Six dolls return from eye exchange . . . just awful!

After a lot of happy expectation, the six dolls that we sent in for eye exchanges were delivered today. It was a very fast, as it was only two weeks since we dropped them off at AGP Columbus. All three of us were so excited, so I got out the camera and we started opening the huge box. We had sent in eight dolls that day, but two of them were sent to the Doll Hospital defects (a TM #18 for silver eye, and an original 2000 Kit doll whose pupils had cracked). All eight dolls were in the box, and we were very surprised to find that each one had been sent back in a white doll box of their own! Before getting on to the horrible results, let me say that the two dolls who came from the hospital (shown in the photo wearing the red and white cloth gowns) were perfect. The eyes were replaced beautifully, the neck strings were still intact and not replaced with awful zip ties. Not a shine mark on the dolls that hadn't been there when they left. Everything lovely. Every experience we've had with the Doll Hospital has been great, so we were really expecting nice results here.

Dolls sent: TM #77, #74, #18, Nanea, Kit, #67, #80, #76

 The photo above shows them all in their boxes (ignore the yellow post-its, as those are for making lists of the problems the dolls have). We sent in TM #77, #74, #18, Nanea, Kit, #67, #80, #76.

The eyes themselves (speaking of the eyes as doll parts) are actually very nice. They look just like the nice old ones that everybody loves. My sister's Kit was purchased in 2000, and the eyes they put into her look absolutely the same as her old ones. You'd never know.  The depth of expression is there, and the eyelashes look great. The whites are under the clear eye part and not on top staring at you. They are just as nice as the old eyes everyone loved.

Now, on to the dolls themselves and what happened -- and I am not counting any shine marks, as that is a hazard of sending them somewhere. We sent in six dolls that were new and still stored in their boxes (having only come out a few times for photographs), as we didn't want to send in a doll that we were completely attached to -- just in case. I'm SO glad that we decided at the last minute to keep back my Nanea. I would have been angry, instead of just sad, disappointed and deflated.
We sent all these dolls in with their original hair nets on and in like-new to brand-new condition.

I've photographed as many of these problems as possible, but everybody reading this will know just how hard it is to get scuffs and scrapes on some vinyl to show. It's so much worse in plain light. We've never even had to restore TLC dolls that had scuffs to the limbs as bad as some of these six dolls now have --- having been new.

Nachito (Truly Me #77)
This is my Mom's doll that she bought this past Summer. He's only ever been out of the box about three times for some photos. So, you're talking a like new doll. While the new eyes look great in him, he came back with a slice in his vinyl on the right eye, the back bottom of his hair is totally hard and seems like it was melted with hot water. His legs and arms are also scuffed up like they rubbed some kind of GBC binder on them. It's hard to describe. It's not shine marks, but it's scuffing and almost scrapes to the vinyl that almost looks in spots like they are a bit dented. If you dragged these things around on the floor or in the back of your truck, you wouldn't expect anything worse than this. Our 24-yaer-old AG dolls that we played with as little girls (and dragged everywhere), don't have half of what these dolls have. Have you ever had an AG doll that was scraped up from riding the AG horse without pants on the legs? It's like a really bad case of that all over the legs and arms. Also, the top of the hand area between the thumb and first finger. And the rubbing of something that looks like the spiral part of a GBC binder is awful.

Click any photos to enlarge.

The two photos above show the slice in his vinyl above his right eye. This is an actual cut and shows white in the dark vinyl and feels rough to the touch. You can also see that there's a scratch/scuff type of thing on his brand new eyelid on the right eye.

The photo above shows a rather odd scuff or rub on his left hand that is actually darker than the rest of him. It's very rough and goes down the two center fingers.

The four photos below show some of the various shine marks, rubs and scuffs to his arms and legs. This is not all of them, but it's the best I could do, as it's a cloudy day here (almost always is cloudy here) and tough for photos.

Click any photos to enlarge.

And the photo above shows what's wrong with his hair. The entire bottom area has been melted hard and straight and just kind of sticks to his head. You can see where the hair is still puffy at the back, and where the flattened area is at the bottom stripe there. It's very hard and matted down.

And on to the next poor fellow . . .

George (Truly Me #74)
This is my third boy doll, thankfully the only one who needed an eye exchange. He was also like new, as I had only dressed him a few times since getting him in the Summer. He's been stored in his box, and I've never even had to brush his hair. His eyes look tons better, as the blank and vacant stare is gone. The blue is the same shade that he had before. But he has slices in his vinyl on the edge of his eyes (which you can see in regular light without looking hard) scuffs to his face that have dented the vinyl, and he has the same massive scuffing to his limbs as described above for #77.

In the photo above you can see one of the slices in the light white scuffed area at the bottom of his left eye. Also there are the scratches and scuffs on his noes and in his left eyebrow. These have dented the vinyl to a flat feeling.

