MattyCollector "Mattel Hoverboard" discussion

Bob Gale has a way of stating things so simply and directly, without any malice. It really is an incredible skill. I think he hit the nail on the head, yet again.

Bob Gale for president!

"A chicken in every pot and a Hoverboard on every foot!"

-Nick
 
MattmanReturns said:
Wow, Bob told it like it is. I may post this on the Matty forums.
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I'd say not to but you've already done so by the looks of it.

At this point I personally think there's little point.

Seemingly everyone and their Mother has complained to Mattel in all forms so far.
Phone, Email, Forum, etc.

We've seen the extent of their reaction, and they're already aware Bob Gale has made comments on the end result.

After all that's already happened, I think posting something like that is likely going to do nothing but stir the pot and drag Bob Gale's name into a petty fight.

I feel posting there with that is like going "HA! LOOK IN YOUR FACE! LOOK WHAT BOB SAID" to which, we have no idea if Bob was accurately quoted beyond being told so. Plus for all we know it could cause some form of awkward situation between Mattel and Bob behind the scenes that we'd not be aware of.

At this point I think what's done is done. In that as a customer you're either happy with the board or you're not. I wouldn't expect Mattel to do anything beyond what they have done.

Don't get me wrong however, I was disappointed that they didn't meet our expectations (though I'm now happy to have a project to work on and a nice base to work with), but I really do believe the main controversial spat between us and them is for the most part over in terms of getting anything out of it beyond a refund.
 
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The point is they SHOULD NOT be let off the hook for this. They really screwed the fans who supported them over. There are no excuses. As we have seen by the ingenuity and ambition of a few talented "fans" it could have been done fairly inexpensively. They cut corners to maximize their profit margins plain and simple at the expense of customer satisfaction. My complaint to the BBB has gone unresponded to by Mattel after nearly a month. They don't care. Still, that doesn't mean we shouldn't put pressure on them and take them to task for the way they mangled this whole thing. It's the only way to get through to the execs that they screwed up royally and lost customers over this. If changes are ever going to be made at Mattel, beginning with Management, then unrelenting pressure and feedback and negative publicity are the only arrows we have to sling at them and deservedly so.
 
I don't want to take Matty's side on this, but they aren't forcing anyone to keep the board if they are not happy with it. From my understanding, they are offering refunds if you want to return the board and without extra shipping charges
 
Tron Unit said:
The point is they SHOULD NOT be let off the hook for this. They really screwed the fans who supported them over. There are no excuses. As we have seen by the ingenuity and ambition of a few talented "fans" it could have been done fairly inexpensively. They cut corners to maximize their profit margins plain and simple at the expense of customer satisfaction. My complaint to the BBB has gone unresponded to by Mattel after nearly a month. They don't care. Still, that doesn't mean we shouldn't put pressure on them and take them to task for the way they mangled this whole thing. It's the only way to get through to the execs that they screwed up royally and lost customers over this. If changes are ever going to be made at Mattel, beginning with Management, then unrelenting pressure and feedback and negative publicity are the only arrows we have to sling at them and deservedly so.
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But it doesn't put any more pressure on them than anything else.

They haven't gotten away with anything. They made a bad decision, their reputation has been tarnished and future sales WILL be affected by it.
That's how companies operate, simple as that.

Anything else that may have been done (such as laying off certain employees or changes to how they function) you'll never find out as it will stay internal.

For all you know, they HAVE made changes. They're not going to tell you though. A company does not do well if they admit to being a bad company. Yes it adds a sense of closure to those involved, but share holders may back out and so forth.

On top of that, anyone not happy can get their money back.

At the end of the day, posting anything other than a genuine complaint of what you received, isn't going to make any difference to what's already happened.

To clarify once more, I was also just as unhappy. But we've gotten exactly the most we can get out of them. We've gotten refunds, they've been put to shame by the words of Bob Gale, and there is likely going to be internal shifts at Mattel, they just wont announce that part.
 
irman925 said:
I don't want to take Matty's side on this, but they aren't forcing anyone to keep the board if they are not happy with it. From my understanding, they are offering refunds if you want to return the board and without extra shipping charges
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We're a fairly resourceful bunch. They could have given us the worst possible board and some people here would have found ways to mod it to make it much better.

