Soom Feedback (ALL)

* What did you order?
1) ID72 Mercenary Hyperon + oufit, wig
2) 2013 Xmas kits: Dia + MD Wolf the Knight
3) SO Puss - One Fine Day + ID72 Zak - Solid Knight + new hands
4) FCE ID X-mas kit - Phonolus + jointed hands
* When did you order?
1) LA 13th June 2013. PIF 8th Sep 2013
2) LA 25th Dec 2013. PIF 25th Mar 2014
3) LA 9th Jul 2014. PIF 6th Nov 2014
4) PIF 19th Dec 2015
* How was the communication?
Pretty good. They did answer my emails pretty quickly.
* How easy was it to pay?
Easy. Paypal. Their layaway system is also pretty cool and easy to navigate.
* How long did it take to ship?
1) Arrived 26th Oct 2013
2) Arrived 4th Apr 2014
3) Arrived 19th Nov 2014
4) Arrived 27th Feb 2016
* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
1) The wig didn't fit his head well. And for the price, the clothes aren't worth it. Also disappointed with the faceup bigtime!
2) Not really...the resin around the edges are way to thin. UPDATE: the resin around the wrist chipped when I was trying to string my Dia with a forcep. I didn't even use force. I just noticed bits of resin on the floor after it was done.
3) Yes
4) Yes...especially the jointed hands. The mechanisms are just WOW
* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
1) um...the faceup I ordered had dark navy-green eye shadow. It made him look really sick. That definitely wasn't in the promo pics and other people's pictures of the company's faceups weren't so green either.
2) didn't order the faceup and I've never seen blank sculpts..so no...Wolf looks nothing like the company photos. But I've seen enough Dias to know what to expect, even blank.
3) again...blank doll and never saw blank sculpts or enough owner photos.
4) Phonolus was always a sculpt that I wanted so I know what he looks like. I seen pictures of people with the jointed hands and they looks good. The actual thing looks just as good.
* Were you satisfied with the product?
1) Yes.... the outfit was really great quality. The wig...I didn't like the color but that was my problem. Faceup...um...NO.
2) Despite ordering Dia and Wolf on the same day. Their resin color was completely different. I had planned to swap bodies for them...luckily it wasn't that off...but there was still an obvious difference. Kind of happy and not at the same time. UPDATE: it was way too late to do anything about the chipped wrist on Dia coz this happened a year after I ordered him.
3) This time round, both dolls had the same resin color so yes, happy. Hands were cool to have. Now I don't have to keep on changing the rings every time I put on another head.
4) Yes
* If you weren't satisfied, how did the company solve your problem?
1) I don't plan to bother them with it. If I really hate it I'll just paint over it myself. But I won't be using their faceup service in the future that's for sure - the outcome is too unpredictable.
2) What is there to complain about. THEY WILL NEVER RESOLVE THIS PROBLEM. Since differing resin colors and thin resin around the edges are NOT CONSIDERED A PROBLEM FOR THEM.
3) This has nothing to do with me not being satisfied. Instead, I'm extremely satisfied. I just wanted to comment that Victoria was extremely accommodating to combine my orders and extend my layaway so I could pull this order off. I miss her so much~~
4) I was worried something would go wrong with their new PR but luckily all was well.
* Would you order from this company again?
Yes. Please offer Photon, Gluino, Albany in the future. Amen.
* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
Clothing...maybe if it was cheap. Doll.....no. A head or a hand maybe.

 

What did you order?
MD Cheshire Twins, light violet, blank

When did you order?
Aug 12, 2013

How was the communication?
Extended (see below), but Victoria, as always, was very helpful and the issue was eventually resolved.

How easy was it to pay?
I had to do a wire transfer because it was the last day to order and I didn't have access to IE to pay with a credit card (my fault for putting it off to the last minute), but when I paid the bank fees and sent the money an additional fee of $6 was tacked on via Soom's side of the transaction (confirmed after going back to my bank to figure out what happened). The amount paid was therefore incomplete because Soom didn't get the full amount, but after e-mail exchanges, checking back at the bank, and sending the receipt (time span of about 2 weeks) the manager waived the $6. Pretty frustrating for such a small amount of money, but all's well that ends well I guess.

How long did it take to ship?
Received the shipping notice Oct 29, arrived the 31st.

Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
Yep! Nice, thick resin, lovely color, and minimal seams.There's a little flash left between his fingers, but it's not a big deal and easily fixed.

Did the item look like the sales pictures?
Yes

Were you satisfied with the product?
Very (:

If you weren't satisfied, how did the company solve your problem?
N/A

Would you order from this company again?
Yes (I have before), but I'll definitely avoid using a wire transfer again.

 

(Again, I’m not using the template because I thought it didn’t reflect my experience, so I chose my own way of stating facts. If it is improper to do so, please, mods, let me know and I’ll gladly stick to the templates provided.)

