“Our remarks were appropriate.” —Email to me from Don Wands
I knew this Don Wands fiasco was not over when I woke up to 16 new emails. Two bloggers, Miss KissThis and Amber of Divergent Dance, emailed Don Wands yesterday and expressed their disappointment about Don’s comment on my review of the Treeze Wave. They both received replies from Don Wands today (read about MKT’s here), as did I (I emailed them alerting them to my response post and asked for them to address this issue).
Their email to me, from someone named “Chuck,” asked me to remove my response post (um, no) and specified that their email was “off the record” and for my eyes only. As you might imagine, only a certain type of email would warrant such a clause, so I quickly went to work trying to figure out how much of the email I could legally post. D of Narration by D is a lawyer, and his thoughts on the situation were as follows:
Asking you to not print something is a request, which cannot be legally enforced. Same thing as me telling you a secret, and you telling someone else. I’ll get pissed, but can’t sue you.
Scarlet St. Syr also pointed me to this article, in which the in-house lawyer for The Guardian contends that “off the record” information can be printed “if the information disclosed is sufficiently in the public interest to warrant publication.” Considering I have received a plethora of tweets asking for updates on the situation, and considering the overwhelming response to my last post, I’d say the public interest is high. I do write a blog about sex toys after all, and this is a rather well-known sex toy manufacturer digging itself a deeper hole.
Now, before Don Wands comes to chew me out for not presenting the whole picture, I want to acknowledge that some things they have said in subsequent comments/emails seem semi-genuinely apologetic. However, these apologies are often tied up in sentences that, well, tend to invalidate them, such as: “Please accept my apologies for the poorly worded defense of our efforts to bring a new product to market for the consumer.”
Most telling, though, is that one sentence from their email to me: “Our remarks were appropriate.”
For the most part, it looks like all we’re getting is apologies with caveats. Apologies that point the finger, sometimes quite subtlely, to me and my readers. Backhanded apologies. And the people at Don Wands are using the same tropes repeatedly in their responses, which shows that they really stand behind these tropes. That is what I find scary.
Although these quotes are all representative of Don Wands, I believe they are coming from at least two people. “Don” is the one responding in the comments section; “Chuck” is the one who responded to me; and I don’t know who responded to MKT and Amber (no name was at the bottom of the emails to them).
Without further ado, the points that those at Don Wands have made repeatedly…
- alphabitch started it! (The very strange assumption that the comment by alphabitch, directly under Don’s comment, was what spurred this whole thing.)
Alphabitch was incorrect in her characterization, if this is the reason, we are sorry you feel this way. — Email to MKT
Alphabitach was way over the line in her response. Her interpretation was a complete incorrect characterization of the intent of our response. It became a group think, women against a corporation. — Email to me
- Epiphora’s review is to blame.
We appreciate unbiased reviews, the comments we found were rather negative for no apparent reasons. — Email response to me
The whole review is a list of reasons.
In fact, we are a very small midwest company that can be hurt by poorly worded reviews, we don’t expect lies, but words that are accurate from research are anticipated. — Email to me
Oooh, now I get it. You wanted me to conduct a full scientific study before posting my review! Then I would be qualified to write about your products.
A side note, we noticed that a competitive product was cited in our review and it is advertised on your site, this does show bias. — Email to me
I wasn’t aware that you were in charge of how I should format my reviews, so this is interesting information!
I also wasn’t aware that my job as a reviewer was to avoid bias. I’ll work on making every reviewer’s pussy or cock work in the exact same way so we can remedy this horrific situation.
We are a very small company and reviews that are unbiased mean a lot to us, this had a rather negative tone to our company . . . — Email to Amber
Oh really? My only mention of Don Wands, as a company, in the review:
Don Wands would like you to believe that this vibrator is made entirely of wood (hence “Treeze”…), but the truth is easily uncovered: it’s a wood/urethane hybrid. I’m proud of their unabashedness (the material type is not hidden in a small font or anything) . . .
