Before contacting us the first time, please go over our FAQs. They're FAQs for a reason, so your answer is most likely in them. This saves us valuable time we could be working on your order or updating the website with new products. If you don't find your answer in the FAQs then by all means, we're here to help you out with any questions, concerns or comments you have and we have multiple ways of contacting us listed below the FAQs.

FAQs

Q: You charged me twice!!

A: No, we did not. When you checkout the shopping cart runs an authorization for the funds. When the order is processed we manually capture them. You WILL see two transactions, but one is ONLY an authorization, not an actual charge. If you need further proof, please contact your issuing credit card and/or bank - they can confirm this is correct. You can also read up on what a payment authorization is by doing a Google search for credit card authorization.

Q: It's been 5 minutes, 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, the whole weekend, etc., and my order still says "pending" is there a problem?

A: Pending means we are working on the order - ALL orders are automatically set to pending status when they are submitted - there is NOTHING wrong with a pending order unless we have sent you an email telling you there is a problem. Order processing takes 1-3 business days. Business days are Monday - Friday. Its probably been 1 or 2 business days, that doesn't mean there is a problem, it means it is still in the processing queue.

Q: Is ____ in stock?

A: Our inventory is constantly flowing in and out of our facility from our various distributors and manufacturers. The inventory on the site that is orderable should be in stock - to make sure an item is orderable go to the product page and make sure there is an ADD TO CART button. If you sneak in an order for an item that we are restocking or have recently sold out of we will let you know ASAP. Most restocks and/or backorders shouldn't be longer than 2 weeks maximum. We try our best to keep our inventory supply as up to date as possible, however every once in a while we get back-to-back orders in for the last piece of the same product before we can mark it unorderable when it has sold out and/or has a long restocking period. If you should fall into this small category, again we will contact you ASAP with your options.

Q: The release date of this figure/video game/etc. in Japan is different from your ETA date, why?

A: The US distribution of imports start anywhere from a week to a month or so after a product is released in Japan. Aired shipments are faster, so they come sooner, but Pacific crossing by the slow-poke cargo ships takes roughly a month, and that's after a container of releases has been filled. There can also be delays in customs and such, but after you see a product release in Japan it will be at least a week before we'll get it here, maybe up to a month. ^_^

Q: I can't order ____ why can't I order it? When will it be available?

A: Products that are on pre-order: stop and/or a long restocking/reprinting/reproduction time period are viewable, but unorderable. Emailing us to ask for it will not change anything, it is unorderable for a reason. For pre-orders that are on pre-order stop, you can email custserve@otakufuel.com to request to be placed on the waiting list and we'll let you know when they arrive if we have extras that you can order. Products that are being restocked, reprinted or reproduced will be orderable again when we receive the restock from the manufacturer and/or distributor. If you are a legacy customer and wish to place a pre-order past its deadline date, we will pre-order it for you, if we can. Please email us the SKU with your request to pre-order it - you will be first allocation if those should occur since you didn't get your order in on time though.

Q: When will my order ship? Will I receive a confirmation e-mail when my order ships?

A: Order processing is 1-3 business days. Business days are Monday-Friday. Expedited shipping orders (FedEx 2-day, FedEx Overnight and USPS Express Mail) are given priority, and most orders are shipped out rather quickly, however, our processing time is 3 business days, PLEASE do not slow us down by contacting us before then. IF there is a problem, we WILL contact you by the end of the 3rd business day. The website automatically emails you with your shipment information when we ship it out. If you didn't get one, check your spam folders.

Q: I'm not receiving any of my emails you have sent me, what's going on?

A: There is something wrong with your email. 1st check your spam folders. 2nd add info@otakufuel.com and custserve@otakfuel.com to your safe senders list. Finally, make sure you didn't submit your order with a typo in your email address by either logging into your account or emailing custserve@otakufuel.com with your order # and an email confirmation request.

Q: I'm getting emails saying I have new order notes on my order, but I can't login to see them - what's going on?

A: You have to have an account and you have to be logged into your account when you place your order to be able to go back and view them on the website. If that is not the case you can either set up an account and then email us your order number and username and we can add your order to your account, or you can email us your username with your order number and we will add your order to your existing user account.

Q: I put in an order note on my order and you haven't got back to me - what's going on?

A: You can contact us with order notes, we try our best to stay on top of them, but it is not our primary contact. If you absolutely must hear from us, you need to email us. If your request was for a return and/or exchange, and/or damaged shipment report, and/or pre-order cancelation, you MUST email us. We will not process those requests via order notes EVER, no exceptions.

