Wednesday, January 22, 2014

And Now A Word...

...No, not from Our Sponsors. This page has no sponsors and doesn't bring in so much as a nickel, which means that I can spend my proverbial two cents' worth however I please. Today I want to spend my two cents singing the praises of a company called Things From Another World.


There are a lot of companies out there that are purveyors of pop culture, everything from comics and action figures to high-end prop replicas (for those days when you just have to have Gandalf's sword or an alien blaster from Men In Black II.) TFAW is one of those. Their prices are usually better than most, and their website is extremely well organized. I like that I can go there and see what came out last week, what's coming out this week, and what's coming out next week, each neatly laid out in its own sub-page. Merchandise is always well-displayed, with large detailed photographs, not thumbnails. If I'm going to drop a hundred or so dollars on a statue, I want to be able to see the thing before I commit, preferably from several different angles and in detail. TFAW almost always obliges.

The reason for this plug, though, is their customer service. Recently I had an issue I needed to talk to them about. Their response was swift -- that same day -- and it was personal: I had an actual customer service rep assigned to my particular issue and she did not part ways with me until the issue was completely resolved. I didn't just get lucky this time; this has been the case whenever I've needed their help. The situation that immediately comes to mind:  a few years ago I was the victim of identity theft and had to cancel all my credit cards.  A few weeks previously, I had pre-ordered an item from TFAW with my card, and obviously, the card I used to place the pre-order was no longer valid. If you've ever ordered high-end specialty pop culture "stuff," you know that often these items arrive months later than they were supposed to arrive, and are sold out before they hit the shelves. This was the case with me. Other companies in the past have canceled the order, put me at the back of the line, and placed a new order with my replacement card -- sometimes bumping me to the back of the line or worse, shutting me out completely because of a sell-out. TFAW not only sympathized with my situation, but they reinstated the pre-order with the new card and kept my place in line. This was neither easy nor convenient for them, but they did it as a matter of course -- I didn't even need to ask them to do it, or to whine about losing my place in the order queue. And that's just one example.

So if you need anything comics- or movie-related, or a toy or action figure or statue for your favorite geek, you should strongly consider checking out Things From Another World. They bill themselves as the "Best Online Comic Book Store" and they're right.

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