So that first sentence was a playful dig, yet I went on to praise the fact that their packaging clearly states the material. Nothing else in the review even mentions the company.
- Just kidding; the review is fine. We were actually responding to the backlash that hadn’t yet occured.
we were responding to the negative responses that were piled on about the company’s efforts and not the review of the features. — Email to Amber
Our remarks were in response to several negative remarks toward the company and our efforts, not the review of the features of the products. — Email to MKT
Uh?
We are a manufacturer and have volunteered to have our products reviewed for their merits and faults, not to have our company’s attempts to advertise a new product put into question. — Email to me
Actually, you did. You posted your comment as a public comment on a public review on a public blog. By the way, your “attempts” wouldn’t have been questioned if they had been phrased in a nice manner.
- We apologize for your reaction!
we apologize if you were offended. — Email to MKT
We regret anything that was taken as condescending. — Email to me
We regret anything that may have offended you. — Email to Amber
Please accept that nothing personal was meant by the comments and we accept responsibility for your feelings. — Comment on the response post
the fever that has ensued over a few poorly worded sentences is a bit much. — Comment on the response post
As one of my Twitter followers said, “it’s not ‘sorry we made a mistake,’ it’s ‘sorry you’re clueless!’” So much for “the customer is always right.” When you have a large group of people agreeing that what you said was rude, you should probably take responsibility for what you said. This is precisely where Don Wands veered off the path completely. I don’t care how wrong they think my readers and I were in our response — they had an opportunity to truly apologize, and they flunked.
I am not going to make a blanket statement about how my readers should react to any of this, nor am I prepared to make a decision about my future relationship with Don Wands products. If you have read this and the subsequent comments “Don” posted, I trust you to make your own decision about his and the company’s integrity.
The email to me from “Chuck” ended this way:
Simply stated, we are very sorry. If there is anything else you would like us to do to remedy this incident, we are open to your suggestion.
So, readers — do you have any ideas I should pass along? Other than, you know, “find yourself a time machine”?
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June 27th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I don’t think I have the words right now, but this–
“It became a group think, women against a corporation.”
–pisses me off. I need to stop here before I let off with a line of insults. But I’m sure people can guess what I’m thinking.
Oh, one last thing. I have two of their wands. D bought the first one. I got the other one to review. After this D won’t be spending another damn dime toward their merchandise and I won’t be requesting their products for review.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
“A side note, we noticed that a competitive product was cited in our review and it is advertised on your site, this does show bias.”
Wait, what??
The review was for the reseller NOT for Don Wands directly. So what if you talked about a competitor’s product? That gripe, if there was one, can come only from sextoy.com as a condition of their reviews. If I don’t like a product I will most certainly recommend something else, although usually that something else will be on the site that I’m reviewing for. But you couldn’t do that bc Hans won’t go through a reseller and I don’t think sextoy.com carries Nobessence.
No. That is NOT why we review. We are allowed by everyone we’ve ever reviewed for to be negative if we hate it. I have written some pretty damn scathing reviews and never, not once, gotten a talkin-to from anybody about it. If I had, I would have stopped reviewing for them on the spot.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Wow… ahhh, yeah. Everything they wrote in “apology” sounded like they had their fingers crossed behind their backs. I don’t believe it for a minute, nor do I believe they find any fault in their original nor their subsequent actions. I am well and truly appalled and will definitely be standing by my decision to never give Don Wands my business.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I feel like this could go on forever, back and forth, back and forth, with Don/Chuck/whoever never, ever “getting it”, if they haven’t gotten a clue so far.
You said it perfectly with the “customer is always right” mantra. After a certain point, ya gotta stop and concede. Say “thanks” and leave it at that.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Don Wands, you could look up the definition of a “non apology apology” and see where you fucked up even worse with this whole fiasco. I simply wasnt going to buy from you before because you dont listen to your customers about the flaws they found in your product. Now I’m going to boycott your company because you sound exactly like my mother in law.
