Lunchbox
New Hunter
TL;DR: Please use extreme caution if you are looking to buy costumes/parts from The Workshop (Aka. Mike.) After being told my order was shipped when I paid in full $5,045, I received nothing for two months with no real validation something was sent to me. This is my experience with purchasing a full Boba Fett costume from this seller. It is also a bit of a read, so my apologies in advanced for the long story.
Hello all, I'm a long time observer of the Dented Helmet forums and now first time user of the forum. I realize there is already someone out there whose made a name for themselves (Lunchboxwars I think), I didn't notice until after the fact and don't mean to impose. A few months ago I decided to take on the endeavor of getting a commissioned Boba Fett costume. For the longest time I've just observed and browsed around, reading up on vendors as best as I could, and decide who I could buy from. All the while I've just observed, and never thought to be involved in the community myself. If ANY of this sounds familiar to you, for someone who wants to start getting into a Boba Fett costume, this is for you. Here is a rough breakdown of what happened:
I payed the amount of $5,192.30 in total for a complete screen accurate Boba Fett Special Edition costume. The agreement was his used costume for that price. I was under the agreement with the seller that I would cover the seller fees charged to the him under Goods and Services. The total amount charged to the seller was $147.30. I completed the payment in the beginning of March and he did not ship the items until the beginning of April. He said he needed to make preparations for the items and needed a little bit of time, but the assurance I was given was that majority of the costume is ready -- which was the whole reason for me making my purchase as it was completed, if not nearly completed already and he could ship it soon. So the rough ETA was to be the beginning of April. I found the Workshop through Facebook, and all my contact was done through Facebook messaging.
On April 7th he attached two tracking numbers to the transactions posted on PayPal and claimed that he had sent the packages through USPS Priority Mail. However, both tracking numbers showed pre-shipment for a number of days before I confronted him about it. Upon checking the tracking numbers in the following days and discovering them unchanged from "Pre-Shipment" status, I contacted the seller to verify that everything was shipped; The seller had reassured me that everything was properly shipped and remarked that sometimes "these things happen" and USPS takes a while to show updates on shipment tracking but also brought up that USPS could have missed a scan. (For two packages.)
It is also worth noting that the tracking numbers on the USPS site do not list my address on them anywhere. I asked him to provide pictures of the receipts from the post office, tracking numbers on them, and pictures of the packages. I asked him three times and he had never given me a straight answer nor has he provided pictures of them for me -- as a proof of him shipping the packages. I had asked him on April 4th, April 21st (he said he would send them to me the following day), and April 28th. But by the 29th he then stated he discarded the receipts and can no longer find the USPS tracking numbers on his "site."
On April 22nd, the seller notified me of a shipping error which resulted in the packages being returned to the seller, due to some kind of mix-up at a USPS location in New York -- yet re-checking the tracking numbers did not show any relevant information.
My attempts to try and resolve this matter have led to the last message with the seller over the weekend of April 28th and 29th, where I shared my concerns involving the shipment of my order, inquiring for answers. Unexpectedly, the response given to me from the seller, was one of a dismissive nature, down-playing the referenced incident of the packages being sent back from New York, a week prior. He also stated that he threw away the receipts and has lost the tracking numbers through the USPS site and cannot find them anymore. He did not given me any form of confirmation that these packages have been shipped, or any confirmation of contact he has had with USPS. I filed claims against the Workshop on May 4th -- and did not conclude until May 18th.
Unfortunately, the seller had been my only source of getting any updates on the shipment(s), as neither USPS tracking numbers have any updated information to indicate the shipments ever existing, nor returning to the seller. Additionally, I had no way to validate whether the returning shipments were received by the seller, were being sent back to the seller from said places, or verify he actually had contact with USPS.
Ultimately, I filed claims on PayPal against Workshop after four business days of receiving no response when I raised all of my concerns regarding the entire situation. In the end I received all of my money back through the claims I made with PayPal. I didn't receive my last $2,000 until a few days ago from my CC company as they had to write me a check for that amount and then mail it to me. At the very end (during the claims process) tells me there had been a serious issue, health related, which had been the cause of the miscommunication with my whole ordeal and apologized for the outcome.
I completely understand that stuff happens, I get it. However this ordeal left me feeling seriously anxious and could not help but think I was getting a runaround, while making me question if this costume actually existed or was even packaged. I understand that people have had positive experiences with this seller, while others have had very bad ones. Whatever the case may be, thank you for your time.
