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  1. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/815858.html WHO: Toshiko-paws on Deviantart WHERE: http://toshiko-paws.deviantart.com/ WHAT: Three Custom Plush WHEN: Paid may 9th PROOF: http://comments.deviantart.com/1/446701609/3435207962 proof of payment for first two plush http://comments.deviantart.com/1/446701609/3477552854 proof of payment for third plush EXPLAIN: I saw this journal http://toshiko-paws.deviantart.com/journal/PLUSHIE-IRON-ARTIST-CLOSED-446701609 and I thought it was an amazing deal! The person's plush are very cute. Looking back I should have realized that 100 plush in 5 months was just a ridiculous goal. Even when done in batches of 40 or so. That was my own fault and I should have paid more attention to what was going on. Here is their to do list; http://toshiko-paws.deviantart.com/journal/The-list-457347681 which is actually missing a lot of other owed works as you could see by browsing their journals. Not only are the plush late (they originally said it would take 6 months to complete them all, but sadly that was removed so I don't have any proof of that.) but I have gotten zero progress reports on my plush. Yes they have posted a large amount of wip images in their gallery, but as far as I can tell none are for me except perhaps this one http://toshiko-paws.deviantart.com/art/Plushie-wips-475235074 from back in august. I did not have any experience with their horrific attitude until here; http://comments.deviantart.com/1/460139356/3611129259 where I addressed my concerns with her taking upon more commissions. I had honestly never contacted them directly about my commissions before besides when I had paid. I never asked anything of them at any point or anything of the sort. I never spoke to them privately, either. I will however admit that I could have been more polite, but I definitely did not expect such a reaction. I am also debating with myself if I should even contact them for a progress update because I don't really want to get such a reaction. They also not do refunds as seen here; http://toshiko-paws.deviantart.com/journal/Plushie-terms-of-service-451088417 Edit: strangely enough after months of no contact I finally got an update only a few days after posting this http://toshiko-paws.deviantart.com/art/ALL-THE-PLUSHIE-WIPS-505855532 however it only shows one of the three plush having been worked on. Besides that this is still, i hope, a very valid beware. Edit2: http://comments.deviantart.com/1/460139356/3714548908 seems like someone from here decided to comment on DA which I believe was against the rules? If not then I apologize, but either way please keep your questions and concerns here and do not take it offsite. Edit3: http://toshiko-paws.deviantart.com/art/Tiny-One-508183868 finished one of them though its missing the back of the mane as shown here http://tea-cats.deviantart.com/art/Tiny-One-Ref-404380865 ill remove this part when/if it is fixed! Edit 4: Quite some time later there were a few hiccups (a mane for a charater was promised, but they ended up being unable to do that. parts of the plush arent sewn very well having smal holes between the seams, etc.) with some missed deadlines and such, but i got them in the mail today. I'll consider this resolved, but still a very valid beware. I feel that they have a lot to work on and while they are a good person that doesnt excuse their bad business. I really sincerely hope they learn and improve.
  2. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/872392.html WHO: Apocalypse ReFurred, Thysyrael WHERE: Facebook Apocalypse ReFurred page and via messages WHAT: A pair of resin/ polymorph pastic clawed hand paws and feet paws with promise of quick turn around by April 4th. WHEN: March 18th 2015. – Commission placed. March 22nd – Fur I supplied arrived at maker’s address. March 24th – Commission paid for in full. April 3rd – Photo of hand paws WIP received, April 4th – Original deadline. April 16th – Photo received of feet paws in ductape wrap, ready for furring. ( Several different life problems occurred for the artist, such as pet passing, theft etc. throughout the months. I can try to give specific dates for these if required) 6th September – After no updates, I ask again for one or for a partial refund and what’s been made to be sent to me so I can complete myself or resell. 7th September – Refunded and items sent to me 11th September – Items recieved PROOF: ( Me in purple, her in green) Facebook messages part 1 Facebook messages part 2 Paypal receipt Message mentioning the polymorph plastic I missed Items themselves; Overall paw shape ( My ref for character, notice the paws are more lizard or simian shaped) Animal hair 1, 2, 3 Unglued edges Hand paws Claws They look like Fimo to me EXPLAIN: Back in March, I was preparing for a convention on April 4th when I found that my fursuit feet and paws where in very rough condition from general use. I asked about on the UK Furry Facebook groups for a maker or someone seller paws and a maker came forward. I looked at their stuff and while they weren’t high end makers, their paws looked fine and they offered to complete it within the admittedly tight deadline. I already had some fur left over from when I tried to make the fursuit and we agreed for a lower price ( £80) if I sent this fur over. A day before the deadline ( April 4th ) I received a phone photo of the hand paws. They looked a little rough, but I assumed it was just the camera quality. I later received a photo of ductape covered feet paws. They looks a little odd and I asked if the tape was pulling the toes apart, giving them a wider look. She assured me they were fine so I continued with the commission a little apprehensive. Then a myriad of personal and family problems for the maker reared up, from a pet passing away, to a parent being very ill and then robbery. There were also problems with the dye not adhering to the resin claws that I’d asked for. She said she would contact the maker and complain. Every so often, I’d ask for updates and get told that there was a problem and she couldn’t send photos. After the April 4th deadline, I’d hoped that the paws would be ready for Confuzzled in May. No such luck, I ended up going suitless which was kinda sad. 7 months later, I was promised an update within 2 weeks. No update came and I was fed up. I asked for a partial refund ( as some of the commission was complete) and for what was made to be sent to me. She agreed and the £5 refund along with the unattached claws and paws where sent to me. The paws arrived quickly but in very poor condition, which I’ll detail in sections; Feet Paws – They are way too wide and off model, looking more like duck feet. There is glue blobs, holes between the fur and the sole, but the worse thing is the smell. They stink badly of dog so much that it’s as if the animal has sat on the foam or fur. I reported this to the maker ( as some of my family suffer from allergies), she explained that the fur and foam was kept away from the animals and the only way they’d smell is if she’d passed it on from petting the animals. However, there is white and brown animal fur on the paws as well as general fluff. This hair cannot be from when I supplied the fur as we have no pets. Hand Paws – very roughly made, though they are incomplete, they too are smelly. They also fit ill. Claws– These are not polymorph plastic, but instead hand sculpted Fimo clay and have finger prints and dirt in the clay. I googled the plastic, which appears to be a shiney, usually white product similar to glue gun glue. In the end, I am very disappointed. I don’t think I can even sell these items without thorough repair and cleaning. She seems to be a young maker and as such, isn’t very professional yet. Edit: Update 2/10/2015 I contacted the maker a couple of days ago about the animal fur with pictures. I asked her again if the animal had been in contact with the paws and she said the fur ( which is clearly animal with colouring and tapering... plus, y know, the stink!) was faux fur from another suit she was making.
  3. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/985962.html (Update at 7th Jan 2019 for 21st April 2018: See Below) WHO: Faris Batwan / Fuzzy Bat Suits WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/farisbatwan/ / http://www.furaffinity.net/user/fbsuits/ / https://www.facebook.com/pg/fuzzybatsuits/posts/?ref=page_internal WHAT: Partial fursuit / paws (Initial payment $975, been refunded $350, $300, $186 ($139 remaining)) WHEN: Starting March 8th 2017 – Still ongoing as of 28th February 2018 EXPLAIN: Everything was fine to begin with as was usually the case. I ordered a pre-made head that came with a tail and custom paws, the maker was very eager for the sale and replied very quickly on FA notes until I payed via PayPal. [FA Notes screenshot] A couple of days later something happened in my personal life that meant I had a large bill to pay for, as things hadn’t been shipped yet and I hadn’t been told that the paws had started being made or received other notes so I tried to cancel the order. To which I didn’t receive a response for another few days, and was ultimately told that they had spent all of the money on new equipment as soon as they received it and don’t have any money to refund me. [FA Notes screenshots] We went back and forth in notes a few times before I was told that the paws couldn’t be refunded since they were custom and so was the tail, even though the tail was in the listing to begin with and there had been no photos of the paws sent to me to show they have been completed. [Telegram screenshots] I reminded them the tail was from stock and therefore not bespoke to me and then I still had the paws sent out to me since the quality of their work seemed excellent. There were no photos taken of paws that were sent to me at all, additionally I was told that they had been sent by priority mail. [Telegram screenshots] Up to this point I had been told a few times that they were having bad weather pretty much seemed to be on a daily basis that didn’t allow them to check emails/telegram/notes etc. I had also been told to contact them on Telegram as it was their preferred method and then after not replying to me for a long time they said they preferred email and would definitely respond within 48 hours which they didn’t unless it affected them monetarily later on in the year. [Telegram screenshots] I originally bought the partial, and ultimately just the paws, for CFZ17, but they never showed even after the delivery time frame was weeks in the past, remember it was supposed to be priority mail. I asked the maker to contact the delivery company about it and the maker waited weeks until they eventually did and told me that we had to wait until half way through July before a claim could be made for a lost parcel. [Telegram screenshots] July came and went after I sent a number of messages to no response, which is around about the time they changed their mind and said to email them since they no longer like Telegram. Time passes and I still hadn’t received a response from the maker so I filed a PayPal case on them since they wouldn’t refund me or respond to me after numerous attempts to reach out to them. [Telegram screenshots] I had an message effectively calling me a scammer and saying I was damaging the business and she couldn’t pay me anyways even if I won the case [Telegram screenshots] After a few messages they eventually agreed to pay part of the money owed to me, but not the full amount. [Telegram screenshots] I was however promised once more that they were going to sell some pre-made heads to be able to refund me the final amount due to me. [Gmail screenshots] The last communication I had was in November from the maker with no final refund or communication, I contacted them again in the new year at the start of February and also got no response. [ Gmail screenshots] Apologies for the length of this post and any incidental errors, it has been ongoing for a year now. PROOF: FA Notes: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgo77onymfvhmwx/FA Notes Screenshots.png?dl=0 Telegram : https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1rldas9khzz0nx/Telegram Part 1.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/nj8fq4iakomlbdd/Telegram Part 2.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/sa5lvtq0kxud0ev/Telegram Part 3.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/2dozgo95j38b3mx/Telegram Part 4.png?dl=0 Payment Screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kwt966haw4l53by/Payment Screenshots.png?dl=0 Gmail: Update 7th Jan 2019, overdue from 21st April 2018 Faris got in touch with me on 21/04/18 via email apologizing and stating she will issue a refund for the remainder when she can. I replied simply that I would like to be able to mark it as resolved and to let me know when she could refund the final amount. As of 7th Jan 2019 I have not heard anything further. Tired of ads? Upgrade to account with Professional
  4. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/800956.html WHO: Creating Constellations/Pj Husky/Suits by Paxton WHERE: https://twitter.com/pjhusky; https://twitter.com/SuitsByPaxton WHAT: A commission for a set of white handpaws with black claws and pawpads. Originally advertised on Creating Constellations twitter as a promotion to get the word out about the new business. I was told to email them for further contact. Unfortunately this first Twitter account is now gone, as far as I know. WHEN: First contacted on June 2nd, 2014, paid on June 3rd 2014 in full. PROOF: Proof of relation of "Creating Constellations" to "Suits by Paxton" [screenshot] Proof of relation of "Suits by Paxton" to "PJ Husky" [screenshot] Photo of paw on Twitter account matches photo in email. [screenshot] Emails: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 EXPLAIN:As stated above, I found this promotion through Twitter and contacted them via email. After confirming their PayPal address I sent $66 on June 3rd. I asked for an estimated date of completion and was told end of July. In August after I hadn't heard anything, I emailed to check in, and was told I was scheduled to be completed by the end of August. Mid-September, I emailed again, since I hadn't heard anything again, and it seems there was some personal problems that caused the date to be missed. I was happy as long as I could get them in time for Rainfurrest (September 25-28), and was told they'd be done and shipped by the end of the week, leaving me just enough time to get them before the convention. September 21st, four days to the con, I still hadn't heard anything, so I checked in again. They replied on the 23rd, two days to the con, that they'd ship the paws express to the convention. I gave them the address of the hotel I was staying at. They said they would send me the photos of the paws tonight. September 24th, I emailed to check in, to be sure they were sent, since I hadn't gotten confirmation. The following day, the 25th, I was at the convention. I emailed, if the paws hadn't been shipped by now to just send them to my home address, which I gave again. The 25th and 26th passed without a reply. At this point I assumed I wasn't getting them for the convention. The 27th, I recieved an email letting me know there had been a shipping error, and that they would be sent to my home address today. I got the photos. October 10th, there hadn't been a reply since the 27th, so I emailed again asking for the tracking number, or if it was sent yet. Today, October 15th, there has yet to be a reply. While I believe eventually I will recieve the paws, the experience has been less than pleasant trying to contact them, and the promised due dates falling through is a dissapointment. Had I known there was going to be trouble I would have had time to come up with something for my paw situation at Rainfurrest, but since I assumed I'd get the paws as promised on time, I didn't make a backup plan. To try to figure out what was going on, since they had mentioned both Instagram and Twitter, I searched "PJ" and found "PJHusky", and "SuitsByPaxton". Had I not figured this out myself I would be a lot more upset, since all the information I have to go off of is the email correspondence, and the original Twitter account I had contacted was nuked. I would have thought I was scammed. Added 10/26/14: RESOLUTION: SuitsByPaxton posted on Twitter admitting problems with orders, so I responded on my public account since I hadn't gotten any email responses. You can read the resulting conversation here [screenshot]. Here is a photo of me with the paws once they arrived. CONCLUSION: In the end I recieved the paws, and the paws themselves are exactly what I expected. I hope in the future SuitsByPaxton learns from this experience and will communicate better with their future customers, and keep their deadlines, but be aware for now: if you commission SuitsByPaxton you may be in for a long wait and struggle for communication.