“I’m sorry BUT” is not an apology. And you dont ever apologize for something if you are not sorry.
Okay, so Epiphora is a total bitch and you disagree with what she’s done, she’s not a credible source, whatever. So dismiss her as that and continue to run your crappy company into the ground. But dont apologize to her if you arent fucking sorry.
You know what Don? You should be demanding an apology from HER! How dare she publish a negative review of your fine product! Send her an email telling her how much you arent sorry for a damn thing and make her apologize. You’re going to let her get away with this?
Dudes, reality is that you should probably take your poorly made toys and go home. Hell, I dont even read this blog but I stopped by simply because of Epi’s tweets about the situation because I found it so unbelievable that a company would seriously respond to criticism this way.
Epiphora, thank you for the wonderful job you’ve done on responding to this situation, and thank you for sharing.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
@Eliot: I know. When I read that, I was like “no way in hell am I not going to tell people about at least this line.”
June 27th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
This is kinda hilarious. This is a classic example of the so-called Streisand Effect, where a someone efforts to suppress information they don’t like has the opposite effect and instead draws far more attention, and in this case very negative attention to them.
To the people from Don Wand….please, I realize that you’re a small company who probably don’t have a large PR or marketing department, but please realize that you are doing yourself far more harm than the review itself ever could.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
If their remarks were appropriate, all of our responses were more than warranted. From all of the things they have said as a result of this situation, I hold no hope that they will learn from this.
“Group think” Don Wands? There you go again, underestimating your consumers. We can think for ourselves. Stop it with the “conspiracy theory” mumbo-jumbo, and start realizing you just screwed yourself over.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
1. I never read Alphabitch’s comment, to be honest. I was being a bit lazy. I read Don’s comment because it was from a company representative, and that’s when I blew my top. Should I go back and read Alphabitch’s comment to justify my apparent sheep mentality?
2. Speaking of “sheep mentality”: this is not a “group of women” against you, this is a “group of consumers.” We are a collection of sex toy reviewers and bloggers, not some covert feminist group intent on bashing anybody with a penis.
3. I tried to play devil’s advocate. I asked several times, on blogs and on Twitter, if people were 100% sure this was a real company representative, and if his views could possibly represent the opinions of the company in general. While I’m still holding complete judgment on the latter, I have to say that writing such a shit-tastic e-mail, whining about how bad reviews will ruin your whole company and such is immature and tactless. I’ve written plenty of bad reviews, some absolutely scathing, and assuming other writers wrote similar reviews, most companies take the negatives pointed out in those reviews and attempt to fix the problem(s) for future versions of the toy. I repeat: we are not mindless sheep, and we do not write to promote products; we are individuals with our own views on the products provided to us, and we do our best to represent our opinions on those products to our readers.
4. Even if you were really concerned that one negative review–ONE NEGATIVE REVIEW–would ruin your company, you should have sent a private, politely-worded e-mail, pointing out where you thought the reviewer made a mistake. If you felt like Epiphora’s comment about the material was a little underhanded, then okay, send her an e-mail telling her so, explaining why you feel it hurts the company and providing detailed information on the material. Don’t get bitchy and tell her she doesn’t know anything. Oh, and don’t imply that the way we perceive a toy is a mistake; if I say it feels like plastic, then it feels like plastic to me. I repeat: you are not a mind reader and you do not own my vagina. You do not police what I think and feel.
5. And honestly, would one negative review ruin your company? No. I’ve written negative reviews about one of a company’s products, then written a glowing review of another product. So unless you’re producing absolute shit on a regular basis, you’re bound to please me with at least one of your products. And again, let’s not forget that other reviews may love a product I rated low. One reviewer does not the public conception of a toy make, no matter how influential that reviewer is. And don’t give me this “small company” crap, because the same quality values apply to everybody, big or small.
