Well, I called today @8:30CDT and got Mary (oh joy), but I think she was fairly informative.  I was polite, and she was polite back, telling me the supervisors have the phone orders and all cc info under lock and key to keep it all safe, and it would all be entered soon.  BUT--she made this pretty clear--we cannot reasonably expect any more info than that, including confirmation of orders, until sometime after the weekend.  Maybe Monday, more likely Tuesday.  I reiterated to her that some members of the fan community have been told by other CS reps that the phone orders would not be honored at all, and she said that is not true.  She told me they will do everything possible to fill all the orders that came in by phone as soon as possible, but she admitted that nobody in the CS department, supervisors included, really has a complete picture of what's going on.  She asked that I be patient and see Monday or Tuesday what the status of this situation is.  She also said their system was pretty badly messed up by all this, and that they were caught off-guard by the sheer volume.  So that's what I've been told today.  I really don't think there's much else to do but wait, try to be patient, and hope my order goes through.  Mary was actually pretty nice to me.  Sometimes being polite, but assertive, helps a lot.  We'll see what happens.  I advise patience.

Well, if you were able to make ammends with Mary I might have to reconsider that angry letter... although Erin may still be getting some fan mail.

"Off-guard by the sheer volume,"?  What did they expect when they made a toy that everyone wants but only made it a convention and store exclusive, in limited quantities?  Even people who hate the Optimus Prime mold really like Nemesis Prime. 

"Off-guard by the sheer volume,"?  What did they expect when they made a toy that everyone wants but only made it a convention and store exclusive, in limited quantities?  Even people who hate the Optimus Prime mold really like Nemesis Prime. 

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I think the sheer volume they were caught off guard by was for the 501st Stormtrooper.  Undoubtedly, once the website went down people started phoning for that toy as well.  In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if they had 100x as many phone orders for that guy.

Well, if you were able to make ammends with Mary I might have to reconsider that angry letter... although Erin may still be getting some fan mail.

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maybe she was too swamped yesterday, it's easy to forget that it's not the CR's fault but it's soooooooo easy to take it out on them

Well, if you were able to make ammends with Mary I might have to reconsider that angry letter... although Erin may still be getting some fan mail.

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Erin rox!

 

...also this fits with my prediction. They'll do it, slow, delayed, and we'll get them later than expected.

Well, if you were able to make ammends with Mary I might have to reconsider that angry letter... although Erin may still be getting some fan mail.

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maybe she was too swamped yesterday, it's easy to forget that it's not the CR's fault but it's soooooooo easy to take it out on them

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I'd blame managment.

 

It's a bit unfair that some who called in were able to place orders, while others were turned away.  This is very inappropriate, either all of them should have taken orders or none of them.

They probably filed the orders in reverse. That the first will be last and the last ones will be first. 

Frankly, to hell to the phone orders. They shouldn't be filled - I know that will probably upset those who (believe) they made one, but that's total BS.

 

I called at 3 separate times to order a NP, and spoke to 3 separate people- and they all told me 'No order for you!' --only to read on 2 message boards that people calling after me were being told they would have orders filled for them.

 

I don't blame you all, I bet I wouldn't care if I was one of those lucky callers; however, I'm not. I appreciate the sentiment some people are expressing when they contact customer service asking 'what will happen to the people who called and were turned away?' -- but let's be honest-- it's easier to say that when they told you on the phone up front your order would be filled the first time.

 

I'm emailing the customer service area with this argument: "You (hasrbo) discriminated agaisnt particular consumers who called for orders, while letting others receive the item. To keep any type of customer loyalty, I am requesting equal treatment to all customers- make the toy available to everyone at once or none at all. Filling the phone orders would be the biggest mistake of this situtation."

 

Sure, I sound like a whiny little Starscream- but after spending hundreds of dollars on their toys, I feel no guilt in asking for something that resembles respect from the company. I would urge all of you who don't have a golden 'phone order' promise to do the same.

 

I suppose there will be tons of them available sooner or later- but this is rather entertaining if you asked me.