  5. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/942850.html WHO: SugarNSpiceCostumes or as she goes by on social media, Corpse Cat WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sugarnspicecostumes/ WHAT: The product was a full fursuit, $1,918. 2 full bodies, 2 sets of feet paws (indoor/outdoor), 1 set of hand paws and of course a head and tail. The quality of the suit was to be the same as the ones advertised on her FA page WHEN: I made the first payment for the suit in 2015, she claims that she started it in April 4th of 2016. I was the only suit she was working on (so she told me, which I have screenshots of and will display) PROOF: This is a small section of screenshots. To screenshot our ENTIRE chat it would be too many links, but this is times where she's ignored me, times where's she's lied to me, and times where we discussed the product quality, when it would be completed, and the price/payments. I blurred out her paypal and the addresses that are there All payments. The last one was refunded by Paypal but the rest of the purchases are over a year old and I can't refund them http://imgur.com/brixFYe The original advertisement in the Dealer's Den http://imgur.com/4hVMoGx Talking about prices/payment plan http://imgur.com/EeHH6Hg http://imgur.com/ZkHGTX1 The date I finished enough payments for her to start on my suit, she already had all of the materials and she had my DTD http://imgur.com/pqNzufp The first progress update I got, then being ignored for a few days while she comes online and offline of telegram, but still ignoring me http://imgur.com/g02hjo7 http://imgur.com/iHv3vYn A small update she gave me with no pictures, then being ignored again. She's never sent me a picture of the 2 body suits, 2 feet paws or the tails http://imgur.com/OilUrwR Her reading my messages and still ignoring them even after going online and offline repeatedly http://imgur.com/HDg8Ni8 Her finally responding, but with more excuses. She changed her settings on telegram so I couldn't see her last time online so I got a little upset. She was active in her SoCal Furries telegram chat while ignoring me. She got a side job and had even less time for my suit http://imgur.com/h7t93TH http://imgur.com/aPxIUio Her ignoring me again and giving me ridiculous excuses like "Yea sorry I'm out grocery shopping for a week"... http://imgur.com/BDoTuHh http://imgur.com/zxVLIit Gave me a picture of my paws with fur and pads, I came back a week later asking what's new and ignored again. Another case of coming online and offline and being active in other chats during the time http://imgur.com/uib5pY1 For a while she kept giving me the excuse "I put your suit back in my shop and I can't get to my shop right now". Then she said she would go to the shop and instead ignored me the entire day and did nothing http://imgur.com/ELxjWZk After being ignored for a long while I just asked for my money back and got this. This is what I will be using when I open the small claims file because she explicitly says she will give me either my suit or money by a specific date. I of course have neither right now http://imgur.com/HMMbDK2 Still saying she can't get into her shop, but she said she finished it and needed my address to ship it. It was never shipped http://imgur.com/4rcOCB3 The 2 partial suits she made for MFF while ignoring me and telling me that my suit is finished but never sending pictures of the body, or mailing the suit http://imgur.com/Rn9GSw9 http://imgur.com/G0wWW2T Constant struggles to get her attention http://imgur.com/xcaOOk7 Final proof of her ignoring me and blaming it on being "Spacey" http://imgur.com/uke09GA Ignored again even after she told me she won't ignore me anymore, and another fake deadline where she didn't finish it http://imgur.com/QPCAJwR She told me she had the box with the suit in her new apartment after she moved and just needed to "find it" before she could ship it. Apparently it takes a week to find a box http://imgur.com/Pd3NI8r http://imgur.com/P58ZBz4 http://imgur.com/QeoT2do Another excuse. She got a tooth pulled and said she can't ship the box, even though she has a roommate who could do it for her http://imgur.com/u6weqDm I had to bother her roommate in order to get her to respond and stop ignoring me again http://imgur.com/N11eRkI Lying about the suit being shipped and the USPS "losing her package" but the package was never brought into the USPS. She bought a $22 shipping label and never brought the item in http://imgur.com/VwWsT7I The unused shipping label/tracking number http://imgur.com/AN6blhe Her threatening to put a cease and desist on me just for posting about this on twitter http://imgur.com/XfeRG2g http://imgur.com/rPWbWqn Some screenshots look different because they were taken on my computer and not my phone EXPLAIN: I payed her in full and she never delivered the product, but the thing is that she lied to me long enough and gave me enough fake deadlines that I ran out of time with Paypal, my only option now is to go to Small Claims Court. I've threatened with that and she just keeps giving me these lies, and even bought a $22 USPS tracking number and sent it to me saying "I shipped your suit" but never brought the "package" in to USPS, so it's still not in use to this day. There are constant times where I had to threaten to take my money back on Paypal in order to get her to respond. In the end, she's still ignoring me, my only response from her is her telling me on Twitter that she'll give me a cease and desist because I posted about this on my Twitter. After all of this she still swears up and down that she shipped the package and says she has an open claim with USPS about the "lost package" but has no proof of that, and still has no proof of the "$2400 in insurance" she bought on the package, because she sent me a receipt for a $22 shipping label but the insurance alone on a package that large and that heavy is $34. On top of all of this, when she was supposed to be working on my suit, she went off and made 2 partials for MFF (they're in the screenshots) during the same week she said it would be shipped to me. Then she ignored me for another 7 days until I threatened with a refund again. After she started ignoring me I started to get a little more aggressive, as you can see in some of the screenshots. Eventually she told me "I was ignoring you because I'm spacey"... that makes no sense, no one should ignore their customers especially if you owe them money/a product. I took back $440 because that is all I could get back from the payments. The rest is over a year old and Paypal won't touch it. Just getting her to give updates was a pain, and I really do hope that no one has to go through this again like I did, this is the reason I'm making this Artist Beware, not as revenge or in anger. She's still open for commissions and keeps taking on suits while apparently working on mine. It's obvious she's either doing them instead of mine, or stealing other people's money as well. UPDATE: After speaking with Vitai Slade to get her removed from Dealer's Den, she "found" the unshipped package inside of her apartment and took it into USPS once and for all. After all of this mess and drama, the suit is the right quality and there are no missing parts. Glad it's finally all over http://imgur.com/a/wKPpS http://imgur.com/a/3cF4t The suit! http://imgur.com/a/xf2zI http://imgur.com/a/kOYlx
  6. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/829508.html It's really disheartening to have to come forward with this report, but after having patience and trying to negotiate with the artist, I have begun to feel like I had no choice on this matter, especially after many people have instructed me to come forward. I apologize for this post being very long; I wanted to make sure I included all the details I possibly could. Who/Where: Fursuit Maker: Frostcat-Studio / Ritz_Bitz / Ritz_Tweeting When I originally considered looking into getting my first fursuit, I had only heard of this maker through the recommendation of a mutual friend. From looking at their gallery, they seemed to have very nice work and I was given the impression that they could provide me with similar work. What: One Partial Fursuit ($1200) I had originally contacted Ritz for a fursuit in June of 2014 and on June 27th we agreed to a price of $1200 to make my partial, which included a large tail and also a set of wings. Here you can see Ritz had offered to add a magnetic feature to the wings so they could be worn under a shirt with a harness and I was charged and extra $170 for this addition. ->The email can be viewed here <- (Our conversation is very casual as we had been united through a mutual friend) On September 20th 2014, I confirmed my slot and placed my 50% down payment. -> Link for Proof <- (Ritz real name has been blanked) Then, on November 25th 2014 I paid my remaining $600. (The screen shot shows a total of an additional $1200 as I also paid off the remaining $600 on the mutual friend's balance to help them out. That amount is not related to my entry) -> Link for final Payment Proof <- Explain: At first, Ritz kept very good communication when working on my fursuit and seemed interested in making it "just right". She replied to my inquires often and kept reliable contact with me, even sending me work in progress images from time to time. While I would get pictures, I never really was sure what I was looking at in terms of what she had been doing; I was never given any explanation and was issued vague descriptions, which is possibly my fault for not speaking up on but I had never commissioned a suit before and felt I should place my trust in the maker to do their job. The first red flag that came to me was when she would inquire about my second payment and instead of contacting me directly, she would ask the mutual friend to remind me on her behalf. This really struck me as odd given the mutual friend was not working for Ritz and my contact information was established prior. I ended up ignoring my gut on this issue given the mutual friend was close to both of us and since this was a friendly transaction, I considered it to just be another casual aspect of the entire affair. Ritz proposed the completion date (By Further Confusion 2015) and said that having it complete by this time would be no issue, so I planned to attend this convention so I could have a good time fursuiting for the first time. Overall, the anticipation building for this costume was immense as I would be flying in from Florida to attend the convention in California just to have a chance to wear it for the first time. On January 4th (approximately 10 days before the convention), I was shown images of my completed fursuit via Twitter and Skype. The images were not close ups or anything, so from first appearances I was excited. While it wasn't the quality I had expected, I was still excited to have a costume regardless. I should take responsibility for my qualms with the quality as when browsing her gallery I had not noticed the suits that stood out to me were all built on headbases made by other fursuit makers when mine would be built from scratch; That being said my expectations for what I would receive were not completely accurate and it was my fault for not researching further. Regardless, I told her I was happy with it visually and was eager to wear a fursuit for the first time. Overtime, I ended up coming into a disagreement with the mutual friend who had connected Ritz and I for the commission and we began to grow apart. I didn't think it would effect my commission with Ritz in anyway, but later on I would find it was quite the opposite. (This is only important to note as it will become relevant later on.) Originally, the suit was going to be shipped to the mutual friend and delivered to me at the convention however due to (what I can only assume to be) rising tension, the mutual friend opted not to deliver the costume to me. Given I was flying in from across the country, I asked a friend from Southern California to have it shipped to them instead since they would be driving to the convention. The friends who ended up having the fursuit shipped to them did not open the box in any way until they found me at the convention and I opened it myself. January 15th When I made it to the convention, I met up with my friends from Southern California (I was also rooming with them) and they had my fursuit box in the hotel room waiting for me. At first glace, I was already very upset. The box was very poorly packaged and looked very ragged. I would have thought it could have been mangled by the postal service but it seemed the degrading box was actually taped up in areas where it was falling apart and that tape was laid beneath the original packing where the shipping information was. It was very clear that Ritz reused a battered and trashed box to ship my $1200 product and my concern began to grow before I had even seen the costume. Upon opening the box, the first thing that was staring at me was a foot paw that was falling apart. The box had just been opened and the suit was already damaged in quite visible ways. Thankfully, I had a room full of witnesses that helped me gather pictures of the unboxing. Here is a visual collection of the damages that we discovered. -> The footpaws were separating from the shoes (That I had to purchase myself and ship to her) before they were ever worn. -> The bottom Jaw and horns were crooked and the head was barely foamed so it would lose it's shape when not worn. -> The seam in the fur on the direct center of the muzzle was popped despite never having been worn yet. -> The balaclava was not attached with only a few tiny dabs of hot glue and separated from the foam and also has various holes in it. -> In fact, the Balaclava had MANY holes in it. -> The fur on the hand paws was poorly shaved and some of the claws were upside down. -> The shave job was uneven and jagged. -> And in some places, the fur was shaved all the way down to the backing. Now, as you can imagine, I was not very pleased to open the box and discover the suit was in such a mess after never being worn. Some of the mistakes I saw were very common from beginner suit makers however I was given the impression that Ritz was NOT a new maker and had enough experience to warrant the $1200 price tag (which could buy a partial from many makers who would not have made these mistakes). On top of all these issues, I discovered that the set of wings I had ordered for this costume did not feature any magnetic attachments at all. Instead, the wings were sewn directly into a harness made from elastic straps, making it impossible to wear them without having the harness worn on top of my clothes. This was also very upsetting given Ritz had offered to make this feature for me and charged me an additional $170 for it, yet never once mentioned to me during the construction process that they would no longer be doing the magnet idea. I immediately decided to contact Ritz as she was at the convention and perhaps she could do enough quick fixes so I could at least wear my fursuit; I did fly in from across the country just to wear it around afterall. I didn't mind waiting on fixing the other issues, but I at least wanted some help fixing the shoes. I decided to contact our mutual friend to get in touch with Ritz because I had no other way to reach her at the time. We met up and I explained what the problems were and she agreed to get the feet fixed. We went to Ritz's hotel room and she did a quick hot glue job on the paws with me standing there. It was not very thorough but it seemed like it was enough to keep them together for the time being. I also had the chance to ask about the missing magnets and she explained that there were no magnets strong enough to hold the wings in place (which isn't true since you can order some that can hold up to 75lbs!) so she opted to sew them to the harness without informing me to meet the tight deadline. After Ritz "fixed" the feet, I went back to my hotel room and decided to wear my suit as it was to try and enjoy the convention. The next morning, I went to participate in the fursuit parade and that was when the fur on my foot paws began to separate again; this time on both feet. Additionally, the buckram connected to the plastic to make the eyes began to separate and peel from the plastic. This was also when I noticed that the plastic has been hastily cut and there were strands of of debris going into the space where my actual eyes were. After the parade, I found Ritz again to show her what was happening with my brand new suit and she seemed very disinterested in my issues. When I brought attention to the issue with the eye popping out, both Ritz and the mutual friend (whom was with her the entire con) began to give me sass and snark about not being "too rough" with the costume then walked off without making any attempt to help me with the situation. I was pretty appalled at this reaction given I paid so much money for a costume to wear and was basically being told not to wear it if I didn't want it to fall apart. I had been just wearing the suit like any normal person would, I wasn't jabbing the eyes in with my finger or anything for goodness sake. It was at this point the mutual friend decided to get involved and began sending me text messages that said I was being rude and "mean" to Ritz for contacting her about these issues and the issues in question were not her fault. Why was the suit maker's friend getting involved and handling this situation? This had nothing to do with them so why were they acting as a messenger for Ritz? At this point, I was given the very strong impression that Ritz no longer wanted to provide me with any help for the costume, so in order to make it wearable I asked for the help of my friends (I was rooming with) to help me do minor repairs. I was forced to go out and buy a glue gun and ask a friend to cut time from her convention experience to keep the suit intact. During the time we spent fixing it, we also began to see even more issues with the craftsmanship. -> The zipper on the back of the head was glued to the fur instead of sewn and began to separate. -> The horns were discovered to have no foam to anchor them, explaining why they were crooked. I think the majority of my convention time was spent with a friend trying to repair this costume. We were absolutely sure not to modify anything, just attempt to repair the poor craftsmanship. After a certain point, my friend explained to me that we should stop repairing it all together because the state it was in just couldn't be saved at a convention. I attempted to contact Ritz once more via twitter DMs to try and show her the state of the suit before the end of the convention but she unfortunately decided to start ignoring me. I was polite and kind because I wasn't mad as much desperate to fix these issues. It was such a frustrating experience because I just wanted some resolution for this costume that I spent a large sum of money on and the person who sold it to me made me feel like they had zero concern for the situation now that the money was already in their hands. To make things worse, a few hours later Ritz began tweeting about me to try and detract from my issues, implying that I was picking on them because I had a disagreement with the mutual friend. This was just the end to my willingness to work with this fursuit maker anymore and I ended up sitting in tears while friends comforted me. One of my friends began discussing things with Ritz on twitter because it very strongly felt that she would not be dealing with me beyond this point and Ritz began stating that the problems with the costume were not actually there nor her fault and began to explain that the situation had very much been influenced by my falling out with the mutual friend. My friend then decided to take the conversation with her in private and they discussed the situation because Ritz still would not talk directly to me. During the private conversation with my friend, Ritz admitted to rushing my fursuit and stated that she could not afford to refund the costume but would work out a plan after the convention to make things right. She also stated that it was "shitty" or me to not want repairs at this point and called it unreasonable. I may be unreasonable for not wanting repairs, but I don't trust this individual with my money anyone given these problems would not exist if the care needed was put in to begin with not to mention the constant avoidance with my problems. I did not feel this person wanted to fix things correctly. After Ritz had conversation with my friend, it was decided that after the convention she would absolutely talk to me about the problems with the costume and find a resolution. (I can provide screen shots of this entire conversation if necessary, however I opted to leave them out initially as so my friend would not be dragged into the issue. I firmly believe this should have stayed between Ritz and myself and the constant involvement from third parties has really caused more drama than needed.) January 20th (2015) Two days after the convention, Ritz contacts me on Skype and begins trying to work out a situation from the suit. She begins by offering me two options; One is to send the suit back for repairs or I can send the suit to be stripped and turned into a different character that she can sell. She tells me that I can not be refunded 30% of the fursuit cost as the cost of the materials can not be returned. Despite finding that option to be very unfair (given I would be returning the suit to her so she could recoup her losses and the reason for refund was not a cancellation but rather the product was broken and the fault was hers), I agreed and stated that after all that had happened and the personal involvement of her friend causing tension I did not want it refurbished; I just wanted a refund. She also explains to me that she -can not refund me at all- until I return the suit and she resells it, thus leaving my money weighing on the uncertainty of weather or not the suit sells and if it does, would it sell for the $800 she says I am