I can get into detail about anything else and I have screenshots as well of our communication, all done through Facebook messaging -- if anyone has questions.
Hello all, I'm a long time observer of the Dented Helmet forums and now first time user of the forum. I realize there is already someone out there whose made a name for themselves (Lunchboxwars I think), I didn't notice until after the fact and don't mean to impose. A few months ago I decided to take on the endeavor of getting a commissioned Boba Fett costume. For the longest time I've just observed and browsed around, reading up on vendors as best as I could, and decide who I could buy from. All the while I've just observed, and never thought to be involved in the community myself. If ANY of this sounds familiar to you, for someone who wants to start getting into a Boba Fett costume, this is for you. Here is a rough breakdown of what happened:
I payed the amount of $5,192.30 in total for a complete screen accurate Boba Fett Special Edition costume. The agreement was his used costume for that price. I was under the agreement with the seller that I would cover the seller fees charged to the him under Goods and Services. The total amount charged to the seller was $147.30. I completed the payment in the beginning of March and he did not ship the items until the beginning of April. He said he needed to make preparations for the items and needed a little bit of time, but the assurance I was given was that majority of the costume is ready -- which was the whole reason for me making my purchase as it was completed, if not nearly completed already and he could ship it soon. So the rough ETA was to be the beginning of April. I found the Workshop through Facebook, and all my contact was done through Facebook messaging.
On April 7th he attached two tracking numbers to the transactions posted on PayPal and claimed that he had sent the packages through USPS Priority Mail. However, both tracking numbers showed pre-shipment for a number of days before I confronted him about it. Upon checking the tracking numbers in the following days and discovering them unchanged from "Pre-Shipment" status, I contacted the seller to verify that everything was shipped; The seller had reassured me that everything was properly shipped and remarked that sometimes "these things happen" and USPS takes a while to show updates on shipment tracking but also brought up that USPS could have missed a scan. (For two packages.)
It is also worth noting that the tracking numbers on the USPS site do not list my address on them anywhere. I asked him to provide pictures of the receipts from the post office, tracking numbers on them, and pictures of the packages. I asked him three times and he had never given me a straight answer nor has he provided pictures of them for me -- as a proof of him shipping the packages. I had asked him on April 4th, April 21st (he said he would send them to me the following day), and April 28th. But by the 29th he then stated he discarded the receipts and can no longer find the USPS tracking numbers on his "site."
On April 22nd, the seller notified me of a shipping error which resulted in the packages being returned to the seller, due to some kind of mix-up at a USPS location in New York -- yet re-checking the tracking numbers did not show any relevant information.
My attempts to try and resolve this matter have led to the last message with the seller over the weekend of April 28th and 29th, where I shared my concerns involving the shipment of my order, inquiring for answers. Unexpectedly, the response given to me from the seller, was one of a dismissive nature, down-playing the referenced incident of the packages being sent back from New York, a week prior. He also stated that he threw away the receipts and has lost the tracking numbers through the USPS site and cannot find them anymore. He did not given me any form of confirmation that these packages have been shipped, or any confirmation of contact he has had with USPS. I filed claims against the Workshop on May 4th -- and did not conclude until May 18th.
Unfortunately, the seller had been my only source of getting any updates on the shipment(s), as neither USPS tracking numbers have any updated information to indicate the shipments ever existing, nor returning to the seller. Additionally, I had no way to validate whether the returning shipments were received by the seller, were being sent back to the seller from said places, or verify he actually had contact with USPS.
Ultimately, I filed claims on PayPal against Workshop after four business days of receiving no response when I raised all of my concerns regarding the entire situation. In the end I received all of my money back through the claims I made with PayPal. I didn't receive my last $2,000 until a few days ago from my CC company as they had to write me a check for that amount and then mail it to me. At the very end (during the claims process) tells me there had been a serious issue, health related, which had been the cause of the miscommunication with my whole ordeal and apologized for the outcome.
I completely understand that stuff happens, I get it. However this ordeal left me feeling seriously anxious and could not help but think I was getting a runaround, while making me question if this costume actually existed or was even packaged. I understand that people have had positive experiences with this seller, while others have had very bad ones. Whatever the case may be, thank you for your time.
I can get into detail about anything else and I have screenshots as well of our communication, all done through Facebook messaging -- if anyone has questions.
