Good deck
Beautiful
So fast
I bought this deck for my mom because she was interested in oracle cards. I thought this was a great opportunity to support my mom spiritual growth. I searched the internet for oracles cards that were culturally relevant ( my mom is Chinese) and my mom could understand ( my mom doesn't read English very well). I was super happy to find this deck, especially since it says that it comes with a guidebook in Chinese. This the only IChing deck that explicitly said that there was a guidebook in Chinese.
The oracle cards came pretty quick which I was happy about. I opened the deck and was surprised at how beautiful the cards were. I looked at the deck and was unable to find a guidebook. I emailed customer support to inquire about the guidebook that maybe I missed somehow. Customer service was quick and sent me a link to the guidebook. They informed me that there was a digital guidebook for this deck that I could print out myself( please note that the guidebook is 175 pages).
I opened up the link and was shocked because Wohstudios was plastered all over the background (there are over 30 Wohstudios watermarks per page). This made the actual guidebook very hard to read because the watermark was almost the same color as the Chinese characters. My mom had a hard time reading the guidebook.
I reached out to customer service to see if there was another version of the digital guidebook where the watermarks were lighter or less prominent. Customer service informed me that Wohstudios were put all over the background as a copyright measure and they "understand that the 'wohstudios 'watermark may make the Chinese characters less legible for some users. We appreciate your understanding in this matter".
The issue wasn't whether or not artists should get credit for their work. They should. But what is the point of a guidebook for an oracle deck if the user can't even read it due to legibility issues.
It was mentioned that there was another I Ching deck that had a physical bilingual guidebook (The Card of Changes). Ironically enough, I initially wanted to get this deck, but decided not to because there was no mentioned of a bilingual guidebook on the webpage for The Card of Changes.
I asked customer service if it was possible to exchange the deck I had (The Chinese Oracle of Change) for The Card of Changes given that there was a clear misunderstanding. I mentioned that I was willing to pay the difference. I was informed that this was not possible.
One of the values that Vermillion promotes is "Nothing Hidden. From Materials to AI usage, from pricing to reviews- we believe that nothing should be left unclear".
Well it was pretty unclear that the guidebook for The Chinese Oracle of Change was a digital guidebook and that the guidebook for The Card of Changes was a bilingual guidebook. If products were consistently labeled that I would've gone with my first choice which was The Card of Changes ( kinda ironic how I should've went with my gut). It is disappointing for customer service to acknowledge the barriers that this deck presents for a user, but refuses to make some type of accommodations.
My intention of writing this review is for future customers to know that exactly they are going to get when considering buying The Chinese Oracle of Change so that they are not stuck with a negative experience. There is a guidebook, but please note that it is a digital guidebook with a lot of Wohstudio watermarks in the background. If you have a hard time with information clutter, this deck may not be for you.