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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/846553.html WHO: Erro / AlterForge WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/erro http://www.furaffinity.net/user/alterforge WHAT: A digitigrade fullsuit commission. WHEN: Concerns first arose around January 2015 when I was informed my suit was behind schedule. Fur had only been ordered for the project that same month, https://dl.dropbox.com/s/66r297amnvxs5gd/Skype Fur Chat.png?dl=0 Early into February I was informed I'd only have a partial suit available for my due date of February 21st, Texas Furry Fiesta. PROOF: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/5zv4p2t06sqww50/PayPal Proof.jpg?dl=0 Contained is my original transaction for the suit, a one thousand dollar deposit. The refund was issued after requesting I send it as a gift instead of "goods and services." I have no log of this exact request but the refund was issued on his part and resent after funds were added from my bank account. Hopefully that can be somewhat conclusive. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/d7fc033qdr1g6kn/IMG_20150220_135933.jpg?dl=0 As of my due date, this was the only progress he had to show. It is also the only picture I have of any form of progress. This artist is against progress pics as he feels they aren't representative of his final quality. EXPLAIN: I need to preface this by mentioning that this commission was originally taken one year ago from a (former) close friend. The standard ToS and contract wasn't really brought into the picture due to this relationship. The PayPal transactions are the most concrete evidence I have of the initial agreement--A fursuit maker taking fursuit amounts of money. That being said, upon receiving payment he'd informed me his queue was empty and the due date was not an issue. We'd be attending that convention together again anyway. For most of 2014 I got very little in the way of evidence it was being completed besides the occasional "It's being worked on." and "It'll be done in time." All of his payment was given far in advance as a means to help him out during a moving crisis. Since he had no queue, there was no line for that to put me to the front of. Into February he'd told me I would only have a partial suit available (unfortunately communicated through a skype call. I wasn't thinking about logging my steps at this point.) The subject was largely avoided by him at the convention. As shown above, the only progress was a few foam blocks, and it wasn't until weeks after I was able to get in touch. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/d35u4co8qtx1up5/SL Recent Conversation.jpg?dl=0 After failing to hear back from many messages, I dropped back on trying to around once every two weeks in an attempt to be reasonable, but this most recent update that it won't be resumed until after May was what finally brought me here. He had accepted around an extra 175 dollars--money he owed me from the hotel stay--to continue working on the suit after he returned home. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/pbu17xx403fbksp/SkypeLog2.png?dl=0 Again, it's not exactly the most formal "Do this by then or else..." But an understanding was there. By mid March he still had not completed the head he was working on at the convention in place of mine. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/r50cwuzcr3qy711/SL Recent Conversation 2.jpg?dl=0 It's still worth noting that commission was taken after mine as well. Another example of the several failed communications. SL logs aren't the clearest things in the world, but he simply never responded to the message. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b7bh24s2rao231r/SL Recent Conversation 3.jpg?dl=0 Edit: 7/15/15 -- I've just returned from Anthrocon 2015 which was our newest deadline for completion on the suit. The time leading up to today has unfortunately been filled with even more trouble and I had to attend without a suit again. Discussing the new ETA - https://dl.dropbox.com/s/rb45ftu1r5ius42/AC Deadline.png?dl=0 Our interactions have grown increasingly short over the months. Just about all of the following are a good example of the breakdown in communication. Missing the original ship date - https://dl.dropbox.com/s/s5pkmwqifmck2ex/June no deadline.png?dl=0 Asked to ship overnight because of the extreme time crunch - https://dl.dropbox.com/s/vrnlujha7qthqwu/Overnight Interact.png?dl=0 PayPal payment for $100 - https://dl.dropbox.com/s/0x7wvlnjlk2l1an/PayPal Statement.png?dl=0 It probably goes without saying here, but he gladly accepted that 100 dollars and then didn't deliver me a product. I requested progress pics after the second week of unsuccessful shipment. Didn't go that well - https://dl.dropbox.com/s/jd7codiogwjnu67/ProgPics June.png?dl=0 I'm not about to say I've handled all of these interactions as well as I possibly could, but under the circumstances it was difficult to be perfectly patient. Calling me out on this very Artist Beware - https://dl.dropbox.com/s/db8et9tf44ea8b5/AB Callout.png?dl=0 This is where he just shut down on me. Now, you've all read this. Nowhere in this article have I suggested or complained about my suit not being completed in 6 months. I knew about a one-year completion from the start and never questioned that. Completely dismissing my issues in this article was just outrageous, and citing that many makers charge more and take more time, after this long, is just outright untrue. If someone's going to take 2 years they mention it ahead of time and it's due to popular demand and a large queue. Plenty of fursuiters I met this weekend reassured me of that. It pains me to have to update this article with yet more bad news, but I've been left with little choice.

