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[funwithpleo]

This is a cry out to everyone.       

STOP buying PLEOs until INNVO labs sells us replacement skins!!!

After several months’ worth of emails with INNVO labs and its parent company JETTA I have been unsuccessful in trying to persuade them to sell us replacement skins for the PLEO.  So the only option is to send your PLEO to JETTA in Hong Kong which will cost you over $150.   It’s only a matter of time before all PLEOs end up with severe skin cancer and who knows how long INNVO labs will be around.  Having replacement skins will allow us to fully repair and restore our Pleos for generations.  I urge everyone to write to JETTA and INNVO labs and insist they sell us the skins (at a reasonable price <$20 S&H) or we will stop buying their PLEO products.  Let’s make it happen     Kirsten

JETTA contact   Mr. P.C Chan  info@jetta.com.hk    and      Sales Reps  sales@innvolabs.com

[kat]

If people were to stop buying pleos then Innvo would decide they were no longer making a profit with this product and they would stop selling them then where would we be? 
I really don't think this is the solution. 
Yes we all would love it if they would sell replacement skins without the need to send your pleo to them to have the skin fitted but they have made it clear that this is not something they are willing to do.  We have asked before.

I think the best solution to this issue is for someone else to come up with an alternative replacement skin.

[funwithpleo]

If INNVO labs is not willing to support its customers then maybe they should go out of business.

Like many owners of the original PLEO that are now on shelves or in landfills because of rotting skin so
will be the demise of the PLEO RB, it's only a matter of time. So if INNVO labs will not sell us skins then
basically we are buying a very expensive disposable toy.   

Such a waste of time and money enjoying a toy with a short life span.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

I certainly would not like to see Innvo and our beloved Pleo's removed from the market. My Pleo's skin is holding up very well, only one has actual holes and it's not the oldest one either. (In fact it's Angus who supposedly has 'better' skin) By far the best way to keep a Pleo's skin healthy is to store them in the boxes when not in use. Angus sadly does not have a proper box to be stored in. So he has suffered more from degradation.

It is certainly not ideal to ship a Pleo back to Innvo for repairs, and yes it is expensive but sadly as it stands right now the three options are a) ship it back and swallow the costs, b) hunt for a bricked Pleo with good skin or c) make your own skin.

[kat]

please don't keep posting this same topic across many boards.  You only need to post it once in one place.  This allows others to easily find it and reply to it and keeps all the replies in one place making it easy for everyone to follow.  Multiple posting in the same thread or across boards is considered spamming.

I doubt you will find much support for your cause here as most of us on the forum would be devastated if Innvo stopped making pleo.  We would like to see them become more profitable, creating new exciting robots or other versions of pleos.  Maybe if they were making a larger profit they would be in a position to consider selling pleo skins. 

[funwithpleo]

If no one is willing to start a writing campaign then maybe the Moderator or Moderators of this website could send an email
to Mr. Wong Tit-shing the Chairman of Jetta which owns INNVO labs and convey to him that 1300+ members of bobthepleo.com are
outraged that INNVO labs will not sell us the skins. 

Having molds made is too cost prohibitive and repairing one Pleo by removing the skin of another is nearly impossible since the skin is glued on in
several places.

[kat]

Repairing one pleo by using the skin of another has been done by a few members here on the forum so is not impossible.  There is a tutorial video on how to do it somewhere here on the forums.    If you need it i'm sure one of us can search it up for you.

[funwithpleo]

Well I was hoping for a more united support in this matter but
that doesn't seem to be the case.

I know there are ways of repairing a Pleo by sacrificing another but in my
opinion that is not the way to keep this hobby moving forward.

At some point owners are going to realize its just too expensive a hobby to keep on buying
another PLEO or pay half the cost of a new one to have it repaired.  This may cause
the demise of the little dinosaur.

