REBOR general discussion

[Dobber]

Wtf?? So the "accuracy crowd" gets stupid bust fridge magnets while everyone else gets full figures. Seems a bit like a slap in the face. Or a kick in the....

I agree with others...who the hell is running this company?

Chris

[Patrx]

Those ceratopsians look kind of nice, but they're not all that accurate. The jugal flanges, in Triceratops and Styracosaurus at least, weren't like horns, they were muscle attachment sites. They should be less prominent than they appear in these reconstructions.

[suspsy]

Things have been very nasty on REBOR's FB page lately. Whoever their representative is (I'm pretty sure he's the same one who got banned twice from here), he doesn't seem to grasp a number of things. Namely, the long-held principle that good customer service means not resorting to anger and insults, no matter how harshly people are speaking about your products. He also insisted that "museum quality" and "scientific accuracy" are not the same. And he insisted that the majority of dinosaur fans are the "AWESOMEBRO" types that don't care about scientific accuracy and want movie monsters instead of real animals. I think the popularity of Battat and CollectA and Safari Ltd say otherwise.

And I might as well share the worst part. I stated in the FB thread that even if REBOR did start making more scientifically accurate products, I still wouldn't buy them because I'm too put off by the rude and immature behaviour I've observed from them over the last year. A harsh thing to say, I admit, but I'd do the exact same with any company that acts the way they do towards people who don't agree with them. They need to wake up and start behaving like mature adults.

I guess that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, because the REBOR representative's response was something very profane and nasty. It's been deleted from the thread, and I am no longer able to post there anymore, but I did get a screenshot of the exchange. Which I will not share here.

I want to make it clear I don't begrudge anyone here who does enjoy REBOR's products. Some of the more recent ones, like the Dimorphodons and the Acrocanthosaurus, look genuinely good. I simply don't have any stomach for anyone who constantly behaves so badly.

[JurassicGeek09]

It looks like you caught someone's attention with that because at least one customer has said, on their page, that they're giving Rebor up.

[Victoria's Cantina]

I think whoever's running the communications and publicity aspect of Rebor probably never got trained in communication, customer service, or the social media aspect of open-line dialogue with customers. Plus, there's what seems to be something of a language barrier. I think perhaps they do not fully understand what they are writing in posts like these, though that is just a guess.  And even if that's the case, that's why you have checks and balances by people who ensure you're representing the brand positively and in a way that promotes consumer confidence.  I've been a big fan of Rebor's product and have reviewed most of their line on my channel, but admittedly, this sort of thing really turns me off with any company.

[suspsy]

They're a UK company, so I'm not sure there's any language barrier as far as English is concerned.

[JurassicGeek09]

I think whoever's running the communications and publicity aspect of Rebor probably never got trained in communication, customer service, or the social media aspect of open-line dialogue with customers. Plus, there's what seems to be something of a language barrier. I think perhaps they do not fully understand what they are writing in posts like these, though that is just a guess.  And even if that's the case, that's why you have checks and balances by people who ensure you're representing the brand positively and in a way that promotes consumer confidence.  I've been a big fan of Rebor's product and have reviewed most of their line on my channel, but admittedly, this sort of thing really turns me off with any company.

There's no way you could misunderstand dropping f-bombs unless you're from another planet

[stargatedalek]

After quickly skimming through the Facebook discussion I can understand why they initially responded the way they did. Some of the earlier complaints (including the one posted on the previous page) are frankly poorly written and could very easily have came across as attempts to troll. I admit I probably would have responded similarly to those comments, where REBOR screwed up was in letting themselves get worked up over this and then taking it out on other people who were actually making intelligible comments.

[suspsy]

The crucial difference being that there's not a single natural history museum in the world that deliberately sets out to create inaccurate dinosaur restorations based on Hollywood instead of science. And generally, those museums that do still display outdated skeletal mounts or models only do so because they lack the funding to replace or revamp their exhibits.

And I'm not buying this "REBOR doesn't understand English properly" argument. Where are people getting this from?

