Negative Feedback for Ricky Doll

[chibaraki]

I preordered a Helios head from Ricky during the first week of February and was under the impression that it would be shipped in about 60 days.

When the first shipping deadline approached... well, nothing happened. Eventually Ricky posted a message saying that shipping would be delayed until May. I was irritated but I waited patiently.

May came and went and I heard ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from Ricky. Eventually, on May 30, Ricky posted a message stating that shipping would begin on June 8.

June 8 passed and again I had heard nothing, and I was very frustrated, so on June 16 I sent Ricky an email asking for a refund. I got this response:

Hi

Please wait your shipping turn.
I`m working very hard.
becuase of so many order delay shipping.
I`m very very sorry.
2nd shipping start 22 June.


Thank you.

Please note that shipping has now been delayed three times.

Unsurprisingly, June 22 came and went and again I hadn't seen a doll head yet, so on June 26 I sent another email, this time demanding that my payment be refunded immediately. I got this response:

Hi,


I`m working hard but delay. because of mass-produced.
Please wait your turn. I`m shipping by order list.
I`m very very sorry.


I`ll send you this week.

Thank you.

Interestingly, I ordered on the second or third day of the preorder, so I'm not sure why I'm not toward the beginning of the "order list". I also filed a paypal claim at this point but since it had been way more than 45 days it was closed immediately and I got nothing.

Last week, on July 3, I got this email from Ricky:

Hi.
I was expected to shipping doll today, but shipping off is behind schedule. Because of a problem on the doll production process at present. I have solved problems, So I'll be expected to resume shipping off again next week. I'm very very sorry because I'll do shipping off postponement.

At this point I know NO ONE who has gotten their head from this order, and I'm not sure Ricky has shipped any heads at all. Certainly this is now five times that Ricky has been "almost ready" to ship my doll only to delay further. Tomorrow I'm going to file a claim with my bank to try to get my money back, because I don't think I'm ever going to see the head and I don't even WANT the head anymore -- I want my $270 back. If I had known it would take over five months I'd never have ordered it.

The entire experience has been horrible. Up until the July 3 email the only time I have had any contact from Ricky was when I emailed to ask for refunds or threaten to file a claim with my bank.

I strongly discourage anyone from ordering from Ricky. While the dolls are lovely the likelihood is you won't see them for months if ever, and Ricky will not do you the courtesy of letting you know your order is delayed unless you threaten.

[toshirodragon]

I too am in the same ordering group and have to recieved my head. I wont post my emails as they are word for word duplicates of chibaraki's. I also feel that ordering from Ricky is not a wise idea, IF you get your head it will be after way too much time has passed and many unpleasant emails.

[Ricky]

HI


Becuase of DDos, I can`t accept My Email.
I use my account, but suddenly I can`t use My Email. steel now.


Please, wait your turn.

I shipping start today. I send doll step by step.
You`ll receive next week.

Thank you.
__________________

[chibaraki]

Ricky has emailed me asking me to reconsider my dispute and wait longer for my head to ship. Obviously I'm not willing to wait any longer. All I want is a refund.

[chibaraki]

I had assumed that the "wait your turn" phrase was a translation issue. My major problem with it is that I've been being asked to wait since May and it is now the middle of July. I've been patient for 2 1/2 months now, and I'm finished being patient. I'll only be satisfied with a refund, and since nobody's dolls have shipped yet it should be easy enough to refund me.

[gridbug]

Myself and toshirodragon recieved an email from Ricky yesterday saying that she would refund us and to wait until she does:

Hellow

Please wait rufund.
I`m preparing tp rufund plan.

Thanks for reading this.

Sincerely,

-Ricky-

I got the email about reconsidering the dispute as well aand I sent her back an email saying that I wasn't happy with her lack of communication, her service thus far and I didn't want the head I ordered anymore since if I did get him, all I'd do would be to resell him. So I asked for a refund and this is apparently the response for those of us who just did not want to go through with getting a doll we no longer wanted anymore.

I am hoping that she refunds the full amount promptly because if I have to wait another two months for it to get to me, I will not be happy. In addition there's an update on Ricky's site stating that all the dolls from the orders have now been shipped:

Subject: All Shipping FInish

If you don`t recieve doll until 07.30.2009 or tracking number,

Please Email me.

Thank you.

[chibaraki]

I got another email from Ricky this morning:

Hellow

I can not use Issue refund menu in my paypal account.
Because of dispute claim, my account is limmited now.
For reason of very old, This dispute do not use Resolve claim menu.
I try refund once and again, but I can not ...(...)

Would you claim close for smooth rufund?
I`m already prepare rufund plan. If you cancel claim, I refund immediately.
Please wait your doll payment rufund.
Thank you for reading this.


Sincerely,

-Ricky-

Unfortunately the dispute I filed was automatically closed by Paypal so there's not actually anything I can do about it as far as I can tell, but it does sound like Ricky is at least attempting to issue refunds. I wait in hope.

[toshirodragon]

I received that email today as well. I know my dispute was automatically closed as well.

[chibaraki]

I'm currently trying to work with both Ricky and Paypal to try to get things to a point where people can get refunds. Looks like the rest of the people involved got the same email I did. We'll see what I hear from Paypal -- there must be something in place to resolve this, or this is going to change to a bad transaction with PAYPAL.

