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The Facebook debacle & other issues

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Monty
7 hours ago, Yumeiro said:

I think that is reaching a bit. They have the right to protect themselves from fraud, and are upfront about it.
Yeah, the timing is a bit bad. But going around with pitchforks looking for issues, well... you'll find them in anything.

It’s the fact that there’s the part about how they’re not obligated to tell you WHY your order was cancelled anymore that raises a red flag to me. And ‘all cancellations are final’ makes it sound like you get no other chances, even if is just a simple card error that happens to people all the time. If it was a standard message about order cancellations it wouldn’t bother me but the timing -and- the part about not telling you the reason is really, really off to me.

edit: re: the ‘anti reselling measures’, I have no idea what he’s talking about because this is his first limited doll since he posted about those resold Gourais appearing on amazon and how t bothered him. Unless he meant this is the debut of these measures, whatever they are. I am not personally sure how the lack of a warranty is going to deter a reseller or someone buying second hand though. It sounds like he’s lumping resellers and the second hand market together though which feels wrong to me. 

i thought the real reason you see few smartdolls second hand is because resellers cannot plan as well to purchase due to the unpredictable releases, and the fact that there just isn’t that many of them produced to begin with. Obviously the brand has grown and gotten more recognition between the last limited doll and Mika though, and presumably they can make more of her if she’s semi-cortex, so I guess we’ll find out how many end up on yahoo auctions. Kudos to him if they actually do all go to fans who want her.

Edited by Monty
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Mothiraffe

Re: the new policy.

That timing couldn't be worse; this is absolutely intentional. And the wording is so so unfortunate... it's like trying to put out a dumpster fire with gasoline. This is a mess... it's... surprising to say, but I feel bad for Danny and Culture Japan right now. He seems to be- caught up in trying to control a narrative he seems to think is libelous, but he's doing everything wrong and invoking the Barbara Streisand effect in the worst possible way. I can see, too, why this would make SENSE on his end. It's so shortsighted and it's only going to hurt his business and his character in the long run, though. 

I'm not nearly as eloquent in expressing things today, I just climbed out of a frigid lake I waded into to get photos of a tern and my brain is as frozen as my legs are. So, tl;dr

DANNY HAS SO MANY FANTASTIC BUSINESS CONTACTS, PLEASE SEEK THEIR ADVICE ON MANAGING A PR SCANDAL AND HIRE A COMMUNITY MANAGER FOR YOUR BUSINESS. 😞

EDIT:// annotated my take on the new policies, which is mostly just a string of "wtf" and "jfc" >.>;;
 

my take on the new policies.JPG

Edited by Mothiraffe
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ISO: SmD Crimson Kai, Interstellar Blue Prowess, Resolute (Tea), all the boys | DD Icon Tawny | Obitsu 55cm, 60cm Bodies | instagram: lunaraffe

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hats
30 minutes ago, Mothiraffe said:

 

EDIT:// annotated my take on the new policies, which is mostly just a string of "wtf" and "jfc" >.>;;
 

my take on the new policies.JPG

Thank you. LOL You made me erupt into a fit of laughter/giggles with your take on this new policy.

I also couldn't agree more with you on it. Seriously- What if you move?? That's an incredibly valid question. I've moved 2 times in the past 4 years. Would my (theoretical) warranty be invalid due to my change in housing circumstance? That's completely unreasonable. That's not how warranties work. Most businesses understand that people move. Proof of original purchase and any necessary warranty documentation should be all that is required to make a warranty claim.. I just don't get it.

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RainbowNanaki

Yeah, as someone who will most likely be moving in the next year or two, I also found that EXTREMELY concerning.


He/Him --- I like making stuff --- Please don't make sexual/lewd comments about my dolls, thank you!

 

At Home: Tyler (Akira 2nd), Adrienne (Smart Doll Mirai Cortex), Bryan (Smart Doll Eiji, cinnamon ver.)

Waiting For: Nothing atm

Wishlist: Smart Doll Crimson Kai in tea skin

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BeyondTime
9 hours ago, littlebirdzoom said:

I think that Monty would be one of the last people to ever hold a pitch fork.

Seconded.

1 hour ago, hats said:

I also couldn't agree more with you on it. Seriously- What if you move?? That's an incredibly valid question. I've moved 2 times in the past 4 years. Would my (theoretical) warranty be invalid due to my change in housing circumstance? That's completely unreasonable.