owed? She insists she will not refund money until I send the suit back, however that was understandable and we agreed. She also mentions at the same time that she will send $200 refund in "good faith" (that I have never since seen). I am kind and understanding with her and even apologetic for the situation that unfolded despite being at no fault myself. I wanted to make things right and I felt bad that she had spent the last few days tweeting about never wanting to make suits again. I felt guilty for the distress I put her through so I even said I would think about letting her repair the suit after she pushed that option on me constantly (despite saying I did not want it). She additionally admits to her friend's presence having effected her business with me and even the way she treated me as a customer, which sent even more red flags to me, but she genuinely seemed like she wanted to make things right so I did my best to return it. Her main concern throughout the entire conversation was her name and reputation, which seemed very off-putting given I felt her main concern should have been to fix the situation with my costume. -> Conversation can be found here <- January 30th (2015) About ten days after our conversation, I gave Ritz my final decision. I took note to how stressed she was over the decision and gave her time to come down from the ordeal. I politely explained to her that I did not feel comfortable sending her the suit and waiting for her to resell it before I would receive any money. I stated that I would gladly return the suit after I was refunded and left it at that. -> Link to Conversation <- The Next day, Ritz replies to me stating that she can not refund me for the amount I am owed until I return the suit in parts for her to resell and asks for a week to figure something out. She explains that she will use her tax refund to pay me the money I am owed and I reassure her that I can wait for a refund as long as it needs to be. My main concern is still that I do not want to return the goods until I am compensated for them. This is when her contact slows to a grinding halt. She openly begins to dodge my communication and puts me on the back burner and does not contact me in any way unless I put an effort into contacting her. February 12th I end up contacting her as it has been nearly two weeks since her last contact with me. Again, I am civil and I calmly ask what the game plan is for the situation. On February 14th I get a reply in which she states that her tax refund was small and she would not be able to refund me from that money. She also goes back on her word in stating that she would refund me and takes an aggressive tone, calling our agreed upon solution to be "unfair" and says that my failure to trust her is preventing me from getting my money back. Now, I'm going to throw some personal opinion in here but...how am I being unfair? She agreed to refund me and suddenly is changing her tune and even going as far as to insinuate that this situation is my fault for "not trusting her". The problem is, I already trusted her with $1200 to deliver a product to me in functioning order. She not only failed to do that, but she also insulted me, ignored me and went as far as to try and claim her faulty craftsmanship (which she admitted to) was -my- fault. Yes, I do not trust her with giving me my money back and I will not relinquish the costume until I am given a refund. I am not asking for both the suit and a refund, I am asking to be compensated -before- I give up the costume. The artist's financial issues are not my concern, what is my concern is the money that she had taken from me and will not return. -> This reply can be viewed here <- She has dodged contact with me and has put me in a situation where I am not sure if I am going to have this situation resolved. On February 17th, I contacted her asking for her to talk to me when I was online as I didn't enjoy playing message tag when the subject was so important. I tried once more on the 18th to reach out and beg for conversation on the topic and reaffirmed my stance about her taking back the product to resell. I even went as far as to offer my phone number to try and resolve the issue but she had left me in the dark, all while spending time on twitter and talking to other people on skype. I am fully aware I am being ignored and it's gotten to the point where I am getting ready to file a charge back on paypal if this doesn't get resolved soon. -> Proof of contact attempts <- (screen shots were taken on 2/18/2015) 2/21 - Ritz contacted me in response to my final message in which I explained that I felt that I didn't believe it was fair to charge me for materials when I would be returning the suit for her to recoup that loss and because the issue with the costume was not due to cancellation or error on my end. I admit that I did change my mind in terms of the refund I was willing to accept though the advice of many friends and other artists swayed my mind. I did agree that taking a partial refund for having zero product on an issue that was no fault of my own felt very wrong, but I may be out of line for having brought that up and changing my stance I take responsibility for that. She responded aggressively, again cursing at me and using profanity. I was given a "final option" in which I was told I will wait until she gets her tax refund after I return the broken merchandise she had given me before I will receive any financial compensation. I don't feel that this is ever a way an artist or suit maker should ever talk to or treat a client, but maybe I am bitter and misinterpreted her reply as more rude than it actually was. I politely asked her to calm down because her abrasive reply felt very flustered and asked her to give me a phone call so we can figure things out. She explains that she can't handle phone calls due to anxiety so despite it being a difficult work around for me (my work generally keeps me very busy) I understand her position and tell her I can easily wait for her to finish helping a friend move out. She asks me if I would "actually want to resolve this civilly" which struck me as rude given I don't feel I have been anything but? - > Conversation <- As of now, it is 2/27/15 and we have not resolved the issue at all. I feel like I am constantly being fed excuses, ignored and just treated very poorly in general and as a customer that paid $1200 for a costume that is barely wearable, I feel like this shouldn't be the case? I just feel like I'm stuck in a run around and I can't help but think I'm not doing the wrong thing? This is the first time I've ever commissioned a fursuit so perhaps my inexperience is what keeps this situation from being resolved? I'd be happy to take fault if I knew what I was doing wrong! I'm hoping that in posting this entry, I can warn people about this maker's shady business practices, lack of professionalism and lack of concern for their customers. I'm also hoping this may be the final nudge needed to get Ritz to acknowledge me and resolve the situation before I file for a charge back on Paypal. $1200 is quite a sum of money to be over drafted and I would absolutely prefer not to financially break this artist. I just want resolution, I want her to give me a game plan and show concern for the situation and give me a refund for the broken product she gave me. EDIT: 3/4/2015 On the day this entry had been posted, Ritz returned from attending an Anime convention and contacted me. She has posted the caps herself below, however just to be sure, here is the gist of what was said: -> Conversation <- While yes, she did offer to refund me $800, she also went on to bring up unexpected bills she mentioned on twitter and debts which made me feel extremely guilty in accepting any money from her when her personal life needed the money so much more. As I have said countless times, I am not out to be a bully in any way; I just want a refund for the broken costume I was given. Later in the day while I was at work, Ritz confronts me on skype with this: I wasn't even aware the entry had been posted at that point as I was on patrol at work (I am a police officer) and she begins getting aggressive on me, stating that she thought this was resolved and saying she was insulted. For one thing, this post was made days prior when I had not yet received any contact, secondly I would never consider this issue to be revolved until the money is in my hands and the fursuit was in hers. At this point, she offers me a NDA Contract because she no longer "trusts" me for having made this entry. Ritz is well aware that I have now requested a full $1200 for my refund because as others have mentioned here, I should not take a material cost loss when the issues with the transaction were not my own. The contract is incredibly damaging for me in which is states that I am unable to speak of the event in public or to third parties and states that Ritz may deduct from my refund if she is unable to sell the broken suit she crafted. I have screen capped the contract issued to me (I had to censor our names) and would like AB's input. -> The NDA/Contract I was offered <- (Ritz is the first party where as I am the second) I do not feel comfortable having to sign a contract to have the money I am owed returned to me; I feel like this is a form of blackmail in order to try and silence me if I want the money I am owed back, furthermore the amount offered is not what I am requesting. I want a full refund and that is what I am standing firm on, especially if Ritz is going to refurbish and sell the broken merchandise I was sold. I do not feel fit signing a binding legal agreement that states I am unable to make "any other online postings about the other party" I am additionally saddened by Ritz response here in the community claiming I have falsified any documentation in this entry and went as far as to accuse me of Libel and Slander within the proposed contract. I have not fabricated any of the content within this journal nor would I have had to should I received a functioning product to begin with. I also asked a few friends to review the contract that was presented to me, to which Ritz stated I should never do unless I approach a lawyer. I am in disbelief I was scolded for asking for input before signing a binding legal contract and that made me feel like Ritz knowingly attempted to shaft me. Additionally, while discussing the public image Ritz has gained from this entryI was suddenly confronted with Ritz's fiance (who could not bother to spell my name correctly). I expressed to him that I have no interest in talking to him about the transaction and want Ritz to be present. She returns and demands I resolve this tonight -> Conversation <- At this phase, I am done playing games with Ritz. I am tired of being treated like a bully or a bad guy when I have done all I can to be agreeable and helpful with this situation. My job requires a very taxing amount of my time and I can't be bothered to jump through hoops anymore. I have issues Ritz a final statement and that is where I am leaving it. I will not be accepting any amount under the original $1200 I have paid and if a resolution is not reached within the week, I will be filing a charge back OR if that fails I will be taking legal action. Ritz has proven to me that her reputation takes precedence above her clients and that is why I can not be bothered to be involved in her personal financial matters or give leniency anymore. -> My final statement to her about the matter <- At this point, this issue is not resolved despite Ritz claiming it to be so on social media. Edit 2: Ritz has now hidden her twitter from public view due to her initiating issues with people discussing this entry and claiming she was harassed. I do not support anyone causing her trouble on social media and I have not encouraged any of that behavior. Edit 3: Approximately one hour after I had amended this entry with the NDA they proposed to me, Ritz contacted me again and negotiated a refund. Her reply was as unprofessional as the rest and was of course not without an attempted guilt trip. She assumed my commentary about conventions and ski trips were about money when in reality it was about her lack of contact with me (in the cases where I was told she was too busy to negotiate with me). After accusing me of harassment and reminding me about her tax refund, I was asked to give her my paypal and complied. Despite constantly being told that she could not afford to refund me in full, I was suddenly sent the full amount of $1200. This left me a bit unsettled, however I wasn't going to ask any more when I got what I had requested. I have informed her that I would alter the entry and mark the situation as resolved. I will also be shipping the fursuit back to her this week and will edit the entry one last time to prove I have made good on my end of the bargain. I want to thank the Artist's Beware community for it's insight and help on dealing with this situation. This community is a valuable resource and I am glad to have been able to use it. As far as this entry goes, while it is now resolved I would still consider it a more than valid beware. I think the entry speaks for itself and down to the very end this maker could not handle a professional attitude. I also want to note that this suit will be refurbished and relisted for sale, so buyer beware in the future. I am very disappointed that things between this maker and I had to come to this. I was very polite and willing to work with them to accommodate their own situations if they would help me with mine and that refusal just made it impossible. Ultimately, it was not the desire to right a wrong that got me my refund, it was the desire to salvage their reputation that finally made a nearly two month long ordeal come to a close. If the maker had just shown the same concern for me as a client as they did for their reputation, this post wouldn't have had to be made. EDIT: 3/6/2015: The fursuit has been shipped to Ritz. I can provide a tracking number to the entry if needed and also visual documentation was taken to provide proof the suit was shipped in the most protective way possible, including the individual parts being bagged to prevent weather damage to eliminate any claims proper care was not taken.
  7. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/989740.html This is a mod repost as the original by @MystWuff has been deleted. MOD COMMENT: Please keep the comments focused on the beware itself. How/why the post was originally deleted is NOT the topic of this post. WHAT: Commissioned Shaynox Studios for a pair of fursuit pants and outdoor feetpaws. WHEN: Around Late August 2017 Shaynox studios posted on Facebook that they were open for commissions for both fursuits and fursuit parts. They posted examples of their works. And I contacted shay telling her I was interested in commissioning her for a pair of fursuit pants and feet paws. On September 12th 2017 I recieved an invoice and paid $325.00 USD for the commission and she added me to her qeue on her Trello. She stated she could ship the completed to commission or pick it up from her table at the dealers den at Furnal equinox 2018. The original completion date was to be February 2018 before furnal Equinox (march 15-18) EXPLAIN: in January 2018 I began contacting shay regarding updates if work had begun on my commission. She said she began working on my feet paws. Then in early Feburary I again contacted her for updates and to ask if they would be completed in time for furnal Equinox. She said they would be ready and available for pick up at her table Saturday March 17th in the dealers den. On March 17th 2018 I arrived at Furnal Equinox and messaged shay to ask if I could pick up my fursuit parts. She contacted me saying she had left them in her room and would have to got get them around 12 pm. After 12pm me and my finance went to her table at the dealers den and then she told me in person that she had forgotten my pants and feetpaws at home. But she was going to send her husband back home to pick them up. And that they will be here to pick up the next day (Sunday March 18) On March 18th I again spoke to shay at her table at the dealers den. She said her husband did not pick up my pants and feetpaws. She offered to ship them to me with no cost as soon as she returned home from the convention, and offered to make me a pair of handpaws for the inconveniences. She took down my shipping information in her laptop. I had received no further messages from shay since we spoke on March 18th at Furnal Equinox. On March 25th her husband posted to her Facebook requesting that her clients contact him as shay had a mental breakdown. I spoke with her husband and he said I had the choice of a refund or to ship my item. I requested that I would like my item to be shipped. He said he would look into shipping it. Since I last spoke with Shay's husband. I have made efforts to contact both with no reply. The last message I sent to both her husband and shay said the same thing and my concerns. They both have been online and active on Facebook since we last communicated but they do not respond to any of my messages. To this day,I had never seen any pictures or proof that my suit parts had been made. The last few months there has been minimal communication. I had been very patient and understanding. But have become very frustrated, Not knowing where my money went or if I'll even recieved what I paid for. I feel like I've been played around with, and there has been a complete lack of care about client. I noticed other commissioners were posting to her Facebook requesting updates due to her lack of communication. This is a Beware for those looking to commission fursuits/parts from Shaynox studios. I will update if I receive any further communication, but I won't hold my breath on a response. PROOF: I've included the most important conversations including commissioning, payment,and the last message that was sent (to still which was never replied to) in chronological order here. https://imgur.com/a/UNE2U
  8. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/950836.html Text: WHO: Georgina Layne (HypeSoda/ GrumpyBatFursuits) WHERE: Facebook FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/Grumpy-Bat-Fursuits-871621326237816/?ref=br_rs FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/HypeSoda/ REASON: Scam, lies, ignoring messages (and some behavior) WHAT: Trade with badges of their characters for their feetpaws (my art for their paws) WHEN: First started trade 2/23/16, continued throughout the year EXPLAIN: I was to trade with Georgina some badges I have drawn of their characters, in exchange for their feet paws. There have been multiple accounts of them telling me they would ship it without actually doing so. I would have to constantly ask for updates before they would tell me that they haven't even mailed it. I had given them 2 deadlines (Anthrocon and Christmas), both of which were missed. It has been a year now, still no feet or update on the situation. (Later screenshots, like the Christmas deadline, I no longer have due to my first account being disabled, without facebook allowing me to gain it back.) At one point, I had made an advice post on my account (not a beware) shown only to facebook friends asking for their intake of what I should do. A friend of mine also had a trade with Georgina, and canceled it once they heard of my situation. Georgina then responded in a bit of an outburst. PROOF: -Proof of Georgina posting online, instead of responding to my messages -Extra screens showing their approval of my side of the trade and proof that I sent it is here
  9. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/886127.html Text: WHO: rakkphotography on deviantart, audience0fdeath on weebly, #101897 on furry-paws. WHERE: Occurred mainly on furry-paws.com, but also on deviantart. WHAT: Digital art WHEN: Dates are listed above, but generally we first started talking on 3/29/15. First set of unpaid art completed 4/26/15, second set 5/5/15. Repeated attempts at contact between then and now. Payment still not received as of 1/1/16. PROOF: (Click for massive image) I then emailed them here. And then some deviantart replies here. I sent them another message later and they opened it but never replied. Proof of activity below in 'explain'. EXPLAIN: Rakk approached me after I made a thread advertising commissions. They seemed extremely kind at first and paid for their first commission batch promptly, so I didn't feel like it was dangerous to continue accepting payment after I delivered the art. Stupid move, and now I only accept part or full payment before. Live and learn. After offering to combine two commission batch payments into one, they didn't pay and stopped replying. They claimed they were sick and in the hospital. Up until today, I believed they were still in the hospital. However, that doesn't seem entirely true. I snooped on their weebly page and found their blog and instagram, both of which they've been incredibly active on. Proof of their activity on instagram. 2+ posts every single day. Posting to their first blog here(post too long to screencap it all, was just talking about training dogs) Seen here, they were also active this September, when they were ignoring me and claiming to be in the hospital. Here is their activity on their other blog. So obviously this person has had ample free time. They're posting selfies, writing blog posts, playing games, etc. And yet they refuse to get back to me or pay me for over half a year now. Yet, they're using my art on their blogs and weebly. I hate to have to write this about someone who was previously so kind to me, but it is what it is and I don't want any other artist having to deal with this. Bonus points! Since submitting and waiting for a mod to get back to me, this is now their instagram. Yep. All of those photos(besides the very last one) in 2 days. Clearly, too sick and busy to pay me. (thank you to CelestinaKetzia for helping me with this post! hopefully I got everything right this time!) edit: Since posting this, they've now sent me the full amount.
