Volks JP at Magical Mirai 2013 Hatsune Miku Event

We aren't as lucky in USA...

 

Yeah, just got the same mail. This is getting ridiculous, even if Volks USA were still offering preorders I wouldn't go for it at this point. I realize this particular delay is out of their control but almost a year and a half from placing the order until getting her is a bit much.

Yknow... at this rate - I half wonder if I'll get Sheryl and Ranka before I ever get Miku o___o

 

But considering how much they've jerked around the US customers... they could at least give out a semiwhite body suit as compensation or... heck, some tenshi no whatever brush. I don't care if its a toothbrush, just something anything. A sticker. I say that knowing Volks won't do anything apart from, "You're lucky we're letting you buy items like Miku from us." lol

Yknow... at this rate - I half wonder if I'll get Sheryl and Ranka before I ever get Miku o___o

 

I had the exact same thought. :/ Instead of complimentary items, I'd prefer if they directly air-shipped the dolls from Japan to us. FFS, at this point I'd pay whatever extra on top of the original shipping fee to get her before April (because it's not even ETA early March, but LATE March).

I'd prefer if they directly air-shipped the dolls from Japan to us.

 

I didn't think of that - but they should have just given US customers the option. I don't need my doll frieght shipped here then shipped again - why not just do that, and then people can pay for their dolls even sooner. I really wonder why they didn't offer that. I'd be all for it at this point so I can get her paid off.

I'd prefer if they directly air-shipped the dolls from Japan to us.

 

I didn't think of that - but they should have just given US customers the option. I don't need my doll frieght shipped here then shipped again - why not just do that, and then people can pay for their dolls even sooner. I really wonder why they didn't offer that. I'd be all for it at this point so I can get her paid off.

 

Mine is already paid, so I'm slightly bitter that they're making (however little) interest on my money and I don't even have Miku. I knew I'd be getting a delay with Volks USA, but considering it wasn't a new body (and there's really nothing unique about her construction) I wasn't expecting a Saber-tier delay.

 

On the bright side I can keep putting off buying her an M bust and more SWS hands. I guess I can go nuts for January's event.

Wow more delays.. with this you guys are looking at summer 2015 for her arrival.

can't believe it, I did not think they would be affected by the strike.

That sucks... Now I feel kinda bad coming here all happy smiley because postman just came and handed me my Miku.

I won't open her yet though. I took a day off from work because I've been having this splitting headache for almost 3 days now and I'm going to a doctor. I will let her out later. I feel like cleaning the house first too so it'll be nice and clean when I take pictures of her.

Wow. I still can't believe that after over a year of waiting she's finally here. I just keep on looking that "Fragile, handle with care"-box behind me. There she is!

It's going to be easy to remember when her birthday is.

Got mine right before Christmas. Hopefully the strike gets settled quickly thus affecting everyone less.

 

Miku's bodysuit should be here today. I guess I can stare at that and pretend it's her until she gets here. Whenever that will be. April? Maybe May, if there's more delays. -_-

 

Edit: I sent Volks an email asking them to ship mine from Japan. I doubt they will, but it doesn't hurt to try.

This is terrible. I wonder if Volks is going to keep doing pre-orders. It seems that there is some kind of great disaster with everyone they've had so far.

 

I can only imagine what will happen with the Sheryl/Ranka pre-orders if you guys aren't getting your Miku's until almost summer!

 

I wish Volks did care a little more...we should go on strike haha.

I suppose all that would do is give scalpers more opportunity.

This is terrible. I wonder if Volks is going to keep doing pre-orders. It seems that there is some kind of great disaster with everyone they've had so far.

 

I can only imagine what will happen with the Sheryl/Ranka pre-orders if you guys aren't getting your Miku's until almost summer!

 

I wish Volks did care a little more...we should go on strike haha.

I suppose all that would do is give scalpers more opportunity.

 

Thankfully, I think they've given up on preorders. They don't have Ranka and Sheryl. I ended up ordering them (from JP) as soon as preorders opened because I wanted to get them ASAP after this Miku mess. :p

 

So it looks like I'll get Miku after waiting a year and a half and then Sheryl and Ranka about 6 months after Miku. At least the wait for them will seem very short because of that.

I hoped it wouldn't come to this, and I tried to forget about my experiences with Volks USA over this, but that's it. They have been holding my (unfortunately, paid-in-full) money hostage at this point. I have been more than understanding but after how they have treated me and all the other unfortunate customers for all this time I am taking the route they have laid out for me: getting permanently banned from Volks by getting my money back.