I'm posting here to share my experience about Soom's customer service after I had a very serious case of doll greening with a Soom Phonolus purchased directly from the company in 2011. I've written all the facts in the Product Review forum, so I would advise everyone reading this post to go there and check the whole story to get a complete idea of what happened since I'm only posting about the customer service here.

To sum up: my Phonolus had started turning green after a year and a few months. I checked and confirmed everything on Dec. 14th, when he was almost two years old, and contacted Soom about this issue. By this time, his greening was pretty visible. At first, Soom was fast in replying and offered me to pay for a new doll and they'd produce a new Phonolus for me. After I refused and asked for free After Sale service, they began replying later and later and their replies would often be "pay for the replacement parts". I battled with them for a long time (the "battle" finally finished today, Jan. 6th) and they agreed to offer me free A/S service if I sent my doll over. I refused to send my doll over since they never clarified what they'd do if I indeed sent the doll and told them they didn't need to check the doll to see it was green.

I got a reply today, from Victoria. Even though I always stated none of my messages was directed to her personally, she replied in a rude, harsh way, saying this:

I consider it offensive that they imply I'm not collaborating when it's me the first one wanting a resolution for this since I'm the victim here and the doll that's green is mine. I consider it rude that Victoria took it personally and implied that either I went with the company's rules, be it to my good or my bad, or keep the green doll and no replacement offered.

I think Soom's way of handling this issue has been pretty poor. They wanted me to pay, then only agreed to the free A/S service if I sent my doll (and I would have never gotten it back) and then they stated they were only replacing the greened parts, which would of course leave me with a Frankenstein as none of the exchanged, new parts would match the older ones (which were pretty scarce, to be true, since all my doll is green save the thighs and the feet, as you can check in the other post (the link I posted before)).

I've had a lot of issues with Soom's dolls since I've been buying from them and I consider their way of doing business selfish and unsatisfactory once problems arise. They leave their customers with defective items, not wanting to offer reasonable A/S services, and act rude and mighty. I won't be buying from them again and I sincerely hope they improve their customer service, as it lacks a lot.

I hope my experience can be of some help and give others an impression of how they manage problems, I sincerely encourage everyone to aknowledge this prior to dealing with them as they're not what I'd call a "customer-friendly" company.

-------
EDIT:

I'm posting again to complete my experience as this issue continued.

I contacted Soom the same day I wrote the above message to let them know I wasn't sending my doll since no guaranties were given and they said they'd only replace the green parts. After a lot of time (more than ten days, as Victoria was on holidays), Victoria got back to me and said we should start over. She apologized for her rudeness and asked me to send the doll back so Soom would replace my Phonolus completely.

I asked a few questions such as if the older COA would suffice for the newer, exchanged doll and so on, and she said she'd contact the person in charge of this and get back to me via email that week. Needless to say, that week passed and I still have no news.

I'm absolutely fed up of their policy of always breaking promises and their attitude towards this issue and have no more energy to waste on them. Therefore, I've written to them to communicate my decission of not wanting to do any business again nor send my green Phonolus as I feel they're only playing with me, giving me false promises and making me hope again for nothing, being unclear about the conditions and possible outcomes and making me wait endlessly for their email. And no, it hasn't been missed by me in the SPAM box. It simply wasn't sent, to begin with.

So I'm updating this post to complete the story. I sincerely never expected this would go so far. In matter of lies, Soom must have won a prize with this issue ^^U

--------

Just today I got an email replying to my message asking them to stop this issue. I feel Victoria's rudeness is endless and her impolite replies deserve to be read by all DOA. Here's what I got:

I merely remarked the important parts. I simply have no more energy for this, but I couldn't keep quiet. This is completely, utterly and outrageously unacceptable of a customer service, first for being so impolite and rude, then for threatening people to "think twice" and for replying only when they feel cornered.

It's not my fault if she's busy, it's not my fault if she can't handle those events, it's not my fault if she "feels stupid". I feel way, way worst. I think Victoria's noone to tell me I'm impatient after having waited for a month and 13 days.

And what's with this behaviour and rude replies to a customer who's paid you? I've paid her customer service when I've bought my Soom dolls, it's her obligation to do it right. If she can't handle so many customers, I'm not the one to blame. Just like I told her in my last message (and from here onwards any communication on Soom's part will be ignored by me as I don't want to ever have to talk to them again), when you're facing customers, you have to be ready for unhappy customers as well and, to begin with, my unsatisfaction was caused BY SOOM. Had they been different in handling this issue, I wouldn't have been so unhappy.

I been polite for this long and tried to remain calm, but today I had to reply to her and tell her she has been crossing the politeness edge too much already. I can stand many things, but not lack of respect. I simply cannot conceive how she can be so high and mighty, playing the victim, when this issue is all Soom's fault.

 

* What did you order?
MD Teenie Gem Lucky (blue) human + bird feet - Through a split here on DOA

* When did you order?
(Ordered by the split leader) Doll was ordered February 10, 2014

* How long did it take to ship?
About 4 1/2 months. Arrived in a few days.

