The Facebook debacle & other issues

I actually don’t think it’s (edit: the random smartdoll I mean) a -terrible- idea and probably very welcome to newbies especially who are overwhelmed with choices and don’t care who they get. What made me raise my eyebrow a bit was the Japanese tweet he made referring to it as ‘smartdoll gacha’. Even as someone who plays FGO, I find gacha game tactics to be predatory and the amount of money people sink into them for an extremely low chance at a SSR is alarming to me let alone the people who brag(?) about going into debt from it (it’s literally gambling, but there’s no age limit because you don’t win money. Which in some ways is worse.). That comment seemed like he was playing up the ‘you might get a rare one...!’ angle which doesn’t sit well with me.

Still, I think the disclaimers he had for it were solid. I don’t think it’s a bad idea, i’d just be wary of how it gets marketed. To newbies, fine. To people who already have a lot of smartdolls and may gladly take the bait just for that gacha/gambling thrill, it could be an expensive disappointment. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by Monty

He's being downright rude to all potential buyers now. It used to be he was just snarky to unreasonable customers -.-

This was just posted in Smart Doll Lovers. He's now actively (and snarkily) posting there, rather than depending on the admin to share his news like in the past.

Edited to include his post on the delay in shipping due to Covid-19. Be warned, you will be banned from buying in future if you ask about the status of your package too often.

Quote

I'm writing up the notes for the guys before release - so far as follows. Any other warnings I should write down to deter as many people as possible from buying?

The dolls are being packed now for immediate shipping - I just need to include all the disclaimers first.

Please read the following before deciding to buy.

-As with all our vinyl products, expect small air bubbles, stretch marks and birthmarks on the surface of the body. Folks should also expect that the color of each and every part to have slight variations - the whole body is not going to be the exact same color.

-Vinyl is squishy and wobbly - the shins will wobble and the chest will sway back and forth if you shake them - don’t shake a Smart Doll or they will come after you when you are asleep.

-If anything looks oddly shaped then use a hairdryer to heat the part where it may return to its original form. If you see no difference then that’s how it’s supposed to look. Vinyl can get squished during their long flight so you may need to heat up the parts a bit upon arrival.

-The arms are a pain to get into the sockets - you need to pinch the shoulder hard and push the shoulder peg into the socket. If your hands don’t have much strength then you should not buy this product.

-Most complains about the guys are the small size of the feet (they can wear our collection of shoes and boots), the shape of the thighs, the shape of the waist, the wobblyness of the chest, the lack of Smart Doll apparel and the difficulty level of getting arms in socket - all reasons not to buy this product.

---

Hey Folks,
I’m going to do a release later today which will include Eiji and crimson cinnamon, guy hand packs in milk and cinnamon and some other goodies for your girls.
Please do not order anything if you have contacted us regarding where your last package is - just wait for the package to arrive before ordering anything UNLESS you are good at playing the waiting game.

To folks who have contacted us multiple times regarding their package - if I knew where your stuff is I would tell you. I have no reason to keep it a secret. If I had a way to recall the package I would do it. Usually Japan post asks us to wait a month to launch an investigation but due to corona the wait is indefinite.

I’ve been told that I know when the corona situation will end but I tell you a secret - I.dont.know.
If you got the shipping confirmation from us then it means we handed the package to Japan Post. I am a sitting duck like you. 
Some packages have gone out on available flights to Singapore for example so that they can be routed onto other parts of the world - the situation is dire dude.

DHL have their own aircraft which makes the situation better. I know many of you don’t like DHL but no DHL means no shipping meaning game over for Smart Doll - it’s as simple as that.

Folks who have been relentlessly contacting us regarding a package in limbo - we will cancel any future orders of such folks to reduce their anxiety regardless of the fact that we now have DHL - unless they are good at playing the waiting game. I know this is not their fault but not ours either. 

I’ve been told “but you have my money.”
Our products are not exactly worthless and I too am not happy that I have a lot of our stuff in limbo - stuff that our staff spend  lot of time, love and effort handcrafting. 

If you do have limbo packages and are ok with playing the waiting game then feel free to order but leave a note saying “I’m game to play the waiting game” when ordering.

