Bandai DX Chogokin 1/48 VF-1

[spacemanoeuvres]

NY order shipped and amazon order made it to the forwarding service yay

[sqidd]

16 minutes ago, VF-Zer0S said:

All the 1/48 so far have articulated hands

I haven't transformed my 1J or 1A yet. Good to know. Thanks!

[Syro]

41 minutes ago, spacemanoeuvres said:

NY order shipped and amazon order made it to the forwarding service yay

If you don't mind my asking, what was your order number range? Mine was 7321XX

[vladykins]

33 minutes ago, sqidd said:

I haven't transformed my 1J or 1A yet. Good to know. Thanks!

I asked my Max to demonstrate for you, but he got rude and told me to have another of my DXs do it instead. I told him he was my only DX and I wasn't getting another until Roy's 1S, and this is how he treated me:

[sqidd]

2 minutes ago, vladykins said:

I asked my Max to demonstrate for you, but he got rude and told me to have another of my DXs do it instead. I told him he was my only DX and I wasn't getting another until Roy's 1S, and this is how he treated me:

LMAO!

He seems so nice on the show.

[tjdetweiler]

Package has arrived from HLJ, waiting for NY - can't wait for the Strike packs

 

[canklebreaker]

Thats a sexy box, tomorrow can't come soon enough!

[spacemanoeuvres]

1 hour ago, Syro said:

If you don't mind my asking, what was your order number range? Mine was 7321XX

700XXX thereabouts. I scored one on PO night against all odds.

31 minutes ago, tjdetweiler said:

Package has arrived from HLJ, waiting for NY - can't wait for the Strike packs

 

Nice, congrats!

[chyll2]

9 hours ago, spanner said:

ahh dang it! my order number is THOUSANDS higher than any of you guys orders! looks like I'll be waiting a while for mine to move anywhere.. 

the 700xxx series is more or less the Initial PO with pay later options. There should be hundreds of PO of different toys when the initial listing went out and when they offered the marked up priced (with pay now only).

[Roy Focker]

I too am a member of the 700 club and waiting.

 

[Ridden001]

14 hours ago, theraiden said:

So, i just opened my second DX VF-1J (to inspect it before a sale) that's been sitting in its box since i ordered it from NY way back in June....

The first thing i noticed was that the 2x Antenna were not where they are supposed to be in the clamshell, they were both loose and one was stuck in one of the wing openings, but ok, shipping and all that.

Then i took the VF out of the clamshell and noticed a big gap between the intake and the main body, like it was improperly transformed before it was put in the clamshell (it was not like it had popped out by itself in shipping since you had to lift the legs from the body and re-attach them to fix the gap)

I then proceeded to inspect it further and when i undid the feet from the body i noticed that the clasp on the swingbar was really really weak, like it takes nothing to undo it (it's not like that on my display VF-1J, i mean its weak but this one holds nothing.)

And one off the hip joints is totally loose. Like no resistance at all. I inspected the screws that hold the hip joint cover very closely and they look a little bit worn on the top, like someone had messed with them with a screwdriver that's a hair bit to big.

And to top it off, one of the panel lines on the "back" near where the booster pack folds onto it is raised up by nearly a millimeter when in fighter mode.

So. Do i have a previously returned-item lemon on my hands? Or maybe manufacturing faults? Anybody else had these issues?

Do i have grounds to return it to NY for a replacement or should i just display it in fighter mode and cut my losses?  
Obviously not going to sell it unless the buyer is willing to accept these faults.

I know it’s hard to hear but the truth is worth it. This is the signature of a QC reject that made it into the approved section in error.  What you described is what I have experienced in two other releases with Bandai, A YF-19 and a YF-29 Alto.

[Digitalfiend]

Woohoo!  My 1S was delivered from the Yahoo seller to FromJapan yesterday.  It should be shipping out shortly.  $86 CAD for EMS though ... ouch! But already in the  hole having bought it at 26.5k jpy so whatever.  

[Shizuka the Cat]

Mandarake has the VF-1S for 23,000 yen. 