[DinoToyForum]

Stay on topic.  The museum quality discussion thread is here: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2556.0

[Mr. Challenger]

Wow! What a mess...I followed the discussion on facebook and I need to say that I don't aprove the Rebor's guy attitude because he gets really rude but...sorry, I understand him a little at the same time.
I don't understand the necessity of criticize and complain about everything, I find it extremely annoying and inmature, and for me is also a real lack of respect for the creators of the figures and their artistic an creative decisions. If you don't like their figures for whatever reason don't buy them, that's fine and it's enough.
I don't know, if someone says that type of things about my handmade figures...well, that will be sad and frustating for me as a creator. And it will be even worse if someone uses pictures of another creator's/company's work and say me "you are wrong, this is how you must do your things if wou want to keep me as a buyer" like someone did with other words on that facebook discussion. That's the worst way to suggest anything to a young company with a lot of work to do and tons of things to learn.

[Patrx]

I don't know, if someone says that type of things about my handmade figures...well, that will be sad and frustating for me as a creator.

The thing is, people are allowed to get frustrated or upset. Companies are not. That's just basic PR. This rep might be wise to use his own personal account for the airing of certain grievances, not the company name.

[suspsy]

I can totally understand why he's so combative and emotional. No one enjoys having their work criticized, let alone denigrated. There isn't a single human being on the planet who's not that way. And accuracy issues aside, REBOR's products are unquestionably impressive in terms of sculpting.

That said . . . as a company, REBOR simply can't afford to be fighting fire with fire all the time, whether they're insulting their detractors directly or openly encouraging their supporters to do so. I could be wrong, but I don't believe Battat, CollectA, Hasbro, Papo, Safari, Schleich, Sideshow, or any other popular companies ever engage in such pointless, harmful behaviour. Probably because they realize it's a no-win situation. REBOR needs to realize that too.

[Erwinonychus]

They just announced a carnotaurus in september!!!  and the 1:35 magnets (which will be sold together) in summer

[Patrx]

...accuracy issues aside, REBOR's products are unquestionably impressive in terms of sculpting.

That's definitely true, I've consistently said so Whoever they've got working on the actual sculpts is talented indeed.

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I don't know, if someone says that type of things about my handmade figures...well, that will be sad and frustating for me as a creator.

The thing is, people are allowed to get frustrated or upset. Companies are not. That's just basic PR. This rep might be wise to use his own personal account for the airing of certain grievances, not the company name.

Exactly. if your putting yourself out there in front of people you have to deal with them in the most pleasant manner you can even if inside you want to strangle them ( I've had a few years of personal experience here) .  Companies don't want to faceless but the people representing them have to wear a good mask.

This being posts on facebook and not in person, the easiest thing they could have done was to delete the offending message and ignore it.  Of course drama does encourage a lot of traffic to your page..

[MLMjp]

Rebor has posted "a message to their haters " in Facebook about one hour ago......

[Dobber]

...accuracy issues aside, REBOR's products are unquestionably impressive in terms of sculpting.

That's definitely true, I've consistently said so Whoever they've got working on the actual sculpts is talented indeed.

As have I, I just wish they would apply their talent in a different way. I really don't think they would loose any of their JP style fans either. But that's just me. Glad to here about the Carno.....wish we could here about the Allo too.

Chris

[suspsy]

REBOR has just posted the following on their FB page:

Haters listen up, we don't even care about so called "public relationship" because by your logic it means you can say whatever stupid things you want and we can't even talk back. We are burning our own cash to make figures for those fans and collectors who truly appreciate our works, if you think we are begging you to buy our products, think again. So if you **** us/our fans off, we are not going play nice with you, savvy?

Guys it seems as a "professional company" we are not allowed to drop f-bombs on those *********, so now you have our full permission and support to do so on this page for us, enjoy!

. . . I think they must be having a nervous breakdown.

[stargatedalek]

Yeesh these people have really gone off the deep end. I'm calling nonsense on the claim that they are loosing money on this, if they were they wouldn't have been at it for this long.  The actually managed to make me think they changed, but obviously they have not.