 

It is not just the ridiculous delays. Their customer service is the worst I have ever dealt with and they have been downright nasty over Miku emails, punishing their customers over their false promises. After the February delay emails, I sent them a few emails asking questions. Let's just say that the second I brought up "possible refund", things turned really bad. They sent back a nasty email threatening Volks bans on me if I brought up the issue of a refund again. What?? That was very harsh considering that I did absolutely nothing wrong. With my reply, they then decided to send everything to Hideyoshi who personally sent me an email. I took what I got and decided to forget that the previous things ever happened. I'd wait. I was so excited about Miku that I pre-ordered not one, but TWO Mikus AND the Senbonzakura outfit, after all. I wanted the Mikus more than I wanted the money... at the time.

 

Flash forward to the latest ~great news~. At this point I do not even care about the Mikus anymore. Even looking at them makes me sick and I just want my money back. I'll happily take Volks up on their offer of getting banned. If that means escaping this circus of theirs, I'll gladly accept. In the end, I wanted to keep my status as a good customer more than anything else, but I think it’s beyond that point now.

 

I just sent them a lengthy email: ending it by demanding a refund. I am awaiting their response. I was going to wait to post my story until I got a response back, but I figured I'd post what I already had written and do a follow-up on what happens next.

 

The last thing I wanted to do was fight for a refund, get tossed out like trash by my favorite company, and rant on a public forum. But I think everyone has the right to at this point. And what will everyone get for all this? Nothing. Yes, it is beyond depressing that it has turned out like this. But in the end that is their fault, not ours, yet we are the ones being punished.

 

Sigh.

 

P.S.: “Initially going to be delivered at the end of February”?? We know that was simply not true; we were told October. They really don’t value their US customers enough if they’re allowing a dock strike to delay our shipments yet again. The absolute least they could do at this point is to have them shipped. But… I digress. I just want out of this mess as soon as possible so I can put this behind me.

Choppi, the situation you and other Volks USA Miku pre-order participants are in is really terrible.

Every time I see a delay it's really disappointing to me too, even though I ordered through Volks international and already got Miku. Volks is one of my doll favorite companies and all these pre-orders seem to have so many issues I think the Xenosaga one was the only recent one in the past 3-4 years that didn't have so many production issues and other delays. Please share the response you get from Volks with us. Hopefully they won't ban you, that just seems extreme considering all the factors.

The thing that is bothersome - for those that have already paid in full - you know they have Mikus in Japan. They advertised her being sold at the con in Asia that Danny choo sold at. Which was a slight to US/canada customers. Since they've delayed things 3 times now, they shouldn't be quick to ban people who paid in full who want either their doll or their money back.

 

Customer service would dictate they at least offer options or something - anything - and god knows if any US Mikus have problems - I wonder about having a way to get replacement pieces either.

 

I'm super close to saying: Volks, I think it's time we break up - it's not me, it's you.

I'll save that bit for any Sheryl And Ranka fiasco... XD

Hmmm, don't want to sound mean but banning people for not paying orders or wanting their money back is pretty normal when dealing with japanese figure shops as well... So I am really not surprised at what Volks is doing here and I also kind of understand that refunding such an expensive order sucks for them and they do not want to do it. At least they told you they will ban you, some companys just refund and ban you after without telling anything LOL

 

I think it is totaly ok for Volks to ban people as it their policy. And most people know before ordering.

Indeed it's true they say that during every preorder that they can change things at will. Though I think bc they offered people to pay in full/partial was the problem bc like Choppi said they have your money in hand so it can be extremely frustrating with delay after delay. I bet you the cost in freight shipping and also planning and requiring a deposit is why they ar nonlonger taking orders and referring to volks intl

Yeah I understand what you mean but I think the customer service actually can't do anything against this policy.... No exceptions. And if they give Choppi a refund without problems more people will come and want one without getting banned. It might get a real problem for them :-/

 

In the end we all know that Volks is not a company who will scamm you. They will not run off with your money. I know delays can be frustrating as I am a figure collector. And I also sometimes pay figs upfront. Best thing to do is to think about something else. Waiting will get much easier.

 

Maybe also to mention, many japanese don't tend to cancel as much as most international buyers do so many japanese shops/manufacturer get impatient with people who cancel much soon or a rather strict in their policy. Canceling always mean extra work.

I can't say that I order from many Japanese companies besides Volks, Petworks and a few other figure sites like HLJ, and I've also never had to be refunded on purchases through those companies, but Choppi has stated that they threatened to ban them on account of them bringing up the possibility of a refund. Not even approving said refund and that too me just seems extreme and I can understand how they see it as Volks being "nasty".

Yeah that was probably to much. But it is also kind of rude to ask for refund if you know that company normal does not do that. On the other hand Choppi probably did not know how strict japanese companys are normaly. Same with AmiAmi and Mandarake. They will ban you if you cancel to often, does not matter the reason. And they get more and more impatient with international buyers so people will get banned out of the blue sometimes >___>

 

In the end who knows how many people already asked for refund from Volks USA before... Customer support should not be aggressive but well humans on both sides of the line. They might have gotten very annoyed after a while.

