I am starting this thread in the hope that other international customers of XM Studios will be aware that XM Studios do not always do the right thing in regards to replacing broken or flawed products. XM Studios also do not seem to offer any type of refund or a reimbursement / discount off any future orders when a faulty / flawed statue has been received. If any fellow collectors reading this have had similar problems please add to this thread and let people know your experience.
This is the first time that I have ever done a thread in the forum, please forgive me if something does not work such as photos, etc.
Firstly let me say that I have been collecting statues for over ten years and that I love statues, love this hobby and am not being a hater, but am purely speaking the truth.
I originally registered on Statue Forum a few years ago as a way of connecting with a distributor in Singapore to help me with purchasing statues from XM Studios, I never thought that I would be starting a thread on this forum to warn fellow collectors about the customer service from the very same company that I registered on here to be able to purchase from. If that is not the pinnacle of ironic, I don't know what is. When registering I chose something simple “New Collector” was available, so alas new collector it was. Feel free to point out that someone who has been collecting for ten years is not exactly “new”.
I have been holding off writing this thread as I know how XM Studios seem to have a very large
“fan-boy base” that from what I have seen are not interested in truth or hearing any negative comments about their favorite statue company. These individuals seem to blindly jump in to XM Studios defense whenever someone has something to say that is even slightly negative, let alone what I have to say which is very negative.
My first XM Studios statue was Ms. Marvel who arrived with a broken base, broken hair on the long haired head sculpt and numerous paint flaws / errors over her body. XM Studios were not interested in helping me out as I was an international customer and they expected me to pay for all repairs out of my own pocket without any refund / reimbursement from them. (contacted : Bryan and also Ben from XM Studios via e-mail) (Please see attached photos of Ms. Marvel below).
The repairs ended up costing me $400.00 AUD.
My second XM Studios statue was Black Bolt who arrived with many paint flaws, the paint color on the base (broken statue base) is completely different to the color of the shield that attaches to the base, Black Bolts body has a lot of paint flaws over it where paint has gone over the lines, random paint dots on his body, etc. Again XM Studios were not interested in helping me as I was an international customer. (contacted : Bryan and also Ben from XM Studios via e-mail) This was the point where I contacted my distributor in Singapore and explained that I will not be purchasing any more statues from XM Studios and that I had totally lost faith in the company and did not trust them. At that point I had already paid him deposits for Dr. Strange, Mysterio and also for Medusa so had no choice but to go through with the purchase of these pieces. The pieces that I had on order with him that I had not paid deposits on yet were all canceled (Punisher, Venom, Vulture, Batman, Joker, Harley, Dr. Octopus, Spider Gwen, Rhino, Kingpin, Carnage, Black Cat, Classic Ironman).
(Please see attached photos of black bolt below).
My third XM Studios statue was Dr. Strange who arrived with his book upside down. (the sticker has been applied upside down to the open pages of the book – making his book show an upside pentagram when viewed from the front). I am sure that Disney would love to know that one of there statues has an upside down pentagram (satanic) symbol on his book. Dr Strange has numerous paint flaws over his body. I mentioned all of this to my distributor but at this point it is obviously a complete waste of time to contact XM Studios for any help.
(Please see attached photos of Dr. Strange below).
My forth XM Studios statue was Medusa who actually arrived in acceptable condition without any large paint flaws, broken pieces or problems. I don't like that you can see a visible hole where the scepter plugs in, I like to display her without the scepter and so have angled her slightly to the side to minimize how noticeable the hole is. Truth is she is a beautiful piece, it is just a shame about the hole in her hair. (please see attached photos of Medusa below).
I am awaiting my final XM Studios piece which is Mysterio, I am not going to be a pessimist or negative about the statue as I don't know what I will receive, I just hope that I am fortunate and receive one that does not have too many issues or problems. With all of the problems that I have had and with no support or help from XM Studios I will not be purchasing from them again and feel that they are a very greedy and arrogant company.
