Disney Designer Dolls

[Diva CS]

Hello. This is my first post on here so I'm excited!!!!

I did a round of calling to my nearest Disney Stores to ask if there would be a second shipment of the Snow White dolls. Some of the previous dolls came in later into the week as well as Monday. I got different responses. One said shipment comes in tomorrow, so check back tomorrow. One said all shipment of the Disney Designer dolls has been suspended to all DS stores until the website figures out how to deal with all this chaos! She also told me that DS Stores (so far) are guarenteed to carry them to the end. So the theory of them all going to online is in question. And the last store I called, the CM said that they have the next doll (Tiana) already in stock and backstage and are awaiting orders on when they will go out since Disney may delay releasing it!

So...Tiana IS the next doll, Disney Stores are as confused as we all are and I don't know how I'm gonna get a Snow White doll without paying way too much for it! I'll wait til prices go down on Ebay?

P.S. I also saw a Mulan Doll in an Aurora box on Ebay! Disney sent her doll to her in the wrong box! Sloppy!

 

[Hannahlovesdisney]

Hello. This is my first post on here so I'm excited!!!!

I did a round of calling to my nearest Disney Stores to ask if there would be a second shipment of the Snow White dolls. Some of the previous dolls came in later into the week as well as Monday. I got different responses. One said shipment comes in tomorrow, so check back tomorrow. One said all shipment of the Disney Designer dolls has been suspended to all DS stores until the website figures out how to deal with all this chaos! She also told me that DS Stores (so far) are guarenteed to carry them to the end. So the theory of them all going to online is in question. And the last store I called, the CM said that they have the next doll (Tiana) already in stock and backstage and are awaiting orders on when they will go out since Disney may delay releasing it!

So...Tiana IS the next doll, Disney Stores are as confused as we all are and I don't know how I'm gonna get a Snow White doll without paying way too much for it! I'll wait til prices go down on Ebay?

P.S. I also saw a Mulan Doll in an Aurora box on Ebay! Disney sent her doll to her in the wrong box! Sloppy!

Thanks for the information!!!! And welcome

 

[Hannahlovesdisney]

i read you can call and find out where a journal is still in stock and they can mail it to you? i hope people try that before buying them on ebay... i still see the journals being sold in at least 2 disney stores around me.

All of the disney stores in my area have the journals too but customer service at disney told me they werent supposed to mail them to you if they arent online but who knows lol

 

[BigGreen73]

I haven't read any of the name calling or rudeness over these dolls or do I care to. That is a bit extreme over a doll, IMO. The biggest issue to me is the fact that Snow White was oversold to such a huge extent and DisneyStore is doing so little to actually comfort their customer base besides generic e-mails, comments, and one blog. I accept that the dolls are LE and you may or may not get one, BUT losing out because you thought you bought one but didn't is unacceptable. Many have said that this has been happening for years w/ LE Pins, Vinylmation etc. Maybe, but not to the extent of Snow White and it's still not acceptable.

I e-mailed DisneyStore on Monday after I called and found out I didn't get SW. Got a generic e-mail thank you response.

Got the e-mail yesterday that SW wasn't in stock. Responded and voiced additional concerns noting that I read the recent communication and hope the changes make it more fair for everyone to get a doll etc. Got a generic fluffy e-mail W/ the link of the communication that I said I already read. E-mailed back again and commented to the fact that you really don't read our e-mails do you?

And you have to look at facebook, hundreds of upset customers posted because of the cancelled doll orders. No comment from DisneyStore. There was one comment last night from a customer that stated that they actually got their doll, TY Disney. DisneyStore made sure to comment on that one.

I hope whatever the change is coming fixes the issues. I know the dolls are LE and getting one is not guaranteed, but what happened this past Monday is ridiculous. And with DisneyStore not putting their best customer service forward, makes it worse. The feeling is we boo boo'd, too bad for you.

