Cast-a-Way Toys: PLEASE READ

[shellhead]

Guys

I was goggling cast-a-way toys last night and found this site called
day2day trading with this:

BE AWARE OF THESE FRAUDULENT COMPANIES WHOM ARE PARTNERS
Gohero
CAST-A-WAY TOYS
Executive Replicas
THEY ORDER GOODS AND DO NOT PAY FOR THEM.
GOHERO, CAST-A-WAY TOYS - OWNER STEVE FORDE
CLAIMED TO HOLD THE LICENSE FOR RAY HARRY HARRYHAUSEN PRODUCTS AND CHEATED HIS TRUST FUND. RECIVED GOODS THAT HE DID NOT PAY THE FACTORY. CHEATED KING FEATURE AND LARRY BUSTER CRABB FAMILY. BE WARNED
CAST-A-WAY TOYS. ORDERD PRODUCTS THAT HE HAS NOT PAID FOR. AND CLAIMS THAT THE FACTORY TRIED TO SELL HIS TOOLING. THEY HAVE BEEN DESTROYED FOR FAILURE TO PAY FOR GOODS ORDERD AND RECEIVED BY DAVID LEE OWNER.
EXECTUTIVE REPLICAS - OWNER WINSTON DUNLOP
PARTNER OF GOHERO
FAILED TO PAY FOR HIS GOODS.
REPORTED GOODS STOLEN IN USA TO AVOID PAYING.
CHEATED TRIAD TOYS AND CLAIMED THAT TRIAD TOYS WAS THE CHEAT
TRIAD TOYS ARE A REPUTABLE COMPANY UNLIKE THE NAMES MENTIONED ABOVE.
These companies are now using stolen money from products they have not paid for with ZICA TOYS.

Is this the guys holding Cast-A-Way molds?

[shellhead]

Here is the link to the day2day site.Toy Manufacturer|Wholesale Toys|Toy Distributors|Baby toy|Game Toy|Box Toy|Plush toy|Children Toy

I was blown away when I saw this, and frankly, it sounds like a bunch of B.S. and I feel bad that the Cast-a Way guys are having to deal with this.
Good luck guys, and I hope you can get your tooling back before these scumbags destroy them.

[pmwasson]

So day2day complains about GoHero but yet has images of their toys all over the website?
I agree that it smells pretty bad.

[MEGO_SUPERMAN]

Need some made-in-the-USA manufacturing!

I've been playing with at-home manufacturing (laser-cutter, 3D printer, vinyl cutter). There are some new developments on the horizon for 3D printing that should make high-quality models affordable. There are also very affordable CNC mills that can make metal molds for injection molding. For small-run hobby markets, we really need to bring it back to the US.

Buy American! Well the truth of the matter is while we want to say we will do that....we dont. We want bargains, we want hight quality and a cheap price. The 2 do not go together here in the US with regard to manufacturing. The general public would never support it. It is unfortunate. I would buy American made toys and pay more for them because they were made here. But here we have to follow laws for workers and EPA. In China...they are not bound by those limits...additionally the way they manipulate the currency.....it makes them the best deal in town.

If just one company would do it.....find a way to do it. We could support it.....get it out to the press....let them run with it...and start a ground swell of support. Unfortunately you need money to start it...and the support would only come after the fact.

Some day this will happen......I just hope we all put our money where our mouth is when that day comes and put our buying power solidly behind that ambitious group and get it done.

[drmego]

This guy is saying that Steve Forde owns Castaway?

I think that must be a mistake unless GoHero is a silent partner
in Castaway?

[MEGO_SUPERMAN]

I think this is a case of taking an opportunity to slam a bunch of people at once. I hate to see all this "adult" stuff associated with toys. "It ain't Show Friends its Show Business."

[timb]

That is jacked up. I hope our Castaway boys come out on top with this mess.

[hedrap]

Translating the pigeon english, maybe Forde bought in. None of my business, but it's the last line that I can't make heads/tails of.

"Stolen money" - stuff they've sold. But, what the hell does that have to do with ZICA?

If everyone is dealing with the same plant, a problem was inevitably going to develop at some point.

Mexico has a number of plants that can do this, but the volatility and retention rates have always been uneasy.

[gaga4toyz]

conspiracy theory anyone?
(small independent toy companies unite and take advantage of agent in Singapore.) This just isn't how it works guys. The factory holds all the cards and you get what you get, if and when the factory decides to send something to you.

