Straight answers about a Narin...

[Tro-chan]

Hi, My freind has ordered a 1/4 Narin weeks and weeks ago, and is getting really frustrated about the lack of straight answers about when he'll be comming in. Or the lack of any answers. One moment she hears that order 59 & 60 are in, the next she hears that they'll take another week.
She was not even told what order she was in, despite asking several times.:mad
Since there's no getting any answers from Katrina after you place your order, Dollfair has apparently not been updated in quite a while and any questions to DoA are deleted on contact, does anyone have an idea of when my friend's Narin will be comming in?
As a reference, I believe she said it would be 18 weeks on Valentine's day...

Edit: I was talking to her more and she said it would be 53 days on V-day, which works out closer to 8 weeks. However, this is still a far cry from the wait time it says on the site.

[digikym]

I honestly have had horrible luck with Catrina at Dollfair. She picks and chooses who she wants to sell dolls to, and even denied me a chance to buy a Limwha Mano.

I hope your friend gets things sorted out soon... :\

[Carolyn.S]

I know there was a big doll show end of last month and I think Catrina/Dollfair was in attendance there. I may not be remembering correctly but I think she said she had assumed she would have internet access at the hotel, and did not. Somebody back at the store was supposed to be handling emails and did not do a good job. So there may have been about a week and a half with no contact. She does work awfully hard and also mentioned she gets payed less than when she started due to the lowered value of the dollar vs the Korean currency.

Carolyn

[FunnyLori]

They come in pretty much when ever the artist feels like sending them out. She will post on another forum I frequent, but I haven't noticed if she ignores questions directly related to her products like Grace of Gumdrops will occasionally do. Now Grace drops off the face of the planet during production. *I'm bitter about my 15+ week wait*

Kym, she didn't let you get a Mano!? *curses*

Back to Narin,

http://www.dollfair.com/doa/

http://www.dollfair.com/


Order number & status
#59 arriving to Dollfair 2/7
#60 arriving to Dollfair 2/7
#61 being finished
#62 in production - first with new knee jointing
#63 in production -January
#64 in production -January
#65 orders being taken -Feb

[Carolyn.S]

Sometimes particular dolls hold up a whole order - like ones with body blushing or other extra work. Korean holidays also delay the dolls - some of their holidays are quite long. And in the summer, the rainy season weather can delay the production of dolls from Asia.

Carolyn

[Tro-chan]

Thanks for all the answers. It would just be nice if she actually changed the expected wait on her site from the 4-6 weeks to the close to 5 months it actually seems to take... I also did hear about the e-mail flake, but that would be only one or two weeks of no contact. What about the others?

[Catrina]

Hello...Catrina from Dollfair here...

Tro-chan
First, I take it seriously that you have a friend whose Narin has not shown up in 18 weeks, but truthfully all the dolls ordered up to order 61 have arrived and been delivered. Sometimes we have people with layaway orders, which they pay off over several months, so it would be that your friend is adding that time in too.

You are posting that we have not updated the site "in quite awhile," yet we have within the week done just that. Please remember that we only receive updates from Narin on orders just before they ship, not blow-by-blow updates on every order, or every doll. We only give out confirmed info we have received. Since you are giving all this info second hand from the actual buyer, it would be good to hear from them in person so I can figure out which doll we are talking about.

Also, DOA has not deleted any questions that I know of.

Digikym-
As explained in great detail during the first two Mano sales, we only were permitted to take a limited number of orders for Mano in the first two ordering periods. This is similar to other artist doll studios, who have limited capacity and must arrange "lotteries" so they don't take more orders than they can hope to fill. It's nothing personal, but you seem to think so. Were you asking for an extended layaway on one? We still can't do that, due to the limited production. But in fact, after the first two ordering periods,we are now offering open ordering for Mano. And one just started today so if you want a Mano please go order one now: www.limhwa.com

I think whenever there is a limited number of dolls, and more buyers than supply,you see bitter feelings. We worked very hard on this lottery, including having times to send emails during days, nights, and overnights, in order to be completely fair to working people, people on the West coast, and people overseas. The Mano shipped in the first two orders were sent everywhere around the globe, direct from Korea.

