Salamz fellow guppans , I am sorry for the overdue in writing and posting my review and experience with M&M collections / kool soni.
I am living in The Netherlands and been a member on gupshup forums since the past 2 years and quite a silent follower I have ordered a couple of times from 2 other established and fantastic homebased designers that I met through paklinks.
Although I must admit my previous orders weren’t big expensive orders or any wedding formals and the amount I paid to them were relatively not as big as my order placed from Kool Soni.
I must say that the amount of the pieces I got and what I was charged I can truly say lol with satisfaction that after intensive (lol I sound like an aunty now ) search and comparing price of the same print kool soni was the cheapest (in price ) with very nominal profit.
Anyways I am living in Holland , and it is very difficult to get good clothes which are reasonable, good quality / print and something of my taste. I had sleepless nights lolllllllll becauseI placed my order quite impulsively , I called her on her cell phone and inquired about prices , she was pleasant and kind to talk with but still had to think for a whole week about it. The horror stories of customers being ripped off or not getting what they had paid and inconsistency in price quotes by other fb vendors for was still on the back of my mind. So for some reason and after a whole week of thinking I placed an order and afterwards came back to paklinks and ask other guppans for their opinion…
So I had seen a print of a embroidered threaded with sitaray fabric on other different fb –groups . I am not sure if I am allowed to mention these other competive fb groups as I don’t want to use this review to badmouth or make bad advertisement for others.
From pictures I could tell that they were not original needles and impressions/circles or t&M but a kaprey that was sold in Karachi and even in Lahore markets lol. (judging from the pictures taken and the prices differed very much from each other too and in my opinion very expensive too for unstitched fabrics.
Because I had seen a stitched version at Saba Maliks I had to get this same print no matter what (yeah I know I sound desperate :P loooool))
So back to my experience : I saved the pictures of the chiffon embroidered kaprey and send them to her by email. Kool soni is from Karachi and I asked her to check aashiana market and gulf for me and that I preferred to have the exact or similar print kaprey. She answered all my questions and inquiries professionally with patience and quickly which I apprecieated most. I daily sent her msgs through google instant msging !
She checked both markets and for those who r in Karachi know they r quite big with so many prints available….khair she replied back to me and sent me pictures of a similar print but still not exactly the same the price of that was 4500 Pkrs for unstitched and tye dye dupatta ( I don’t like ready made tye dye for some reason the ones that look like as if the dyer went crazy with his ink brush) , I still found it reasonable but gave honestly my opinion that I wasn’t very crazy about it , so she promised she would go back and see if she could find something better and exact the same print.
So mailed me again that she had found the exact print made of better quality and embroidery , and gave me honest suggestions , for the 500 pkrs extra I preferred buying the one that looked better and had more color options!
Seriously girls she shopped for me as she shopped for herself , I order 3 different colors for myself and my 2 other sisters and asked to add extra benarsi pattees , lining and matching trousers. She offered me stitching too from her tailor located in zamzama , but I preferred them unstitched as I can have it stitched when my mother goes to Pakistan. I have had many nasty experience in the past and since it was my first order I wanted to keep it on safe and not ruin the fabrics .
So including the lining and all I eventually paid I think 5500 or something (kool soni correct me if I wrong ) all together complete unstitched…..know that I was quoted for exact the same print double and even triple in usd by other fb vendors.!!!
I also asked her if she could send me prints that were cheaper in pricebut with the threaded embroidery print idea , which she patiently and easily did without any hesitation. I eventually liked one that she quoted for me for 2400 for a 3 piece unstitched suit!
Same story with when I send her pictures of embroidered pattees that are inn these days , nominal prices for 250 pkrs per gaz ,I think I sent her on 3 trips for only a few gaz of pattees.
Okay the biggest deal I consider was the sana safinaz replica I bought for 8300 (unstitched) for my sister!!!! Again the same story I was quoted literally double in usd for the same replica !!by other fb groups stitched. She went to the bazaar first to get pictures and mail them to me and make a second trip to actually buy it.
I firstly ordered the 3 + 1 outfits and send her money through western union , but then my sister wanted to have the sana safinaz too , so I asked kool soni to pay in advance and I would send her the second payment soon. she took the risk but I am thankful to her that she put her trust in me as I did in her for paying in advance and wait for my money transfer to her! Honestly I was worried and nervous , she didn’t have many reviews and I didn’t know her in person but overall exerperience was good.
Okay this is getting long : last but not least My experience regarding the delivery :
I was thinking wether I should deliver my suits to Quetta and save on postal cost money , as my parents are going to Pakistan soon and they could bring it with them back to Holland or have them shipped through Pakistan postal delivery . The postal delivery would be around 4500 lol and I was thinking wow for that money I could buy another suit and have it all delivered for 300 pkrs to quetta….but than luckily a friend of mine who also lives in Karachi told me that she was planning a trip to Holland…so I asked kool soni to deliver it to her address. Which she did without any hassle or asking me further questions. She also took pictures of the packed items and sent them to me before delivering the suits to my friend. the packing looked good.....
Anyone reading this would wonder why I wouldn’t wait till my parents went to Pakistan , well my parents are old and the bazaars in quetta aren’t safe anymore for shopping , plus my friend wouldn’t have as much patience to send her on multiple trips to the bazaar to get me the stuff I wanted :P
In short : for a first time My exprerience working with her was excellent. She replies of every single single msg/email on time. She replies with intregity and give suggestions where its needed , like a picture of a cotton dress I sent to her she suggested not to buy it as it seemed of less good quality! And although the picture of the dress wasn’t expensive (only pkrs 2000 ) and she could have made profit on it she still gave her honest advice on it.
Seriously kool soni was VERY patient with me, I am very bit fussy, and she described everything to me over the phone /email so i guess prices for the outfits were reasonable without compromising on quality nor she would give or suggest something to me of poor quality that isn’t worth the price.
when I asked why she was so cheap she simply answered that she was relatively new to this business …but definitely a young girl with good sense of whats in fashion and confidence!
so overall thank you kool soni for shopping for me as a true friend would do, thank you so much, you have won my confidence on the internet...
I wish and pray for you that Allah may grant you with more success, and i hope you never change with the way you work ,existing clients and you stay the same and being helpfull. Kind and true ...We really need people like you whom we can trust sitting all the way on the other side of the world... and still get our stuff But thank you once again
Ps: I have not experienced stitching J and hope that this long but elaborate review can be helpful to you all J