I am going to attempt to get the next ones. 1, maybe two of some if possible. But if this happens again, I am done. It's not worth the aggrevation. The dolls are beautiful and my DW and I would love to add them to our collection, but not with those headaches.

 

[JenGSLP]

I know that Disney may changing the release dates, but does anyone know when Jasmine and Rapunzel are/were scheduled to be released?

 

[marie1203]

I haven't read any of the name calling or rudeness over these dolls or do I care to. That is a bit extreme over a doll, IMO. The biggest issue to me is the fact that Snow White was oversold to such a huge extent and DisneyStore is doing so little to actually comfort their customer base besides generic e-mails, comments, and one blog. I accept that the dolls are LE and you may or may not get one, BUT losing out because you thought you bought one but didn't is unacceptable. Many have said that this has been happening for years w/ LE Pins, Vinylmation etc. Maybe, but not to the extent of Snow White and it's still not acceptable.

I e-mailed DisneyStore on Monday after I called and found out I didn't get SW. Got a generic e-mail thank you response.

Got the e-mail yesterday that SW wasn't in stock. Responded and voiced additional concerns noting that I read the recent communication and hope the changes make it more fair for everyone to get a doll etc. Got a generic fluffy e-mail W/ the link of the communication that I said I already read. E-mailed back again and commented to the fact that you really don't read our e-mails do you?

And you have to look at facebook, hundreds of upset customers posted because of the cancelled doll orders. No comment from DisneyStore. There was one comment last night from a customer that stated that they actually got their doll, TY Disney. DisneyStore made sure to comment on that one.

I hope whatever the change is coming fixes the issues. I know the dolls are LE and getting one is not guaranteed, but what happened this past Monday is ridiculous. And with DisneyStore not putting their best customer service forward, makes it worse. The feeling is we boo boo'd, too bad for you.

I am going to attempt to get the next ones. 1, maybe two of some if possible. But if this happens again, I am done. It's not worth the aggrevation. The dolls are beautiful and my DW and I would love to add them to our collection, but not with those headaches.

I had that happen with no LE edition items on the Disney store so it has been an on going issue. I think the biggest problem in the facebook page is that many people that did not order the doll because it was already sold out are complaining. And I find that ridiculous since the start everyone knew this was a limited collection so not everyone is going to get a doll period. As I said before there can only be 4,000 complete collections and there is 8000 of some dolls that means there will be a few thousand people trying to get that one doll. To think it is not going to be harder to get the next dolls is unrealistic and those people are going to complain it is that simple.

 

[KittyKatta]

The biggest issue to me is the fact that Snow White was oversold to such a huge extent and DisneyStore is doing so little to actually comfort their customer base besides generic e-mails, comments, and one blog. I accept that the dolls are LE and you may or may not get one, BUT losing out because you thought you bought one but didn't is unacceptable.

The frustrating thing is that Disney's decision to cancel oversold orders yet still ship multiple items to single households seem to favor the ebayers over the Disney Store fans. There is such an easy fix for overselling a limited edition item. Only ship one per guest regardless of how many they ordered.

It may seem unfair to the guy who ordered 20 dolls to his house (10 seperate orders) to now be told he only gets one per household but at least it frees up thousands of Dolls for a wider distribution. But the way they did it by canceling all oversold orders the next day when there was no chance at buying EXCEPT from ebay has resulted in many loyal Disney Store fans reluctantly having negative feelings about Disney and their Disney Store experience while the ones who are happiest are the ebayers.

 

[BigGreen73]

The frustrating thing is that Disney's decision to cancel oversold orders yet still ship multiple items to single households seem to favor the ebayers over the Disney Store fans. There is such an easy fix for overselling a limited edition item. Only ship one per guest regardless of how many they ordered.

It may seem unfair to the guy who ordered 20 dolls to his house (10 seperate orders) to now be told he only gets one per household but at least it frees up thousands of Dolls for a wider distribution. But the way they did it by canceling all oversold orders the next day when there was no chance at buying EXCEPT from ebay has resulted in many loyal Disney Store fans reluctantly having negative feelings about Disney and their Disney Store experience while the ones who are happiest are the ebayers.

