This was aletter I got after giving Hasbro UK a slagging-off for having a pants website that DOESNT have any Alternator listings:

 

"Thank you for your e-mail.

 

I have pleasure in confirming that further 'Alternators' are due to be released during 2004 and will be imported by retailers direct:

 

Smokescreen

Autobot Hound

Silver Streak

Meister

 

Please keep visiting your local stockists of these items for stock availability.

 

Kind Regards

ASK HASBRO"

 

Is this news to you UK bods? It seems taht Hasbro doesnt even know taht Silverstreak and Smokescreen are already out!

 

I also gave Toys R Us a slap for not having Alternators on their website. I explained taht I didnt live near a store and wanted to buy Smokescreen (as a prez, although the paint scheme is awful! The metallic blue is WAY better on the Takara model!). Toys R Us said "here is a telephone number to buy from your local store."

 

Retards.

 

The UK is terrible! We invented most of the internet and then dont even know how to implement it!

well hound is out here in belgium so that leaves meister

i knew silver and smokes were out but only form argos never knew about hound and jazz

 

and how come no metion of side swipe

 

i also thoght that argos were going to be the only suplyers of alts now arg hasbo what is going on thier

more importantly

 

"where can we get them?"

 

side swipe is not going to be released just yet so a trip to america is the best option for him

 

and tru have had smokescreen for ages,

 

i hope the alts are at retail like woolworths and toymaster, i shall go and ask next time i am at toymaster to see if they stock them.

:pfx mr flibble have you tried telephoning the master of toys?

 

and primal convoy can you tell me what level of abuse actually gets a response from hasBLOWITOUTOFYERTAILPIPEuk??

ive tried gettin responses from that pathetic limp d&£k site for a while now and got no joy!

 

ps is hound available in all argos stores??

he's not available in any at the moment unfortunately, but seeing as Argos' alternators werent a one off i believe Hasbro Uk's claim to Hound and meister holds hope.

I told them that I was back in the country after 3 years and was looking to spend my hard-earnt Yen.

 

Money talks.

 

I then told both Hasbro and Toys R Us UK (after their emails) that I would be RESUMING my business with Tkara and Japan/USA Toys R Us USA/Japan as their UK cousins were not "proffesional" and "user friendly". I told them that their customer service was awful and that I was "deeply shocked" by their apparent lack of concern when it came to promoting their products or delivering a sale.

 

If I wanted a toy from Takara and they didnt have it at the time, I would recieve personal phone calls or ENGLISH emails from the foreign marketing heads of Takara letting me know how and when it was possible to get me what I wanted.

 

Honestly, Im not lying. I WOULDNT get a "Sorry, we have it, but we cant (be bothered to) get it for you as we are on our lunch break/period/sick leave, etc" response from UK customer service reps.

 

Basically, sarcasm aside, the more proffessional and unemotional your emails are , the more chance of getting a reply.

 

If you feel that the replies or lack of are not good custome service, then complain and harrass them.

 

Im guessing that the real reason why the UK versions of foreign companies are not good is because, unless thought of as part of Europe, the UK toy market is small fry in comparrison to the USA and Japan.

 

We have strict market laws which make it difficult for a large amount of toys to flood the market, the demographic doesnt want the same stuff (Ppower rangers seems more popular than TF sin Britain and there is the hang up that main stream Brits have about collecting toys as adults).

 

The Uk franchise are normally the last to know about stuff sold by the parent company, from what Ive seen, seem frustrated by this and it is this frsutration that seems to manifest itself as lucklustre marketing and sloppy web-site/information presentation.

 

Just my thoughts...