50–65cm Dolls Guudoll 60.5cm body arrival ... in pieces

First a little backstory:

I am in the process of reshelling my two oldest dolls, and it was Lysander's turn for a body. After searching high and low for a sculpt that fulfilled my laundry list:

A) Non-ripped, soft-looking

B) Realistic enough to look good next to my other guys

C) Between 60-65cm

D) Smooth elbow and knee silhouette

E) Offered in custom colours

I decided on Guudoll's 60.5cm body. Link to listing on Legenddoll. Since I had run across some items I wished to get from Taobao, and it looked like the total might be slightly cheaper this way, I ordered from Guudoll's store through Basetao. There was a bit of back-and-forth while I figured out how to get a paint chip mailed to China and to use Basetao's system, but once payment was made the doll was cast and shipped within a month!

I had never used DHL as a shipping service before, and it turns out in my small town their parcels are collected at a local store serving as a depot and you have to go in and pick them up. I didn't know that, so spent most of the afternoon rushing to look out the window every time a car went by. (hey, I didn't have much else going on.) I then got a call from the local DHL 'depot', which was closing in an hour, to come and get my package.

Well! My husband had the car and the depot closed at the same time he got off work, so it was up to me! A walk of several miles? Treacherous slip-n-slide icy/snowy conditions? 5+ months pregnant? Not enough to stop me.

(My husband joked we should order stuff more often as bait to get me out for vigorous exercise. He doesn't know what he's saying...)



The box I returned home with looked suspiciously as though it had been sat on, but I wasn't really worried as I've never had anything arrive broken before. Uriah was nearby so I had him hang out and hold Lysander's head while I opened it. (Side note-- my Venitu kindly forfeited his body for a nap in the parts drawer because I decided I like Uriah on the Dollshe Mystic more than the Pure. Can't afford him his own yet, so he gets mismatched resin--Pale/Fresh--for now.)

I had a charge of $19.76 CAD for customs, which makes no sense to me because when I got the box in hand I saw the value had been declared at around $20 USD. Seems a bit greedy if you ask me. I wonder if they googled the contents.



Looking good here, a little bent, but...



All the wonderful clothes and props I picked up from Tata's, along with some bitty little sewing supplies from another Taobao shop. I'm happy with the quality of the coats I ordered. You couldn't get me to sew any of those jackets for $20, and everything seems like it will fit the intended recipients.



Okay, on to Guudoll! They sent me a little CoA and these advertisement papers.

So then I opened up the pillow, and...



GUH.

You occasionally hear of broken fingers or chipped ankles, but to have a torso shatter during shipping? He doesn't even seem to have been strung overly tightly, so there must have been a flaw in the chest piece, the box was badly crushed, his customs officer was a hamfisted dinosaur, or all of the above.

Not only that, but as you can see from the Dollshe headback, It. Does. Not. Match. When I was sent pictures of the finished body I said uh... that looks too light and yellow-toned to me, are you sure it matches the sample I sent? And I was assured it did. Well, I dare not hope they would agree to cast the entire body again for me, but it only seems right because this is not even a blushable difference IMO, and when I raised concerns they told me "it matches."

Super disappointed and emailing Basetao, I hope they are willing and able to sort this out for me.

Review notes on the body itself, apart from breakage and mismatch:

There are a few faint grey smudges, but they seem like dusty fingerprints from packing or customs and I think they will come off. The resin itself has quite a nice eggshell-like feeling to it and is not shiny. Some had mentioned sanding scratches on their bodies and yes, although very faint and you have to be really looking for them next to a bright window, there are some faint sanding marks. The finish on the inside is a little bumpy in some places, but it is in line with what I would expect from a body at this price point.

I have the potential to be quite pleased with the purchase if the company follows through, so I am crossing my fingers...

 

Can confirm the arms and legs are double-jointed. There are pictures of the elbow joints in post #33 of the discussion thread. They do act like a single joint unless you take the time to twist out the little extra piece so I can see how someone would miss it.

@miffimifster Thanks for the tip about Basetao being on vacation. I won't be too freaked out if I don't hear anything right away, then.

To clarify and expand, Guudoll never sent any 'the doll is finished' pictures with my sample for final approval. They sent a grainy, badly lit photo of my sample against a chunky blob of mixed resin, in which I could not tell if the shadowed regions or the highlighted areas were the 'true' colour. I should have asked for better photos, but I was thinking "nah, how could they mess this up? The match probably looks way better in person or they wouldn't have sent this to me. The resin blob is thin; the pigment will look far darker when cast as a whole doll piece. Don't tell people how to do their jobs when you don't even know how to do their job. They do this every day and you're just being paranoid."

Lesson learned- be paranoid and complain lots.

The point at which I received a full photo was when the doll had already arrived at Basetao's warehouse, and that was also taken under less-than-ideal lighting and also did not include my sample. (Which was not the Dollshe headback itself by the way--I wasn't willing to risk that--but a matching paint chip.) I need to get to the hardware store to grab another of the same so I can send them a photo of all components together and show how off this is. I can see why they didn't toss my paint chip into the box along with the doll shipment, but as @Xila said, did they think I wouldn't... notice? Especially when I am obviously ordering custom resin because I intend to match it to an existing head?

I really should not have shelled out the money for shipping until I was assured by proper photo evidence. But I'll let you all know when I've received a response.

 

Haha nope, just rolling around in anticipation. (And covering my address.)

 

@0bsequi0us,

An update:

There was a lapse in communication during the Chinese New Year celebrations, of course, but I have heard back from Basetao. They told me that Guudoll is refusing to re-cast the doll because it was a custom order, but they have offered to send a replacement chest piece.

