Limhwa loses contact with Dollfair

From Limhwa:

I inform you that do not make orders on limhwa.com because I lost contact with her anymore. limhwadoll | 2011·04·25 16:57 | HIT : 82 | VOTE : 1 | Hello.
It is almost one month that limhwadoll completed the delivery of Catherin (dollfair)’s last order.
Before delivery, she gave another order list and severed contact without paying at all.
To Catherin (dollfair), I asked to get refund all on the orders after the last completion of the delivery. In addition, I asked to shut orders on USA site of limhwa.com.
It seems like that orders are impossible on the USA site (limhwa.com), so I thought that she refunded everything.
However, lately, some customers sent me mails.
I was shocked and disappointed a lot by Catherin (dollfair)’s irresponsible acts.
I am not member of Don of Angels Club.
Therefore, it is hard to me to know the news of those days. Is there anyone to help me to join the club?
I wrote this that there is no way to inform.
I inform you that do not make orders on limhwa.com because I lost contact with her anymore.
In addition, I have no way to contact with her if she cuts the contact.
I only know to know about creation dolls, am hurting and suffering from those people betrayed. I am so sorry to write this

It appears that no orders can be made through Limhwa.com at the moment (there’s a warning that “the account is off-line”), but it seems best to for now also refrain from trying to place orders for Limhwa dolls at Dollfair through email or other means.

Limhwa

Ok I was debating writing here or not.... but Catrina played the same game with the Narin customers. Replying here and there to give people a little hope but it seems what she's really doing is dragging things out until you cannot get a refund from paypal, then dragging things out some more until you cannot do a chargeback through your credit card company.

Believe what you want about Catrina, but also be aware that there are 30+ other doll lovers on DoA that have not heard from Catrina for months, and the ONLY reason they are getting anything resolved is because the artist is paying for the fulfillment of the orders out of his own pocket.

I know some of the Limhwa dolls have shown up, I'm very happy for those people, but also keep in mind that this is your money at stake here.... Catrina has been monitoring her Limhwa Yahoo group like someone who has something to hide.

Keep in mind that Anita of Sleetweath, Paul Pham, LillyCats, Marina of Enchanted Doll, and Bimong have all claimed to have serious issues with Catrina. These people aren't customers, they are artists who have been fooled, lied to and stolen from by Catrina.

If you currently have a Limhwa order I would at least consider at this point doing a Paypal or Credit/Debit card chargeback, before it's too late.

I really don't know what else to say. How many people does Catrina have to lie to and defraud before others realize that she's become a person that isn't deserving of trust? There's already 30 not including artists. Will it take 50? 60? 100? How many thousands of dollars?

I really hope I'm way off the mark here and that Limhwa customers won't end up like the Narin ones.... but at this point it looks the same.

Good luck.

Some Good News!

Bimong has gotten 3 Neferti heads on their way home! 

I still urge you to file against Dollfair if you still have not received your refund/doll so that others that come after you don't have to relive your story.

For People Who Are Not on DoA and Have Problems

Hey this is a response to a comment someone posted, I want the non-DoA members to be able to find resolution as well. Please read and follow the following directions. If you are on DoA and have an unfilled order with Dollfair and have NOT gotten a refund please also fill this out. Please note that Bimong is NOT giving people refunds, he is only making the dolls.

Please go to this webpage and create an ID:
http://www.art-bimong.com/register/step2.php

Then after you have done that, fill this form out and send it to bimong74@gmail.com:

art-bimong.com 's ID :
DoA name (if you have one):

Name :
Head Type :
Body (girl,boy, None (only head) ) :
Skin type (No more make pinky white) :
Etc (Make up, Ear piercing , sanding....) :
Address :
Telephone number :
Payment proof files : 

For the "Payment proof files" you can take a screenshot of the paypal payment to Dollfair. 

How to File a Police Report

Why Should I File? 

Definition of internet fraud:
A crime in which the perpetrator develops a scheme using one or more elements of the Internet to deprive a person of property or any interest, estate, or right by a false representation of a matter of fact, whether by providing misleading information or by concealment of information."
Catrina has committed fraud, and continues to with hold thousands of dollars (your dollars) in refunds. The total known amount just from the customers who post on DoA is $15,000, this number does not even include people who are not a member of the forums. When you file you are not only standing up for yourself and your rights, but you are also helping other people who are in the same situation as you. The more reports that are filed, the greater the results will be. 

Which Police Department Should I File With? 

Your local police. If you don't know their number you can easily find it on Google, just enter the name of the city you live in followed by "police department". So my google search would look like "Jacksonville,FL police department", when you go to your local department's home page, you should see a "non-emergency" number listed, that is the number you call to file a report. Depending on where you live you may be able to fill a report out online, or over the phone, however you may have to go directly to the station to file a report as well.

Ok, So I Filed with My Police Department, How Does That Do Anything in Ohio? 

Your local police will then contact the Berea, Ohio police department to follow up with your report. The Berea Police will then be able to investigate the case.

This is why every report filed matters. If the Berea Police get 20 phone calls from other police departments about the same person/business they will NOTICE. 

Awesome! What Else Can I Do to Help Myself and Others?