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
Before, I thought SOOM was pricey. Now after getting the doll, I know SOOM is pricey

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
The resin color was definitely a more saturated blue than the company photos. Otherwise, it pretty-much looked the same.

* Were you satisfied with the product?
Honestly, I could be more satisfied. This "pale blue" resin didn't match previous pale-blue releases, but I know resin batches vary. The seems are huuuge (& I normally don't even care about that). The body was strung slightly wrong (& I'd never before checked for that, but it was very floppy). And the resin just doesn't feel... as quality as I thought it might. I still think the sculpting is really nice, but the doll I got seems a little rushed.

* If you weren't satisfied, how did the company solve your problem?
Because I wasn't the one who placed the order in the split, and hearing about SOOM's customer service, and the possible vagueness of the problems with my doll, (and the unexpected death of my pet the day the order came in) I didn't even try to get it resolved.

* Would you order from this company again?
Given the price vs. the quality, probably not.

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
Maybe.

 

* What did you order?
FCE Benmore ns, FCE Arkose ns, The Crow with clothes, Rru with Lion Body and both head face up'd, Saule, SO Puss in Boots

* When did you order?
Feb. 28, April 6, May 22, May 28, June 6

* How long did it take to ship?
3-3,5 month

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
more or less

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
Well, my Rru lion head got black lines in the corners of his mouth, which he has not on the promo-pics, the other dolls looked like the sales pictures.

* Were you satisfied with the product?
No.
All those orders (except the order which included The Crow) had errors or damages.
The FCE dolls had dents.
Saule got two left fairy legs, the knee connection blushing is missing and one fairy leg is made out of clear resin while the other one is milky.
The string holding resin banana of my SO Puss in Boots was like the clipper of a crab and broke when i tried to pull it.
And like i already said: Rru's face up'd lion head has black lines in the corners of his mouth. They have a different length and the shorter left one is placed higher then the longer one on the right mouth corner.
EDIT: Rru's human head wasn't painted well either. He has carved mouthcorners, but the black dots are not painted inside them. No, they are painted above them. The left side of the face has only a black dot, but the right side has a black line. Just like the lion head.

* If you weren't satisfied, how did the company solve your problem?
I had to wait two month to get replacements for the damaged parts from my FCE dolls. For Rru, Saule and SO Puss in Boots i'm waiting for an answer and a solution. But i don't want to wait two month again to get replacements.

Edit:
- I had to wait 3 months to get the correct legs for Saule, since Soom was not able to exchange the legs on the LDoll Festival. Yeah, Mini Gem legs would take to much space, that was Soom's reason. -.-
- The new girl, Laetitia, does not understand english well, so i had to repeat myself like a broken record and even writing like talking to a small child was not understood by her. In the end she thought i wanted to cancle Rru's order and wanted me to ship the broken resin banana back. But i told her more than once that i wanted to have Rru's face ups redone and that i already threw away the broken piece.


* Would you order from this company again?
I already did before i got Rru, Saule and SO Puss in Boots. But when the other orders have damages or errors again i will not order again.

Edit June 8th 2015: Since Soom can't keep up with the orders they received and delay orders by 150 days and more... i will NOT order from this company again. Because right now i'm afraid, that Soom will be bankrupt by the end of the year, since they have to refund so many points that a lot of dolls will be bought by people for free. Which will not help their financial situation. -.-

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
If i buy a Soom doll again, then only second hand.

 

* What did you order?
Shale - The chess in White skin with faceup and option parts.

* When did you order?
End of july 2014

* How long did it take to ship?
about 3 months, sooner than expected

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
Yes

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
Yes

* Were you satisfied with the product?
Yes, except for the magnets, which caused me a lot of problems. It would be better if soom attached them themselves...

* Would you order from this company again?
Yes

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
Yes, but only when I can trade IRL or know the person who sells the dolls.
Fear of recasts etc.
I already bought a tiny MD secondhand and no regrets

 

I think this is the right place to discuss this issue if not let me know and I can post as appropriate.

Extremely disappointed with SOOM. I own quite a few of their dolls and have been a frequent customer for many years. I've got 18 SOOM in the house currently and have owned more than that as I've sold a few over the years.
​

SOOM came out with a special edition Amber (Light Violet skin tone, different outfit/wig/eyes) for LDoll 5 that was supposed to of been only available for purchase at the LDoll SOOM booth (which was one of the big tipping points for me to travel from America to France in order to attend LDoll). All of the notices before Ldoll made it seem like she was meant to be limited for purchase only at LDoll and they also mentioned this at the convention as well. I paid mine off within a day of receiving the full invoice (a week after the con). The convention goers should of at least gotten some kind of notification about it or a discount for buying at the convention. I feel I wasted my money at the convention for a few reasons (Fees, loosing money during currency conversion which wasn't in my favor, etc). I also feel cheated because this was a wasted opportunity to get other things that were actually convention specific. Especially having been around so many artist dolls/items that you can’t get at online stores.

