Arcadia Dolls - Wait Times?

I ordered a pair of trousers about mid September last year and I did not receive them til about mid December. Now, they did admit there would be a delay around November and they sent me postcards and bookmarks as little gifts, but still, it was a long time. I provided them with measurements, so I don't know if that made it take longer or not. And when I received the trousers, I am not sure they came in the right fabric .-. but I didn't think about it at the time because I was so excited to receive the trousers. Once they ship your order it arrives pretty quickly though.

 

When I ordered Isabel's regency in late 2008 it took @ 5weeks.
When I ordered a hat on 12/31/09, it didn't arrive until 3/24/10. I'd also asked about sizing and that question was never answered, the hat just finally arrived. It doesn't fit who it was intended to wear it.

I like their work but I'm not sure I'll order again.

 

Oh awesome, I so love finding this stuff out AFTER I've ordered. *headdesk* So pretty much, it'll take an age, it may or may not be right, communication is zero? That about sum it up?

***edited to add***
I ordered about a month ago maybe? I'd need to check to be sure, but the confirmation mail had this in it:

So I think that 5 weeks they quote on the site is a bit of an understatement.

 

My regency confirmation said 4 weeks, they were over.
Confirmation for the hat said 3-8 weeks, and I think over 8 weeks for a hat is too much.

The quality of their product is fine, still, but I fear they might be on the edge of overextending themselves. I hope they don't go the way of Mio and Enchanted Eyes.

 

I've ordered a Twilight Garden Set from them and it took 8 weeks 2 days for them to ship out. No communication at all
But the quality of the dress is really good. The fit is perfect for my Unoa.

 

There was a meltdown with Enchanted??? When? I thought it was Mystic having all the problems. ^^;;;

I had thought about ordering from Arcadia a few times but have found this thread very eye opening.

 

they say clearly as water in their site that their orders take until 8 weeks.
I ordered one dress too, and at theend of the 8th week it was shipped, and reached me in less than a week.
They have a lot of work... please, their only work is not only sewing.

You should read first to take in mind the conditions...
I was aware of that, but i will nor deny that i had my doubts, because i'm so impatient x_x

I can assure you that you'll don't regret it x3
*loves her arcadia outfit!*

 

I wait for my outfits since the end of February! In may the said "we are late" and now they do not answer to my mails.
In may and now, they made special offers, I don't understand why they want more orders if they are late.

 

That's very odd, my experience with Arcadia dolls was really positive. Last year around the end of summer i ordered a yosd outfit from them (that cute pink dress w/ apron set). Their communication with me was really good the whole time- when I asked them how my order was doing they replied that they were a bit backlogged and it would take a little longer. We had several more emails back and forth, I believe I got my outfit somewhere in September. They even included a small bow that I had asked them to make for me, that wasn't part of the outfit set.

The quality of the dress was great and the fit on my littlefee was totally fine.

 

I bought a dress, five weeks from now. Never waited so long for a dress. It is a little bit frustrating, besides, if there is any problem, paypal only allows disputes until 45 days after buiyng. I guess 8 weeks is not very fair with buyers. Hope quality really worths the product.

 

The quality of their items is outstanding so I would say order. They just need to be more up front with the wait times and communicate better with the customers. I don't lurk their site everyday, so if they post something there, I'm unlikely to see it. How hard can it be to look at your sheet of outstanding orders and shoot out an email if you know you will be delayed?

I don't usually mind waiting, as long as I'm confident the stated time frame is actually what happens.

 

I'm not overly fond of long waits particularly not long waits with little communication and non-finite end periods. It makes me antsy. While the quality of their outfits look fantastic, the longer than advertised waits make me strongly reconsider ever ordering and I'm glad there is this thread to share this issue.

 

I have been waiting for 11 weeks for my order. (*heavy sigh*)

I wrote them last week asking about the status of my order, but I have not received a response yet.

Im usually pretty good about waiting, and understand if things get backed-up, but I don't appreciate being ignored. That's a big minus on the customer service scale, in my opinion.

 

For those of us still waiting, apparently the owner has a sales thread here, so if you can't get a response on the website, you could try the thread : here.