  10. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/851017.html This is something very difficult for me to do, but it needs to be done. This happened over the span of a couple years, so much is undocumented up until issues arose as I did not think it would be a problem. However, I feel there is more than enough after the fact. After much advice, I’ve decided to come forward and make a post here about this, mostly to warn people. I took my time writing this as I know there is no action I can take at this point and am very busy. WHO: Ritz_Bitz / Frostcat-Studio (and FA) / Ritz_Tweeting WHERE: Online, texts, emails, twitter, and at Further Confusion 2015 WHAT: One full fursuit (~$950) WHEN: Discussions starting in 2012, first purchase of materials March 4th, 2013, payment from a sponsor on November 25th, 2014, agreement of $200 of payment finalized with attendance at Further Confusion where the suit was delivered, and serious troubles starting shortly after. PROOF: Many images linked throughout explanation. EXPLAIN: This originally started as one of my best friends offering to build me a fursuit for a “friend” price. I had worn one of her suits once and got hooked on the fun it was. Over the years the details swapped around and much was discussed in person when I had lived nearby. Nothing was really set in stone for a long time and it was purely talk. March 4th, 2013 I purchased an order of fur and fleece for the project at Ritz’s request and had it shipped to her. I can't remember what happened, but she had to backburner the project. The fur sat around for almost 2 years before the project could finally be worked on, so there is a large time gap. (At some point I had also sent her DTDs of my feet for sockpaws, a pair of thick, long socks for the sockpaws, a tracing of my hand for the gloves, and extra fleece I had from a previous project based around my character.) June 2014 After attending Califur 2014 with my good friend (who I will refer to as Bob for this,) he started talking about how much he had wanted a fursuit after trying one of his friends’ suits on at the convention. He was hoping to purchase a fursuit and get it by Further Confusion that next year, and I referred him to Ritz as she was also doing my fursuit. When he found out my suit was on backburner, he offered to sponsor some of the cost for the project so it could be put into her paid queue so we could suit at Further Confusion together. I spoke to Ritz and she agreed to reserve space for Bob’s suit as well as mine and a guarantee for completion by the convention in January. I was happy to be helping her get some bills paid and to be helping Bob get a quality suit. Ritz had always told me steps she took to ensure her suits were durable and of high quality craftsmanship, so I had much trust in her work. June 27th, 2014 Bob contacted Ritz about a quote for his suit, also mentioning to her his intentions to sponsor a portion of my suit’s cost. Everything seemed pretty cut and dry at this point and Ritz waited for the payment so she could start the process of constructing the suit. Ritz confirmed that she can complete the suit by Further Confusion and states she planned to start work on my suit in August. September 20th, 2014 Bob placed a down payment to secure the slots. November 4th, 2014 I text Ritz asking when she will be needing my DTD. She answers asking it be sent the start of December. November 15th, 2014 Ritz has started constructing the head. She sends me a text asking about the eye color and shows me an early WIP of the foam sculpting, followed by more complete WIPs of the sculpt and what she planned for it. I was surprised she got the snout acceptably shaped in her style off the bat as it’s the most often misinterpreted part of my character. I praised her for this and asked one small request to the brow which she said wasn’t difficult to add, and informs me of things most people worry about in case I start to worry about similar things. November 16th, 2014 I receive an image of the progress she made as well as the change to the brow that I had requested. I was very pleased with the shape and happy it worked out so quickly with only that one minor change needed. November 20th, 2014 Ritz texts me asking that I bug Bob about making the second payment. It was weird that it was my job to ask him, but I overlooked this as this was a friendly transaction I had helped to arrange. We discussed the confusion, making jokingly grumbling about it as was custom of us when we spoke. We continued on to negotiate $200 of the suit payment to be taken out of what she would owe me for room and dealer’s table costs at Further Confusion. November 21st, 2014 Ritz texts me asking about the ears for the suit. It’s a little difficult to communicate, but I was happy with the shape and aware she only had two hands so just curious about the final curvature at the top. I jotted on the notepad what I meant and it was understood and she says it’s not hard. (This was laden with a very inappropriate joke and I have censored it out.) She also reminds me to send my DTD within the next two weeks. November 25th, 2014 Ritz contacts me asking about more details for the head. At the end I tell her she has my trust in recreating the mouth due to color limitations of fleece. November 29th, 2014 Ritz contacts me while at the store purchasing fleece for the mouth. We figure it out and even settle on the wings ahead of time to just be white due to the lack of proper shades available. I inform her I’ll be making my DTD the next day and shipping it out soon. November 30th, 2014 I ask her if she needs me to retape the dummy before sending it and inform her the lines were cut a little weird. (They were slightly wobbly in a few areas, but I had no issue matching it all back up for retaping.) December 1st, 2014 After seeing Ritz tweet pictures of the finished head, I contact her to question if it’s too late to add the fur tuft my character always has. I was a little upset that she didn’t offer a solution, but it was just a fur tuft. I wasn’t going to make a big deal about it. It still looked good, which I made sure to communicate to her. I also inform her I’m sending the DTD the next day. December 8th/ 9th, 2014 I ask if she received the DTD in the mail yet. The next day she responds that she has. December 14th, 2014 Ritz texts me during conversation about how big the tail for another suit is, using my head and DTD as comparison. My DTD appears to be partially stuffed and looks fine. December 16th, 2014 Ritz texts me informing my my DTD split at the seams during the stuffing process. She claims every seam that was cut split apart because I didn’t use long enough strips of tape. I felt bad because I knew it would be annoying to retape. She says it can be repaired (it’s just taping seams back together) and she was working on it. This is very important for an issue later, as she tells me she’s going to stuff and pattern one half and mirror the pattern. December 20th, 2014 Ritz texts me asking if I want the feet separate or attached. We’d discussed it previously, but it was so long before I understood many things were forgotten. January 1st, 2015 After seeing tweets of the completed sockpaws, I text her in private to ask her if it’s too late to add larger claws. Again, this is something we’d discussed many times in person down to the shape and how she planned construction, but I understand forgetting. She’s clearly upset at the mere question of the possibility, so I immediately try to reassure her I’m just curious and not trying to upset her. I was very concerned as a friend that my question may have been upsetting to her, but from a client’s standpoint I knew it was very wrong and I began to worry about voicing my opinion on anything being wrong with this very expensive product. January 12th, 2015 After seeing only one WIP of the wings being completed on her twitter since the sockpaws were complete, I am now texted with the completed suit only a few days before the promised deadline. She first informs me that the magnetic wings wouldn’t work and that she had to sew them into the bodysuit. Not a big deal. However, I instantly noticed the padding on the legs looked… odd and lumpy. I also became worried that the bodysuit fit her as I’m a very small person. From the backview you can also tell the ears were not evenly shaven and have bumps in the structure already. It was days before the convention and I knew bringing up the issues would cause a very tense upset, so I kept quiet and informed her I was happy with the suit and we began talking about the fun we’d have at the convention that weekend. January 15th, 2015 The first day of Further Confusion for us, as soon as we set up in the dealer’s den, we went up to the room eager to suit up and go have fun. Ritz begins to help me put the suit on for the first time and issues already arise. The bodysuit is extremely baggy on me, which was odd considering I’d gained a lot of holiday weight since I had made the DTD. When it came time to put the sockpaws on, I noticed there was a hole in the inner sock, but shrugged it off considering it was difficult to get my feet into the paws. I had provided her with DTDs of my feet, so this was also confusing. We discussed it and since she only patterned the right foot and flipped it, it being my smaller foot caused the sizing issue for my left foot. The worst problem came when I tried to put the gloves on. They couldn’t fit past my second knuckles. She immediately became upset and, again, I took the blame upon myself and said it wasn’t her fault and that I probably traced my hand wrong. She gladly accepted this and it became the new “fact” of what went wrong. When putting the head on, I noticed a part of the zipper was separated from the fur of the head. An easy fix. We quickly discussed the issues. She explained she was extremely busy with personal suit projects she wanted to get done for Denver Comic Con and didn’t have the time to do these repairs and make new gloves. I felt bad and said I could probably handle it with the small amount of sewing experience I have. This seemed to clear things up and we went out suiting. I tried not to pay attention to the flaws and just enjoy the con. January 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 2015 We only suited up once more after that, and I wore the suit as a partial a third time out with her because the padding in the thighs of the suit were unsecured and chafed me to no end when I walked. Nothing stayed in place how it was intended because the suit was so baggy. Meanwhile, tensions rose during the con due to Bob’s suit having issues. Ritz was extremely upset by this so I absolutely couldn’t bring myself to say anything negative about my suit. In fact, I rushed to defend her despite having my own issues with my suit. Sunday night when we were going to suit a final time, tensions blew up, drama happened, and we cancelled our plans and stayed in the room. The con ended and I took my entire suit home with me with plans to try to repair it myself and save Ritz the time. January 21st, 2015 After coming home and getting unpacked, I finally had time to look over the suit and prepare myself for the work I had to do. I realized there was far more than I could handle and I was not experienced enough to fix most of it. A list of the issues in full is provided after my next piece of information. February 14th, 2015 The issues in my fursuit worried me. I wasn’t sure what was normal and what wasn’t. I attended the local furmeet this day and brought the head and paws (having issues easier to see in person) and asked some friends with more experience on the issues as well as asking advice on how to handle this delicate situation between my friend and myself. I briefly wore these to demonstrate some of the issues and interact with two young children. I got the advice I needed and confirmation that the flaws in my suit were not acceptable and not my responsibility to fix as she was paid to produce a suit in working condition that I could wear and enjoy. Many told me how clear it was that she rushed it and took shortcuts, which is no surprise given the circumstances. I needed to approach her on the issue and hope for the best. I couldn’t keep pretending it was okay, and I started preparing myself to for this rather difficult step. The Problems - The excess amount of fabric on the bodysuit is around 10-14 inches on the midsection. This can only mean when she patterned the half of the DTD and flipped it, she overshot the middle point. Even overshooting this by a few inches can cause excess (2-4x the length of the overshoot) and wouldn’t have been an issue had she taken the time to fully retape the DTD. The thighs have an excess as well, though not as bad. - I discovered the zipper on the head was glued on instead of sewn. This is why part of it was already separated when I received it. - The shaving on the head was very choppy. I had actually taken time to hand trim the face to smooth it out, but there was little I could do for the ears. - The ears were glued directly to the balaclava with no foam to anchor them or keep them stable. This causes them to flop around pretty badly. - Instead of being sewn to the rest of the fur of the head, the ears were poorly glued on. There are small open gaps at the side of each ear on both sides, as well as at the front of the ears near the fleece. - There are crinkles in the fleece on the ears where it was glued to the inside material. - The ears are anchored off-center. - The balaclava was spottily glued to the inside of the head and was already pulling off bits of foam. It is glued in such a way that it overlaps a portion of the buckram from the inside, unnecessarily limiting the vision further. - The gloves do not fit past the second knuckle of my hand. They’re also not hemmed at the edges so the fleece was left raw cut. - On top of the sizing issues, the sockpaws had a hole in the inner sock when I received them from being cut sloppily. - The sockpaws weren’t hemmed. In fact, the fleece was glued to the sock at the top. It began to fall apart with the small amount of wear they saw at the con. - The magnets she’d promised me and stated she could not get to work were left in the wings and sealed over with giant globs of glue. You can still see them and the gluey mess is left uncovered to get at the wearer’s back. - The wings were glued together and you can see the wire in some spots by peeking into the open spaces in the glue seams. (Originally we were planning on realistic wings with wiring, feathers, and vinyl. I told her “Just do simple plush wings like Telephone’s since it’s easier” later on. While the wings she made are cute and a creative middle-point, they’re going to fall apart because glue doesn’t last very long.) - The elastic loops on the tail were not sewn very securely for such a large, heavy tail and had begun to fall apart at the convention along with a small hole. February 15th, 2015 I have a short, rather comical discussion with another previous client of Ritz’s who also discloses that many parts of their suit are glued together. I feel this is necessary to disclose to help support my discontent with the quality of my suit prior to the next events as I am accused of "retaliation" later on. March 2nd, 2015 Unfortunately, I’d been very busy with life, so I had not yet been able to approach Ritz before this point. I don’t like to bring drama into this discussion of business, but this severely complicated the smooth resolution of things. We had not been speaking much as Ritz had blamed me for the drama at the convention and I was giving her breathing space. On this day, she reacted negatively to a tweet I had made on Twitter (she brings it up later) and the resulting misunderstanding caused her to remove me on social media. I contacted her concerned about her and trying to resolve the issue, only to be ignored. (I can provide screenshots, but would rather not as this is just drama.) In a panic, I discussed parting out the suit as a last resort as I was certain I would now not be given the repairs I deserved. It did not help when I saw photos proving similar quality work on other suits, leaving me more upset at what had been given to me. After speaking to many people and getting advice on this new situation, I removed the comments out of courtesy (despite never once mentioning her specifically) and went forward with their suggestions to attempt getting a rightful refurbish. March 6th, 2015 At the advice of many, I contacted Ritz with my intentions. I tweeted at her asking for an email to discuss repairs with her, being clear it shouldn’t be my responsibility. She replied with the preferred email. At that point I began to write a thorough email to her. This took me about a week to get finished up. March 13th, 2015 I finally sent my email. I noted not only the issues with her craftsmanship, but also with the customer service she gave me that led to increasing problems in the work that had upset me and led me to be quiet for so long. I leave the option open to negotiate a refurbish or simply work out a refund as it seems like it would be easier with her busy schedule that caused the burden of refurbishing to be placed on me in the first place. March 14th, 2015 I woke up to a rather hostile email back from Ritz. She immediately accused me of retaliation, being unreasonable, and picky. Our correspondence is plain to see and everyone I’ve asked said I was very kind. She accuses me of getting a suit “for free” even though she received a $600 payment from Bob, a $200 traded payment from me, as well as my purchasing $160 of materials. She then blames me for all the problems she possibly can, while ignoring half the issues that she can’t try to blame me for. She blamed the bagginess on my DTD, which she now attacks me for. I spoke to numerous suitmakers and they said 10-14 inches is definitely not due to retaping seams. (Also note the 2 day gap between the lightly stuffed DTD image and her telling me it split apart as vs. her story now.) The fact she still continued and even brought up personal drama with other clients as well as further wild accusations that, even if true, have nothing to do with the quality of my suit, is baffling. I’m not sure if she was trying to guilt trip me or try to scare me out of pressing the issue to resolution, but it was absolutely uncalled for. She even accuses me of being the reason someone was bringing up issues on another suit she worked on. The fact she finished it up with blatantly insulting me was the icing on the cake. I was also a little disturbed that, despite our cessation of contact on social media, she had still been checking my accounts. I immediately wrote her a response, on my phone, to address this unbelievable reply she had sent me. Admittedly blunt, but necessary, and deciding at this point I cannot handle a refurbishing process due to her hostility and request a refund. As she showed aggression about Bob having paid in a portion, I made it clear I could contact him to work things out how she’d like. March 17th, 2015 As I’ve yet to receive a response, I sent Ritz an email to remind her and request she handle the situation civilly. I make note that Bob is aware of the situation and we all just want to resolve this. March 29th, 2015 I had to duck out to handle life for a bit and figured giving her time to cool off was good. Sadly, I saw signal boosts that she was selling her leftover furs. I saw some of the very same fur used on my suit and contacted her immediately. It seemed like the 6 yards she told me to purchase was a lot and it was likely some of it was mine. At this point I was notably frazzled by this ordeal. She surprisingly responded, again accusing me of things I am not guilty of and bringing other clients and drama into dealings about a fursuit she did not make properly. She seems to even agree with the fact that the quality is bad and that I should be fine that I only spent $200 on it. Her logic in thinking because I only paid $200 along with $160 in materials means she doesn’t have to give anything back, despite that she took the $600 from Bob, and that is what he would get back, not me, in a refund. She claims it was wrong to take Bob’s money, yet she seems fine keeping it despite not doing her job properly for it. All she has done is avoided owning up and fixing mistakes she made on an expensive product while hiding behind excuses that drama somehow nullifies her responsibility in business. I made a final response to her as well, and