Quality Control Rant - you've been warned! Ranting to ensue. . beware!

:rant: I really wish I could find the words to express how . . . not upset . . disappointed (??) maybe I am right now. I took advantage of the sale on DisneyStore online to pick up several of the online exclusive pins featuring Stitch, Mickey and Minnie, and the Goofy one. In all, I ordered 6 pins - one keeper, two gifts, and 3 traders. ALL 6 had some sort of quality control problems.

Pin 1 - Stitch: Insanely loose pin post; paint dips on building
Pin 2 - Stitch: paint dips on Stitch's ear & left arm; small paint dip on building
Pin 3 - Stitch: paint dips on right arm; scratches on street
Pin 4 - Mickey/Minnie: loose pin on pin element (jingles when touched/moved); paint dip in sky
Pin 5 - Mickey/Minnie: dirt in paint on Minnie's face (think Marilyn Monroe birthmark); dip in cotton candy
Pin 6 - Goofy: small bubble in one of the balloons

Out of all of them, Goofy is the least grevious. I mean I understand they come from a warehouse and are mass produced and will thusly end up with some flaws - but 5/6 (we'll leave Goofy out as he is least noticeable) is a little rediculous in my opinion. Normally I would shrug it off and explain to potential traders the flaws, but fear that in today's scrapper prominent world - I'd be called out for trading them scrappers as some of the dips are really that noticeable.

Like I said before, I'm not really angry about it all - I tried to explain it to my husband and the word "shattered" kept coming up. I guess I'm just really disappointed at the lack of quality control involved this time through. I've ordered plenty of times online before and have not had this happen to date. I know some of us have talked about the lack of QC on the racks. But then it seemed to get better, or we just stopped talking about it/bringing it up.

I'm going to sleep on it all tonite and call customer service tomorrow. I was really looking forward to these pins, and would ask for an exchange, but am concerned that the replacements will be in the same condition or worse! :|

Any advice anyone? Or similar QC stories??
oke:

Edit: BTW, Thanks for listening ya'll.

I would return any pin with a pin post that's wobbly, that's a hazard for you and just asking to be broken ;A;

I feel your pain. I waited overnight for the hinged storybooks in may at DSF and more than half of the pins were damaged on the inside. We waited a long night to get pins that weren't the best of quality. And if you feel the need to rant DO IT! At least your rant would have some sort of reasoning behind it unlike a vast majority of rants

If these pins are the main street pins that I'm thinking of buying, you just made me rethink that...

Aw, it sucks when you get crappy pins from the company!!!

Sorry it happened. Have you complained to the disney GS yet? Cuz bad quality needs to be addressed.

I complained to disney store when I received my brave le pin as the pins points was bent I called them up and sent me another 2 and told me to through the others away I got pliers and bent them straight and sold them on eBay
:anxious:

I have had some of the same issues. I have noticed that the quallity has changed. And I even have gotten pins direct with that border around the edge of the back where the mickey heads don't go all the way to the edge. Sad. Very very sad. I don't think your conserns are invalid for sure.

I don't even order pins from Disney online anymore. I got way to tired of calling them up and finding out I had to keep the damaged pin because they sold out. I believe the last ones I ordered were the 110 legacy collection and only one was in good condition. QC has taken a total nosedive.

I have been purchasing items from DisneyStore.com for the past three years or so, and it is obvious that the quality control has majorly declined over time.

The past few times I bought pins online, the quality was definitely lacking...there were paint dips, and the overall look and feel of the pins seemed "cheaper" to me.

The LE Cinderella dolls that recently came out all had rust-like stains on their glass slippers.

My $200 LE Merida and Ellinor doll set came a few weeks ago, and Merida has a green speck of paint under her chin.

I have ordered two different ornaments on two different occasions, and both times they came damaged.

Shipping quality has also diminished over time...they used to package things in appropriately-sized boxes...but now it seems like they will just throw anything in a large box and be done with it.


It's really a shame...and the sad part is they don't seem to care...they just offer the refund and want you to go away. Don't they realize that if they took better care of their products and how they are shipped they wouldn't have to handle so many refunds?

Wow sounds like some bad egg pins i would return for a refund... true they have no control but they could have been better at making pins.

Quality control has been AWFUL with Disney (even DSF) about the last year. I have noticed pins becoming worse and worse. I have been traded some scrappers that are better quality than some of the pins I have purchased directly from DS.com or DSF. Makes me sad because generally by the time I get the pins from DS.com they are already sold out, so exchanging them is out of the question... at least most have been for my collection vs traders.