I was actually so sorry at the thought of losing this particular doll that I figured on keeping him, despite the massive scarring on his face. Then we noticed the most awful thing --- the fact that his hair seems to be rather stiff and hard, and the back of his head is completely flattened. You can actually set an item on it like a table. Even trying to puff out his hair doesn't work, because the head itself is totally flat, and the hair has not body left. And when taking the photos of the flat area, I discovered that he is now actually missing a whole patch of hair!

Poor George. He's my doll to look like Prince George, and it took ages to pick him out.

And now on to Elizabeth's Hallie . . .

Hallie (Nanea)
This doll is another sad one and should never have been sent back. This is my sister's doll that was purchased at the end of last Summer or the beginning of Fall. Elizabeth loves her as a beautiful doll, so she doesn't play. She just stays in her box and comes out every now and then for a photo or admiration. She was totally perfect. The eyes she got were quite nice (the photo above doesn't look the best, as the box was leaning a bit. They open perfectly, though the left eye is slightly faced to the outside. They look great on the doll, and we actually voted them "amazing", but they are a lighter and greener colour than Nanea had with the "bad" old eyes. If you like the darker hazel colour, then you'd be a little disappointed.

Nanea with "bad" eyes on left. Hallie with new eyes on right.

Poor Hallie came back with a big shiner on her nose, a huge scrape at the side of her right eye, the same massive scraping and scuffing to all four limbs as described above for #77 --- including an actual rough-feeling nick in her left arm.

                                                        Click any photos to enlarge.

What really takes the cakes, though, is that her hair is totally ruined. It was the most gorgeous Nanea wig you've ever seen (I hate to admit it, but it was even nicer than my Nanea's hair . . .), but it looks like they poured hot water on it. It's stringy, crimped and actually melted. The entire area above her left shoulder is totally hard, frizzed and stuck together.

And on to Mina . . .

Mina (TM #67)
She came back with a BIG improvement in eyes. They look great. But she came back so beat up that she looks like a play doll you couldn't sell to someone for more than forty bucks. And that's if they want to spend a lot of time trying to fix her vinyl up. She's got a really big shiner on her chin (I think some Magic Eraser may get it off, but it's big.). You can see it pretty well in the photo below.

Her limbs are totally scuffed, scraped and marked up with something that looks like a GBC binding (see the description above for #77). Her hand also has a big slice in it. How can that have happened to a new doll who was only having her eyes swapped?! And this was my sister's birthday present in June, and she's got a thing about hating shine marks and scuffs. Most of her dolls wear long pants or tights all the time, and this doll didn't have any marks at all. Look at these following photos, and you can see a lot of the damage . . . and what's sad is that there's more that doesn't even show up.

And the next two not only have similar issues, but the eye problems should never have been sent out.

Violet (TM #80)
I'm so sad. Not only did they mess up her limbs with the same massive scraping, scuffing and GBC rubs all over, but her hand is also cut. This was my birthday present last Summer, and I've never done anything but photograph her and keep her neatly in her box. She was perfect looking. She shouldn't have been sent back, though, because her eyes don't actually open now. The eye balls themselves look great (speaking of them as a doll part), but they can't open, and you can't even push them up to open all the way. The photo above is taken looking straight on, and that's as far up as they go! No kidding. So, she always looks half asleep. She should never have come back this way. It's so disappointing that it's hard to put into words.

Here in the photo above you can see some of the scuffs to her face, and right on her cheek paint, too!
The photos below show some of the scuffing on her limbs, though her vinyl is definitely the hardest to photograph. I couldn't even get a portion of the scuffs to show. And the last photo down there (showing her arm and hand) kind of shows the big scrape along her whole thumb. There is a cut in the vinyl in that scrape as well.
                                                         Click any photos to enlarge.

And last, though certainly not least . . .

Audie (TM #76)
This was a brand new doll. He was a Christmas present for my sister, and he went in right away for the eye exchange. She's been looking for a nice #76 for seven months, and she had finally found this one. He was straight out of the box. He has deep shiners all over his face and a huge one on his nose that probably can't get fixed (it's shining away in the photo above, and it's a flat scrape in the vinyl). His limbs are so scuffed, scraped and marked that he looks like he was played with for years in a school playground. His eyes were put in at such an upward angle that he looks like he's staring at the ceiling. You can see the whites of his eyes at the bottom all the time. It's awful. You can see in the photo above just how bad it is --- that is taken from a straight on angle. He should never have been sent back like this. I hate to say it, but the "bad" eyes looked better. And that's sad.

The two photo above show some of Audie's problems. His face shows marks on his nose, forehead, eyes and next to his right eye. On his right index finger you will see a white mark. That's actually a sliced cut . . . just to show a few.