that was where it ended between us. Currently: I have been refused repairs or a refund on a suit that was paid for and delivered in poor quality. It’s very clear Ritz has done a good job to avoid everything wrong with the suit she made for me and justify not fixing the issue and attacking me. She blames me for all that she can and resorts to bringing up drama instead of addressing why half my suit is glued together. I feel she has been trying to take advantage of the fact Bob sponsored part of the suit cost and her sudden grudge against me to avoid dealing with resolving the matter. She took a large sum of money for a product of a certain quality and did not deliver, and I’m honestly upset with how she’s treated me in this ordeal. The suit needs entirely new hands and feet, major tailoring of the bodysuit that includes redoing the legs entirely, redoing the tail's backing and elastic loops, completely redoing the ears and refurring the head with a new balaclava. Most suitmakers have told me it's not "refurbishing" so much as making an entirely new suit with some scraps. I basically don't know what to do aside from hope nobody else runs into the same troubles as I have with this suitmaker, but any advice would be welcome if anything can possibly be done at this point. June 16, 2015 Update I just took the head out of the storage box for the first time since photographing everything months ago. I've been getting advice on how to salvage as much as I can from the head to go towards making a new one, so I was needing to take a closer look at some things. A small clatter and objects falling out confused me, until I realized that the teeth have started to fall out with even this small amount of age and absolutely no use. The teeth are sculpey, I believe, and left unfinished. Some bases of the silver molars were unpainted, the rest of the teeth are just straight sculpey or whatever they are made of, no paint, and are all starting to separate from the beds of hot glue. This just adds to the poor quality product I was given and the work I am left to cover out of my pocket to fix. I honestly don't have anymore words to describe how I feel right now. February 2016 Update This disheartens me to have to even add to so long after the fact of this all happening, but I would like to update this to add a further warning to Ritz's poor business behavior if you happen to get on her bad side as I have with this ordeal. I placed an advertisement up on Furaffinity, in which I used a commission she had gotten from me as it was in my top 10 favorited pieces in my gallery and a great example. My Terms of Service states that I am allowed to use the work I create for people for portfolio and other purposes, and thus I had the legal right to use the image in an advertisement as it's a form of portfolio. I assumed this would not be an issue as I have personally gotten over the drama and moved on past this all quite a while ago, and had assumed she had done the same. She, however, saw this as an opportunity to attack me by approaching the advertisement organizer stating that her character was in my advertisement without her permission, essentially wanting it removed. This was orchestrated with a friend of hers whom also had commission work in my advertisement, also demanding the removal of their commission despite them having both agreed to and being bound by my Terms of Service. This alone was a nuisance, but in having to handle the issue, I saw that she had been publicly trash talking me, clearly stating her intention to try to cause a problem for me for the sake of causing a problem. At this point she obviously holds a grudge against me and I am being bullied for having spoken out about her practices, showing also that she has absolutely no respect to my Terms of Service that was agreed to. I am attempting to resolve the issue with the advertising organizer, but will be forced to avoid exercising my legal rights to display the artwork I created involving her characters in the future all because I want to avoid her malicious acts to attempt revenge for speaking up. August 19, 2016 Update After being urged by friends and seeking advice from the community on if I should add further updates, I'm sadly here again. While I'm relatively wary to share due to more fear of retaliation, I don't believe this will ever stop regardless of anything I do. I am urged to warn people the extent of the poor behavior that I have been subjected to for over a year since posting. Occasionally third parties will inform me of things that have been said and I honestly ignore 90% of things, but I had the displeasure seeing one instance myself. I have been ruthlessly slandered since the posting, and at this point been brought aware of possible threats of either legal action against me or potential harm to my person. (If it escalates any further I will contact law enforcement, but at current there is not enough to hold up considering the distance involved.) I have had absolutely ZERO contact with Ritz since the last email shown in the original posting here. Even during her attack on my advertisement, I did not say a word to her, only spoke to the advertising department at FA. I am going to point out ahead of time, it is EXTREMELY easy to figure out who is being spoken about (me) in all of these instances even if names aren't attached cause a simple google search nets you all the info you need. I already know I'm mentioned frequently by name otherwise anyhow. Onto the point, what I saw for myself... Was on Wednesday, June 22 in a Facebook group for Fursuiters and Fursuit Makers. A notification popped up onto my phone for a sale posting that was receiving many comments. I'm going to be 100% honest I was wildly curious as I'd heard she quit suitmaking (I'm only human), and I saw this exchange brewing that had apparently been what sparked it into popularity. I avoided the desire to jump in and say something cause NOPE I have zero desire to speak to her. I just screencapped away cause I couldn't believe what I was reading and figured it'd be taken down, which it was. Color guide for censoring (cause identifying photos/names): Black = Not involved or moderator names Ritz commented to alert Blue = Ritz Red = Some fursuiter who spoke up Yellow = Ritz's IRL friend https://www.dropbox.com/s/7nixak1x72bdqmb/Group1.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/j3j2m8mw22mswoo/2.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/oeibrn7q6amudni/3.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/b189gvqz44ge3r5/4.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/y3527bkjzuev7qx/5.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/voe431whjd9eul3/6.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/feofjf0gk1tkdqy/7.jpg?dl=0 I don't even need to make commentary on how messed up this was. You all can think for yourselves. I avoided updating with it at the time despite people telling me to. I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't think it was that bad. Now here's what broke me on trying to ignore things. I was shown these earlier this week. Despite being from May, it opened my eyes to how serious things really were this whole time as I attempted to ignore it all. This is only HALF of a conversation someone had with Ritz's locked twitter, but it's very clear what's going on. I was shown this for obvious reasons. This was shortly before BLFC, which we both happened to be attending (I avoided her at all costs, and was apparently wise to do so.) Censoring: Blue = Ritz's locked twitter handle, Purple = Ritz's friend (Remember to read bottom to top in each for chronological order cause it's twitter.) https://www.dropbox.com/s/v36ao3uyd8d10r4/21.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/accjt9cl35ieovk/22.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/yf7mwvzbbwgyhc1/23.png?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/n8hq2cioflujxoz/24.png?dl=0 Let me point this out there. Whatever is being said on the other side of this conversation, her friend thinks I should be scared of her. This is NOT okay, and relatively alarming considering things I know about her that are not for me to share publicly. The suggestion of a restraining order despite that I have not had ANY contact with her whatsoever even despite her attempted harassment, is outlandish. Furthermore, the clear discussion of potential legal action because I caused her loss of income due to this beware posting is even more unsettling. This is bonkers. I don't even care about the disgusting and immature names they casually call me when this other stuff is going on. People are right, they need to know what she's doing because this is, and has been, crazy. Exercise caution when doing business with her, because you never know when you'll end up like me.
  11. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/807750.html WHO: Royal Tenrou WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/royal-dog and http://www.twitter.com/royaltenrou WHAT: Fullsuit WHEN: March 2011 to Now (November 2014) PROOF: Please note - You have to read the early emails from the bottom up. Click for larger versions. Proof of Payment: First emails (beginning of the breakdown): Previous Deadline: Last emails: EXPLAIN: In March 2011, I visited the Midwest and ended up staying with Royal for a few days after meeting him through a mutual friend on FA previously. He mentioned that he wanted to go beyond his regular 2D art and get into fursuit building and at that time I wanted to bring my alt character to life. He decided to take me on as his first project, charging me $500 for a fullsuit. In September of that year I sent him the $500 and sporadically communicated with him over the next two years. When I reached out to him in November 2013, he said that the project was on hold. I got upset and had a back and forth with him (illustrated above). I wanted the unfinished suit so I could get someone else to complete it and he refused. After a cool down period, I emailed him again in February 2014 and he finally made some decent progress. Over the next seven months he made great strides building the suit until he seemingly hit a brick wall in October where he stated that his workspace was being compromised due to a ceiling leak. After the 16th however, he stopped communicating completely, yet according to his still active Twitter he was able to find time to pursue other interests. It has been over three years for the suit and to be frank, I feel he has simply stopped working on it. At this point I feel a refund would be impossible to obtain and I simply want the unfinished suit so I can get a professional to finish it or for him to at least provide a update and finally get it done. I know things have been difficult for him, but three years is long enough to wait for something like this. UPDATE (12/18/14): After sending him an email stating that I was preparing to take him to small claims court over the issue, he finally sent a progress picture of the head. He also stated that he would not communicate with me until the suit is finished and he would send update pictures at his discretion only. Should I hold off on small claims court or should I pressure him into relinquishing the incomplete suit and just having someone else finish it? UPDATE (2/17/15): Around January he reached out to me with another update and ever since then he has been consistently in contact with me, complete with progress pictures. I'm really glad that this is working out without resorting court or anything. UPDATE (3/6/15): Communication has improved tenfold and the head is pretty much done! Only thing left are the paws and tail. I'm excited for the final product and it looks like this is on its way to being resolved. UPDATE (5/8/15): THE SUIT IS DONE! Since the previous update, he has been working all out to get it finished and I cannot put into words how happy and proud I am of him now. Communication was excellent the last two months (via DMs on Twitter) and the work itself blew my expectations out of the water. Waiting for the suit to finally arrive next week so I can take pics. This should be resolved as soon as I get the suit! UPDATE (5/20/15): I received the suit about two weeks ago and after putting it through its paces, all I can say is WOW! The head is well built (love the attention to detail such as the velcro strips that replicate the character's eye black stickers), the paws are super soft, and the tail is great. Sadly though, the bodysuit is too small and will need to be altered, not Royal's fault though since it was the first thing finished and that was around two years ago (the body was based on a three year old DTD... yea I got a bit fat >.>). Also the head was a bit tight and I had to remove the moving jaw, just added fleece to the gap and its all good now! I gotta say that its one hell of a suit and I absolutely love it! This is definitely resolved!
  12. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1005929.html WHO: https://twitter.com/Kays_Creations WHERE: Twitter WHAT: A premade husky fursuit tail WHEN: 02/03/18 EXPLAIN: I saw Kay tweeted about a few premade tails that were for sale. The husky tail matched a fursuit head I have currently and I expressed my interest in it. She was very quick to respond to me and I sent my payment, during that time I also won originally a fursuit tail but requested to switch it to paws since I was buying a tail from her. She was ok with the change and I sent my reference sheet for the character, I wasn't in a hurry for it so I agreed with shipping both items together assuming they would both be done by BLFC (which is in May). So I left it at that until April, I saw she was tweeting about bringing finished commissions to BLFC and I asked her if it'll be possible to have her bring the items to the con. Kay stated she would try to bring it with her, I didn't bring it up again until April 30th. She never responded to my messages since then, I messaged her after BLFC requesting her to mail out the tail on Jun 15th. Kay was tweeting about how she was in a car accident after the con and was in the process of moving, so I waited the 26th to ask her about a refund. I did get impatient about it and filed a dispute, but I've waited two months since her last response to my messages. I gave her until the 11th of July before escalating the dispute to Paypal. Right now the last message I sent her was requesting a refund since I know that disputes will ding your account and as someone who also takes commissions. I know how important it is to be able to access Paypal. I know she's activate on her main account and is ignoring my requests for a refund. I've been very patient giving her time to respond since I knew she was busy with moving, but I feel like I'm being ignored. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt but I feel she is very unprofessional. [Editor's note: Resolved in comments] galaxy_deer Jul. 22nd, 2018 07:45 am (UTC) If any mod can, I won the dispute and will receive my money back!
  13. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/1004598.html WHO: Otter'n'Daughter (FA) / WaterdogWharf (FA) / Keryu (FA) / KeryuOkami (twitter) WHERE: Initially - https://www.furaffinity.net/user/otter.n.daughter/ Later - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/waterdogwharf Also - http://www.furaffinity.net/user/keryu WHEN: Payment took place from 6/14/2015 to 3/29/2016, the only visual progress was 11/29/2016 (referenced in emails below) EXPLAIN: The overall process started June 2015. Below is the string of emails regarding the quote, details and the agreed upon payments: https://imgur.com/a/6w2ywB1 As of this time, while I had the initial concept art for the sake of the quote, the full turnaround reference wouldn't be available for another five months. However they were made aware of this from the initial quote. (Referenced in the gallery above at 006 with the initial ref below it.) The email with the finished reference would explain that it was layered to view various details (ei. arms, legs and other pieces could be hidden to see the shapes): https://imgur.com/a/LCCwePu The final payment would be sent March 30, 2016: https://imgur.com/a/94JDLy6 Later on in June / July 2016, I would ask about cancellation. https://imgur.com/a/OkYfA45 Fast forward to October 30 and November 29, 2016, these would be the only signs of visual progress for my own suit. https://imgur.com/a/UO1Xk47 The DTD would finally be sent around February / March 2017. Unfortunately, correspondence that took place on Twitter before October 2017 was deleted because I had assumed that things were moving along. However there is a DM referenced in an email for May 15, 2017 whose contact was unanswered until June 15, 2017. https://imgur.com/a/1SEjIY2 October 23, 2017, I bring a proposition regarding the change of the suit design and offer the majority of the fur to be used: https://imgur.com/a/98Ih8Cp After that, I found the most success in contacting them through twitter and would follow up about once a month. https://imgur.com/a/IO8siPx And the last final emails recently sent: https://imgur.com/a/WELE6Ce As of the time of this submission, there has been no reply from the final email on July 4, 2018. However I will correct myself regarding the large July 1st email as the body suit for the previous customer is incorrect, that I’m aware of. This was the rest of a full suit commission, to which they had only recently received the bodysuit for, over two years after the head (and assuming partial of the full) was completed. The following gallery is to show posts documenting visual progress on their commission list in general, as well as public client posts that I’ve been able to search for. The purpose is only for timestamps for the completion of parts or projects altogether, how they correlate with Keryu’s public Trello page, and the time elapsed for the length of the project based on dates. https://imgur.com/a/mrG7Xcs Here is also collection of visual posts regarding from or around November 2016 up until recently. This will be broken down into categories: Auctions and Commission Openings Bases Premades Collaborative Premades Commissions or designs not listed on Trello I've probably missed a few things here and there, my apologies. I won’t deny that progress has been made on their list in general. However, with no way to gauge that other than whatever pops up on a search or the few posts there are, I have no confidence with this transaction any more. It wouldn’t have been so bad if there was some consistency in the queue, updates or progress actually occurring when said instead of just being pushed back further and further. Not to mention premades and unlisted work looking to be on priority. It also seems that they rarely do body suits themselves, if at all nowadays, or has them done by another maker. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong as I’m only aware of the collaborative bodies. This post is not meant to be against the other makers either considering I don’t know how aware they are of Keryu’s workload or practices when agreeing to these collaborative, premade suits. Even more baffling, for a short time, they had a senior seamstress that worked with them on at least one body suit. (Referenced here: https://i.imgur.com/OMCqDGo.png ) More often than not, Keryu only makes heads, tails, hand paws, and at one point feet. However those haven’t been posted in roughly a year. Granted the majority of the commissions they’ve taken on are usually for heads or partials without feet. In the end, if you absolutely wanted a costume piece from this person, you’re likely better off getting a premade or a base and finishing it yourself. ------ Update - August 23, 2018 There has been no reply since the final email. I made a couple attempts to contact there after to request the dtd and fur sent back by email and twitter, including a mailing address and requesting a tracking number. No replies. Not surprisingly, they're open for more commissions: https://imgur.com/a/2EAyd4S I also attempted disputes on the payments. Paypal directed me to speak with the source of the funds for the transactions. Upon attempts between a credit card company and bank, they were too old to dispute, which was expected. However, something I did learn from the credit card company. Based upon what the rep told me, Visa and Mastercard type cards have up to 540 days to dispute transactions of which they have the ability to request funds from the merchant. But again, only if your dispute holds up.
