Elaine's Dolls and Restoration
Stockton · California · 25 years
Listed by the Doll Doctors Association. That is a membership, not a qualification. The association says itself that it makes no assurances about any member’s training or experience, and every member is an independent business. It does mean somebody other than us knows they exist.
Elaine Vernon, a certified Master Doll Doctor of twenty-five years, running a full-service doll hospital in Stockton. Invisible porcelain repair, composition, wood, papier mache, wigs, rocker eyes and costumes. Estimate from photos first, then a final estimate once it is in her hands.
Getting hold of them
- (209) 956-9084
- elaine209@att.net
- Their own site
- You can walk in at 8900 Thornton Rd, Stockton
Email is the way in. They do not take cold calls.
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
Works in leather pads.
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.
- Quotes from photos, then revises it once it arrives
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.
- “Email or contact us before shipping your doll.”
Their published prices
- Return shipping feefrom $15
Getting it there
- Takes work by mail
- You can bring it in
- Comes back standard
Money
- Free rough quote from photographs, firmed up once it arrives. Expect it to move
Anything else they say
- Member of the Doll Doctors Association and IDFM.
- Invisible porcelain repair, missing pieces no problem.
- States a flat 15 dollar return shipping fee, which almost nobody else does.