Antique Child Doll Restoration

Working with Janie of Antique Child Doll Restoration has been a most
wonderful experience, from beginning to end! I brought her a damaged German, bisque doll which really did look beyond repair. Janie, though, was a "miracle worker" and restored my doll to near perfection. I could not be more pleased and, highly recommend using Antique Child Doll Restoration should the need arise in restoring your damaged doll!

My grandmother's childhood doll was in poor condition. Janie went above and beyond to restore the doll. She provided an accurate estimate and communicated effectively. Janie is an excellent craftsman whose work brought a priceless smile to my grandmother.

The owner is very wonderful and good at her work!

Antique Child Doll Restoration was chosen because they advertised that they did restoration for museums, and the photographs on their web site and Facebook page. Overall reviews for the owner were good. A request was put in for my mothers’ compositions doll to have the head fixed, body cleaned or replicated, new mohair wig, socks and shoes. The other doll to be sent was my Shirley Temple doll. She was to have complete composition restoration, eyes fixed (they were crystalized), hair cleaned and set, I purchased the onesie, the sailor outfit, and pin. During the process of the owner getting the dolls and creating the bid she was pleasant, and I was confidant that the dolls were in good hands. I paid a deposit of $300 for the two dolls. Problems started when she said the dolls were done and she sent the request for the money. I paid the remainder, an additional $362 (total $662). She then said she couldn’t send the dolls as there was a problem with Shirley’s eyes and she had to fix before sending, I was ok with this and appreciated her honesty. When the dolls shipped, they were shipped to the wrong address, an old address that I didn’t realize was on Paypal still. I was confused as I thought she was going to use the address off the bid, she never stated otherwise, hence, I never thought to check. The dolls headed to Virginia and I live in Arizona, so started the process of trying to intercept the dolls. I wasn’t mad over this, but I was deeply annoyed by her lack of concern or care over the matter, she stated that “It will probably come back here eventually”. When she sent pictures of dolls that I had requested before they shipped, I had some concerns about the dolls. The wig on moms’ doll didn’t look right (I had wanted long hair but didn’t state that so that’s on me) but it looked strange, two short and color wasn’t right. The body on moms’ doll, which the owner stated needed to be replaced, was all wrong, the sizing was wrong, and it didn’t look right. Shirley’s hair was all wrong, but I thought well I can always replace it if it’s to bad. The owner became super upset and took this as a personal attack and started saying, I did everything to the bid! I stated that I wasn’t happy and what could be done to fix this, she responds that I needed to act like and adult and stop crying. At NO time is ok to talk to a customer like this. The dolls finally got here. Shirley is missing a toe (I don’t understand how this happened), there is scuffs on her new paint, her eyes don’t sit right and don’t look right, her sailor outfit wasn’t shipped. My mothers’ doll was done very poorly, the body is all wrong, she returned the old body in pieces, not sure way it’s so ripped up, the head seem crack was poorly filled and fixed, a thin coat of paint had been put on her, which is already chipping. The wig looks like it was made to fit a much smaller doll and wasn’t the right color, the shoes are very small and don’t fit right (I paid extra for these so this is disappointing). I don’t know if the damage she did to this doll can be fixed or not and I fear how much it will cost me to fix. The owner stated that they would refund the amount of the doll dress. I’m so disappointed with this and would not personally recommend Antique Child Doll Restoration.

My hope in writing this review is that what happened to me will not happen to others. After finding Antique Child online, I was impressed by the website. They promised "Museum Quality" doll restoration and I was foolish enough to believe the claims. I received a quote of $150 for full restoration of my mom's Noma Angel doll from the 1940's. When she sent the pictures of what she had done to the doll, I would've laughed if I wasn't so close to tears. The doll looked nothing like what I sent in. She took the white mohair and replaced it with what looked like Midge, Barbie's best friend from the 1960's. She now had a shoulder length flip of what appeared to be acrylic hair. Her eyes were now round instead of almond, her mouth was very poorly done. Her wings were different. I told the owner that I appreciate the work she put in, but I was surprised she didn't look the same. Her response to me was, "I guess I didn't understand what you wanted." I wanted what I was quoted, a full restoration. I told her the hair was the most offensive and could she please put her old hair back on. She put mohair on her. It was much longer than the original, but I figured I could at least cut that myself. I asked her to then fix her eyes. She said no. She said the doll is packed and ready to ship and when I expressed my dissatisfaction she said, "if you don't want the doll, then fine." Of course I paid (she made me pay cash and removed the option to pay via credit card). As soon as she did that it hit me, she has done this before. I am not her first dissatisfied customer. I have the doll back. It's worse than the pictures showed. Her dress was ripped down the back and the top part under the overlay was missing. The hair was sewn onto her head sloppily. Hopefully I can find someone to fix her, but it might be too late. It's not about the money. There was emotional attachment to the doll. This woman was horrible to work with. She was mean and dismissive. Please do not make the same mistake I did. I have included photos. The doll was in bad shape (first photo), but the point of paying $150 for restoration is to restore it. The second photo was a picture of doll "restored".