  14. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/995064.html Where: OneFurAll Studios - www.onefurall.com What: A full fursuit commission including head, bodysuit, paws and additional set of feetpaws. In addition, a design sketch for the fursuit. When: Payment in May 2014 — issues ongoing Explain: The issues I have experienced with OneFurAll (OFA) are twofold: an inability to manage expectations and meet contractual obligations, and lack of communication. April 2014 saw conversations with OFA regarding a commission, with estimate of an “18-24+ month queue” given. In May, I indicated my willingness to commission, and asked for confirmation of the wait time; I was told that there would be a more concrete “18-24 month wait. Our wait times shift minimally…” (see email 1); this was the final estimate given prior to payment, and with the qualifier of minimal shift, suggested that I could reasonably expect the fursuit to be completed at, or close to, 18-24 months. No further communication was made at this stage regarding the fursuit, only payment. Paid in-full via an invoice from OneFurAll in May 2014 (see Paypal Invoice). On 24th June 2015, in reply to an email from me, OFA restated the timeline to build to be "around the 24 month mark from your deposit" (see email 2). In September 2016, replying to another email from me, they stated it would be "a few more months" before work started, but that it was a good time to take measurements, which I supplied; while the time estimate had run-over, I expected work to start soon so chose not to raise a dispute. In June 2017, following my enquiry as to the expected timeframe, OFA said it would be "later this year when we'd be able to fit your character in" (see email 3). My reply to this stated that I would consider the end of the year to be an “agreement between us that this deadline will be met; if further events beyond your control mean the ‘suit won’t be finished by this estimate, please can you inform me as soon as you become aware of this?” I wished to make clear that I considered the end of 2017 a hard deadline. In January 2018, in reply to my chase email, they stated they still had not reached my position in the queue (see email 4). I therefore began the process of cancelling my commission. I requested a full refund, due to the unreasonable and excessive degree by which the build estimate had been missed (almost 2 years), and the poor communication received. I cited a clause I was sent in their Terms of Service during my preliminary discussions, which stated 30% of the commission price would be forfeit except in “extreme cases” (see TOS). I considered my case “extreme” due to time the process had overshot by, the exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances the studio had claimed to be going through which slowed production, and my communication issues. In response, OFA outlined that they would not offer me a full refund and said that the entire fursuit building industry has adopted a firm non-refundable clause, and also apologized for the communication issues I had experienced. They offered the opportunity to keep my fursuit in the queue (see email 5), with a promise to improve communication, which I refused. When they replied in February, they stated that their policy has “always been that we never contractually promise a start date” and that “we are still technically at 24+ months” (see email 6). They went on to say that their non-refundable clause was "firm" and they would not refund me in full; they said the “extreme circumstances” condition was intended to allow them to be sympathetic to someone who found themselves “in a genuine state of need...” citing customers who had encountered “…dire life circumstances and we helped as we could”. They found it “problematic” that I was referring to this term, and they felt that I had attempted to “reinterpret that outdated phrase against us” (see email 6 cont.). They went on to say in their February email that they would "no longer offer waiving that clause for any reason", and offered to refund my payment beyond the 30% refund penalty in 3 instalments (see email 6 cont.). I did not take this offer as I felt it unjust that they should retain the 30% penalty, and because I paid the entire commission price up-front and would feel more confident receiving a refund as one payment. They also restated that non-refundable percentages are a prevalent feature across the fursuit building industry and cited the TOS of 7 well-known makers (see email 6 cont.). Email discussion continued over refund amount, with little progress. Given the log-jam on both sides, I emailed OFA on 7th February 2018 offering a compromise: OFA get 10% retention on the full commission price (see email 7). Apart from acknowledging receipt of this on 5th March, I have yet to receive a substantial response despite regular chase emails. It now appears the process has broken down, and I am unlikely to receive any refund soon due to our lack of ability to agree over this dispute and the lack of response from OFA. As resolution to this issue, I would like OFA to issue a full refund. I do not believe they have upheld their contractual obligations to me, nor do I feel they have provided the level of service one would expect from a company I have paid almost $3000 to. I feel that attempting to withhold a 30% penalty constitutes an unfair term of contract given they have not indicated that they have spent anything on or worked towards my commission, and are likely to make up the entire amount very quickly in new commissions. In addition, I feel the application of a ‘no full refunds’ policy should have common-sense boundaries with protections for the customer laid out explicitly on the face of the contract. I can understand a refund penalty if a commissioner pulls-out within the given timeframe and simply does not wish to continue the process. However, taking $2950 up-front, providing a timeframe estimate and then missing this by two years should surely warrant the return of the full amount paid, especially when the customer is told that their wait will be 18-24 months with a “minimal” shift of wait times. I do not claim to know how other makers apply their no-refunds clauses, though if it is an industry-wide practice to do this, I feel it’s a sad reflection on how we are doing business with eachother. I regret that it has come to a point where I have needed to post this; as I have outlined to OFA, I sympathise with their position, the studio having been through many unexpected events of some gravity over the past few years. However, I cannot recommend the studio based on my experience, having been left disappointed with ephemeral time estimates and difficult communication on many occasions. Proof: Email 1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3a6y8rjuhyjqrjk/Email 1.png?dl=0 Email 2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ffjtmxn8jxwsymf/Email 2.png?dl=0 Email 3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a54gyehmgmzyopy/Email 3.png?dl=0 Email 4: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejoyfwq6mmiom08/Email 4.png?dl=0 Email 5: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tgifcsay9ookqo0/Email 5.png?dl=0 Email 6: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jc377vs6b0giksh/Email 6.png?dl=0 Email 6 cont.: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2infyun44507g3t/Email 6 cont..png?dl=0 Email 7: https://www.dropbox.com/s/feokqxqveekxabb/Email 7.png?dl=0 (I typo’d the dates here, writing 2013 instead of 2014) Paypal Invoice: https://www.dropbox.com/s/irjcj3ycagq4hcq/Paypal Invoice.png?dl=0 TOS: https://www.dropbox.com/s/48gmljcjmui210g/TOS.png?dl=0 Tired of ads? Upgrade to account with Professional
  15. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/945778.html WHO: OtterN’Daughter, KeryuOkami, WaterDogWharf WHERE: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/otter.n.daughter/ https://www.furaffinity.net/user/waterdogwharf https://twitter.com/KeryuOkami WHAT: Fursuit, Full digi-grade with extra padding in legs/arms/tail. WHEN: First payment was made to Keryu on 7/15/15. I completed my payment plan (Paid in full) on 11/7/15. I did not receive my suit until 2/28/17 PROOF: http://sta.sh/0fch8p7k9cm All payments including shipping EXPLAIN: Before getting my suit: The biggest problem I experienced with WDW was their lack of professionalism, time management, and manipulation via contract. WDW had a contract that protects her very well but does not at all hold her accountable to her end of business. Not only did she not take deadlines but she did NOT stick to her public queue. I commissioned Keryu back in Mid 2015 for a fullsuit(with additional padding in the tail, arms and legs). I often had problems with her ignoring or just not replying to emails. I eventually had to contact her on Twitter publicly to get her to respond. From then on we talked mostly over twitter. I only got updates from her if I asked her directly and my messages would go unanswered for days if not weeks despite her activity on twitter. I confronted her in Decemberof 2015 about her lack of communication( http://sta.sh/01ehajotfho9 ). She apologized and for a short time was better. However things got really spotty again maybe a month later. She was hardly showing progress and I had to poke at her a lot to see anything or know where she was at. In October of 2016 I confronted her again about the lack of work she was doing on her queue and the fact she was putting out premades more often than suits on her queue(http://sta.sh/0t5egnpnyh6 , http://sta.sh/0awufn79jq , http://sta.sh/02a4hdnoxwfp , http://sta.sh/01kxj6w3zvha , http://sta.sh/0tpxdgasxw1 , http://sta.sh/029rl5mp7po5 , http://sta.sh/01tjnclpu6rj ). The premades were incredibly frustrating to me as she was making little to no progress on my suit but was making multiple premades during the time she was supposed to work on mine(http://sta.sh/2b0lsxb0dga ). She snapped back at me and we went back and forth for a short bit before she said she would send me a free head mount for the wall. I said no but offered to commission a second tail because she had not made the tail the way we had originally agreed. She did not respond. I had to message her again later on for updates. In late january I asked where she was at on my suit and was told she had finished it but hadn’t told me yet(http://sta.sh/0iysrwc7rwx ). She then told me she would ship the suit out on 2/14/17. She also told me that the suit would arrive in time for an event I had on the 25th(http://sta.sh/02fwjvo5xevl http://sta.sh/017x9xkfjsez http://sta.sh/0s1q4mf86w9 http://sta.sh/077ih0wftoq).However she then didn’t ship until the 21st and the suit did not arrive until the 28th. She told me she had misplaced my quote forum and asked me to find it in my emails. She eventually found it(http://sta.sh/0itfq51jvwm ). She disappeared for a few days without saying anything about why. It had been 20 days since I knew of the completion of my suit and she wasn’t shipping it. I waited about 18 Months to get my fursuit and it still came with problems. Upon receiving my suit I knew not everything could be perfect but I was still incredibly disappointed with the things undone despite her taking so much time. I ordered large stompy feet, she left all of the inside foam exposed and the ankle area does not go up high enough for the leg to stay down over it ( http://sta.sh/01tj44b4btih ). The paws are large like requested but there is no foam inside to keep its shape or keep the paw from sliding down and off the hand completely( http://sta.sh/021ueii3k1c8 ).. The one area there is foam is around the claws which is left completely open. The head is too big and moves around a lot, I find myself touching the muzzle a lot just to keep it in place while I’m moving. The holes for the tail are not reinforced in anyway, they are just cuts in the fabric which is very worrisome especially with the size of my tail. The tail is a bit lumpy in areas and the foam doesn’t fill all areas properly, instead it slides around a bit, not stuffed enough. http://sta.sh/0258ef8joryb fullsuit arrived.
  16. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/809651.html [Editor's note: There are images in the LiveJournal post that require an account to view.] Who: Rainfurr/bluueseyler Where: http://furaffinity.net/user/rainfurr What: Refund for unfinished fursuit handpaws When: Approx November 2013 to present It all started with a Livejournal post that I can’t currently find, offering handpaws and other body parts, likely on fursuitauctions. I stated I was interested, and we exchanged information. All went well (she replied fast, proved she bought materials via receipts, etc) until I lost contact with her on LJ around November 2013, which is a little after she had ordered the materials from DVC. The following is notes from Furaffinity after I messaged her on there in January 2014. This is where the problems start. Basically she had animal troubles and couldn't finish the paws. She offered to refund the money, which I accepted. I got one refund in January, and that was it. I contacted her several more times throughout 2014 but didn't get a refund or many replies. In January, I got a single refund as shown below. Proof I paid a total of $120 (and that this started in November). As the notes show, I asked in June and was told I’d get a refund soon. That didn’t happen. Six months go by to now, and I message her again this morning. Waiting for a reply, and posted on here in case that falls through. So far, the only refund I got was January 2014, for $30. I’m not sure what else I can do, but I’m not letting this money go and intend to do everything I can to get what she owes.
  17. https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/781113.html WHO: Starrik, StarrikKyrubui, WonderFursStudios WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/wonderfursstudios/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/starrik Also there was trouble at FWA2014 during our convention. Also at Anthrocon 2014 regarding seams popping and various other things falling off / breaking. Namely pawpads, and the tail zipper being reversed. WHAT: 1400$ for Full digitigrade fursuit, including movable jaw, and 3d follow me toony eyes. WHEN: Starrik showed me Turbowolf's head as an example and the Resin head as well for examples. I also at this time requested fullbody suit examples to which she stated she had no pictures taken but built Turbo's https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/1375132686.awesomepawsome_1374768980.fuchsia_turbohead.jpg and https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/1367806068.awesomepawsome_jcheadwithhandpaws.jpg I liked the style of both heads enough to approve her and give her my details and confirm with her. Initial payment was March 3rd Conversations discussing what I wanted took place shortly after through twitter DMs Suit work didn't begin til later that month. Signs of trouble began to show almost immediately when she refused to provide updates for unknown reasons and stated that I approved of the handpaws claws, pawpads. Along with the fact the paws did not fit properly between my thumb and pointer digit. She later hired several other people and formed a business named "Wonderfursstudios" with herself and several friends. Final payment was sent on June 10th in the amount of 350 as I was told I owed. A rough time line of the situation from initial conversation, to 1st payment (or agreement of trade) to signs of trouble. PROOF: All of her business transactions were done through her boyfriends PayPal account. Sekioh. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/ss (2014-07-08 at 04.45.14).png Statement of how much I owed http://puu.sh/a2Gpb/b4c8f2933e.png https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/ss (2014-07-11 at 07.33.33).png final payment There was also a sewing machine I had to buy for her which was part of the payment valued at 50$ EXPLAIN: Trouble started about half way when I was given an estimation by her that I would have "at least" a partial in time for FWA. Though while we were at FWA she claimed several people had contacted her claiming I was going to "dispute payment" and "chargeback scam" her. One of which being a good friend by the name of Sovy Kurosei upon asking him had he contacted her he stated he did not know her let alone that she was making my suit at the time. When I had also requested her for proof of the notes / DMs containing all of that she magically lost them and claimed FA glitched and deleted them all. After I saw the handpaws in person with the Silicone installed in them I was very displeased and with how things were going so far I just wanted to be done with it all honestly. The center pawpad on the handpaws were rough and looked realistic and not toony as I had requested. Not to mention the handpaw also did not fit on my thumb and index properly. Out of the 1400$ and having to also buy her a sewing machine and her running out of money for parts, eg; the silicone for handpaws, or resin for jawset. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/ss (2014-07-08 at 05.39.39).png Below was her quote of how much a foam based head from her would cost. Along with the none shaving of handpaws. I figured I could get someone else to shave it. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/ss (2014-07-08 at 03.44.09).png Later on I found out that was a good choice after they used a regular hair trimmer, and not a dog grooming trimmer. Likely with the default blade...which broke part way through shaving my head and caused nasty deep cuts on the suit. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brfkc_8IIAAMphS (1).jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brfxb66IQAAozLx.jpg She has been trying to help me fix the suit but the main reason I am doing this is because I have learned now she is in no way the fursuit maker that made the Turbowolf head. Let alone able to produce quality of what she plagiarized as her work to coax me to buy from her. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Screenshot_2014-07-08-21-20-37.png There is a large stress point on the left side of my suit despite her having made a DTD with me and the assistance of Sekioh. The left footpaw does not fit my left foot properly and is loose. Both footpaws the right inner claw was popping out because she had only glued one side. Not to mention the footpaws are completely different sizes..and shapes https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp8gDZIAAA2j7N.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp8hHAIUAAUxht.jpg She used BLACK SEWING STRING for WHITE FELT TEETH.. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140708_170426.jpg She did not properly hatch the silicone for the handpaws and they were popping off at Anthrocon at the lightest touches. Not to mention the fur where they were going to be installed at was not cut but actually melted by the hot glue. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp_mNaIIAA4TyI.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140707_184638.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp9vPGIgAENHRc.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp_iv8IQAAJH34.jpg Not to mention when I told her I was unhappy with the handpaws this was her response. She puts her own likes above mine and feels the need to state she LIKES them herself as if to influence my opinion. I saw the handpaws only with the fur, never with the pawpads or claws. http://puu.sh/a35Da/41efd4de77.png The eyes had exposed glue everywhere, and one spot was not even glued properly and the material used for the eye around it was not a hard material but a foam like one. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/BrqHQ9qIcAAzNOe.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp7UQSIQAEeJQM.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp_poSIQAAOlLn.jpg There was exposed foam in several places on the head along with seams. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140708_165624.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp7kk2IcAAZ-k1.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp7UQSIQAEeJQM.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/Brp71MRIQAAz8WM.