Neither of you is being unreasonable in the original requests. You are using logic, they are going by their company policy, and by placing an order through their site, you are agreeing to their return terms.

"If we shipped you the wrong product, or it arrived defective or damaged

We're sorry! We will send a replacement or refund you for your purchase, provided the returned item are received back in their original packaging, along with all accessories, warranty cards, manuals, software, etc., where applicable."

The weeks to return a call or follow up thing is wrong though, personally I wouldn't have let it linger that long, I'd have been pestering them within 3 days. The last few days may have had weather related issues, I'm not sure where their customer service department and warehouses are based, but it had already been too long by that point.

If ThinkGeek was willing to pay for the shipping to return the incomplete knight and send you another, then you should have done so. I understand how it makes more sense from the customer's stand point to do it the way you wanted. But having worked on the other side, I also understand that when it comes to returns, there is a lot of red tape that stores have in place for a variety of reasons (protection against employee theft being a big one, being able to meet manufacturer's requirements to get refunds for defective products being another big one)

In a perfect world, the remedy that you wanted would be as simple as the customer service manager to whom you spoke walking downstairs to the warehouse, grabbing the part and telling them where to ship it. In reality, there is no reason to believe that the manager in even in the same location (or state) as the shipping location. Now that manager has to arrange for someone in the warehouse location to pull a piece out of a piece of inventory (thus making it unsellable) and shipping it to a random address, or at least an address for which there isn't an outstanding order.

Thanks, guys...

I'm gonna call one more time, and if that doesn't work, then they've worn me down and I guess I'll have to play their silly exchange game.

So help me if there is the slightest flaw with the new armor they send me I will not be a happy camper. I wonder if they keep records on how many of these items have been returned as defective for one reason or another? I'll ask...

They seem like nice guys but their take on customer service is less than optimal. Assuming I can ever get this resolved to my satisfaction, I will not order from them again.

Have you tried contacting the company that made the suits of armor directly? They may be better able to get you just the replacement sword that you want.

The company is literally in India, and even if I could communicate with them I doubt they'd send be a freebie...but might be worth a shot. Perhaps they prefer happy customers?

Thanks.

Check the packaging and see if there is a website or other contact info for the company. Even if they are in India, if they are producing products intended to be sold in the US, there is a fair chance that they have at least some form of customer support available in English. At the very least, it is worth trying.

I've already sent www.snexports.com a note...it's a longshot to be sure, but an appreciated suggestion.

It's a miracle!

The sword manufacturer seems sincerely concerned about customer satisfaction! And a FREE replacement at that!

Dear Sir ,
Can you please show me an invoice to prove that you bought from think geek . Think geek is our buyer in USA for mini armour
If the sword was missing in the mini Armour - i will send it free of cost by post . Think Geeks reputation is our reputation
Also i want you to CC think geek informing that we are sending the sword free of cost and please thank Think Geek for that .
Please also provide your postal address .
Thanks n regards
Raj

Again, it is so refreshing to do business with a vendor who defers to the customer, not to some obdurate corporate policies, whereby "the operation was a complete success, but the patient died."

Glad that the suggestion worked.

Worked like a charm! Happily ever after...

True, it took weeks of my fencing with TG's customer service wonks, and 3 additional weeks of waiting, but my replacement sword arrived in the mail today FROM THE MANUFACTURER, thousands of miles away in India! They provided it with no mention of any charge whatsoever.

Sometimes my stubborn streak pays off!

It would have been expedient & appreciated if TG had been willing to bend their return policy, to handle this locally, and it's a bit sad, but no entirely surprising, that one must seemingly do business overseas to experience "old world" customer service.