hmmm just went through all the earlier postings on TM, not going to shoot anyone at the back but TM should open to constructive comments why so hard to accept and listen to what customers want to say? if got complaints fix it improve it.

please do take note, most of the forumers here spend quite a huge some of money on toys/figures/model kits so as a business person you should know what that means to your business.

Actually I've gotten this treatment before also.

I was also thoroughly amused when the Aunty said IIRC the MG Unicorn was LIMITED edition and won't come out again anytime soon. Buy nao or regret

Anyone familiar with Bandai would know that Bandai ALWAYS reissues stuff...TM seriously needs to improve on their sales pitch.

But for good deals it's always to look around before buying. Grafitti and Fantasy may not give you good prices for new stuff but sometimes their old stuff can be really cheap. Always prefer to look for old stuff at these 2 shops. Newer stuff my prefer shops are Shiok and Famitoys. XL only if damn desparate cannot find the piece anywhere and only they have.

gundam limited version usually are the transparent version and metalic coating version which will sell at the gundam festival...just like u can buy gundam exia 1/144 metalic coating/transparent or RX78 OYW (i not sure what the version name for RX78) at sungai wang gundam expo months ago. MG Unicorn is the ver.ka, same as the MG Sinanju. Dont trust the yellow color star sticker paste at cover of the gundam box, it stated limited version but actually not the limited version(i wonder the sticker pasted by local shop or littak), it just include some common tools to assembly the gundam model.

i don't mind paying a little bit more if the service is good.

I wish Toyworkers would give at least a hint on their great prices instead of having to call/sms/visit them up lol. Should be able to give other shops pressure.

This post has been edited by advocado: Jan 12 2009, 05:31 PM

Just read through the last three pages, and i saw complaints about TM. Ok, time for me to voice up. I was ONCE a supporter of TM, buying gundams from TM even though GraffitiToys is cheaper. Then after a while, i began to change my mind. One time i went with my mom and gf, and they got the "HANDLE WITH CARE TREATMENT". Another occasion on a tuesday, my gf wanted to get me a MG Unicorn as a present. So she called up TM and asked for stock. They told her they have it and she rushed to TS to get it. The aunty told her it was very popular, limited already and there wont be any restock for awhile. And believing that, my gf paid RM188 for it. On the same week, we went to TS again. Guess what we saw? A pile of gundam unicorns in TM at rm175. MY gf felt she was cheated. Still being a supporter of TM, i convinced her that the aunty was not doing it on purpose. But then, about some time later, i went with my bro and gf to TM. I wanted to get a HG Flag. So happened there were 5 boxes left. One of them was priced at rm 50, and the rest at rm 40. I asked the aunty why is it priced at rm 50? Not rm 40 meh? And the famous speech came out. "Oh this one last box, very popular. You better take it, if not cant find anymore." Then i said " Aunty, there are 4 boxes there all rm 40 wo". And her answer was "Oh izit? then u choose lor". I took the rm 40 one, paid for it and i never bought stuffs from there again. And to the TM orang, sometimes it is not the price. A good customer service will always ensure customers' favour even though the price is a bit high. Just look at TFM. Their customer service is good, and that is the main reason i can see it is one of the best hobby shop around. For me, customer service is always first, price is second.

This post has been edited by beberenne: Jan 13 2009, 05:00 PM

The Aunty deserve Best Actress Award lah.

i m not sure TM people ll b reading this or not. but if they did, i would like to state a few things.

first, i dont think those members who first posted here about TM's price meant to flame the shop. This is just a platform for us to exchange ideas n information about stock, price, and shops in town.

Dont call consumers cheapskate if they compare price n get from the cheapest source. hyper markets use tens of thousand ringgit per month to hire purchasers to get the best cost so they could be a few cents cheaper than their competitors. This is something a businessman can never ignore. Besides, economy is going down. toys r not a necessity so expect sales to drop, and consumers generally r more price conscious.

Of course some business entity would not go for the price strategy; n price will not be the main factor that attracts its customer. For these company, what they use to pull n keep their customers? Service. Yeah u got me right. Service; which i dont mean calling your customers cheapskate kinda service; but take criticism n comments with open mind n positive attitude kinda service.


Besides all this, i would just add one more thing, as a personal observation.

Once i was in TM, and there's another Caucasian man, dress business-like and looked like he's in a business trip, in the shop. He was telling the aunty he's looking for a gift for his 5 or 6 year-old son back home, some "robot", preferably need some building . Clearly he knew nothing about toys or model, so he's expecting the shopkeeper to recommend him something. And the shop keeper was actually trying to sell a box of PG Strike! I was shocked!

ok, i would like to assume the shopkeeper knows nothing about gunpla model, and she didnt know a PG Strike is not something a 5-year-old could handle, benefit of doubt. so i suggest either try to upgrade the shopkeeper's knowledge about the product, or it'll be easily being interpreted as being unethical in doing business.

just my two cents worth.

seem like the shopkeeper recommend the items according to the price
An adult who never assembly gundam model also not recommend for PG, and need start to train the skill from NG or MG...In my thought, the shopkeeper mention of "cant find anywhere already" or "last piece" or "get it fast or u will regret" already can view as unethical in doing business...

So next time please do abit of homework before you go hunting.

At least have some idea on the price and availability. I hardly hear Gundam sold out unless it's really limited version.

The aunty got skills, this is what makes a sales man that sells. I think enough commenting on the same shops with the same commets? What about the other shops?

