Thisisanime.com Animearigato.com Best Buy Animethisisanime.com, Animearigato.com, Best Buy Anime THISISANIME.COM ANIMEARIGATO.COM BEST BUY ANIME: BUYERS BEWARE!!! Los Angeles California

Beware of this company! They mess up 75% of your orders, sell items on their store which are NOT in stock then notify you that they are backordered (average wait time 3-4 weeks), send the wrong items, send out items using MEDIA MAIL when you pay for USPS Priority, do not even follow their own policies, take average of 1 week to reply via email with NO PHONE NUMBER, and I just recently discovered that after making a purchase and complaining that someone attempted to charge my credit card for over $500 in items illegally. Sound like a tall tale? Read on.

I am a big anime fan and try to find good online stores for anime DVDs with good pricing, and more importantly ones which are reliable and have good customer service. Before getting onto my review I will say that being a business owner, I am a firm believer in giving a company a chance to make amends if they make a mistake before posting a review like this.

That being said I want to share my horrible experiences with an online store called thisisanime.com, which is owned by a company out of California called Best Buy Anime located at 2038 bay st. #2, Los Angeles, CA 90021. I gave them a chance to amend this disasterous situation and they choose to ignore me, so I want to let everyone who is considering buying from them in the future the facts behind this ripoff company.

From 2006-2007 I was a customer of another website called animearigato.com. After placing half dozen orders with that website and having issues with 4 out of 6 orders, where half the time they gave me the wrong items orders were late on average 3-4 weeks missing items that they claimed were on backorder.I finally decided to look for another online anime store. A friend recommended thisisanime.com so I decided to give them a try.

I have been a customer of thisisanime.com since 3/30/2007. I have placed a total of 4 orders with them, and had problems with 3 out of 4 orders placed with them, with the final straw being an order placed on 5/4/08 that still has not been sent in full and discovering that their company was responsible for several of my credit card numbers being stolen over the past year.

The first order was sent to me extremely late (5 weeks) and was missing items in it that they claimed were on backorder and would be sent out as soon as they got them back in stock.

The second order was made back in 9/2007. I used a personal bank debit card for this order. Weeks after placing my order, they finally notified me via email that my order had been shipped, sorry for delay. Several days later I noticed online banking showed several transactions that I never had made. I called my bank and told them about this and they cancelled the card and sent me a new one. Never had this happen before since I work in programming and my computer is very secure, so I didn't think much of it. I got all items few days later, but I did not receive it until going on 4 weeks late, even though selected USPS Priority shipping and their website clearly states In stock items usually ship within 1-2 business days after receipt of your order

1/2008 I placed my third order with them using my new personal debit card, which I had only used for one other transaction. a local gas station 2 months before at the pump (kept receipt). This time I figured I would be smart and within the order form specifically added a note NOTE: If you are missing any items for this order, please cancel entire order ASAP!. Again I selected USPS Priority, only ordered items that their site shows as IN STOCK NOW, and again was left waiting for my order.

No replies to my emails for two weeks, at which time they said my order was being shipped next day and would send me a tracking number. I received my order and found that they missed an item, which showed as We're sorry. This items is backordered. Both on included receipt and on their website when I logged in. I contacted them and told them that I wanted a refund for the missing item. No response for a week. I also noticed that they had still charged me in FULL even though it clearly says again on their website Credit Cards - If you select to pay with your credit card, our website will authorize your card for the purchase price at the time you place your order, but you will not be charged for an item until that item is actually shipped to you.

A week later I got another infamous email indicating they were sorry for the delay and that my missing item had been shipped. Well guess what? Exactly 3 days after getting that email notifying me that my missing item had been shipped, I got a phone call from my bank telling me that someone had attempted to use my credit card from California to place orders for over $1500 in computer parts from several different online stores! I already had my suspicions about it being this company, but for whatever reason I thought no company would be that obvious about theft and again cancelled my card AND my bank account. I got the missing item from them about 7 days after their email to me.and to add more insult to injury they sent my missing item via USPS MEDIA MAILeven though I had originally paid for USPS Priority! I didn't bother wasting more time complaining to them, as I was just happy to have gotten my items.

By this point you would figure I would have learned my lesson, but since they had such a huge selection, good prices, and they had an item that wasn't found on ebay yet, I placed my final order with them.

On 5/4/08 I placed an order for a total of 4 DVDs: 3 Naruto, and Bleach Part 7. Again I paid for USPS Priority mail, and this time used a personal credit card instead of a debit card. This particular card was one which I had not used since 2007, and when I didit was for an ATM cash advance. By 5/14/08 I still had not received my order and had already sent them 2 emails telling them if they did not have my order in hand to me within 3 days, to refund me in full. I got an email a day later indicating my order had been shipped, but they failed to tell me that Bleach Part 7 DVD set for $21.75 was backordered. I only figured this out becaused I viewed my order details online. I was furious since their website still showed IN STOCK NOW and they were still selling it, plus again they had charged me in full even though I did not have all my items! I got my order on 5/19/08, missing the one DVD set on backorder and sent an email back to them telling them to either send me out the missing DVD set or refund me for the missing item immediately.