[toshirodragon]

Well keep us in the loop and I'll call them tomorrow as well! I'm already irked at Paypal for the 45 day bullcrap.

[toshirodragon]

I just received this email from Paypal:

Dear Kris ,Thank you for contacting PayPal. Hello, my name is XXX. From reading your email, I know you that your seller is having difficulties issuing you a refund. I sincerely apologize if this has caused you any inconvenience, I will be glad to assist you on this.If your seller is having difficulties issuing a refund because of account issues, which I cannot confirm to you, then the problem on your seller's account will have to be resolved first.In order to best address the issue I am encouraging you to have your seller directly contact us so we can assist him or her with the problem.We know situations like this can be difficult, so thanks for working with us. If you have more questions, visit our Help Center by clicking "Help" in the top right corner of any PayPal page.Sincerely,XXXX PayPal Resolution ServicesPayPal, an eBay Company

So what now? Since Ricky has said her account is closed until "we" declare to them that we're satisfied?

[toshirodragon]

Ricky hasn't closed her account, Paypal has closed or frozen it for her.

[chibaraki]

My concern is that I don't know that any of the cases are actually open. By the time people got around to filing disputes it had been more than 45 days, so they were closed automatically. So I'm not sure what's actually going on there.

In any case I'll contact Ricky again and see if she's communicated directly with Paypal.

[gridbug]

I sent an email to paypal with my dispute numbers (that were automatically closed as well) and asked them to remove my disputes against her so she could send me my refund. At this point I don't know what I can really do as for me to call paypal it's an international phonecall. They haven't been at all helpful on my side of things either. I also haven't heard back from paypal after I sent that message.

God I just want my refund. I don't know how we'll get it when we can't 'close' the cases.

As for all the people jumping to conclusions that weren't involved, please stop. It's entirely uncalled for.

[chibaraki]

Well, I got a promising-looking email from Paypal yesterday:

Dear <my name>,

Thank you for contacting PayPal. We regret the delay in responding to
your service request.

The funds are no longer on hold.

A deferred complaint is a complaint that is not actively investigated by
PayPal because the user hasn't followed the guidelines for filing a
dispute.

Disputes are defined as deferred when:

* A Non receipt complaint is filed more than 45 days after the
transaction date.
(<my dispute number>)
* A Not-as-described complaint is filed more than 45 days after the
transaction date.
* A Not-as-described complaint is filed within 45 days after the
transaction date but only qualifies for the PayPal Buyer Complaint
Policy.

Note that a deferred complaint will be noted in the seller's account and
that PayPal may decide to start an investigation into a deferred
complaint at a later stage.

To view the specific terms and conditions, click the "Legal Agreement"
link located at the bottom of any PayPal webpage and click "User
Agreement".

Thanks for sharing your concerns with us. We value what you have to say,
and we know situations like this can be difficult. If you have more
questions, visit our Help Center by clicking "Help" in the top right
corner of any PayPal page.

Sincerely,
Janet
Protection Services Department
PayPal, an eBay Company

So hopefully Ricky can refund us now? Maybe? Possibly? I've forwarded the message to Ricky, so we'll see.

[gridbug]

I'm hoping so. Thanks a lot for posting that, chibaraki I hope that Ricky will be able to get our funds out to us now.

[Zagzagael]

Please DO NOT post into this thread unless you are directly involved in the transaction. Thank you for understanding why we need members to stick to our guidelines.

[gridbug]

Hellow

I`m waiting for paypal respond.
My account closed till now. I hope resolve as soon as possible.
If my account open, I`ll fast refund. I dislike drag on this problem. Maybe you too.
I try resolve this problem continue. I hope it won’t inconvenience you.
Please wait with patience.

I got this from Ricky today and I emailed back saying I'd tried to talk to paypal and they said it had to be done on her end, so she would have to talk to them herself. Speaking of paypal, they emailed me twice today and they were both USELESS repeats of the SAME THING. They didn't even READ what I wrote AT ALL (because the second was a response to my reply to their first one in which I stated I understood what they wrote but her funds needed to be unfrozen for her to refund us and they DID NOT READ IT) - I'm fast starting to think the paypal customer service staff are useless.

I sent them a very ranty email about them not even reading what I said and told them I HAD spoken to the seller and come to a resolution and that they needed to unfreeze her account for it to happen. I hope they get the message this time. D:


Anyway after that I got this back from Ricky after emailing her that she needed to contact them too:

Hellow

I conttact paypal by email yesterday.
please wait.


Thank you for your help.

Honestly, paypal are the ones who are starting to jerk us all around now I think :/

[toshirodragon]

Agreed. Both times I've emailed them I've gotten back form letters, telling me to work it out with the seller. The second one said the selller had to contact Paypal before anything could happen, which it sounds like Ricky is trying to do. Jeez....

[chibaraki]

The email I got back from Paypal was moderately helpful. It sounds as if they're working things out. Not sure what it is that makes it so I get helpful responses and no one else does, but thus far they've been helpful and informative when I've contacted them.

If they're not being helpful via email, calling them on the phone might be more useful. Do they have contact numbers outside the US, even?