Initially when we were approached through mailshot out of the blue by Dolly at Le Petit Tom in The Netherlands we were pleased to see they had a range of dolls called “Angela dolls” that we had not come across before. The photos were attractive and the Blythe doll style of dolls with Azone body type including 19 joints was interesting to us. We used the words in their product descriptions, on their website and in their marketing material in general, to base our research, to form our opinion; and to inform our buying decision.
Later on we discovered that these Angela dolls are ICY dolls, with no difference, and that word had not been mentioned in any of the material anywhere relating to Angela dolls.
The Dolly by Le Petit Tom mailshot
The mailshot in .pdf form is available to download My Doll Best Friend Ltd Mail – ANGELA a Dolly by Le Petit Tom ®
This is what was written:
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It was the same description for each of the 15 dolls listed individually on their website, where wholesale and retail orders are placed. “ANGELA DOLL the Eye Changing Color, BJD, Azone, Blythe like….”. No mention of ICY. Azone and Blythe dolls retail £200 – £300. Nude ICY dolls without the accessories or additional branding of DOLLY by Le Petit Tom retail for around £40.
Here’s the point of sale information (you can click each image to enlarge and read):
No mention of Angela dolls as also having the ICY brand logo anywhere. We placed an order and looked forward to them arriving.
When they arrived we were pleased to share a promotional image with our Facebook audience. Immediately we read comments from customers saying they’d bought a doll just like this from Amazon, or Ebay, and that these dolls were ICY dolls. We checked it out to query the comments for ourselves, and then we approached Le Petit Tom for them to validate or counter the claim that these were ICY dolls. Additionally we set about researching markings on ICY dolls to compare with our Angela dolls. We have never been in possession of an ICY doll so researching on the internet was how we made our discovery.
ICY dolls from as long ago as 2011
Here’s a blog post from 2011 from Pandora’s Dolls:
Positive comments from the Pandora’s Dolls blogger, and those who replied, but clearly ICY dolls. The face and the body type are different to the Angela dolls as it is an earlier edition with 7 joints, but those writing agree that the ICY dolls all have the Angela tag on the pull cord. On Amazon and Ebay the tags are often not visible, or only partially visible.
The Angela dolls we purchased have the Angela tag.
Rather alarmingly to us this is what is we saw on the back of the heads of the Angela dolls in our warehouse: ICY.
So, to summarise ICY dolls have Angela tags and ICY on the backs of their heads, and Angela dolls have ICY on the backs of their heads and Angela tags. Are you with us? The pictures on Amazon and Ebay currently are of exactly the same doll we have: in fact there is no difference between the two dolls taking all into consideration. So basically it was a sales and marketing decision by the brand to call the dolls “Angela dolls” because of the Angela tag that was commonly put on the ICY dolls.
We presented the brand with these pictures and comments, and asked how they did not think to describe their dolls as ICY dolls or to mention the ICY word in any of their material which would have led to us not purchasing them. Whilst they replied every time we contacted them, it took many email exchanges and some considerable time for a clear picture to emerge from what they were writing.
They are ICY dolls, wrote the owner
As our first venture into the world of fashion dolls, we explained that we would not have bought ICY dolls for our shop as they are so readily available elsewhere, and generally at a lower price point in the market. We asked for a refund based on this new information (ie that we’d made the initial purchasing decision having had a fundamental fact withheld in all the information provided to us, and therefore that a fair outcome would be to reinstate the position as if we had never made the stock purchase) just a couple of days after they’d arrived at our warehouse and we’d had and the first chance to actually see these dolls for ourselves and verify the markings. The brand declined to offer us a refund for returning the dolls, insisting that their omission of any reference to ICY in their sales information was not relevant, despite our clearly articulated position that we would not have bought them had we known this. Wholesale customers do not have the same level of purchase protection as retail customers, particularly when paying by bank transfer rather than credit card, and the only recourse if you think the products supplied are not properly described, if the supplier does not accept the point voluntarily, is a legal one (which can be costly).
In conclusion, we bought Angela dolls which are actually ICY dolls. These ICY dolls come with Angela accessories. The brand is relaxed that ICY wasn’t mentioned anywhere on the point of sales pages, in their look-book, newsletter or their Terms & Conditions. But that’s not all. Next we were told that ICY was clearly included on their posts, pages and in their look-book in email correspondence. As we knew different, we went to have a look again in Google’s cached pages because those on their website had been changed.
We noted an update to their sales page to now include the vital missing recognised word “ICY”:
Additionally the look-book was updated to include the words Type: ICY. Of course the newsletter mail shot in the inbox could not be changed, nor could the .pdf look-book that was in our Dropbox from the initial exchange.
The brand’s owner then wrote back again to say that naming ICY was not relevant to the fact that we’d asked to send the products back. It either is relevant to a potential purchaser and should be included in the description or is irrelevant and should not – but to not have it, and then when pointed out to begin to include it, suggests acknowledgement that it was not clear enough in the first place.
ICY Angela dolls heavily discounted
Whilst we could market these dolls as Angela dolls for a high price as Dolly at Le Petit Tom wants us to, we won’t!
The brand is at pains to point out that these branded (and, in some cases limited edition dolls), should be sold for more money and are attractive because of’ their new and enhanced Angela branding and extra accessories’. They say they have cooperation from the factory that makes ICY Angela dolls to call them Angela. However, our issue is the obvious omission of a key part of the identity of these dolls as ICY that we could only learn when in possession of them. They changed the wording on the sales literature after we complained but will not accept the dolls were unfaithfully represented in the first place.
Our resulting decision is to heavily discount all items from this company. Although this leaves us with a financial loss we want to clear the stock as quickly as possible, and not market or have anything longer than necessary to do with the Dolly at Le Petit Tom brand. We have decided to sell the ICY dolls we have in stock that come with Angela accessories, including a unique Dolly by Le Petit Tom outfit, the Angela doll bag and hairbrush at only £49.99 – a great price to clear them. Buyers refer to ICY dolls on the internet as quality dolls. At My Doll Best Friend we want to make it certain that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the dolls, they are lovely in their own right, and they are genuine ICY dolls rather than copies of them.
For up to 50% off bargains visit the ICY Angela dolls section of the website. If you do not reside in European Union you do not pay VAT (tax) at checkout, reducing the price still further. Grab a bargain or two!
The post Heavily Discounted Dolly at Le Petit Tom – ICY Angela Dolls appeared first on My Doll Best Friend Blog.
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De: My Doll Best Friend Blog - https://www.mydollbestfriend.co.uk/blog/heavily-discounted-dolly-at-le-petit-tom-icy-angela-dolls/
Fecha: June 10, 2019 at 06:19AM
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