Now I need to get back to writing the descriptions of the guys before release - you know the usual wall of disclaimers for folks who want perfect products. This is actually one of the reasons why our stuff takes so long to be released - I need to think about everything a person could possibly complain about so that they are not disappointed when stuff arrives. Things like “the hole on these weathered jeans will not all be the same size…”

Edited April 8, 2020 by bbotss
Added more snark from him. Can't he be more empathetic? Covid-19 is causing stress for everyone!

Well heck, my Crimson's arm has a hard time going into the socket, and since I'm to weak to push it in, it keeps falling out. I was planning on going to the Mirai store ( after all this clears up of course) but now I guess I won't in fear of having to return Crimson : / . Is Danny just stressed?? I feel like when a stressful situation arises he tends to be more unreasonable then usual. 

6 minutes ago, Mame said:

Well heck, my Crimson's arm has a hard time going into the socket, and since I'm to weak to push it in, it keeps falling out. I was planning on going to the Mirai store ( after all this clears up of course) but now I guess I won't in fear of having to return Crimson : / . Is Danny just stressed?? I feel like when a stressful situation arises he tends to be more unreasonable then usual. 

I totally get his annoyance with people hounding him/customer service about the location of their packages. However, his response is just extremely unprofessional. He seriously needs a marketing/pr team. I definitely agree that the stress is probably bringing about this snarkiness. He definitely seems to make these kinds of remarks after he's been heavily criticized for something. I'm sure the shipping limbo caused by the virus is no fun either. But the lack of shipping isn't going to run his company down, his attitude will....

I dunno. He does sound kinda rude and I’m not fond of his wording but at the same time...as someone who has an Etsy and has a sister who had an Etsy... I actually sympathise with his frustration because you would not believe how many people legitimately seem to think sellers control the postal system. We get people asking where their order is the day after they order it (they’re usually in the US and we’re in Australia. I know they’re used to speedy amazon over there but -wow-) We get people placing orders and saying to ‘make sure it arrives before x date cos it’s my friends bday’ and then getting mad as -us- when it doesn’t. We had people leave lower star reviews because it ‘took too long’ even though it was well within the delivery estimate on the product page. You can cover a product in all the disclaimers in the world about estimated postal times and people will still ask the most ridiculous things and there’s nothing we can do. So, part of me feels some catharsis for this particular rant of his because it’s stuff we both wish we could say sometimes. I saw the post he made before where he was letting people know they should NOT order now if they don’t want to wait and wondered how many people would ignore that.

...that said, it’s not the most professional look, but if it scares off people from ordering right now that might be for the best. I’m much more critical of him when he gets angry at customers for asking/expecting things that are entirely reasonable, but this time if customers really are bombarding him with stupid emails during a pandemic the customers are definitely not being reasonable. I imagine it was fear of this/not wanting to be responsible for potential lost packages that made Volks decide to pause international orders altogether. 

...Although. This is assuming they’re recent customers and not ones who have been waiting weeks longer than what was expected -before- he posted the disclaimers. In that case, a generic copy paste reply about postage delays would suffice, the no more ordering thing is pretty excessive.

4 hours ago, Monty said:

You can cover a product in all the disclaimers in the world about estimated postal times and people will still ask the most ridiculous things and there’s nothing we can do. So, part of me feels some catharsis for this particular rant of his because it’s stuff we both wish we could say sometimes.

This is completely true (stating as someone who takes art commissions so I get how stupidly impatient some folks get). However, as a professional company the way he posts this is completely unprofessional and gives a bad name to the company and his products. There is a way to write disclaimers and this is not it.

Edited April 8, 2020 by kranberrijam

That is not an attitude you'd even want to prance around with!
There are some bad eggs out there, but yeah, like @bbotss said, he's assuming everyone is, at this point. The amount of time/money he spends on writing up essays to cover every aspect of his products eventual "flaws"... (Is he expecting impatient people to read it..? 🤔)
Maybe it would be worth it to spend the money on someone who has a better marketing language... All this "do not buy", just to cover his ass, is starting to feel suspicious almost.
He wouldn't lash out if he has someone else filter the feedback properly...

Oh don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s badly worded and immature and makes me think he’s taking his stress out on his fanbase. It’s just that for once I actually kinda get where he’s coming from where his other outbursts I absolutely couldn’t. 