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.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/827485.html Update - 3/12/2015 - Resolved I have finally been sent a refund by the artist. Proof of refund: This is the first time I've been burnt by an artist and my first beware. I really really don't want to have to post this, but I feel there is no choice left in the matter 6 months after being promised a refund that never came. TL:DR version is I paid for art, artist cancelled 3 months later, another two months went by with me trying to get my refund before they cut off contact. Now I'm posting this because, well, what else can I do? WHO: Avante92 WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/avante92/ WHAT: Basic digital art, $35 commission. Was to be a picture of one of my characters and a person who is dear to me. I of course had the permission of said person to get them included in this art. WHEN: I made the request in July 2014. At first the person contacted me, they were not comfortable drawing one of the characters as a plush, so I said it was ok to make them both normal furs. Months passed and in September 2014, I was contacted to say due to circumstances out of their control, they had to cancel my commission (and implied I wasn't the only one). I was promised a full refund that would be coming "soon". I'm sure you all can guess how it went from there. PROOF: Initial contact So I give the my info and pay my $35. Their acceptance is below: And my proof of payment: ... and then in September.. cancellation. And then the excuses start. I was pretty easy going about this given how long I waited to keep reaching out about it. Ok, so they are having trouble, but I'm starting to lose patience quickly. Its $35, not a whopping amount really. Most people spend that on a gas every week or two. Also there is the whole thing where an artist should not make their problems their customers problems. If it means asking your friends for loans, thats fine, its at least being up front and most artists I've seen who have this problem do just that. But jerking around your customers to get a free loan? That is just bad 😕 Finally I've had enough after antoher two weeks. No more Mr. Nice Fur. EXPLAIN: Pretty much explained it all above in the sceenies. I've seen this person finish many commissions, but I have to wonder how many people also never got art. If you see this person open, and their art is really quite good, I would steer clear because this person cannot be trusted with your money and there is no telling how many other people have been victimized. In the future I will now be paying via paypal using a credit card and having a 6 month limit on waiting so I can do a chargeback if things go south or they don't make the deadline. Sadly bank transfers don't have much more than 90 days of being able to charge back and by the time they cancelled on me, it was already too late to get my money that way. I really hate to adopt such a policy, but its people like this that make it necessary 😕 Oh and I'll also add, I don't know if FA will suspend people who do this crap, but I put in a ticket asking and in true FA style it was never gotten to by an Admin.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/811477.html WHO: Peachschnapps WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/peachschnapps/ WHAT: YCH auction WHEN: Started planning auction February 4th 2014, Auction went live February 12th 2014 So back in early February I had an idea to host a YCH auction with my fursona in it, I needed to find an artist who would be willing to collaberate with me with the idea. My friend referred me to the artist Peachschnapps who was willing and eager to help out for this idea https://www.dropbox.com/s/2c7yiauvkrgy7yv/proof1.jpg?dl=0 We talked about what we wanted for the picture, we came to an agreement and two days later the sketch was made and sent to me https://www.dropbox.com/s/wrbrdd6k44ef20u/proof2.jpg?dl=0 (NSFW) https://www.dropbox.com/s/twzvir8kr01ubu6/xepherych1.png?dl=0 (Sketch of the YCH NSFW) I approved of the idea and chatted about starting bids and such. On February 12th the auction went up live http://www.furaffinity.net/view/12726008/ (NSFW) and ended on February 17th. As you can see from the description, all of the people who bid on the slots had sent payment to the artist (If you want me to ask for receipts of paypal transfers I'll be more than happy to supply) Then suddenly things start to go wrong. The artist ever since recieving the money from the winners, has been missing in action ever since. The last contact I've got to her was back in September 11th saying she's been through a lot with moving & personal problems. