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Tuesday 28 May 2013

Review #15: Shirt Punch

I did it again. Ordered something and only then thought to look for reviews, and the reviews on Shirt Punch are all over the place from fantastic to a total flop. But what could I do? It was a Sailor Moon shirt designed by my favourite Australian model, Isabelle Faith. And it came in hoodie form as well. Double dose of winnage. Or, you know, that's how it seemed.

My Shirt Punch experience turned out to be kind of hectic, so here it is all neatly laid out in timeline form.
23rd February. Placed a very excited order. According to their website orders are generally shipped out within a week and can take 3-6 weeks to arrive if it's an international order. So I settled in for a wait.
1st April. It should be here any day now, so I sent an email via the ShirtPunch website just to make sure there were no hiccups.
2nd April. At least they replied quickly, but the reply had quite a copy-paste feeling with no reference to my actual order and I was told shipping could take 5-12 weeks. Ouch. And also, why was that not on your website?
30th April. Am getting rather antsy. Count weeks on calendar. 27th May marks twelve weeks after one weeks production time, if it's not here by then I'm gonna be pissed. Briefly contemplated sending another email, but that would achieve a sum total of nothing.
7th May. A package arrives! The hoodie is inside because apparently your orders get sent to you straight from the manufacturer, or something, and the people who do the hoodies don't do the shirts. Checked the website so I could give an accurate review of how their service rates compared to what they offer and it turns out they've updated the section of their FAQ about postage times so it does now mention it can take up to 12 weeks, which is good.
10th May. Another package comes to my doorstep, the shirts. Only, when I happily rip it open, there's only one shirt inside though the invoice inside clearly says two. Why oh why does this have to happen to me?
13th May. After debating it for a few days I sent a firm email saying that I was disappointed to have not received one of my shirts and requesting [well, kind of demanding, actually] a refund for the shirt and the cost of what one shirt's postage would be according to making up a dummy cart for a single shirt on their website, for a total of $17.14.
14th May. Got an email back saying I can definitely get a refund though they'd prefer it to be store credit, but could I please wait until the end of the week just to make sure it wasn't shipped separately.
15th May. I replied saying I would wait and store credit would be fine. And now we play the waiting game...
21st May. It didn't show up even though I gave it a few extra days so I sent another email asking if I could please have the store credit.
22nd May. Received a reply saying the credit was in my Shirt Punch account and it was. All good.

I sent a thank you after that but that's not too relevant. To be honest, I was really bummed to not get the second shirt, but the fact that they gave me my store credit without haggling is definitely a point in their favour. The person I was emailing was a bit abrupt but that's understandable and like I said, in the end I got my refund so I am satisfied.

However, I just have to rant about the postage for a moment. How does it take a package nine weeks to get from Canada to Australia? Are they being shipped via bicycle boys and sail boats? I don't like paying twenty something dollars for nine week shipping, and the other option would have cost more than my actual products. Now, maybe Canada Post sucks. But to me it seems a bit odd not to offer some middle ground as far as shipping goes. There's no way I'm paying more for shipping than I am for my gear and I'm not likely to buy again if I have to wait over two months, so just because of postage options, not because of bad products or bad customer service, Shirt Punch have lost my repeat custom. I will pipe up and say though that the postage is probably great if you are in Canada or the US, and I know lots of people probably don't mind long shipping times, so this is really just a personal thing and you shouldn't base a judgement of Shirt Punch solely on their postage options.

Now, as for the product themselves, I'm pretty happy. They both came with a bit of a factory smell but that came out with a quick wash. The print is big, clear and looks exactly like the design as displayed on the website, so I'm happy. The hoodie is really big and comfortable, I've been bumming around in it while I've been sick and it's nice to have something nerdy to chillax in. The shirt is a bit on the large side but still nice. Both items feel like they are pretty good quality. There's not too much else to say but both shirt and hoodie definitely hold up to similar things I've bought from sites like Threadless or Think Geek, and are definitely good value for the price.