These are early days. If he’s this upset already, it’s going to get much worse the worse the virus situation gets, so if he didn’t get all his anger out of his system he’s going to need to either have someone else front his social media for a bit or take up meditation.

@Monty Oh, I wasn't arguing against you. I was just speaking out in general
I agree with you, even from just selling items here and there, I have had people ask me where the items are because the tracking stopped updating. Which it tend to do when going overseas. And then that times 100 or so, yeah, that'd be annoying. But a simple direction to their estimated-delivery-time section should be enough! Not banning people who are impatient! Powertip...

-deleted-

Edited May 27, 2020 by Deyja

1 hour ago, Deyja said:

Okay so he notices that people are leaving the Smart Doll brand and yet cracks a joke at them instead of taking one moment to self reflect "Is it honestly something I am doing?".

Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom before they start to climb out. It may take enough people abandoning his business before he realizes he's doing something wrong. Conversely if people leaving are outnumbered by the people coming in, then he's probably never going to see it. The dissatisfied customer is something expendable at that point.

The thing is I can understand telling people who don't like his designs not to buy his products. That really shouldn't need saying, and that it does says something about some of the people coming at him with complaints if they are expecting him to design his products to their specifications. I can also see why he might get frustrated by people who expect the products not to wear or change with time.

On the other hand his concept of defects built into the product (wabi-sabi) seems to blind him to the fact that sometimes his weathered items suffer from production damage and not weathering. He may be too involved in the production aspects, whereas if he had a production manager who was giving him a report that said 15% of the product was damaged in production in a way that made it unfit for market, he might view things more dispassionately. As it is now, he seems to take these complains as personal criticism instead of feedback on his production quality control.

I think that's one area where Volks has a structural advantage over Danny. They're a family business, but different members of the family run different areas of the business.

29 minutes ago, BeyondTime said:

It may take enough people abandoning his business before he realizes he's doing something wrong.

Or he might just pat himself on the back from deterring "unreasonable" customers...

 

1 hour ago, BeyondTime said:

Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom before they start to climb out. It may take enough people abandoning his business before he realizes he's doing something wrong. Conversely if people leaving are outnumbered by the people coming in, then he's probably never going to see it. The dissatisfied customer is something expendable at that point.

The thing is I can understand telling people who don't like his designs not to buy his products. That really shouldn't need saying, and that it does says something about some of the people coming at him with complaints if they are expecting him to design his products to their specifications. I can also see why he might get frustrated by people who expect the products not to wear or change with time.

On the other hand his concept of defects built into the product (wabi-sabi) seems to blind him to the fact that sometimes his weathered items suffer from production damage and not weathering. He may be too involved in the production aspects, whereas if he had a production manager who was giving him a report that said 15% of the product was damaged in production in a way that made it unfit for market, he might view things more dispassionately. As it is now, he seems to take these complains as personal criticism instead of feedback on his production quality control.

I think that's one area where Volks has a structural advantage over Danny. They're a family business, but different members of the family run different areas of the business.

All very good points, and yes I agree with understanding him deterring certain customers. I appreciate all the info he has on his website/products, but what isn't cool with me is mocking previous customers in various product details like the uneven weathering on the shoes. I'd have a lot more respect for the man if he could stop making examples of unhappy customers whether wrong or right.  I'm not as familiar with Volks and how they do things (aside from the lottery), but it seems more organized and less chaotic. Releases seem to be on a schedule and not completely random. And I appreciate the fact that Volks doesn't seem to bash anyone or any company on their website.

53 minutes ago, Yumeiro said:

Or he might just pat himself on the back from deterring "unreasonable" customers...

I was thinking more along the lines of his business failing as a result of his behavior.

 

27 minutes ago, Deyja said:

I'm not as familiar with Volks and how they do things (aside from the lottery), but it seems more organized and less chaotic.

I think a big difference is that they have been at it longer, and they've transitioned from being a small mom & pop toy store to being a large business quite well. As far as I know the entire family is running the business, which allows for separation of roles and responsibilities. I have no idea what sorts of conversations happen behind the scene, but I would think that the company president (father) could in theory overrule the head of design (daughter) if it was for the good of the business.

In practice the father may feel too much pain saying no to his daughter, so who knows how it really shakes out.