Funny Lori-
If you are the person I know who is also a moderator on Zone of Zen, I'm a little surprised you wrote what you did, since I participate a lot on your board and answer so many questions publicly and also post updates like on DOA. During the end of January, we experienced some delays in email responses because I was away at a doll show and had my staff doing the email replies. Unfortunately, due to the dollshow,we were receiving several hundred emails a day, which we didn't plan for. Some people were emailing us with 30 or more questions, including having the guys here take measurements, measurement comparisons between dolls, and all kinds of complicated hypotheticals. So needless to say, they became overwhelmed and unfortunately I was not there to pitch in. Since then, we have all worked hard to catch up. I think being a small company this happens sometimes, and it is regrettable but it happens to most of the doll companies from time to time. I have also posted public apologies about this situation,and have been working to hire a service in the future so it won't happen again.

Regarding "they come in pretty much when the artist feels like sending them out"... please remember that ALL of the artists I represent previously refused to take orders internationally, or did so with 4-6 month waiting times if they did. All these dolls are made by 1-2 person studios, in coordination with other artists. In the case of Narin, they strive to have everything done in 4-6 weeks, but it seems we incur delays due to the coordination of artist schedules and holidays. 4-6 weeks was their own info we placed on the site.

I will take your suggestion about changing the delivery time expectation on the site, since it's been awhile since they were able to get them here in 4 weeks. They used to be able to, but they have become much more busy since then. I think Narin will agree to it.

And again Tro-chan, five months? That has never happened, except in cases where the dolls were sent out for further extra customization or got stuck in foreign customs. And as I explained, we did not go 1-2 weeks without contact. Most people did receive return emails, unless they went into spam. Some people's emails we did not receive. Some people also email us with no form of ID at all, and want info but we don't know who they are. I assure you, if we went 1-2 weeks with no contact, you would not see a handful of people grumbling. It would be hundreds.

Catrina

[FunnyLori]

I'm sorry Catrina if I sounded harsh. I was commiserating with Kym about her not being able to get what she wanted whether or not it was anybody's fault. I understand the concept of limited runs and it is sometimes very difficult for everyone to get what they want.

Maybe 'feels like' is a bad word choice, but with such a small group of people taking on such monumental tasks, it really is their choice when they send out each batch. I am for one certainly glad that they feel the need to wait until every order is perfect.

As for posting. You do frequently post on ZoZ. You give us loads of updates, but not all of the forums are as fortunate as we are. I did not intend for my post to be unsupportive of you at all. I know that DoA frequently deletes any posts that are directly related to sales so your customers cannot always be as informed as they would like to be. Maybe it would be helpful in the future to have a place on your websites where you can update it as necessary when you are out of town and unable to get emails. That way every customer has access to the information you frequently give us on ZoZ.

[Catrina]

Hi Lori,
No offense taken...

I wish I could post info on all the forums at once, but I worry that it might be too overwhelming for us with PM's stacking up all over the place, and people trying to achieve order changes from PM's of forums all over, attempting to use various nicknames and screen names, etc. So for instance, if I am out of town, I'd have to give someone my password and ID to get into all these accounts to answer... and as you know, ZOZ has only had PM just very recently.

I didn't realize that peoples' posts on DOA had been deleted regarding the Narin orders, so I am grateful that everyone has brought that up to me.

We are working on two new things for the Dollfair sites... one being an order update button which gives you your Narin order group when you put in your email address, as well as a process status. However, again.. if I don't get a specific update, it could appear tedious when the status doesn't change until just before the order ships. The other thing is a page with more descriptions in the updates, such as when the dolls clear customs etc. However, if everyone is looking for updates along the process, I don't get those from the artists.

Well, I hope this helps explain a few things. Again I sincerely apologize to anyone who had delayed info from us during the doll show in late January. We all thought we had everything covered, and we'll be much better prepared next time around.