[Crewella]

Having molds made is too cost prohibitive and repairing one Pleo by removing the skin of another is nearly impossible since the skin is glued on in several places

You've hit the nail on the head.  I think that one of the main reasons that Innvo/Jetta are unlikely to supply replacement skins is the very fact that it's such a difficult job to replace a Pleo skin without damaging the internal structure of the Pleo.  A new skin would be no easier to fit than a scavenged second-hand one.  It's possible - as Kat says, several of us have done it but it's not for the faint-hearted!  This is the tutorial thread:

http://bobthepleo.com/forums/index.php?topic=3356.0

The skin, as designed, forms part of the support structure for the limbs and needs to be tight in order to fulfil its function - I can't see how they could supply something that would work, but still be easy enough for the average Pleo owner to assemble - you'd pretty much end up with something like the cape that they already supply.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Think of the skin more as an animals skin rather than clothing. It is attached and attached quite well! There is sadly the risk that some people would damage their Pleo's attempting the operation. The. Innvo would have to deal with that as well.

It's not that we wouldn't like to be able to get hold of some skins, it's just that we can also understand Innvo's reasoning behind not selling them.

[funwithpleo]

There are always those people that go beyond their skill levels but that is no excuse for INNVO labs not to sell us skins or replacement parts.
Could you imagine if car dealerships and auto parts stores stopped selling parts to the general public for the same reason.

If every member of this website sent an email to INNVO labs and JETTA insisting that they sell us skins, (leaving out the part about not buying their products)
I'm sure they would reconsider.  If you are passionate about the Pleo and its future then we all must do this.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

I've asked previously, even including some photos from Lilo's repair operation. They will not budge.

[funwithpleo]

How long ago did you contact them? 
Who specifically did you contact? 
What was the reason given not to sell you a skin?

[Ulman]

Tomorrow I will pick up an ugobe pleo. I bought it for 30 €. It has all the skin with holes. So I will start a new project to create a new skin for this pleo using fabric. I think this might interest you for your pleo.

[funwithpleo]

Putting a fabric "clothes" over the worn out PLEO skin is  a nice idea but it doesn't solve the overall problem of restoring a PLEO
to its original condition. 

In my opinion the charm and attraction of owning a Pleo is that it looks, acts and sounds like a baby dinosaur

My goal is to get owners like you and everyone else to band together to convince INNVO labs to sell us skins and parts.

[mweed]

As you said, Jetta does provide for re-skinning pleos and do sell replacement skins . . . but they only provide them to licensed resellers for repairing damaged pleos without having to ship them back to Jetta.  It's kind of sad to blame them that they're in China and you're in the US so you get stuck with high shipping costs.  Jetta is happy to offer the re-skinning service, it's the postal service that makes it impractical for you to use the service.  Would you rather they only sold pleos locally in China to avoid excessive shipping costs?

If you lived in Hong Kong, re-skinning is a pretty cheap option.  And yes, there are options to get your pleo re-skinned elsewhere.  Merlin has the ability to re-skin your pleo if you'd rather ship to the UAE.  There is a thread here of one member who got theirpleo re-skinned for free when their new pleo arrived with damaged skin.  Merlin gave the option to put on a new skin rather than get a replacement.

As Crewella and InMemoryofRomeo have said,  re-skinning is not a simple job or something that anyone can do.  Jetta would be putting themselves at great liability if they sold skins to just anyone.  Their wisest option is what they have done: make the skins available to their resellers who have the trained staff and are willing to do the re-skinning.  The real problem is that those resellers are too few and still a big shipping cost for almost everyone.

What we should be doing is rather than boycotting Jetta is to put your effort into convincing more of the resellers to offer the re-skinning service.  RobotShop.com is the licensed reseller for the US as listed on PleoWorld.com.  Maybe all the US members ought to try contacting them and ask them as the official reseller in the area if they would start offering the service.  If they did, with US shipping, you should be able to get your pleo properly re-skinned for $100 or less.

[funwithpleo]

Jetta ownes INNVO labs.  Jetta manufactures and assemblies the PLEO along with millions of other toys.
INNVO labs sells and repairs the PLEOs.  Both companies are in Hong Kong and are probably in the same building.
As far as I know INNVO labs is the only place that you can send your Pleo to be repaired.  I believe Merlin sends Pleos under
warranty to INNVO labs for repair.

