I noticed recently on another forum recently had a thread bashing HR sites for not using real hair wearers for their ads. And they have particularly enjoyed poking fun at TL's new site, though not by name, while promoting their forum's sponsor as more legit. While they have a point, it doesn't matter because it's all marketing anyway; just because a site has great before/after photos of real clients doesn't mean that I will receive a great unit or great service. All that counts is the product I receive for my needs, and no matter how great the website is, it is no guarantee that the end product to me will be great. All the internet sites are brokers; it's the factories that make or break a company. Good or bad output from the factory decides what the reputation of the company has.

Any particular site interprets and processes our orders; it's up to the factory to get it right. Even I wish I understood more of the assembly process so as to order my units more effectively. I have been guilty of sending in impossible specs in the past through ignorance of the process, and was lucky to receive anything worth wearing. I've found the KISS principle is in full force with HR companies.

Website marketing is used to get our attention; any connection to reality is purely coincincidental. The more detailed the product offering specs, the better. And it's always better to talk to a person rather than depend on email only. It doesn't mean your order will be correct, but it gives you better odds. To me, whoever gets me the best product for the best price with good service will get my business; marketing is just a detail.

My 2 cents on the subject...

Right on McNash! The bottom line is that we provide a quality product at a low price--and have done so for many years. If a photo of a wearer's eyes blacked out was used on the home page it wouldn't have the same effect. I've received a lot of positive feedback about how good the new Toplace site looks. But it's just image. A pretty site or a 'chatty' forum really doesn't mean much. We just use the best possible image to convey the quality. We have accepted the 'Farrell Challenge' for quality comparison and still have not heard from him. And that was almost a year ago. There is no other hair company that has accepted the Farrell Challenge. Period. There is a lot of petty talk going around---I just ignore it. But here's the kicker---the site that you're referring to has photos on it's home page of Toplace units----and they don't have access to the same factory that Toplace has used for the past 3 years. One of my customers has told me that now they're using a factory from Korea. Go figure.
Regards,
John

John, Farrell will never accept your challenge; he would be outed as vastly over-charging for his products and services. He can't beat you on quality when Farrell uses the same pool of factories(if not the same) as everyone else. The mark-up the salons make must be HUGE.

It is interesting dealing with HR companies. With the salons, they offer the most expensive products and services, catering to people who don't care to mess with their unit at all, gladly paying someone else to de/reattach, and paying huge sums for units that offer the most undetectability, equating quality with high price. HairDirect fulfills the role as the DIY salon, charging much less than the salons,offering products and services just like a salon. I got a chuckle when they tell their customers NO CONTRACTS while offering a contract hair service with the multiple units per year. Places like TL, BA, coolpiece give you the raw product, ready for the true DIY customer. And everyone gets their hair from the same group of factories in China. Amazing. But all factories are NOT created equal in quality and workmanship. And there's the rub.

About Korea, I believe that when I started wearing in the 80's my units were made in Korea. They were good units as I remember, but AHS dropped the Korean factory for whatever reason, and switched around until they settled in China. Due to uneven quality, they switched factories a few times before they settled on the one Cirrus uses (my local AHS salon was bought by Cirrus, based in Memphis). When I left, quality issues mostly settled down, but it could be spotty.

Moral of this story is if you have a good factory, keep it!

I don't agree with using non hear wearing models for a website.

This is a website about hair replacement. Use pictures of actual people who have had hair replacement. Not models that have their own real growing hair.

That's my 2 cents.

(06-01-2010, 07:39 AM)JamesKennedy Wrote: I don't agree with using non hear wearing models for a website.

This is a website about hair replacement. Use pictures of actual people who have had hair replacement. Not models that have their own real growing hair.

That's my 2 cents.

what he said.

Well I agree with using non hair wearers, reason being. Kind of takes away from what can be accomplished with a hair system. I actually want to try something really crazy with a hair system that I never seen it done before.