Q: What's the status of my order?

A: Order processing takes 1-3 business days. Business days are MONDAY - FRIDAY, excluding holidays and any other day that shipping companies are not doing business. If it has been less than 3 business days, please don't slow us down by asking us what's going on with your order, just let us work on it. If it has been past 3 business days, check your spam folder and telephone for contact from us about it. Login to your account and check your order notes and finally if there is no indication of what's going on with your order email us so someone can look into it, there is a small possibility that human error was involved.

Q: How long does order processing take?

A: Order processing takes 1-3 business days. Business days are MONDAY - FRIDAY, excluding holidays and any other day that shipping companies are not doing business. EXPEDITED SHIPPING orders (FedEx 2-day, FedEx Overnight and USPS Express Mail) are given priority; we will contact you ASAP if there is an issue slowing its processing.

Q: Are you going to offer ____ ?

A: Maybe, but asking us about it usually just slows us down in answering customer service emails instead of updating new products on the website that would thus answer your question. If it's not already on the site, give it a couple days. If you want a quick answer you can try twittering us, or hitting us up on facebook if it's been more than 2-3 days by all means, go ahead and poke us about it ~ we are interested in knowing about the stuff you're looking for, we are OTAKUFUEL after all, aren't we? Hehehe ^_^

Q: What is the purpose of the Special Orders Department?

A: The function of the special orders department is to hunt down rare or hard to obtain items. If you want to special order something, it will very likely be quite expensive since there is a lot of work involved for us and there are usually high costs in obtaining them since in most cases we are ordering the products from other countries (usually Japan) and international shipping is a lot of money. Please only contact the special orders department if you are serious about obtaining that which you are asking us to hunt for, because it's not really a matter of if we can find it or not, it's a matter of how much you are willing to pay to get your hands on rare and/or hard to find otaku items. If you ask us to hunt down items for you and don't order them, yes, you're wasting our time, those that make a habit of this will simply be ignored because we won't take you seriously. Don't email Special Orders if you're looking for a bargain, that's not the purpose of that department it's to offer a service to get hard to obtain items without doing all the leg-work involved. We have good networking, and we can get it, but it costs us a lot of $$$ and that cost will pass to you and therefore cost you a lot too. We've forewarned you of the sticker shock, and assured you that if you wants it, yes, yes, we cansssss gettttsssss it for youuuuuuuu, bwahahahaha.

Q: Back in ______ I sent a pre-order for _____. It was advertised as being released on ______, however this date has passed and I have not received any news of it being received by you or shipped to me. I was wondering if the release date has been pushed back, and if so, can you tell me what the new one is? Are you really getting this?

A: Pre-order dates are estimated arrival dates. If your ETA date has passed it doesn't mean there is a problem, it just means we haven't received it yet. If it's been a ridiculously long time (like 4 months) and you haven't heard anything from us, or through the grapevine on said product's delays then there might be a problem if you want to ask about it, go ahead - we'll look into it. If the release date has been pushed back, we aren't given a new release date, it just shows up one day, so no, we don't know when it's coming either, just that it's coming. If we're told it's not coming EVER, we'll definitely let you know ASAP.

Q: You canceled my order for unverified shipping/billing and/or Inaccurate Credit Card Data - Fraud Suspect - how do I get my order processed and/or how do I send a good payment because I submitted correct information as far as I know.

A: Our payment requirements for credit cards are that you must use the billing address as listed with your credit card company for your billing address and that you must have the order shipped to that billing address. Due to BAD DISHONEST people ripping us off on "gift" orders shipped to different addresses, we can no longer offer orders to be shipped to an address other than the billing address if you wish to pay by credit card. You CAN use PayPal, Amazon Simple Pay and/or Google payments for "gift" orders and we will be happy to process them so long as Paypal, Google and/or Amazon verifies that your payment is good. If your order was canceled for bad payment information and as far as you know you meet the previously stated requirements then definitely get in touch with your bank because something is off - and in the meantime we recommend using Google checkout as your payment method as they are very easy to use and not as strict as we are on credit card billing information/shipping addresses etc. and they are faster to use/set up than Paypal.

Q: You canceled my order for unverified shipping/billing and/or Inaccurate Credit Card Data - Fraud Suspect, but I totally have a trasaction number and you took my money!!

