Cataclysm Tabletop Gaming — Local services in Harlem Township

Preordered final fantasy commander decks at $320 dollars for pay in store since I’m mostly paid in cash and need to save up for this purchase. Cut to seven days later and they cancelled the preorder with no warning and said,

“ Please note that we require a full payment on all of our preorders. As such this order has been cancelled. Please submit a new order with payment to lock-in the price and allocation. -Kyle”

Which I didn’t know about because it isn’t posted on their website but instead what I was told from a friend it’s on their facebook which I don’t have. So now I look to redo the preorder and the price has now changed to $399 an $80 increase… idk if they think everyone is made of money that plays magic or what especially when I could’ve just not ordered local for $330 with $10 being for shipping. So I messaged them saying that this whole cancel my preorder and switch the price ordeal wasn’t cool one of the employees their name is Nick not kyle who sent me the first message simply sent the same message as before but in a “know it all” or “you can’t read?” kind of way, here’s that message,

“Good Morning. We apologize for the inconvenience, however as Kyle stated in the original message with the cancellation; " ... we require a full payment on all of our preorders." -Nick”

So before kyle comes on and says that’s always been our policy or whatever let’s run down some of the facts

You cancelled my order without warning and without offering me the same price if I were to have paid it that day which I could’ve at an inconvenience You cancelled my preorder 3 weeks ahead of time with 61 final fantasy commander bundles left in stock You’re employee hits me back with a rude remark as if I couldn’t read and didn’t answer any of the questions I asked If preorders have to be paid in full at checkout why is pay in store an option and if you can pay in store why is there not a time limit posted for when the order will be cancelled If preorders have to a stipulation to make them why is that not clearly stated on the page where you preorder them with something like “pay before this time” or “pay within this amount of days”

In conclusion this whole ordeal feels like bad business practice and didn’t sit right with me. It’s bad enough that magic prices are what they are now and trying to be swindled for an upcharge feels like theft as if they didn’t realize I can simply buy from somewhere else that isn’t local for roughly the same price. I had never had a bad experience other than a few minor rude encounters with workers but I won’t be returning back if this is how a customer is going to be treated at a local business especially when I’m shelling out on a very...

Pre-ordered some magic cards from Cataclysm games online. They cancelled my already payed-for preorder 2 weeks later when prices on the cards went up so they could make more money. Huge inconvenience that cost me money and time. Whole experience felt scammy.

RESPONSE TO OWNER:

First, your response clearly and knowing misrepresents the circumstance that prompted my review. The market price AT THE TIME OF YOUR RESPONSE is $3 over the price I pre-ordered MULTIPLE units of the product. My order was several hundred dollars and multiple units of the product which at the time of your "inventory accident" cost roughly $9 more to order PER UNIT from a seller large enough to sell the number of units I needed. A 5$ refund on the condition that I buy from a seller that already inconvenienced me and cost me much more than $5 is insulting.

As explained in my email to you, the primary purpose of a pre-order is to reserve a product that will be in high demand, and likely to sell out at a given price. Your physical shop's Facebook page showed you marketing and selling the product I pre-ordered 6 days before you canceled my order and quite a while after. My order was placed 12 days prior to being canceled and 6+ days before you continued marketing and selling, showing that you consciously chose to sell a product that had already been purchased and paid for instead of holding it for the earlier customer. I'd also like to note that sellers on the marketplace you used have to pay a percentage of the sale as a fee, providing a motive to prioritize in-person over online sales, regardless of pre-orders.

The objective facts that I can ascertain are:

I pre-ordered 12 days before you canceled my order.

You canceled my online order despite continuing to advertise the product in person the same day and quite a while afterward.

People who ordered and paid significantly after me got their product while I did not.

I think people considering pre-ordering from you should know this and that their pre-orders are far from guaranteed. More like...

I have several complaints related to Cataclysm. As a Hobby store i think they are solid. They offer a good spot to meet up.

I collect pokemon though, and my experience in this store is rarely positive. Complaint #1 Their organization leaves plenty of room for improvement. Here is an experience that I had(January ish): The employees all handle their stock differently. I had a friend physically see that they had the 151 Wartortle in stock. I went to Cataclysm the very next day. The first person at the register asked if they could help me. When I said what I was looking for they told me they didn't have one. They didn't even look. A different employee directed me to a computer to look up their stock. Fine whatever. Then I had a third employee (I think Doug?? Maybe. Not confident) offered to go through the 151 full arts they had. Well sure enough while going through the cards the wartortle was there. It was frustrating having 3 different employees handle their cards differently like that. Complaint #2- Recently decreased their trade value for cards. It doesn't feel worth bringing cards to them to trade. You are better off waiting for a card show. Complaint 3 They are pretty much fancy scalpers. They are selling a Prismatic ETB for $120. MSRP is 60. TCG was $117 when I checked. They offer no negotiation. I asked if they could include a trick or treat pack that they were selling for 75 cents. No luck. Complaint 4 Their sealed products are limited. That is a problem every where though.

1 positive - I'm glad they finally display singles....