Jakob W.
Avoid this store
If you have any sort of experience that is less than optimal this store will block you on their social media. They conveniently only share their store updates on social media so good luck getting an update. They will also send you threatening emails about holding funds and will tell you that you are "harassing" them if you send multiple inqueries about an order than hasn't had an update in over 9 months. This store will also do "pre-orders" for unconfirmed stock and just leave you hanging - claiming they will send you items when they get them in. A legitimate store would have confirmation of items they will receive and only sell pre-orders for the amount of items they will get with 100% certainty. I pre-order Pokemon goods through lots of smaller stores that sell through Instagram and Facebook and this is the only store I have ever had a problem with. After that 9 month period of being blocked I apparently "harassed" them by inquiring about my order on multiple platforms leading to them "holding" my funds. After a chargeback *all is good so at least they let me have my money back* - I am still fighting this, I don't understand how my order can be cancelled and "refunded" when I dont have my money (or product), it is not 11 months from the original order and I can't get my money back and with the order being officially cancelled I don't see how I could possibly get my order back now. I would not recommend using this store at all, there are far better places to buy Pokemon. Edit: the reply is completely bogus. I did not chargeback until they encouraged me to do so, I literally have timestamped material that can prove that. Pokenest sent me an email (which I provided to Trustpilot) and I quote "Unfortunately, since you have been harassing ThePokeNest through social media and various modes of communication, we will have to hold your full order amount in reserve until the bank recovers it. You have also been blocked on our social media platforms and our Discord server. We have repeatedly answered questions asked and have communicated the status of your order. Your order will be canceled. This is covered in ThePokeNest's chargeback policy ... Often times, banks can take several months to refund via the chargeback route. We will accept the chargeback as soon as it comes in, but both parties will be out the full amount until the bank gets around to refunding you. There is no timeline on this process. The bank will hold it in reserve until a refund is made." Therefore Pokenest is claiming I can't make a chargeback when they have canceled my order and "held my funds". So what? Now I just never get a product because you have plainly said my order is cancelled and I am blocked and I will never get my money back either? How do I end up with no order and no money back? They have straight up violated the FTC mail order rule. There was never a time frame specified for my order. It never fell into any of their pre-order windows and they have completely stopped giving updates for the Evolving Skies pre-orders. They need to get my consent to delay shipping or process a refund. They are resorting to ad-hominim attacks on other customers which have nothing to do with business. How can me trying to get an update on an order placed months ago be harassment when the only thing I ask is "hey is there an update to my order?". Blocking me after doing so is unprofessional and leads to nothing productive. I only resort to something like trust pilot because here I am, 9 months after my initial order, with no product in hand or my money back. I cannot fathom how this is acceptable business practice.
Response from thepokenest.comMay 3, 2022
Hi there, Jakob, You cannot chargeback and receive a product that has been ordered. Please see our reply below. Once again, breakdowns were communicated from distribution long before any of your requests and before preorders even went up on site. Your claim above is misinformation to potential customers that we want to bring a great experience to. Furthermore, replies USUALLY happen between 24-48 hours, but these are just guidelines and expectations. We do not guarantee a response time, but we try our best to make it quick! We're a small business, but hopefully with time we can grow to hire more staff and handle the amount of requests we get! It's simply growing pains of business for now. We will do better! There are also both business days, and weekends, so keep that in mind! On weekends, support is normally not full time. This customer simply violated our chargeback policy, by charging back. We then stopped communication in accordance with our chargeback policy until he took to various social media sites to dispel incorrect information about what our mission is, and how preorders work. At this point, we are addressing the general public by responding to these comments, which were made by him. The chargeback policy has already been linked above. I have been very understanding and I encourage potential customers to do so their due diligence on making sure they know how preorders work prior to purchasing. ThePokeNest's mission can be read at the bottom of this page and I promise that we hold ourselves to a very high standard, and I have personally reached out to this customer many times in an effort to resolve this matter, and to try to help him out in any way we can, while within reason. Please check out our preorder policy, returns policy, refund policy & chargeback policy on our website for extensive information regarding preorders and chargebacks for why this customer was banned. Again, this example is what can happen when preorders are not understood. We have these policies to protect both the buyer and the seller, and we must follow them alike for business to flow smoothly. - Tristan Owner ThePokeNest