price.




As proof here are the emails we sent to each other:


Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 5:37 PM
To: CS@MtgFanatic.com
Subject: Order #: 90018-2

Hello,

I have made the payment for my order 3 days ago and its status is still
"Pending".
As I read in the FAQS that you "are usually able to get all orders placed by
3:00 PM EST out within the same day", I'm starting to get a little worried.

Thank you for your answer

Best Regards,

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

date 20 janvier 2010 02:40
objet RE: Order #: 90018-2

The order will be shipping tomorrow. Yesterday was a holiday so mail could
not be shipped, and our employess had the day off which postponed shipment
by 1 day.

Chris Tremblay
President
MtgFanatic.com, Inc.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

date 27 janvier 2010 01:27
objet Loyal Retainers


Hello,

This is Chris Tremblay from MtgFanatic.com. I am writing to you regarding your order for Loyal Retainers. This item was not listed at the correct price, so I am unable to ship these items at this time. I have given you store credit for these items. If you would instead prefer a refund to your paypal account, please respond with your paypal email address. I apologize for the inconvenience.


Chris Tremblay
President
MtgFanatic.com, Inc.

[Esper3k]

Yeah, they did the store credit thing in yours too.

For me, it was only a couple bucks, so it wasn't worth the hassle for me, but for something like a Loyal Retainers...

[Branches]

This entire thread makes me laugh.

I applaud mtgfanatic for doing this. I work at a store and have lost money because of unbannings.

Sorry, we're only human we cant be up at midnight and change the prices on cards. Sorry you can't take advantage of the 2 hour period that we werent working i guess.

[Koby]

I work at a store and have lost money because of unbannings.

Sorry, we're only human we cant be up at midnight and change the prices on cards. Sorry you can't take advantage of the 2 hour period that we werent working i guess.


I call bogus on this. I know of no store that buys cards at a price higher than what they sell at. The store did not "lose money because of unbannings", they merely lost potentially higher profits. If the store were wise, they would take their inventory down for a day to re-evaluate their prices. It's not like Banning cycles are spontaneous - they come exactly every 3 months, and there's usually a good indicator of what's going to get axed.

Common sense with running a business has gone the way of the do-do.

[Picc]

The only issue is how to police it. Even if people yell it from the rafters on sites like this the net will always provide a fresh supply of suckers. It would take a lot of threads on a lot of boards before any consumer warnings like this ever showed up on the same page as a search for a store by name let alone stumbling if you stumbled upon it via card name search and lets face facts the better business bureau isn't really going to do anything to hurt a websites business. As sad a statement as it is the net is almost entirely one large case of buyer beware.

[Esper3k]

Yeah, all you can do is try and make other people aware of your experiences and hope eventually enough people hear about it.

Although, like with the MTGChicago thread, if a store screws over enough people, it does start to add up and these threads start to show up on Google.

[bakofried]

Eh. I've seen more than a few huge threads talking about this issue. Mtgfanatic makes me uneasy as a customer; as such, they're the last place I look, and even then, only on cards that aren't doing anything funky in price. Also, I'd advise against shopping with them in general because there are so many cases like these.
Here's a good place to look, where Mr. Tremblay himself went to the forums and made an ass (page 3 and beyond) of himself.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=216721

[Rune]

I still think they should ship cards that spike due to Banned/Restricted Announcements but that doesn't excuse what happened to Sea R Hill, its not like Retainers had a huge spike from anything.

Retainers started to see play in Survival decks because it could reanimate Iona (and later Emrakul). When the "combo" was discovered, the card's value skyrocketed, and some shops weren't fast enough to adjust the price.

[KevinTrudeau]

Just to give my perspective- I've made around a dozen or so purchases from mtgfanatic.com over the course of the past eighteen months, spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and not once having had a problem. In nearly every purchase, cards that I have bought in "Played" condition have come back close to near mint; their condition grading scale greatly favors the customer. Shipping has been incredibly brisk. I've even gotten a free $50 gift certificate just for posting on their forum and advertising for them by putting a link to their site in the signature on my Salvation account, which they honored and didn't back out of. In reading elpacifismo's post, I wholeheartedly agree with him. Chris was out of line in not notifying him firsthand of the cancellation and responding in a rude manner. While it was wrong of Chris, and I completely understand why someone wouldn't want to purchase cards from Fanatic in the future, I don't want people to get the impression that he's in a league with MTGChicago and that Stasch Kuras dude as the title of the thread would suggest.