1) You should consider writing to or calling Tom Meyer of WKYC, Berea's local investigative reporter, who covers stories like ours. I think it would really help to get something going on a local level.  216-344-3464 tommeyer@wkyc.com


2) Please, if you will, write to the newspaper reporter, Joanne DuMound who I have written to and give her your account of what's happened in your experience with Dollfair. You do NOT have to currently have an outstanding order with Dollfair to write to her, any information is welcome. 
jdumound@sunnews.com


3) (more to come later today)

Doll Reader + News About Catrina

Someone posted the following on the DoA forums. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I thought it was blog worthy so here it is: 

"I wasn't going to post here anymore but yes, I do know something about this and if she does relocate I will be straight in my car to see her personally and get a bl**dy explanation for you all. I haven't aired this before because it seemed like personal information and I still don't know if I should be making it public, but Catrina, when she phoned me back at the end of November, said that she was seeing a man who lived just down the coast from me here in North Wales and asked if I could find out anything about resin casting in the UK because she was thinking of relocating. I have been very puzzled when her husband has been mentioned so much lately as she gave me the impression she has been with this man for some time, perhaps the husband is a business partner? Not really relevant I suppose.

I do wonder if she is thinking of re-registering her business in the UK and trying to wipe off all these debts? I don't even know if that is possible. Sorry if the mods feel this is inappropriate, I'm just responding to a direct question from someone who is still owed money. Please remove if this is inappropriate."

Here is the article (sent by another person who got the issue of Doll Reader) who retyped the article and was kind enough to send it to me so I could post it here! 

Doll Reader article: 

BJDs MADE EASY
Dollfair brings artist's works from around the world to your doorstep.

Dollfair International, one of the leading names in the BJD market today, ensures the work of Korean and European doll artists is easily accessible to all collectors. Representing names like Limhwa Doll of Korea and Cerisedolls by artist Lillycat of France, Dollfair offers collectors some of the most highly sought after and hard to find BJDs around.

Just two years ago, Dollfair began working with a select number of dealers, jointly producing special custom limited editions via its Enchantment Doll line. The first partner was The Doll Market of Greensboro, N.C. "This is an exciting collaboration between artists and retailers to develop a custom identity and look for each shop, in the spirit of creativity expressed with ball-jointed dolls," says Catherine Sanders, CEO and creative director of Dollfair.

Cristy Stone of Xtreme Doll, who is well recognized for her amazing face-ups, has recently partnered with Dollfair, and last year Dollfair announced its own production of dolls by Marina Bychkova of Enchanted Dolls. Today, Dollfair is now opening its doors to producing dolls for other artists worldwide.

For 2011, Dollfair plans to open a second location in Wales, United Kingdom, making accessibility even easier by shipping dolls within the European Union. It's not always easy to locate that perfect BJD, and if you've found it, it's not always easy to get. Dollfair's relationships with artists worldwide and ease of access make the search for that perfect BJD just that much easier.

[ ] Dollfair International, 278 Karl St, Berea, OH, 440-239-0723, dollfair.com

Chargebacks, Catrina's Yahoo Posts, Bimong

First I have some great news! One of the members who filed a charge back through their credit card company was refunded! Once again I will say this: If you paid with a credit or debit card through Paypal you can still call your bank or credit card company and file a charge back. You can do this by either going to or calling your bank OR you can call the number listed on the back of your credit card. It's very easy. 


Secondly, I had a conversation with Bimong tonight on Skype about the Dollfair orders that he is very kindly sending out for people even though he did not receive full payment from Catrina for the orders. He has said that some dolls should be shipping out as soon as next week. I will also be helping him file a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General's Office over the next few days, as he is owed the most money and I hope that it will spur them into action. I will keep you updated as best I can in regards to doll shipments from him. 
PLEASE keep in mind that even though Bimong is kind enough to do this, that as the person who accepted your money, Catrina is ultimately legally responsible, if you have not already please FILE A COMPLAINT with the Ohio Attorney General's Office.... THIS WILL HELP FUTURE PEOPLE AVOID FALLING INTO THE SAME TRAP AS YOU. People not doing anything against her in the past is what got us to where we are today with this mess, now is the time to stop her once and for all. 


Lastly, Catrina who is posing as "Jo Ross" has a Yahoo! Group running for Limhwa, all negative posts about her or Dollfair are promptly deleted and I fear for the people who are currently ordering from Limhwa. 


Here is her most recent post, which contains nothing but more excuses... and it HORRIFIES me that she would still continue business like usual when she still has so many hurt and distressed customers who she still owes around $15,000 in refunds to. One of the members of the Narin thread was awesome enough to add up all the order amounts and this is the approximate number. Bimong has reported that there are no legal actions being taken against him by Dollfair, so most of the post seems to be a blatant lie, but I will post it here for everyone to read. 


The post, made by Catrina on her Yahoo! Group (thank you to the person who has kept me updated on the Yahoo! Group situation)


Hello xxxxxxxx,

Limhwadoll in Korea has no connection to Bimong or Narin Doll. In fact the two of them have never gotten along well. we have been working with Limhwa now for 5 years and everything has always been fine and her work is always impressive.

Due to legal actions we have been forced to take against certain persons in Korea, we have been asked by our lawyer not to comment further. There is a lot of misinformation out there and it's hard for me not to be able to say anything. 

Due to all the refunds we issued, our merchant Visa/ Mastercard got unhappy about all the money they had to pay back... 
and so we were forced to switch to a new merchant system with a local bank. So good news is we can soon take payments by Discover as well as Visa and Mastercard. Bad news for me was that the merchant system we had for six years locked me out of the database when it switched. So I am waiting now for hard copies so I can resume shipping some overdue items (none of which are Limhwa as you know).
In the past, we never needed to refund more than a handful of things per year, so you cannot imagine what a headache this has been. 

But I want to assure you everything has been fine with Limhwa and as usual her orders arrive and are beautiful. 

Limhwa orders taken before the next ordering period starts take the longest to arrive. We are just about to begin a new ordering period which will last one week. 

Limhwa dolls can also be seen at IDEX later this week and will be featured in the Doll Reader Debut of Dolls issue being unveiled at IDEX. 

thank you
Jo Ross