Beware: purqleguy

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/949564.html

WHO: purqleguy

WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/purqleguy

WHAT: Fursuit head, one time payment.

WHEN: April of 2016 was when I bought the head, the deadline was supposed to be July 2016. At the time of writing this (3/24/17) it has been almost a full year past the deadline, and he will not respond to my emails asking about the tracking number of the package he told me he shipped (he said he shipped it a month ago.)

PROOF: Emails: http://imgur.com/a/txDnh Paypal transaction: http://imgur.com/x5G4jo5 I don't remember why I sent it in two parts, but it was sent on the same day as you can see.

EXPLAIN: Long story so I put it under the cut

In early 2016 I had plans to go to Youmacon with a friend that year. So I was on the hunt for a fursuit head commission that I could wear to the con. A big problem I was running into was that at the time I was 17 and a lot of people didn't accept fursuit commissions from minors. I was turning 18 next month, and was hoping I could use that to hold a spot with someone. I found a commission ad for purqleguy on furaffinity, that he was selling cheap heads as an emergency money maker. I like helping people out, they were cheap and I liked his work, so I bought one.
(Initial emails: http://imgur.com/onQQ1kU
http://imgur.com/v2yLQUO
(a big chunk of the convo has been cut out here, since it was mostly just talk of what material I wanted the horns to be made out of and isn't relevent to my case.)

The initial agreement was I wanted it completed by early July. He told me that was doable, and he thought he could have it done even earlier than that. (Email: http://imgur.com/8Ca1JUy ) I got one update ten days after the payment (April 30th) showing me the completed face of the foam base. ( http://imgur.com/0LsBJAh )

After that the only updates I got were from me emailing him to ask. ( Email, note the date, continuing to talk about this in the next paragraph: http://imgur.com/vXC831l )

At the very begining of July, I sent him an email, hoping to confirm that he would have it finished by my deadline. He did not send me photos, but he told me he hadn't begun furring it. Keep in mind, I had not heard from him in a month, and seeing as he sent no photos and said he was sewing the fur pieces, I am to assume he had not made any progress on my head since I last contacted him. He promised to send photos the following day, he did not. His excuse was he went on a mountain trip, (for over a month?) and that's why he wasn't able to contact me. I didn't get on him about this but he should have told me he was going to be away and would not be able to update me. I told him as long as I got it by October then I would be fine with not meeting my July deadline.

A few weeks later, I contacted him again, asking if he could send some images of the fur pieces he supposedly cut so I knew he wasn't lying. (Emails: http://imgur.com/jrmTg8d ) He did not reply until early the next month (August) with update pictures. Once again, he told me that a huge thing came up he couldn't work on my suit. He did not tell me that this was happening, this is the second time he had to pause on my suit because of life events without telling me. At this time I told him I was extending the deadline, as I had cancelled my Youmacon trip. (Email: http://imgur.com/8w63Gwg )

For a little bit after that, he did start updating me regularly, and then suddenly stopped without warning. Again. (Emails he sent me, I didn't screenshot the emails themself since it wasn't really much relevent to my case. Just some progress photos and comments on them. These are mostly to prove the dates and that he sent them. http://imgur.com/Z0k4iNL )

He stopped sending me emails until late December, I asked him for an update because the last he checked with me he told me he was almost done. (Email: http://imgur.com/nRJNrrI ) He told me he was going to put in the piercings and then he'd ship it off to me. I did not get any correspondance until February. I sent another email asking for an update, and his exact respond was "[your head] has been packed up for a while now!". He had my head packed up, I'm estimating for at least a month, and he did not ship it off to me.

He told me he shipped it February 23rd. (This is the last email he has sent to me, so there won't be any more embedded in this post: http://imgur.com/fvTwOBD ) It has been a full month since he told me he shipped it (I am writing this on March 24th), and I have not recieved the head. He did not give me a tracking number, he did not give me an official confirmation he shipped it. On the 22nd he told me he was going to ship it out the following day, he did not confirm he shipped it but I was hoping he did.

I don't know where to fit this into my story here, but it should also be mentioned some updates he didn't even send to me. I had to dig up his instagram account and looked at some photos he had posted to there (ones he didn't send me).

I have sent 2 emails at this point asking for a tracking number, in the 2nd I said if he didn't give me a tracking number I was demanding a full refund. I was willing to give this maker a little bit of leeway since he told me he was a minor (didn't give me an exact age, I was guessing 16-17), but this is unacceptable. Do not buy from this artist until maybe he learns his lesson and gives some better customer service. Until then I'm hoping to get that refund I'm demanding and am going to a more high-profile maker with some good reviews.

UPDATE; After having to hunt down this guy's tumblr to send him a message asking what was up I FINALLY recieved the head. And the condition is terrible. Here's a photo of the head, it looks fine from the outside but the construction is horrendous. http://imgur.com/Y1NGstB

From the outside, notice; no piercings. My character has a nosering and two ear piercings. I even TOLD the maker how he could make the piercings, and he said he couldn't find green paint and I said he could cover it in fleece if he had to. I was very lenient with that because I know green spray paint exists online, but at this point I was tired of fighting with him so I was letting him do whatever he wanted. He didn't even do that, he just put no piercings in at all.

From the construction; god where do I even start? I'm guessing he used matrice's head making method, but he did not ventilate the head AT ALL. The mouth is open and that's about it. The foam piece between the head base and the muzzle wasn't cut out, as from my understanding is standard for foam heads, and I had to cut it out myself. He was expecting me to get all my ventilation from the eyes and slightly open mouth, in an all black foam head.  The horns don't look anything like I wanted them too, I gave him a link to an etsy store (I believe it was DVC) who had resin ram horns that looked how I wanted but he said he didn't want to use them. There isn't even ridge lines (I'm not sure what the lines on ram horns are called, sorry) on the horns. It's super easy to embrodier something like that on, he didn't even bother.

The pink hair piece is tiny, and isn't even pinned down in anyway. If I move too much it flips up. My character I asked some artistic liberties to be taken since my actual fursona has his hair covering his eyes, but I need to see so I asked to make it a little smaller.but not THAT small!

The jaw looked like it was about to rip off when I got it, and I had to put some more hot glue in it as I was paranoid it would fall off. And the neck mane has foam under it to make it stand up, which isn't that bad in itself, except he didn't cover the bottom with fabric or more fur, the foam is on display whenever I move my head. I will admit the eyes could've been a little bit tricky to work with, since I asked for slit pupil goat eyes, but the vision isn't very good. The pupils aren't even placed where they would be over my actual eyes, and they're pretty thin.

I waited almost a year for a horribly made head. I am not happy. I basically wasted 300$, since I don't want to talk to this guy anymore to get a refund. I'm going to a more reputable maker to get a new head since I'm in the market for a bodysuit anyway.