Jason T.

I used to order from hottopic.com all the time despite the ridiculous shipping to international customers. I would usually just wait until a 50% off international shipping sale so I was only paying slightly more than their competitors for shipping (which is sad).

Despite that they're site used to at least provide me with what I ordered most of the time and ship within a reasonable time.

Then... the site changed. Now they are just awful. I was dealing with them for nearly a month just to get one of my orders shipped from their warehouse. By the time they actually starting packing it half the items were missing and I wasted my special discount code. Their site also never properly reflects the stock in their warehouse.

It took me quite a while before I actually got a hold of a customer service rep that was helpful. The email customer service is terrible and they spout off stock answers and move on. The Facebook message customer service line is hit and miss. I had to call multiple times and leave public messages on their facebook site to finally get some movement on my order. I actually had placed another order a week later and received it a week ago. I am STILL waiting on that first order though I AM told it is shipped now. When I did get someone good on my first problem she was helpful, but it was not easy and luck of the draw when I got her. On Facebook they said that they would get someone to call me between a certain hour. I waited 2 days and contacted them again on Facebook only to find out the agent that was told to contact me just plain didn't so they got another person to call me immediately.

I placed another order later and used five $5 instant rebates on it totaling $25. One of the items I ordered was $15. It wasn't in stock so they refunded me for the item. But what they did was they refunded me for how much the item was on the order after the discounts were applied so instead of the $15 for the item I was given $3.15 back on the order and my $5 rebates were thrown away. I was not refunded the full amount for the item nor given my rebates back and I argued this for 2 days of which I eventually just gave up. After a month of dealing with nothing but problems from this company I just don't even care about what I'm owed anymore. They have lost a regular customer who has spent nearly $1000 there just in approximately the last 2 months. If that's how they treat a customer like that imagine how they will treat the person who only spends $50 here and there.

Seriously, there's much better and cheaper alternatives. Go somewhere else.

Update, Hot Topic did not like that I posted on their Facebook page about a new Rewards problem that came up and deleted it so they are now hiding things from people too.

Big Bad Toy Store is an excellent place to buy all your collectible and action figure needs. Prices are reasonable. Shipping is also very reasonable for international customers compared to competitors. They have an extremely useful pile of loot feature which I recommend. Items come packed carefully in great condition. Customer service email (which I've had to use a couple times due to my own errors) has always replied within one business day even during the busier holiday season.

Only issue I've ever had is that sometimes preorders do not come in during the expected time frame projected, mostly due to reasons beyond the store's control. This can be upsetting during the Holiday season when you need things buy a certain time, but if you order plenty of time in advance or if you don't need things by a certain time and are patient it is usually not a problem.

I'm from East Coast Canada and I've ordered from BBTS many times. I will continue to do so as they are an excellent provider for mine and my wife's collectibles.

ThinkGeek is a terrible site for customer service and problem resolution. They really don't care. You'll get lots of "I'm Sorry's" that sound a lot like "Too bad, deal with it's". Site never updates with stock properly and they will not rectify the problems they create.

Their shipping is also astronomical if you buy international and their prices on items in general are less than stellar. I wouldn't recommend this site at all. I've tried multiple times and always get some kind of grief so I've given up on them. There are far better places to get your geeky needs on the internet.