Milanie Cleere, Oompa’s CEO, is at the future retail store to answer questions about toy customization, charitable contributions and when the store will open. She also reviews the most recent additions to our P’Kolino collection.
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For two years I was hesitant to bring Plan City into Oompa Toys. For me, there was something wrong with the toy figures - they’re not accurately proportioned for any of the Plan City buildings or cars - they’re too big - especially when compared to the cars. It’s like seeing Yao Ming standing next to a Smart Car. Visually, it’s just off.
I like proportion, order, for things to be just right. (Yeah, I have a little OCD going on.) Still, I make it a point to listen to customers. When dozens sent e-mails and called us asking why we didn’t carry Plan City, I had to relent - regardless of the strange, oddly proportioned toy people.
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Plan City has been an enormous hit with Oompa customers and my own kids. Admittedly, as the months have passed and I’ve had more opportunities to play with the airport, parking garage and crane with my son, I started to appreciate the collection more and more. I like the attention to detail, how sturdy these toys are, and how eco-friendly Plan Toys is as a company.
So, enjoy! But know that the wooden people in the Plan City collection don’t fit inside the cars!
- Milanie
A few months ago we sold a Classic Red Trike from ItalTrike to ABC. They used it in the season premiere episode titled “brothers and sisters…” which airs August 25th - September 7th. Our tricycles’ cameos are at the end of the episode when the two rival characters are racing for the Greek Olympics.
View the episode here: here.
Thanks ABC Family for thinking Oompa Toys!
- Milanie
We’re spending the day at Madison’s free public zoo, Henry Vilas to hang out with some polar bears and penguins, as well as introduce our new gorgeous wooden animal figures, the Cheekeyes. Customer service questions are also answered, relating to wholesale accounts, why the site won’t let you increase a quantity and what to do about mistakenly placed orders.
We’re off to the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art to answer customer service questions about the availability of holiday gift wrap and the possibility of new electronic gift cards. Eco-Friendly brand Fleurville is highlighted, along with their hip and durable line of bags for children.
We’re off to the UW Arboretum in Madison to answer questions about the grand opening of our retail space, and the Haba Walker Wagon. Lovable hand-knit Peruvian Blabla dolls are also highlighted.
We answer questions about defective items, and how to return or an item if you have lost your return/exchange form. New kid’s furniture brand 10 Grain is introduced, bringing with it hip, modern designs and a playful spirit.
Whoo hoo! Our shipment of new Vilac toys and cars arrived last week! Thanks to Billy and Rebecca, they’re now on our site. These toys were made in France and are super cute. One of these days I’ll find some time to blog about my visit to Vilac’s factory in eastern France. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy these new additions to the Oompa Family!
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- Milanie
Milanie speaks about our new products from the Morrocan based company Zid Zid and answers customer questions about returned merchandise and sales tax.
Milanie discusses the well known German tricycle maker, Kettler and all our new site features to make comparing and assembling the tricycles as fun and easy as possible.
MyRegistry.Com is a great idea! Having baby? Getting married? No need to register at several different stores. Visit myregistry.com, create an account, add items and share your registry with friends and family. From a user perspective it’s great! For us, unfortunately, the ride has been pretty bumpy.
Here’s the problem… People create an account on myregistry.com and add items that Oompa Toys carries. When someone clicks on those items, they’re taken to our web site - which is great. We appreciate the links and referrals. Unfortunately, none of the shipping information from myregistry.com is sent over when people click away from their site.
You’d think all the shipping information would carry over to our site, right? Makes sense. If we weren’t dealing with children, yes, it would make sense - especially if the person who registered wants to share their shipping information. But when children are involved - the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act kicks in. None of the shipping information is sent our way. This is intended to protect the privacy of the children for whom the gifts are intended.
That shipping information from myregistry.com doesn’t carry over to our site has been a source of frustration for quite a few people. I just fielded a call from a customer in CA. She placed an order on Oompa.Com and entered her own billing and shipping information. She thought the gift would be sent to the myregistry.com recipient. She was upset and demanded a refund of the shipping charges she incurred to forward the gift to the recipient. Our policy is to refund shipping charges only when there was an error on our part. 
So, please note, if you find Oompa Toys through myregistry.com, you’ll need to provide your billing information and the shipping information of the recipient when you’re ready to check out.
Milanie answers customer service questions from State Street in downtown Madison, WI. She responds to Lalie (from outside the contiguous United States) question about shipping surcharges and Ivy (from Virginia) question about price matching. Sam joins us to play with Bajo wooden cars from Poland.
We leave the warehouse and head over to the Madison Museum of Modern Art to answer customer service questions about our product reviews, drop ship products and the French Kitchen.
My oldest child, Nick, just got his driver’s license. This is one of the scariest moments in my life as a mother so far. It’s scarier than when he jumped a culvert on his bike and needed stitches (thank goodness for helmets!). It’s scarier than when he tried to slam jam a basketball through the hoop like Michael Jordan, fell on the concrete, and fractured his arm. I want to keep him safe without smothering him. So when my husband and I were deciding which vehicle he should use, safety was our number one priority. However, I couldn’t afford a new Volvo, and the rear-wheel drive system on a Volvo isn’t always the best in a Wisconsin winter, 
so we decided on a used 1999 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab with four-wheel drive. Not only does it have airbags, it appealed to my son’s sense of style. Here was a nice, solid, safe, made in America vehicle. Or so I thought until I opened up my mailbox.
I recently received a recall notice from Ford, saying the cruise control wiring may be faulty and the truck may start on fire, even after it’s been shut off. The letter advised me to not park it too close to the house until we got the truck inspected and fixed. We have an appointment with the dealer. When I first got the letter, though, I wanted to get rid of that truck. Anything that might harm my baby was definitely a no-no. I felt like Ford had let me down…how could something from an American automaker be subject to recall?
Then I realized: Country of origin is NOT destiny. Take toys for example. Oompa carries toys from all over the world including China. Have any of our toys that are manufactured in China ever been recalled? No. Does Made in China equal unsafe? Of course not. It’s true, there have been some very scary recalls of toys made in China over the last year. The very word “recall” strikes fear in the hearts of parents everywhere. Once we get past the fear, the sense of betrayal, and the idea that country of origin is destiny, we have to look at the facts.
Oompa strives in everything we do to provide those facts. We clearly post country of origin in every products’ description. We provide information and links on toy testing standards, safety statements for manufacturers, and videos from visits to manufacturing facilities. We hope that this information helps you, as the consumer, make informed decisions about which toys to buy. Some day, in the very near future, you will be doing the same thing with vehicles. Your baby will grow up, but you will never outgrow wanting what’s best for your baby.
Erin H.
Milanie answers questions about our loyalty rewards program and redeeming loyalty points. Plan Toys, one of our favorite fair labor, eco-friendly brands is also highlighted.
Historically I’ve been the person to select or approve new products that are carried on Oompa Toys. Recently there were internal discussions regarding a line I saw in February but was hesitant to bring on board. The brand in question? Wezens. Designed in the Netherlands and made in China, they’re not entirely my cup of tea. With names like Wubbo and Opidopi I wasn’t sure if these multi-limbed or single-eyed creations belonged on our site. Even so, many people at Oompa said they loved them and wanted to see them offered by Oompa Toys.
With so many passionate opinions about this line, I thought, why not? What do you think? We’d definitely like to hear from you!
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- Milanie