The text reads "the original buyers address." This would reasonably be read that they settle the warranty with the original buyer wherever that person happens to live. To put it another way the rights under a warranty would normally be associated with a person and not a place.

And yes I do see the humor here 😄 But given the issues at hand lets focus on stuff that is clearly wrong, and not manufacture problems that don't really exist. It just undermines the arguments addressing the actual problem.

Edited by BeyondTime

The difference between Dollfie Dreams and Heroin? Heroin is illegal, Dollfie Dreams probably should be.

“Empty wallets, full hearts.” That’s probably an apt description for the effects of DD addiction

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Zaliayn

In the event of moving, I would hope that it's simply a case of contacting CJ stating your new address and the original address you want it to replace, although if verification is needed I'm not sure what that would entail. (Some kind of check or test payment to check the billing address of your card/paypal?) Otherwise it would cause big issues.

 

I'm not keen on the line 'Folks who “accidentally” ordered two will have their order canceled and unfortunately won’t be able to place an order on the store again.' Accidents happen. Duplicate orders aren't an unknown thing; technology isn't flawless and human error can't always be avoided. I get that the intent of this is to stop scalpers buying multiples to sell on (and sure, ban those guys all you want!) but genuine customers shouldn't be punished for this - why a permaban on ordering from the website?

And it may be because of how these frequent dramas have coloured my viewpoint, but the use of ' “accidentally ' and 'unfortunately' really irks me. Triggers my passive-agressive detector, not to mention the sarcasm alarm. I don't know if it was intentionally written to be so or if it's down to unfortunate wording.  I just feel that if you mean 'individuals who order multiples with the intention to resell', then be clear on that - don't leave room for interpretation.

 

On the Fraud Filtering; from any other company I would likely see this as more of a disclaimer than anything, but given how Danny has reacted to criticisms and questions, I simply can't convince myself that it won't get misused or abused as a sort of 'revenge' tactic. And it greatly concerns me that I am having those feelings about it.

 

Given both the current and previous incidents, the whole statement written on Mika's page makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable.

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cfx

I own a pitchfork, but I only use it to pick up pine straw in my yard. :lol:

23 minutes ago, Zaliayn said:

And it may be because of how these frequent dramas have coloured my viewpoint, but the use of ' “accidentally ' and 'unfortunately' really irks me. Triggers my passive-agressive detector, not to mention the sarcasm alarm. I don't know if it was intentionally written to be so or if it's down to unfortunate wording.  I just feel that if you mean 'individuals who order multiples with the intention to resell', then be clear on that - don't leave room for interpretation. 

It's that same passive aggressive snark that I see a lot from him, and I think he says exactly what he intends to say.

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Panda_Dolliess

To verify past orders, most companies use the credit card number and the order number? Why is the address a requirement? People move! People may have different billing and mailing addresses?! This is extremely concerning and just not going to work very well in the long run. Also, banning people from buying from the store in case they make a mistake and add more than one? 

When I purchased from Volks USA, they had concerns about my different billing and mailing addresses. I got to college out of state so they are different for me. Volks USA had sent me an email before they did anything to the order. I have a bad feeling that in a similar situation, Culture Japan would have just outright cancelled my order and would not have told me why. 

The customer isn't god, but they are human! He's seriously playing with fire here....

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freakie-oppa

I third the notion that Monty is one of the last individuals to storm him with a pitchfork. Seriously, considering all that's happening not just related to this whole Facebook randomo ban-aroo, the upgraded cautions really isn't helping his image.

The fact also that these cautionary notices were only bulked up with the oncoming release of Mika further proves that he is very much aware of what is going on. However in his eyes, he might see it as righteous. After all, you're not allowed to even QUESTION why a character's hair went from pink to orange. That too, is a direct insult to him, apparently.

 

I will press again, you should NOT be punishing a whole group of individuals for the actions of one person. You CANNOT run a business like that. Some people have been in that group for years and might have never noticed the change in the group name and description. Some people don't even go on Facebook anymore unless it's to check the 'main' SmartDoll Facebook group. Banning people just because they were in that group, permanently, is a whole 'nother level of low.

Not even mentioning the 'accidental purchase' part of the clause, why is he leaving payment risk checks only to 'automated systems'? Machines aren't perfect. Accidents happen. And faulty scanning DEFINITELY happens. Even YOUTUBE can't get their algorithm right. The fact that they won't  let people question why an order is canceled when they have an automated system, is just daft.