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1124794683&ref=list&dispAdult=0&keyword=マクロス&lang=en

[Sanity is Optional]

5 minutes ago, Shizuka the Cat said:

Mandarake has the VF-1S for 23,000 yen. 

https://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/detailPage/item?itemCode=1124794683&ref=list&dispAdult=0&keyword=マクロス&lang=en

Not anymore they don't (it wasn't me, I swear).

People can use a web-monitor to stalk that page for any others going up.

[Tenbatsu]

23000yen sounds about right. Buyout average in Buyee is 25000yen and average bidding price is not more than 25000yen currently. Seems that the price is dropping, it's worth a wait.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Tenbatsu

[drumondo]

Still no movement on my N-Y order. Come on guys!

[theraiden]

7 hours ago, Ridden001 said:

I know it’s hard to hear but the truth is worth it. This is the signature of a QC reject that made it into the approved section in error.  What you described is what I have experienced in two other releases with Bandai, A YF-19 and a YF-29 Alto.

Yeah, i got a reply from NY and they said i have to talk directly to Bandai since they take no responsibility for manufacturing defects. I have no idea how i should do that or whom to talk to or the costs associated with shipping regarding replacement etc. I guess i'll just keep this bird permanently in fighter mode 

[sqidd]

17 minutes ago, theraiden said:

Yeah, i got a reply from NY and they said i have to talk directly to Bandai since they take no responsibility for manufacturing defects. I have no idea how i should do that or whom to talk to or the costs associated with shipping regarding replacement etc. I guess i'll just keep this bird permanently in fighter mode 

No way I would let that slide.

[Tenbatsu]

22 minutes ago, theraiden said:

Yeah, i got a reply from NY and they said i have to talk directly to Bandai since they take no responsibility for manufacturing defects. I have no idea how i should do that or whom to talk to or the costs associated with shipping regarding replacement etc. I guess i'll just keep this bird permanently in fighter mode 

Shops should be the one handling for you for overseas customers. I got my GX-40R Godmars with a broken arm for one of the robots, contacted Tamashii and they told me to contact the seller. My seller was nice enough to send it back to Japan for replacement. But it will be a long long wait of maybe 6 months or more.

[Tober]

Yep, it's the retailer's responsibility. If they don't arrange a replacement, tell them you will be talking to your credit card company (assuming you paid with one, PayPal or direct),

[sqidd]

6 minutes ago, Tober said:

Yep, it's the retailer's responsibility. If they don't arrange a replacement, tell them you will be talking to your credit card company (assuming you paid with one, PayPal or direct),

You think it should be their responsibility (so do I). That doesn't mean it IS their responsibility. There are no laws (and if there were, who is going to enforce it?) that say retailers are responsible for the manufacturer.

I'm a manufacturer and distributor. If here is a warranty issue with something that I manufacture, it's my responsibility. If there is a warranty issue with one of the nearly 100 manufactures I sell customers get referred directly to the manufacturer. Of course we help the customer with the correct contact info, etc. Saying "Contact the manufacturer" and then leaving the customer to fend for themselves is horrible customer service. And that is where capitalism comes in. People can choose to not shop at certain places because they don't provide the level of service that they thing they should be getting. I know I'm personally done with NY. They're never getting another dollar out of me. Their customer service sucks.

[Tenbatsu]

One of the Japanese got his VF-1S shoulder stuck during transformation. Another guy with the index finger fixed wrongly. They highly recommend to open up once received.

[theraiden]

57 minutes ago, Tenbatsu said:

One of the Japanese got his VF-1S shoulder stuck during transformation. Another guy with the index finger fixed wrongly. They highly recommend to open up once received.

Bandai clearly need to up the game in Quality Control......

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Where are the pics of the 1S???? 

Please someone has to spam this thread with pics!!!!!

My 1S can't come soon enough.

[Digitalfiend]

2 hours ago, sqidd said:

You think it should be their responsibility (so do I). That doesn't mean it IS their responsibility. There are no laws (and if there were, who is going to enforce it?) that say retailers are responsible for the manufacturer.

