Aja & J.
Custom orders beware
Last fall, my (now) husband and I found Fast Doll on Etsy. We were looking for embroidered patches that fit the specific aesthetic we wanted for our wedding and fell in love with Caroline’s designs. We reached out through the website to talk about a custom order, providing our wedding date and discussing preferred delivery timeline. We reached an agreement and received an invoice for the order of 9 patches (one custom design, and 8 pieces of the same design available in the shop albeit in custom colors.) The seller agreed to ship at the beginning of the year. We paid the invoice within a week of receiving it. My husband and I also each placed separate orders on top of the first; mine for two custom designs and 8 patches currently in her shop, and my husband’s for one custom design. Since we had placed one order already, I asked to put a deposit down for my custom order and the merchant agreed. I paid 50% in the fall, with the remaining balance due at the beginning of the year. Cut to February, I had not been contacted to remit the payment for the balance of my order. I followed up with her and paid the remaining balance shortly after. During this discussion, Caroline cited health and family concerns which would delay our order shipment a few weeks. With enough time still before the wedding, I agreed it would not be an issue. I reiterated a deadline that left ~1-2 weeks beforehand to allow us time to apply the patches, which was confirmed by the seller. The days ticked by, and we periodically checked in with Caroline to make sure the deadline would be reached. We were told REPEATEDLY that packages would be “sent this week!” with no tracking or follow up when the weekend rolled around. We quickly found ourselves at the wedding week, out over $1500 (across all three orders) and nothing to show for it. I scrambled to make adjustments, rush ordering replacements that would get close to but not meet the expectations set by Caroline’s patches, and continued to email for updates. The wedding was planned for Friday. On Tuesday, the seller provided overnight tracking for ONE patch, which was my husband’s and had been the last order placed. At this point in our discussion with Caroline, we were told which items from the two remaining orders had been produced and could arrive by our wedding. Not all items would make it in time. She provided a refund as a viable option forward for items not shipped; we agreed to cancel and refund the entire first order if she could ship all items in my custom order. On Wednesday, another overnight tracking number which was my two custom patches. On Thursday, the final overnight tracking number was provided (with delivery to our hotel). I consider myself lucky that my mother was able to attach the patches in between her hair and makeup sessions on the morning of my wedding, though find myself frustrated that it came to this at all. As of today, nearing 2 months from the wedding, we have still not received our refund from Fast Doll. She said she experienced an issue refunding our order through the original payment method, though I’m not sure she attempted this refund as the transaction processor confirmed nothing has been refunded. We agreed on a PayPal invoice for the value of the order, which was sent 5 days ago and has not been paid. It is unfortunate that it has come to this, as I feel we have exhibited extreme measures of patience while the seller has proven to be unreliable and unprofessional. Ultimately we did receive some of the items we ordered. They exceeded our expectations and are the only reason I did not give this seller a zero. The hassle to get any of them in time however is one that I would not care to repeat EVER. This was the most stressful vendor I dealt with during all of wedding planning. Given my experience, I would not recommend purchasing from this seller unless buying from stock, in-person.