Is HLJ trust worthy?
 

Just wanted to start this thread since certain people I know don't trust HLJ and my HG Seravee is in processing. Since you guys buy from online shops all the time, what's your opinion of HLJ? Are they trustworthy?

I've never had a single problem when buying stuff that they list as 'in stock'. The mistrust seems to mostly come from the fact that latley they've been accepting more pre-orders than they end up getting in-stock, so a lot of customers that pre-order don't get their items. So I guess the question is: did you pre-order your Seravee or buy it when it was listed as 'in stock'?

Outside of the pre-order problem (they accept too many, and don't fulfill em as a result), HLJ is a completely trustworthy site, never had any problems with it.

Trustworthy? Sure.

Reliable however? For me personally? No.

From what I hear, it's the preorders that are the problem with HLJ.

When it comes to fufilling pre-orders of some of the harder to get figures, especially Sentai stuff, their customer service is awful. They frequently accept too many orders and only fufill some while putting the others on Back Order without bothering to notify their customers, which is incredibly frustrating and has happened to me at least six times.

However, they are also incredibly reliable when it comes to replacing damaged items, or items with defects, or items missing accessories. Compare Amiami to HLJ: Amiami sent me a Figuarts that was broken in package. When I contacted them I got the reply "try some adhesive, because we cannot give you a refund". I replied with photos of the breakage and saying that I'd be happy with simply a partial refund because an armless Figuarts is worthless and they retorted that "manufacturing errors are not their problem". In comparison, HLJ once sent me a Transformer (worth more then the Figuarts) missing its sticker-sheet. When I contacted them they sent me a whole new figure at their cost (they paid for both the new figure and express shipping) and told me to keep the one without the stickers as a "gratitude gift" for using their store. That gave me a really good feeling and is far better customer service then I've had from anywhere in Japan.

So there's both bad and good. If you're pre-ordering, have a back-up plan. If you're buying an "In Stock" item, shop with confidence.

What happened? Was it preorder related?

I use the SAL shipping to buy something from their site with my Easter money back in April. I didn't get my item until the middle of May. I never bother ordering from them ever again.

Just to throw my personal experience with HLJ out there, I haven't had a single problem with them. I'm well aware of the preorder issue but I've somehow avoided it so far. That includes three Arms Change releases and one SH Figuart. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I get the feeling that they're getting better about preorder fulfillment.

Rant incoming.

On more than one occasion, as in nearly every time I've every placed a pre-order, my items have either never been fulfilled or randomly removed from my account entirely. With no notice given at all. In about 4 years worth of trying to use HLJ I think I've had like 3 of my personal orders come through. I've also received payment requests for pre-orders despite having cancelled them well ahead of release. More than once they've tried to bill me for something I no longer have on order. When I've spoken to customer service about it, they tell me it shows I have it ordered on my account. So I've literally taken screenshots of my page before, which is blank, and even then they don't believe me. They've threatened to disable my account over this too which I find very offensive. Their customer service has been downright terrible with nearly every experience I've ever had.

Not to mention the first screw up I ever experienced with them about 3 years ago when i ordered an SHF Red Buster. Despite having my current address on file at the time, they wrongly mailed it to a former address I'd had when I started college. I got a confirmation e-mail about it and immediately contacted customer service, and despite it being a holiday weekend where there was "no shipping", the item still somehow went out to this incorrect address. They said it was too late to stop it from shipping, flat out refused to refund me, and said I had to physically go to the address to try and get my package, said I needed to make my own "arrangements". HLJ said I could only receive a refund when and if the item was returned to them as undeliverable, or I could pay additional shipping to have it sent to the correct address it should have been sent to in the first place.

They have never refunded me, I never got the figure and eventually had to pay for it else where, and I pretty much gave up on them after that. People can say I'm just hating on HLJ or whatever, they often do, but the numerous poor experiences I've had with them have done nothing but convince me they are one of the worst online retailers out there.

Rant over.

The preorder issues are well-established. Den-O's issues are a nightmare...and I think I've heard of someone experiencing something similarly, though I can't remember who (maybe it was on Twitter). I remember Gogdog of TFW had a bad experience with one of their CSRs that was basically taunting/antagonizing him.

Didn't some people have some stuff they'd paid for disappear from their Private Warehouse? I remember something like that coming up, I think in the Figuarts thread.