Danny seems to want to run the business, do the design, and manage the PR. I don't think that's working well from a PR standpoint, although he has arguably grown his business quite well.

I've had a list for a while of the "last" things I was going to order from SMD before I dissociated with the brand completely. Things like hand packs I'd been meaning to get, one body for a spare head, and that sort of thing. Everything else would be secondhand or handmade.

Now I'm scared to buy from the site for several reasons:

1. If the quality is messed up or bad somehow, I have no recourse and will probably get harassed and shamed, possibly even banned. I want to get to the point where that doesn't matter, i.e. I don't need any more stuff from there, but I have to get through the list first and I honestly don't know how likely that is to go without mishap

1a. I have no guarantee the quality will be any good and I have reason to believe they're being more careless about quality control with the way things are worded re: weathering and wabi sabi. Plus a lot of people would either be unsympathetic because I was complaining about Danny Choo/being a "hater", or unsympathetic because I'd have been stupid enough to take the risk (from what I've seen in online spaces there are plenty of people who would react like that, and I might even agree about the risk)

2. If I ask about shipping or anything that might seem similar to being "impatient" I will have my future orders cancelled, effectively being banned. Or if I say anything wrong. I'm probably taking a risk with this post even.

3. I don't want to support someone who has caused people I know in the community to be harassed/bullied over the internet, in some cases by the man himself.

4. I'd be ashamed to keep posting my Smartdolls like nothing is an issue; it honestly might feel like a betrayal to the people who have been screwed over.

 

I had been hoping to get one or two "final" orders in but I'm not even sure if I can trust in even that. It seems less likely that hand packs will have a major defect given they're so much simpler than a body, but I'm still really reluctant to ever enter in a transaction with the company again.

I also can't buy stuff secondhand easily unless I'm a member of the big Facebook group, so I have to avoid saying anything wrong on there if I want access to good sales. So there's that. 

 

The thing is, I LOVE the product; I love the style for both the anime and semireal heads, I love the detail and quality of the clothing even though it is expensive- though again, if quality is no longer consistent, there's that issue- and I actually was a huge fan of Danny Choo early on because of stupid idolization reasons re: Japan and robotics and nerdery. I would love for everything to be okay and for Danny Choo to magically do something to change for the better and fix all his old problems. It's just not going to happen most likely, and that sucks.

 

Sorry for the rant, I'm just so, so disappointed.

@Starwaia To be fair, Smd products are usually of really, really good quality. I personally think that the wig I got just somehow managed to slip past QC. So unless you're of the really tiny percentage of supremely unlucky people, and as long as you avoid buying weathered stuff (especially those that come in pairs), your purchase should be safe enough. There was a mixup of a cinnamon bust for a milk bust purchase, and Danny did fix that after the customer posted about it in the SDL group.

One thing to note is that for returns, Danny doesn't cover shipping nor does he refund your initial shipping cost, so in the event that you are one of the unlucky people I mentioned above, be prepared to lose out on shipping both ways.

12 hours ago, Starwaia said:

I also can't buy stuff secondhand easily unless I'm a member of the big Facebook group, so I have to avoid saying anything wrong on there if I want access to good sales. So there's that.

I too am in the big group on Facebook, and I barely post anything and certainly not negative comments from Danny. I have Danny blocked on Facebook, so I feel like I have a little protection, but I think it is sad that any Smart Doll owner has to live in fear of breaking someone and never being able to get a replacement part just because they criticized something he made or asked "Where's my stuff" to an unknown limit.

There are a few things that I'd like to get too, but I might end up getting them through Fabric & Friends or just keep an eye on the group when someone is selling. You are pretty safe with hand packs and what not, and I have never had a quality issue with any clothing that I have purchased from CJ. Granted, it's been a long time since I ordered clothing, but the majority of the newest quality control issues seem to be with the wigs and dolls themselves. I'd be hesitant to purchase a newer wig.

Also, I agree. I love the faces of his dolls and the bodies and keep wishing and hoping that Danny eats a huge piece of humble pie and apologizes for his actions and makes a complete 180.

