This has been a long time in the making… and I’ve been giving Mattel the benefit of the doubt to correct this issue and address it effectively on their own. Since they have not done anything about it since November, I have decided to make this information public.
**Double check the shipping on all of the orders you have placed with MattyCollector. **
I have found a few orders that I placed where I can show conclusively that I have been grossly overcharged by 4 to 9 times on shipping from MattyCollector. I’m not talking about a difference of a few dollars… I’m talking about a few hundred dollars.
On two orders alone, I paid $541 for UPS Ground shipping on a lot of PKE Meters for International fans. When I went ahead and calculated UPS shipping using the actual package dimensions and weight, I found that shipping should have cost a total of $120. And that calculation was done using no discounts at all. Digital River (Mattel’s shipping company) ships something like 30 million packages per year. You can be sure they get one of the biggest discounts on UPS rates possible. They sort the packages, load the trucks, and send them on their way without UPS having to do any of the work on the departure. Giving them the benefit of doubt. I overpaid by a total of $420 on those two orders alone. Given a possible high discount, I perhaps overpaid by $480-$500 or more.
And that’s only on two orders. Who knows how much I, you, or anyone else may have been overcharged on shipping for MattyCollector orders. Check out your order history and (if you shipped via UPS Ground) double check everything you get against UPS’s website. I understand Digital River probably adds handling charge, but 4-9 times handling charge? I don’t think so.
Check out your orders and post here if you feel like you’ve been overcharged.
how do we find out? I went to “order history” and it shows my purchases from 8/3/2009 (Slimed Egon) to 11/15/2012 (Courtroom Ray) but I clicked the ‘view invoice’ button for 8/3/2009 and I get this:
Server Error
Error: We are currently unable to perform the selected action. Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience. We have been notified and are already working to correct this issue as quickly as possible. Please click your browser’s back button and try this action at a later time, or take a different action.
I get the same error when I try to view my trap invoice. I tried checking my Stay Puft order as well, and got the same error again. The only other large order I made with them was an order of four Venkman figures at once - I don’t get an error checking that invoice, and the shipping was under $12, which seems fair to me. Not sure about the other stuff.
If you’re overcharged on shipping, is there any way to be recompensed short of a lawsuit?
You should get out there and let others know to check their shipping totals. I might have a unique case, but its possible others may find large discrepancies with their shipping. What I have done:
-Contact MattyCollector Customer Service (useless… they basically keep telling you they will get back to you in 2-3 days)
-File a Complaint with the Better Business Bereau (you talk directly with Mattel’s representatives)
-Contact your bank, file a claim for the difference in shipping.
What I want to do here, is bring this issue to light. There is no telling how many thousands of dollars MattyCollector could be overcharging on only a few orders every month.
MattyCollector is one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. I know I’m not alone on that.
Get this: I heard about free slimer. They sent me message with an 1.5 year old address I’d since changed. I check online, and I had, in fact, changed the address I had on file. I called, and they said it had been corrected. I checked via email, and they provided me with the correct address.
I got a new email saying it was shipped to the original, incorrect address. Digital River can suck a bullfrog through a straw as far as I’m concerned. I’m tempted to use harsher language!
When they are taking the box directly from the shipment from China.. putting a shipping label on it and shipping it back out. There is no need to have a $200+ handling charge.
My complaint isn’t exactly a shipping issue, but it goes along with it.
I bought 2 hoverboards in march, they arrived in Dec.
They were horribly misrepresented when they were purchased, so I returned them.
Matty wanted me to pay the postage to Minnesota and I refused.
After numerous emails, they sent me a prepaid shipping label and were processing the refund.
The refund came a few days later (via Paypal), but it was $21.37 less than what I had originally paid.
I emailed Matty asking why , and they responded with :
If you live outside the United States, customs, brokerage, and tariff fees may be applied to your shipment according to your country’s import laws. Unfortunately we are not able to assist with issues pertaining to these fees as they are not collected as part of the order process.
I live in California, 60 miles from Matty., not in another country.
I got an update from Mattel last night. This is what they had to say:
I’m pretty ■■■■■■ off to have a Mattel rep lie about factual things that I can prove to be false.
Here is a PKE Meter on a scale. It weighs 1lb 13.3oz. That’s almost half the weight Mattel claims it to weigh. Now. The normal thing would be to say well it weighs more when its packaged and in the box right?
Here is the box label for the package my shipment came in.
49lbs for 24 items. That’s 2lbs 0.64oz each item. Still 1.5lb away from what they claimed.
All the company did was slap a mailing label on to the original case that came off the truck from China. What handling occured? Am I to understand Mattel will charge a $200 handling fee for each box they have to put a label on?
