Makies Kerfluffle

[LauraJ]

I am not sure if anyone else here pays attention to Makies, but the company decided to pull up roots and move to America. They are not taking orders at this time. If you had any dolls set up on their site, they are gone.

The owner and CEO claims that the move is because London was becoming too expensive to own and operate the business. I cannot help wonder if the call of Disney Money burned a hole in their collective brains.

At any rate, with the changes to injection molded bodies, I am just not happy with them anymore. I will love and cherish the five little Makies I do own, but I am not ever going to buy another unless they a) go back to the 3-D printer bodies and b) keep the price reasonably low.

It is a wait and see, but I am not happy...

Laura J. Underwood

[LauraJ]

I also understand there were issues when they closed shop because most of the staff were blindsided. Came back from Christmas Holiday and were told the company was not opening back up until after the move to America. So a few creative Brits are out of the picture...

Not a very nice thing. Another reason I doubt I will ever buy another Makie.

Laura J. Underwood

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

The CEO and her family moved to America a few months before the company did - again because it was cheaper than London (but maybe not cheaper than somewhere outside London :shrug: ). The moving and reason is public knowledge, btw - her husband wrote about it on Boing Boing.

The thing that really bugged me was the lack of communication. Even if, for whatever reason, they couldn't say much a quick "we know things are bad, bear with us, we'll let you know as soon as we can" type message would have done wonders. With regular "we haven't forgotten about you" type messages.

And of course I feel sorry for everyone who either lost their job or have lost business as a result.

I'm unlikely to buy any more Makies either - I was dithering over one with the im body to see what it was like, but I'm not fussed enough to get one from the US with the attendant customs and duties costs.

[Chove]

There's been a lot going on with Makies recently, no wonder people are starting to worry if they'll ever re-open. I have six girl Makies - two have the IM bodies - but I probably won't be getting any more for a number of reasons one of which is the potential for shipping/customs charges on dolls coming from the US. It was nice having *one* doll from the UK, given how hard and expensive it can be to get even playline dolls that are out in America.

I suppose it all started with changing the bodies, because as I recall that was just mentioned in a Facebook group and if you didn't catch the gossip then you were left clueless as to why they suddenly went plastic. Then the "sale" controversy and the gift cards debacle. I don't know feel as positive about MakieLab as I used to, it's quite sad really.

[LauraJ]

The CEO's husband is an author who lives in the US. I know at least one person said they were in California, and all I could think was if you want to save money, CA is not the place to do it.

Who know...

Just not liking it at all. I love the originals and the cuties. I started hearing that there were problems with the IM bodies. I did try to order one back well before Christmas, and their page kept screwing up. Sent a note to their techs and got told to try again, but by then, I had gotten very frustrated and spent the money on a RS Xu in Coffee Skin (he is on his way to me even as I type).

Laura J. Underwood

[LauraJ]

I take that back, her husband is a Canadian who became a naturalized British Citizen...

Laura J. Underwood

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

I take that back, her husband is a Canadian who became a naturalized British Citizen...

Laura J. Underwood

He did have a shortish residency at a US university (I think in LA) though, so you weren't wrong - he has lived in the US before.

I really regret not getting the second gen 3D printed bodies for my original Makies now.

I would be feeling much more generous towards them if they had communicated this whole thing better. People are generally a lot more understanding if you let them know what's going on and keep them in the loop.