Catrina

[Stella Maris]

It's pretty common in this hobby for a company to hold lotteries for their products (for instance Volks) so I really don't understand getting upset if you don't win. I am certain that you weren't singled out digikim, so don't take it personally. I understand being disappointed but you sound as if you are accusing Catrina of some nefarious behavior.
Personally I just bought my fourth doll from Dollfair, and have never had any problems. I know that I am buying an artist's work and I don't expect them to abide by a timetable. It's not as if I'm waiting for a kidney, if it's five days or five months I don't see a reason to fuss. But if you want to hear specifics the longest I waited was for my Narae, which was about 7 weeks.
I give you a great deal of credit for patience Catrina, and for providing such a great service for the artists who create these dolls and for giving us a chance to be able to buy them.

[sgtgeorgecarter]

She was not even told what order she was in, despite asking several times.:

Sounds like a lay away to me. You do of course realise that the doll isn't ordered until it is fully paid, right? So you won't have an order number till then.



Since there's no getting any answers from Katrina after you place your order, Dollfair has apparently not been updated in quite a while and any questions to DoA are deleted on contact, does anyone have an idea of when my friend's Narin will be comming in?


Why would anyone else know?
DOA doesn't delete questions and I'm sure you don't mean Katrina deletes them.
I know she was out of touch with IDEX and pre show prep but thats to be expected when a shop owner is at a convention.

I was talking to her more and she said it would be 53 days on V-day, which works out closer to 8 weeks. However, this is still a far cry from the wait time it says on the site.

8 weeks sounds a bit short to me. Maybe it seemed longer because I had my narae on layaway and that tacked on 3 months.

What time frame was she expecting? Everyone knows how long Narin takes.

[Tro-chan]

Sounds like a lay away to me. You do of course realise that the doll isn't ordered until it is fully paid, right? So you won't have an order number till then.
...
What time frame was she expecting? Everyone knows how long Narin takes.

No, she paid full out when she ordered the doll. And she was never told the order number.

She was expecting about an 8 week wait time, and no, not everyone knows how long Narin takes. See, most people believe the wait time listed on the site, because they assume it would be somewhat accurate, or why have it up there. And unless it's been recently changed, it said 4 to 6 weeks.

I hope i don't sound overly aggesive about it, but I've had several situations lately with waits taking far longer than they should and severe lacks of communication. My friend and I aren't exactly upset about the wait, it would just be a whole lot easier to be patient if there were an actual accurate time frame.
Even if there's just an updated wait time stated on Dollfair it would reassure a lot of people.

[sgtgeorgecarter]

No, she paid full out when she ordered the doll. And she was never told the order number.

I find that unlike Dollfair in the extreme.


She was expecting about an 8 week wait time, and no, not everyone knows how long Narin takes. See, most people believe the wait time listed on the site, because they assume it would be somewhat accurate, or why have it up there. And unless it's been recently changed, it said 4 to 6 weeks.


Most people I know ask others or lurk the threads for opinions concerning wait times. I guess that didn't happen with your pal.

Does it give a wait time on the site? I'd never looked to be honest, I just asked in the long running narae thread on DOA what the wait was at that time because I know how everchanging doll company schedules are, especially near a release, our holidays or their holidays.

[Tro-chan]

The count is now up to 74 days.
That's 10.5 weeks without a word.
I was planning on Narins myself, but not if I get jerked around like this.
It's a shame too.
Maybe if Narin went back to selling via Dollmore...

[Catrina]

The count is now up to 74 days.
That's 10.5 weeks without a word.
I was planning on Narins myself, but not if I get jerked around like this.
It's a shame too.
Maybe if Narin went back to selling via Dollmore...

This is really strange.. you are writing for "a friend" yet your friend has never contacted me.

IN addition, there are NO doll orders out for 74 days. I urge your friend to contact me immediately because obviously there is a huge misunderstanding.

Catrina

[Tro-chan]

My friend has not contacted you for two reasons. First, she hates confrontation. Second, this is the second time she's ordered a Narin. He took 14 weeks and while she got quick answers before she paid you afterwards it was like pulling teeth to get a response to her questions.

She ordered a 2/3 Narae tanning boy on the 23rd of December, and if you look at the Narae/Narin Mini discussion on DoA you will see that there are quite a few people who ordered at about the same time who are still waiting for their dolls.
So I would say it is a huge misunderstanding, but perhaps not the one you’re implying.