6. If you want to apologize, but also point out that someone wronged you, don’t be backhanded. Say something like, “I’m sorry about ______. However, we would like to point out that _______ is actually __________. We would appreciate it if you would add this information to your review for clarification.” Nobody is expecting you to kiss their ass–I hate ass kissers–but the least you can do is be professional and civil during correspondence, especially when you’re dealing with something that’s serious.
7. I was going to write a blog about this, then resisted because I ramble when I go in to full-out bitch mode, and here I am, in full-out bitch mode.
Here’s a suggestion on how to “remedy this incident”: quit while you’re ahead. Address the matters at hand as politely and sincerely as possible, then both sides can quit sniping and make up. Don’t be all talk and no game, but actually live up to the reputation you want to project, and many a disgruntled reviewer will give your company a second chance. After all, “nobody’s perfect,” but most people know when to throw in the towel.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
“Simply stated, we are very sorry. If there is anything else you would like us to do to remedy this incident, we are open to your suggestion.”
Get into a new line of work. Seriously. Because, what you don’t realize yet, is that you are doomed to fail in this market, eventually. There are plenty companies putting out quality products who demonstrate not only respect for their customer but welcome the opinions, good and bad, of their customers as a direction for how to improve their product.
Your basic failure to understand that telling the customer she is wrong when she voices her opinion about your product is an absolute no-win situation exhibits an utter lack of understanding of basic marketing and customer relations principals. From word one, you guys were worse off for having spoken at all.
Your continued communication with “qualified apologies” did even more damage than if you had just shut up and said nothing at that point. Don’s communication was rude and unprofessional, something I could have gotten over had Chuck’s communication not been so insulting and misogynistic in addition to exhibiting really, just a vast amount of ignorance and naivete, in declaring that the email sent was “off the record.”
For the record, i have nothing against “corporations”, in fact, I work for a Midwestern manufacturer, spending most of my time on communication efforts with our resellers and our customers. In my 15 years of working in the public relations industry, I’ve never, ever, seen anyone behave like this in a customer relations capacity.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
(to be read in a childish playground-taunt sing-song voice) I sta-arted it! Eyeeee sta-AH-arted it! Neener neener boo boo!
But seriously? Suggestions? You have three options, as I see it: 1) Hire a competent & personable PR/outreach person. The folks handling this incident should not be allowed to speak to the public. 2) Make it official company policy not to respond to reviews. It would be better to be thought of as unreachable than as a bunch of dicks. 3) Get a bigger company to buy you out so you don’t have to worry about complicated things like being respectful to your critics.
Oh, and how cool am I that one offhanded little sentence can make hordes of other women mindlessly fall into lockstep with me?! I should run for office or something!
June 27th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I’ve known alphabitch for a lot longer than she’s reviewed sex toys (we met reviewing shoes). She’s usually responsible for starting things- more often than not.
Again, you’ve been lucky to work with new savvy companies for the most part (Lelo, OhMyBod, Nymphomania, etc but mainly online retailers) who encourage your honesty. There is a lot of old style manufacturers out there who just don’t know how to handle criticism because they aren’t use to it.
Critique of toys has been purely a $$$ one. When no one buys your product it’s a bad product. When they buy it, it’s a good one. Remember though, for a designer, the product is his baby- the fact he’s a little protective is a knee jerk reaction.
Most bloggers breathe before they react to an attack- we have some experience (hell my old LJ profile was hit with images of aborted fetus’ from some troll attacking me). Your writing is very well thought out and edited for tone. I don’t think the company has ever had to think about their tone before. Hopefully they learned a valuable lesson.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
@Metis: Yeah. I didn’t know he was the designer at first. But the new comments from “Chuck” are just as bad, so the product being the designer’s baby no longer matters to me.
Thank you for your compliments. I did indeed spend all day writing and editing this, haha.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I recommend damage control for the company. Most companies never pursue bad press, let alone troll around on sex toy reviewer’s blog and try to spark debates or fights with rude commentary- that warrants negative attention and if this company is so small and fighting for profits as they so said, why would they hurt their chances of trying to increase sales by opening a can of worms?
