So, September 3rd, I place a costume order. Company I'd not used before, but it had what I wanted, so yay. FYI, not a cheap order, OK. I sprang for the good stuff.

It hjad some things for kiddo in it, and a good Ghostbusters costume for me. As in, the proton pack is not inflatable, it's a solid piece of equipment.

I am advised I will receive an email with the shipping info when it goes out. I receive this email on September 8th.

It tells me it shipped on the 7th, and this is included in it:

Now, yes, my costume has an asterisk by it, but nothing indicating what the asterisk means. It says it shipped with that order.

I track the dickens out of this order. I am rather alarmed when FedEx marks it as "delivered" on Monday the 12th and I don't have any boxes.

It may have been misdelivered to the neighbors (our mail gets mixed up a lot), because I get a box on Tuesday the next day. It contains everything except my costume.

The packing slip lists all the other items, but not that one. So... the label isn't incorrect, but I am concerned.

So, I contact the company via livechat. A gentleman named Scott advises me that it's coming from the manufacturer and will probably take an additional 3-5 business days.

I confirm with him that I should have it by the end of the week or the beginning of the week following.

No boxes come.

Tonight, two weeks after receiving the one box, I again contact the company via livechat, hoping they can check on it, because I've worked retail, I know direct-from-manufacturer things can be wonky.

Abdullah checks and tells me I'm not getting the item at all, and that a refund was credited on September 8th.

What... the fuck...

I received no notification of this whatsoever, and upon checking my bank statement, there's no refund credited from this company.

I let him know this.

So... now within the next 12-24 hours, I'm supposed to get a call from the company with a "solution."

And I did ask why, 5 days after I was allegedly credited, I was told it was coming. And the answer I got was pretty much, "IDK, maybe he looked at the wrong info?"

I JUST WANT MY AWESOME COSTUME, GUYS. LOOK AT IT, LOOK HOW COOL IT LOOKS.

The nametags are interchangeable--it comes with a set of 5.

EVEN IF THAT PROTON PACK IS FLIMSY PLASTIC, LOOK HOW COOL IT LOOKS.

Though I doubt it's flimsy plastic, because I have a Grand Heritage Black Widow costume and the accessories on it are real fucking metal

But yes. I am not a happy elf right now.

this sounds not unlike a lot of my experiences with vendors

certainly not all but more than it should be

I know shit like this happens more frequently than it ought to, and I know it's also usually not the fault of the merchant because manufacturers can be very frustrating.

Mostly I'm annoyed that they botched this cancellation/refund bit.

//nodnods//

in the lab we once had parts on hold for like... weeks essentially because the vendor's accounting department didn't want to be inconvenienced

Ew. And, y'know, I'd also be less annoyed if it weren't such an expensive item. Because, yeah, I've had things get cancelled, like little accessories or whatever without much fanfare, but this?

The Grand Heritage brand usually costs between $200 and $500, depending on the item.

I mean, it's good stuff, and totally worth it, but. Not cheap.

I think if I'm dropping that kind of cash, I deserve to be notified and given an explanation of why I'm not getting my stuff.

...OK, it's been more than 24 hours. These people have not called me. Have not even ATTEMPTED to call me. Or email me. Or contact me at all.