They decide to sell her on their website for anyone to buy the next month. I found this out in February that there were multiple people who ordered via the website had gotten their Ambers in before those who ordered almost a month before at the convention. They also told me mine would ship around the end of December/beginning of January, then the first week of February..... and no shipping notice info as of Tuesday. I am used to long shipping times with SOOM - so that wasn't as much of an issue.

I got a response from SOOM and they basically just apologized for the misquoted shipping times and that they didn't want me to cancel my current 5 dolls on order. They released a doll only version on the website because people asked for it. Evidently my Amber was shipped on February 10th but they didn't decide to tell me about it.... I didn't get any kind of shipping notification at all and I can't check the website for an update because the order isn't listed when you log in. You have to do a QA for anything on the order and wait days for the info. Luckily they had emailed me directly on the Amber order previously so I could email with them rather than having to use the QA board.

I'm requesting quite the refund from them - at least three of the five dolls on order. I'm worried I wont want to keep Amber when she gets here because of all this.

 

* What did you order?
Dain - Cream White skin. Basic doll.

* When did you order?
Final payment completed Jan 12.

* How long did it take to ship?
Under a month. Shipped Feb 6th. I was shocked it took no time at all!

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
I have a few peeves and they are pricey, but otherwise definitely worth every penny.

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
No it looked better in person!

* Were you satisfied with the product?
Magnets are a B, stringing was super loose, but yes. I was.

* Would you order from this company again?
Already planning on it XD

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
Oh yeah!

 

* What did you order? wolf knight
* When did you order? 2013 Christmas
* How was the communication? n/a
* How easy was it to pay? easy
* How long did it take to ship? about 2 to 3 months
* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion? not really, the resin of doll they made are so thin
* Did the item look like the sales pictures? yes
* Were you satisfied with the product? so so
* If you weren't satisfied, how did the company solve your problem? n/a
* Would you order from this company again? maybe not in recently
* Would you buy this company's products second-hand? maybe, not sure

 

i unfortunately had a quite frustrating experience with soom.
i ordered 3 dolls in their teenie Gem Free Choice Event.
payed my layaway on 21th January.
ordered some shoes and added them to the order on February 26th.

first message from Soom on 2nd March:

'Dear customer,

Hello, this is Soom.

The items of your order 20141024123534MC is being prepared in the good accurately.

The expected delivery date is first-second of March.

Thank you for your patient, we will do our best to prepare your order.

Have a good day.

Soom'

since i got the mail on the day they wanted to send my order i wrote in their Q&A to get the tracking number, since they didn't update the status of my order.

got an answer shortly after:

'Dear Kaalii

Good day.
We are so sorry about this situation.

We are prepared your parcel, but we find out something is wrong.
(your doll's wrist and thigh is too thin T_T.. so we decides to re-product your doll.
So your estimate date will be middle of April...

We are so sorry about this situation.

If you have more question, do not hesitate to ask me.

Best regards,
Haylie, SOOM '

in that moment i was actually happy that they didn't just send me the damaged doll. but also kinda disappointed that i had to ask for this information. i expected more from the customer service.

so i waited till 29th april when they made the notice they would take holidays from 1st to 5th may.
since my order would reach the 100 days on 1st may i said that i would expect my order to shipp out on 30th april.
however on 30th april NO Q&A were answered and it seemed like soom just decided to make holidays one day earlier.

today (6th may) i got this message:

'Dear Kaalii

Good day.

In fact, our shipping estimate date is based on your final payment date : 26th of Feb,
it will be 90 days after your final payment.

So your order will be send on first of June. (not delayed ;.
(But it just an estimate date !!)
If you have more question, do not hesitate to ask me!

Best regards,
Haylie, SOOM '


i answered the second i saw this message that i payed the dolls on 21th january and proofed with the previous emails that the shoes were already in their hand on 2nd march! so the shoes do not excuse the delay in my order and the 100 days were reached on 1st may.

finally i got this message:

'Dear customer,

Hello

I will ask to the shipping team and send you an email on this week.

Also, you are entirely correct, the final payment was January 21st.
January : 10
February : 28
March : 31
April : 30
May : 6
TOTAL of = 105 days

As we broke the delivery time guarantee.. from 100 days, we have penalty and to the customer 1% of the selling price for each day of delay in the form of points will given.
Please refer to the customer guide for further information --> http://dollsoom.com/eng/bbs/board.php?bo_table=gem_customerguide&wr_id=24

Once again, I do aplogize for the late delivery !! As soon as I have an answer from the shipping team, I will advise you. Thank you in advance for your patience, and have a nice day !

Laetitia, SOOM '

so right now i'm still waiting for my order on the 106th day. collecting points due to sooms delay and hoping for my order to be send out soon.
i'm very disappointed in soom that it had to come this far.
i ordered black Skin Noellia and her 100days will be reached on 8th June. i just hope that i won't have to contact soom again because of order delay....

i'm really happy right now that i probably won't have to order dolls from soom again. i will stick to their outfits now and get the rest from marketplace...