 

One thing to note: Since he has switched to DHL shipping, one person that I know of has complained that they had to pay a custom's charge (in the US). I don't know if that was a fluke or if that is something common with DHL, because I have no experience with them. Just something to keep in mind and keep an eye out

56 minutes ago, Deyja said:

I don't know if that was a fluke or if that is something common with DHL, because I have no experience with them. Just something to keep in mind and keep an eye out

That has to be an error on DHL's part; dolls and doll items aren't subject to US customs fees.

2 hours ago, BeyondTime said:

That has to be an error on DHL's part; dolls and doll items aren't subject to US customs fees.

That's what I figure. I didn't think toys were able to be subjected to custom fees in the US. I think it might over a certain dollar amount, but I am not certain there. Hopefully it was just a fluke and the person is able to get their money back.

1 hour ago, Deyja said:

I think it might over a certain dollar amount, but I am not certain there.

For dolls I am pretty sure it’s no fees at all. I had looked it up at one point, and that’s what I recall reading. I didn’t pay any fees for my Miki Hoshi, and at $2000 she was the most expensive doll I’ve imported. 
 

Use Tax is a different story, but US customs doesn’t report imports to the States.  

I'm just going to post this here because... meh, I'm in that sort of mood.

https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/chaos-bundle-vinyl-shell

Skip down to 'Why are outlet items now available online?' for the main part.

 

 

1 hour ago, Zaliayn said:

I'm just going to post this here because... meh, I'm in that sort of mood.

https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/chaos-bundle-vinyl-shell

Skip down to 'Why are outlet items now available online?' for the main part.

 

 

It just blows my mind the chip he has on his shoulder. A few months ago on instagram, someone asked if he would do a reissue of the original Chitose in tea to which he said "another run of Chitose tea? ok i’ll make that happen in March/April this year. don’t tell anybody ". Since there wasn't another peep mentioned about Chitose in tea, someone I know messaged CJ and asked if Danny still had plans on re-releasing her. "Probably as a fortuitous tea goodie but not as a product."

 

I know that there would be so many happy people if he reissued some sold out girls even temporarily like the boys (or dolls in that beautiful old cocoa skin). But why did he outright lie about it? Part of me is glad, because that means I definitely do not feel obliged to give him anymore of my money, but I would have been someone who purchased tea Chitose. So your only chance at a retired/sold old doll now is to buy into an expensive gambit. But don't complain about what you got, oh gosh no! You will be mocked and possibly made an example of on all future products.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Deyja
posted too soon

1 hour ago, Zaliayn said:

I'm just going to post this here because... meh, I'm in that sort of mood.

https://shop.smartdoll.jp/products/chaos-bundle-vinyl-shell

Skip down to 'Why are outlet items now available online?' for the main part.

 

 

The fact that he refers to the complaint about the ‘bumpy wig’, when bbots seemed like they were nothing but polite to him, as ‘elitist hobbyists’ actually makes me feel sick. What a horrible thing to say about your fans. 

The snide ‘for the life of me I don’t know why they keep coming back to smart doll’ makes it sound like he groups all ‘complainers’ into one giant monolith hivemind of clones. Danny, they ‘keep coming back’ because they’re -separate people-. They ‘keep coming back’ because they were (in some cases still ‘are’) fans of your product and have never had any issues with the quality or your attitude until they decided to query something in good faith. There’s plenty of reasons why they keep coming back, but I still see no reason for his rudeness at all. 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Monty

I actually managed to get into the Facebook group and had a peek at the offending thread. The members of the group honestly seemed really sympathetic and understanding, and they even agreed with the op about their wig being defective.

So... Danny sent out a defective wig. He refunded it. Happens all the time with handmade products. No one would have held it against them, so I can't for the life of me fathom why he's still this hung up on the fucking wig. (Cabin fever maybe?)

@Monty I agree. Ugh, every time Danny posts statements like these, the less I find myself liking the guy. There's no excuse for being rude, snarky, and just flat-out disgraceful to your customers and fanbase. Any other company would have reamed him out for the things he's been saying, I'm sure of it. Hell, I don't think even proper PR management would help him at this point. He's digging his company's grave, and he either is ignorant of the impact his words have on his image, or he just doesn't care.

Regarding the Smartdoll 'gacha' idea, that is by far the worst idea I have ever seen in this hobby, period. These dolls are far too expensive to go blind on, and I find that to be very predatory marketing which is sickening in and of itself.