How come nobody talk about departmental stores?

so far i didn't face attitude problem like TM from other shop and that is the worst treatment if include Sillyfool words(and if he is true TM ppl). And for the aunty promote skill, i hope she is not continue to give wrong information to the customer and at least know what are the toys that the shop selling.

ok...let me give comment on other departmental stores...XL. Their states of item availability at the shop website are quite not reliable although their price changes update very fast . At before i order miku nendoroid from a melaka shop which order directly from XL. Then after i get my first issue miku nendoroid at early of year 2008, i found that a defect on the nendoroid which less an eyebrow at one of the face. So i returned the nendoroid to the shop and wait for replacement. I wait for 1st re-issue arrive at July 2008, but melaka toy shop inform me no stock. Then i wait for 2nd re-issue of the nendoroid at mid of dec 2008, also been inform no stock. I disappointed and dont know whether the melaka toy shop or XL got the problem of communication...

And early before the 2nd re-issue nendoroid arrive, XL website already stated that sold out until now. But i found two lowyat forumer can buy the miku nendoroid at XL midvalley and Berjaya timesquare by this month, and one of them also can buy Rin Kagamine nendoroid which state sold out at website. Of course both of forumer not the one who make preorder at early, they just pass by and dont know XL still got sell miku nendoroid and rin nendoroid...

You can check the thread at below...comment of alexision and PatPatPat can prove them. Look like i have to get the miku at other shop with higher price, cos miku nendoroid already hard to find now except you want buy the pirated version =.=

And another thing...XL shop website also no post the information of japanese magazine which they did bring in and sell.

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/624231/+480

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/624231?author=alexision
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/624231/+60?author=PatPatPat

This post has been edited by qwer312: Jan 14 2009, 10:47 PM

i hate graffititoys. i feel stupid after buying from other shop paying more. 3-6 month later you can see the same stuff selling at graffititoys at cheaper price. that is why i hate that shop. graffititoys always make people bang balls with their sometime impossible cheap price. example the batman kotobukiya at rm 88. their sota toys wow 3pcs for rm 99 . walk in to other shop and ask for discount but they always declare that the item is fake. well, bought mine for rm 99 3pcs and mix it up and compare with my friends set which is bought for rm 210 earlier. found no different at all. same goes for the batman, bought mine for rm 175 earlier from another shop in damansara. bought another batman at rm 88 for christmas gift for my friend. open before giving as a present and again no different at all. even try weighting it to see whether there is any different in weight. guess what? same . the only problem is that i must wait and be patience in buying toys as that stupid shop won't let us know what is coming soon and they don't even have a website. got their blogspot but there isn't any update for quite some time.i hate graffititoys, but still have to love graffititoys at the end.

another thing is their gundam, really pissed off when they suddenly drop the price a year back. as i also collect gundam, i got more than 50 pcs of mg buying from other shop. imagine paying extra rm 40 to rm 70 per pcs * 50 = to few k extra. f***. really bang balls as during that time they have nearly full range of gundam in their shop.



This post has been edited by snakees: Jan 14 2009, 11:22 PM

Hmm actualy regarding items on XL site, IINM it only reflects what's their main HQ got, so there's a chance for items that were sold out from their site to be still available at either their MV or BTS branch. Likewise, their MV and BTS branch didn't have all the items stated on their website.
Also, some items XL bring in can't be POed from their website. Those items usually are items that XL bring in in a very small quantity, and can be POed through their retail shop only IIRC.
Actually, you can always call XL branches to ask about the items availability

err...this is your fault and not the shop fault..duh
why have to hate for something like this?

next time be patient abit and wait for cheaper price one la...you get it fast sure la expensive...all the time like that one what

other shop who comes earlier use air shipment while those slow one like grafiti use sea shipment...

Wrong, many times u get it cheaper if u buy it faster. Like pre-ordering you get preorder price. Nobody can predict whether price will go up or down.

^ im talking and replying to him

he is talking about gundam and for pvc hottoys yes...people do PO but people here PO gundam one meh
im talking base on experience and the tradition on how gundam arrive to our local store

This post has been edited by VincC454: Jan 15 2009, 10:22 AM

Pre-order and Retail Purchases is 2 different entity la.

maybe their branches staff need to be train to update their items information to their website, it just a waste if they not fully utilize their website
I hate to call their branch one by one many times to ask items that state sold out...besides, if the item available, i still need to order through online because i stay far away from KL...hope they can improve their information update problem

xl website only been maintain by one guy and the owner only want him to maintain it...thats why everytime you see when shipment arrive on saturday..only names are announce and not with pictures...pictures only will be uploaded on monday.

the branch people just to stay at the shop and sell...there have no access to the website nor can have a account for their forum.

for xl...website selling are their second piority...if the stuff are enough for shop then only they will post it out on the website for online people to buy...if not enough...then it will never been posted out.

this is xl style since all these years...they usually bring stuff very little stock and fast finish cause usually all of them are for PO people...like hottoys...most of the time even PO people are not enough and have to wait another batch. their stuff are little but finish fast and also they got stock very fast

agree with vince, for figures or other collectables, yes, u might need to get it fast coz price might jack up high later or cannot find at all.

but for model kits, which need to assemble, 99% price wont go up high. unless currency fluctuations or government policies or any other external reasons. I sincerely hope u r not collecting MGs to hope the price will go up in the future...... coz that 's definitely not worth it, coz even increase price, also wont be a lot.


As for your post......like reverse psychology, it sounded like u think GT is the cheapest in town. but my opinion is, it's too good to be true, there is no single shop offer the cheapest in EVERYTHING. u gotta shop around town to get the cheapest deal. Something like hypermarket.....

As for me, i used to go XL in cheras few years ago. There's a girl there who's really friendly n know her stuff well (Think many of u know who am i refering to). Everytime i left that place, i was like cursing,"WTF, why i bought SO MANY?"She 'd never tried to hard-sell to me, but with her easy to chat with attitude, and her knowledge of the goods in the shop, i just always fell into hell of infinite buying........

mebbe i was young then......