Saturday, December 4, 2010

Where To Buy Ventriloquist Dummies

Where To Buy Ventriloquist Dummies?

When you buy ventriloquist dummies, who you buy it from can be as important as what you buy. You can see the differences between the various levels of ventriloquist dolls that we sell by watching the video on our site. But what if you are looking for cheap ventriloquist dummies and are comparing the beginner ventriloquist dummy that we offer (the Basic level) to other options that are out there?

Chances are that if you want a dummy you will be getting it online. As far as we know, there really aren't any physical ventriloquist stores that you can go to and check out an assortment of dummies. While some stores might have a dummy or two, there just aren't stores that will have as wide of an assortment of ventriloquist puppets as you will find at ThrowThings.com.

The Basic Celebrity Ventriloquist Dolls that we, as well as others, offer (Slappy the Dummy from Goosebumps, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Howdy Doody, Danny O'Day, Groucho MarxW.C. Fields, Emmett Kelly Jr, Carol Channing, Bozo the Clown, Willie Tyler's Lester, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy) all come from the same manufacturer. Our figure makers do the work on the special upgraded dummies that you'll find on our site, but if you are just considering a Basic you may wonder why you should buy dummies from one place instead of another.

To start, ThrowThings.com offers the widest assortment of these ventriloquist dolls. We generally maintain the largest stock in the industry - even larger than the manufacturer - and we ship very quickly. We almost always ship dummies on the same day or the the next business day from the time that we receive your order. We don't use slow shipping services - you shouldn't have to wait weeks to get your dummy. And we don't show a low price for the dummy and then charge excessive shipping. As a matter of fact, with our flat rate shipping to any location in the continental U.S. (the "lower 48 states") you can buy as many dummies, ventriloquism DVDs, books, etc, as you would like and shipping will still only be $9.00. If you have questions, we are here to answer them. You can reach us by email, phone, or our online help system. (One of the principals that our company was built on was that we should provide better customer service than you would expect not only from an online company, but from a local store. We are proud to say that we have been recognized many times for our exceptional customer service.)

But what about the dummies themselves? It would seem reasonable to assume that if two online stores are offering the same Basic ventriloquist dummy, made by the same manufacturer, that you would get exactly the same quality dummy regardless of where you buy. This is not necessarily the case.

We have heard from many customers over the years that they initially purchased a ventriloquist dummy from another source and received a doll that didn't work. After going through the hassle of returning it, they then purchased from us. So why would they get one that didn't work from another store?

The answer is really quite simple. Not all of the dummies that come out of the factory are up to par. As a matter of fact, the majority of them need some work to be up to our standards. Other places to buy ventriloquist dummies may just send out a package without even looking at the doll. Some sellers of ventriloquist dummies may not even have an oportunity to see the item...having it shipped from a remote warehouse where the dolls are stored and shipped out. At ThrowThings.com all of our ventriloquist dummies are checked prior to shipping. If we see a problem it is either fixed then or the dummy is set aside for further work. We think this is the way that it should be instead of sending out dummies that don't work and waiting to see if the customer will accept it or send it back.

The most common issues that we find when inspecting the Basic ventriloquist dummies have to due with the space between the mouth and the chin and cheeks. The plastic used in the molding of the heads and mouths can expand or contract a bit more than expected. This can lead to too small of a gap between the mouth and the chin which means that the mouth may not open properly or once open it may not close. While we correct this before shipping your new dummy we have heard many stories from customers that purchased elsewhere who received a dummy whose mouth did not move properly. (And what good is a dummy whose mouth won't open or close?) On the other hand, sometimes the gap between the mouth and the cheeks will be extremely large, giving the dummy a distorted look. We work with the manufacturer to have these heads replaced or reshaped prior to shipping.

Over the many years that we have sold ventriloquist dummies there have been other problems that effected all or part of a production run. These have ranged from mouths not staying in place and falling back into the head to hats missing from characters that should have them, missing shirts, hands not being attached securely, mislabeled packaging, etc. Instead of just shipping out the dolls as they are and hoping that there won't be a problem, we address and resolve the issues as soon as they are discovered.

Now, we are human and it isn't impossible for a dummy with a problem to get by us. And we aren't there when other companies ship their dummies so we can't say exactly how they handle things. But we do know for a fact that we not only have an extremely low return rate but that many of our tens of thousands of customers have come back to us again and again when it is time to add to their ventriloquist dummy collection.

When you are trying to figure out where to buy ventriloquist dummies please consider ThrowThings.com. We think that you will agree with our other customers who know that ThrowThings.com offers the best combination of price, selection, quality and service.