Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Landon Miller on May 19, 2022 at 7:28am

Glad I didn’t take the risk. Seems to be the exact same books lol

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Permalink Reply by Jor-El on May 19, 2022 at 7:53am

Since they won't admit this as a 'fault', sticking to the "according to the publisher this is real" mantra, that would mean the return costs are on you (and possibly they'll try not to refund the initial shipping costs too, though I'm not entirely sure about that).

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Permalink Reply by Mike White on May 19, 2022 at 6:33pm

Seems to be the exact same books

Yeah, they very likely are literally the exact same books.

I'm a bit surprised that nobody seemed to realize the "restock" came on the heels of a bunch of disappointed buyers returning the autopen signed books they were disappointed about buying.

When I first heard about the restock, my first thought was "Well, yeah... People are returning the books, en masse, in sellable condition..."

But apparently, a lot of collectors' first thought was "Dolly Parton and James Patterson decided to secretly sign a bunch of copies of the book, which were clandestinely distributed by the publisher, who continued through everything to publicly insist that nothing was wrong with the first batch."

What did everyone think was going to happen to the returned books? Why did everyone think they were so uptight about only refunding if the books were returned in sellable condition?

They got a bunch of books back from unhappy customers in sellable condition & they listed the books back up for sale.

I had a heck of a time returning the "signed" copies of "The President is Missing" that I bought to the US places I bought them from. So much of a hard time, which mirrored people's experiences here, that I said "forget it" and kept them.

But after being burned on that one, and narrowly missing a few others, I haven't trusted any publisher distributed signed book. If it's not from an in-store signing, I don't touch it anymore. I'd advise everyone in the community to do the same if you don't want to gamble.

Because I can assure you that, in the vast majority of cases, nothing you show a customer service representative will convince them a book is fake if they're told it's not. And they'll continue selling them as real when they get any returns back.

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Permalink Reply by itf on May 21, 2022 at 6:05am

Yeah autopen.

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Permalink Reply by Landon Miller on May 21, 2022 at 7:32am

100% autopen sadly

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Permalink Reply by Landon Miller on May 21, 2022 at 11:37am

I think they usually do refunds so you should probably contact them 

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Permalink Reply by Jason H on May 21, 2022 at 1:11pm

I plan on writing them as soon as I receive mine. It still hasn't arrived. Maybe stuck in customs. Im probably not going to bother with a refund if they offer it. Its proven they will just resell these to unsuspecting fans. Id rather give them away or sell on ebay stating these are autopen everywhere on the listing. They still do have a collectable aspect to them. No matter what I decide, im going to give waterstones a piece of my mind. Its something we all need to do for the sake of this hobby to protect others in the future. Even if we are planning to leave this hobby now. If autopens become rampant without being able to detect them, it could eventually kill this hobby. Its probably best to stop buying newly released items. I can see 20 years from now, a possible situation where collectors only go after autographs prior to 2024 or whenever autopens became completely undetectable. 

I can see advancements happening where autopens have random variations, much more so than dolly, with varying pen pressures and speeds. There will come a time very soon where these exist. Im actually surprised they arnt available already. Autopens could single handedly create a 90s sports card scenario all over again in autograph form. We both were worried about this slowly happening already. I can totally see this advancing in the near future where it gets completely out of control. Its best to just get out asap but the addiction is still strong with me

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Permalink Reply by Jason H on May 21, 2022 at 2:23pm

Taylor is on a mission. She won't sacrifice her own brand over fake signatures.. at least if she's smart. She's kind of stuck now since her fans expect it from her. You never know though..

I think there are a few on here ive read voicing their frustrations. I was one of them and im sure many collectors feel the same way even if they arnt as vocal about it. As quickly as this hobby exploded, autopens could end up being the pin that bursts the bubble

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Permalink Reply by Landon Miller on May 29, 2022 at 8:47am

Waterstones is usually good at responding and giving refunds. Try the live chat on their website when it’s available and/or try this link https://waterstones.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

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