 

When I ordered from Arcadia (one Twilight Garden dress), they quoted 6-8 weeks and it took about 11 weeks to make. They are very popular so I think a long wait time is to be expected. O_o I never asked them for updates, though they did send me an unsolicited email a month in to let me know that they were backed up with orders. The dress I got is amazing quality and fits my girl perfectly! I'll definitely order from them again in the future. So not everybody's frustrated with them

Frankly I've learned to take expected wait times with a grain of salt and to be extra patient when I order custom work. If I don't want to wait for it, I'll look for it secondhand (and frankly, with the limited amount of Arcadia stuff that appears on the marketplace, it would probably take longer to find your item secondhand than to order direct, delays and all!).

 

I got a response back from Arcadia Dolls, and I feel better now.

They were very polite and apologized that it was taking longer than expected. She said they are very busy right now, but that the order would ship soon.

I told them I don't mind waiting. I totally understand if things get backed-up because of workload, but keeping the customer informed is very important for a business. Now, that I have been updated, Im perfectly happy to wait.

 

Hi there! A friend told me about this thread, I'm Cassandra from Arcadia Dolls.

First of all I must apologize for the long waiting periods, I know how frustrating it is to wait too long for a single dress or a pair of eyes.

I always reply to all email messages I receive, but I'm not sure if my sister is doing the same, I must talk to her about this.

As you may know, we are two sisters. My sister Licanen is the only person sewing in Arcadia Dolls. I'm in charge of the photography and website. Mi sister has a poor English level so I also try to contact with customers and answer to their questions.

We have two email accounts:

[email protected] --> This one belongs to me
[email protected] --> This one belongs to Licanen

We also have a third email account: [email protected] but this one is used to send automatic emails, so if you reply to it maybe you won't get a reply.

You can contact me on [email protected] or even send me a PM through Den of Angels, I always leave a reply. I'll also talk to Licanen about people who didn't receive their reply.

About waiting periods: I've realized that we have many delayed orders. I know my sister is sewing full-time, 7 days a week, but it's not enough. Maybe we'll have to close the online store for some time in order to catch up with work, and maybe she'll have to quit sewing for custom sizes.

I also wanted to say that we've always delivered our orders. Maybe they'll take a bit more than expected, but you'll receive all your orders. Our first priority has always been to sell quality clothes for your dolls and keep our customers satisfied. We really appreciate the support we've received through the last years and I wanted to thank you all for your patience.

Please contact me if you have any question or concern, of course you can also leave your comment on this thread.

Thanks for reading! ♥

 

Hi again!

We wanted to let you know that the Arcadia Dolls online store will be closed from June 29th. We want to catch up on work before releasing new collections and taking new orders. You can still visit the store but you’ll find all items as "out of stock". We'll let you know as soon as we set the reopening date.

You can contact us at any time. Please feel free to send me your comments, questions or suggestions at: [email protected]

We are also concerned about non-replied emails. My sister believes she replied to all emails, but some people here stated that there was little communication with us. If you sent us an email in the past and didn't receive a reply, please let us know, maybe we didn't receive your message. An automatic email with the shipping information and tracking number should be generated each time an order is shipped out. We would like to know if people isn't receiving these automatic emails. We paid for a shopping cart software and want it to work properly.

We want to apologize again for the long waiting periods and thank you all for shopping with us.

 

Dissonant, you're most welcome! Of course you all have the right to start this thread, that's what forums are for

I'm really sorry that many people must wait for so long, I know waiting times can be frustrating. I'm not directly involved in the sewing process (that's my sister), but since she doesn't speak much English, I have to act as her spokesperson. I talk to her almost everyday so she keeps me informed about her progress.

What really worries me now is the non-replied emails problem. I've been testing the shopping cart software again and I feel some emails are not reaching their recipient. We've been very careful about communication with customers, so knowing that some people consider they're having bad communication with us is really bad.

As I said above please do not send emails to [email protected]
Send your questions or concerns to:
[email protected]
or
[email protected]

And thanks again for your huge patience! ♥

 

Hi! I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow I'll be going on vacation for one week and won't be able to reply emails. You can still send emails to my sister to: [email protected]

Thanks and sorry about the trouble!

