Am a bit sad...

[brazilian_girl]

Today I went to the post office to pay for customs for two dolls: Jess and Kirsten. Jess is beautiful but has a mark (pink or red) on her arm, I'm trying to get rid of it. She was NIB and there was nothing near her to give her that mark. She also has a strange stitching (??) on her left arm (on cloth body). I had to pay a lot for customs because the seller put 150.00 dollars as value on customs form (and the doll costed 94.50). She didn't know about customs, I guess, maybe she paid insurance and wanted to be safe.

But my great disappointment was with PM Kirsten. She has silver eye [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] And as you know, I can't send her to the hospital. Well, she is a beautiful West Germany doll (tan body) and I guess she will be a favorite from now on, even with silver eye. I can't blame the seller, am positive she didn't know about silver eye, and maybe it happened in transit...

Well, I guess I will have to stop buying AG things, specially dolls. The new ones because they may be not perfect and the older ones because they can develop silver eye...

But I have good news: my mother is planning to go to NY this year, and DH said if I want he will take care of DD and I could go with her!!!! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

Ana Claudia
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

[vew-tori]

I am so sorry about your dolls. A trip to New York sounds great though. Maybe you could exchange Jess then? Of course you will have already bonded with her by then so that would be hard to do [img]frown.gif[/img] . At the very least start saving so you can pick out a special girl (or two) when you are in NYC.

[beccachris]

I would be sure and email the seller of the Jess doll and explain to her how much more you had to pay in customs because she inflated the price you paid on the customs form. Not that you are asking for her to pay that money or anything. She just needs to know not to do that in the future.

[Skittl1321]

So sorry to hear about your dolls.

My Jess has some crazy stitching going on near her arms too. It's like they backstitched and then restitched more than once at the end of the seam. (Is that what you are talking about) I checked and a few of my other dolls look like that too- but they don't wear halters.

[jenndon]

Ana--Sorry about your dolls, but how wonderful about a possible trip to NY yourself!

How is Molly doing with her smoke smell? I think that mine is done! I kept putting fresh baking soda in and I think that helped. She is in a plastic bag, which I discovered works much better than the pillowcase I had her tied up in.

Also, I see that you are going to use her as Laura Ingalls. What a wonderful idea! I love the pioneer/Kirsten clothes, but I would seriously rather collect the stuff instead of many many dolls, so what a great idea for us! I also think that Addy can wear a lot of Kirsten's clothes.

[My2Girlsrunme]

maybe you can send your kirsten to someone here in the states and they can send her to the hospital for you. Then send her back to you.
Just a thought

[Martina's*Mommy]

That is always the risk for us non-US-buyers - that the seller was dishonest in the item description. I was lucky so far, but I can imagine, how annoying this must be!
But the trip to NY is a great thing! I agree, you should save up as much money as possible and than shop til you drop there... [img]wink.gif[/img]
Don't get me started about customs - we can import up to 50$ value customs free, if the package is marked as gift. It's a lucky game, though - I often received packages customs free, althought the worth was much higher on the customs form. I guess, that our carrier is just tired about all those US-packages! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[judiaci]

That's too bad about your dolls! When you come to NY, can you have Kirsten's silver eyes replaced? I know AG does it for free, but I am not sure there will be enough time for that during your visit. If you are handy, you could do an eye replacement. There are instructions on the Website sticky at the top of our board. I live in Wisconsin, home state of American Girl, and got a greenish Felicity. I never even realized there was a bad batch of greenish dolls. I thought all Felicity's looked like that - sort of olive skin tone. Well, I never did get her replaced even though I live pretty close to AG. We had her too long before I realized that she had a flaw. [img]frown.gif[/img]

How much do you get charged for customs? How does it work? If someone from this board sends you a doll, do you still have to pay? I would recommend having someone from this board who goes to AGP hand pick a doll for you and send it out.

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ February 01, 2006 09:42 AM: Message edited by: judiaci ]</font>

[Martina's*Mommy]

I don't know, how it is in Brazil, but here, the rule is following:
Up to 22 Euro (ca 25$) customs are free.
22 - 50 Euro: Subject to customs, if marked as merchandise or "other" on the customs form, free if marked "Gift"
Above 50Euro: Subject to customs.
We can pay it to the carrier or at the PO.

[ponydreamer]

I'm so sorry! With Jess..that stitching won't show when she's dressed, so that will make her better.

Kirsten? Maybe you should send her to one of us, and we can send her to the AG hospital, then send her back to you.