Vermont Teddy Bear, Bear Hospital
Shelburne · Vermont
Every bear Vermont Teddy Bear makes carries a lifetime guarantee. If anything happens to it you send it to their Bear Hospital in Shelburne and they repair or replace it, free, for as long as the bear exists. Their own bears only, and unlike Build-A-Bear you post it rather than walk in.
Getting hold of them
- Their own site
- You can walk in at Shelburne
They work from their own form, so start there.
If it gets lost
Insured
If anything happens to your bear, they repair or replace it. That is the only unconditional promise anybody in this dataset makes about an item in their care.
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
They say your item is insured while it is with them. Return postage is paid by you.
Four of the businesses we hold say anything at all about this. Putting it in writing is unusual.
What they take on
- Full restoration and rebuilds
- Mending and seams
- Restuffing
- Cleaning on its own
- Fur restoration, de-matting and pile lifting
- 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.
- Replaces the old stuffing. Whether they will make an exception is not stated, so ask
- Restores to as-new unless you say otherwise
- Won't value or appraise anything
- Won't work on real fur, sheepskin, knitted items, crocheted items
- Nothing with a mechanism inside: no growlers, squeakers, music boxes or batteries
- Plush only. They don't work on dolls
- Only takes vermont teddy bear toys. Anything else is turned away at the counter
- No reweaving, so bald patches stay bald
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.
- “They only repair their own branded bears. The guarantee is on bears they made.”
Their published prices
- Repair or replace under the lifetime guaranteefrom $0
Getting it there
- Takes work by mail
- You can bring it in
- Comes back standard
Money
- Fixed menu of prices, so you know before you send it
Anything else they say
- The only business here whose liability position is better than silence, and it is because they made the bear.
- If yours is not a Vermont Teddy Bear, this is not for you.