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ieirgaj5hepvnyh/proof3.jpg?dl=0 She said that she would send the final refinded sketch the next day. Ever since, she has never responded to either my notes, skype messages, and it's been the same from the slot winners as well. Now I've been told she bought a suit back in August http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14347716/ and have seen pictures of her at other cons this year such as Anthrocon, IFC & most recently MFF http://www.furaffinity.net/view/15177407/ (Which I had no idea that she was attending, if I knew I would had talked to her about this) I've have tried constantly talking to her on Skype whenever she has been on, but the moment I send her a message, she instantly goes offline. I don't know any other contact information for this artist besides FA & Skype. Update: 3/30/15: So after trying a few more times contacting her about the YCH auction and letting her know that she was posted on here, I actually ran into her into Motor City Fur Con this past weekend, she was very apoligetic to me after finding her and said that she will be refunding everyone who paid for the slots. I have contacted all the users who won in the slots to go message her husband about it. I'll make another update once they (hopefully) get all of their money back

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/806852.html Who: Knuxlight Where: -Fur Affinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/knuxlight -Twitter: http://twitter.com/tehknuxlight What: Digital Art; Three Icons When: Knuxlight began running Twitter icons at the beginning of 2012. I had already purchased 2 in January, and I wanted more so he agreed to do 3 more. I sent payment on March 26th, 2012, and April 9th 2012. Normally he'd finish within a week or two of payments. After nothing for a month, I asked, and he said he'd do them. I don't know what happened, but they never got done. Every couple of months I would ask on Twitter or Note him on Fur Affinity, only to receive excuses, false hope of completion, or no response. Unfortunately I do not have those notes as I deleted them. I will be attaching an email conversation I had with him this year, however. Proof: This is proof of payment from my PayPal. This is proof I have not received any refunds from Knuxlight since the date of payment. This is a conversation this year where I hoped I would either receive the art, or a refund. Instead I got an excuse, then ignored: http://imgur.com/5R69YUM This is a conversation we had on Twitter after I noticed he was ignoring my emails: https://twitter.com/Big_Nex/status/472511450616176640 Explain: I tried multiple times to either get the art or a refund. I was never solid on what I wanted since I did want the icons more than I wanted to money, which could be perceived as confusing. You'll see this in that email chain. However Knuxlight has ignored me on multiple occasions, said he would refund me on one over FA notes, and never did. I don't know if he forgot, as he mentions in the email chain that he thought it was resolved. I just want my money back.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/806042.html G'day, A_B. I only just found out about this community recently. My situation is a few years old, but still on-going. WHO: AlphaSempaiWolvieSyxx WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/alphasempaiwolviesyxx/ WHAT: I commisisioned a pair of black, fur-lined, leather ankle cuffs. WHEN: I sent her payment on August 30, 2012. I checked back in with her in December, 2012; January, 2013; March, 2013; and May, 2013. At least, those are dates I have screenshots of. All my phone records have been lost. I ran into her at RMFC in August, 2014, after which I restored communication to attempt to get a refund. PROOF: EXPLAIN: Wolvie was in town to spend time with her boyfriend, who was my roommate at the time. She showed