It's not that we're hugely angry, for the most point we just don't feel that we got A. What we were promised, or B. Our money's worth. Bob Gale's price point of $70 would have been perfect for what was shipped. And I would have been 100% happy with the board I have for $70. For $50 more, I'm a bit let down. But it's still a Hoverboard-looking thing, so I'll take it, as seeing different "interpretations" of the same prop is always fascinating to me. (Look at some of the threads comparing various Indy Fertility Idols if you don't believe me)

And they may be offering refunds, but after trying to get the mini-board I'm owed and being given the run-around by the Digital River guys, I am sure that seeking a refund would actually cause MORE stress than just sucking it up and taking the loss. :wacko

...and I still don't have my mini-board.

-Nick
 
Benjamoose said:
I'd say not to but you've already done so by the looks of it.

At this point I personally think there's little point.

Seemingly everyone and their Mother has complained to Mattel in all forms so far.
Phone, Email, Forum, etc.

We've seen the extent of their reaction, and they're already aware Bob Gale has made comments on the end result.

After all that's already happened, I think posting something like that is likely going to do nothing but stir the pot and drag Bob Gale's name into a petty fight.

I feel posting there with that is like going "HA! LOOK IN YOUR FACE! LOOK WHAT BOB SAID" to which, we have no idea if Bob was accurately quoted beyond being told so. Plus for all we know it could cause some form of awkward situation between Mattel and Bob behind the scenes that we'd not be aware of.

At this point I think what's done is done. In that as a customer you're either happy with the board or you're not. I wouldn't expect Mattel to do anything beyond what they have done.

Don't get me wrong however, I was disappointed that they didn't meet our expectations (though I'm now happy to have a project to work on and a nice base to work with), but I really do believe the main controversial spat between us and them is for the most part over in terms of getting anything out of it beyond a refund.
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I disagree. Matty always needs to be reminded of their failure on this project. They are notorious for sweeping issues under the rug and have easily gotten away with it because most of the time it had to do with MOTUC which is their own property. This time they were screwing up someone elses property and they were rightfully called out on it. Anything that Bob Gale says regarding the Hoverboard mess has to always be brought to their attention. It may not help since we're dealing with weasels like Scott Neitlich, but the effort should be made anyway.
 
MattmanReturns said:
I disagree. Matty always needs to be reminded of their failure on this project. They are notorious for sweeping issues under the rug and have easily gotten away with it because most of the time it had to do with MOTUC which is their own property. This time they were screwing up someone elses property and they were rightfully called out on it. Anything that Bob Gale says regarding the Hoverboard mess has to always be brought to their attention. It may not help since we're dealing with weasels like Scott Neitlich, but the effort should be made anyway.
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You misunderstand me. I don't disagree that they shouldn't be called out on their mistake. But it's been done. I don't know what you all expect at this point.

They wont publicly announce anything if they DO do something about this staff-wise, and publicly they've already given refunds and have been shamed by Bob Gale himself.

Anything more is just a waste of time, but if you DO wish to continue pasting replies on their forum, don't expect any sort of decent response. If you want a company to take you seriously, throwing things like that at them wont work.

In addition, I had a strong dislike for Scott at one point too, but don't you think it's a little low and unbecoming of us to target only him, calling him names like "weasel" and "rat" and other horrible terms, when at the end of the day he is at the hands of Mattel?

He may be responsible for misleading us, but at the end of the day, you have no idea who is telling him to say what. It seems wrong to blame him when we really don't know all the facts.

Yes it may very well be all his fault, or for all we know he may hate this as much as we do, being a corporate puppet for a product he may very well have been excited for himself.

I'd stick to blaming Mattel for moralities sake.
 
Benjamoose said:
In addition, I had a strong dislike for Scott at one point too, but don't you think it's a little low and unbecoming of us to target only him, calling him names like "weasel" and "rat" and other horrible terms, when at the end of the day he is at the hands of Mattel?

He may be responsible for misleading us, but at the end of the day, you have no idea who is telling him to say what. It seems wrong to blame him when we really don't know all the facts.