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/BrqDF1lIAAAh2Sl.jpg - sewing not tied off properly Pictures of an overall view of the head. Bare in mind I did have it touch up trimmed at Anthrocon, and reglued by another fursuit maker. You can see though the head is clearly off centered by a lot and not to mention my markings as well. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140708_170426.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140708_170420.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140708_170414.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/BrqEX0DIIAAejjL.jpg When I asked her to give me the fur scraps / left over fur from my downpayment I received this. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/ss (2014-07-08 at 10.56.39).png https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/ss (2014-07-08 at 10.56.55).png https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/ss (2014-07-08 at 10.55.19).png I believe she can properly repair the footpaws, and handpaws, or make new ones that are improved. I do not desire a refund for these but rather a proper repair along with these the bodysuit. I do not wish risk having her make another head. So with that I expect a refund in the valuation of the head as she quoted above of a price between "$500 to $600" as it is not possible above examples is the quality of her work. Thus I believe I was wronged by this maker in full about the quality of fursuit heads outcome. Which was a complete scam/forgery on her part to try and claim someone elses work as her own and according to FuchsiaPossum http://puu.sh/a35Wl/37c257838d.png Starrik was only her PR for the most https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/twitterfuchsia.png a statement from the maker stating she NEVER even helped on that head. According to Fuchsia all she assisted with was the stress test. At this point she has zero intention of refunding me but insisting she can repair all of this damage, and has actually requested me if I desired new claws for my fursuit handpaws I would have to pay for them myself. Even if they are a $10 set from DVC and the current set is a set I never approved nor was happy with to begin with. 7/23/2014 UPDATE: We have met an agreement in which the following will take place The fursuit head will be fully refunded - $400 (though was quoted $500-$600 for a head alone without a suit) of which no money has been received yet. Handpaws are to be remade Footpaws are to be remade Bodysuit is to be FULLY repaired to quality standard. Otherwise it will be FULLY refunded. 7/30/2014 Additional pictures/evidence of bodysuit: A lot of handsewing had to be done in the tail to fix the markings by Starrik at Anthrocon. Updates of 12 holes repaired total, and in the tail itself as well. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140719_182436.jpg - Left side stress point, I am unable to raise my arm higher than this. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140719_182443.jpg - Right side lift can go a bit higher https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140719_182536.jpg - Assymetry of markings https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140719_182718.jpg - Suit wants to slip off the left side of my shoulder. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140719_182629.jpg - Example 2 of the shoulder slipping off left side. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140719_182708.jpg - Current tail attachment arrangement. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140709_130111.jpg - The temporary belt attachment fix at AnthroCon https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140731_015756.jpg - Non-sewn area https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140731_015843.jpg - Hole in the center of fur https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140731_015911.jpg - Inside shot of clumped machine sewn fur https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/Starrik/20140731_015930.jpg - Outside shot of clumped machine sewn fur 9/6/2014 UPDATE: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/ss%2B(2014-09-06%2Bat%2B10.10.50).png - Email of agreement, request of when she will pay. Along with statement of handpaws / footpaws would be done "by the first" which is another example of them setting personal deadlines and missing them. 9/21/2014 STATUS UPDATE: 400$ Refund: not yet received New handpaws / footpaws: not yet received 10/20/2014 STATUS UPDATE: As of 11:38PM I have received partial refund of 200$ leaving 200$ to be paid at this time. Handpaws and Footpaws are yet to be received but Starrik has made good gesture on her part with partial repayment thus far. As of this point I am signaling she is showing good gestures towards positively resolving this issue. 11/5/2014 STATUS UPDATE Another 200$ has been repaid. With that the 400$ owed has been repaid but this still leaves the handpaws and footpaws. 8/9/2015 STATUS: Bodysuit has been given to Starrik for repairs. She's also working on newer footpaws and handpaws. 8/23/2015 ADDITIONAL INFO: While randomly searching my name on twitter I found old logs and found out when Starrik sent me reference of FuchsiaPossums work as her own. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19358828/screencapture-www-furaffinity-net-msg-pms-12-45381554-1440381697274.png http://puu.sh/jMhwM/9e5c550862.png and an archive of those tweets https://archive.is/xrXSj
  18. I have never written a Beware before. I didn’t even want to make this one, but this is completely unacceptable and future buyers should be aware. This is a small time fursuit maker by the name of Majeste. Back on June 23rd 2020, I purchased a custom set of puffy paws with claws after having talked details of the design and other pertinent information. I was quoted $190 and paid the full $190. Remember that price was QUOTED TO ME, because it will be relevant later on. Majeste, at first, I had no issues with. The paws were going to take a little while and that was fine, that had already been established up front. The design of the paws was reviewed and I picked out my fur and minky fabrics that would be used to make these paws. I was under the impression that the fabrics that I chose WITH Majeste’s help would be the exact furs ordered and used on my paws. I don’t get any updates for a couple weeks, which again, is fine, I was aware of the time frame for paws turnaround. However, the issue comes in when Majeste sends me a WIP photo. I could see the backing of the pink minky looked strange, textured, but I don’t sew, I don’t work with materials, so I didn’t know. I wasn’t concerned at this point. I had no reason to believe the fabric was not the fabric I chose. The next photo I received was of one finished paw. This is where the major issue comes into play: the minky on the paws was NOT the minky I had chosen/agreed upon when the order for the paws was placed. I had been given no prior indication of this change. At first, I sort of glossed over it. It was devastated, but I didn’t want to become a nightmare customer or cause issues. I assumed Majeste would have a solution in mind. Majeste did not at all offer to fix the problem up front, she did not even address it until I did first. As if it was no issue. I still wanted my paws, but I was extremely unhappy. I paid for a service and product, and neither was delivered as promised/agreed upon. I paid $190 for paws the way they had been discussed, not with a change in minky. I will admit, I became more agitated and less willing to accept this work as the conversation went on. At this point, I did not want to prolong the wait time, and I did not want to be treated as an inconvenience. I suggested upgraded shipping as a fair means of coming to a resolution. Majeste would have to make no refund, no alterations - simply mail the paws with an upgraded shipping method. This is where she becomes extremely aggressive with me. She tries to have me pay MORE to even FIX the paws in the first place, otherwise they won’t be fixed. She tells ME that MY behavior is unacceptable and tells me I’m scamming her. Scamming her after I had already paid the $190 for my paws. Right. She continues, saying she already discounted my paws (I never asked for any discount, Majeste herself quoted me the price of $190 from the get go, as mentioned earlier) and if I want things to be “fair”, I’ll pay the difference of her “usual” paw price and she’ll fix them. Needless to say, I was extremely upset by this interaction. As a paying customer, I felt completely sidelined and overall unhappy with the finished result of my custom made product. Now, I’m going to have to have these fixed myself. In the end, Majeste did ship them and provide a tracking number to me. I do not have the paws in my hands as of writing this, but I would like to update based on the quality of the paws I do receive. There are LOTS of screenshots, as this is the entire conversation as it took place on Amino. Please. Proceed with extreme caution if you are considering working with Maj-Mania749. Attached are all the screenshots of every interaction I had with Majeste. I included everything, even the conversation bits, so there’s nothing lost and all context is there. Hopefully it’s all in order!
  19. original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/655973.html WHO: Sweetnightmare - Operator of Business Scixzor - Husband and Business partner. He handles customer service tickets when silver is "overwhelmed" WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sweetnightmare WHAT: A partial fursuit originally to be finished on Dec 25th as the deadline. (Later extended, as will explain.) WHEN: Aug 2012 - Feb 2013 Proof/Explain: - http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4344146/ - FurAffinity Admins asked to take down the journal, here is a screenshot of it. http://imgur.com/EowoH5R I commissioned sweetnightmare in Aug of 2012 to create a fursuit of my fursona Inukaza. I paid up front, later upgrading to a full suit. When I first commissioned her, I made a request to be updated by photo every month. At first, she was willing, and sent updates. October was the last update I received. Afterwords, every half-month I would ask for a photo update, to which she would respond that they did not have a camera to take the update with. Contrary to that fact, they were still able to upload pictures with a camera that they acquired, yet still were able to come up with a excuse to not give progress photos. Oh wait. That's because they were hiding the fact that there was no process. Well, to make this factual, reasonable process. Today, Feb 15th, 2013, 5 months, 20 days from the day I ordered the product, I received a box full of supplies. To clarify, I asked her to send me the supplies, because it was getting absurd about how long I was waiting. The due date for this project was in December. What did I receive? What does almost 6 months of progress look like? 1. A few yards of black and brown fur. Not enough for full suit, maybe not even enough brown to create the rest of the partial. Once I check with the amazing person who might be finishing this suit for me, I'll update this. ( http://i.imgur.com/6JzTZRY.png ) 2. Foam Base ( http://imgur.com/a/Elifk ) <--- Actual photo. 2.A. Here is a progress photo she sent from Oct. 2012. Please compare. ( http://i.imgur.com/vNIAGZv.jpg) 3. White and Black sculpey, for teeth and mouth. 4. Slippers. (I can't tell where she got them from, decent.) 5. Foam for eyes, mouth, ears. 6. Cut-outs for paws. Not sewn in. 7. Some thread. (Here's her actual list of what she said she was sending me. She sent what she said she would. http://i.imgur.com/BYI5sNo.png). What's not included? 1. Polyfill, she said there was no room in the box to put it. I beg to differ, I personally could have fit it in there. However, I won't argue it, as it could be said to have been done to not crush the head base. 2. Foam for foot paws. At this point, it would have been nice to still offer a refund for those supplies or buy a bigger box, I was paying for shipping either way. 3. Completed fursuit. Seriously. (By this I mean it in a sarcastic way, I know I asked for the materials, however, I was led to be aware up until she told me what was in the package that the tail, footpaws, and more of the handpaws were done. So, recap. I got a foam base, and supplies to make a fursuit. Meaning, tail wasn't even started to be worked on. Handpaws only partially done, and head....well, you can see with the photos from above. You might be asking, why did I deal with this? She apparently has had tons of issues thought out the past few years. I want to, and I actually do, believe her. Of course, shit happens, sometimes you have to deal with what's thrown at you. Bad anxiety, home issues, relationship issues. (She her journals on her page to confirm and read up on the nature of it and make your own opinions). I felt bad, and I went along with it. However, throughout my contacts with her, I was constantly led to believe that this project would be done sooner. Here's some documentation. 10/03/2012: I asked what I can expect to be done by the next monthly update. ( http://i.imgur.com/SsuCNb9.png ) 10/23/2012: I asked how many commissions are ahead of mine, to get a gauge on how many she has. Just a FYI, at this point she has started selling her services every other week. She still is selling fursuits at this point. ( http://i.imgur.com/JNQxy7h.png ) 10/29/2012: I was discussing upgrading to a full suit. I asked for a photo update for the month of November now, she said her cam was being derpy. ( http://i.imgur.com/J5xCdVT.png ) 11/05/2012: I asked her about a time frame to expect the photos. She mistakenly confused it for asking when the suit was done, and clarified her deadline. As well as promising to get my photo update. ( http://imgur.com/a/8qU6N ) 11/29/2012: I am getting really ticked at this point. I tell her that even though I'm her friend, it's stupid that this is becoming impossible to get updates. Her husband comes over on her skype to explain the situation. I made her aware that if she can not deliver updates, do not promise them. ( http://imgur.com/a/PhiZo ) This same day, she says she needs more time on the suit. ( http://imgur.com/QlqCQ3N ). 12/13/2012: Asked for a photo update. Never came. ( http://i.imgur.com/1E5IKad.png ). 12/26/2012: I asked for a update. No response. ( http://i.imgur.com/7LVnZha.png ). 1/02/2013: She offered a refund at this point when I confronted her about the updates, but with no sight of when I'd get it. At this point, I've heard stories from past commissioners who have stated that when they asked for a refund they didn't receive it til half a year later. I opted to keep on going with it. ( http://imgur.com/1CZcSfR ) This is where the lies start kicking in. She lied about the progress the suit was in. She states the tail and feet are done. Neither of which were started in reality. And the hand paws were further progressed than what they were in reality. ( http://i.imgur.com/6vahOk4.png ). 1/03/2013: Apparently there is now four suits in front of me. Remember back in Oct. 2012 when there were only three that were almost done? ( http://i.imgur.com/GphSFXV.png ). Late Jan/ Early Feb: She moved to a new house, as you can see by reading her new journals. Obviously and understandably, suit making was not the first thing on her mind. At this point I'm getting tired of asking for updates. 2/02/2013: I asked for another update. She said there were more suits in front of mine. Others were rushed orders. No shit, really, mine is a rush order by now. It's 2 months overdue at this point. ( http://i.imgur.com/VLESINJ.png ) She requested me to send all updates to her husband, scixzor scixzor. All updates, notes, requests that I sent to him were read, and ignored. By ignored, I mean he did not send a response, including those that deliberately requested him to reply. ( http://i.imgur.com/68oVAog.png ) 2/05/2013: I asked her to just send me supplies for unfinished suit so I could finish it myself. I am still under the impression that everything is pretty much done. She still says that it would be done and shipped by the end of Feb, the absolute final due date. ( http://i.imgur.com/K33TUGA.png ) 2/06/2013: She sends a message saying she wants to send me the unfinished suit. ( http://i.imgur.com/JfsoxgJ.png ) I asked her to write a detailed invoice telling what she has done, and what needs to be done. Mostly for the reason of making this journal. It was a way for her to defend herself and for things to be factual to back up my claims. She didn't send it, saying she forgot. ( http://imgur.com/QcoJAL6 ) 2/08/2013: Items sent via UPS. I paid shipping. ( http://i.imgur.com/6Hw6ekt.png ). 2/15/2013: I received items, here is a video of me opening it and going though it. Please excuse the bad lighting, out lights our out in that area of our apartment. Also, NSFW language. This was the first time I saw those items. I was pissed. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMP5FpmFoKA ) OVERALL: I feel I was scammed. She's not a reliable fursuit maker. I HIGHLY DO NOT recommend commissioning her. If you have already done so, make your own choice. If you want to take this to heart, I would make the choice to cancel your order. If you want more proof, send me a note with your questions and I'll be happy to provide you with more information. Additional Information: I canceled the commissioned after a financial hardship on 1/21/13, I asked to have it reinstated on 1/27/13. ( http://imgur.com/a/E3jbu ) She was completely fine with it, not giving me any reason to believe this was a issue. The original deadline was Dec 25th. Second deadline was Feb 1st. Third Deadline was March 1st. Each time extended because I asked if she needed more time, thinking she was almost done. ( http://imgur.com/a/1ANhI ) I said I wanted to take the stress off her and take the items. I still thought that the Tail, hand paws, and foot paws were completely done, and the head was ready to foam until after this happen when she clarified what would she be sending me.( http://i.imgur.com/baidQSA.png ) Aftermath of the journal: I received several messages asking for me to take down my review, I refused. She wanted to fix this by letting me return the materials I asked for and finishing it faster. However, the entire reason I asked for the materials, legitimately, was to send them to another suit maker to use them. There is no way this can be fixed, as this is a complaint about customer service and not the fact that I expected a completed suit when I asked for the materials. There was a strong smell of smoke on the suit, I didn't think much of it. However, it turns out the person I sent the materials to finish my suit is actually allergic, so take that to heed.
  20. The artist messaged me on Twitter after I made a post looking for paws and a tail to commission. I explained to the artist it was going to be a complicated build but they didn't seem concerned. We talked about details and agreed to a price. They said they could get started right away. I asked for a TOS and photos of previous work. They sent a TOS vis Google docs and pictures of other suits. They asked I send payment via PayPal friends and family (i didnt know the difference and thought i was helping as it reduced fees). As I am new to this I didn't know the signs of what to look for so I sent over payment. The next day I decided I also wanted feet paws. So we discussed that as well. So I sent over a second payment for them. I am now in the hole $1020. They do not have a website, a trello, or any other legitimate business profile, they are using a stolen profile picture and the pictures of the suits they have sent were bogus and not their creations. They have changed their Twitter handle from HD suitz to rldhh. They have since stopped communicating. BEWARE.
  21. The original conversation have been deleted (not by me) from Telegram after a lost of account from the vendor (said by him in the chat convo - p1). I've found him on Twitter after many months, where the conversation continue. The order was a pair of hand paws. From 14 April 2020. Original Transaction Date from Paypal history I have WIP and pictures showned of the progress. (in attachment, convo - p2, p3, p4) But as time moved on, I propossed an alternative for the maker to just sent everything done or not, if he were unable to complete. He accepted. Since then, I made along multiple months several reminder about the shipping. The last message were not responded nor seen.