 

Well, I've been waiting since 13 March for my order. It is a very large order - and have been promised 4 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 8-10 weeks and finally I stopped asking as the deadlines kept changing. My total order with them (over 5 orders) is well in excess €1,000,00. I haven't received any of my orders to date.. They say it is to get their work done which is understandable but the shop closed on 26 June and my order must have been one of the early ones they had not fufilled. Still nothing! And, the last time I went on their site to login and check the status of my orders, I was required to change my password. We're heading into the fifth month - and the clothing is for a Volks SD boy with normal legs, a Volks sd10 girl and a volks Yo-SD (all normal sizes for them.) My last communication with them - in late April - stated they had already cut out all of the girl's clothing. Almost 3 months later and still no completed items makes me very very nervous. Should I write again? I just worry!

 

I'm over my 8 weeks here too on what was a two item, standard sized order and have yet to have any sort of communication from them, be it a shipping notice or a "sorry we're delayed" note. Since Cassandra appears to be fairly active on DoA, I'll give it until she's back from her holiday before I ask. She's already said her sister's English isn't great, so there seems little point in attempting to contact her.

 

Alrighty, so NINE weeks into my "6-8 week", bog standard sizes, small order and I have no updates on the site, no reply to my mail and no clothes. I assume everyone else is STILL waiting too?

Kinda done with this now tbh and whilst I REALLY don't want to have to write off a European shop when customs and the economy are cutting down our ability to import, I doubt I'll be going back to Arcadia regardless of how good a quality the clothing is. I can cope with wait times, but I do insist on being TOLD when something's going to be late, not just left hanging and guessing.

 

lulu, I have been waiting just over 7 weeks (estimated delivery was 3-8 weeks) and I haven't received any emails about delays to shipping etc. - I only knew that Arcadia Dolls had shut shop to catch up from DOA. It's a bit surprising that they didn't send out an email to their customers with outstanding orders to let them know.

My order was only a small one too, but I presume that Cassandra's sister is sewing things in date order... so it's a bit worrying that rowan hasn't received the order she made in March yet!

 

Yeah, this is my worry, if there are outstanding orders from March remaining, where does that put those of us in the tail end of the queue? Christmas?!

Think I'mma give it another fortnight or so and then just ask for a refund if I haven't heard anything about imminent shipping. *sigh* I really WANTED them to be awesome too so I had a reliable company inside the EU to buy from.

 

I bought a hat from the Circus Collection and I wait for it more than two months. The size is not right and even the colors are different of what I wanted. They apollogized but I think this was the first and last time buying at this site.

 

Same problem here: order made in february (750&#8364, I recieved a part of my order in the first days of july, another part today, and I am still waiting for about 1/3 of my order.
And I wrote many many times (poor Cassandra).

 

I'm sorry if I'm a little bit rude but I can't belive I have to wait since February (ordered with Linn) just for a small apron.
I thought you were located in Spain, aren't you ? Then why, after 5 months of waiting did you send us (in France) a part of the order from USA ?? And why is there still things missing ?? It's longer than having a doll from Soom at the time they had problems... I'm very angry and won't order at Arcadia Doll. I'm sorry, I know you do everyrthing by your own but you should have stop the orders before having such delays !
If I was alone with this order, I would have cancel... but we are some people waiting so I won't...... I hope we'll have a compensation gift... and not a candy !

 

This thread has got me worried. I ordered two outfits - one on the 14th of Feb and one in March. I emailed them for an update in June and got a reply saying they were running late but nothing since and no outfits. Very disheartening to read this thread!!

 

Well now I'm seriously concerned. Orders from FEBRUARY are JUST arriving now? Have Arcadia always been like this or is it just this year that they became screwed?! I'm frankly amazed no one's started a feedback thread about this before now if it's always been this bad, but I am now rather worried that Arcadia appear to have allowed orders to drag on FIVE MONTHS without ceasing to accept new ones...honestly, if I wanted to throw my money into the ether and forget about it for a half a year, I'd've shopped with MIO! *headdesk*

 

I am getting a bit pissed mostly not because of waiting (though, I am waiting for my order since the end of May, it's 10th week now and my order was not even big) but because they don't answer my mails. I have send them 2 mails already, one in the end of 8th week, one in the end of 9th week. NO. ANSWER. AT ALL. If my order is not ready, and wont be ready soon, I'd rather know about it! I dont like this silent treatment, I want a honest reply > It's not professional way to deal with clients. I was expecting delays, they are no fun, but they happen. But ignoring of my mails is something I cant accept >

 

Same here, no replies, no contact, no clothes. I'm seriously not happy with this transaction now, yes, delays happen, but don't tell me it'll take 8 weeks when you mean 4 months and then ignore my mails!

