Tinyclones

I discovered this site via an instagram ad in July 2019. When I visited it I saw a lot of positive customer feedback displayed and really liked the concept (of personal figurines made to resemble your own image based on photos that you submit while ordering) so decided to place an order for figures of myself and my wife. I then followed up with an email describing some of the details that I particularly wanted included on the figures. I noticed the next morning that the email had bounced. I made a couple of attempts to resend, even using different addresses, but the problem was definitely not at my end. I then noticed that the site was very new. There was limited internet presence. No reviews on places like this and their Facebook page was very new. I supposed they had previously worked as a shop selling to customers who visit their premises and had recently launched themselves online internationally, but doubt was definitely creeping in. Then I noticed that they encouraged contact via Facebook messenger instead so I tried that. It was a nervous 12 hours or so, not knowing if they'd reply or not, but in the evening I finally got a reply acknowledging my message and promising to include all the details I'd highlighted. A few weeks later and the parcel arrived just in time for our first wedding anniversary. I was very excited to open the package and see the results for myself. But to my utter disappointment they had managed to ignore one of the most particular characteristics of my appearance - that I never wear shoes. I had drawn attention to it in my message and yet they had ignored that, and the photo I had submitted and decided to add a pair of black closed shoes to my outfit. To anyone reading this who doesn't know me, I can understand why this might not seem very important, but these models are supposed to be representative of your personal image, and, in my case this is such a strong contradiction, not something I can proudly show to people. It's sad because someone with skill had made the effort of replicating a lot of the detail, but what I received was a crushing disappointment. It was almost an insult. Despite all of the warning signs that suggested it might be a scam, I did in fact receive a product, based on my image, but with one of the most important details that I had explicitly highlighted having been deliberately ignored I nonetheless felt cheated. Naturally I contacted the site through Messenger again. Another nervous couple of days followed until I saw that the message was read. But I still had to follow up asking for an acknowledgement. Eventually the reply came, saying: "Hi Ben, we're so sorry about this! Your order was marked with a custom note, but it looks like the artist who worked on your figurine completely overlooked this request. If you'd like, we can work on a replacement, and have that delivered to you within the next 3-5 weeks. Let us know!" Greatly relieved I wrote back saying I would be more than happy with this, also asking for a few other small changes at the same time (such as the inclusion of our wedding rings and adjustment of my hair colour which was a bit dark on the figures). I also sent them another photo with more detail for the benefit of the artist. They acknowledged this the following week. However it has now been 5 weeks since then and I hadn't heard anything further. So I went back to Messenger to ask for an update. But sadly my message could not be delivered. Their Facebook account has been deactivated. So I went to their website which has reverted to a "coming soon" page. They didn't notify me at any point and I can't help wondering if they had other pending orders that they suddenly abandoned without notifying their customers too. So if the site ever comes back, and I haven't updated this review with a more positive outcome, please avoid it.