Am I too sentimental?

If nothing else, a company not replying on Instagram doesn't make them "not kind and fair"! They might have a language barrier, or they might not have notifications turned on, or they might use something that auto-posts for them.

I wouldn't get too upset that they didn't respond. Do they have any dealers? If you ask the dealers instead, they usually have a better line of communication with companies and can probably find out if the sculpt will ever come back for you!

 

Keep in mind that their Instagram or whatever account might not necessarily be the place they can offer any kind of service. A person can manage that account without proper English knowledge, or it's automatic. If you want help from a company reach out through the right channels (like their Q&A Board on their website, or their support email).

I also think labeling someone "not kind and fair" for such a minor thing is extremely drastic

 

What company is it? Fellow collectors might know information You want to lear.


Some artists might have notifications turned off, open app only to post information and close it immediately.

 

I'm not sure about about getting an answer from IG, but I can chip in on the grail doll wait!

I waited for like 10 years until I was finally able to purchase my grail doll (Soom Euclase,) and I was sooooo happy with him. There are a few things that didn't go entirely as I expected (faceup, missing long nail hands, etc.) but I feel like if you love something for a long enough time that love kind of stay with you, or it could be just me having a mad devotion for Euclase lol

 

One other possibility: a lot of times (both for small and large businesses), the person making social media posts isn't necessarily the person equipped to answer such questions. I know I've helped many family friends get started with posting on Instagram, but all I could really do about questions was send them over and hope I got a reply in a timely manner from the actual owner.

 

I wouldn't take it personally if they don't reply to you. There's lots of reasons why they may not. What was the company? Someone here might know the answer, or at least point you in the right direction for a correct point of contact!

 

I wouldn't really take unanswered social media messages as rudeness. My Instagram does not even always announce me if there's a message request, and I am also guilty of straying off to my phone during an inconvenient time and reading the message but then forgetting to reply when I'm in a better situation. Email is a better means of reaching companies, and I don't think there's ever been a company/artist that ignored my email inquiry.

That being said, I didn't have that great transaction with the artist that made most my female dolls. It doesn't affect my love for my girls, albeit I know there's probably no buying from the artist ever again because they would likely refuse my order. The artist was my long time favourite, and I had many 2nd hand dolls from them before buying my first doll directly. When I did buy, they were communicative at first, but towards the end of the wait after the promised shipping date had passed, ignored my inquiries for 3 months straight. When the doll finally did unannouncedly arrive, it was not the sculpt I had ordered, and the quality was not that great. The artist did not answer to my mails when I asked after the correct doll, but I had a couple weeks of PP protection left, so I took my money back through PayPal. I stated to PayPal I demanded only a partial refund, but for the lack of the seller's response within the given 2 week time, PP for some reason refunded me fully and did not ask me to send the doll back either. I sold the doll forward because it was useless to me. Some weeks after the refund, the artist resurfaced from wherever they had been the past months and demanded me to pay them back, but I was so done with the transaction, I refused. They did not pursue it further. There is talk on the DoA thread regarding the company that they left some newer orders completely unfulfilled, let the PP deadline run out, and vanished, so I do not feel that bad about it now.

 

Sorry for the near double post, but Freedom teller did not respond to me on IG either (or even read the message), but they did respond email promptly and politely. I recommend that.

 

Looks like they also have a QnA section on their website that they're replying to. Hope that helps!

 

So, now a company not replying on IG to questions don't make good dolls because they are not kind and fair?

 

I get it OP... I have this thing that I stop support artists (musicians or novelists) as soon as I learn they are nasty IRL. However, when it comes to answering... I'd not take it as explicit rudeness. Some BJD artists are just keen on staying on social media, others not so much. Don't take it personally. Just enjoy the doll

 

As someone who works in social media I can also add sometimes companies have their DMs turned off so they may go straight into message requests that they don’t check!
If you wanted to reach out to them directly if they have a website they might have a contact email for customer service queries that may be more likely to garner a response?

 

I totally understand wanting answers to questions about things you're buying, especially when it's something that costs so much money! I can also understand the frustration of not getting those answers and feeling like maybe the artist isn't eager to sell. So in that aspect, no, I don't think it's wrong or bad to feel a little let down.

At the same time, though, I think it's important to understand how artists within the hobby may be different from buying other things online. I think we often get so used to everyone being glued to social media and instant replies, we can sometimes just expect that everyone on any form of social media will reply fast. Some things to consider are working hours, time zones, holidays. Being an artist/doll company is a job, not a hobby for most, so they do still take days off. Most are very small companies, maybe only 2-3 people, some are single artists, and are doing everything themselves--sculpting, casting, sanding, painting, packing, shipping, running the website and social media, advertising and customer service. That is a lot to handle! And sometimes only one person may speak English, so all replies have to go through them. Then on top of all of this, like others said, some use social media only to share updates, but don't actively engage there. This is in direct contrast to those independent artists who may rely solely on social media to sell their works, so I can see how that could be confusing! I think the best thing to do if you don't get an answer in one way, is to try another. Some companies use email, but in my experience, it seems most prefer you ask on the company website's Q&A board, as it's easier to keep all communication in one place to make sure everything gets answered.