A: The shopping cart authorizes payments upon checkout it doesn't actually capture the funds off of your paypal and/or credit card and/or debit card and/or gift credit card. When an order is canceled, we void the authorization - so if an order is canceled we NEVER actually TOOK the money. Therefore, whatever you think you are seeing as a payment to us you are very likely very mistaken. If we canceled your order for bad payment, then it means we do not want your money because we are concerned it is no good - so why would we have it? You know that would not make sense. :) If still in doubt by all means, you can confirm this by calling the number on the back of the card and/or logging into Paypal as they will be able to verify for you if there was an actual payment CAPTURE as opposed to an AUTHORIZATION and if the authorization has been voided or not. Authorizations can take up to 72 hours to drop off completely, but that does NOT mean WE have the funds - in fact, it is the bank/card/processor that is holding them, so take your fight to them if you are unhappy about not having access to the funds, we dropped them as quickly as possible from our end and whatever your bank/card/processor does in processing that is between you and them: please be assured that WE never keep funds tied up.

Q: I just submitted my order and you have already charged me $$$$ for it. What is the status of my order? What is going on? ZOMG people are dying!!

A: The shopping cart authorizes payments upon checkout it doesn't actually capture the funds off of your paypal and/or credit card. So please take it easy and relax. We don't capture the funds until the order is ready to ship out and if there should be any complications, we'll contact you, we don't just charge blind for anything. You can confirm this by calling your credit card company if you're worried about it. You have nothing to worry about working with us, we are brutally honest folks in all our dealings. ^_^

Q: I just sent my order with x request and x request and x request. How much more will this cost? What's the status? Why haven't you replied to my emails yet?

A: Special requests take time because someone has to manually process and/or research something you've asked us to do. Additionally, you aren't the only customer asking for these things, so you probably aren't the first in line. Please don't slow us down by spamming our inboxes, we will definitely contact you in roughly 1-3 business days to give you all the information you need to know.

Q: Did you get my email/contact/etc. I haven't heard from you yet?

A: If you aren trying to get in touch with us, you MUST email custserve@otakufuel.com. If you didn't do that, then go do that right now. Otherwise, yes, we got your email and please appreciate that we do get a lot of them, all the time. We WILL get back to you ASAP, but you have to wait your turn. Sometimes, we aren't flooded with CS requests and we get back to you right away. Sometimes we're flooded with them, and you have to wait. Sometimes what you want is really complex and simply takes longer than someone asking a really simple question, so your contact request is taking longer. Don't worry, we aren't ignoring you, we aren't giving you the run around, we're working on it and we will get back to you ASAP. If you haven't heard from us in 3+ business days, then yeah, maybe we didn't get your email/contact/etc., go ahead and check in with us.



CONTACT US

If you are contacting us regarding an order, please include and/or have your order number ready so we can easily reference your information - it can be VERY difficult to have any idea what you are talking about regarding an order if you do not provide your order number. In the same regard if you are iniquiring about a specific product please include the SKU or the URL to the product as we are not mind readers and we might not know specifically what you are talking about with no reference to the product for us to pull it up and look at it.

We are in California in the Pacific time zone. The best time to reach us is during regular daytime hours on regular business days - regular business days are Monday-Friday.

We respond to all customer service inquires. The only exceptions are if a customer is in violation of one of our policies and has lost their privilege to shop with us. If you wish to make a return, exchange or cancelation, the contact MUST be done via EMAIL, we will not process these requests by any other means of contact.

Customer Service/Order Processing EMAIL: CustServe@OtakuFuel.com
Business to Business EMAIL: Info@OtakuFuel.com
Special Orders EMAIL: Hunt@OtakuFuel.com
Technical Issues ONLY: Webmaster@OtakuFuel.com

NOTICE: CUSTOMER SERVICE HANDLES THE BULK OF ALL CONTACT REQUESTS AS IT FALLS TO THEIR DEPARTMENT IF YOU EMAIL ANOTHER DEPARTMENT ABOUT A CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUE THEY MAY DELETE YOUR EMAIL, AND AT BEST THEY WILL FORWARD IT TO CUSTOMER SERVICE, sometimes days or weeks later. FOR YOUR OWN SAKE, EMAIL CUSTOMER SERVICE UNLESS YOU HAVE LEGITIMATE BUSINESS WITH ONE OF THE OTHER DEPARTMENTS.

Our telephone number is for us to make outgoing calls only so if you see this phone number pop-up in your caller ID this is us, but we DO NOT accept incoming calls: 818-613-3236. Rest assured, our email support is excellent and if you email us, we WILL take care of you, because we love all our otakus.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/otakufuel

The form below emails our customer service department, this is the EASIEST way to contact THE PROPER DEPARTMENT for order processing and customer service requests. There is no success page that loads after you fill in the form, but don't worry, it works and we got it.

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