 

Dear Cassandra,
I sent an email to you over a week ago - timing it to arrive well after you had returned from vacation. My email has not been answered. The points I raised are very important to me. I hope you will see this message and respond, please. I will send you a P.M. and hope we can find an effective way to communicate. Thank you.

 

Since it seems Cassandra hasn't been on DoA since her last post and no one's getting an answer via the mail addresses, is it worth us starting a paging thread? I for one found her through her advertising posts here even if I ordered through the website, so we'd be within the paging rules I think.

 

rowan, Lulu, I finally got an answer from them when I've send a copy of my message to their [email protected] email. The answer is quite vague and they didnt tell me when exactly my order will be shipped but at least they answered =_=;;

Dear Marina,
unforeseen circumstances forced our company to experience unusual delays, but we are taking serious measures to expedite the production and get all orders out as soon as possible, that is, without compromising the top quality of our handcrafted products. Your order has been processed and placed in a priority list according to the order it was received. Among other things, Arcadia Dolls is not accepting any new orders until we complete those in our priority list. Your order will be promptly shipped via priority mail as soon as it is finished and we will inform you when this happens by sending you the tracking number. Please, feel free to contact us if you want an update.

We appreciate your business and thank you very much for your patience and understanding. Please, rest assured that we are fully dedicated to fulfill your order as soon as possible.

 

Hi,

I returned from my holidays. I talked to my sister today about people who didn't receive their answer and she told me she has replied everyone. Please, if any of you didn't receive an answer let me know and I'll contact her again.

Charloutte, we talked days ago about your order and hope you'll receive the missing items soon.
Lulu, please let me know if you didn't received an answer yet.

I know many circumstances caused her delay. For example, a year ago mi sister hired two professional seamstresses to help her with the production, but due to personal problems they had to quit. She's always sewing full-time but it'll take her some time to catch up on work. Please remember that many orders include custom doll sizes and other custom requirements and that makes production slower.

I also know she's sending many orders each week. It would help a lot if any of you receive their orders and write it here, it would make people know that orders are actually arriving.

I apologize again for the delay and thank you all for your patience.

 

I've just got the same generic e-mail reply as was posted on the previous page so evidently none of us are going to get more than that out of Arcadia. I'm done and will be asking for a refund, this lack of contact is ridiculous.

 

Soo, this just got really charming. I asked for a refund stating that in no uncertain terms was I happy with the total lack of content and in reply, I got this:

So apparently now I'm employing "intransigent attitudes, threats and speculation" in order to get the goods I paid for over TEN WEEKS ago as a "customer strategy". Which is funny, because pretty much, I seem to recall just asking for a refund on long overdue goods.

Contrary to what Arcadia clearly believe, I really don't give a toss why they're delayed, what I care about is that they didn't bother to notify ANY of the people in their, what are we up to now? Six month long waiting list of customers and didn't answer the many mails enquiring on the whereabouts of their customers goods. I'll be posting my feedback when/if this entire debacle ends and this will very definately be the last time I deal with this company.

Good luck to all of you out there waiting, it seems you certainly won't be getting any refunds.

 

I am also waiting for a group order I made in February. I don't mind the waiting really, I just wish I could at least get some info about the status of my order. Especially when it's not just me who's waiting, it's all the participants too.

Though apparently I used the wrong mail address last time. I hope I get some reply this time.

//edit: Received an answer. Phew

 

Hi, it's Cassandra again.

It seems like we had several problems with our email accounts, so we had decided to create a new single account to make customer support easier. You can still write to any of the old accounts since all messages will be forwarded to the new one.