Yes it may very well be all his fault, or for all we know he may hate this as much as we do, being a corporate puppet for a product he may very well have been excited for himself.
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You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I still disagree. Mattel may have very well given him some rough guidance on what he could or couldn't say but I'm quite sure that Mattel didn't specifically instruct him to be a condescending d!@k in his smarmy replies to people on the forum. For that alone he has no business representing a legitimate company in any PR capacity, and deserves whatever negative opinions of him are being expressed.
 
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Spyhunter2k said:
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I still disagree. Mattel may have very well given him some rough guidance on what he could or couldn't say but I'm quite sure that Mattel didn't specifically instruct him to be a condescending d!@k in his smarmy replies to people on the forum. For that alone he has no business representing a legitimate company in any PR capacity, and deserves whatever negative opinions of him are being expressed.
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That being said, people can read a lot of what they wish in online messages in terms of how they are being spoken.

However I do agree that he could have handled a lot of things better.
 
You guys both have good points. At the end of the day, the final product is good enough. They screwed up the details like the stickers and the strap, and the price is a bit high, but it's not bad. It's good enough that a decal set and some fur makes a HUGE improvement.

But what really sticks out is how poorly Mattel has handled all this. Pre-Order customers should have known (within range of a few days) when they were gonna get their boards. They also should have gotten theirs BEFORE people who didn't pre-order. There shouldn't be people who have no idea if they're gonna be able to get the Pre-Order bonus they signed up for.

The whole "Refunds" policy should have been established from day one. It's really hard to take "If you don't like the board, just send it back and we'll make it right and send you a refund." when people requested refunds and were turned down, THEN Matty turns around and says "Anyone who wants to cancel their order can apply for pre-order cancellation".

They could have openly come out and gave a canned "We have noticed that many BTTF fans and collectors have been disappointed in our Hoverboard replica. We wanted to let you guys know we do appreciate your opinion, and we are sorry the final product did not live up to anticipation." early on, when the boards started shipping or when Bob Gale's letter hit, bit the bullet so to speak and gained a little good will from some fans.

At this point, i'm not even concerned about the final Hoverboard. It's not perfect, but I dig it. It's still really disappointing that even now, Mattel hasn't even shown the slightest bit of apathy toward the fans no matter how small. Nothing but "Well, it's your fault for not liking it.", and "Hey, we offered you a refund!" and "They're selling pretty well, and I really like the final product.".

Even the smallest bit of humility, even just a small note on the forums would have gone a long way.
 
Vinz said:
You guys both have good points. At the end of the day, the final product is good enough. They screwed up the details like the stickers and the strap, and the price is a bit high, but it's not bad. It's good enough that a decal set and some fur makes a HUGE improvement.

But what really sticks out is how poorly Mattel has handled all this. Pre-Order customers should have known (within range of a few days) when they were gonna get their boards. They also should have gotten theirs BEFORE people who didn't pre-order. There shouldn't be people who have no idea if they're gonna be able to get the Pre-Order bonus they signed up for.

The whole "Refunds" policy should have been established from day one. It's really hard to take "If you don't like the board, just send it back and we'll make it right and send you a refund." when people requested refunds and were turned down, THEN Matty turns around and says "Anyone who wants to cancel their order can apply for pre-order cancellation".

They could have openly come out and gave a canned "We have noticed that many BTTF fans and collectors have been disappointed in our Hoverboard replica. We wanted to let you guys know we do appreciate your opinion, and we are sorry the final product did not live up to anticipation." early on, when the boards started shipping or when Bob Gale's letter hit, bit the bullet so to speak and gained a little good will from some fans.

At this point, i'm not even concerned about the final Hoverboard. It's not perfect, but I dig it. It's still really disappointing that even now, Mattel hasn't even shown the slightest bit of apathy toward the fans no matter how small. Nothing but "Well, it's your fault for not liking it.", and "Hey, we offered you a refund!" and "They're selling pretty well, and I really like the final product.".

Even the smallest bit of humility, even just a small note on the forums would have gone a long way.
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DITTO.
 
