Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

I asked them about my preorder, since it's kinda disturbing that the item still doesn't seem to exist on tru.com.

I have confirmed that your order is for a pre-sell item, Transformers Masterpiece Action Figure - Optimus Prime, with a scheduled future release date of 10/15/2012. This release date is the date that we are expecting to receive your item in our warehouse. Upon receipt, our warehouse will process all pre-sell orders for this item in the order they were received. When our warehouse has started the process of fulfilling your order, you will receive an email confirmation notifying you of such. Please allow 1-2 business days for our warehouse to process and ship. Upon shipment, you will receive a shipment confirmation email at -------@gmail.com.

Of course it's a bit silly to call today a "future release date", but at least it's confirmed.

BTW my local TRU in Thornton, CO still has plenty of MP Thundercracker. No MP Optimus as of Saturday, though.

To use a phrase from another HasBLO property in shambles:

I have a bad feeling about this.

And my reply:

I DO NOT want to cancel this order. It is the ONLY way I will be able to get this collectible item that your company has grossly mismanaged.

I would however like to offer you some education on what a PRE-ORDER means.

Release dates change for toys all the time. It’s just the way it is. HOWEVER, there is NOT ONE store that offers items in their physical stores while COMPLETELY IGNORING the online pre-orders placed. Why? Because these customers are PAYING customers that obviously want the product urgently enough to place an order for it A MONTH IN ADVANCE. Do you not get that? This toy is in your physical stores RIGHT NOW for random people to buy, while your GUARANTEED SALES have been 100% NEGLECTED. And don’t even bother with another form letter response telling me how your “distribution system” for TRU.com is “different” than for the stores. That is complete CRAP, especially because this toy is a TRU exclusive so there is NOWHERE else for it to go!

Do the fans and collectors a favor. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HAVE A PRE-ORDER SYSTEM IF YOU CANNOT ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT IT!!!

Can you tell that I am upset?

-User897

User897 wrote:And my reply:

I DO NOT want to cancel this order. It is the ONLY way I will be able to get this collectible item that your company has grossly mismanaged.

I would however like to offer you some education on what a PRE-ORDER means.

Release dates change for toys all the time. It’s just the way it is. HOWEVER, there is NOT ONE store that offers items in their physical stores while COMPLETELY IGNORING the online pre-orders placed. Why? Because these customers are PAYING customers that obviously want the product urgently enough to place an order for it A MONTH IN ADVANCE. Do you not get that? This toy is in your physical stores RIGHT NOW for random people to buy, while your GUARANTEED SALES have been 100% NEGLECTED. And don’t even bother with another form letter response telling me how your “distribution system” for TRU.com is “different” than for the stores. That is complete CRAP, especially because this toy is a TRU exclusive so there is NOWHERE else for it to go!

Do the fans and collectors a favor. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HAVE A PRE-ORDER SYSTEM IF YOU CANNOT ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT IT!!!

Can you tell that I am upset?

-User897

dude, "In or Around"

"Expected to enter our warehouse"

TRU.com is a subsidiary of ToysRusInc. They have no connection to the Brick'n'mortar stores other then shipping merchandise to the local stores when offered online ship to store. Do some homework before sending an email like that. They have no control over what product is on the shelves at your local store, or any store.

Dude, do some homework yourself.

Every other retailer in the history of retailers fulfills pre-orders FIRST. Any other practice, which has been exhibited here, is unacceptable. Just because they have different "systems" is no excuse. The fact that these EXCLUSIVE toys have hit the United States, and their warehouses, cannot be denied.

User897 wrote:Dude, do some homework yourself.

Every other retailer in the history of retailers fulfills pre-orders FIRST. Any other practice, which has been exhibited here, is unacceptable. Just because they have different "systems" is no excuse. The fact that these EXCLUSIVE toys have hit the United States, and their warehouses, cannot be denied.

TRU.com will send you your pre-order before they put any online.
They don't have any in their Warehouse, other wise they would be shipping them.
ToysRus has them in their warehouse because they are a different company.

just like Walmart.com, Target.com, or any other. They are just subsidiaries.
The whole reason why they won't match online pricing.

User897 wrote:Dude, do some homework yourself.

Every other retailer in the history of retailers fulfills pre-orders FIRST. Any other practice, which has been exhibited here, is unacceptable. Just because they have different "systems" is no excuse. The fact that these EXCLUSIVE toys have hit the United States, and their warehouses, cannot be denied.

It's not just different systems dude, it's totally seperate warehouses as well. The website orders are designed to be able to ship out to customers. The brick and mortar stores get all their stuff from distribution centers, who don't have the shipping software to deal with customers. Hell they probably don't even carry boxes to ship stuff out. All they do is receive containers of products, palletize it, mix it with other product on hand, and turn around and ship those pallets to stores. I work in warehousing, and believe me there is a HUGE difference between shipping to customers & dealing with DC's. I will bet my entire collection that they are totally seperate buildings that don't interact at all.

Umm... TRU is not a store I want to piss off with online orders. They are notorious for shafting people...

Plus, when did TRU ever make sense?

I was weary of ordering anything from them because of all the bull that went on last Christmas season. So I'm not surprised with this nonsense, doesn't mean it's not frustrating as heck though.

Let's just hope they get them out soon. Stay cool. So far they're only one day late. Not like they're a month overdo.

Just to ease your mind, I figured that I would let you know that when I called and spoke to a CS rep at TRU.com she said that MP Prime is indeed on backorder status. She stated that the order would be filled once the supplier ships the allotment to them, and assured me that it would not be arbitrarily canceled.

