Akibado Problem......

Visual Novel Community Off Topic
#1

Hello,

I sent my money to Akibado back in September 2005 for two books and I they sent me an email that they received my money. Two months later and 8 emails afterwards to them I get a email stating that only one book has arrived and to pay for international shipping. Well I sent them five more emails requesting an amount to pay and now I get no response from them. I DON’T RECOMMEND ANYONE USING THERE SERVICE. Help how do I get my one book and the balance of my money for the other book I paid for.
There customer service is awful.


thank you

Robert

#2

The Akibado situation is worse than expected. I believed that their relocation from Akashishi to Tokio was a sign of success/reliability, but apparently this isn’t true (look here, here and here for other examples).
In my case, a few days ago I have asked the Italian Postal Service an investigation regarding the fate of my IPMO (the Italian and Japanese Postal Services exchange information for registered documents, if necessary -one of the few advantages of IPMO’s-), and I’m waiting the answer before deciding my next move.
But if you have one or more receipts of “Payment Done” and “Payment Received” on hand, your best solution is to go the police (or another competent institution) for informations and worse (even just an eMail to the Japanese embassy of your home country can give some results)…

#3

Akibado has finally given me confirmation of payment, promising the shipment of my Order within 5-14 days.
Therefore, for now, I WILL SUSPEND MY INDIGNATION.
But please note, especially you, masakiryu, that this confirmation was sent just a few hours AFTER eMailing to Akibado the letter described below (and this letter will be deleted only AFTER the successful delivery of my Order):

Edit: Deleted as promised.

Message received, apparently.

[This message has been edited by Baldo (edited 01-17-2006).]

#4

Hello,

I also received an email stating that they received my payment and they were going to send me an email quoting the shipping cost. That was two months ago.

I would not be surprised that you do not hear from them for a long time, again.

Robert

#5

Hi guys,

It seems I am yet another victim to add to Akibado’s “silence” treatment. I won two auctions on 11/29/05 and 12/4/05 using Akibado’s auction agent service as you can see here:

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However, it is now 12/20 and I still have not received my items as the status on my auctions are still “won/awaiting items” according to my account information on their site. I emailed them about a couple weeks ago. The first two emails I sent to their contact@akibado.com address and received no response whatsoever. Then, I emailed them again using the auction@akibado.com address requesting specific information regarding my auctions and received a reply on 12/10 saying:

Hello,
It usually takes 5-10 days to receive items; it depends on the sellers. Please note that after you win auctions, we need time to exchange e-mails with sellers. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely yours,
Akibado Customer Service

A rather vague response when I requested to know specifically if they had even gotten in contact with the seller(s), paid the seller(s), what the current situation is with the seller(s), if the seller(s) had even sent out the item(s). Okay, so trying to be somewhat understanding, I gave them the “5-10” days and said nothing.

I waited and then sent them an email again on 12/16 and have yet to receive a response. I don’t see what the hell is taking so long. The sellers are located in Saitama (11/29 auction) and Tokyo (12/04 auction), and Akibado is located in Tokyo. It should not take this long to get in contact with the seller and have it shipped to their offices.

And as of today, the status still says “won/awaiting items”. I was hoping to get these items in before Christmas, but it seems that plan is going to utterly fail…

#6

Welcome, fellow victim .
As I’ve said above, I’m waiting Christmas before deciding my next move, but, interestingly, http://www.akibado.com/ has updated its homepage with a new notice right after your post.
Do you know that this particular thread is now fairly popular? Try insert the word “Akibado” in http://www.google.com/ or another Internet browser and see the results (my motto is: “If you can’t touch their heart, strike at their wallet!”).

#7

Hello,

I finally have good news. Almost three months later I finally received my book Shoninki. The other book that I paid for but did not receive was used for the shipping cost to send this one small book. I knew I was never going to see my money for the other book that they charged me and then said they could not get it. By the way I was charged $ 91.39 for EMS shipping a very small soft cover book that has about 98 pages. As Charlie Brown would say “Good Grief”. I had a friend in Japan call them and that seems to be the only way to get a response from them.

