Make Up Proceed with Caution • DiecastSociety.com

Make Up Proceed with Caution

The team has received a number of emails in regards to the latest news from Make Up – where is the news?  In short, we have taken the position to no longer support this brand.   That means there will be no further highlights that support news or reviews.  This decision was not taken lightly by no means, but the theatre, lack of support and dragging of one’s feet that transpired almost over a period of a year is by no means how any company should conduct itself, and extremely unanticipated for a Japanese company.  You can thank the Managing Director Mr. Hideyuki Uemoto and his awesome Chief of Sales section  Mr. Wataru Sasanuma (add sarcasm here).

There is no dispute Make Up can execute scale models.  If your heart is set on supporting such a brand, do it through an authorized retailer, and one you trust or have a good relationship with.  Otherwise, look elsewhere or proceed with extreme caution.  There will be no further discussion here.

Happy Collecting – DS Team

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39 Responses to "Make Up Proceed with Caution"

  1. Sam says:

    Please elaborate. MakeUp comprises a substantial portion of my current collection, and while their communication has never been the best, your announcement is lacking in specifics as to what they have or have not done to warrant your banishing them.

    • DS Team says:

      Glad you hear about your success rate with MU. This was the first and last transaction with MU, until our core member threatened legal action, and personally delivering the same to the Japanese consulate here in Canada did he see any traction.

      In the short, the team has forged many relationships throughout the years… This example is the worst ever. So many layers of doing the wrong thing. Email the dynamic duo noted earlier if you need more.

      • Sam says:

        Way to not answer my question. What about my success rate? I never mentioned it, primarily because I make most of my purchases from authorized dealers, as it is easier than dealing directly.

        And I don’t need to email the dynamic duo as they are not the ones making accusations in a public forum. So again, what did they do that was so egregious as to warrant this announcement? It must be pretty bad since this is was your first transaction with them.

        • DS Team says:

          Nothing more will be said. This post is for new or current collectors to make their buying decisions; depending on the channel to access proceed with caution.

  2. Roger Lodge says:

    I had no idea they were problematic but if they’re defrauding customers like Top Marques/GP Replicas then I’ll also happily put them on my do-not buy list. To me, it’s not worth buying models from badly behaving companies even if it’s done safely through a secondary retailer because when people knowingly do this they enable the company to keep up the bad behavior. Best to bleed them dry.

  3. Bryan says:

    I’ve had about 25 1/43 Make Up Porsches and have sold most of them save for a couple of the MVM 023 Paul Ricard Test car 964 RSR’s . Those were direct sales only , but I could never get Make Up to enter any of my orders so had to have a Japanese friend obtain them for me . Their models are generally exceptional , but this kind of confirms what I had seen with customer service .

  4. Mike Wiseman says:

    Only thing I can gather from this is MU doesn’t engage ethical customer relations with North America

  5. Steven Weiner says:

    Thanks for giving us the heads up on this.

  6. Dam says:

    But rassure me, the quality of their products is good, right?

    It just a problem of communication, right?

    Because I’d like to buy some 1/18 from their brand but after this press article I’m scared.

    • DS Team says:

      At this price point, we need to assume yes, though no one on our team has purchased one until this point. It was to be our first official review.

      • Timurlank says:

        You literally have a 1/18 idea countach review

        • DS Team says:

          This website has been running for 10+ years. There is a collection of reviews outside the immediate team, this is one of them. Thanks.

          • TIMURLANK says:

            No u write that review, and u made this answer up ameteurly, writer is clearly u someone from the team on exact post (https://diecastsociety.com/review-make-up-idea-lamborghini-countach-lp400s/) but im sure you will make up an answer again. You are throwing mud at a company and crying based on a personal deal and u cant even explain what happened. If you are right just basically f***** say what problem u had and therefore be convincing and also have some relief by taking your “revenge”, Your shady post and shady answers to comments here is all giving it off and everyone is able to see it!

            • DS Team says:

              The review is from LAMBODiecast.com by permission. It is clearly stated “Words and photos courtesy of LAMBODiecast.com”. There is no revenge here, it is clearly stating to proceed with caution if buying direct. Good day sir!

    • kenneybee says:

      i have a couple of 1.18 ,brought off ebay from japan no problem good service
      will buy again next time this way

  7. Andrew says:

    There products are the best I have ever bought. Just got 2 si ger dls from them and they are miles better quality wise than bbr/mr who are probably up there in the resin high end game. I too would like to know what happened as to stop advertising there upcoming models is a disappointment. I know you had been waiting a long time for your singers from them too so is it linked to that? A supply issue that’s put you out of favour with them?