off some cuffs she made, and offered to make me some for only $40 for a pair. I agreed. She left for home, and I sent money after her. She showed me a design mock-up (http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8811669/), but it never got any further than just a drawing in MSPaint. I asked every so often for WIP photos, but never got one. At one point she told me the cuffs were complete, but couldn't send them because ____. She gave so many reasons over the years (or excuses; however you want to look at it), such as, the post office is closed after I get off work, I can't afford postage for Reasons, my car is broken, etc. Fairly believable explanations, but after so many, I could only reason that they were lies, and I wasn't going to get what I paid for. She offered to refund me in the form of Paypal (which I don't have) or in art. I told her I would take check or money order, or the cuffs, but not art; I paid for the cuffs, not art. I dropped out of touch with her after a while, after realizing she used my friendship with my roommate to score some money from me. Recently, after running into her at a local furry convention this year (August 2014), I got back in touch with her at the very beginning of October. She offered to mail a refund AND the cuffs... but, as usual, I got nothing but the same excuses routine I experienced earlier. Beware this artist! RESOLVED: Wolvie contacted me 21 May 2016, offering a full refund on Paypal, which I accepted

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/795792.html Who: Furrybandicoot Where: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/furrybandicoot/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bandicootstudios (Both abandon but active on Facebook.) What: Two felt badges, $22.00 When: Feb 15th-Present. *I piled up all the screenshots in a album on Imgur, link is below. Boyfriend's name is also crossed out. http://imgur.com/1BKBQ5T&3DQRFvM&O80ZcBt&IS8zZB5&vYbDbfB&bxmc9ii#0 *Picture 3 and 4 are switched around. Sorry to confuse! Explain: Bandicoot is a local-ish fur that is on our state fur group. In February she posted a few pictures of her felt badges done for other local furs in the group. I got a liking to them and asked for two, for my boyfriend and I. Paid the same day and was told they would be finished within 2-3 days. I sent over a private message for an update and was told they were mostly finished. We had a fursuit build party coming around, which was perfect for her to bring them by instead of mailing them. Came to the party and I can't remember the reason she didn't bring them. No biggie. She said they would be shipped to me when she got home. After that, no further contact. Around the 25th of August a couple of friends of mine drove up to meet with Bandicoot to visit and other personal reasons. Again, I asked about my badges and given another explanation of them being misplaced in her home. A bit annoyed but brushed it off and said okay and asked to keep me updated if they turned up somewhere. Update: This was the last reply I got and no response since, during all that she has been online and posting freely. Why is it so hard to mail them to me? I have not asked for a refund due them being completed, yet no proof that they are. Just have that bit of hope to them being done as she stated. Update: 10/9/14 That was the last time she contacted back than unfriend my from FB. She has ignored others whom she owes to boot. So I'll be counting this as a loss. http://imgur.com/CmpPRHx Do not commission this artist. You'll receive every excuse in the book and no product.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/794623.html My experience with AMWULF: A lack of communication on several commissions and zero updates on said pieces. Worst of all, even the artist forgetting I had commissioned them altogether. Most details about the commission agreements were exchanged verbally and in-person because this artist was living with us as a roommate. However, I do have screenshots of the monetary transactions that took place, detailed emails sent to the artist showing the date, and notes from other third-parties that had paid AMWULF to join me in group-commissions. I recently contacted AMWULF on September 16, 2014 to request a full refund on all pieces owed. I received a