Vendors have known about Customs taking issue with 100cm dolls and should either not be selling them or being open with customers about problems experienced.
A responsible vendor should be at least supportive on dealing with Customs.
But instead of such support, below is the response from Customdolls:
As a footnote with regard to the legitimacy of 100cm dolls it's quite apparent that a doll looking likeAs stated in our terms and conditions, once we buy the doll from the
supplier then the title of the goods passes to our customer.
It is then out of our control and not our responsibility from then on.
Some countries at the moment do not have problems with such items, we
was up until now one of those countries, and until somebody challenges
the confiscation of these dolls, then nothing can be done.
We have no control over customs whatsoever. We also do not have
unlimited funds to refund any losses like this to our buyers at this
time.
We make very little profit as a middle man on these dolls, sometimes
just enough to feed our children.
You purchased the doll at practically cost price, hence the fact the
other sellers prices are hundreds higher than ours.
As you are aware these dolls come from China, therefor they have to be
purchased by us at a high price from our suppliers.
As an example any damage which would occur to the dolls in transit
would be down to the courier and supplier/manufacturer to sort out,
not an individual acting as an agent who just resells the dolls, and
as stated on our website we are a reseller not a manufacturer.
At this time we currently do not have the funds to purchase our own
stock, this is due to the market being saturated by individuals trying
to earn a crust.
Also due to the doll not being sent by me, and me not being the
receiver then Border force would not speak with me in relation to
matters that I am not involved in, this is because the goods and title
to them belong to you and therefor are now youre responsibility.
The only thing I can advise is that you challenge customs/border force
directly, at this time we do not have the resources to do this, this
is down to lacking the financial backing to do so.
And in some cases a replacement has been issued, but if we issued a
replacement for the same doll then chances are the same thing would
happen and we would be wasting money, and that is money we just dont
have at this moment in time,
As stated out of good faith and business practice, when we are in a
position to issue a refund or replacement doll, then this will happen,
we have no time frame for this and believe we do not legally need to
do this, however we will.
We have other buyers also in the same situation and making 25-80 per
doll profit just doesnt add up enough when sales volumes are very low,
sometimes we cant pay our overheads and hope this year sales with the
bigger dolls turn around so we can compensate individuals such as
yourself who have been subject to the pathetic system in place that
customs and border force operate.
We are sorry for this inconvenience and all we can do is try and make
right what some other entity has made wrong, which is unfair on us also.
Regards Customdolls
does not fit the sort of criteria targeted for public outcry depicted in the press:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... LDREN.html and therefore is not the sort of doll that Customs should be seizing.
Furthermore Border Force can only act upon legal authority from Parliament which, under pressure from a petition https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/119414 it has not given, the petition failing upon receiving only 254 signatures in 6 months.
Whether Border Force upon review considers that a mistake has been made or not remains to be seen but it's up to a responsible vendor to make sure that a customer gets what he buys and pays for, and assists in any smoothing out of problems.
Best wishes
Harem