 

If there is a wide group of people that is that angry at your for the same reason, would logic not make you ask yourself 'Where did this problem start?'

This didn't start yesterday. It didn't start last week. His attitude has gone on for a very long time, and it worsens with each passing year.

If you're going to front your company, the one thing you should learn is what criticism is constructive, and what isn't.  And whether you should take the criticism, or ignore it. There will always be comments from people that can't wrap their head around his company. Because they aren't IN his company. They'll never understand it, and he should stop expecting people to. As many stated, there is nothing wrong with making mistakes, but own up to it, apologize, or don't make the mistake at all.

I have no real problems with Danny Choo outside of his bad attitude to his customers and people that follow his social media. I can't even call them his fans when he doesn't treat majority of them as fans.

Edited by freakie-oppa
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Yumeiro

I fell as if a lot of you are insinuating that I am accusing Monty, specifically, of wielding a pitchfork. It was a general statement - if you go looking for faults it is easy to find them in anything.
I do not doubt that they have to deal with a lot of shady orders - as any company. Yes, it is worded poorly and unfriendly.
But perhaps I am naive to think that nobody would be as stupid as to ban "normal people" from shopping from them? - that it was more directed towards issues due to conscious attempts at fraud.
Though, in light of this new updated policy... wow. I don't even...

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mizya
42 minutes ago, Yumeiro said:

But perhaps I am naive to think that nobody would be as stupid as to ban "normal people" from shopping from them?

... But he IS banning innocent people from buying his products for no good reason.

The whole reason why this thread was started is because Danny sought out people who are members of a Facebook group (which he falsely assumed is a hate group based on one individual's actions) under the false pretense of checking something from their order. Once he got all the customers' information, he cancelled open orders and apparently banned them from any future purchases on his website. And these people who were banned are ones that own multiple Smartdolls and have been long-time supporters of Danny.

The new policy with its... interesting wording reeks of him trying to cover his ass in these instances where no fraud has even happened and the order was cancelled for whatever petty reason - because he doesn't have to disclose the reason why the order was cancelled.

I find it quite interesting how he can apparently afford to pick and choose his customers (like, a while ago a friend of mine - who genuinely was interested in buying a Smartdoll - asked him a question on twitter and he threw a fit over it saying "I wouldn't want haters like you buying my dolls anyway - and be sure to tell all the other haters to not buy from me either!") when at the same time he goes on about how expensive developing his new innovations is. 🤔

He should take a step back and re-evaluate his behaviour. If he keeps this up, it's not just the "haters" who are going to stop buying from him, but his actual customers as well. Heck, he's already forcing some of his actual customers to stop buying from him by banning them even though they'd like to keep supporting him. He'd be better off focusing on the positives and the people who actually like what he does instead of obsessing over who's a "hater". He keeps taking his anger out on the wrong people and sooner or later it will have consequences.

Edited by mizya
typos
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freakie-oppa

I do think this is the first time I've ever heard of a doll company banning customers from purchasing from them because of a possible participation in another group. A Facebook group no less. I mean, isn't Facebook meant to be chill zone these days? I can see why anyone would be doubtful. This whole thing is absurd.

 

As a previous customer, I was initially skeptical that these were his choices, like mayhaps it was one of his order staff gone awry, but considering Danny Choo has made very dismissive comments towards people bringing this issue up to him on social media, as per usual, and he seems to be quite thorough with the inclusion of order cancellations and bans in his buying policy in new releases, it's hard to believe it's a coincidence. I know he's not very lenient, but to say that all cancellations are final (despite relying on an automated system) is a very poor choice on his part. You can even be banned from accidentally buying 2 of one doll. What on earth? XD

 

We can say maybe it's a term coined from his legal team to safe guard his company but he still chose to roll out all those clauses, and still chooses to ignore people asking about his groundless bans. At this point, he's riled up good number of his customers, this final remark on order cancellations almost feels like it's his way of brushing anymore unanswered questions under the rug.

This might be reaching too but his new terms came a very inconvenient time.

And considering that the mails of him fishing for order numbers comes directly from his social media, yikes on several degrees. He hasn't even tried addressing that part yet either, from what I've gathered so far.

Edited by freakie-oppa
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Tea_Dolly
On 4/22/2019 at 3:53 PM, cfx said:

Depending on how this plays out, there might be more used dolls available if people decide to dump stuff over this behavior. I know I can be like that, just because this kind of behavior can taint things I've already bought.