I understand there was a huge French resin shortage in Korea, which is something I really think you should have kept your waiting customers informed of. However, according to your own site my friend should have had her doll before this was even an issue.

The BJD world is built on trust. Trusting the advice of more senior members, trusting the customizers you send your doll off to… Trusting that the person you’ve paid large sums of money to will come thru and send you your doll.
With your consistent lack of communication and frankly snarky response here, you’ve lost my trust, and are likely going to loose trust of many others.

[chibaraki]

Tro-chan, I think if your friend has had all this money up in the air for as long as she claims, it's past time she actually be proactive and contact Catrina herself. You're basically playing customer service telephone here -- the best way to get something done, if there's really a problem, is to deal with it herself directly.

I hate confrontation too, but if I've got $450+ out in the ether somewhere I follow up on it.

[sgtgeorgecarter]

Tro-chan, I think if your friend has had all this money up in the air for as long as she claims, it's past time she actually be proactive and contact Catrina herself. You're basically playing customer service telephone here -- the best way to get something done, if there's really a problem, is to deal with it herself directly.

I hate confrontation too, but if I've got $450+ out in the ether somewhere I follow up on it.

This in spades.

[Karhys]

Tro-chan, I think that if you're going to post feedback about a company -- particularly bad feedback about a company -- that you should only do so if you yourself have directly had relations with said company and can say exactly what occurred to you as and how it occurred. Otherwise everything that you post is hearsay and nothing more. It doesn't count as valid feedback, nor does it tell us anything, nor does it really do you (or your friend) any favours.

I'm afraid that in the internet world -- I don't know you from a bar of soap. Neither does anyone else. If you have actual facts based on personal experience to back up your claim, I can view them and make a judgement based on how the situation looks to me. But when you post hearsay I can't make any judgement except that you are biased because you heard it from your friend. I say a heck of a lot of stuff to my friends in rants (usually to blow off steam and make me feel better) and I hope they never go and post them as absolute fact out there in internetland. :oops

I don't know Catrina from a bar of soap either, so I'm not siding with anyone. But at least I know of Catrina's general reputation in the BJD world, which as far as I'm aware is good. Since I don't even know your friend's name, I can't make the same judgement for her.

If your friend wants to come here directly and post her own story, that's fine, and she's welcome to put forth her side of things. We're not going to discourage her from that. But it'd be much appreciated if she did so directly, and that you refrain from posting 'on her behalf' in future.

[Hobbysue]

There have been long delays with companies for a lot of reasons. Most companies shut down for the chinese New Years and are only now catching up. I ordered a Dollzone 70cm body before Xmas, had it arrive a couple of weeks ago only for it to be the wrong colour Yellow NS instead of Pinky NS but it wouldn't have matched the head I wanted it for anyway so I've swapped with the dealer, am now getting a Tanned Yuu and will be waiting approx 50 days for him. I'm fine with it all. If the dealer hadn't been willing to let me swap dolls, I'd be getting a NS Yuu, but most dealers bend over backwards to help you. A two month delay is looking pretty standard for most companies these days. It's frustrating when you want your doll, but there's nothing the dealers can do. I'm pretty sure Catrina doesn't like to pressure her artists as otherwise they can turn around and refuse to deal with international customers. She's already gotten them to put UV in the resin with Narin and offer a Urethane option for those of us worrying about French resin yellowing so she's looking out for her customers.

[koi]

Tro-chan, I think that if you're going to post feedback about a company -- particularly bad feedback about a company -- that you should only do so if you yourself have directly had relations with said company and can say exactly what occurred to you as and how it occurred. Otherwise everything that you post is hearsay and nothing more. It doesn't count as valid feedback, nor does it tell us anything, nor does it really do you (or your friend) any favours.

I'm afraid that in the internet world -- I don't know you from a bar of soap. Neither does anyone else. If you have actual facts based on personal experience to back up your claim, I can view them and make a judgement based on how the situation looks to me. But when you post hearsay I can't make any judgement except that you are biased because you heard it from your friend. I say a heck of a lot of stuff to my friends in rants (usually to blow off steam and make me feel better) and I hope they never go and post them as absolute fact out there in internetland. :oops

I don't know Catrina from a bar of soap either, so I'm not siding with anyone. But at least I know of Catrina's general reputation in the BJD world, which as far as I'm aware is good. Since I don't even know your friend's name, I can't make the same judgement for her.