I'm a manufacturer and distributor. If here is a warranty issue with something that I manufacture, it's my responsibility. If there is a warranty issue with one of the nearly 100 manufactures I sell customers get referred directly to the manufacturer. Of course we help the customer with the correct contact info, etc. Saying "Contact the manufacturer" and then leaving the customer to fend for themselves is horrible customer service. And that is where capitalism comes in. People can choose to not shop at certain places because they don't provide the level of service that they thing they should be getting. I know I'm personally done with NY. They're never getting another dollar out of me. Their customer service sucks.

I understand where you are coming from and I think the issue here is that we’re buying a grey-market product, which is generally understood to have little to no warranty support.  One can argue that a manufacturer should honour a product’s warranty regardless and proxy companies that sell grey-market products should, in my opinion, facilitate the claim process.

With that said, if my product had THAT many obvious defects and my proxy retailer refused to help, it’d be hard not to want to go to my CC company (right or wrong).  No one wants to be out hundreds of dollars.

Then again, if the proxy company’s terms of service clearly state that they don’t deal with warranty claims ... you agreed to those terms by using their services.  Such a crappy and tough situation for overseas customers...

Edited November 27, 2019 by Digitalfiend

[sqidd]

5 minutes ago, Digitalfiend said:

 

With that said, if my product had THAT many obvious defects and my proxy retailer refused to help, it’d be hard not to want to go to my CC company (right or wrong).  No one wants to be out hundreds of dollars.

Then again, if the proxy company’s terms of service clearly state that they don’t deal with warranty claims ... you agreed to those terms by using their services.  Such a crappy and tough situation for overseas customers...

I would have to do some "soul searching" to see if I would go nuclear and do a charge-back. My gut says do it. My moral code says don't, I knew the risks. I'd have to actually be faced with the situation and see how the retailer is treating me before I could say what my choice would be.

Good point on the terms and conditions. IDK if NY has them written in there. If I was them and I didn't want to deal with warranty claims on grey market stuff, I'd be sure to have it in there. If they do and someone/I get caught out, it's on them/me. We all know everything has T&C's. We don't read them though.

I have very, very thorough T&C on my sites. They're a fall back position if the customer gets unreasonable and/or abusive (which is rare). Most of the time we provide much better customer service than our own T&C's require.

[Syro]

I politely contacted NY and asked if they had the stock to cover my order and if not if they could please cancel and they said they do not have the stock and apologized and cancelled my order. This works for me as the pre-order total with shipping was $377. Also found out Tenso translates to "transfer"

[Ridden001]

NY will restock the items and ship them but it can take a long time, they did it with the Kairo’s.  I can understand canceling though and trying to get it somewhere else, I’ve done that before on other sites to ensure I secure an item.

although both of my VF-1S’s shipped from NY, I know if I was one of them that had not shipped I would be thinking of doing the same.  
 

I can say that from my experience, it’s not the timing of your order but when you actually paid that seems to determine the shipping priority.  Kind of like checking in on a flight.  If I pre order and then pay as soon as I get the notice, it won’t ship as fast as if I paid at the time of the order or before the payment notification.  I’m just trying to make some sense out of the riddle that is NY.  All I can say though is that they always do deliver, they may need to fight there way through to you but they always come.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Ridden001

[Ipsquitch]

8 hours ago, Tenbatsu said:

23000yen sounds about right. Buyout average in Buyee is 25000yen and average bidding price is not more than 25000yen currently. Seems that the price is dropping, it's worth a wait.

I may be wrong on this, but I think now's the time to grab one off Buyee. If Mandarake is selling an opened version at 23,000JPY, and from Syro's report NY is still trying to source stock, I don't see the price dropping much, if at all. Even if it does, it probably won't be more than a few thousand Yen. Not a big enough swing in price to wait around for, especially since there's just as much chance that the price could go up from here. If I already had one, and this was my extra, then waiting may be the better option - but I gotta have my 1S!

All that said, damn Play-Asia for cancelling my pre-order!

[Syro]

17 minutes ago, Ridden001 said:

NY will restock the items and ship them but it can take a long time, they did it with the Kairo’s.  I can understand canceling though and trying to get it somewhere else, I’ve done that before on other sites to ensure I secure an item.

although both of my VF-1S’s shipped from NY, I know if I was one of them that had not shipped I would be thinking of doing the same.  
 