Basically this whole thing ■■■■■■ me off. Some of you might know that I’m kind of into going overboard with Excel spreadsheets, crunching raw data, and all that jazz. This morning I decided to made a spreadsheet detailing the charges of shipping PKE Meters from Mattel. I went onto MattyCollector.com and added 1 PKE Meter to my shopping cart, wrote down the UPS Ground shipping charges and then added 1 PKE and wrote down that number. I went all the way up to the limit of 99 items.
Then. I went ahead and did the same thing with an address in Maine (very far away from Mattel in California)… and then another address in California. I received the exact same shipping costs no matter where I was in the lower 48 United States. This fact alone should have anyone living in the same UPS zone as Mattel furious. You are paying the same rate to ship something in the “backyard” as MattyCollector.. as you would shipping something to someone 3000 miles away.
Continuing on, I found that MattyCollector lumps items into packages that can be clearly defined. They charged a set price for a particular range of the PKE Meters. Getting 9 PKE Meters is charged the same amount in shipping as 14 PKE Meters. I decided this was a good way to determine how many PKE Meters can fit in a box (at least according to MattyCollector). (This kind of thing is probably pretty well programmed at MattyCollector.. They have specific sized boxes, and know the volume of the PKE Meters, so they can know exactly how many will go in the box, and how many boxes to ship).
Using that information, and the weight information I gathered above, I was able to come up with two sets of data.
How many boxes MattyCollector will ship for a particular quantity of PKE Meter, and how much those boxes will each weigh (rounding up).
How many boxes MattyCollector will REALLY ship for a particular quantity, and how much those boxes each weigh. (This is based on my first hand exprience. For example, at a quantity of 24, MattyCollector estimates approximately 5 boxes. The actual “real world” number would be 1 box… since there are 24 to a case.. and that is what they would ship instead of 5 separate boxes).
Then. I downloaded UPS 2013 Ground rates from UPS.com. These rates are standard and do not include any surcharges, delivery charges, but more importantly NO DISCOUNTS. As I mentioned previously, Mattel / Digitalriver ship tens of millions of packages per year. They load the trucks for UPS, and pre-sort / handle distribution. They are likely to be granted a generous discount of 50% or more. My numbers do not take into account ANY discount. So the price you see is the price that anyone off the street could pay.
I calculated the prices based on 3 states. California (Local), Colorado (Mine), Maine (Far Away). I calculated two prices for each state. The price that is calculated based on MattyCollectors estimate of box usage, and the “Real World” price that is calculated based on what I have seen from firsthand expirence.
Pretty… insane?
The dips you see on some of those lines is caused by the “real world” casing of 24 PKE Meters per case. The effect is actually pretty negligible.
What is readily apparent is that at a quantity of 42 PKE Meters. MattyCollector breaks, and is unable to determine how to ship the items anymore. The reason for that is this:
Mattel reps admitted that the PKE Meter is billed at a rate of 3.5lbs each. Not 2lb 0.6oz as directly measured. If calculated at that weight, you would have 3.5lb x 42 = 147lbs. Approximately the weight that UPS changes to dimensional weight and (probably) freight prices. Therefore when you place an order for 43 items or more. You are charged EVEN MORE.
That is because, as good as the system should be. It is unable to divide the number appropriately across multiple boxes. This is because when shipping multiple boxes with UPS, you basically give them the weight of all the boxes combined. That’s how they bill it out. That’s what Mattycollector charges. But of course.. they don’t pay that rate. Not even close.
In closing. This information is a very good approximation of how MattyCollector charges on shipping. I may have made some errors, but I think I did pretty well. MattyCollector is fairly accurate on shipping if you are only ordering an item or two. When you start to get multiples of an item, or large / heavy items. Hold on to your butts. If you live close to them, you are definitely being overcharged through UPS.
If you consider in a pretty hefty discount they are getting, you are being overcharged by a lot no matter what. I may be a special case because heck, I ordered so many of the things for other people… but really. Who wouldn’t be ■■■■■■ if they paid $270 to ship a $54 package? Twice.
TL:DR: Maths. Mattel overcharges on UPS shipping.
Share this with others if you think it is interesting.
So I just did a new calculation based on something I just thought of while writing up that last post.
I am able to prove that my numbers are accurate, even show approximately how much DigitalRiver charges to have someone package the box and load it on to a truck. Stay tuned for part 2 of my mathematics extravaganza!
Your math is pretty accurate. I run a shipping / receiving department and I’m at the UPS terminal all freaking day. My terminal rounds the weight of all packages up to the next pound. Even accounting for that the numbers are way off. I’ll input the same info on my computer tomorrow just to see what I come up with.
As I was typing up that last post. My mind became set on the number “3.5lbs” that the Mattel rep gave as the weight of the PKE Meter. Then it dawned on me. Could they just be using the number 3.5lbs * quantity ordered to give weight? (instead of the accurate number of 2lbs or the more accurate number of 1.75 lbs?).
