BEWARE: Hyperion/ Agxinoos/ Max S./ Alexander L./ The_Tiger_of_Dawn

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I am a Bot. My inbox is not monitored. Beep boop.

This is obviously an unfortunate situation and I hope you're attempting to follow up with Paypal over the phone vs. Email just in case. 

But please for the love of God Sarah why are you using chat apps like Telegram on business? Email. Only. Email. Only. Email only. You've been in this game and using this community too long to be using chat apps for anything transactional.

Also please slap big old "All Sales Final" on your pre-made items. Save yourself from Buyer's Remorse regarding this kind of stuff. Giving them these inches let's them take miles (and chargebacks) out of you. 

1 hour ago, Sarahcat said:

Hi there!

My auction listings state in the website's refund policy "no refunds," I already have a warning in all caps at the beginning of the descriptions of my auctions about this sort of thing. 

I have been selling fursuits for 10 years. This is the first time I have had someone attempt something like this on a pre-made item (6 years ago on a previous beware, a commission). It's not that frequent. People typically know better. It is an unfortunate learning experience, but it is impossible to outright avoid people with shady intentions. 

As per my TOS I only conduct business for commissions over email, although this is not a commission the client initially contacted me through Telegram about buying the suit but refused to do business over email claiming Telegram (as you can tell that was a lie). There really is not much I can do about it in this situation, it is in the past, and I have already started drilling this into current client's heads since some people claim they don't receive emails or prefer Telegram or Twitter. 

This listing does not link to any TOS, one has to find it on your site directly and voluntarily. And in searching your site, your TOS

https://www.sarahcatfursuits.com/terms-of-service

Lists nothing of Pre-Mades and what your procedure is from incorrect fits. This means there is no clear information for any new client to find out these terms before purchasing it. You need to update your website to include your terms for Pre-Made purchases and their procedure, as well as make your client aware of the terms before purchase especially. That being said, No Exception No Refund clauses do not fly in small claims, so you'll want to keep that in mind when you write your terms.

But lesson learned, if a client refuses to do business over Email, don't do business with them, full stop. It's not worth it.

1 minute ago, Sarahcat said:

As an update, his bank decided in his favor. This is the first of the few case transactions but I am not out a $2,000 fursuit and the payment for the fursuit.

Has he contacted you at all about returning the suit?

25 minutes ago, Sarahcat said:

Nope. He has me blocked on Telegram and my emails don't go through. 

Please be sure to post proof of that. Because at this point it's theft. 

13 hours ago, Sarahcat said:

How would I post proof for Telegram? With email there is no response (Gmail only lets you know if the address isn't a real address), but with Telegram the @ he used does not show in search or in my sidebar for conversations. I discovered you can snake your way out when I made a police report a year ago on someone else and the person had deleted the conversation and blocked me, making it appear like nothing had happened. 

Proof of all of your notifications that you lost ( 😞 )

and any emails that you sent that just weren't answered to.

2 hours ago, HyperionTigris said:

I was only made aware of this post today and am making a timely reply.

A few things I would like to highlight:

• The advertisement on Twitter made warranties as to features and of suitability of purpose for people with heads under a 25" circumference.  It was never sold "as is."  The partial suit in question breached all three, and therefore it is reasonable to expect a return.
• After Sarahcat refused the return, I directed Alexander to dispute the transactions during a teleconference with himself and his attorney.
• The merchandise remains at the address to which it was sent.  It remains unused, unaltered, and in new condition.  I consider the merchandise to have reverted to Sarahcat's ownership as soon as the refunds hit Alexander's credit card.  Soon after I was reimbursed.
• After the dispute, we refrained from shipping the fursuit back to the shipping address because we were not sure what to do.  I have never been a party to a credit card dispute, so I delegated the matter to Alexander since it was his card.
• Instead, we were awaiting instructions from Sarahcat, PayPal, or his bank on how and when to return it.  We received no such instructions between the resolution of the credit card dispute and now either via...
  • postal mail at the address to which it was sent,
  • e-mail to the PayPal account's address, or
  • e-mail to my personal address where I initially requested the refund and also requested further correspondence be directed.
• The Terms of Service on Sarahcat's website ( https://archive.is/MWrv3 )as of 3 May were updated on 13 March 2021, well after the dispute.
• However, these Terms of Service are moot first because I never agreed to them, and also as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, they did not cover pre-made fursuits.  I would never agree to purchase anything this expensive sight unseen without the option to return.
• To my knowledge, there was no police report or other statement made under penalty of perjury.  Given the magnitude of the transaction, I would expect that one was filed.  I believe that Sarahcat did not file one because the resolution would not have been the one she wanted.