series of angry text messages and excuses as well as no concrete dates or payment plans except, and I quote, "will pay it back in chunks”. Overall, his behavior can be summed up as unprofessional, condescending, and immature. The following is a sample of screenshots showing my unfortunate interactions with AMWULF, starting with a typical text conversation, filled with his usual unprofessional, vulgar attitude: ----- WHO: He goes by the name AMWULF on Fur Affinity ----- WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/amwulf/ ----- WHAT: The commission that is the longest overdue was that of a Your-Character-Here featuring my horse character with the bid-winner’s character, which belonged to Maho-Gato (http://www.furaffinity.net/user/maho-gato). The total cost, split between Maho-Gato and myself, was to be fully paid to AMWULF, and I was to include a full backstory for the piece’s description. This all took place on November 23rd, 2012, when I had a verbal agreement with AMWULF. Maho-Gato was satisfied with AMWULF being the artist, but expressed he was very upset over AMWULF'S lack of communication and excuses. I can personally verify AMWULF expressed agitation with Maho's concerns even months after the initial auction closed and funds had been sent to AMWULF's Paypal. Here are the screenshots of me contacting Maho with AMWULF agreeing to taking on our commission: Maho and I eventually requested a refund from AMWULF, which has still not been granted, nor has AMWULF given a time frame for when we can expect to be paid back. On the second commission, I had requested a multi-character picture from AMWULF with a total cost of $80.00 USD, with other characters being added at no additional cost. Due to the length of time that has passed, I cannot pull up the bank or transaction record. However, I do have the date I sent AMWULF the details being May 1st 2013. This piece has not been done and I have received no sketch or updates from him whatsoever. Here is the email and date for verification: On the third commission, I ordered a two character piece by AMWULF of my Husband's fursona and myself totaling $120.00 USD. I was told verbally that, due to bills, AMWULF needed emergency commissions and said he would finish the piece that same day. This was supposed to be a surprise picture for my Husbands new character. All I saw was an unfinished sketch and that was nearly six months ago. Here is the paypal transaction verification image: And here is the detailed email description I sent him on January 21st 2014: ----- WHEN: The first piece was started on November 23rd 2012. Signs of trouble appeared several months after when Maho approached me several times regarding the piece. The second piece was started on May 1st, 2014. Signs of trouble again several months later. Multiple assurances the piece would be done with no progress. The third piece was started on January 21st 2014. Signs of trouble began a week later at no mention or update of art in question. ----- PROOF: Various screenshots listed above. ----- EXPLAIN: AMWULF avoids any talk of art that is owed by him. It creates an air of hostility due to his immense backlog spanning over two years and multiple group and single pieces owed in the hundreds and thousands of dollars to multiple furs who have waited patiently throughout these lengths of time for a product that has yet to manifest itself. I have come to the conclusion that I will not see any art or even a refund in a timely manner. AM's lack of professionalism in dealing with people he owes art, including even personal friends, is unprofessional and the excuses he gives when dealing with other people’s money is poor and unsatisfactory. I would advise any person seeking art by an artist to look elsewhere lest they find themselves in a similar situation. [From the Comments] valmirdraftstud [OP] Jan. 21st, 2015 08:17 pm (UTC) Regarding Refunds Here is the status and history of refunds Amwulf has paid. The amount totals 500 USD which is the total amount owed. The total time for repayment took over 4 months. Oct 15th Amwulf repaid 250 USD. Nov 24 Amwulf repaid 100 USD. Jan 21 Amwulf repaid a final payment of 150 USD AB posted September 20th 2014. So it took a total of 5 months and 1 day from this AB's posting to receive a full and complete repayment.