On 5/22/08 I got an email from them indicating that the missing item just came in and would be shipped out tomorrow and they would send another tracking number. I told them to ensure it was sent to me via USPS Priority since that is what I paid for. On 5/25/08, exactly 3 days later again.I got a phone call from my credit card company wanting to know if I had tried to charge $500+ in computer equipment, which came from a Company in California. At that point I knew since I had not done anything with that card since last year, that either A) They were storing credit card numbers in their database and upon processing them, ended up selling them off OR B) someone had successfully hacked into their website and was pulling card numbers. What is more likely though, that someone hacked their site and continued to try to make charges exactly 3 days after my past few orders. or that it was someone internally at their company who was doing so?

I tried to find a phone number on their company to call on this, as this was ridiculous. No phone number on their site. I then came to find out that thisisanime.com is OWNED by a company called Best Buy Anime in California, who also own animearigato.com. You can see the same business name and address if you look at their website contact info sections and do a WHOIS lookup on both domains. I tried getting a phone number off of that address. Phone company said there is no phone number for that address.

I sent them an email with my concerns, specific past order details, and info from my credit card company who had now cancelled my card at my request. I got a reply back a day later indicating Sorry for your concern. This has never happened before. I will have the owner contact you tomorrow. On 5/31/08 I got a package from them in the mail, with what I hoped was my missing item. No such luck! Instead I got a completely DIFFERENT DVD that I never even ordered and these guys list on their included receipt highlighting the item indicating it HAD been sent out!

I sent them out an email on same day indicating how furious I was, that I wanted them to send out my missing item and if I did not have it in hand by Monday that I would be contacting my credit card company to do a chargeback in full, and posting my review of their company practices for everyone to see.

It is now 6/2/08 and still no phone call or return email. Anyone who owns a business knows that if someone makes such a bold claim, you do whatever you need to contact them ASAP. Why wouldn't you especially if its either someone in your company stealing or someone hacked your website, unless you knew this was happening already!

I am amazed how far this company took this situation, and I truly hope that my credit card companywho has been notified of this situation and given what evidence I could on this potential theft prosecutes them in full. I hope everyone can learn from my mistakes with this company and avoid Best Buy Anime / thisisanime.com / animearigato.com at ALL COSTS!

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Here is a few more choice items I wish to point out and summarize for everyone:

1. LATE ORDERS: Typical time to receive an order after placement is 21 days, even though their website clearly states In stock items usually ship within 1-2 business days after receipt of your order.

2. OUT OF STOCK: They intentionally lie by selling items on their site which show as IN STOCK NOW yet 75% of orders placed are missing items, which on receipt / website indicate "We're sorry. This items is backordered."

Their terms of service state:

"What our availability indicators mean : 99% of the items listed for sale at the ThisIsAnime are kept in stock and ready to ship right here at our fulfillment center in Ranson, WV. This is different from many other companies who use fulfillment or 3rd party vendors to ship your items, or don't order items until customer actually place orders. We ship directly to you!"

More misinformation! If it was truly 99% of the items listed for sale are "kept in stock" then why is it 3 out of 4 orders, 75% of the orders I placed...came to me with items missing / back ordered?

3. BACKORDERS:
a. Their website clearly states:
"All backorders will be carried for a minimum period of 15 days from the time of your order, and may automatically be canceled (and a refund made if applicable) after that time unless you request we hold your order open for a longer period of time."

Yet I have personally seen this to be untrue, as average wait time to receive back ordered items is 3-4 weeks AFTER getting your already late order! Never had them offer once to give me a refund, and ALL refund requests were completely ignored!

b. Their website clearly states:
All backordered items ship via Priority or First Class Mail.

Yet each time I have received missing items / backordered items, they always send it USPS MEDIA MAIL!

4. CHARGES FOR ITEMS NOT RECEIVED: In all cases where I got only some of the items in my orders, I was STILL charged in full for the entire order even though I did not have all products. Their terms of service clearly state:

"Credit Cards - If you select to pay with your credit card, our website will authorize your card for the purchase price at the time you place your order, but you will not be charged for an item until that item is actually shipped to you."

Yet I have a credit card bill right in front of me for my current order CLEARLY showing they charged me in full.

5. WRONG ITEMS: They commonly send you wrong items, blame it on their warehouse peoplewhich the person who answers emails is the SAME PERSON who fills orders (Kazu), plus they always tell you to ship them back the wrong item first and they will then on receipt send you the proper one. Tried that once with them, confirmed they received item back within 4 days, took them 3 emails and 4 weeks later to send me my missing item with the correct one!

6. MAIL METHODS: Their website states Our standard shipping method is US Priority Mail for US domestic orders. Yet any time you have an item on BACKORDER / MISSING which is majority of the time, they ship out the missing item using MEDIA MAIL.

Bruce
Clinton Township, Michigan
U.S.A.