Just wanting to know if anyone out there has ever had any dealings with Italeri's customer service in regards to missing kit sprues?
Recently purchased a kit and found a missing chrome sprue, I contacted customer support and they want me to pay for the sprue along with shipping, which came out to about half the price of the kit itself, they claim that it is highly unlikely they would have missed the chrome sprue so in short calling me a lair... I have absolutely no problem paying for something I damaged myself but I will not pay for a product I bought brand new and completely sealed that should have been a complete kit. So I returned it.
So NEVER again will I EVER purchase ANYTHING with an italeri logo on it! COMPLETE JUNK.

That is poor business practice. I thought "the customer is always right".? Can't think of any of their kits I can't live without.

I'm a cynic with a skepticism born of a life in customer service and have been a long sufferer of customer service burn-out.

Customers are lying, duplicitous so-and-so who will steal you blind if given half a chance. It's more common than you think and one being honest and accomadating is such a refreshing rarity.

"The customer is always right" really means "do anything to make this annoying pain in the neck go away".

If an unhappy customer does anything to put the employee on the defensive these attitudes will come out. Blame the customer, insinuate they are lying because so many times they are, or at least not telling the whole truth. Service reps know that at least a third of all customer complaints are user error. Studies indicate that it's even higher. So the employee gets defensive or snippy.

And the person behind the counter goes on the defensive and the customer becomes irate and carries on and unless the employee bends over backward, a customer is lost.

I wasn't there, but a lifetime of experience tells me thats a likely scenario. Could be completely different but I wasnt there. The company should fairly state the policy and NEVER insinuate the customer is anything but truthful. If the provided service cannot be performed apologize and offer an alternative. Even exchanges are usually a good alternative. Spares and replacements on the other hand for items with lots of parts will often result in charges and fees even for items with so-called "Life-time " guarantees. (I'll tell you horror stories about my kitchen faucet sometime)

The company and employee often has their hands tied. You can't do free stuff no matter how much you'd like to. So no free sprue for you. Sucks but there it is.

So the employee offers all she can, commiserate with the customer (I understand... ) use "I" statements and do the best she can under an unfair system.

And the customer is lost. Plenty of other suckers, um, customers out there.

I see both sides having been there. I like Italeri kits and have a lot of them. I tried the distributer and the retailer when I got a damaged decal sheet. No dice. So I had to go get after market decals. Revell -Monogram will do wonders but only if you ask for pieces, not whole sprues, and only for kits currently in production. Airfix and Italeri are like that too but only if you live in Europe. Its expensive to send spares overseas and the trust just isnt there because they can well afford to lose you as a customer (see above)

Is it fair? Is it right? No, a thousand times no and I know and understand your plight. But we're stuck with a flawed system because we are all flawed people (see the "steal you blind" above.)

Let the buyer beware, because one scammer will destroy any equitable system and there's only so much that can be done and still make a profit.

I understand your frustration. Sometimes you just have to move on, or as we said constantly in the Infantry: Embrace the suck!

I asked for two sprues, as i purchased an older kit, and the newer one had better tracks. I stated that, so they asked for 8eur for two sprues of tracks which is a good deal.

Bravo1102: Try being the only sales associate, over hard goods, at Walmart(cause they sent everyone else home), on Christmas Eve.

Yup. And then being the only manager on duty who can authorize returns the day after Christmas.

A co-worker had a part-time job at Home Depot. A guy brought in a car tire and wanted to return it. She said Sir, we don't sell tires, but he insisted that this was the store where he bought the tire. He was obviously lying, but he was starting to creep into "violently crazy", so the manager gave him 50 bucks just get him out of the store.

KL

We kept a log of chronic merchandise returners and cut people off if they seemed to be trying to abuse our good nature, but I didn't really mind lying customers as long as they bought something, but I was more or less done with shoplifters, prostitutes attempting to run an operation out of the second floor customer bathroom, Hasidic Jews masturbating in the men's room (Not making that up; it's a New York City thing apparently), crapping on toilet seats (or the floor), kicking the toilet roll dispenser off the wall multiple times, or going to sleep under the piano in the Art section. Icing on the cake was dropping a 110-story tower on top of the store. I would gladly suffer any idiotic paying customer to avoid all that other stuff.

I've been in the hobby business for 17 years, I have no doubt that had there been an unbroken chain between Italeri and the retailer they would have supported it. But if it were something from a swap meet or eBay or a second-hand seller they're not going to support it free of charge. They just can't verify what's happened along the way. Funny how it's always chrome trees and clear parts and tires and decals, isn't it?

To the OP, DJ you might try and put some pressure on their customer service by emailing them a link to this thread, the negative feedback might provoke them into changing their initial decision and it's not like it would cost you to much, a few moments of your time and an email....try to send it to one of the supervisors and not one of the regular minions.

hope this helps

Obviously, a guy from Jersey!

Bought it from an Italeri retailer, retailer wanted to pay to have the sprue sent to me from Italeri, after I made them aware Italeri wanted me to pay for the sprue. They would have replaced the whole kit but they no longer had any in stock and the neither did his suppliers F-it i just returned it, Italeri can keep their kits and I'll spend my money else where.
DJ

Like I said I have NO PROBLEM at all paying for something had I broke or damaged it, but I refuse to pay for something I have already paid for, I work too damn hard for my money and the prices for these kits aren't cheap, I simply asked Italeri to provide me with something I ALREADY paid for and was pretty much called a liar...
DJ

Indeed a frustrating situation. As I buy most of my kits from the LHS, I make it a point to have the salesperson open the box and do an inventory, so we both can see if items are missing or broken. If all's well then I pay.

I had a poorly casted clear part of Italeri once. I photographed it and asked for a replacement; It arrived a few days later, no problem!