I can say that from my experience, it’s not the timing of your order but when you actually paid that seems to determine the shipping priority.  Kind of like checking in on a flight.  If I pre order and then pay as soon as I get the notice, it won’t ship as fast as if I paid at the time of the order or before the payment notification.  I’m just trying to make some sense out of the riddle that is NY.  All I can say though is that they always do deliver, they may need to fight there way through to you but they always come.

Yeah and that makes sense, but I always thought the price was high and now that it's going to take long as well it just makes sense to order it somewhere else. I ordered another yesterday for allot less and it's already shipped

Edited November 27, 2019 by Syro
Lol

[Anasazi37]

12 minutes ago, Ipsquitch said:

I may be wrong on this, but I think now's the time to grab one off Buyee. If Mandarake is selling an opened version at 23,000JPY, and from Syro's report NY is still trying to source stock, I don't see the price dropping much, if at all. Even if it does, it probably won't be more than a few thousand Yen. Not a big enough swing in price to wait around for, especially since there's just as much chance that the price could go up from here. If I already had one, and this was my extra, then waiting may be the better option - but I gotta have my 1S!

All that said, damn Play-Asia for cancelling my pre-order!

Mandarake had another one, unopened with damaged packaging (meaning little to no actual visible damage because of how they rigorously rate stuff), for ¥25,000. With average bidding prices at the same level, there's a good chance that this is as low as we're going to see it.

[Tenbatsu]

6 minutes ago, Ipsquitch said:

I may be wrong on this, but I think now's the time to grab one off Buyee. If Mandarake is selling an opened version at 23,000JPY, and from Syro's report NY is still trying to source stock, I don't see the price dropping much, if at all. Even if it does, it probably won't be more than a few thousand Yen. Not a big enough swing in price to wait around for, especially since there's just as much chance that the price could go up from here. If I already had one, and this was my extra, then waiting may be the better option - but I gotta have my 1S!

All that said, damn Play-Asia for cancelling my pre-order!

There are about 100 unbid listing in Buyee, but of course am not certain if prices will go up or down. If the price of 25000yen is comfortable for you I would say go for it.

So you too got your VF-1S order cancelled from Play-Asia? I just spoke to their upper management today (they called me from Hong Kong via international call) and they are going to compensate me for their mistake as I don't accept their refund. They will work it out and let me know. I am suggesting to them that they pay the difference by buying a mark up from 3rd party sellers. Overall I have to say it's certainly professional of them to even call me up.

[FattyMoBookyButt]

21 minutes ago, Ipsquitch said:

I may be wrong on this, but I think now's the time to grab one off Buyee.

Can anyone please give a quick rundown on buyee? I've checked it out once or twice from hearing about it from Mecha Gaikotsu's videos. Would you suggest Yahoo Japan or Amazon Japan listings? Do it add $30-50 in shipping and other fees in the end? (Shipping to the US.)

[DYRL VF-1S]

1 hour ago, Ridden001 said:

I can say that from my experience, it’s not the timing of your order but when you actually paid that seems to determine the shipping priority.

That's kinda brilliant. 

Edit:  Though come to think of it, I don't think that's accurate, because I landed Max on PO night and actually paid immediately instead of choosing the pay later option.  People with markups were the first to receive their Max like a week before I got mine.  So, the logic doesn't hold.

Maybe your theory is true for those who do the markups?  Like, there's two different types of stock.  Those who land regular POs are from stock allocated from Bandai directly to NY, and those who do markups are from their network/mob who run out and grab stock from wherever they can (i.e. have grandmas stand in line at shops).  Those in the markup stock probably do go in order of payment.

Edited November 27, 2019 by DYRL VF-1S

[Corrinald]

1 hour ago, Syro said:

I politely contacted NY and asked if they had the stock to cover my order and if not if they could please cancel and they said they do not have the stock and apologized and cancelled my order. This works for me as the pre-order total with shipping was $377. Also found out Tenso translates to "transfer"

That sounds painless. I am wondering if this is worth a shot or if multiple requests by people will upset them.