[xeraseth]

Retainers started to see play in Survival decks because it could reanimate Iona (and later Emrakul). When the "combo" was discovered, the card's value skyrocketed, and some shops weren't fast enough to adjust the price.
Ya, for some reason I got Retainers and Recruiters confused. My Bad

[Sea R Hill]

Well yes it was after the combo between Retainers and Iona was "discovered" (it was in January and Zendikar was 4 months earlier, and the combo started to appear in decklists a little while before my order).

But it doesn't really matters.

What is important here is that Chris Tremblay, in the name of MTGFanatic, lied to me for 10 freakin' days about sending my order! We can't really call that "best practice"...
Why would you ever want to do business whith anyone that is treating you like a fool?


And on another note it's the store's responsability to sell their products at the price they set in the public place.
If they can't have a dynamic pricing policy, their bad.


I don't know who, knowing these stories, can still buy at that shop while they are so much better shops around the net.

I have NEVER been disappointed by SCG for example.
Once they didn't have one of the cards I purchased in stock so they gave me a FOIL one.
And once they sent me a played instead of a SP card, and they immediatly gave me store credit while letting me keep the card.
That is even more than what I expect from a serious shop. What I don't expect is being lied to and my orders being cancelled because the shop owner is really bad at what he does.

[Dark Ritual]

Yeah I've heard enough bad things about MTGFanatic to refuse to shop there. On top of that they don't even have the best prices so I'm never tempted to buy from there anyways. SCG always delivers the goods; anytime I order from them, they have prompt shipping service and are really quite nice overall. And when I sold some cards to them they also handled it quite well and credited my account with the 400 dollars in store credit they were giving me for the cards I sent in fact they did it the same day the cards arrived, which is exceptionally good.

I've heard about mtgfanatic remanding orders and raising prices and that to me is just a greedy business practice. It's really greedy because instead of buying a retainers for 10 and selling it for 30 they instead buy the card for 10 and sell it 100+ marking it up like crazy and making a huge margin on the card. They lose nothing if they sell the card for 20 bucks more than what they bought it for; the only way they 'lose' money is by buying a card at a higher price than what they sell it for, which is their own fault really if you buy tezzeret, agent of bolas opening day for 40 bucks when thats what it's worth, you're a fool if you have to eventually sell it for something below that or at that mark.

[UnderwaterGuy]

Yeah I've heard enough bad things about MTGFanatic to refuse to shop there. On top of that they don't even have the best prices so I'm never tempted to buy from there anyways. SCG always delivers the goods; anytime I order from them, they have prompt shipping service and are really quite nice overall. And when I sold some cards to them they also handled it quite well and credited my account with the 400 dollars in store credit they were giving me for the cards I sent in fact they did it the same day the cards arrived, which is exceptionally good.

I've heard about mtgfanatic remanding orders and raising prices and that to me is just a greedy business practice. It's really greedy because instead of buying a retainers for 10 and selling it for 30 they instead buy the card for 10 and sell it 100+ marking it up like crazy and making a huge margin on the card. They lose nothing if they sell the card for 20 bucks more than what they bought it for; the only way they 'lose' money is by buying a card at a higher price than what they sell it for, which is their own fault really if you buy tezzeret, agent of bolas opening day for 40 bucks when thats what it's worth, you're a fool if you have to eventually sell it for something below that or at that mark.

Well based on Chris' post on MTGS he doesn't understand that. He cried on and on about how buyers would have made him lose 1800 dollars and that that money could have paid an employee for a month. He is either deceitful or dumb or both and I wouldn't buy from that store.

Their articles are entertaining sometimes though :/

[nedleeds]

'Losing' money is a funny way for that barnacle to put it. He makes a living buying cardboard from children at 30% of it's market value and reselling it, then cries when somebody else does the same to him. Irony.

[lordofthepit]

Not a single person should support Chris Tremblay or MTGFanatic in his actions against elpacifismo.

It would be one thing if he were simply remanding orders on cards that spiked up in price. When I see a store doing that, I am highly discouraged from shopping there in the future, but I do not cut them from business altogether. Unfortunately, with increasing popularity, Magic has attracted too many speculators who manipulate the secondary market and then try to buy stores completely out of stock before they have had reasonable time to adjust their prices. I see them as parasites, and I understand why it's necessary for stores to fight evil with evil given this development.

If it is necessary to remand an order, however, it needs to be done appropriately. Do not charge the credit card until shipment has been confirmed. Issue refunds immediately. Invoke the right to cancel orders discriminately, not everytime a card spikes up by a dollar (seriously, I'd be elated if someone wanted to buy out all my Scrying Sheets). Notify your customer immediately by email. Apologize for the inconvenience, and offer store credit if the customer has been a loyal one who has done a lot of business for you.