A lot of people said that, so you are not in the minority. It just proves that DisneyStore is becoming more bottom line focus than customer service focused. What you said makes perfect sense. It should be fais that it's one or two per household, and Disney should stick to that to be fair to everyone.

 

[BigGreen73]

I had that happen with no LE edition items on the Disney store so it has been an on going issue. I think the biggest problem in the facebook page is that many people that did not order the doll because it was already sold out are complaining. And I find that ridiculous since the start everyone knew this was a limited collection so not everyone is going to get a doll period. As I said before there can only be 4,000 complete collections and there is 8000 of some dolls that means there will be a few thousand people trying to get that one doll. To think it is not going to be harder to get the next dolls is unrealistic and those people are going to complain it is that simple.

1. The dolls shouldn't have been differnet LE amounts. Disney should have been smart enough to realized that a lot of customers might want to complete full sets of all 10. Due to the LE editions, that will not happen.

2. Those that are complaining becuase they can't get a doll now shouldn't be. They are LE and shouldn't expect to be able to pick one up days after the release.

3. The big hit is the huge amount of cancelled orders. I don't believe that it's ever happened to the level that it did with SW.

4. Come Monday, we'll see how things go.

 

[marie1203]

1. The dolls shouldn't have been differnet LE amounts. Disney should have been smart enough to realized that a lot of customers might want to complete full sets of all 10. Due to the LE editions, that will not happen.

2. Those that are complaining becuase they can't get a doll now shouldn't be. They are LE and shouldn't expect to be able to pick one up days after the release.

3. The big hit is the huge amount of cancelled orders. I don't believe that it's ever happened to the level that it did with SW.

4. Come Monday, we'll see how things go.

I agree with you with problems with the website. I am sure Disney did different LE sizes for a reason. But if you go on facebook there is a huge amount of complains from people that were not able to get the doll because it was sold out.

 

[Falltime]

The frustrating thing is that Disney's decision to cancel oversold orders yet still ship multiple items to single households seem to favor the ebayers over the Disney Store fans. There is such an easy fix for overselling a limited edition item. Only ship one per guest regardless of how many they ordered.

It may seem unfair to the guy who ordered 20 dolls to his house (10 seperate orders) to now be told he only gets one per household but at least it frees up thousands of Dolls for a wider distribution. But the way they did it by canceling all oversold orders the next day when there was no chance at buying EXCEPT from ebay has resulted in many loyal Disney Store fans reluctantly having negative feelings about Disney and their Disney Store experience while the ones who are happiest are the ebayers.

That was the loophole in the online system. It was 2 per order not per person/household. So as long as each order was for 2 dolls the person was following Disney's ordering policy. There was also another glitch though with Snow White and that was you could add as many dolls as you wanted on one order which if the coding would have worked you would have received an error message that you could only put 2 in your cart. So those orders should have been reduced down to the 2 per order limit.

 

[Falltime]

Looking at ebay why are people bidding higher on the Snow White auctions when there are several buy it now auctions for much less? Don't people know how to search for the lowest price?

 

[BigGreen73]

I agree with you with problems with the website. I am sure Disney did different LE sizes for a reason. But if you go on facebook there is a huge amount of complains from people that were not able to get the doll because it was sold out.

If the reason behind the different LE sizes was to cause total chaos and upset the customer base, then they will succeed. I think that they (DS) really believes, based on prior sales figures, certain princesses are not as popular as others so they went with lower LE #'s on some thinking that would satisfy the demand. However, I don't think they take into consideration that their are many who will only collect the 1 or 2 dolls they really like but there are also many who will try to get the entire set. Who knows

 

[Falltime]

If nothing else hopefully Pres of Disney Stores Jim Feilding now realizes that he does have an adult collector market! At the D23 2009 Expo I went to his talk, what a big waste of time. Several people asked about having the Disney Stores bringing back Adult clothing, watches, and collectibles to the Disney Store. His response - Disney's store's new motto is it's the best 30 minutes of a CHILD's day. UGH he just didn't get it!!! Adults are the ones bringing the kids to the store and there are lots of things you can sell to them too!!! Man you should have heard all the comments of disappointment while walking out of the arena.