EDIT 8th June

after asking for the shipping schedule again soom now put my order for 22nd JUNE!
to summarize:
first mail was about this order being shipped on 2nd march.
after asking about this i got mid april as a shipping date.
end of april i asked again and got beginning of JUNE! as schedule.
and now it's end of June suddenly.... very disappointed....

my order of Sooms black skin Noellia reached 100 days after paying today!
asked soom about her shipping schedule. they said they would send it the same day.
well.... in korea the working hours of soom are now over and still no tracking for my Noellia.....
will have to start nagging in their Q&A every day from now on to get my orders.


Edit 9th June
My black skin Noellia is finally on it's way. after 101 days since paying for her
still waiting for my Free Choice order. estimated shipping date is 17th June right now.

 

* What did you order? Noellia Rainbow Spirit (CW)

* When did you order? January 20 (3 month layaway)

* How was the communication? N/A
* How easy was it to pay? Easy to pay, just paid by Paypal every month

* How long did it take to ship? I made my last payment on March 26, and she shipped out May20 and I received her 9 days later

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion? She was worth it due to the optional parts that were included (faery & human legs, two different heads)

* Did the item look like the sales pictures? Yes, though I didn't order any makeup application on the wings, feet or face

* Were you satisfied with the product? Yes, though I wish she came with eyes (instead of having a paying option for them). Overall, though, I do like her a lot and am considering others in the Faery Legend line

 

* What did you order? Han and other stuff, Breccia

* When did you order? April 25 (PIF), April 26 (PIF)

* How was the communication?
For the order i paid on April 25: Soom is continuously trying to get me accepting a refund because SUDDENLY items i paid for are out of stock. But i had to ask, since Soom did not have the courage to tell me themself!

For the order i paid on April 26: They try to swindle me out of penalty points. The order was delayed bei 6 days, Soom proofed that are unable to do simple mathamatics and says it's been only 102 days! -.-

* How easy was it to pay? Easy thanks to Paypal.

* How long did it take to ship?
For first order: Soom shipped a FIRST part. Because the order is already delayed by 16 days! But they will have to pay the penalty points till the whole order is shipped. -.-
For the second order: Soom was unable to change "before shipping" to "on shipping" and i had to ask again, 'cause they were unable to do so themself! -.-

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
For the second order: No! Poorly glued magnets are not a sign of good quality!

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
For the second order: yes

* Were you satisfied with the product?
For the second order: yes


Comment from me since it's not asked how the company is treating their customers:
The last order i made were handled absolutly poorly! Soom tried and still tries to swindle me. They sold items they do not have! They are unable to keep their storage in order and listed. And they trying to swindle me out of penalt points!
Excuse me, but Soom is now dead for me. The are a criminal organisation! DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM!
I saves you time and a lot of stress!

 

* What did you order?

Romantic York (Idealian72)

* When did you order?

End of February 2015 on layaway. Arrived September 2015.

* How was the communication?

Quite easy during the ordering process...I paid via layaway for 4 months so everytime I made a payment I let them know on the Q&A board. They got back to me at least within the next day. I ordered York initially as a blank but then decided to get a faceup so wrote to them again and asked if that would be okay. Soom said it was fine, linked me to a page titled 'York's faceup' and I added it to the cart and then my layaway reflected the change in price.

* How long did it take to produce/ship?

Considering they made the doll after all payments, I was not aware so I waited an extra 2-3 months. I did ask them at one point for an update and they got back to me saying he was still in production, I finally then got a shipping notice from Soom about a few more weeks later. Shipping was ok, about a week but I think that's standard for UK since it had to go through customs as well.

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?

Yes. I really like York. I got itchy feet halfway through and wondered if I would like him and worried about quality due to the amount of negative feedback about Soom. But once I got him, he is now one of my favourite dolls. He poses well and I really like the Idealian body.

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?

Er....well, the sales pictures on the Idealian website are terrible! But....I guess he does.

The sales pictures on the website are TERRIBLE because they are sooooo dark, his wig covered half his face, the one showing most of his face is like a small picture or something, and Soom snapped shots of him from one angle only most of the time. I decided to jump into the deep end and ordered a doll I wasn't even sure about in terms of sculpt but was fairly pleased with how he turned out.

* Were you satisfied with the product?

YesCustomer service: Ehhhh....not really?

* Negatives?

Yes! I wrote about it in my box opening - his head was separated from his body during the shipping. I opened the box to find his head in one corner and it looked sooo dangerous I was worried it would be damaged during shipping. Thankfully it was not. But his right hand had one finger broken!!! I was so sad about that so I immediately contacted Soom about the broken finger on the right hand and included a photo.

They got back to me and asked me the reason why it was damaged. I was annoyed by that because I was thinking "Well how should I know? It was probably shipping, but the main point being... his hand was like that when it arrived!" so I messaged Soom back with this again with the photo for reference. They then messaged me back asking what the Order Number was. I messaged AGAIN with all this info - reason for damage (During shipping) and my Order number and also the fact that it was the right hand. They then got back to me saying "Ok they would pass it to the customer service team". I was like OK thanks. A day later they replied to my previous message again and asked: "Was it the right hand?"