XM could have retained my business simply by offering some sort of help with the problems I have had with their products, (note: “their products”,,,, they are responsible for replacing, reimbursing or repairing of broken, flawed products, not the purchaser (me) or the distributor who sells their product to overseas customers as they were not competent enough to organize their own international shipping through sideshow like “Iron Studios” have done and also “Prime 1 Studios” have done). (oh yeah, also Coolprops have international shipping through sideshow, as well as the handful of other companies that use sideshow).
I find XM Studios to be a very deceptive company in general. The product photos on their website are not truthful or accurate representations of their products. (to clarify I am not talking about prototype paint job versus production paint job). Examples of what I am talking about are as follows:
# XM Studios Antman is shown on the website as having an ant crawling out of a broken grate on the base, the production piece does not have this and they as a company have refused to update the photos to show this.
# XM Studios Jean Grey – Phoenix is shown on the website with a painted phoenix bird behind her and with a different head sculpt, the production piece comes with a clear resin phoenix bird instead of the painted version that was shown. The head sculpt that is shown on Jean Grey was never included in the production piece as they supplied a differently sculpted inferior head. Again, they as a company have refused to update the photos to show this.
# XM Studios Thanos is shown on the website with painted gems in his infinity gauntlet, the production piece did not have painted gems but had cheap looking inferior stick on “cateye” gems which fell off some collectors statues and needed to be glued back on. They have not updated the photo to show this.
# XM Studios Thor is shown on the website with a clear resin “spinning hammer” in his hand, the production piece does not have this but has a “spinning hammer” which is all painted and does not have any clear resin on it. They have not updated the photos to show this.
# XM Studios Black Bolt is shown on the website not to have a visible foot peg, the production piece does have a visible metal foot peg. Please have a look at the photo on their website showing the statue side-on. They have not updated the photos to show the metal peg.
# XM Studios Dare Devil is shown on the website not to have a visible foot peg, the production piece does have a visible metal foot peg. Please have a look at the photo on their website showing the statue side-on. They have not updated the photos to show the metal peg.
In the spirit of speaking the truth, # XM Studios Medusa is shown on the website with overly large hair on top of her head where the production piece was an improvement with smaller more refined hair on top of her head. The point is they have not updated the photo. Medusa is not shown holding a scepter and the hair is shown slightly different without the circular hair which is designed to hold the base of the scepter. (any collectors such as myself who have chosen to display Black Bolt with the scepter and Medusa without a scepter are left with a visible hole in her hair where the scepter connects in and also have the circular hair at the very bottom which is designed to hold the base of the scepter.
….....No matter which way you try and spin it, it is deceptive for a company to show images of their products that are incorrect. (And what makes it even more strange is that they refuse to update / change the photos).
As far as I am aware there is not any other statue company in the world who operates in this deceptive manner, please feel free to correct me and to supply examples of how any other statue company is doing deceptive things to the magnitude that XM Studios are.
Some other points to think about are as follows:
XM Studios Black Widow statue has had leaning issues.
XM Studios Hawkeye right leg is unnaturally longer than his left leg.
XM Studios Wolverine the teeth on the masked head sculpt are very strange looking with a “mono-tooth” in the middle.
XM Studios Antman the hair / eyebrow color is not correct.
XM Studios Thanos has a common fitment problem with a large visible gap where the arms connect under the shoulder armour.
XM Studios Wolverine has strange looking painted arm hair which is weird looking.
XM Studios Thor - the central point on his helmet is not central on some collectors pieces but is off to the side.
XM Studios Ms. Marvel has a common fitment problem with a large visible gap where the arm connects.
XM Studios Black Bolt has a visible foot peg that sticks out from the base.
XM Studios Dare Devil has a visible foot peg that sticks out from the base.
In my opinion it is quite obvious that XM Studios do not care and I think that this attitude will hurt them quite badly in the long run. I now spend my money with other statue companies.
Let the “XM Studios defense team” begin their attack on a fellow collector who is simply speaking the truth,,,,,,,,, bring it...