I sat on my decision for a day, and then decided I was selling mine.
One of my main concerns is having a differing opinion at some point, and not having my warranty honored or being able to easily get replacement parts/accessories if I'm suddenly "blacklisted." I may consider getting a Cocoa doll in the future, but dolls are honestly a lot of money to gamble with for me. 

While I agree the Facebook Group banner where he was photoshopped onto a Nazi was in very poor taste, I think banning or removing the singular admin who used it would've been enough. From what I could tell from a few different sources of screenshots, the banner was up for less than a day and it's completely possible any number of members didn't see it in the offending FB Group.

I witnessed some of Danny's replies on the aforementioned Instagram post almost live and was very disappointed in his reactions - he seems a little more unhinged lately than usual. I hope he can allow others to take over the task of social media in the future, or get some help with his stress. He's not only going to alienate a lot of customers and his fan base, but I wonder how it might affect his employee's lives if he continues down this path.

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Monty
1 hour ago, Yumeiro said:

But perhaps I am naive to think that nobody would be as stupid as to ban "normal people" from shopping from them? 

I wouldn't say its just 'normal' people though. It's fans who genuinely love his product. And that's honestly far worse to me. This isn't just related to the current incident we're discussing, either - there was an incident a while back where a certain user asked if the makeup on her doll was supposed to be non-symmetrical. The user was clearly a very big fan of smart dolls as they had multiple dolls and clearly enjoyed photographing them. But Danny had a very rude reply to them, going on about his usual 'wabi sabi' and design philosophy which should be read before buying - fair enough - but he then kinda aggressively told them to return the doll if they hated it so much and to never buy from him again. I also got the impression from the screencaps I saw of the email that english was not this persons first language - which already presents a barrier as the design philosophy is quite lengthy and wordy, and most people don't expect to have to read such a lengthy disclaimer before buying a doll - so it's not that unheard of for someone to have not read it (again, especially if english isnt their first language). Obviously, the user liked the doll and did not want to return it, and thought that was the end of it - the doll was apparently meant to look like that. 
But it wasn't the end of it - they then tried to order another doll at a later date - AFTER reading the design philosophy this time - and the order was cancelled. The owner was pretty upset. 

Meanwhile, Danny was posting a massive 6-page or so instagram rant about ungrateful customers and 'haters' who nitpick and how he doesnt want the 'wrong' type of customer to buy his dolls (ie someone who finds fault in them) while the 'right' kind could miss out (ie someone who doesn't complain at all). Which is an EXTREMELY one-sided way of painting that entire incident, and I saw even his fans calling this user some spoilt, entitled brat when they were so obviously to anyone who actually looked at the situation just another fan of his who dearly loved his dolls. (Unfortunately I forget their insta name, so if anyone knows if this story does actually have a happy ending, I'd like to know.)

So no, it's far, far worse than banning 'normal people'. That's the main thing bugging me about Choo. He started off being aggressive to his 'haters' - which, tbh, was pretty funny (and somewhat refreshing), then gradually started to be rude to 'normal people' (ie people who are neither haters nor fans, just those with questions about the brand whose innocent questions were taken as attacks), and has now moved on to actual fans. And I just can't get over that. Misunderstandings happen, but this interaction on instagram with Kitsooni was not a first time occurrence.

(Kind of related but it doesn't help that he has also been somewhat inconsistent in his reaction to critique. Eiji was originally made from everyones critique and opinions. Recently someone critiqued a faceup on a doll and he made a whole post about what a good idea theirs was and how they are getting a free doll for it. But other critiques in exactly the same tone get attacked or 'do not buy from me if you hate this product so much.')

Edited by Monty
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Yumeiro
1 hour ago, mizya said:

... But he IS banning innocent people from buying his products for no good reason.

The whole reason why this thread was started is because Danny sought out people who are members of a Facebook group

I'm aware.
But the response was to THIS:
 

Quote

ABOUT FRAUD FILTERING We process thousands of orders on a regular basis but in order to do so we need to use automated risk assessment tools to flag orders which have a high risk of being fraudulent. Any decision to cancel an order is final and we reserve the right to not reinstate the order or disclose details/reason for cancelation.

Because this, above, was posted, does that mean they are instating a policy on banning customers..? I cannot see it.
I context with the facebook issue, it is worrisome (and especially with the new policy update). But this section alone, I would not have interpreted to mean customer-bans.