I WILL NEVER USE THERE SERVICE AND WILL RECOMMEND OTHERS NOT TO USE THEM AS WELL. SO BE FOREWARNED!

#8

Yeah, I see they did update their front page. Still, that is no excuse for their lack of communication. Baldo, I think you may be right about your notion of someone from Akibado lurking this forum because I sent an email of a similar nature to your’s right after I posted here. Though, I haven’t actually received a direct reply from them yet.

And as far as this thread being popular… that was exactly how I found this thread haha. Yup, typed in Akibado in google and Hey! This thread was in the #2 spot in the search. I am sure glad I found it because I was also beginning to think it was just me that this was happening to. People really need to be aware, and beware when doing business with this company, and Akibado really needs to clean up their act.

I am glad you received on of your books masakiryu. I hope Baldo and I will be as fortunate to receive our stuff from them. Though, the price they charged you for EMS shipping does not sit right with me at all. In fact, its absurd.

I weighed my hardback Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary, which has about 1560 pages and it came out to 4 lbs. According to Akibado’s shipping list, 2000g/4.4lb is 4000 yen ($36.00) EMS to North America, Central America, Oceania, Middle East (give or take some considering packaging). But to charge you $91.39 for EMS shipping of a small book, what did they do pack your book with rocks? What kind of crap are you trying to pull Akibado?? Shame on you!

#9

NEVER USE AKIBADO!!!

Akibado is a nightmare. I won several auctions in October-November and they have yet to send the items nor give me a reply, after numerous emails. I don’t think I’ll ever receive my items at this rate. My money with them just went down the drain…

I have tried 3 deputy services in my lifetime: Shopping Mall Japan (formerly Animechaos), Crescent Shop, and Akibado. Obviously no service is perfect and I have gotten into scuffles with all 3. But Crescent Shop is where my money will go in the future – for their low service fees, prompt email replies, quick professional service, and sturdy packing.

In summary, do NOT use Akibado!!! Please spread the word.

#10

What a mess! Who would have imagined such a thing/situation?
After seeing these posts (both here and elsewhere), I’ve immediately sent another eMail to Akibado, but I will surely file a lawsuit if my Order remains on wait list for other 2-3 weeks (even Japan, apparently, isn’t immune to Internet frauds ).

EDIT: Exactly six hours after my eMail, Akibado has replied me with a notice of “Items received, waiting shipping confirmation” (YES, I CONFIRM!!).
Well, let’s just see what happens next, although I admit that this entire situation seems a little strange now… Any comments?

[This message has been edited by Baldo (edited 12-24-2005).]

#11

Apparently they only reply to emails when it becomes convenient or imperative for them to do so. I’m surprised their ill-reputation isn’t more widely known.

#12

This thread/story is becoming truly interesting.
Today I’ve received another Akibado eMail:

Hello,
Thank you for your e-mail, and we are sorry for taking time
to complete your order this time. For improving our service
conditions, we plan to put restrictions of inquiry/order
quantity to avoid those rushes soon. We already sent you
arrival notification mail yesterday. Thank you for your
cooperation.

Sincerely yours,
Akibado Customer Service

As I’ve said above, let’s see what happens now, but a reply eMailed so fast (and TODAY, too!) is a very nice thing indeed, in my opinion.
Maybe someone at Akibado has read this thread, where Peter Payne (J-List’s Founder/Kyouso-sama ) says:

quote:
Originally posted by Peter Payne:
Hi, we will always be happy to try to get anything that’s not on our site. There is no way to guarantee anything, and if you ask for something that we don’t have distribution for, then it can be quite hard to get.(…) I think the reason you don’t see companies continuing with their “we will find anything for you” services is that it’s impossible to even attempt to do this, it’s just too difficult to keep it up and running.