Chris did everything wrong in the way he communicated with elpacifismo. The customer wrote a polite letter inquiring about the status of his order (which he shouldn't even have to resort to, considering the store should be providing status updates), and he's met with a one-line HTML link. Follow up emails read like a pissy email from a teenage girl on her period. Rather than thank the customer for his business and trying to make amends, he tries to play the victim card and tells the customer to take his business elsewhere. I would expect more professionalism from someone I'm doing business with.

I've ordered from MTGFanatic in the past, and I haven't personally had problems with them. But stories like the ones in this thread and on other Magic forums have convinced me that there is a systematic problem with the way MTGFanatic approaches business, and they certainly won't be getting my business in the future. I wonder if those who do support the store are somehow affiliated with them or are friends of the owner.

On another note, here are some stores I have had *great* experiences with:
- ChannelFireball: Excellent customer service and replies quickly to my emails. Willing to combine shipments for free after I've prematurely submitted my initial order at their own cost. Honored my preordered Mental Missteps (8x) at $1.49 even though they reserved the right to limit preorders to just a playset, because they realized making a loyal customer happy (so I could have an extra playset) was worth more than the $10-20 they could have made by reselling those Missteps at $5.
- StrikeZoneOnline: I've only ordered from them twice, since they're a bit pricey, but their shipping costs are low! The first time, I ordered a set of Grim Monoliths after they were unbanned, and surely enough, they shipped them as promised. The second time, I placed a larger order which included 4 Through the Breech placed the weekend right before the card broke out in Modern. They fulfilled the order when they resumed business the next Monday, even though Through the Breech had spiked up quite a bit over the weekend. This type of no-nonsense business earns customer loyalty.
- CoolStuffInc: Quick and painless to order. They are a bit on the expensive side, but their customer service is also unparalleled. They have shipped many packages of sleeve protectors to me at a cost much greater than I paid for shipping, which certainly ate into their profit margins for those types of supplies. But once again, I feel very comfortable ordering from them, knowing that the items I purchase will arrive quickly and in the promised condition without any of this middle school drama that I don't need in my life.

[lordofthepit]

Not a single person should support Chris Tremblay or MTGFanatic in his actions against elpacifismo.

It would be one thing if he were simply remanding orders on cards that spiked up in price. When I see a store doing that, I am highly discouraged from shopping there in the future, but I do not cut them from business altogether. Unfortunately, with increasing popularity, Magic has attracted too many speculators who manipulate the secondary market and then try to buy stores completely out of stock before they have had reasonable time to adjust their prices. I see them as parasites, and I understand why it's necessary for stores to fight evil with evil given this development.

If it is necessary to remand an order, however, it needs to be done appropriately. Do not charge the credit card until shipment has been confirmed. Issue refunds immediately. Invoke the right to cancel orders discriminately, not everytime a card spikes up by a dollar (seriously, I'd be elated if someone wanted to buy out all my Scrying Sheets). Notify your customer immediately by email. Apologize for the inconvenience, and offer store credit if the customer has been a loyal one who has done a lot of business for you.

Chris did everything wrong in the way he communicated with elpacifismo. The customer wrote a polite letter inquiring about the status of his order (which he shouldn't even have to resort to, considering the store should be providing status updates), and he's met with a one-line HTML link. Follow up emails read like a pissy email from a teenage girl on her period. Rather than thank the customer for his business and trying to make amends, he tries to play the victim card and tells the customer to take his business elsewhere. I would expect more professionalism from someone I'm doing business with.

I've ordered from MTGFanatic in the past, and I haven't personally had problems with them. But stories like the ones in this thread and on other Magic forums have convinced me that there is a systematic problem with the way MTGFanatic approaches business, and they certainly won't be getting my business in the future. I wonder if those who do support the store are somehow affiliated with them or are friends of the owner.