Yeah, so imagine my frustration!

In the end i typed up a long winded reply saying 1) right hand 2) finger broken 3) damaged during shipping 4) Order Number XXX 5) included a photo aaaaaand I also said he was my first doll so was upset this had happened.

They replied to that with a "Ok we will send a replacement hand soon."

I got it today and everything's fine. My York has now both hands and he's fine. If I've got to be honest, I feel lucky.

From the experience, Soom's customer service is pretty naff.

* Will you order again?

I probably will, but only and ONLY if they release a doll I want and I mean REALLY REALLY want. If not, maybe I will order just accessories or something....because I really do like Soom dolls but I just am not sure about the Customer Service - at the same time their terrible service is not something that will put me off them forever. I might order some goodies but ordering a doll might be a bit of a bigger risk.

 

* What did you order? Teenie Gem B.Isha human version + fantasy head, outfit, shoes (cream white)

* When did you order? Late August 2015

* How was the communication? Quick and polite.

* How easy was it to pay? Easy, I used PayPal.

* How long did it take to ship? Just over two months. It shipped in early November.

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion? Yes. The outfit was beautiful and had no faults, and the resin appeared to be good quality, with no noticeably thin areas.

* Did the item look like the sales pictures? Yes, aside from the fact that I didn't order faceup.

* Were you satisfied with the product? The doll and clothes that arrived were beautiful, but unfortunately the fantasy head was missing the horn.

* If you weren't satisfied, how did the company solve your problem? I contacted them via their Q&A, and they quickly replied to say they would send the horn. They did, but unfortunately I had to pay an additional £20 (~$30) in fees on it, on top of the fees I had already paid on the rest of the doll. The horn is a tiny piece of resin, less than an inch long, and it's probably not even worth as much as the extra fees I had to pay, I know Soom can't control UK customs, but it was their fault for not including it in the original shipment.

* Would you order from this company again? If I really wanted something I might, but I would definitely hesitate after having to pay customs charges twice on the same order due to their error.

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand? Yes.

 

A little late, but:

* What did you order?
Post MD CW Obsidius w/ outfit

* When did you order?
PIF October 6

* How long did it take to ship?
Got my tracking number on the 17th. Arrived on the 21st.

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
Absolutely not. :/

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
Yes no. It's not that it was different, they were just very done up since he was an older doll.

* Were you satisfied with the product?
Not in the slightest. I sold it after I got it. We had a problem with S hooks not being shipped to me. It took them two months to send them to me after six posts on the Q&A board to get information from them. I had previously owned a Dain, which I also sold, thinking that the poor sculpting for the dolls joints and poseability was isolated to the smaller ones and quickly found out that it is significantly worse in the larger dolls with fantasy parts. It probably doesn't help that I'm comparing it to other companies I own dolls from - like Loongsoul and Fifth Motif - but my fullset, painted Loongsoul was cheaper than this Obsidius and WAY better quality in every way... so I can't really make excuses. This experience took away the infatuation I had with the company really fast. It wasn't good.

* Would you order from this company again?
Probably not.

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
Maybe. There's still two dolls that I want from them - but I don't want to give them my money directly. I'm going to stick to the two little gems I want and call it for the company.

 

*What did you order?
Soom Breccia Soul Stealer

* When did you order?
Spring 2015

* How long did it take to ship?
About 90 days after my final layaway payment. Arrived around October 2015.

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
Oh h*ll no. I've had dolls from 4 other companies that in quality-wise were done much better, and cost less than Soom doll. So in comparison to others, this quality of soom dolls is not worth the price they stamp on them.

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
Well I am happy what she looks like and the face-up is as wonderful as in the sales pics, if not better. When it comes to the aesthetic of Soom dolls I'm quite pleased♡

* Were you satisfied with the product?
Very satisfied by her looks!
BUT I'm very unsatisfied by the quality of this doll, or any other doll I've had from them.
This doll's feet are ridiculous and soom could not include regular feet for the doll which hardly cost anything. And if not that, they can't even sell feet separately, which kinda puts my doll in a bad position because she can never get proper feet unless I'll get some feet from second-hand, which of course will be different tone, because soom can't even have consistancy in their resin colors

* Do you have any positive comments on this company?
1. Soom layaway system is pretty great. It's automatic and very easy to handle.
2. Accepts paypal which is great.
3. Doll designs are most of the time very beautiful/interesting
4. Face-up and body-blushing is very well done

* Would you order from this company again?
Yeah, sadly I will. Even if the company doesn't please me at all, I just love how the Soom, The gem, dolls look like and I don't have any other options if I want such looking dolls. But I really do hate Soom company. Every industry has that bad company and Soom is definitely the winner in this industry because:

1. The sculpts are not nearly as well detailed as so many other dolls of other companies, yet the price is larger.

2. The dolls are quite poor at posing - again if comparing to other dolls that cost less and are sculpt-wise way superior.