I hate to be that angry customer, but this was not sitting right with me. I sent them a picture pointing out how obvious the mismatch is, along with another petition to please reconsider because this transaction is being publicly reviewed on this popular forum, and potential future customers are watching. Will update this when I get a reply.

My emotions are admittedly elevated due to the pregnancy and I feel bad that they would lose money on making me a replacement, but I know what I would do in their position and it wouldn't be telling my customer to suck it up. I paid a fee to have a doll cast in a certain colour, and it didn't come in that colour, simple as that. If they can't match resin within a reasonable margin, they shouldn't be offering it as a service.

 

“Hi Friend
The seller answered he said he can send a broken part to us for free ,but we have to send the broken part to him so he will make a exact color for the part . Then may you arrange to send the broken to us ? We will pay you the shipping fee .
For the color difference , the seller said he shown up picture before , if you want to make the exact color as the head of the model , you need to send the part of the head to the seller as well .
What do you think ?
Best regards
Basetao”

How are they to match any better to the resin headback than they did to the paint chip, I wonder? Is it easier to match resin than paper? I’m torn- should I send my Dollshe headback to them, insure the package and hope for the best? If something were to happen to it, obtaining a replacement could prove problematic and take a very long time.

My husband thinks I should mail the entire body back on their dime along with another paint chip, and tell them the headback is too valuable to ship- and that they are welcome to try resin matching again if they think they can do better, or simply issue me a refund if they’d rather I go away.

I’m leaning more toward sending the headback too, but I know I’d be a nervous wreck until it returned. Any suggestions?

 

Thank you for your input, @scripple and @$abbatha. A resin sample it is, then. I want them to have the best possible chance of getting it right.

I didn’t even think of asking around for a junk resin piece, like perhaps a broken hand someone doesn’t care about. It’s my Dollshe Bernard who was supposed to go on this body. So, fortunately not as rare as a Venitu, but I don’t want to mess around with possibly losing his parts. I have put out some posts on Facebook and have also emailed Dollshe asking if it’s possible to get a resin sample.

I learned my lesson, then. Will avoid DHL. o_o

 

@IpLemons I used to love my morning run but it has not happened since I started to grow! Nor has horseback riding, so the extent of my exercise these days is a little granny walk to the mailbox or lifting groceries. Lol you should have heard the noise I made when I saw the doll too.

Well, none of the feelers I put out for resin bits returned any responses, and neither did Dollshe. I have mailed the entire body to Basetao (in a far more sturdy box) and included the Dollshe headcap with my name and address affixed to it. Now to hope for the best.

 

Thank you, that is much appreciated! (Insert jokes about the baby coming in the wrong skin tone, etc... )

 

Slight update, albeit a frustrating one.

The body arrived safe to Basetao and they passed it along to Guudoll. Guudoll, however, has now said they will replace the torso part, but if I want the whole body cast to actually match the headcap I sent, I have to pay all over again... with a generous 10% discount of course. /sarcasm

I told Guudoll this is incredibly frustrating after all the time that has passed and my own personal energy spent. I have no use for a body that doesn't match and I cannot afford to spend another financial or emotional cent on their company. I requested the sample be mailed back to me and they issue me a refund so we can part ways and be done with lessons learned.

They refused.

I'm still talking to Basetao but I don't have much more hope for this turning out well. I won't go so far as to say 'NEVER buy from Guudoll!', but if any of you watching are potential customers, I would urge you to at least be aware that if something goes wrong, satisfying your concerns will not be a priority for them.

For me, even though the body was just what I was looking for aesthetically, I'm now annoyed at the mere thought of having it around and wish I'd just sat on my money and waited for something to be released by a company with an established reputation.

It must be said that Basetao has been very attentive to me in trying to resolve this issue and they even reimbursed me for the cost of shipping the body back. Without them interpreting and negotiating on my behalf, I'm not sure how I would have gotten this far. If you are looking for a Taobao agent, they definitely deserve your business.

 

The body was returned to me back in June, but it was right around my baby's birth. I haven't done much with dolls since then as I heal and adjust to lifestyle changes. Here is my long overdue (probably) final update.

The box upon arrival:



I was a little shocked. This is the same box I returned the (partially unstrung) body in. It was a good box, but must certainly have been weakened by the time they got it after a trip around the world. Instead of putting the body in something else they just covered it in tape. It clearly met with some great mishap on the way. Maybe even a brand new box would have met a similar fate. Maybe it's not their fault. Impossible to say. But seeing this did not give me confidence for the state of the contents.



Fortunately, all pieces were intact and present, including the Dollshe headback I sent as a sample. Unfortunately, the body had a lot of weird marks on it. They all came off with a magic eraser, (along with a surprising amount of grime... ew.) but it was still a real moment. Last photo shows the doll strung with the new torso piece. It is difficult to capture in a photo, but it is very slightly off in hue from the rest of the body. This, at least, is blushable/not too noticeable but it still annoys me, because they couldn't even get the one thing they were willing to do for me quite right.

I've talked with my husband about whether appealing to the credit card company is possible, and he doesn't think so, not since we went through this agent, plus the fact it's been so long since the initial payment (almost a year ago.) Right now I'd really rather focus on the aspects of this hobby that make me happy, but it's probably worth a phone call.

Doll is in pieces in a box somewhere to be dealt with when I'm good and ready.

Until further notice, consider this a big thumbs-down for Guudoll and lessons learned for me.