You send the factory money to make your molds. You send the factory half of the production balance to start your order. The factory finishes your order and you pay them the 2nd half of the production balance before any product is shipped. The factory now has thousands of your dollars and your molds. There's really no way for the little guy to get one over on the factory. In summary the factory's have an established way for the customer to place an order with them, payment terms where the factory gets payed before product leaves China. Legitimate factories don't send product out without first getting paid. There are plenty of good factories that operate the way they should in China, unfortunately we haven't worked with them yet.

This company never wanted to put anything in writing, wanted all exchanges to be on the phone, and manufactured product we never asked for and never approved. Ever heard of a shake down? If you don't buy this product I made for you that you didn't ask for, didn't receive a quote for, didn't see pictures of or receive samples for, then I'm going to sell your molds. Now he says our molds are destroyed. This too doesn't make sense. That still wouldn't get them paid for what was allegedly owed to them. I'm sure we'll see our body, and parts being sold again by someone else. When the new owner of our molds is questioned they'll say they had their own molds made.

Stuff that was released by Go-Hero is still being sold on the site and in the states without license approval and payment. That doesn't sound like the practices of a real legal business does it. Auctions for this product has also been pulled from ebay auctions for not having the license.

We never had any contact with Go-Hero, executive replicas inc, or Zica toys until after things already went bad for us. We've since had conversations with each of these companies to share our similar bad experiences. We do however hope to have future dealings with companies after speaking with them. Steve Forde is the owner of Go-Hero. He doesn't have any ownership in Castaway silent or otherwise.

[jimsmegos]

For whatever it's worth I'm making some notes/calls to my U.S. Representative (Steve Womack) and U.S. Senator (John Boozman ) to bring the issue to their attention. I don't know if it will help but I figure I didn't do all the political smoozing last November for nothing. I don't have the highest hopes for real results but I do know they will actually talk to me (and do) so I'll use the ear I've earned for the greater Toy Maker good! I'll update as soon as I hear back from them.

[MEGO_SUPERMAN]

Guys thank you for clarification. Your candid openess is welcomed. Karma is a *****. And eventually it will come back to them. And all the good you have done will swing back to you. I wish you all the best and will be right there to support you in your endevors.

Go Cast-A-Away!

[David Lee]

Jason nailed it...

I would add two things; We purposely did not name Day2Day in our press release, they outed themselves, and did so in a ridiculous way I might add. We are not worried what they have to say about us, we know what really happened, and that it happend to other good toy companies, and at the end of the day we sleep good.

Secondly, if you will allow me to be analogous, it's like the guy or gal we all know who's been married 3-4 times. Now the odds that they found 4 of the craziest people on Earth to marry seems unlikely, and in the end they are the common denominator in these marriages gone wrong. But let's take CAT out of the equation for a second; Go Hero?, Executive Replicas?, Zica Toys?... these are all stand up, make cool things, do right by people toy companies. Ask yourself this; Does this make sense? We all conspired to defraud Day2Day? Sadly, it's just the opposite, good American companies got screwed by Day2Day... plain and simple.

In the end we have made some great contacts through this and seen who our friends are. The toy industry in general has been great to us, and the 8 inch community flat out saved our bacon! Despite the crimes committed, we are inspired and even more committed to bring the good stuff to you! This was a setback, for sure, but we are gonna battle back and be leaner and meaner for it...

Thanks again for all the support!

-Dave

[ZICA]

Yeah, what Jason and David said pretty much nails the reality of the situation. My company got involved with Day2Day Trading when I was working on the 3.75" Midnight Men action figures. Though I was guaranteed professional service and a high quality product I never received either. In the end I lost two very expensive prototypes and a rather large sum of money.

[Chris]

Castaway, Zica and Go Hero are phenominal companies. I'm so sorry to see you guys going through this. It's like you are dealing with children.

[hedrap]

I don't think anyone was questioning your (plural) dealings with D2D. It's pretty easy to tell, as David's example, that what happened according to D2D is not possible. But the way they were trying to conflate the companies confused a number of us.

With the clarification, it's easy to see they were doing it to try and create a plausible defense. For example, they know it's not credible that four individual companies could shaft them, but turn it into a series of fronts, and they can act duped.