On another note, here are some stores I have had *great* experiences with:
- ChannelFireball: Excellent customer service and replies quickly to my emails. Willing to combine shipments for free after I've prematurely submitted my initial order at their own cost. Honored my preordered Mental Missteps (8x) at $1.49 even though they reserved the right to limit preorders to just a playset, because they realized making a loyal customer happy (so I could have an extra playset) was worth more than the $10-20 they could have made by reselling those Missteps at $5.
- StrikeZoneOnline: I've only ordered from them twice, since they're a bit pricey, but their shipping costs are low! The first time, I ordered a set of Grim Monoliths after they were unbanned, and surely enough, they shipped them as promised. The second time, I placed a larger order which included 4 Through the Breech placed the weekend right before the card broke out in Modern. They fulfilled the order when they resumed business the next Monday, even though Through the Breech had spiked up quite a bit over the weekend. This type of no-nonsense business earns customer loyalty.
- CoolStuffInc: Quick and painless to order. They are a bit on the expensive side, but their customer service is also unparalleled. They have shipped many packages of sleeve protectors to me at a cost much greater than I paid for shipping, which certainly ate into their profit margins for those types of supplies. But once again, I feel very comfortable ordering from them, knowing that the items I purchase will arrive quickly and in the promised condition without any of this middle school drama that I don't need in my life.

[Nidd]

Well based on Chris' post on MTGS he doesn't understand that. He cried on and on about how buyers would have made him lose 1800 dollars and that that money could have paid an employee for a month. He is either deceitful or dumb or both and I wouldn't buy from that store.

Their articles are entertaining sometimes though :/
Reading all that stuff after writing 2 articles for them actually hurts kinda, but what can I do?

I haven't bought from them, I get all my cards via a local trader and MKM, so I can't say anything about their... business habits.

[Mr. Safety]

My experience has been that mtgfanatic has been up-front and honest in all of my transactions with them. I think it's poignant to say that negative experiences will happen even to the best businesses...they mark it in the experience notebook and move on.

Chris Tremblay wasn't saying that he was losing money...he was saying that if he wanted to restock the item, it would be astronomically more expensive. THAT is where he gets the 'it could pay an employee's salary for a month' statement. He decided to avoid that opportunity cost, and it panned out for him because the card then went back to it's previous price (I'm guessing after Survival was banned.)

I'm not condoning anything mtgfanatic does, far from it. I just think it's unrealistic to expect a company to be perfect considering the thousands of transactions that happen daily, and not all handled by one person (contrary to popular belief, I think Chris is just the owner...I think he has several employees that handle shipping/recieving.)

I see this as a goof-up that got blown out of proportion. Why? Because we all have the internet as a place to go and scream bloody murder. When 5,000 orders go right and *one* order goes wrong, I don't think Chris worries too much about it. I know as a business owner, I wouldn't sweat it.

[Michael Keller]

This entire thread makes me laugh.

I applaud mtgfanatic for doing this. I work at a store and have lost money because of unbannings.

Sorry, we're only human we cant be up at midnight and change the prices on cards. Sorry you can't take advantage of the 2 hour period that we werent working i guess.

So, basically what you're saying is that you don't mind walking the fine line of customer service that is between acceptable and unacceptable? That seems like atrocious business ethics on your part to deny a customer an order because of a banning or unbanning. As a retailer supporting Wizards' product, you should accept that as part of the risk that comes with the job.

Bottom line is you're willing to castrate your own reputation to save a few bucks in the interim. I'd never buy from you, either.

[TheArchitect]

I looked through MTGfanatics buy list and found they had really competative prices on a lot of singles (some not so much). But for example, 6$ for SoB&M when they were going for 7$, 5$ for a fauna shaman when they were going for 6$, etc. and that was before the 25% store credit bonus. So I found all the 10$-.25$ cards I had on their list and mailed it out hoping to get a check for for about 180$.

A few weeks later I get paid only like 44$ and they mail back more than half the stuff I sent them. They basically kept all the stuff like SoB&M, elspeths, fauna shamans, Urborg (stuff they could sell easily). And sent me back the junk rares, the junk rares that were specifically on their buy list keep in mind. If they didnt not want to buy my Aven Brigadiers and browbeats then they shouldnt have put it on their buy list. Kind of annoying since I was mostly trying to get rid of stuff that was junk to me, and since it was on their buy list, i figured it wasn't junk to them. I wouldn't have even sold to them if I knew they were going to pick and choose from what I sent them and mail back the rest.

[Dan Turner]

Why are you so obsessed with that guy?



Penis Envy

[Mark Sun]

I looked through MTGfanatics buy list and found they had really competative prices on a lot of singles (some not so much). But for example, 6$ for SoB&M when they were going for 7$, 5$ for a fauna shaman when they were going for 6$, etc. and that was before the 25% store credit bonus. So I found all the 10$-.25$ cards I had on their list and mailed it out hoping to get a check for for about 180$.

