Toy Manufacturers Experiences, Good&Bad

This is a thread to share your good and bad experiences with toy companies.
Did your toy take forever to come? Was it damaged? Did customer service blow you off?
Or did you have an awesome experience? Was it better than you expected?
Share your stories.

Here's a rough template:
Toy Company: (BD, FB, EE, you name it)
Order: (or attempted order)
Issues/General Experience:
Customer Service Experience: (your emails, tickets, and company contact)
Resolution: (were you satisfied?)
Other Comments:

If you had a great experience, then share that too!
If you have template suggestions, let me know!

 

Toy Company: Bad Dragon
Order: Multiple!
Issues/General Experience: I've only had one major goof, which is still being resolved. Otherwise, I've always had good luck with Bad Dragon (which isn't to negate the experiences of others because I think it totally sucks. In fact, what sucks even more is that SOME people are just lucky and some aren't; It REALLY should not happen that way.) Readymades, aside from one, have always shipped as advertised (although the product photos sometimes are far more saturated in color than the toy you actually get, which has resulted in slight disappointment once when I was expecting butter yellow and got dull tan). Production and shipping has gotten quicker and quicker; I still feel that things should hit shipping after they're finished/packed faster than they do, but maybe that's just me griping.
When I have done customs, I've always had great experiences. I usually have done paid surprise me's, but the one time I did a full custom coloration, it was even better than I had pictured.
I have received one ready-made toy that had a distinct grate pattern on the tip, but was not marked as a flop or discounted; this issue is still in resolution and I'm very interested to see what they'll say and I'll post again about that when it gets resolved.
Customer Service Experience: Sometimes, it takes a long time to get a response to a ticket, and usually it takes at least a day. As far as I know, they don't have a whole lot of customer service staff, which has pros and cons; I do like talking to the same people every time, but I also think they're stretched quite thin. I've never had a problem with customer service, but then, I've never had a complaint or issue larger than "we can't do your custom color". Which isn't a lifebreaking thing for me since most of the time I'm asking for a surprise/telling them to do whatever they need to do because even when I choose my color I'm flexible. I can understand how that would be frustrating for people who want something very very specific.
Once, I paid $40 and asked for a surprise. When that surprise ended up being a normal split coloration (not worth $40), customer service gave me the option of keeping that toy and crediting me back, or letting me choose a remake. I thought that was stellar of them.
I feel that lately, in response to the drama, customer service has upped the ante, and I've received some particularly delightful responses; one in which the agent sorted out my knotted up request, typed it out clearly how they were going to submit it to the artisans, and let me look at it to make sure it was okay. I got another one lately where the same agent, after they had told me they couldn't do my coloration, said that they had not liked that answer and went back to double check just for me. I just thought that was amazing.
Again, I'm still curious how they will respond to my first real "issue" ticket.
Resolution: To this date, I am satisfied with Bad Dragon and it looks like they're going to get better. However, all these other stories do not sit easy with me, and they're going to have to do a lot before this seed of anxiety I have will be erased. I genuinely hope they are trying to improve things.

Toy Company: Frisky Beast
Order: 3 Mardi Gras eggs and an April Fool's egg
Issues/General Experience: My initial order of the Mardi Gras eggs fell out of the system. After I ordered the Fool egg, I asked if I could combine everything into one box. It still took several weeks after that to finally ship (i think it was three, four months after the initial order).
Customer Service Experience: Everyone I talked to was extremely pleasant, and the responses were often very very prompt, though sometimes it felt like my emailing was ineffectual. (I believe I had to poke them twice and was in the process of doing it a third time when it shipped)
Resolution: I think this place is run by great people, and I really want to buy from them again, since they've done massive amounts of improvement in all areas (manpower, email system, silicone skill) since this transaction. I do not really mind waiting on toys as long as I know I'm in the system (which... it was a good thing I checked in this situation!), especially from small up and coming artists (because I'm a small artist myself); the only thing I was worried about was getting it before my upcoming move. While they were nice enough to box everything together, I think the Mardi Gras eggs look rather hastily made (probably due to the weird circumstance and the fact that there was quite a bit of backorder at the time); the pigments settled weird, there were a lot of drips, and they were just altogether unattractive (and I"m not really picky, but I was disappointed). The gold egg is far more pleasant looking. Otherwise, they're lovely toys for as simple as they are, though I think I'd rather have a prettier set. I've been watching the blog and I don't think anything like that would ever happen again; their pours keep getting better and better and I'm optimistic to give them another shot.

Toy Company: Exotic Erotics
Order: Small hard flesh colored James
Issues/General Experience: Just a basic order, nothing fancy! Shipped ULTRA QUICK and the price is just lovely compared to BD's stuff.
Customer Service Experience: Didn't email them, but I'm very interested in asking for a surprise from them with a future order.
Resolution: The toy is utterly amazing, and the price and speed can't be beat. I feel like they have relatively limited color choices compared to everyone else, but it's clear they take a lot of pride in what they do too and from what I've seen I'm sure they'd do their best on a surprise order.