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BeyondTime

Pretty sure if you get caught trying to double enter a lottery Volks says they will will ban you. Mika is a limited doll, so I am not sure that him saying 'if you get caught trying to buy two we will close your account' is really unusual. Iirc Volks system prevents you from placing an order for an item you already have pending on another order, or from adding 2 of a quantity 1 limited item to an order, but that was their old website. I haven't tried the new one to see if it's the same.

At this point I am curious if Billy ever got a response from Danny?

Edited by BeyondTime

The difference between Dollfie Dreams and Heroin? Heroin is illegal, Dollfie Dreams probably should be.

“Empty wallets, full hearts.” That’s probably an apt description for the effects of DD addiction

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cfx

I get what @Yumeiro is saying; it's easy to attribute malice in places where it may not be intended because of everything else he's done recently. Still, to avoid such misunderstandings, I think it's really important to state these policies in clear English, without attitude and snark, which the following surely fails at:

Quote

Orders are limited to one per person. Folks who “accidentally” ordered two will have their order canceled and unfortunately won’t be able to place an order on the store again.

The previously quoted part of the policy--the fraud prevention is automated, so it says. That's fine, I'm sure it's a common thing to flag credit card fraud and such, but no automated system is perfect. If we take what is written at face value, no matter why your order is flagged or canceled, you can't get your order reinstated, nor will you even be told why it was canceled.

That's a convenient way for him to cover banning people for petty reasons; yes that part could be jumping to a conclusion but it's hard not to think that given the timing.

I have my own anecdote about this kind of experience which I'll explain:

During Black Friday sales this past year I made an order to the Funimation shop for a number of anime blu-rays. My order went through and the card was approved, as far as I could tell. The order was held because one item was out of stock. That was restocked about a month later but my order was canceled. They sent a canned email just saying it was canceled and to check my account for more information. There was no more information there either. I was ticked off at this, and contacted their customer service, who were slow to respond but did let me know my card was declined for some reason when they finally processed the order and I would have to reorder. That annoyed me as well given the sale was long over, so I asked if I could get those same prices. Response was again slow, but they told me to reorder and give them my order number and they'd refund the difference in prices. I did, and they did that, so I was satisfied in the end.

Based on what is on Mika's page, if your order is canceled there is no recourse.

I know I'm getting off topic but I feel this is related to where it is part of the discussion--the store policies related to resellers and aftermarket sellers frankly suck. Discouraging scalpers is fine, but the customers shouldn't be punished. If someone wants a Gourai or Nami now, there is nothing but the aftermarket. If someone buys a Smart Doll from Mandarake, ebay, or Y!J, Danny will offer no support? Warranty-wise, it's understandable, but because he doesn't sell any replacement parts like Volks does it means you're in a mess if you break a joint or something. And if these policies really do make it harder for anyone else to sell the dolls, then it hurts his customers. What if someone doesn't like a doll after they buy it? What if they have a financial crisis and need the money for an emergency?

I think these pages are long gone, but early on part of the philosophy was how Smart Dolls would be easier to buy (than Volks, implied) because everything would always be available and there wouldn't be limited dolls. Of course as the business grew that wasn't completely feasible anymore, but selling the licensed dolls via a clickwar with such a limited amount seems completely opposed to that.

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Yenna
10 minutes ago, Monty said:

I wouldn't say its just 'normal' people though. It's fans who genuinely love his product. And that's honestly far worse to me. This isn't just related to the current incident we're discussing, either - there was an incident a while back where a certain user asked if the makeup on her doll was supposed to be non-symmetrical. The user was clearly a very big fan of smart dolls as they had multiple dolls and clearly enjoyed photographing them. But Danny had a very rude reply to them, going on about his usual 'wabi sabi' and design philosophy which should be read before buying - fair enough - but he then kinda aggressively told them to return the doll if they hated it so much and to never buy from him again. I also got the impression from the screencaps I saw of the email that english was not this persons first language - which already presents a barrier as the design philosophy is quite lengthy and wordy, and most people don't expect to have to read such a lengthy disclaimer before buying a doll - so it's not that unheard of for someone to have not read it (again, especially if english isnt their first language). Obviously, the user liked the doll and did not want to return it, and thought that was the end of it - the doll was apparently meant to look like that. 
But it wasn't the end of it - they then tried to order another doll at a later date - AFTER reading the design philosophy this time - and the order was cancelled. The owner was pretty upset. 

