Iām posting this because my experience with Taschen's customer service has been incredibly frustrating, and Iām curious whether anyone else has dealt with something similar.
I originally ordered the 25 dollar Marvel Comics Library. Spider-Man. 1962ā1964 (English), which had an estimated availability/delivery date of August 29, 2026. After waiting for the order, I contacted Taschen support on September 8 because it still hadnāt shipped despite the label being create on August 27th. Two days later I was told by a real customer service representative that there had been a logistical problem and that my package had been ālost during handover to the carrier.ā I was then explicitly told that Taschen had āarranged to ship a replacement that will be on its way to you soon,ā and I was given a new replacement order.
I assumed the problem had been identified and was being fixed. Except it wasnāt. The replacement sat there without even generating a shipping label, so I followed up again today. This time, instead of an actual person giving me an explanation, I instantly received an automated AI-generated response from Taschen saying something completely different: āThis item was originally expected to become available on 29 August, 2026, but that date has now passed and the item is not yet available. We now expect it to become available around 4 January, 2027.ā
So apparently my original order was simultaneously ālost during handover to the carrierā and the product was simply not available? Those explanations donāt exactly line up. What makes this even more frustrating is that the second response was explicitly identified as being AI-generated. I understand that inventory problems and shipping mistakes happen. What I donāt understand is why a customer is given one explanation by a human representative, promised a replacement, waits again, and then receives an automated response giving an entirely different explanation for why the order cannot be fulfilled.
At this point, Taschen has had my money for 42 days, and I still donāt have the product or a consistent explanation for what happened to it. Looking at the order page for the product it says "Availability: Coming soon" completely different from the guaranteed date I was given when I purchased it. So I guess the AI answer is the right one? Regardless, at no point did they reach out to me to update me on any problems on their end.
If Taschen knew the book was unavailable, why was I told my original shipment had been lost and that a replacement was being sent?
I'm getting to the point that I might just charge back the purchase. Anyway just wanted to rant and see if anyone else was undergoing similar experiences.