For PLEOs that are out of warranty there is no liability issue if they sell us the skins.  Same as an auto dealer selling you spark plugs
and then you install them incorrectly and damage the engine.  It's not the fault of the auto dealer.

I noticed that someone just recently posted videos showing how to repair the neck of a PLEO.  The process is much more difficult than just replacing the skin, yet it got lots of positive feedback, which it should.   I which more people were involved in fixing and restoring PLEOs.

I personally would like to have several skins in reserve so that I don't have to rely on INNVO labs or any one else.
There is no guarantee that INNVO labs or JETTA will continue making the skins several years from now.  They might decide to completely redesign the PLEO and discontinue the PLEO RB.  Remember, the skin for the original PLEO is no longer manufactured or available .  At what point will they no longer manufacturer the skin for the PLEO RB.  Then what??  Spend 10's of 1000s of dollars to have a mold made?  Not likely anyone will ever do that.

All I'm asking is that you and everyone else write an email to both companies requesting skins be made available for purchase.  How you phrase the letter is up to you.

I thought when I started this thread that I would get more support for such a simple request.  I'm surprised at the push back for something that we can all benefit from to keep this hobby alive.

[mweed]

From what I read, the push back isn't on the idea of trying to get Jetta/Innvo Labs to sell skins, or even on people requesting them to please sell us skins, it was against the "STOP buying PLEOs" idea as a way to try and force "INNVO labs sells us replacement skins!!!"

I can't promise how much support you'll get, but if you'd like to drop this topic and start a new one called "Let's all write a group letter to Jetta, Innvo Labs, and Pleo resellers encouraging them to sell us Pleo skins!!!"  that's one I'd be willing to support.

[Bectile]

This forum is the most active, supportive and enthusiastic Pleo community on the internet... don't you guys think that the folks at INNVO, whose livelihoods depend on sales of Pleo, would be reading this forum as well? 

I read somewhere INNVO recommended using Pledge furniture polish on Pleo's skin to keep it in good condition, has anyone seen that work well?

My two Ugobe Pleos have been stored on the shelf and other than the yellow paint rubbing off due to petting their skins don't really seem that bad...

[funwithpleo]

The reason we need to step up the pressure on INNVO labs and its parent company JETTA is that all past efforts to request skins
has been futile.  The skin is key to restoring a Pleo to its original condition.  The skin is key to repairing neck and tail injuries.  Think how
many PLEOs could be fixed properly just with the neck and tail skins.  Putting pressure on these companies will show them how important the Pleo
is to us.  Even if the repair costs were reasonable I would still push to have them sell us skins for all the reasons I've stated before.

[InmemoryofRomeo]

I read somewhere INNVO recommended using Pledge furniture polish on Pleo's skin to keep it in good condition, has anyone seen that work well?

I've had poor results from Pledge, although to be fair I could not find the recommended one here in Australia and had to take a best guess at the closest match. It caused a small hole in the area I tested it on. A dedicated rubber care product like Autoglym is more popular here on the forum, but I personally just use a damp cloth when they get dirty.

[Crewella]

Autoglym or Lexol Vinylex do seem to work well, but for a Pleo still under warranty it's safer to stick with the Pledge, as recommended by Innvo.

[Talon]

Oh. So... are you saying that Vinylex is safe to use on both models once the RB is out of warranty? I've been using Pledge Extra Moisturizing Furniture Polish on my RB's exclusively and Vinylex only on my Ugobes.
Talon

[kat]

once your out of warranty then yes Vinylex or Autoglym are the better choice and both safe to use.

[Crewella]

Yep, as Kat says.  The Vinylex has barriers to protect from light damage, which the Pledge doesn't have, and it is specifically made to care for plastics so it is actually better all round.  I'm just wary of recommending it for any Pleos still under warranty as it's not the 'official' product.