This so much.

He doesn't seem to understand, or more likely care, that a large group of his customers and potential customers do not speak English as a first language. And he encourages his fans to this as well. I was a part of an incident in Twitter where a friend of mine (who had been thinking of getting a Smartdoll because she genuinely liked them) asked him a question in one of his Cortex tweets. He immediately perceived the question as rude and replied in a very snarky manner TWICE before she even had time to respond. After that she was upset and said that now I get why people say you should get a PR person, which added to his upset and it was just a mess after that. Eventually, I went in to tell him that he's being inappropriate. His replies were constantly provocative and aimed at trying to make either of us call him out publically on our own accounts so that he could prove that he's in the right. Eventually came out the "I don't want the wrong kind of people to buy my products anyway, so I guess mission accomplished" comment. The longer we didn't respond in the manner that he wanted, the more childish his replies got. In the end I was "another contender" and was supposed to tell all my friends not to buy from him.
Funny thing is that she wasn't the wrong kind of person before he, himself, made her into one. She genuinely liked the dolls and wanted one. Now she feels upset even seeing them on her feeds, so she had to unfollow some SMD owners.

And to add to the language point: the original question was a very typical one coming from a Finnish person. Our language is blunt, we don't have all of the added politeness English does, heck we don't even have a word for "please". And a lot of us -especially with weaker English skills, translate our language very literally into English. I'm sure there are other languages as well that don't translate perfectly into English but this is what I'm using as an example. To me the original question was very neutral (and also very clearly not made by a native speaker due to the grammar). But he didn't see it that way nor try to understand as his English is good and he reads way too much into what everyone else says. So, naturally he took it as a personal attack. And so did his fans. A lot of them later said that the customer was rude first and he was completely in the right for belittling her from the very first reply. Twitter also hides some of the replies if you don't realize to open up the threads, so many didn't see his very first reply which was already very dismissive of her and started with "Lol".

I don't understand why it was so hard for him to reply with "Yes" or "No" in that instance, as it was a simple question and only required a simple answer. Either, Or, and that would've been it. Done. He didn't have to needlessly upset her just for asking.
(Mizya pointed the yes/no situation out in my Twitter and a few days later in one of his massive instagram rants he was generalizing and said "I am told that as a manufacturer I am only allowed to answer "Yes" or "No" and that any other answer is hostile and defensive. Meow. Pew Pew." So, uhh, he understands language just fine but twists everyone else's words to make him seem like he's in the right always. His way of understanding what anyone says is the only right way.)


I also read the kitsooni post on instagram as it was happening and... he's still doing the same thing. He takes a hold of a word or a sentence someone says and tries to turn it against the other person. He lacks understanding of anyone else's situation but his own and tries to wield language as a weapon. A non-native speaker can easily make a mistake of any kind when speaking to him and he'll grab onto it and go "HA! Gotcha! You just said it like this so you admit you did wrong!" Or then he'll just read way too much into any comment and make conclusions out of that instead of actually listening to the other person. And that is... not how anyone should act, a rebellious company representative or not.

There was also an incident in Twitter in Japanese where he attacked a person who was planning on modifying their own Smartdoll and in the end he left comments saying that he should better his Japanese skills in order to understand better. While in reality there's nothing wrong with this Japanese and he knows it. He was just using it as an excuse to be snarky to the SMD owner who wasn't even initially speaking to DC.

 

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whisski

I wonder if these bans/blacklists only apply to the official Smartdoll store/online shop or if they extend to licensed retailers too. I live near a US retailer and its got me curious. Could they impact how an affiliated doll store conducts their own small business?

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Mothiraffe

I think a lot of good points are being brought up here. Danny has a demonstrable history of being... sensitive to perceived critique and a propensity towards inflammatory responses. This isn't... meant to be my own inflammatory statement, but a simple summation of the character he's displayed as time has gone on. He appears to have become so wrapped-up in protecting his "image" and "brand" and "message" that he has lost the ability to see nuance in a situation. I think, if I were to guess, that the stress of the business is eroding his ability to have patience and humility. His behavior makes me think that he's feeling like the wolves are closing in, a bit? He's SO defensive right now, so willing to lash out with a "hah, serves them right for attacking me" mindset even when he hasn't been attacked, and it's really concerning to see. Not as a business owner, and not as a public figure, but as a PERSON.