Me personally, I haven't experienced any issues with them to date, but I never make Tamashii preorders with them (I'd rather risk an inability to return it to AmiAmi in return for a cheaper price, or just wait and get something from Amazon/BBTS via Bluefin, then deal with HLJ) and at this point only make Transformer preorders that I can't get through AmiAmi (typically when they sell out of MPs in the blink of an eye), always make sure I preorder immediately and always keep a backup at BBTS in case something shady happens anyways. Even when I receive a payment request, I don't like to leave anything sitting there for more than a month.

I've heard too many bad experiences from others to think I'm immune to experiencing something similar myself eventually.

I haven't had a problem with HLJ. It's been a while since I've used them though.

That's... not HLJ's fault. You shouldn't have chosen the slowest shipping option.

I've been buying from them on and off for almost ten years now, so Den-O's absolutely shit luck aside, HLJ is pretty reliable, as long as you're ordering from in-stock and not preordering. It does take them forever to process, though.

I pick it because it was the cheapest shipping and I go with the cheapest shipping for the most part because I don't have a good budget and it helps me save more money. I've done SAL on other web sites and they do a better job on shipping out items with SAL. I remember one point where I had to e-mail HLJ a few weeks later after I order my item and they told me that my item could have been lost in the mail. They didn't seem to bother to refund me and I forgot about my item until a month later.

You realize that once it's out of the warehouse they have no real control over how it gets to its destination. That's entirely on the transportation company, and considering much of this stuff comes via the ocean, lord Poseidon himself.

SAL shipping taking forever has absolutely nothing to do with HLJ, it's a problem with SAL. Likewise, if you choose the unregistered, untracked snail mail option and it never arrives, that's not HLJ's problem. It's the same with any store, tracking exists for a reason and if you choose not to use it and your item goes missing, it's your fault for choosing the cheap option rather then the safe option. As long as HLJ sent the item and has proof they did send it, they have no reason to give you a refund.

I order from them for over a year now and haven’t had any problem either. And I pre-order there a lot.

My Ryugen FiguArt was a little bit late with getting shipped out from them, but after I asked about it they told me what was delaying the process in a professional and friendly way and mailed him out a day later.

Other then that everything was okay, I will recommend them, just because all those horror-stories never happened to me personally, and I wont talk shit about them unless they give me a reason to.

I haven't had any problems with them & I've only ever purchased 2 items from them, both being Gundam Wing Robot Damashiis *different release years mind you* & both arrived at the correct time.

So, do the preorder issues also apply to restocks/backorders?

As with most people here, I've not had any issues with HLJ when ordering items that are in stock. In fact, for years they never failed to complete my pre-orders. It was only when I started collecting Toku that I had problems. Lots of problems. I had three orders in a row go unfulfilled without a peep from them. When a fourth failed to materialize I sent them an email and got a snotty reply back saying they got shorted and if I really wanted the item I should buy it somewhere else. Charming, to say the least. Also, I cancelled both Build DaiOh and Safari GaOh about a month before their release and, like Den-O, they were removed from my account as far as I could see, but I was billed for both. Unfortunately, I have a PayPal agreement set up with them so the payment was processed before I knew what was going on. They also tend to bill you for backordered items without any warning at all of an impending restock and sometimes a charge out of nowhere months down the line can really screw up the budget.

I still have to use them sometimes, if I can't score a pre-order somewhere else, but I generally tend to stick to buying random in stock stuff when they run a sale now.

Just from what I've heard from here I've avoided HLJ like the plague. I preordered Kiwami Arms on there just because I had no other option. Only time will tell if they actually fulfill it or not.

Haven't had any problems with HLJ personally, though I've heard the horror stories such as Den-Os.

I fully recognize my case is probably more isolated than anyone elses. But I've simply never had a good experience with them

I've been using HLJ for over 7 years and I've never had a problem. In fact I prefer them over AmiAmi, especially for Tomicas.

Yeah I've been using HLJ forever and I never had a problem, I prefer them over Amiami due to thier superior customer service and the fact you can see how much shipping is before you make your order.

Though they sometimes have an issue with not fulfilling their preorders, but It's not like they take your money before hand.

Oh and the fact that you can cancel as many orders as you want without being banned.

I've preordered twice with them and they both were put on Back order but I did recieve them in the end. Anything in stock I've had no problem at all with.

It's kinda sad that that's not a given in this hobby.

Yeah kinda annoying when those unforeseen expenses come through and you're forced into buying something you may not have the money for at the time, but what can you do?