W Club Exclusive Doll #2

The second 2009 W Club doll has been announced. It is called Agnes Von Weiss "Festive Decadence."
For the first time Agnes will be produced in the pale skin tone that was used only once on Tatyana. This is a mini giftset that comes with two skirts, three tops, shoes, belt, handbag and jewelry. I have extracted several of the parts of the giftset from multiple images to show them together here.

In the following picture you can see the second skirt and the belt. I love the ruffles and the rosettes but I'm not a fan of the umbrella shaped above the knee length skirt.

This is a gorgeous Agnes who is not sporting her usual sour face. The price of this doll is $145. and it is only available to W Club members.

Images in this post are the property of Integrity Toys.

Picture of the Week Award ~ October 18, 2009

This week the award goes to the hairdresser of the minions - Susan Korba. With all the amazing re-rooting this collector has done it's a wonder that she has time for her own dolls and her own family for that matter!

This photograph shows the gorgeous Traveler by Nature Veronique, a Fashion Royalty doll. The color rendition is perfect. For me, that is one of the most important aspects of a great doll picture.

Congratulations, Susan!

Update on Hobby Link Japan Issue

I sent Mr. Kennard a link to my blog post and another request that he send me the refund for my return shipping. Apparently the blog post caused him to have time to respond with more blame and excuses.
He alternately states:
1. I should have waited (for no specified amount of time) for their refund.
2. I was trying to get two refunds
3. I should have known that they were processing my refund
4. They are a very small company
5. They were too busy
6. They "punish" people who do chargebacks by delaying as long as possible
7. I must be dishonest
8. They don't really have to refund my return expenses but will (eventually) because they promised to do so
9. They don't know how long it will take now

Somehow Mr. Kennard has lost sight of the following:
1. I paid in advance for a product.
2. The product arrived damaged.
3. I followed his instructions for the return of the merchandise.
4. I went without merchandise and without a refund of my payment for merchandise for several weeks.
5. My requests for information went unanswered for several weeks after Mr. Kennard agreed that they had indeed received the return.
6. I thanked Mr. Kennard for the refund the day after I was granted the refund from Visa believing he knew about it. I was sure he must have been informed of the action as I was. That was when he accused me of being "dishonest at best."
7. Mr. Kenard challenged the chargeback and I had to submit more paperwork to Visa. I was in the right so I won.
8. This has been going on for more than 3 months.
9. Mr. Kennard and his small company has never offered an apology in any form regarding the damaged merchandise. In fact, I am being virtually tortured for their error intentional or not.
10. I believe Mr. Kennard intends to drag this on as long as he can hoping I will give up and forget about it.

Yes, there are many people who have had successful transactions with HLJ including myself! But look what happens when something goes wrong.

Why would a business, especially in this economy, want to alienate a customer thus? What is the reward for Mr. Kennard to blame a customer for his own lack of performance?

This is not fun.

Hobby Link Japan - Bad Business Practices

I don't like to do this but I have little choice. I ordered a set of figurines from Hobby Link Japan in July, 2009. When they arrived I inspected each of the 12 figurines and 3 were broken. I notified HLJ and was instructed to return the entire set, insured, and that I would get a refund and return shipping. I got a notice from the US Post Office that my package was delivered on July 28. By August 12, I still had not gotten the refund even after I contacted Mr. Scott Kennard twice.
On August 16th I filed with my credit card company for the original cost and was granted a credit.
Mr. Kennard was furious and accused me of trying to get two payments. He claims that my refund was in process. He called me "dishonest at best" and claims that he was trying to work with me. This was on August 19th. He said they were busy. This is the last paragraph of his last email to me on that day. I have not heard from him since and that was 2 months ago.

_________________________________________________

"Unfortunately, the chargeback changes things a lot. Our policy on these is quite severe. We now have to wait for the chargeback claim to arrive here from the credit card company. I don't know how long that will take. Once that arrives, we will honor our side and refund the return shipping. However, we must now ask that you look elsewhere for your hobby supplies."

---

M. Scott Kennard
HLJ Customer Service
www.hlj.com

____________________________________________

Well they have not honored their side and have not refunded the return shipping. My account has been deleted and my emails are going unanswered. I have contacted everyone I know that does business either in Japan or with Japanese companies for help. It's not the amount of money it's the principle.
I will send Mr. Kennard a link to this post and to any others I may decide to put on the internet. If he had any honest intentions, hopefully this will get him to refund my money and make good on his promise.

Be very careful when dealing with this company. It is sad that this had to happen. If a company is too small to have an important thing called customer service, then they are too small to be in business.

Modern Doll Collectors Convention® 2009 - Taking Place Right Now!

Update:
Check the MDC store for remaining convention souvenirs:

http://www.moderndollcollectors.com/shopping.html

Review ~ Wu Iconic Convention ~ Part III

This is Part III of my review. See below for Parts I and II.

To the dismay of many, Adele did not make an appearance. Where is Adele? If only Dominique could talk. Hopefully Dominique is at the orthodontist's office getting her teeth and over bite fixed because she is not an attractive doll. Integrity used Josephine Baker's head mold for Dominique who is supposed to be Adele's sister. I tried to like her but it didn't work.

Giselle was the other similarly clad doll in the collection.'POESIE ENCHANTEE' AGNES
Of all the Agnes dolls that have been released I have kept only one. This gal is too severe for my taste. The gown is beautiful in it's light gray satin with an Obama shoulder but this doll doesn't even come close to Poesie Sans Coleur.
NATALIA FATALE 'POWER GAME' (AKA WHITE NATALIA)
This was the surprise giftset attendees got. At registration they found an empty Fashion Royalty box in their bags. At each event they were given another part of the set. The blue dress is cute but not fine. The suit is unattractive IMO. I love the blue and black shoes which are partially hidden behind the card in the lower left. Natalia as a white girl...well...let's say that she's not Natalia anymore.AVANTGUARD 12" CLONE "LIVE WIRE"
This doll has the same skin tone as the full sized AG. She sports Natalia's sculpt, however. The screening and the dress are the same as Live Wire's and her wig is similar.POPPY PARKER 'ENDLESS SUMMER'
This doll was one of the event souvenirs. She came packaged in a window box secured with a nice pink ribbon.There were three other dolls which I did not have the pleasure of photographing. All three were centerpiece dolls. One was a Monogram Doll, Curiosity, one an Agnes, Silver Zinger and the last was the Avantguard from the W Club luncheon called Vanishing Point. Pictures of those dolls can be found in other posts on this blog.

MFD provided wigs for every attendee in the registration bags. Azone gave a pair of shoes as a gift to all. Dolls Magazine provided a special Iconic Convention coverage issue. Other paper goods were a set of prints of early Jason Wu Fashion Royalty doll sketches and a set of paper dolls.