Anyway, I’m hoping for the best (on a side note, I want just say that I’m still in contact with masakiryu, and, in his opinion, even http://www.crescent-shop.com/ gives problems: I have used crescent shop before and they are really not much better… kenshi0sev, can you tell us some detail about your experiences with them? )

#13

About Akibado or Crescent Shop? Crescent Shop is a million times better in my opinion. Comparison of the services I’ve used:

Email replies:
Akibado: after 3 days or never (they almost never reply to emails)
Crescent-Shop: within 48 hours (one exception was after 5 days b/c of holiday season)
Shopping Mall Japan: within 24 hours

Shipping (time to take them to send out package after you make a request):
Akibado: 3 weeks and counting
Crescent-Shop: 2-5 days
Shopping Mall Japan: 2-5 days

Basically if I had used another service, my items would’ve gotten to me already. Now I’m out of luck and still waiting for items that will probably never show up.

#14

I’m still crossing my fingers, but this time I begin to see the LIGHT.
Today I’ve FINALLY got a Shipment Notification (and my EMS number) from Akibado. I will give my final(?) comments after the successful delivery of this LONG LONG LONG AWAITED order (and unfortunately, the Italian Customs Service is tragically slow even with EMS packages… ).
The EroGoddess be praised!!!

#15

I have finally received the Akibado order (2 erogames) I had waited for two months (and two+ weeks of Customs “clearing”, too … ). The games seem in perfect conditions, but after this experience I’m in no hurry for another http://www.akibado.com/ Order, especially after reading their last notice (7-21 days … ).
I admit I’m still uncertain if this shop is reliable or not, and therefore my advice is simply to wait to see future developments; just remember crucif-X’s “Word”: People really need to be aware, and beware when doing business.
Good Luck!

[This message has been edited by Baldo (edited 01-17-2006).]

#16

This topic is a little old now…but I sooo regret not reading this before I used Akibado’s “service”. I was wondering why on earth my order was taking so long so I searched around for forums and THIS came out…I’m SO worried. Its been 21 days with no update and no communication. I sent them an email yesterday asking whats happening with my order, they haven’t replied yet. ARGHH I regret being lured in by their cheaper prices…I hope just to get out of this as soon as possible and use the other shopping services, even if it means paying more. (>< )


#17
quote:
Originally posted by Baldo:
I admit I'm still uncertain if this shop is reliable or not, and therefore my advice is simply to wait to see future developments;

Does this mean that Akibado still gives problems? Considering the competition (this Forum now contains various Links to other Deputy Services, but let's add another one: http://www.m-world-service.com/index.html ), I would like to know HOW Akibado can continue this "policy"...

#18

I’m pretty sure its not just me… I’ve read in other forums that Akibado is very very very very slow, they dont reply their emails - just extremely INEFFICIENT really. Their notice says 7-21 days for items to arrive at their office. But I can assure you they mean 21+ days and that doesn’t include how long its going to take them to actualyl send you the items. Has anyone actually paid for their items and got NOTHING in return?


I will definately look around for other sites that offer similar service.

#19

It certainly isn’t just you! Five weeks ago they (after the usual 3 week wait) sent me a shipping invoice which I had a question about. Since then I’ve emailed them 3 times without receiving any kind of response. The strangest thing about their behaviour is that I’m unable to pay them until they send me an answer and the new total. (the question was about using SAL shipping method instead of EMS) I’ve already pointed that out to them in my last email, but no reaction whatsoever so far.

Really makes me wonder if they’re still in business …

#20

They never replied my email either, but they did update my status and one of the items have arrived at the office after exactly 21 days. I sent a shipping request about 3 days ago and I haven’t got anything back yet. Its also been 21 days since I won my second item but still “hasn’t arrived at the office”.

-____-

If they continue like this they probably will be out of business soon. But anyways I’ll keep updating on what happens…hopefully no one else gets into this rut.