I fed that number back into my equations for weight and this graph popped out at me:
BOOM. The line matches up (more or less) approximately.
The blue line represents what Matty charges for shipping.
The green line rerpesents the cost with a weight of 3.5lbs per PKE Meter, going to Zone 8.
The red line represents the cost when using the closer and more accurate number of 2lbs per PKE Meter going to Zone 8.
Each plateu on the Matty numbers represents a box. The rise in the price charged represents a jump to the next box, and if you compare that to the green line. You can guesstimate the amount charged to have someone package the box and mail it out (handling charge). Its hard to tell on the scale, but its approximately a few dollars for each package.
The red line uses the closer and actual number of 2 lbs 1 ounce. Notice the big difference? Its amazing what kind of difference 1.5lbs will make when you are ordering more than 1. In fact just going off of that graph alone, if you ordered a PKE Meter (and shipped via UPS) you overpaid. If you ordered more you over paid by more. Even… MUCH MORE.
Now. What is Zone 8?
Zone 8 is the furthest distance away in the United States from Mattel’s shipping location. UPS divides these distances into Zones. Zone 2 is the closest to Mattel, Zone 3 a little further away, Zone 4 a little further.. and so on.
You are ALWAYS charged as if you were 3000 miles away from Mattel when shipping with UPS Ground through MattyCollector. You could live 10 miles away, 100 miles away, 1000 miles away. You will always be charged as if you were 3000 miles away.
Now. You might ask. Ok. If I do live in California, or in one of the zones closer… what should I be charged?
This graph represents 3 important things:
-The top line is the actual charge from MattyCollector. You are charged this amount no matter where you live in the US.
-The middle 7 lines show what MattyCollector should have charged (using an incorrect weight of 3.5lbs).
-The bottom 7 lines show what MattyCollector REALLY should have charged (using a corrected weight of 2lb 1oz).
The graph isn’t very easy to read, and there are far too many lines. But here are some details.
If you live in California, and bought 1 PKE Meter. You were overcharged by as much as $10.
If you live in Maine, and bought 1 PKE Meter you were overcharged by as much as $7.02.
So if you live anywhere in the middle there, you could have been overcharged by as much as $7 - $10 if shipping by UPS Ground through MattyCollector.
If you live in California, and bought 10 PKE Meters. You were overcharged by as much as $46.
If you live in Maine, and bought 10 PKE Meters you were overcharged by as much as $35.
So if you live anywhere in the middle there and purchased 10 PKE Meters, you could have been overcharged by as much as $35 - $46 if shipping by UPS Ground through MattyCollector.
I did a calculation of the percentage people can be overcharged by and found these numbers to be true:
Zone 2: 246% - 919%
Zone 3: 228% - 735%
Zone 4: 208% - 629%
Zone 5: 198% - 513%
Zone 6 189% - 404%
Zone 7: 176% - 337%
Zone 8: 159% - 305%
The lowest number (on the left) represents the minimum amount you could have been overcharged by MattyCollector when buying any number of PKE Meters and shipping with UPS Ground. (WITHOUT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ANY DISCOUNTS)
The higher number (on the right) represents the maximum amount you could have been overcharged by MattyCollector when buying any number of PKE Meters and shipping with UPS Ground. (WITHOUT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ANY DISCOUNTS)
Want to know what zone you live in? Here is an approximate map.
So I think I got it pretty good.
Basically. Every single one of us in the US, that used UPS Ground that bought a PKE Meter got overcharged. ANYONE that has ordered from MattyCollector and shipped via UPS Ground (that doesn’t live in Zone 8), has been overcharged.
If you can prove it. Demand your money back for shipping.
**Is this legal for them to do? **
Yes. Basically.
Is it ethical?
No.
**Should we stand for it? **
Absolutely not.
Now. A little background. I know I may be a little hypocritical of Mattel over this. Afterall. I understand that shipping overages can, and do happen. You can’t always estimate everything. I know especially when you buy more than one item.. the weights can be messed up and overages happen. These however are outrageous overages. Several hundred percent, which typically equates to $20, $30, $40 extra… or in my case several hundred dollars more. There is one important thing that MattyCollector doesn’t do that it should. Calculate rates based on where you live. Its seriously simple programming, and it is something that even the GBFans Shop does very well. Demand that they impliment it, complain, tell others. Lets make our voices heard!
And remember. All of these numbers I’m throwing out are based on ZERO discount with UPS. Even the GBFans Shop gets 10-20% discount with UPS. Imagine what MattyCollector and Digital River get for a discount?
What about taking the findings to a Better Business Bureau? Would there be any way to bring an outside organisation in to take a closer look at how Mattel operates MatyCollector?
Technically you should be ■■■■■■ at both of them. Matty for the outrageous shipping charges, and Digital River, for their absolutely horrendous customer service and the way they processed peoples orders.
This looks like it could be the beginning of a class action lawsuit.