The new email account is: [email protected]

I also wanted to announce that from now on my sister Licanen will be the only person in charge of the customer support. I won't receive or reply Arcadia Dolls emails anymore. Since 2005, when Arcadia Dolls was created, I've just been a contributor making all the photo sessions, but I've never been involved in the collections design or the sewing process. I can't really help customers about orders information and schedule. On the other hand, Licanen has improved her English a lot, so she really doesn't need me to reply emails anymore. I hope these changes will improve communication between customers and Arcadia Dolls.

Please note that Licanen is not a Den of Angels member, so if for any reason you can't contact her, you can always PM me, but please understand that I'm not aware of the orders status.

I really hope you'll all receive your orders as soon as possible. I know Licanen is working really hard, but she was overwhelmed by the huge amount of orders received and several personal and professional circumstances.

Thanks again for reading!

 

dissonant : Pretty much, I don't think you're going to get your refund, they refused me (see above), accused me of using tactics against them and are now ignoring my mails again. Tbh, I've written the money off, I don't think I'll see either refund or clothes now but hey, either one WOULD be nice!

 

Regardless of where they are in the world, since we paid with paypal, when the payment clears, they enter into a contract with us to deliver the goods we have paid for within the time frame stated. If they fail to do that, they're in breach of the contract and we have an absolute right to demand a full refund whether they like it or not. It seems they don't, and since we're over the 45 days Paypal covers you for, our only serious option would be to get legal with it, which certainly for the amount I was in for (under 100 euros) would be pointless and I suspect Arcadia are well aware of that, hence their reticence on the subject.

If I'd had one of the order that ranged into thousands, that would start looking like a viable possibility to me right now.

Personally, I don't deal twice with a company that lectures me like an obnoxious child in e-mails and refuses to contact it's customers to avoid discussing a backlog. That's just poor business practise whichever way you look at it.

 

The irony is that if they'd just TOLD everyone they were delayed and they were working on it MONTHS ago, I doubt any of us would have been at all bothered. I can wait far longer for something if I have good communication with the other person involved but when all you get is silence and a bunch of other worried people waiting for their orders, you instantly lose faith and that's when it gets nasty.

They've handled this poorly and publically, that will dent their trade and affect their feedback, so with a bit of luck they might do something differently the next time this happens.

 

I ordered one outfit in may, still waiting. At least they said that they will send it next week. Hope so.

 

I've got a shipping notice, it has a tracking number...FROM THE USA...so either I got the wrong tracking number or they're not within the EU as advertised. If I get customs charges on this parcel because it shipped from outside of the EU, I will NOT be happy since the entire point in my shopping with them was to AVOID importing from outside the EU!

 

I FINALLY have my parcel, which did indeed ship from the USA, NOT Europe but was thankfully heavily marked down and as a gift. I'm considering my part in this hideous mess done and I'll be leaving feedback in the thread that clearly should have been started months ago.

Good luck to all those of you still waiting, I have no doubt I only got my order this quickly because I made enough noise to irritate Arcadia Dolls, so perhaps if you're still stuck waiting for those huge and long overdue orders, it'd be worth getting loud about it. I sincerely hope you all get your orders quickly.

 

Lulu, Im so happy that you finally got your order!

It's a relief to see that some people are getting shipping notices. I hope my order ships soon. I've been waiting since April.

 

Congrats on all the people who got their orders, and I hope my order (from the end of may) will be shipped out soon, too I asked for estimate shipping date few weeks ago and they said they'll ship it by tomorrow, so I really hope they'll keep their word

 

My parcel was shipped a few days ago - in fact, only a few days after I sent an email saying that if I didn't get my order in a week I wanted a refund. So it does appear that emailing them gets results. As an aside, the email I received was polite, unlike the one sent to Lulu.

My parcel is also coming from the US. If it does attract customs, I will expect Arcadia Dolls to reimburse me. It is shoddy business practice for an EU company to ship directly to the customer from the US, leaving the customer liable for the customs and import charges that the company themselves should be responsible for.

 

mhmmm has anyone had any contact with them the last week or so? I emailed them last week regarding an order I placed in May and still haven't heard anything =/

Edit: Nevermind, emailed them again last night and finally got a reply...

 

waiting for standard size since last week of Jan 2010

will update this thread when I get a reply from company