Well surprise, surprise, Matty deleted the post I made and banned me from the website. So once again they do what they do best and attempt to sweep scandal under the rug.

As far as Scott not deserving some of the harsh things I and others have said about him, I would have agreed with that two or three years ago, but not now. If you are a collector of MOTUC like I am you would know that he has constantly made promises that all of the QC, shipping, and billing problems that have plagued that line were going to be fixed. Four years later the problems are worse than ever and whenever he is asked about them all you get is a snarky smart ass response.

Basically he is a weasel because when it comes to selling a subscription or pre-order, Scott promises the world, but once he has your money he believes that he is free and clear to deliver whatever kind of product that maximizes their profits and to hell with what was promised in the promotion. Once there is a backlash for false advertising he falls back on the excuse that they had to cut paint apps or lenticulars in order to stay within the original price point. Almost as if he was doing us a favor.

The man NEVER takes responsibilty for anything that goes wrong even though he is the brand manager. It's always the 4 horsemen, the design team, or the customers fault. It is beyond me that someone can be as unprofessional as he is and still hold a job in which PR is essential.
 
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I agree with Mattman, Mattel should answer to any extent that there was an issue and that they were willing to look at it so the same mistakes would not be made in the future. That is what their mission and goals corporate statement read to.
After all this time that they don't is telling that the corporate culture has changed and their customers are now low on their priorities. No matter how much you push or shove at this point, it is a lost cause if they have not by now addressed this situation. The best thing you can do is to note your dissatisfaction on other sites and trash their reputation as you are wasting your time dealing directly with Mattel.
That is how such issues might get acknowledge in the modern public relations world when a corporation does not listen to their customers directly.

It is a shame because the only manner in which it IS likely to get a good representation of the hoverboard is through Mattel given the licensing / logo incorporated into it's graphic design originally. So for the near time, fans will be stuck with a terrible representation of an iconic replica because Mattel does not truly care about a quality product. That is the fact as it stands presented by Mattel through their works and lack of customer communication.
 
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MattmanReturns said:
As far as Scott not deserving some of the harsh things I and others have said about him, I would have agreed with that two or three years ago, but not now. If you are a collector of MOTUC like I am you would know that he has constantly made promises that all of the QC, shipping, and billing problems that have plagued that line were going to be fixed. Four years later the problems are worse than ever and whenever he is asked about them all you get is a snarky smart ass response.
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I don't disagree about the way he responds but I do disagree about the way it's consistently him being blamed for the promises and product result.

He's doing exactly what his company expects of him. Making the product look appetizing to the customer. Yes this can make him seem like a liar if the product turns out less than expected, but I really wish people would stop with the assaults on him to the point of slandering his character when none of us truly know the man.

Yes, he comes across as a complete ass A LOT. But he's not the be all and end all of each project he's involved with, and there is clearly much more going wrong internally than just "the PR guy"


tripoli said:
No matter how much you push or shove at this point, it is a lost cause if they have not by now addressed this situation. The best thing you can do is to note your dissatisfaction on other sites and trash theior reputation as you are wasting your time dealing directly with Mattel.
That is how such issues might get acknowledge in the modern public relations world when a corporation does not listen to their customers directly.
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Exactly my point. If people want to show Mattel they are unhappy, it has to be done in a mature fashion, through reviews, formal complaints, and website reputation through site rating places.

Throwing aggression or petty forum squabbles at them does nothing.

I also agree that at this point it is a lost cause. If they were going to do something, they'd have done it by now.
 
Here is my Matty board with the upgrade kit from bttf123* and some white electrical tape for the border of the foot pad. :cool I still need to decide on shortening the foot strap but for now this is good enough.

hoverboard-small_zps408693cc.jpg
 
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After about a month of ownership here is my second opinion, I like it.

Its not perfect but it looks nice and will look even better after (if I get it) the upgrade. But simply from a collectors point of view its great. Any time there is a toy that is very limited in run, surrounded by controversy and falls into more then one catagory of collectors. (Mattel, toys, movie props, BTTF, ect) it hits all the points that make a item highly collectable. If this thing had come out looking exactly like the ones people make on ebay it would not be as collectable. I'm sure in 30 years it will be vauled very high.
 

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