I guess I'm going to have to recheck all of the individual pins I got from disneystore.com a few weeks ago :sigh:

I've only ordered one pin set from DS.com and I haven't taken them out of the package yet so I haven't really inspected their backings yet. Now I'm scared because it consists of 11 pins and it is likely one of them is messed up and now the pin set is sold out. Sad that even DS.com can't compete with some fakes out there -__-

We lucked out. both BRAVE sets we ordered came in good shape. clean decent pins in undamaged boxes.

Granted they shipped the buggers in HUGE boxes. lol the shipping boxes got reused for the girls random toy stuffs.

Thanks everyone - Sadly, it is the Main Street pins that I was talking about. I've been super busy so far today, but will call a little later on and will update with info.

It really is sad when it seems to be a widespread problem for a company that in the past has been known to produce higher quality merchandise. Even sadder when some of the scrappers out there are of better "fill" quality.

Years ago I bought a bunch of these mystery tins, and learned way back then that even buying directly from Disney did not ensure the highest quality:

(Pin 32388: WDW - Minnie's Flowers Series (4 Pin Set))


Almost every single one of the 40 pins (I think I bought like 10 of the tins, and never did complete the set) had a divet. A few of them also had sub-par finishes. They were not buffed out correctly, had the dull, unshiny look to them, and generally looked like scrappers.

It has always seemed like the mystery tins/pouches & any pins sold in sealed packs have always had lower quality than the rack pins or pins sold individually.

It is sad to know that quality has gone down even more

I have received my pin sets from the same sale, Pin 89935: DisneyStore.com - Disney Parks Adventure - Characters with Park Food Pin Set, and pretty much every pin has a flaw(s). Had I not bought them from Disney, I would have thought I was getting a load of fakes/scrappers. All the flaws mentioned above, less the loose pin posts..that didn't seem to be an issue. But dips, scratches in the paint, popped bubbles, you name it. Very sad. These are just lanyard traders and I'm sure others with less standards than my own, will be happy with them---especially kids. But as far as collection quality, it took me 10 sets to get one I could live with. UGH!!!

Just got off the phone with a very nice, although very uninformed gentleman at DS Online. He first was very confused about the difference between a pen and a pin, and admitted he was unaware of pin trading and it's merchandise. :facepalm: (*warning bells go off in my head here*) After trying to explain it a little bit, and probably doing a great injustice to it, I continued on to state that 5 of the 6 pins I ordered did not meet expectations due to paint dips, loose pin posts, and scratches on the pins surface. He then asked if I lived close to a DisneyStore location, which sadly the closest is about 60 miles away (truly, not bad). Anyways - after dropping a few hot phrases "disappointed", "poor quality control", "frequent buyer", "really looking forward to these pins", etc. He put me on hold to "ask his team what to do" as he was not familiar with what I was talking about. I appreciated his attempts at figuring this out, I really do/did. After coming back on the phone, he finally took my name and phone number in order to look up the order, even though by this point I had told him I had the order number several times, and even offered that I had the product numbers as I was looking at the packing slip. Anywho, all I was told was that he has now put a note in the system for his higher ups, and that I should receive an email in the next 24-48 hrs regarding the matter. :suspect:

I got off the phone with him, and about 2 minutes later, my cell phone rings. It was his supervisor Travis. (Talk about quick!) After discerning which pins were at fault, he said he would replace the pins at no cost - and not to return the pins I had! He said instead if I did not want them because of the dips, scratches, etc to donate them to a children's charity or hospital. (Very cool that he suggested that!) In addition, they also will be sending a gift card to my email for my next purchase.

:bowdown:Needless to say, I am blown away at the generosity/great customer service I just experienced. The end of this truly does have a "magical" feel about it, and I look forward to the replacement pins, which btw, are being shipped expedited! :shock::bigthumb:

Thanks you guys for hanging in with me on this, as well as sharing your stories with me.:hug: As we were going over the problems with the pins, I mentioned that several friends also have had similar problems with their pin orders from DS, and Disney in general. Travis seemed genuine when he stated that sadly, he had noticed the quality control issues the last few years as well, and hopes that the merchandise that is being shipped out now (and in the future) will be better quality and meet customer's expectations.

CMR626 said:

Should I call back at another time and see if there's someone else I can talk to about it that's more familiar with the merch?

Click to expand...

I doubt you're still on the phone 30 minutes later but if I were you, I'm persistent, I would go through with the call, you never know who he/she can hand the phone off to next.

Now that's a good service call