Toy Company: Damn Average
Order: Miscellaneous squishies, Minichubbs for a friend, and two Marbled March toys (Ministang and Average Alien)
Issues/General Experience: The stuff that was ready-made shipped promptly. The frog was awesome and HUGE!! and I was delighted with the surprise color of the snail. There was also little mixed-poured present-shaped squishies with the orders, which I thought was really lovely and nifty.
I'm still patiently waiting on the Marbled March stuff, but as a freelance artist myself I totally understand the circumstances.
Customer Service Experience: Sheep is super pleasant to talk to and it's clear she takes pride in her work.
Resolution: So far I've been really happy, and I'm sure I'll love the other toys when they come.

EDIT!! GOT A RESPONSE TO MY TICKET:

Toy Company: Bad Dragon
Order: Small, Firm, Ready Made David priced at six dollars above base.
Issues/General Experience: The toy was positively gorgeous, but when it arrived, it had subtle grate marks and a squeezed tip. On second look, these are visible in the shop picture, though not obviously. After some thought I went ahead and ticketed about it, because it was clearly a flop that was incorrectly priced.
Customer Service Experience: Excellent. Not only did they admit the mistake was inexcusable, they offered me three options: a refund of the difference; some store credit equivalent to slightly more than the refund's value; or send the toy back and get a remake of the toy-- they said the color was probably impossible to replicate BUT they said I could have any color or two-color marble I liked, including customs and surprise me's. This is significantly different from what I've heard offered in the past, which surprised me.
Resolution: I went ahead and took the store credit because I guess I might need it later.

 

I've had mostly good experiences with BD, but recently I have had an issue. It had been quite a while since I had ordered a custom, so I consider it substantial, especially in the light of there having been more and more issues by trend, or at least coming to light with BD as of late.

Toy Company: Bad Dragon
Order: Large, 5-firmness Moko with a custom split marble.
Issues/General Experience: When I received my Moko, I felt that the colors were not a true representation of what I had requested.
Customer Service Experience: I first contact them through tickets about my custom color examples. I was told I needed to agree that the toy might not look exactly like the pictures, and I agreed that as close as possible was close enough. Those ticket answers were very prompt. After I received my Moko, I sent another ticket about the colors being wrong. After a week, I opened a PayPal dispute. This was answered in less than 24 hours, and I explained my problem again along with my ticket number. Less than an hour later, my ticket was answered. They agreed to remake my toy, I was permitted to keep the one I had currently, and they credited my account for $20 store credit. I used my pull in how much I had spent with them, and additionally mentioned that combined with warranties no longer being issued, I wasn't apt to buy from them again.
Resolution: So far I'm satisfied. I haven't closed my PayPal dispute yet, because you can't reopen them once they're closed. So I'm waiting to make sure they truly re-manufacture my Moko and follow through with their promises.
Other Comments: I truly think that not too long ago, this wouldn't have happened. My toy arrived to me very quickly, and I don't think they paid enough attention in quality control. In the past there were many times where I have seen toys in similar colors and the same firmness as my custom toy show up in flops and in-stocks, and it has always felt like they didn't just go with their first attempt on color, but made sure it was perfect, because I have had SO many customs come out perfect. That is what made this Moko so much of a let down for me, they have gotten me accustomed to perfect. With how quickly this was manufactured and shipped out, I don't think they're putting the same level of care into their customs that they used to. This fact, and especially the sale they had with the 2-week challenge, DO make me wary to buy customs from them, and I don't think that's going to change.

 

I've not had any discrepancies that needed to be handled, though it may be worth noting a couple instances:

I've purchased from FetishZone several times. They are always attentive to questions and requests. Quick to manufacture and very quick on delivery.
I did get one of the first production toys and a custom color made by them. Each of them have a defect in the silicone. The defects do not effect the functionality of the toy and they don't bother me, though to some people that may not be acceptable.

 

Company: BD
Toy: Onesize Wolf Dragon in 3, Kaiju Aftermath w/sloppy highlight.
So this was (obviously) during the Kaiju sale. I had initially just wanted the promotional color. About a week later, I decided to ticket about the highlighting. It was during the time they had updated the ticket system. They had replied, but at the time I wasn't aware they had, as I had gotten no emails from them. I had accidently sent them 10 emails on the subject. The toy had flopped once during this time, and I finally said "Just put the highlight on it". They charged me an additional $20, and I could tell Audax was at her wits end on this.

So I guess it goes both ways here as I was indecisive on the highlight but just paid the extra $$. It was a huge hassle and not one I'll make again....but the toy came out great, so no qualms for that.

 

Toy Company: Bad Dragon
Order: Multiple

Issues/General Experience: I've had good experiences with BD and less than good experiences with BD. However, recently they've been far better than in the past. In the past I've had a custom come out covered in microbubbles; a requested, and paid extra for, GITD fade not glow-in-the-dark; and a holiday colour that looked nothing like the pictures due to a completely different texture (live and learn). However, those issues are now 2-4 years old. Of my recent purchases I have been much happier. Granted the prices have risen, however the manufacturing time is far superior (1 week for a custom compared to 3 months for one) and quality control is much tighter in my experience (no random airbubbles, microbubbles, wildly incorrect colours, etc).