Right now, I think... Danny feels like things are out of his control, and control is what he needs to feel ok. Control over the conversation of his products (love them or leave!,) over what people do with them (no mods, no custom faceups, no ability to get parts,) and even now who BUYS them. He's acting like a man desperate to control the situation around himself and in the process he's only making things spiral further from his grasp- and he's hurting not just his business in the process, but the genuine fans he does have.

I don't want to sit here and psychoanalyze a complete stranger, that's not my place or my right! But in spite of everything, I only want to see Culture Japan do well, and for Mr. Choo to get out of this rut he's in. I still would LIKE to be a Smart Doll customer, to recommend them to friends- especially with the inclusiveness in skintones that you can't find from the likes of Volks right now. I would like to be part of the community, I WANT to believe in the things Danny says that originally drew me to want to support SmD as a concept.

But words are hollow without actions, and right at this moment Danny's actions run counter to the ideals he's espoused for so long. Rather than making his products available to everyone, he's made them harder and harder to get- the aftermarket is miniscule, there are tons of discontinued models now (I LONG FOR MOONLIGHT AND TEA CHITOSE,) and while licensed dolls being limited is sort of unavoidable, the clickwar lottery we're seeing with Mika is... sort of the antithesis of the whole ideal. There's definitely a better solution out there.

... I'm just... hurting, I think. I think as a community of people who like these dolls and liked the company that made them, this is really quite disheartening. Because unless some things DRASTICALLY take a turn in another direction, it's... not likely that they're going to improve. Mr. Choo's dug in his heels now, he's put these policies out there. And let's be honest, now that he's made his line in the sand, even speaking out re: his behavior has put us all at risk from being able to buy from Culture Japan. I'm already thinking of friends who could help me get dolls in the future... on one hand I'd be benefitting a company who actively does not want my money; on the other hand, dolls pretty and I can be just as petty and spiteful- I'm just a person, too. And it hurts to be ostracized- guilty by association is not the way to run ANYTHING, let alone a company that relies on selling things to others.

I hope it doesn't come to that, but it's hard not to feel like this forum is going to be the next target of Mr. Choo's ire, when in spite of everything, I think I speak for everyone here when I say we all wish none of this had even happened to begin with.

Sorry for the TL;DR, just... bleh.

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ISO: SmD Crimson Kai, Interstellar Blue Prowess, Resolute (Tea), all the boys | DD Icon Tawny | Obitsu 55cm, 60cm Bodies | instagram: lunaraffe

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Panda_Dolliess
1 hour ago, whisski said:

I wonder if these bans/blacklists only apply to the official Smartdoll store/online shop or if they extend to licensed retailers too. I live near a US retailer and its got me curious. Could they impact how an affiliated doll store conducts their own small business?

I don't think the ban would be that far reaching. Not only are some of the licensed retailers in other countries, which means that there are a whole different set of laws and legal things to consider, but Danny would have to send the information of the banned people to his retailers and instruct them to not sell to those people. Something about that doesn't sound entirely legal....

This also has me wondering about how people will not choose to respond and interact with Danny on social media. He has clearly shown that he is not afraid to ban people who don't agree with him. If someone where to openly criticize him, what is the possibility that he will decided to try and ban them from the store?? 

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BeyondTime

To me that is one of the frustrating things about this. Smartdolls are nice, smartdoll clothes are nice, but Danny’s behavior makes me say “no thanks.”

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The difference between Dollfie Dreams and Heroin? Heroin is illegal, Dollfie Dreams probably should be.

“Empty wallets, full hearts.” That’s probably an apt description for the effects of DD addiction

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salica

So , I was in the same Fb group , but I didn't know Danny was a member of that group . I never been one to give him praises , but I am one that was following him way before he started make his SmD , when he was a Dollfie Dream collector and was complaining about prices and availability .

Not long ago there was a big conversation about the price of his doll carrier (which was crazy to me )  on that Fb group that I still didn't know Danny was a member of . 

I said what I was thinking about his ridiculously high prices as many other did . The day after , the administrator of the group completely had a break down saying that Danny left the group . ... let say that I wasn't surprise as I've seen him many times along the years  having a tantrum when someone was saying anything negative about his plans , his prices or his products.

