Receiving more damaged items after site redesign, customer service has gotten worse
I have been shopping with Right Stuf Anime for several years, since before they re-designed their website and still used to have a forum where customers could talk about anime, recommend other shows, and talk about different subjects but the forum sadly went away after they re-designed the website along with some other website functionality that was no longer available after the re-design (such as being able to leave comments when you place an order). The website re-design wasnt totally bad because it did add the ability to create wishlist which wasnt previously available. After the website re-design Right Stuf seems to also have changed the way that they run their business a bit (both good and bad), some of the changes that ive noticed are: 1) Before the re-design they used to have Studio Sales every month but the discounts would only be like 5-15% during the studio sale and then when Christmas came around they would have a huge sale called their 10 days of Christmas where they heavily discount all their anime including the new anime shows that were released that same year which would sometimes make me upset because I had found myself in the situation where I pre-ordered a show for $40-$60 and then a few months later they would put it as part of their 10 days of Christmas sale and sell it for $20-$25 when it was a new release that was released just a few months earlier, this caused me to stop pre-ordering stuff from their store and just wait until the end of the year to buy new shows. It seems that now Right Stuf has stopped this practice and only places regular edition and lower (not including limited edition shows anymore in their Christmas sales). Right Stuf also raised the order minimum requirement for free shipping from $50 to $75. 2) Right Stuf Anime got rid of the ability to leave comments when placing an order with them on their website, I am really picky about the condition that my anime merchandise arrives in because im a collector and since Amazon always tries to ship everything that I order with them in padded envelopes I found that Right Stuf anime was a better source of buying anime merchandise because they packed everything in cardboard boxes instead of padded envelopes like Amazon does so they usually arrive in better condition. Now that Right Stuf Anime has gotten rid of the comments section when placing an order on their website I cant leave them comments like "please check the items for scuffs, blemishes, damage on the covers, etc because im a collector, thank you!" and I have been receiving alot more items with damage on them from Right Stuf when I place my orders. The sad part is that I went with Right Stuf over Amazon because my items would arrive in better condition even though Amazon usually has better prices and an easier return process if something is wrong with the items, I guess ill have to buy directly from the studios more often now and only purchase from Right Stuf when items are deeply discounted. 3) The Got Anime? membership went from $12 to $18. The reasons why I think the Got Anime? membership is a very poor value because you can only use it for a 10% discount on regular priced items and for 30 extra days for returns that you pay return shipping costs yourself. The Got Anime? membership seems like a cash grab to me for things that they should provide for free as part of what they claim is Anime-azing! customer service and to compete better with Amazon. 4) The customer service has gotten worse, you better check your items and create the return ticket within 30 days of them shipping the order because if you go over by even 1 day they will refuse to help you at all and say "next time you should buy the Got Anime? membership or check the items as soon as you receive them" but with our busy lives sometimes its not possible to check items within 30 days and create a return request ticket. Its also annoying that returns have to be approved by someone at Right Stuf before your allowed to return items and if your approved then you have to pay return shipping expenses.