The reason I have not been more proactive about this matter is because of the acrimony that this has caused, and because of my own inexperience dealing with these matters.  I feared that pleading my case would only exacerbate this temper tantrum which I now describe:  Sarahcat has accused me of a felony (grand theft) in front of an audience of over 10,000 people.  She has incited people to harass me across various social media, including Twitter, Telegram, and FurAffinity.   She has dissuaded artists from accepting my commissions.   Therefore, I refrained from addressing this until today when someone sent a note threatening to abuse my intellectual property.

I continue to await instructions to affect the fursuit's return.  I am out of the country right now but when I am back, I am happy to act on them provided that Sarahcat ceases this prolonged harassment campaign and is willing to publicise the resolution of this matter.  I have sent an e-mail to Sarahcat with an offer to this effect.

To be very blunt: that's a lot of words to say you've got both your money and the product. Sarah is well within her rights to say you've committed theft because you have.

Please post proof of your good faith efforts to resolve this as it would be appreciated. However no resolved tag will be issued until Sarah confirms her suit is back to her safely and in a condition that allows for resale.

4 hours ago, HyperionTigris said:

No theft has been committed.  No police report, not even a request to send it back to her address.  If she had knocked on the door and said "gimme", it would have been given.

Being pedantic about terminology doesn't help your desire to not be seen in a negative light by third parties.  Regardless of whether or not the police have been involved doesn't change that Sarah is out both product and chargeback fees.  It's ethically theft.  Your post dances around whether or not you actually attempted to contact Sarah to send it back.  The onus was on you as much as it was on her, especially since she was claiming to be blocked by your parties via Telegram.

Edit: And after seeing your list of demands, I can say as an artist in this fandom, not an administrator/ owner for this site that this is horrible behavior on your behalf.

Now as the owner of this site:  We do not remove posts.  The ability to remove posts isn't even on for users.  You will receive a RESOLVED tag which is listed prominently in green.  The beware tag will remain, and only Sarah can decide if she wants it gone or not.  If I find out her suit was being held hostage until the beware tag is removed, then I will fight tooth and nail to keep it and to keep this site updated about your demands.

For now this post is being locked since you two are working something out.  I will await to hear from Sarah only concerning issuing a Resolved tag.  If for whatever reason the suit is delivered and Sarah hasn't updated us/ the post in 2 weeks, please contact either Xai or I with proof and we will issue the tag by default.

Here is an update from Sarah on this:

A third update, requested to be added by Sarah:  The client is now refusing to pay for shipping back.

Sarah has informed us this is resolved.  Due to the client's behavior, the beware tag will remain.

https://twitter.com/SarahcatFursuit/status/1467655938828083203

Hyperion has requested a final statement be added to this.  I've screenshoted it and have copy pasted the text in.

Quote

I grant permission for this statement to be posted only on this website and only in its entirety:

-----

Concluding statement:

1.  The seller's correspondence indicated a refusal to accept a return to the only address I had on file.  I requested return instructions in October 2020 and did not get a any until May 2021 when a third party reached out to me.

2.  As evidenced by her own screenshots, the seller was possessed of my e-mail address, the PayPal e-mail address, and the postal address to which the merchandise was sent.  I never received an e-mail from the seller, nor did Alexander receive one at his PayPal e-mail address, nor a letter to the physical address containing return instructions.  If they were sent to either, they would have been obeyed.  Instead, this matter was artificially prolonged so that the seller may garner publicity at the expense of myself.  Therefore, the seller is entirely to blame for any delay in the return.

3.  There is no police report file to my knowledge.  The item was shipped to North Carolina where theft over $950 is grand larceny, a felony.  If a police report was filed, it would have been cited here.  The lack of one indicates that the seller did not desire a return of her faulty merchandise, but rather sought to force through the sale through a campaign of intimidation as discussed in paragraph 5.

4.  Only a very foolish thief would keep stolen merchandise at the same address to which it was originally shipped.  The proof is in the pudding.  I denounce any claim of "moral theft."

5.  I stand by every action I have taken as it relates to this matter.  I was sold merchandise that was not as described, made an effort to affect a return without acrimony, and was instead met by a harassment campaign on Twitter with an audience of over 10'000 people, the groundwork of which was laid the very evening I e-mailed my request. This is an ordeal I would not wish upon anyone except the seller.  Caveat emptor!