There are three scenarios a company should take when handling an article or story that puts them in a negative light. 1, Take no action. 2, Contact the reporter or editor. or 3, Issue a public response. – See, um. FIrst they issued a public response but they did so on the author’s blog. That public response that was supposedly supposed to be private was written on a public forum- minus one point.
They contacted you Epiphora, but as a way to air grievances- minus one point. Then they discussed this so called “private” matter in emails with several people that contacted them, even blatantly calling commenters out by name such as alphabitch- minus one point. What they should have said was, “we appreciate your business and we hope to maintain it, we sincerely apologize for any recent events, here’s 10% off your next order.” Any emails that go out should directly address only the issues put forward in the original article in a factual, non-emotive and balanced style. They shouldn’t drag anyone else into this nor try to throw the blame on someone else.
They also mentioned in the emails that the review had a negative tone. So what? This is the company’s opportunity to rise above and show that this does not affect their products or sales- but instead, they took the road less traveled and showed that this one blog article written against them is the worst sort of press imaginable as if it’s going to destroy the company and burn all their years of hard work and building a solid reputation. They then tried to evoke emotion by saying they’re just a small company (yet according to bizdays their annual sells are in the upwards of 10 million dollars? http://www.bizdays.com/metro/bizid-28813.html)- minus 10 points.
My suggestion here, they need to hire themselves a PR rep to try and dig them out of the hole they’ve buried themselves in.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
See, I don’t like giving bad reviews, but I have given a few. In one case, I was thanked by the reseller company that I reviewed the item for. They _wanted_ to know if they were selling substandard product. In another case, the rep sent an email (written in a friendly tone, just like all of her emails are) disagreeing with my opinion of a particular item. She didn’t try to make me change my review, didn’t berate me for my thoughts about it. My personal opinion didn’t change, but she did make me think a little bit about it. I appreciated both of these emails (both from the same rep, same company, by the way).
It’s all in the approach and your rapport with the reviewer. To come out of nowhere…seems a little ambush-y.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Yeah I don’t think this whole thing was handled well by don wands I have been sitting back and reading everything that has been going on and most defiantly think if they had better PR people or a lest if some basic rules of good PR were followed this whole thing wouldn’t have been so bad for them. As my grandmother always said “when dealing with people if you don’t have anything nice to say some times it’s best not to say anything at all.”
June 27th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Oh Man! Thanks Don for pointing out to me what a mindless, maniacal woman I am for just falling in line behind anyone! Goodness knows that I have to have someone to follow or I’m totally lost and unable to decide what on earth to do! That is what “It became a group think, women against a corporation.” is basically saying about me and all women right? Just what the Hell is that really supposed to mean because I’m sure I took that wrong too, right?! At least that’s what I’m anticipating hearing! Come on Don, you need some serious help. I’m so disappointed!
Epiphora does fantastic, honest reviews of sex toys and I trust her opinions. Just because the Treeze toy didn’t work out for her didn’t mean that I wasn’t still interested in giving it a go. You changed that for me Don because I’m simply afraid that I may not like it either which would cause me a big headache too! Or is that simply because I’m a mindless woman falling in behind everyone else? Pfffttt! I know what my decision is! Which brand is it that Playpassions is now selling? Hmmm….
June 27th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
@Oggins: You hit the nail on the head, Oggins! I tried not to bring out my feminist claws too much, but that line was the worst of all.
And yes, PlayPassions is selling RubyGlass21, a great glass toy manufacturer with great prices.
June 27th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Wow! This is turning into a big debate. I would like to state MY point of view on this.
First off, this group of bloggers and tweeters maybe mostly women, but DW should not have refered to this collective as “a think group, women against a corporation”.