3. This company can't even give their best effort to ensure that the dolls have proper packaging system once shipping their dolls. I mean, come on: that carrying bag and that weak box? Have you seen how sturdy doll boxes some other companies have? They also have pretty great systems of keeping the dolls well safe for the travel.
But yeah, I've heard enough stories of Soom dolls that were damaged during shipping. Hmm, I wonder why...

4. Finally their customer service... I don't even want to start. Simply to say they suck at it. I've studied enough management to see how poorly their management works which causes tons of problems in their customer service. And it doesn't seem like they try to improve it. Maybe some few good souls there try to make the Q&A work better, but I don't know how far that will get them. But skipping questions, not even trying to understand the most simple questions or perhaps just not wanting to cooperate , and forgetting what a customer has asked is not a sign of good service. Often they also take too long to solve a problem even if the fault was really theirs ... basically not wanting to take the responsibility.

But hey, what do they care. Their business is making profit just fine, because people will keep buying from them nonetheless (like me for instance). So it is what it is.

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
If I see a soom doll in a second hand market, which I really like (as I have bought 2 so far), I will buy them gladly, because the less I support the actual company directly the better I sleep.

 

NEGATIVE REVIEW DUE TO 228 DAY WAIT AND EVENTUAL ORDER CANCELLATION.

This is here for posterity. Please see my more extensive posts about this here and here in the waiting room.

Summary of what happened:

• Doll was ordered and paid in full on 25 Sept 2015 - my fourth Soom doll order
• Doll proved difficult to produce (apparently due to unusual skin colour); according to Soom they tried 3-4 times to produce the doll but it failed to meet quality control each time
• I started asking them about progress after about the 3rd or 4th month; Soom kept giving shipping estimates about a month away that wouldn't happen. I would get no information about the progress/difficulty with the order until...
• At close to 6 months, I got fed up and threatened to start a Paypal claim unless Soom let me know exactly what was happening. Soom gave me their apologies, explained there was difficulty with the production and promised to keep me updated (which they did not).
• After the 7th month, I gave up and asked for a refund. Soom apologised and offered a money refund via Paypal, or 25% the value of the doll in points plus the doll once it was produced. I accepted the refund.
• Soom gave me a refund under their delivery time guarantee system via Paypal. The refund itself was delayed about 2 weeks after they agreed to it.
• In total, I lost about $70ish USD (due to currency exchange via Paypal) plus more than 7 months wait for a doll that never happened.

My advice for anybody who wants to order from Soom in the future:

• Be especially wary of something like this happening if you have an order with a special darker skin colour, particularly around Christmas or events where Soom has to deal with a large volume of orders. Despite their being a large BJD company, they're still small by company standards.
• That said, my delay was sort of out of the blue and didn't really happen at a time they had to deal with a giant influx of orders. Sometimes bad things just happen!
• It seems they're doing their production in China and final quality check in Korea. This adds to the time if there are difficulties with your order and they have to keep producing copies of the doll, because it has to get sent back and forth.
• With extended waits: you're eligible for refund under Soom's delivery time guarantee after 100 days. This is pretty much at Soom's discretion. They will start compensating you in points up to 25% the cost of the doll after the 100 days. If you opt to keep waiting, I don't doubt they will send you a doll eventually, but (as evidenced by my experience) it's possible you'll be in for a very, very long wait.

* What did you order? Soom Little Sweet Witch Kivi (viola purple skin)

* When did you order? 25 September 2015 (paid in full)

* How was the communication?

- Good aspects: Q&A gets answered in 2 business days. Staff are usually polite and apologetic once they sense you're frustrated/mad.

- Bad aspects: Soom would tell me they would keep me updated with regards to my order, but wouldn't actually do so unless I wrote in Q&A myself. They would also not give any detailed information about how the production of the doll/progress is going unless you go so far as to threaten to cancel your order. Whoever's manning the Q&A also gets flippant if you're just asking for an update on shipping estimate.

* How easy was it to pay? Easy (Paypal)

* How long did it take to ship? Doll never shipped; eventually asked for refund more than 7 months after ordering. Got my refund 9 May 2016 (228 days after ordering).

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion? No idea, never received doll

* Did the item look like the sales pictures? No idea, never received doll

* Were you satisfied with the product? No, nor the experience (obviously). I'm not saying I'd never buy another Soom doll, because they were one of my favourite companies and they do keep tempting me back with super cute dolls. I'm not sure if this was a one-off blip, because the rest of the waiting room was roughly on time. But this experience has given me extreme reservations about ordering directly from Soom in the future, and I'd definitely be too scared to run a group order for them ever again.

 

* What did you order?
Nightmare Amor

* When did you order?
March 23 2016 (layaway)

* How long did it take to ship?
Shipped 1 week after final payment in July.

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
The quality of the doll and outfit was appropriate for the price.

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
Close but still good.

* Were you satisfied with the product?
I am quite happy with Nightmare Amor.