I can't even tell you the last time I bought something at my store before it eventually was one of the ones to close. It was all catered to kids items which is fine but I miss the old days of finding cute adult clothing and watches. Also if Disney was paying any attention to what people were wearing at the expo it was a lot of Adult clothes that used to be sold at the Disney Stores.

 

[Tinkerboy00]

I hate when people buy up collectable items just to marke them up and sell them on eBay. Meanwhile the people who really want them cant get them from the origianl source.

I would refuse to pay what some of these are going for on ebay out of sheer pricinple. It's just so disgusting to me.

I used to collect Pullips and it was the same way. You couldn't get a hold of a limited one and then it would be on ebay for twice the original cost.

 

[Shivatopia]

A lot of people said that, so you are not in the minority. It just proves that DisneyStore is becoming more bottom line focus than customer service focused. What you said makes perfect sense. It should be fais that it's one or two per household, and Disney should stick to that to be fair to everyone.

The Disney Store has always been focused on the bottom line. I worked for the Disney Store seasonally over a decade ago, and things were not much different then during the Disney Beanie craze. It is a retail business that exisits solely to make money for the company. That is why only certain Disney characters are constantly featured on products and others are almost completely absent. It is all about: "What will sell?" Companies that swear by superior customer service, especially if they are a corporation, will actually seldom really put their money where their mouth is, so to speak. The superior service you will get is from the individual cast members who take that aspect of the job to heart, not the company itself, hence the generic e-mails and robotic responses. Disney Store totally botched this Designer Princess Doll promotion, no question of that.

Looking at ebay why are people bidding higher on the Snow White auctions when there are several buy it now auctions for much less? Don't people know how to search for the lowest price?

I've been buying things off of eBay since the late 1990s, and no, people really get caught up in the narrow focus of that one auction that they are bidding on. A competitive streak hits them to win that particular auction. Maybe it's desperation, maybe it's tunnel-vision. Who knows? For online vending forums like eBay one should always do a quick price comparison to get the best value, but if people are willing to spend more money, that is of course their prerogative.

 

[BigGreen73]

If nothing else hopefully Pres of Disney Stores Jim Feilding now realizes that he does have an adult collector market! At the D23 2009 Expo I went to his talk, what a big waste of time. Several people asked about having the Disney Stores bringing back Adult clothing, watches, and collectibles to the Disney Store. His response - Disney's store's new motto is it's the best 30 minutes of a CHILD's day. UGH he just didn't get it!!! Adults are the ones bringing the kids to the store and there are lots of things you can sell to them too!!! Man you should have heard all the comments of disappointment while walking out of the arena.

I can't even tell you the last time I bought something at my store before it eventually was one of the ones to close. It was all catered to kids items which is fine but I miss the old days of finding cute adult clothing and watches. Also if Disney was paying any attention to what people were wearing at the expo it was a lot of Adult clothes that used to be sold at the Disney Stores.

Glad I'm not the only one. My DW and I have been saying the same thing. We head to a Disney Store every few months or so. Our's close awhile back. When we go, it's nice to get thet Disney feeling, but the merchandise is so geared towards kids, and I mean toddler level, it's almost not worth going anymore. The Disney Store is really missing out, IMO, on teenaged and adult customers. Is was nice to be able to get jewelry, watches, household items, jackets, clothes etc that was for Adults.

Even collectables like snow globes, pins, figures etc have disappeared except for a few here and there.