All in all, this was an awful experience. DO NOT send in your dolls for this eye exchange, unless you feel it worth the risk. Ruining six of six dolls is a bad risk.
Every doll has bad scraping or cutting on the edge of their right eye, so there's a problem there with the method they are using. Also, the massive scuffing, scraping and marks to all four limbs is some huge problem. Thinking about it, I wonder if they strap the dolls down or insert them into something to insert the zip ties. It's the only thing that could be happening to all six, I think.

Definitely, the two dolls that went to the Doll Hospital were a great experience! They look amazing. They came back perfect. So, this is not a problem with sending your doll into the Hospital. The caliber of employee working on these free eye exchanges is not the same as the people at the Doll Hospital.

Mom just got off the phone with Customer Service now, and they are going to issue a return label for the six dolls. The CS rep says that they will be sent back to be "assessed" by the Doll Hospital --- after repeatedly insinuating that these "problems" were exaggerations and a bit of a scam. So, I will report back on what they do. Frankly, unless they replace these six dolls with six new dolls, they can't make this right. They can't fix what they did to these dolls to make them what they were. And I'm not talking little shine marks. I'm talking defects, damage and ruined dolls! We spent a lot of time picking the doll that had the look and personality we wanted, and now they are all six of them ruined. Frankly, we wish we had kept them how they were. They weren't half as bad as they are now.

I will be sure to report on how this goes. This is a totally deflating and disappointing experience and rather ruins the day.

Here is a follow-up on the situation after ten hard days: https://islandshiregazette.blogspot.com/2019/02/update-today-is-day-ten.html

Playing in Photoshop with Different Eye Colours for Blaire

Elizabeth and I have been talking about Blaire's eye colour a lot. I really like the eyes she has, since they are the dark grey-green colour. But we've been wondering what she would look like with other colours . . . so, I went into Photoshop and put some different AG eyes onto a photo of Blaire.

Caroline's Seafoam Eyes

Marie Grace's Aquamarine Eyes

Felicity's Beforever Green Decal Eyes

Molly's Grey Eyes

Samantha's Brown Decal Eyes

And just for reference, here is the photo showing Blaire with her own dark green eyes!

So, it's a fun idea to decide which colour you would have picked yourself!

A Tour of AGP Columbus (Part 2)

Continuing from the previous entry, we will go through more photos of the American Girl Place in Easton. When you leave the Historical/GOTY half of the store, you enter the area with the doll salon and registers (which have a few shelving units for the store exclusive items and doll carriers, etc. Sadly, I don't seem to have taken photos of those, so we have to just get right into the Truly Me stuff. As a sort of transition, there are now two displays that show some of the Historical outfits and dolls --- including a rather brilliant little one that shows four or five TM dolls wearing Historical dresses. This was Christmas dresses in December, but it's now changed to the Summer play outfits.

From here you get put right into the Wellie Wishers area, which seems rather poor placement, since you want to see more 18" dolls, but it makes it feel rather like you cannot consider Historical 18" dolls together with the Truly Me dolls and accessories. This Wellie area stretches the width of the store, with most items being on the large wall between the Salon and the Bitty Baby area. Center displays fill the walkway to the other wall (on the other side of the store), where the Truly Me displays begin.

Truly Me displays begin with the small things. Accessories, glasses, shoes, Mix-and-Match pieces, etc. (Sorry for the blurry pic of the Mix-and-Match dolls . . . but nothing seemed to come out right!)

And in the open area of the aisle, there are the two large TM display cases. They just recently incorporated the boy dolls into this, and it couldn't be better! You know, ever since they did that, we've seen someone buying a boy doll every time we're in the store.

Across from the large Truly Me cases is the walk way, which is also filled with smaller display cases and set-ups. The wall across from the large displays is the Bitty Baby area.

And the Bitty Baby area sits right next to the Bistro, which was totally empty that afternoon.

Now, we'll get back to the Truly Me area, which is directly in front of and opposite both the Bitty section and the Bistro. The large TM doll cases are directly opposite this area, and behind those large cases are a lot of nice wall displays for various TM sets and outfits. This has just been re-done into a really cool area spotlighting the pajamas for TM and Historicals. There are the doll-sized PJs and the girl-sized matching outfits, and they did a neat job displaying Historical outfits on the TM dolls! This is so helpful to shoppers, because the majority of people who come in don't think that you can put a TM doll in the Historical or GOTY outfits and vice versa. There are even two TM dolls wearing Kaya's Pow-Wow Dress of Today!

The Truly Me displays cover the entire rest of the store, all the way to the second entrance. These displays and cases are quite fluid, so they are usually pretty different from month to month. The Red Car is backordered, so it's not on display, but it usually has one of the center areas in here.

The last two photos above show the second entrance to the store, so you've now gone through the entire AGP Easton store!

Stay tuned for more Islandshire news . . .