* If you weren't satisfied, how did the company solve your problem?
N/A

* Would you order from this company again?
Yes

* Would you buy this company's products second-hand?
Yes

 

* What did you order?
I ordered Soom Super Gem Cass Abyss Rhapsody on Soom Odette The Swan Lake body in tawny skin during 2016 FFCE.

* When did you order?
I ordered the doll on July 5th, 2016

* How was the communication?
Very good.

* How easy was it to pay?
With paypal everything is easy.

* How long did it take to ship?
I had my doll on lawaway, so I finished paying off on 5th of October. In their instruction about Layaway it is clear they are starting making the doll during the layaway process and thats the reason why they cant give clients longer layaway then 4 months. Soom kept on changing the shipping date for my doll. First I was promised it had to be the end of October the beggining of November, then it became the middle or end of November and then suddenly the end of December. I asked them to be presice and stop changing dates and that it has to be a Christmas Present, and suddenly they shipped it right away in couple of days, which made me think that the doll was ready all this time and for unknown reason they kept it. So it took them 1,5 months to ship the doll after last payment.

* Were there any missing or broken items in your order?
Yes, they didnt put the S-hooks and extra cord which the Odette body needs for special high heeled legs.

* If there were any problems with your order, how did the company handle them?
They told me they never put the extra cord and s-hooks in the box for Soom Odette,which is not true, because they do. I contacted several people who have this kind of body and they expalined me that i needed an extra cord and s-hooks to put the legs on my doll - there was no manual about it and no needed parts too. They adviced me to use the hooks from regular legs, which I wonder how I can use them if they are from resin and are the part of a whole sole. Soom admitted the mistake and sent me additional cord and S-hooks. I didnt recieve them yet.

* Would you order from this company again?
I dont know. The quality of resin is good, the tawny skin is amazing, but I dont know.

* Was the quality appropriate for the price, in your opinion?
I think so.

* Did the item look like the sales pictures?
Yes

* Were you satisfied with the product?
Yes

 

Negative review.

* What did you order?
Soom Devil Aphan in Cream White + extra little gem hands

* When did you order?
6/20/19 ; 4 month layaway

* How was the communication?
Their customer service reps are good at dodging questions and lying and coming up with bogus excuses that get disproved a post later. I work escalation desk, I recognize these tactics. Soom is very good at them, but not good at actually addressing the problem. It's not the reps' fault it's very clearly an underlying issue with the company's internal process but I'll talk about this later down.

* How easy was it to pay?
Very easy. They have a great integrated layaway system that even sends you reminders 2 weeks before your due date. It's by far the best layaway system I've ever gotten to work with. It's completely seamless.

* How long did it take to ship?
I paid off my order on 9/13/19 and my order shipped on 9/30/19.

* Were there any missing or broken items in your order?
No, Soom packages their items very well

* If there were any problems with your order, how did the company handle them?
There was a problem. It was less with my order and more with how things were being handled. This is something EXTREMELY important to me and I don't expect everyone to put the eggs in the same basket as I do when judging a service. So, take what I say with a grain of salt but these are the facts and how I personally feel about them. Aphan's order period was followed up with an order period of Opel/Lier and then for Onyx. People were posting that fullsets of Opel/Lier and Onyx dolls were coming out before anyone had reported hearing about Aphan. I questioned this and was told by a Soom rep that every doll has a different production period and it was hard to keep this straight with the overlap that happens and not to be concerned. I was told that if someone else that ordered after me had gotten their Aphan then only at that point would my argument make sense. I called this out and told the rep that that really did not make sense to me as I'm seeing grey fullset Opels before a single blank white Aphan and the production period could not be that radically different in this case. I was dismissed and pacified with being told my Aphan would ship the next week. This alone was odd as I ordered so late in the order period and yet still hadn't heard of any Aphans going out. I spoke with another Aphan orderer who also ordered a blank doll. They ordered BEFORE I did and on a shorter layaway period than I did and paid off their order BEFORE I did. I got my shipping notification and my doll before they even got a shipping notice. Both dolls were fully blank and I beleive I alone got extra hands and as far as I know the other person ordered no extras at all. Soom had defied their own stated logic about the order this queue happens in. I have lost full trust in Soom entirely after this. I could buy into their excuses initially, but after the comparison between myself and the other Aphan orderer and later other orderers I spoke with, I have no reason to believe anything Soom told me. The way orders are queued clearly have no real rhyme or reason. And I do realize this is probably harsh to say but the way this played out was unethical and makes absolutely no sense. I don't appreciate being lied to by a company and that to me is enough grounds not to buy from them again. Consumer trust means a lot to me and I don't feel I can trust Soom fully with how this was handled. I'm putting this out there to express my own opinion on this situation; not to tarnish Soom's reputation. This is just a fact of what happened and there's written evidence of it in this forum in the waiting room, on IG, and in the QA board on Soom's English website.

* Would you order from this company again?
No. As I said before, my trust with Soom is gone and honestly I don't give them that great of a product review either. Unless I was madly in love with a doll I wouldn't go back and even then I'd rather go second hand. I just don't want to deal with Soom directly again quite honestly.