I think that he is now working with his dad that helped finance his Smart doll company , that his ego went from 120% to 200% , because of his dad's contacts and the doors he opened for him in China , he think he is now in the big league , but that is MY opinion and I have the right to have one .  (His dad is Jimmy Choo, if you don't know him , Google it )

When I ordered a doll on the 10th of April , my order was cancel in less than 2 minutes saying :

 

Your order has been canceled

Order #6026788 was canceled because we suspect it is fraudulent and your payment has been refunded .

 

I buy stuff from Japan every 2 or 3 days , I collect many things , I never ,NEVER, had a problem with my email or my Paypal account.

So I reply back saying is it a joke ? I never had any problems before and order several times from the SmD store before . 

Almost instantly , I get an answer of ..not the guys that take the orders BUT DANNY CHOO himself , already , it was more than suspicious for me ,

here what's he said to me .: 

 

Hey Annie,
Sorry about the poor experience you just had. We use an ecommerce platform called shopify which has fraud filters in place.
In your case they triggered for some reason and sent you an automated mail.

We have had a lot of fraud of late and I need to investigate why it triggered on your order. Could be IP address, browser setting etc - not sure until I get to speak to a rep tomorrow.

Sorry about this.

 

then another message

Also to add because I know who you are and the fact that you have placed orders in the past, the filters should especially not trigger.
I can understand why they would for new first time orders though.

 

I said okay , then . My husband will order it for me . He answered

No please wait. Shopify customer support is lousy and they dont know what they are doing. I need to look into the system first. I will let you know.
Unity will be around for quite a while cos shes gorgeous. no need to worry running out of stock.

 

And he never wrote back to. me until after I got my order thru with a completely different account , he recognize my name ,or someone alarmed him and he wrote that :

Hey Annie!
I saw you managed to place an order that went through properly.
We are still not sure why it was flagged but could have been because of the hotmail address.
Hotmail and AOL have been problematic.
From now on continue using your gmail address.

D.

 

No thank you for ordering , no real apologies . That looked liked he didn't expected that I would try again after waiting more than 48 hours for an answer from him.

 

Anyway , that is my story . I won't be a client of Danny C ever again . I always had communication's ''problems'' with him. 

I wish you all a good day !

Annie   aka Salica

 

 

 

 

 

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Daisy-chan
1 hour ago, Mothiraffe said:

I hope it doesn't come to that, but it's hard not to feel like this forum is going to be the next target of Mr. Choo's ire,

I think that's what concerns me the most about this whole situation. Banning an entire group of people for a single person's actions sets an alarming precedent. How long until Danny finds or hears about something someone on here said that he doesn't like and decides the rest of us are guilty by association and drops a blanket ban on the entire forum?

There's other communities too that could get banned by Danny at any moment just because he didn't like what one person said on there. Is everyone on DOA going to get banned because they don't consider Smartdolls on topic, yet they do allow Dollfie Dreams on there? I've seen some nasty comments about Danny on tumblr for a while, is everyone on Tumblr going to get the blanket ban next? 

I feel like this is going to end up with everyone (who is still okay with directly supporting Danny by buying from him) stepping on eggshells trying to avoid offending him or even associating with anyone who could possibly offend him. Which obviously isn't going to be good for the Smartdoll community in the long run.

I really don't hope any of these things happen, yet I fail to really see any positive way this situation can end.

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Yenna
13 minutes ago, Daisy-chan said:

I think that's what concerns me the most about this whole situation. Banning an entire group of people for a single person's actions sets an alarming precedent. How long until Danny finds or hears about something someone on here said that he doesn't like and decides the rest of us are guilty by association and drops a blanket ban on the entire forum?

Technically speaking that would be very hard to do. I mean for the FB bans alone he had to send the people in question messages asking for their order numbers in order to confirm that they're the right people. How is he going to know which member on here is a customer in his store? He doesn't have access to IPs, real names, addresses etc. unless he already knows some of you or you reply to to those messages where he lies to get the needed information. Facebook is simpler because people are on there with their own full names (the reason I don't have an FB account) but forums are different because we are all using nicknames. It would require a lot more detective work on his part to ban entire forums or even the users on this thread.

With these mass-bannings and blacklists he's trying to scare people into silence because he can't or doesn't want to deal with any criticism. If he seriously bans hundreds of people from ordering he'll soon realize that he won't be able to sell to anyone anymore. Anyone could be an accomplice trying to help a banned friend make an order. It will have to end somewhere or he'll have to let his company go under.

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