About BJD Buyers' Rights

Time to get political! It’s unbelievable what Asian BJD companies think they can pull. The perpetual lies and the poor customer service, is all just so beyond ridiculous and unlike anything that I’ve ever encountered in any other area of commerce in my life. BJD companies for the most part seem to think they can string you along indefinitely, hold your money hostage for months and months on end and then bribe you off with a lollipop. Seriously!! When has it come to this? What makes these BJD companies think they can get away with this kind of business?

The BJD companies always pull out the “these are custom order products” card. “We need this and this long to produce the item” with a bunch of lies to accompany their fairy tales. What it actually translates into is that they throw event after event to gather the maximum amount of immediate profit, get swamped in orders and then take their sweet time producing the products, with no updates or progress reports to customers, nothing to sustain the customer’s peace of mind. When I’ve made any other custom orders with any other craftsmen/artists, I’ve always been kept up to date on the progress. Delays have been minimal, if there’s even been any, because the craftsmen don’t take on more than they can chew. Basic business skills! If there has been a little delay or a problem, I’ve received sensible explanations promptly of their own accord without me having to repeatedly ask after my order and beg for updates. What makes BJD companies think it’s ok to not even keep their customers up to date, when they’ve spent ridiculous sums on the insanely overpriced BJD products?

Is the BJD clientele base so gullible and easily cheated, that the customers have themselves in fact taught the companies, it’s all ok to operate like this? Are we so desperate for a pretty doll that we’re willing to compromise our rights and allow ourselves to be swindled over and over again? I was shocked to the core to read of the year long waiting times with Dollshe’s newest fashion doll sized releases. I would never put up with that, never in a million years. I would’ve claimed my money back ages ago already. I’ve been appalled to wait the 4-5 months that I’ve had to endure personally a couple of times and thought myself such an idiot for not standing up for myself and claiming my money back at the risk of not getting that pretty piece of resin. I think BJD companies should make sure they’re able to produce a doll in 2 months maximum, but preferably within 45 days. They should at the very least have something like the Soom 100 days guarantee, that if the doll is not finished by the time limit, they will start refunding the money with each day of delay. It would make this whole sordid business at least a little bit fairer to the buyers and push the companies to keep to their schedules.

It freaks the heck out of me, that I have no protection in these dealings with BJD companies. With the Paypal money back claim only being available during the first 45 days after purchase, it is scary making these several hundred dollar purchases with no guarantees that the seller will ever deliver. I fondly remember Glorydoll completely disappearing on me without fulfilling their part of the bargain. Had I not acted quickly and set my credit card company and the police on their tail, I’d have been cheated out of hundreds of dollars. Not a delightful prospect! I would urge hobbyists to keep these BJD companies on their toes and not put up with these outrageous delays and misdealing. It’s gotten out of hand!

Edited to add: It was brought to my attention that it looks like Paypal has been gradually extending the protection time from 45 to 180 days since 2014, which would be good, but at least last September 2015 when I opened my latest Paypal dispute in my region the time limit was still 45 days. It's great that at least other services strive to improve the customer protection. However, even 180 days is not sufficent with the 9-12 month BJD waiting times. I also think a Paypal claim and the protection period should be the very last resort, not something one should have to worry about every time placing a BJD order. We should be able to buy with confidence.

Another little case study: Luts has disappointed me for the last time now. They just made me wait 2 months for a silly little pair of horns and one wig (still summing up to being an over 100USD purchase with their 23USD shipping charges!). 2 months later, after I had repeatedly politely asked for updates on my order and received a bunch of bullshit answers, I lose my temper and demand they ship my order. Only then am I informed of they don't have the wig I bought after all and am asked to pick something else instead of the non-existent wig. Well, I oblige even though I'd not really wanted anything else. I pick a replacement item that is cheaper than what I’d originally bought, so I ask for a refund on the difference. What really got to me, was when I was told, I’d get points instead the refund. So, no refund and most certainly no compensation. In other words, they chose for me how I'm to spend that money. What could possibly make them think I’d ever come back to spend some more money on their stuff after the kind of service I'd just received and have use for those points? What makes them think it's within their rights to decide that I spend that money on their products instead of somewhere else? The nerve! The preposterous arrogance! This similar scenario has played out so many times with so many BJD companies, that I’ve lost count. Upset over such a little thing, you say? What’s the big deal here? Well, it’s not about the size of the deal, it's about the principle. I don’t want it getting to the point AGAIN where several hundreds of my dollars are hanging in the balance and I'm having to resort to cops and credit agents to get my money back. How can I trust these companies with such huge sums when I can’t trust them with even the smallest purchases?

EDITED TO ADD: after my heated conversation with Luts, they have now agreed to refund my money, made apologies and admitted their mistake. I appreciate that, but it does not make it ok that I had go through any of the ordeal in the first place, when these things could be easily avoided with better organization.

It really is disheartening. I’ve got most BJD companies on my black list already and the list just keeps growing. I’m not that easily appeased with a couple of crappy points or a gift sticker any more. They lose me as their customer and I sincerely hope more people will eventually adopt this mentality and hold on to their rights! I wish we could teach these crooked dealers that decent customer service might the better course of action after all.

EDITED TO ADD:

This is what would be required of BJD companies in order to make the buying experience more appealing to us buyers:

1. We’d need BJD companies to stop taking orders they’re not able to deliver in a reasonable time frame. They should withhold from taking pre-orders and releasing new dolls or having events when they are faced with a backlog.

2. We’d need BJD companies to device an effective system to keep detailed track of customer’s orders in order to be able to provide up to date, accurate information on the progress of the order. It is not acceptable to lie to customers to appease them or to be give them false promises.

3. We’d need BJD companies to meet their customers half way in terms of the financial risk involved. Pre-orders should be charged for only half of the full sum. The rest would be paid after BJD company provides photographs of the finished product for the customer’s approval.

4. We’d need BJD companies to have fluent English speaking representatives, who would be able to converse politely and accurately with their clientele, educated on the expectations that western customer base on commercial transactions.

5. We’d need BJD companies to issue a guarantee on the delivery time. Should this deadline not be met, they would agree to gradual refunds upon further delays. This would establish trust between the buyer and the seller, and push the companies to keep to their deadlines.

6. We’d need BJD companies to notify their customers of unprecedented delays and the reasons for them. It is not acceptable to keep customers waiting for several months with no information or explanations. In these unstable times, the void of information further destroys the buyers trust in the company. Good communication should be implemented.

7. We’d need BJD companies to establish maintenance services. Spare parts should be made available for purchase. (Granado has great system of keeping a sample of each patch that they produce and they're able to look up a customer's order and produce a spare part in the exact same colour as the customer's doll.)

8. We’d need BJD companies to assure buyers that if there is a quality issues, broken parts or any other problems with the product, that they would be able to get replacement parts or compensation.

9. We’d need to the terms of the contract between the BJD buyer and the BJD manufacturer to be clear and fair to both parties concerned, that both their interests are taken into seller consideration and their rights protected.

Here's my $600 Luts Juniper, that I waited for close to 5 months. She had an accident and has damage on her face, but Luts refuses to sell me another head in this skintone. She's now campaigning for the buyers rights in this BJD hobby: for more reasonable waiting times and better buyer protection!