Doll Cottage, The Doll Repair Hospital
Location not stated
A doll repair hospital that publishes what it calls a partial list of services and a flat 12.99 dollar return shipping fee, and takes Madame Alexander among others. The site has not been touched in a decade.
Getting hold of them
They work from their own form, so start there.
If it gets lost
Not stated
This is a blank on their page, not an answer from them. We have never asked anybody in this trade the question. Of the 185 businesses we have read, 4 have written anything down about losing an item: 2 say it is insured, 2 say the risk is yours. The other 181 are silent, and silence is not a policy either way.
If you would rather not have to phrase it
“Before I send it, can I ask what happens if it gets lost or damaged while it’s with you? I’m not trying to catch you out, it just can’t be replaced. Whatever the answer is, could you put it in an email so I’ve got it in writing?”
“No, we don’t cover it” is a fine answer to get. It tells you to insure the mail yourself for the full amount, both ways.
Getting it there is on you, and the cover above may not start until it arrives. Send it tracked and insured, whatever it costs.
If it is lost or damaged
Their website does not say what happens if your item is lost or damaged while they have it. Return postage is paid by you.
Ask before you post anything you could not replace. Only four of the businesses we hold publish an answer to this.
What they take on
- Full restoration and rebuilds
- Mending and seams
- Cleaning on its own
- Eyes and noses
- Joints
What they won’t do
The part every other directory leaves out. None of this is a criticism. It is how you avoid three wasted weeks.
- Doesn't say whether you can bring it in person
Their exact words on what they refuse
Quoted from their own pages, unedited, because a paraphrase of a refusal is the kind of thing you find out was wrong three weeks in.
- “There is a $12.99 return shipping and handling fee so if you are paying by check please add this to your total”
Their published prices
- Return shipping and handlingfrom $12.99
Getting it there
- Takes work by mail
- Doesn’t say whether you can bring it in
- Comes back standard
Money
- Fixed menu of prices, so you know before you send it
Anything else they say
- Still advertising that the holidays are fast approaching, on a page whose copyright ends in 2016.