  8. Bryan says:

    As I’ve said – I have not been able to buy direct from Make Up in spite of trying . The models however are mostly amazing . I can think of a couple models where they seemed to have gotten it wrong on 1/43’s ; the rear wheel arch on the 964 RS looks like a truck – just horrible , and the ’73 Penske and Brumos 911 RSR long tails which are undersized and look bad next to other models . The models are so expensive that there is no forgiving any error .
    Bryan

    • Porsche993 says:

      I have a few MU models and while the finishing is great, the accuracy of their models is a bit questionable. They do take creative liberties in replicating models.

  9. Papito says:

    For me it is now the other way around… DIECASTSOCIETY.COM PROCEED WITH CAUTION (my advice for new or current collectors)

    • DS Team says:

      As it should! But, as long as we help one collector not to go down the same path we have done our job.

      • Steven Weiner says:

        Just letting you know that you guys at DS do a great job overall. I am very thankful for all the information you have provided since I joined about a year ago. Keep up the good work!

  10. Joel says:

    What a divo situation. The publication and the answers on the comment box from the DS team embarrassed me.

  11. Quant says:

    Without any specifics it remains guessing what exactly transpired, but I must say that in general I can always rely on my credit card company. When I’m not satisfied with a purchase (e.g. not delivered, damaged during transport, article not as promised), I’ve always been able to get a refund via my credit card.

    You ask nice twice, the third time a bit more firm, and if no resolution is reached, the credit card firm offer resolution, without having to take (time consuming) legal action.

  12. Tammy says:

    It’s an very convincing article, though I still don’t know what is going on.

  13. Marcus says:

    I don’t understand why people are hateful. I don’t know what it is but thanks for the heads up. Don’t comment if you’re going to be rude.

  14. I am an AUTHORIZED Make Up reseller in the USA. Although I agree with the lack of communication, once they are on board, then everything is good!

  15. simon says:

    Then please also stop supporting MR/Looksmart (did you ever try emailing them?) or even AutoArt for that matter…

    • DS Team says:

      In our 10-plus years, we’ve had many conversations and interactions with the mentioned brands, more so AUTOart. No issues. Nothing, nothing near to what transpired with MU. Thanks.

  16. Mark says:

    For most collectors (especially anyone outside of Japan) if they’re into this brand they’d be buying MU models from dealers or retailers, not directly.

    So unfortunately, without any details of what actually transpired or how you were treated which involved threating legal action against MU, I don’t see how this would affect most collectors who would not ever deal with MU themselves.

    I know many dealers and I’ve heard many stories over the years, of how they were treated, shafted and screwed by certain brands and subsequently stopped reselling their models. And honestly this post sounds similar to these stories, just with MU now as the offender. In short, many brands have behaved badly in the past that have not been posted about. Those of us who speak to the people who deal with these companies would know.

    It sucks (what sounds like) you had a very bad experience dealing with them, and respect if you choose not to discuss further, but this post is asking us to judge the brand based on a bad experience with their management, instead of the models themselves or quality or other issues more relevant to the collector. Just my 2cent.

    • DS Team says:

      Again, our position was to forewarn potential buyers to steer away from buying direct… There was zero impact on their level of model executing, as we as a team have seen their examples by photos only. BUT if they would pull the shenanigans with us, what would they do with someone with little to no influence?

      Yes, we are in agreement. Some brands are shady, but the overall experience for use over the last 10+ years has been mostly positive. Make Up is by far the worst experience ever. And we aren’t saying this without merit or evidence to back up our postion.

      • Ed says:

        I have been dealing with MakeUp for several years now and I agree that they might not be the easiest company to work with. If there is an issue, and I might have had a problem 3-4 times over a 5+ year period, It might take several emails and time, ultimately they do take care of things. The issues were always transport damage and never a quality issue with the model itself. I deal with Mr. Wataru Sasanuma exclusively and I do believe that there is also a language barrier, even with Google Translate. I have always been treated respectfully. I am sorry you had such a bad experience, but to decide on never offering any more reviews of their models seems a bit harsh.

        They produce some of the most beautiful and intricate models and it is a shame not to give collectors reviews or information about new releases.

        As Mark mentioned, many manufacturers have behaved badly in the past, you still offer reviews and news of their product. Yes, you should tell collectors about your bad experience, but it should be ultimately the collectors decision to purchase or not purchase their models based on your experience.

        I very much enjoy your publication and value your insight. I believe your readers would appreciate seeing your reviews and news reports on MakeUp models. I really hope you will reconsider.

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