 

[BigGreen73]

The Disney Store has always been focused on the bottom line. I worked for the Disney Store seasonally over a decade ago, and things were not much different then during the Disney Beanie craze. It is a retail business that exisits solely to make money for the company. That is why only certain Disney characters are constantly featured on products and others are almost completely absent. It is all about: "What will sell?" Companies that swear by superior customer service, especially if they are a corporation, will actually seldom really put their money where their mouth is, so to speak. The superior service you will get is from the individual cast members who take that aspect of the job to heart, not the company itself, hence the generic e-mails and robotic responses. Disney Store totally botched this Designer Princess Doll promotion, no question of that.

Disney Store has to beware though. One day, people are going to remove the Disney blinders and realize what's going on and stop buying items from Disney. It doesn't matter what it is, it's not worth the hassels and headaches.

 

[Shivatopia]

If nothing else hopefully Pres of Disney Stores Jim Feilding now realizes that he does have an adult collector market! At the D23 2009 Expo I went to his talk, what a big waste of time. Several people asked about having the Disney Stores bringing back Adult clothing, watches, and collectibles to the Disney Store. His response - Disney's store's new motto is it's the best 30 minutes of a CHILD's day. UGH he just didn't get it!!! Adults are the ones bringing the kids to the store and there are lots of things you can sell to them too!!! Man you should have heard all the comments of disappointment while walking out of the arena.

I can't even tell you the last time I bought something at my store before it eventually was one of the ones to close. It was all catered to kids items which is fine but I miss the old days of finding cute adult clothing and watches. Also if Disney was paying any attention to what people were wearing at the expo it was a lot of Adult clothes that used to be sold at the Disney Stores.

That is a rather distressing sign when a division president of one branch of the Disney company limits his entire department to only one subset of the client population, probably based on his own views. I know that there have been unoffiical debates for years on whether or not Disney is "only for kids" or not, but clearly as forums such as ours show, that is not the case. The problem is that often corporations hire CEOs based on their business skills and past achievements and not necessarily their own personal involvement with the company or what it stands for. James Fielding previously has a background in The Gap, Dayton Hudson, Land's End, and J. Peterman, which comprise most of his career. He has been with Disney since the mid-2000s, I believe, so I think that he's the type of person who may be one of those who infantilizes Disney, which is total hogwash!

I also remember when I was a kid, and there was the first Disney Store in San Francisco (at Pier 39, has anyone else here ever been to that store when it was around?), there were wonderful items for both my mom and me. I remember it very clearly, because we would go almost every weekend just to get a touch of the Disney Magic. There was a wonderful Cruella De Vil nightshirt for adults that was for sale that my mom still regrets not buying. Fat chance of finding anything like that today. The red Cruella T-shirt that was recently sold earlier this year was like finding a gold mine! Items like that should not be once in a blue moon, and they are just as easy and inexpensive to produce as anything else that Disney sells. I hope this guy gets replaced soon by someone else who really shares more of Walt Disney's vision that the magic is for everybody.

 

[Shivatopia]

Disney Store has to beware though. One day, people are going to remove the Disney blinders and realize what's going on and stop buying items from Disney. It doesn't matter what it is, it's not worth the hassels and headaches.

Unfortunately, I don't see that ever happening. I wish the Disney Store coroporate powers-that-be would realize that they can make a lot of money on adult-geared items like collectibles, but they make predictions based on numbers only. I mean, put Mickey's face or a Disney Princess on an item, and it will probably sell, especially if it's a kid's item. That seems to be the direction where the Disney Store has gone, and sadly, the majority of the people will continue to buy into it. Hardcore collectors who have to put up with a seemingly dying focus area of the Disney Store are getting more frustrated with things like the handling of the Designer Princess Collection, but the vast majority of the public does not necessarily see what we do, because most of them are not going through the same experience. I am sure there are a lot of families that think along the same lines as James Fielding that Disney is for kids, so as far as they are concerned, nothing is wrong.

I truly believe that coroporate Disney Store makes collectibles limited editions, not necessarily to please the collectors' love of exclusivity, but because they just don't think that many will sell. Well, the Disney Designer Collection really blows that way of thinking out of the water. Will anything change? We can hope, but I'm not holding my breath until it does...