  22. There's some issues here that are certainly rookie mistakes on the Artist's part. When receiving the incorrect fabric, she should have contacted the seller and informed them she was shipped the wrong fabric and informed you of the wait. But I suspect that due to the absurdly tight deadline, and the fact that she didn't get the fabric until the 14th, she felt pressured to get the work done with what she had. And it was also her fault for agreeing to such a narrow deadline, and I hope she doesn't do that to herself again. These are the only reasons we have for edging this into a caution, just barely. You however, are not in the right, either. If the dimples in the fabric were that much of an issue for you, you should have brought this up the moment you saw it. You claim it was due to your lack of experience, and I can understand that in some regard, but I'm surprised you didn't even ask just to make sure. Then going further, when the paws are finally done you bring up the dimples in a very 'oh well, guess it'll do' manner and never mention at all that it bothers you. The whole conversation is very friendly and even sympathetic to the fabric mixup which would give any artist the sense that you approved of it and the issue was only minor. Then suddenly it's 'well since the fabric is bad you should comp me 40$ in shipping instead', and I can absolutely see why it feels like a scam on her part, due to your guilt tripping over something you just moments ago gave the impression you were fine with. Now, let me lay down a few things in front of you in case you didn't notice. You ordered 2 paws to be completed within 4 weeks time, yet the way you write this out makes it sound like this is somehow a long wait, and I have to tell you, it's not. That kind of turn around is absurdly fast. Next, the total price for the 2 paws is 190$, including standard shipping and this was made very clear from the very beginning, the artist in no way promised you express shipping. You made assumptions about how the shipping would work ("I just thought you would put them in a flatrate box") and didn't bother asking about shipping options at all before starting even FULL WELL KNOWING, the artist intended to ship the product out by the 27th of July. Next, The artist got the fabric on the 14th and finished the paws on the 19th. FIVE DAYS!!! That is the most incredible turn around time for 2 hand paws, so fast that is basically a rush job. So she bundles the cost of the paws and shipping for you, and provides you a rush service, and you come around and demand she shell out 40$ for a shipping type you never stated you wanted ahead of time for a product you just told her was fine as-is. All she asked for was 10$ for the fix, 10$. Because she's doing a rush service on top of a rush service, because she's doing her best to get it mailed out to you in the time specified. Like I said in the beginning paragraph, she should have informed you of the error of the fabric she received, but you should have brought up your dissatisfaction sooner and have even the slightest bit of perspective on how much work she's put into getting that done in such a short amount of time. And just some personal nickpicks because I'm still baffled by your conduct, you stated 2-day shipping and requested it multiple times, and you have the audacity to claim you never asked for 2-day shipping? It's literally right there, in the very screen caps you gave us. And what kind of person orders something like this a month before they're supposed to move? Any sensible person would have waited until after they were settled with the new address to have something shipped to them to ensure that it they received it at the address they would be living at. I strongly suggest you do that next time instead of expecting an artist to crunch to your timeline.
  23. May 22, 2014 https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/768650.html WHO: Sickboy, Pales, horrorprince.deviantart.com, http://whorrorprince.tumblr.com/ WHERE: deviantart.com, virtualpetlist.com, and furry-paws.com WHAT: All digital art. The absolute best I can do for screenshot proof is provide the forum post where I discovered him on virtualpetlist.com (see: http://www.virtualpetlist.com/threads/sim-artist-looking-for-work-again.15631/) and on another forum that is now defunct. I recognized him because he went by his alternative name Pales on the defunct forum and I addressed him as Pales which prompted him to message me. I do have those messages but they're text based since they were backed up from the forum software. I never thought I'd have to use them as evidence. Eventually we switched to IM and screenshots will reflect that. WHEN: I’m copy and pasting what I wrote on another forum as I’ve tried to reword this several times and it’s just too hard for me emotionally. So I hope this suffices. Sorry if it’s too long.. I paid in advance for items in June with a deadline of July. Sickboy didn't meet the deadlines, however, he did give excuses which I was empathetic of. We extended deadlines several times. I often had to ask him for progress. Here is a conversation we exchanged over IM where I asked him about my items and how he addressed my questions. Although that conversation is dated October, I did ask him two to three times before October, once in July and a separate time in September. The week of September is the time he delivered 7 items and said he would complete the rest that week. I trusted he would, and again paid in advance that week for more items. He has not completed any items since September or that payment. I again asked him in January to which I received similar responses to the first conversation. Nearly a week later, I discovered that Sickboy had been anonymously mentioning my commission to others, complaining about how I had asked him about my commission, which urged me to cease working with Sickboy altogether. Sickboy explained recently that his tablet broke, that he was depressed over the passing of a friend's cat, etc. I am understanding, but I had been waiting for my commission for almost more than six months before these events transpired. Sickboy has told me an item takes him twenty to thirty minutes to complete. We originally agreed that he would complete the art, but circumstances changed, I requested that I be refunded, to which he agreed. This correspondence was through DeviantART. He told me he would refund me sometime in the future and when he had the money he'd message me through VPL. I was okay with this. I asked him how he was, just a general "how are you" and he blocked me from DeviantART. There is absolutely no reason why I was blocked, which leads me to believe I won't be receiving my money back, nor will I be hearing from Sickboy again. PROOF: Agreement: the first one: http://i.imgur.com/wm4eA49.png (6/27) & the second: http://i.imgur.com/Do0MtgY.png (9/8) Proof of payment: http://i.imgur.com/iFHOzfs.png & http://i.imgur.com/6NMJOaI.png Proof of him agreeing to finish the overdue art on 9/8: http://i.imgur.com/4k3hUdo.png (he did not finish them that night) Evidence of him cursing at me: http://pastebin.com/qpc2EEv4 Due to him accusing me of editing this pastebin, I am posting a screenshot of how it appears in my logs: http://i.imgur.com/7NK29Jv.png - I am sorry that it's formatted in a block of text. My logs apparently bugged out and I don't want to edit it to prove the point that they weren't touched. EXPLAIN: I’ve done everything I could to ask for my money back. Despite his promises to do so (as seen in his responses on my forum thread) he is now lying to others saying he doesn’t owe me any money http://comments.deviantart.com/1/449033043/3447744659 I’ve tried everything. I don’t know what else to do. I was scammed out of a lot of money. So much money that I’m not comfortable even saying it. That is why I’ve blacked it out. It’s embarrassing. Another thing I’d like to advise to potential buyers is that this person has a Terms of Service that isn’t very airtight and very contradictory. This has led me to the realization that the art he did do I will need to replace. So on top of the money I was scammed out of, I will also need to replace all the art he actually did to. I came to this realization based on his terms: http://sickboyart.co.nf/tos.php I did not have these terms laid out in front of me when I was commissioning the seller. I don’t feel comfortable that I’m required to credit him to use the art he did for me because it may lead to others commissioning him and rendering a similar experience. http://i.imgur.com/sRPGvEc.png To me, his terms are also very confusing and legally unfriendly. All efforts to sign over his work to me have went ignored. Edit: Please read: The problem with the Artist's TOS is NOT solely the credit but instead the legal loopholes and problems that may be faced with the rights of the work and refund policy. I was advised to get the work replaced because of the confusing terms. I do not have a problem with crediting artists so long my order is completed. The reason why the TOS is being mentioned is so that people are aware of all his terms before ordering. I was not I have personally made the decision to get the art he did do replaced because I disagree with these terms. Again I provide them here so potential consumers are aware. These terms didn't exist when I made my order.
  24. Originally posted on Jun. 18th, 2013 by draeling Mod note: All images were hosted on the OPs website, but the site seems to have gone down since. Update 2: 30/01/14: It's been 7 months since the refund was agreed. Only $260 so far of the $645 has been refunded, with the last payment being 4 months ago. Iko still does not keep in contact unless a shout and note is left, which receives an apology but no dates of when the next parts will be refunded. Update 1: Since the AB, Iko has agreed to a full refund in weekly increments. Will update when it is complete. WHO: Iko, Sierra Tudor, Kay the Dragon, Pathetic Dragon Studios WHERE: http://furaffinity.net/user/Iko, http://www.furaffinity.net/user/patheticdragon, http://www.furbuy.com/seller/Iko.html?as=a WHAT: A Nightfury Fursuit for $850 on 2010/04/29 WHEN (with proof): $410 Downpayment on 2010/05/05, $86 materials on 2010/12/12. EXPLAIN: In 2010 Iko posted an auction on Furbuy for a Nightfury fursuit, and though she did not have many recent good examples of her work, she was really excited to be spending more time and working on Fursuits, and the concept art posted of what she intended to make was looking really nice. We had a lengthy email discussion to confirm the features, design and looks, and the initial downpayment was sent. I bought two pairs of good shoes & created a DTD, and shipped them all at total extra cost of $145. As much as I really wanted to give her a chance, and I was really patient during those three years, it was a frustrating and prolonged flop of a project, with lost costume parts and need for constant requests for updates. :c Timeline of issues: 2010/05/05: Payment sent. 2010/09/08: Asked for update: Bodysuit sewn, needs zippers/spikes/airbrushing. Said she has been slow because she doesn't know what to do next. We discuss and agree on features and design looks again. Motivation issues mentioned because someone had criticized her work. 2010/10/05: Asked for update: Foam base for indoor paws and tail done. 2010/12/12: Iko emailed over some pics of the head in progress, mentioned another $86 of materials needed to be bought, sent via paypal. LEDs for the head almost done. 2011/04/13: Asked for update: long period of no contact: Iko mentioned work was slow because she was unsure what to do about zippers (Handpaw and head zippers). Iko asked if I was willing to send the second payment, but I declined until the suit was ready to ship, due to some small worries about the lack of updates and progress photos. 2011/08/18: Asked for update: Iko says most of suit done, still waiting to install zippers, make outdoor feet and wings. Sewing machine broken. 2011/11/22: Iko emailed: Says it's nearly finished, but is tweaking it after someone helped model it. Apoligises for how long it has taken due to how complex the suit is. Sewing markings. 2012/04/07: Iko emailed: She had lost the duct tape dummy due to leaving it out when apartment cleaners came. Requested I send a second one, but I declined, though I provided detailed measurements instead. (I was also wary at why it was still needed after the bodysuit was said to have been completed.) Said progress is slow because of complexity and working on four other fursuits at the same time. 2012/07/03: Asked for update: I requested pics to see everything in progress, as I wanted to see exactly how she has been doing. Iko mentions she doesn't have the bodysuit due to a recent move, but will get pics soon. 2012/10/03: Asked for update, multiple emails before getting one: Bodysuit & rest of costume has been in storage in another city due to a recent move. Promises Christmas shipping date. (After how long and dragged out this had become, I started getting more insistent about regular contact, emails, updates and pictures) 2012/10/30: Asked for update: Bodysuit still in storage, until she has free time to go and get it. Zipper problems cited as reason for slowness again. 2012/12/04: Asked for update: Iko said she has lost the bodysuit, cannot be found anywhere. Again requests another DTD so she can begin making a new one. (I really didin't have enough trust in her left after all the previous delays.... to make another DTD and ship it over). I politely declined and she gave a reference sheet explaining all the measurements she would need. Sais she still intended to get it done by Christmas, but that it's probably going to be late. (Emails become unresponsive/sparse, so we start communicating on FA Notes) 2013/02/26: Asked for update: Iko said her water heater exploded, and was afraid of mildew affecting costumes, so didin't want to bring them out for work yet until it was fixed. (I was a little sad and frustrated with the issues so far, so I started requesting fortnightly updates and requested a firm deadline of when the suit will be done) 2013/03/04: Iko came to the conclusion she doesn't have the skill, time or motivation to continue working on the suit, and apoligised profusely about lack of contact and unprofessionalisim. Offers to send me all the materials she has available, including the Head, tail and one set of feetpaws, as well as a $100 refund. She says even though her auction said the downpayment isn't refundable, she'll be nice and offer the token refund anyway. (Due to how few parts there were, and the head not even being complete, it wasn't worth me asking her to ship them over, so I ask her to list the parts on furbuy and refund it all.) 2013/06/13: After direct questions & requests for exact payment dates, Iko mentions she will not be giving a full refund (FA note transcript), as her auction says the downpayment is not refundable, but she is willing to be nice and will cover half. After 2-3 months of notes & eventual direct questions of when and what she intends to refund on FA, it turns out her idea of the refund was $320, given in 5 $64 installments over the next months. I was out $645 at this point, and she is adamant that she is not responsible for the other half of the refund, due to materials and it saying on her auction that downpayment is non refundable. I'm really sad the project ended this way :c I do understand life gets in the way at times, but the final staw in deciding to post this was her refusal to offer a full refund, even in light of how many years it took for Iko to put her hands up and say she doesn't have the skill or motivation to continue the project. I also wouldn't like to see anyone else experience what I did during this project. It is also a painful lesson that researching your seller and seeing how professional they are, in both communication & their existing work is really -really- important. I sadly gave the benefit of the doubt her few fursuit examples were just because she was just starting up... but that is no substitute for seeing real professionalisim & ability in completed & delivered works. I also understand now that $850 is a very low price for full suits like this, including wings, digitigrade, leds and features, which I should have saw as a warning flag too.
  25. original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/657806.html Alright, so, last summer somewhere around June/July of 2012, I started a fursuit trade with the user "KazeTorashi", also known as "LigercraftSuits" on FurAffinity. Things had been going well. She was always very polite and wonderful to talk to and quick to reply to any questions I had. The tail had been completed on July 23rd and can be seen here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8483241/ The initial deadline was to be September 19, on which day the suit should have been completed, already shipped, and in my posession as a birthday gift for myself. On September 5th, the paws to my suit and a picture of the foam base were posted. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8799803/ http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8800015/ This Sept. 19th deadline was missed, but I didn't mind too much seeing as she had other things on her plate that people had paid for that she had to to first and there was enough done on my fursuit for me to rest easy. There were a few more "deadlines" floating around after that, but they were all missed as well. I sat tight for the next update, and sure enough on January 4th of this year the pictures of my full partial had been posted. Hooray! http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9615896/ I don't remember the exact date but not too long after that was posted up I got into a Skype conversation where we discussed shipping prices. It was decided that I would pay for shipping on the Thera partial and she would pay for shipping on my end of this trade, a black husky partial. She gave me a quote of 13$ and a few days after the Skype chat on January 17th I sent her 16$ to make sure it would cover any and all fees or extra charges. I wanted to be sure she had everything she needed of course! Screencap of the payment: http://i.imgur.com/EtZI1Nz.png On January 22nd I got my stuff together and mailed out my end of the trade. Receipt: http://i.imgur.com/aVxBWQR.jpg According to the tracking number and Canada Post website the suit arrived at the address I was given on January 28th. http://i.imgur.com/KuFmoZl.png On February 11th I asked for an update on their end of the trade via note on FA, which can be seen here: http://i.imgur.com/pnkdLRk.png That note, along with the one where I told her my end had been shipped, still haven't been read. Now I don't want to seem impatient here, but I'm starting to get a little frustrated. I have had NO contact with KazeTorashi since our Skype chat ~2 months ago and since then I've sent her a note, page shouts, an e-mail, another note to one of her roomates, and got a friend of mine with her cell number to send her a text. Still no replies at all to any of these attempts. http://imgur.com/a/cKKuK Now, I'm an EXTREMELY patient person when it comes to things like this, and I don't like pestering people, and I certainly don't want to bother or annoy the suit maker as she's always been the sweetest girl ever to deal with and I wish her the best in life and her fursuit endeavors, but I'm also not very pleased with how she's been handling this situation. The most important thing when you're running a business if to make yourself available to the people you're working with so that at least they know whether or not there's an issue. I've simply been stranded in the dust here with no idea as to what's going on with my suit and now I'm feeling like I have lost 52$ AND my black husky fursuit AND my Thera partial all at once. I'm really hoping for the best and for her to pull through on this, and it hasn't been TOO long since I last saw her around(she posted a journal on the 29th of January saying things would be shipped on her next day off work), but since she owes me my suit and some shipping money(which I don't mind letting go of if I get my fursuit!) and hasn't been in contact at all, it makes me worry that something might be wrong. At the same time I'm trying to be patient and remain calm about all this, but it's coming up on one whole month since the last time she's been active *anywhere* online and it's very worrisome behaviour. Hopefully I hear something from her soon, because her work is amazing and so is she, and I'd really hate to see something happen to her as she's a brilliant artist in many ways and deserves the best out of this fandom in my opinion.
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