Customer Service Experience: Tickets requesting custom colours were generally answered promptly. I did not engage in a dialogue to fix problems I had after receiving a toy simply because I did not want to wait another 3 months to maybe sort of get it right. As I said though, that was far in the past and recent purchases have not needed any contact due to being perfect.

Resolution: In the end I sold the ones that were bothering me to buy different things more suited to my personal taste. I do wish I had ticketed on the microbubbles, and if it ever occurs in the future I definitely will.

Other Comments: I let the problem cocks slide and I deeply regretted it. Learn from my mistakes. If you have an issue with a toy, ticket it. If you are not satisfied, ticket it. It's far better to take action than to leave it and have a slightly bitter taste every time you look at something that is supposed to be crafted only to bring you pleasure.

 

Toy Company: Bad Dragon

Order: Clear Cumlube, 2 bottles

Issues/General Experience: I had originally purchased these in October 2013. I don't go through a whole lot of lube so when I had finally gotten around to opening them around June/July of this year, I noticed that they were completely watery, runny, and not sticky at all. Shaking and warming them up had no effect. The best-by date stamped on the bottles were 05-2015.

Customer Service Experience: I sent in a ticket explaining the situation. Within a day, I had gotten a response with an offer of $15 store credit to use on my next order (a bottle of lube is $6), or to have two replacement bottled shipped at no extra cost. I replied within a few hours and did not get another response until a week later, though I believe the reason for this is because the individual handling my ticket had been on vacation, which I do not blame them for. Each response I received was pleasant and professional!

Resolution: My replacements were shipped out this morning. I noticed that a set of sample discs was included at no charge, which was really nice!

Other Comments: This was my first "issue" with BD in the year I've been doing business with them and I'm happy with how it was handled. I do wonder if recent events had an effect on the customer service side of things.

 

Toy Company: EF
Order: (or attempted order): Tantus dildo
Issues/General Experience:Took a bit to ship and when it got here WTF the box was torn open and it sure looked like the Tantus had been around the block.
Customer Service Experience: (your emails, tickets, and company contact): Shipped the fucker back and filled out the complaint form
Resolution: (were you satisfied?) Got my money back, second time Eden's did something like this to me probably won't buy from there again if they can't keep 'fresh' merchandise away from the 'used'. Eww.

 

I don't trust anyone who can't spell "fantasies" correctly.

...well, most of them anyway.

 

Toy Compant: Elypse Art
Order: Magic Inflatable Canine Dick (bold coloration)
Issues/General Experience: Awesome
Customer Service Experience: None
Resolution: (were you satisfied?) Yeah
Other Comments: Well it was a good experience despite no real interaction. I have had one of there toys before, but never ordered from them directly. The service was awful fast. Actually faster then estimated time for the post office. It took a couple days for it to be processed though... 1 extra day than it should have I think. The packages was discrete, although anyone who knows me carrying a long straight box would know what it was. The delivery guy didn't ring the doorbell, just dropped it on the porch... I just happened to step outside and see it before anyone else did.
The product itself was great. Satin bag, cinnalube (haven't tried it yet), and flawless toy with a gorgeous color and no seams that I can see. The tube has a blue tint to it, that's not a bad thing, just noting. The last one I had didn't. And it fills me... er, works great.

 

+ 1 for Elypse Art, I got an order from them a few years ago and, like Willow above, I didn't have a whole lot of interaction with them but they responded promptly to my initial queries regarding international shipping and product options. Toys were sent out within a week and everything arrived in order. The package was postmarked from Scranton, which made me smile as I enjoyed The Office so I imagined the invoice slip was printed on Dunder Mifflin stationery

Exotic Erotics has sent me several kilos of silicone cocks across a number of orders - including a couple that they were kind enough to combine and refund the excess shipping on. I had one minor mistake as a result of a miscommunication but they went out of their way to make amends, more than they needed to. EE is great to deal with via email and I really enjoy ordering from this company, great guys.

Gespenst's Fantasy Gear has done a few orders for me both inventory and custom, the all-ready made order was posted the same day! I've not had a huge amount of interaction but I haven't needed to, instructions for custom colours and splits etc have all been followed to a T and turned out exactly as imagined. Another company that's a pleasure to deal with.

Bad Dragon has taken over a dozen orders from myself but only one real fuck up; an inventory toy listed and labeled as extra soft turned out to be medium firmness. In the end they replaced it with a remake that exceeded my expectations, but it was a struggle to get there with a lot of back and forth and I almost gave up at one point. I also ordered three lil' squirts but received only one syringe, though I neglected to ticket as I assumed that was just how it went. To be fair, every other order has gone through quickly and smoothly and in my most recent dealings they certainly seem to be making more of an effort to please.

Damn Average I haven't got anything from yet but Sheep has been wonderful to deal with via email, likewise Primal Hardware responded quickly and concisely to my inquiry and I hope to place an order with them one day. That's all the silicone stuff I've got so far, Square Peg and Average Sexy Fish are on the list, FB too when they make something long and thin