First of all, I have been in the collecting hobby for 8 years and never once have I cancelled any of my pre-orders. In addition, I don't think I've cancelled any order in my life. I fully understand that there will be delays when pre-ordering, which is why the delays do not bother me nearly as much as everything else piled on top of this. I get what you are all saying, but I have never had such a terrible ordering experience so I am very upset. So... I guess I'll end all this by wishing all of you stuck in this for the best. And... I'm sorry for going too overboard. I do not want to cause any trouble on here, and I especially don't want to be hated for this, so we can just drop it. I'll accept the fact this is the end of my Volks journey. In the end, all I got out of this was deep sadness.

It's annoying that this is happening, but Volks isn't the only company in this situation. Sideshow Collectibles sent me an email informing me that my R2-D2 and Hot Toys Captain America/Steve Rogers two pack are delayed until March, and Hot Toys Falcon until April. I expect we'll see a lot of delayed products across the board, if this strike isn't resolved quickly.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Guest

The thing though is that Volks USA is not a Japanese company, they're a US company owned by a Japanese company. If any other company pulled a stunt like this there'd be a public outcry, and rightfully so. The way I see it there's two reasons they can get away with it:

 

1) People expect this behavior from past dealings with Volks or other companies related to ABJD/figure collection.

2) There's not a whole lot of alternatives if you want an anime themed BJD.

 

While I can agree with banning people if they cancel a preorder out of the blue, I don't think they should ban people when it's Volks' fault people are starting to want a refund, we wouldn't have been in this situation if they had held their promises in the first place.

I have to agree with others that are upset with Volks and VolksUSA. I feel that the company is taking advantage of those customers that paid in full first, knowing that they can't ask for a refund for risk of being banned. Those orders should have been secured and on the boat prior to the first wave of Japanese/international being released. It's especially a slap in the face that they SOLD Mikus at a convention, instead of filling prepaid orders. It tends to make loyal customers unwilling to hand Volks their money a year in advance. And while we can count on Volks to come through.... eventually... this is abysmal customer service. THAT'S what people are mad about. Not the dock strike, or ginormous delays, but the screwing of people who already forked over the money, who are told to shut up and color when they raise questions.

 

VolksUSA has done VERY nice things for its resin customers since the restructuring. But it feels like they could care less about the US Dollfie Dream crowd. The Sabers lottery was pithy, and the Miku extra items were an afterthought (after much inquiry and pleading from the community). I have to admit that I felt jealous of the excited commentary and praise piled on the Singapore DD crowd by Mr. Shigeta himself. I sort of felt that the pictures and comments of his time at that convention shouldn't have been posted on the USA Facebook page, because Volks certainly isn't going to make that kind of effort for us anytime soon (I'm glad they went to the convention, just sad it felt like he was rubbing our noses in it the way it was done).

 

I am grateful to Volks for bringing us these lovely dolls. I understand that they don't want the fiasco of the Saber preorders to repeat itself at VolksUSA. But they also need to take some responsibility and realize that they can't continue to walk all over their customers. Unless that's what they want, to make people so upset that no one will protest when VolksUSA finally closes for good.

Just to add my two cents...

 

When Volks first announced the delay in the Miku delivery, pushing the final batch to February, I had a swift moment of panic: I'm getting married in February. It's a destination wedding, so I'm out of the country for two weeks solid (wedding + honeymoon). All of my immediate family is also traveling, and will be gone for 1-2 weeks as well, so there's no one to pick up my packages for me.

 

When I first placed my pre-order, I never imagined she'd arrive later than December, and never worried about her delivery conflicting with my wedding.

 

I emailed Volks right away, asking if I could either have the delivery delayed until after I'd returned or if I could switch to another mailing address in the hopes that maybe one of my friends wouldn't mind storing her box for a few weeks. This was back in November.

 

No reply.

 

I emailed again in December, asking the same questions.

 

No reply.

 

Now the whole issue seems to be resolved -- but not due to any action on Volks' part, of course, but due to a situation outside of their control. I'll probably email them again, in the beginning of February, just to be sure that they're not going to be shipping her while I'm gone (or if they are, if they could at least change the delivery address). I expect they won't reply to that one, either, so I'll probably have to start calling...

 

As far as I'm concerned, their customer disservice is unforgivable. Say what you want about delays being outside of their control, refunds not being part of their normal business, or differences between American and Japanese consumer cultures, but ignoring me for months is unacceptable.

 

Miku is the last purchase I will make from VolksUSA. I will happily continue to buy DDs from the Volks International site, but never again VolksUSA unless they have a major change in customer care.