Hot Topic Redeemed: The Case of My Little Pony

A couple of weeks ago, Hot Topic made me mad. I guess more than anything, you could say I was disappointed. In case you missed the whole Funko My Little Pony figurine thing, I’ll wait while you catch up on the ordeal. Done yet?

So on Christmas Eve, I brought my Princess Luna figurine back to my local Hot Topic. The manager was on his break, so the ladies working at the time tried desperately to help me. They agreed that my collectible was clearly damaged and I appreciated that they understood my frustration and empathized with me and my situation. I mean, I’d waited all that time for this thing only for it to arrive looking like this?

They were going to try to damage it out and re-order the item for me – free of charge of course. However they were unsure of how to go about doing that since I’d made a web order. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the manager, who also agreed that my item was damaged and he got pretty animated about it.

It turns out that I am not the only person with shipping or Funko related issues. As the story goes, the manager has been in constant contact with corporate over problems with timely shipping, items arriving damaged or of sub-par quality and not just the Funko products, but items in general. I was asked to hang onto my figurine and encouraged to call corporate again myself to “raise hell” as he would be doing the same via e-mail.

Imagine my surprise when mere days later, the manager of Hot Topic showed up at my shop front halfway across the mall because he needed my address. Apparently I was getting a brand new Princess Luna figurine for free, sent to my door step and I would have it within the week.

First off, that’s impressive. I mean, he contacted corporate before I even did as I was going to wait until after the New Year with the assumption I’d never get anywhere before that. Secondly, he addressed the situation on my behalf and he put forth the effort to come to me instead of waiting for me to stroll on over to his shop. I am extremely pleased with that.

My new item arrived just a few days later in a huge box, far too large for its contents. In it was my Funko collectible box wrapped and wrapped and wrapped with bubble wrap, surrounded by packing paper. I salute your smart assery Hot Topic.

I’m pleased to announce that the figurine looks great. Yes, it has flaws but they are so minuscule in comparison. Again, it’s mostly about the wings, but I figure it must just be a thing. They don’t look anywhere near as bad as the old one did – which strangely enough, I got to keep.

I gave the old one away to my best friend who was happy to have it regardless of its characteristics. And to add a fun twist to the story… he gave to me his clear variant Princess Luna in trade. Go figure. I get what I wanted in the end and now I have an extra figurine. Ha!

So all is well that ends well. I am incredibly impressed with my local Hot Topic and thankful for their help in this frustrating situation. But Hot Topic corporate? Not so much. I mean, they did help fix the situation but it shouldn’t have taken this much of a fuss to get it done. This isn’t how I like to do things.

I might have added to my collection since all of this fiasco. Oops.