1. I am a avid follower of Epiphora, and I am a man. So I include my self in that “think group”
2. Not just women use/buy dildos and vibrators, men do too, so some of the comments could be from men who did not I dentify themselves as such. So, DW should not make a generalization like that.
I come to Epi’s blog, and other sex bloggers sites, to read about THEIR opinion on movies, pron sites, and sextoys. If they did not like it, then they didn’t! They are intitled to their opinion, even if they strongly didn’t like it. DW thought that Epi’s review was not fair to the product, which is fine, but IT DOESN”T MATTER! Because it’s HER review, not yours. Her response posts, which give her opinion, on your opinion, are also HERS and you have no right to ask her to take them down.
I think that DW’s comments on the review were very rude, but in a “I’m shaking your hand, but I’m kicking you in the knee under the table at the same time” kind of way. Where he would critisize Epi for giving her opinoin, but then say that the company likes to get input from their customers. Oh Yeah! That reminds me. They also say they don’t want “poorly worded” reviews, and they “don’t expect lies, but words that are accurate”. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like they are saying that Epi’s opinoin of there toy, which is HER own thoughts and views, is a lie. How can someones feeling about something, be a lie?
I don’t think that one neggative review, even a “poorly worded” one, could have that much of an affect on a companies image and sales. But if said company retorts to that review with several rude, finger pointing, contradictory comments that everyone sees. Then, you very well my see some changes in sales and peoples opinion of your company. So, I think you would have done yourself a favor by having not said anything. Insted of verbaly shooting your self in the foot.
June 28th, 2009 at 4:52 am
I really admire how you’re handling this, Epiphora.
June 28th, 2009 at 6:31 am
Don Wands reminds me of another person that has caused waves in poorly handled reviews that will NEVER get it. Their right, your wrong. And the sexist attitude is what pisses me off the most.
June 28th, 2009 at 6:57 am
As a fellow critic/reviewer, I’ll be the first to say that the consumer is NOT always right but it sure makes sense for companies to listen to what consumers have to say (regardless if they are formal reviewers or not). In this case, I would have taken my pal Epiphora to task for publishing a private email (not out of legal concerns but out of common courtesy) except for the fact that they started bagging on her in the public forum first. Once Pandora’s box was opened by the crew at D.W., that concept went out the window.
In terms of their response, I’ve been subjected to similar responses over the years (sometimes worse too, ~6500+ reviews online in the last ten years makes anything possible) but companies geared to deal with modern realities should know better. Epi has a good sized following and a group of quite vocal friends that will now go out of their way to either boycott D.W. products, badmouth them, or worse; ignore them altogether.
My limited experience with D.W. products is somewhat mixed but they have some really solid toys I would not hesitate recommending to the most frugal consumer as well as some that desperately need to go back to the drawing board with an engraved apology sent out to anyone that bought one, this being common among the larger companies dealing in sex toys. It’s a shame that so many people will now never know about the better stuff they make simply because they acted so boorishly in a public forum.
I am curious about one comment in particular though as I have faced it a number of times. That would be the use of a competitors product (in my case, usually a movie) in a review. For whatever reason, this seems to really set off a lot of companies, almost as if the slightest mention of a different item would cause people to automatically dismiss the one primary to the review. For me, this approach is essentially an analogy for comparison purposes in most cases (“if you liked Not the Bradys XXX you should really appreciate Not the Cosbys” or “Vibrator X is thicker than the similarly priced ‘Penetrator 3000′ but not nearly as powerful for around the same price”) but I wondered if any of you had similar experiences.
That said, Epiphora, stick to your guns and remember that the better reviewers/critics are the ones that cater to the consumer over the companies. Whatever bribes, special treatment, or bling you get in the short term will be far outweighed by the long term credibility you gain by doing the right thing. Yay You!
June 28th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Epiphora, I applaud you for responding to this in a much more mature way than they’re handling it. While I understand that a designer’s knee-jerk reaction is to protect his baby, and that Chuck from Don Wands probably saw this as running damage control and saving face, there is a point at which they need to stop and just truly, honestly apologize.