So basically, its just a matter of when the orders will be fulfilled.

Clearly misjudged the demand, that's for sure! Not KEWL! not to mention the fact that how is it that some people were able to place pre-orders and others still can not? It's CRAP!

robotsindisguys wrote:Clearly misjudged the demand, that's for sure! Not KEWL! not to mention the fact that how is it that some people were able to place pre-orders and others still can not? It's CRAP!

They limited the presale because the website part of TRU is limited on how many total they're going to carry, plus it helps limit people from buying in bulk on different accounts and scalping it.

in the case of TRU.com, for some inexplicable reason they seem inclined to remove the pages for heavily ordered items after the initial flurry of orders are placed. Maybe they want to reduce the strain on the website by deleting the item page, hoping the folks will stop hammering the site looking for the items?

So glad I didn't preorder and drove to one of the stores to get it. This would drive me batty wondering.

So glad I put one on layaway at my local TRU when I saw it a few weeks ago. I didn't have the full $100 to cover it at the time and while I want MOP, I wasn't in a rush for it, but knowing how TRU usually works, I didn't want to chance missing it completely. There were only two on the shelf and when I went back the next morning to see if any more TF stuff (like the FOC Combaticons) had arrived, the other one was also gone, and I met someone else who had come looking for MOP and left disappointed.

Does someone have the item number for this?

bfett88 wrote:Does someone have the item number for this?

863856

Well screw TRU.com, I got one on the way via UPS from a friend!

This figure is nuts.

I talked to two different TRU's today, pretty sure one of the guys was a store manager, both were surprised the stores were getting stock before the pre-orders were filled and both said they were back-ordered, even for the stores. So... hopefully this'll be resolved soon....?

I have to say, some of the employees are clueless in Seattle though, not that it's surprising. I walked into one of the TRU's I mentioned above since it was on the drive home today and the girl I spoke to first was convinced the toy didn't exist because it wasn't on their website. Had to use my phone to pull up the number in this thread, but by that time the guy who I believe was the manager (didn't think to look at his tag, but he seemed to know the know-how and wasn't as baffled at the girl) had showed up. in a list of like 30 TRU's he pulled up on his computer he said only one had stock. Called them when I got home, they didn't. So either they sold out in the half hour it took to get home or their computer hadn't updated.

I'm just hoping TRU won't shaft all their pre-order holders. Still too early for them to (reasonably) cancel it, but I've never held much confidence in TRU's customer service rulings. Fingers crossed though.

So I've been pretty much checking the website every day to see if they would put the order page back up...constant disappointment. I went to a Toys-R-U store located about an hour from where I live to get my daughter a few things. I decided to check out the Transformers aisle and saw that they had 4 or 5 MP Thundercracker figures for $69.99, but no MP Optimus Prime. I figured on a long shot I'd ask one of the workers at the service counter if there were any in the back. One cashier said that all stock is put on the shelf and if it ain't out, they don't have any. One of the managers who I think was on her break asked which figure I was talking about. I told her and she said that she knew which one and mentioned that they had gotten MP Prime before the MP Thundercrackers even came in. She asked me to follow her to the shelf wear she scanned the tag then said she would be right back. Before she went to stock room, she asked me "how many do you want?" I smiled said just one, for myself. She brought out a case of two and said she would leave one at the counter for me while me and my daughter finished looking around. The manager said that it was a very popular figure and people who had ordered it online and wanted to pick up the figure in-store were upset about the whole situation...and from her tone, it seems that she has caught a lot of attitude. I was very appreciative and happy to finally get one. I wasn't pushy at all and I guess she was happy to help a collector like me. The best surprise is that she gave me a 20% discount of all the items I bought...not only did I get a case-fresh MP Optimus, it was only $79.99. I thought for sure I was gonna open that sucker up right up, but it looks so awesome in its package..I just can't do it yet, wanna savor it as is for now. Besides, I already have the Japanese version anyway. I have to admit that this figure looks even better in person, the colors really are more striking and the painted eyes make a huge difference. Anyway, just thought I'd share my MP Optimus story, good luck to those you still looking.

Got a sealed case at 25% off. Gotta love having TRU store managers as friends.

Thanks for sharing, cffincher! That's a nice VF in your avatar, too!

My MP Prime will be here Tuesday and I cannot wait!

Mine arrived today so the TRU.com nightmare is over. It is a FANTASTIC toy.

I just found MP Optimus and Thundercracker at my local TRU in NorCal and the prices are higher - WTF? I bought them anyway, might return them if I find a better price.

grymg wrote:I just found MP Optimus and Thundercracker at my local TRU in NorCal and the prices are higher - WTF? I bought them anyway, might return them if I find a better price.

I guess the SRP of $100 was really just a suggestion.

Not really going to be able to find them at a better price. TRU always raises their prices. Your only option is to use a coupon. (There's one currently active...) Other than that, they might lower the price for Christmas sales, but so far...what you see is what you get, unfortunately.

Gotta be honest, after having it in my possession, $120.00's too much. $250.00 for the import would've been ridiculous and brought on so much buyer's remorse that I probably would've quit the hobby.

He's not bad at $100.00 (which is what I paid), though flawed. Above that, ridiculous.

He has chrome chips on his bumper from his chest windows, he has paint chipping off because it's two different colors layered on top of one another, his die cast pieces have huge chunks of paint coming off... Yeah, I admit $100.00 for the set IS a good price, but for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS, I'd like there to be little to no flaws. I don't think that's a ridiculous request.