A few weeks later I get paid only like 44$ and they mail back more than half the stuff I sent them. They basically kept all the stuff like SoB&M, elspeths, fauna shamans, Urborg (stuff they could sell easily). And sent me back the junk rares, the junk rares that were specifically on their buy list keep in mind. If they didnt not want to buy my Aven Brigadiers and browbeats then they shouldnt have put it on their buy list. Kind of annoying since I was mostly trying to get rid of stuff that was junk to me, and since it was on their buy list, i figured it wasn't junk to them. I wouldn't have even sold to them if I knew they were going to pick and choose from what I sent them and mail back the rest.

Happened twice to me, then I found a lot more reputable stores. I'm also convinced, like many others, that they send back played versions of cards that you sent in as NM. It would be a nice experiment to try some day with invisible ink and a UV light; food for thought.

The one good thing that came out of that mess (I had just started playing) is that I got tipped off to communities like MOTL, and stores like SCG, CFB, T&T, and CoolStuff. Why would you ever do business with MTG Fanatic if the aforementioned stores exist?

[conboy31]

I looked through MTGfanatics buy list and found they had really competative prices on a lot of singles (some not so much). But for example, 6$ for SoB&M when they were going for 7$, 5$ for a fauna shaman when they were going for 6$, etc. and that was before the 25% store credit bonus. So I found all the 10$-.25$ cards I had on their list and mailed it out hoping to get a check for for about 180$.

A few weeks later I get paid only like 44$ and they mail back more than half the stuff I sent them.

Sounds about par for their business operation.

[TheArchitect]

The one good thing that came out of that mess (I had just started playing) is that I got tipped off to communities like MOTL, and stores like SCG, CFB, T&T, and CoolStuff. Why would you ever do business with MTG Fanatic if the aforementioned stores exist?

Yeah that was my 1st transaction with them, wont do that again. I often consider buying/selling to SSG and but their prices are so uncompetitive I just look elsewhere. T&T and coolstuff are nice though, I have had nothing but good experiences with them. Those two are the two cheapest places for sealed products I know of. Ebay, MOTL and, in my experience, believe it not, MTGS trade forum are really your best bet if your willing to put the time into it.

[bakofried]

Well, the issue is that it's not a single goof-up. They repeatedly fuck people over, and because of this, they don't deserve my, or anyone else's, business.

[MattH]

Just a lil' testimonial:

On the Sunday before the most recent bannings, I placed a 'sell' order to ABUgames.com. I sold off 12 shoals, a set of vesuva, and a bunch more stuff. Total was about $245. I was worried, though; if any of that stuff was getting banned, my package wouldn't arrive in their hands until at minimum two days after the banning. They might reject my sale, or try to buy the cards at the 'new' price. But since I had gotten such a sterling recommendation from my friend who has done quite a bit of business with them (think: a dozen beta duals, an entire foil EDH deck), I went ahead with it.

They accepted it all and paid me every cent. Granted, I did place the order two days prior to the bB&R update (as opposed to 10 minutes after), and that probably helped. But they honored every price I sold at, to the penny, and I would gladly sell to them again.

[xeraseth]

Just a lil' testimonial:

On the Sunday before the most recent bannings, I placed a 'sell' order to ABUgames.com. I sold off 12 shoals, a set of vesuva, and a bunch more stuff. Total was about $245. I was worried, though; if any of that stuff was getting banned, my package wouldn't arrive in their hands until at minimum two days after the banning. They might reject my sale, or try to buy the cards at the 'new' price. But since I had gotten such a sterling recommendation from my friend who has done quite a bit of business with them (think: a dozen beta duals, an entire foil EDH deck), I went ahead with it.

They accepted it all and paid me every cent. Granted, I did place the order two days prior to the bB&R update (as opposed to 10 minutes after), and that probably helped. But they honored every price I sold at, to the penny, and I would gladly sell to them again.
I have also had nothing but great experiences with ABU also

[Comrade]

Something to ponder: is everyone with the name magic fanatic a crook and a liar?


Why are you so obsessed with that guy?


Penis Envy

The irony of this is quite amusing, considering it's coming from 'Mr. Compensation Issues' himself.

[Zilla]

Enough of this shit.

[Peter_Rotten]

yes but seriously
what the chance of you have
the exact same amount of cards
that you "shipped out" and then post
the exact same amount of nm cards
and played cards and this is the not
first time online vendors didn't want
to honor an order but atleast they where
honest about it and not try to play it off
like they shipped it to me the tracking never
updated meaning the post office never received
it and the vendor simply printed out the label
so no i am not gonna wait since its obvious they
try to rip me off

14 lines? Did you post your reply in sonnet form?