June 28th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Recently I reviewed Good Clean Love’s products and stated in the review: “One precaution with this lube, is that it contains glycerin and glucose, both of which can trigger yeast infections in women who are prone to them.”
http://lucreziamagazine.com/popmycherry/2009/06/good-clean-love-perfect-products-for-a-perfect-world/
Good Clean Love’s owner Wendy, then wrote back a very kind and thoughtful response correcting my assumption of the product’s ingredients. I then corrected my review based on her input: “Correction: Please read Wendy’s comments (Owner of Good Clean Love) in which she clarifies the amount of (glucose .01% and glycerine (7%) in this lube. Also she goes on to say, “Additionally, just as they are, our products have no reported incidents of yeast infections, even at the pelvic pain clinics where we are recommended and sold. I believe it is because the ingredients are such a small percentage of the overall formula.” Instead of telling me that I was wrong, or my review (personal opinion) was wrong, Wendy thanked me for my review, but went on to let me know that the glycerin & glucose levels were in fact very low in this product. So, instead of hurting their company, they have actually proven why their product is so much better, in a kind, thoughtful way.
My Point: There are many different ways of saying the same thing and getting your point across. But, usually honey works better than rubbing lemon on a wound…
June 29th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself: My name is Brian Nupp, I’m the Vice President of Sales here at Glow Industries, Inc. and we manufacture Don Wands and Treeze. I’ve been with Glow for 15 years and am very proud to have had a hand at our company’s success. We’ve come a long way! …but now I’ve just read this and feel our “cool” name is a bit tarnished.
Let me start by telling you that I am VERY SORRY for statements made by Don/Chuck (Don is Chuck our Marketing Manager). I feel his initial statement was callous and completely inappropriate and does not represent Don Wands or our company as a whole. I am completely embarrassed.
Epiphora, thank you so much for taking the time to review our Treeze! Without detailed critiques such as yours, we would not have any direction in which to improve. I think you have a fine blog here and you must, because you have quite a following!
The most noticeable complaint about the Treeze is the “loudness.” I’m happy to say that we’ve fixed this! What we did was slip a small high-tension band around the vibe itself. It does wonders to keep the Treeze quiet. A big difference! Epiphora, I’d be happen to send you one of these ‘new improved’ models. (And anyone reading this that has a noisy Treeze, I’d be happy to send you a complimentary rubber piece for your vibe.)
Price: They aren’t cheap! We made them as inexpensive as we could. There is a lot of cost in the material and work that goes into a Treeze. The wood/urethane shell is made in the good ol’ U.S. of A which certainly helps the quality control. There are several steps each Treeze goes through before completion, but I am not here to talk about the maunfacturing process. The price was a valid point and I thank you for addressing it.
Again, I am sincerely sorry for any comments made by Don/Chuck. I would like to officially say they do not represent Don Wands, Glow Industries, or Treeze. Appropriate action will be addressed with those who issued the comments. Please find it in your hearts to give us a second chance. We do appreciate any criticism, good or bad. We have improved some of our best sellers due to constructive criticism (see our Pink Bent Graduate Don Wand).
Most humbly,
Brian Nupp
Glow Industries, Inc.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Well, I must say that the response from Mr. Nupp is a breath of fresh air after this whole fiasco on the part of Don/Chuck. If we could have had this message initially, SO much negativity would have and could have been easily avoided.
I am relieved that someone at the company had the fortitude to say something reasonable at last. It is amazing how the proper message and open communications can alter a person’s opinion. Mine has now shifted from total disdain to “whew, okay”.
As a woman-owned online retail company, the opinions that women have toward the products we offer are essential to us. We can’t and we won’t negate their opinions, nor could we ever feel comfortable selling products produced by a company who does. This last response contains the respect and open-mindedness that we all desire in a manufacturer. (I can stop removing the Don Wands products from our shelves now.)