If your friend wants to come here directly and post her own story, that's fine, and she's welcome to put forth her side of things. We're not going to discourage her from that. But it'd be much appreciated if she did so directly, and that you refrain from posting 'on her behalf' in future.

I agree with the above 100%. We need to be very careful when posting feedback. In this hobby, comments have a tendency to escalate into statements that can no longer be controlled or retracted.

It's important to post feedback, but it has to be verifiable, otherwise its just gossip.

I know how much dedication and time Catrina has invested in her business. Customer Service is something that she takes very seriously and works very hard at providing. If indeed there's a problem, it's a miscommunication that needs to be addressed by the parties directly involved, no one else.

Have your friend contact Catrina ASAP to get this sorted out. :)

[Tro-chan]

My friend has finally gotten her doll on the 27th (95 days/13 and a half weeks)

I have to admit, when I first posted this I was very angry. My friend and I were in the final stages of dealing with a failed group order, with terrible communication, lies, and dolls that were supposedly ordered and paid for in October and due to arrive by Christmas turrning out to not have been officially ordered even well into January . The situation with Catrina seemed to be more of the same.

The reason I asked about this here was I really wanted to help my friend. She doesn't have a Resinality account, and with such a high concentration of Senior Members, it seemed like this would be the place to find out if anyone knew what was going on. I realize now I was naieve to ask.

I have heard that Catrina is making an effort to keep up with communications now, and really, that's all I wanted. To have some idea of what was going on.
So I appologize if I may have offended you, and I wish you well for the future.

[Dollutional]

Although this thread may have been inflamatory, I wish I had read it before ordering a Narae doll. I knew it would be a wait, but it has been since April that I ordered her (no it was not layaway). I thought it might be a couple months, two maybe three. Five months and waiting. Hmmm....I would have liked to have known. Yeah no one has a crystal ball, wish I had seen this though.

[scrollbrush@hotmail.]

Hummmmmm..... I have been thinking about buying a Narae and I hope I won't have this hassel as I'm really not up to all this trouble and the endless wait .
I am having trouble with Tata's Europe and had a 90 days wait with Dollzone Spain ...both Spanish.
Received my Doll in the end but still having problems with Tata's ...since November.
Thank Goodness for Forums !!

[angeliue]

Well if you do layaway does it take longer for them to ship it to you?
and I hope you friend receives her Narin;i know the feeling of waiting for your beloved doll T.T

[obsessed_mimiko]

I am also having problems as well with Dollfair. My order#03644 was placed on August 20th, 2010 for a 43cm Golden Beige Butterfly Face Narin and I am still waiting for answers and my refund of $550.

I wished I would have done the smart thing and never did business with Catrina/Dollfair in first place. The current mess right now is a real pain. Info here: http://www.bjdcollectasy.com/narin/narin-announcement.html
and here: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?403739-Narin-Creative-Dollfair-Waitlist-and-Resolution/page8

I've have asked for my refund through several e-mails and even called Dollfair and left them a message (with my callback number) and still nothing. No replies and no refund. It's been roughly 4 weeks.

I'm getting really frustrated with Catrina. What more can I do on my end to ensure that I WILL get my money back? I've contacted the BBB, my state's general attorney's office, and my bank and I am not getting the results that I wanted, getting my money back.

Anybody else on this forum still waiting for their refunds from Catrina/Dollfair?

[pake4pleasanton]

I don't think anyone will be getting a refund from Catrina at this point. I paid $690 in Feb/March 2010 to Dollfair. I haven't received a refund or a doll from Dollfair. Catrina does not respond to email or phone calls.

[obsessed_mimiko]

Probably not. I've given up hope on seeing any of that money back. Now it's just a game of waiting to see what the Ohio General Attorney would do after they're collected all their evidence.

Bimong being that great person that he is already sent me my Narin. I hope you get your Narae soon too. Once/if I ever do get my money back, it'll be forward on to him.