This is a crummy shot and I've blurred everything but the print in an attempt to somewhat disguise all the clean laundry. Shush

So, in summary, Shirt Punch does pretty decent quality and decently priced shirts and hoodies and by buying their stuff you are supporting independent artists, which is always good. However, postage to Australia at least is pretty slow. The fact that I didn't get one of my shirts was a real bummer but they dealt with it well. If they had argued over giving a refund, this review would be decidedly negative but as it stands it's a neutral. I'll spend my store credit when something catches my eye, but probably in all honesty won't buy from them again, at least until they change up their postage options.

9 comments:

  1. Hello, I recently ordered from the site, not knowing of its reputation and just placed an order based on a friend's experience, who I think has 5+ shirts from them. I began worrying when I didn't get a tracking number for the shipment in my email and today i just found out why after reading other customer complaints. I understand that it can take a couple of weeks, but up TWELVE weeks for a single shirt? Was this order outside of North America?

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    1. Yes, I ordered from Australia but it was still the longest I've had to wait for any package :/

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  2. I know the feeling, I have ordered 3 shirts from them in total, 2 of which came in like 2 weeks and look awesome. the third t i ordered from them took 2 weeks also and came faded and just crappy looking. I just emailed Shirtpunch's website and facebook page (where they told me the website should work it out) and then i contacted the shirt designer on Facebook. Where he was super helpful and nice. So I have my fingers crossed that the folks at shirtpunch will do right by me, but i'm not holding my breath.

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    1. They gave me the store credit refund with very little hassle, but I'm not sure if it will be as hassle free if you actually want a proper refund. I hope it all works out though!

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  3. I stumbled upon your blog while checking up to see if Shirt Punch had gotten their act together. Doesn't seem like it, sadly.

    Being from Australia as well, I know what it's like to have to wait a little longer too :P
    My very first shirt from them was fantastic, stacked up to the other shirt sites I've ordered from. Then trouble came when I placed 3 more orders within an month of each other.
    I had received shipping notices for all of them, but they were taking forever (over 12 weeks also). Communication was very poor, like customer service and support was a real chore/bother. That really upset me as I've worked in small business before and I know how customer service should be - even if you think the other person is a giant doofus, you roll with it and try help.

    All 3 shirts were ordered between the end half on Nov and mid Dec (in 2012) and I didn't end up getting the first shirt until April. APRIL! I can tell you I also pondered how a shirt can take that long between Canada and Aus. Most other T-shirt places take on average 4 weeks from order date, from places like the US, Ireland and Europe.
    Thankfully all 3 shirts eventually arrived. However 2 of 3 were very lack-lustre and poor print quality. The colours were dull and the shirt quality was also very poor.

    In an interesting twist they were also Sailor Moon shirts, though one was Sailor Mars.
    I find it very frustrating as I follow a lot of T-shirt artists online who always seem to put their designs up through Shirt Punch first and I've vowed never to go back, no matter how good the shirt - I'll wait until it becomes available elsewhere or if it's too good to pass up check to see if they have their own mini-store with RedBubble or Society6 etc.

    On the plus side it saves my poor wallet in the mean time :P

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    1. Yikes! It sucks that you had such a poor shipping experience as well, though it's also kind of reassuring that it's not just me!

      Haha it definitely does save the wallet! This purchase of Shirt Punch was the end of me buying t-shirts online, at least until my current collection dies...

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  4. Stumbled on this post when looking for peoples' opinion on Shirtpunch as well; I also ordered a shirt off them a while ago, and while I haven't had much trouble with the shipping, the shirt itself... well, I'll just show you.

    Here's the design: https://31.media.tumblr.com/197967b32d0cf726d30a2b078ef8080a/tumblr_myhakxQp1B1seshnio1_500.png

    ...And here's how my shirt looks.
    http://imageshack.com/a/img203/5527/em9j.jpg

    So yeah, can't say I'm too thrilled with this, all the reds turned completely pink, making them blend together with the peach (most prevalent on the moogle).
    Kind of a shame. I wasn't too happy with the colours on my previous Shirtpunch order either, wherein several graytones turned out a dark blue instead.
    Think I'm kinda done with this site.

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    1. I'd be done after that too! That sucks and really shows that they don't care much about quality control, that's not a couple of shades off, that's completely wrong!

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