I am happy to see that there is finally someone there who can see past their pride and listen respectfully to what the general public (their potential customers) have to say.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
As another woman-owned online retail company, I agree with Zotica’s comments. Gone are the days when one can stock whatever they wished without considering the “waters”…bloggers and the sex-positive community hold a lot of sway, and have shown their influence beyond a doubt during PR storms with other companies earlier this year. Where they go, so go google searches, word of mouth, and the opinions of those who research toys prior to buying them.
While I’m greatful SOMEone from the company has emerged as the voice of reason, it’s still concerning to me that someone who is, from what I gather, head of marketing, allowed to sound off so unprofessionally. Until I see a little more stability and consistency in responding to customer concerns (and, more importantly, respecting them), I’ll likely be restricting my glass offerings to RubyGlass21′s products, which are also made in the US.
I don’t want to poke the flames here, either, but I’m a little curious why a line as new as Treeze wouldn’t make an attempt to do an even swap of old stock for new stock with their stockists – preventing reviewers and customers like Epiphora from experiencing a problem that the company seems to been aware of for at least a little while.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Well done, Brian! That single comment totally changed my opinion of your company. I take back what I said about needing to hire a PR/outreach person. You seem to be entirely capable of handling it.
Don/Chuck, however, should have their internet access taken away & be transferred to a position where they never have contact with anyone outside the company (to be honest, I’d probably just fire him).
June 30th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I read some back & forth banter about negative reviews between Epiphora and Freddy And Eddy the other day on Twitter, and finally found some time today to dig in and find out what this was all about. I read all 3 blog posts and all comments. (Yeah, slow day, LOL!)
Now I feel like I want to add in my 2 cents.
As a manufacturer I am appalled that you got the response that you did Epiphora from “Don”. I will admit that I’ve seen a little bit of “negative” feedback from reviewers concerning the quality of some of the For Your Nymphomation cases- and you know what? I VALUED it- no one likes negativity about their products, but I found that it helped me to IMPROVE my product line. Some reviewers have said that the rings on the zipper pullers could easily be opened and they didn’t think it was “secure” enough with the lock through it. So you know what? On the newest inventory I imported, I changed the closures to luggage-style interlocking rings on the zip heads. Yes it cost a little more money for me to do that. But guess what- MY CUSTOMERS and THEIR SATISFACTION is SUPER important to me… and those reviews that said my product isn’t “perfect” helped me to make a more secure, quality product.
“Don”, my best advice to you is: LISTEN to your customers, and if something isn’t up to the standards of your customers, do something about improving it. Take a lesson from me and my industry friends Brian and Suki of OhMiBod- your customers and their opinions are the most important part of your business. Do what you can to make them happy. Without satisfied customers, you have no business being in business. And most importantly, pissing off people will not make new customers for you… and without customers, you have no business at all.
Best regards,
Vera
P.S. Alicia from NobEssence told me that she is working on developing a vibrator… I’m sure that she will be more careful in the final product she puts out as her other wooden pleasure toys are top-notch in quality. I also am a BIG fan of the beautiful handmade glass pieces from RubyGlass21; I sell their glass at retail events packaged inside our Heart On cases… MUCH prettier than Don Wand’s factory formed glass pieces and priced right to boot. Readers, you have other choices… choose carefully.
August 17th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Ugh. I am super late to the party, but I can’t leave without commenting again. Their VP seems like he is a good bit smarter than Chuck or whatever the heck is name is. So maybe its not Chucks fault. Maybe nobody explained how the company he works for makes money. You sell sex toys, and these are primarily for women. If a woman tells you she doesn’t like the toy, you don’t throw a temper tantrum; you listen. If more than one woman tells you that they don’t like the toy, then you should be scrambling to fix it. They are your customer base, so act like it!!!!
With that said. I fully and whole heatedly recommend rubyglass21. They are a great group of people and make an excellent product. They listen to what women want, and that is what they make. Glow, you should take lessons.