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

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/775398.html WHO: cicatrizESP/Rabid/makeshiftwings WHERE: www.furaffinity.net/user/cicatrizesp WHAT: It was going to be a simple waist-up, flat-color digital commission that was supposedly going to cost $10. She contacted me personally wanting to draw my character. WHEN: What got me suspicious was that she asked for five dollars more to cover Paypal fees…Off. When it got bad was the ignoring for months on end just for a single update, she has no list if there are other commissions going on or journals telling what is going on except she is trying to get active again but then disappearing AGAIN. I wanted to do a claim, but since I gifted stupidly I cannot get it back, nor can I get a refund with my ignored reply obviously. PROOF: When she first contacted me: November 22, 2013 http://i.imgur.com/CJSNdqC.png Proof of Payment on my part: December 5, 2013 http://i.imgur.com/5H5MuIT.png Internally questioning change of price to pay ridiculous fees: December 5, 2013 Was Naive and gifted it... (Explained below) http://i.imgur.com/XV8Dnp7.png https://i.imgur.com/wFaoixH.png She KNEW it would take it out of her '10' or else she would not have asked for more money! Red Flag there had I known... Getting worried at this point. But I was just being patient, polite and wondering if she okay and maybe if there was an update. I do not how much she is taking on, she has no list or anything. So I was curious. : December 27, 2013 http://i.imgur.com/CcINOfv.png Couple months later after ignoring the note above, the final response from her: February 3, 2014 http://i.imgur.com/8TmlRU9.png My reply... http://i.imgur.com/fQ8WG3Z.png My response left unanswered... http://i.imgur.com/7KN8Pdt.png EXPLAIN: At first she wanted that $10, but suddenly she wanted five more dollars to cover the Paypal fee? Paypal NEVER makes a person pay over $5 worth of fees and I never heard of it! She even said she would add in more art but I did not want it... But I fell for it. As Naive as I was back then, I decided to gift it to her, to pay the fees by gifting to move on about it (knowing earlier that gifting usually makes the person buying to pay the fee instead, but that was it…)…It seemed to work. (Later on it is revealed to me that the fee is there to PROTECT buyers and it is against Paypal's Terms of Service for sellers to ask the buyer to pay the fee FOR THEM.) http://i.imgur.com/3ys76EZ.png Trouble starts What I did not know is that if you ‘gift’ customers can no longer be protected because you cannot issue a claim against the person you ‘gifted’ it too. I learned the hard way. No longer will I be commissioning artist that require people to ‘gift’ the money to them so they do not have to pay the fee. Unless they request adding one more dollar to the original commission to pay for it or tell how much I should pay before hand to cover it, and I WILL CHECK. Asked for an update...http://i.imgur.com/CcINOfv.png Two months later… I finally get a response because I noted her asking for an update… But apparently it is going to take another couple of months for my commission. Nothing was done. Was it okay? No, you do not ignore your commissioners, especially what was the reason why for the delay. You tell them first and people should understand in this circumstance, do not IGNORE them for months! I am a very patient person and commissioned a lot of artists, they would tell you this! I can give a LIST. Is it so hard to inform? A reply...finally http://i.imgur.com/8TmlRU9.png http://i.imgur.com/fQ8WG3Z.png My reply back. I replied back to that final note that it would have been okay if she notified me earlier. No this was not okay and replied that I wanted a refund, but instead of waiting for my reply she disappeared for another two months and counting. I am done and fed up by this. http://i.imgur.com/7KN8Pdt.png Sitting for two months :] Funnily enough...even if I would have asked for a refund…. she might have already spent that money, including others!? This was on a journal 6 months ago (from April 22, 2014) that she was supposed to get ‘active’ again and I sent my “I want a refund note’ two months after until she disappeared again (not a surprise). So I waited even longer for nothing I am going to get back. She has done it before and I would not be surprised., People even asked for a refund there is a bunch of wrong with this... Quite sad. http://i.imgur.com/p3Rn5DV.png Journal comment http://i.imgur.com/8BM7CuY.png Artist Beware comment UPDATES: As of April 22, 2014...Heh. She is on the prowl again using the same tactic on by sending people either a note supposedly selling commissions again or shouting on their page. Where is my supposed commission? My money? Not done? Gone? Go figure. I can only warn so much by leaving this up on my profile and for the most part leaving the site. http://i.imgur.com/IFVXe0z.png Shout on page. June 10, 2014: I have blocked this user on Fur-affinity a long time ago because she ignored me anyway. I do not expect it to ever be resolved at all except I want this to be added to her thread. If she wants this to be resolved, she can resend/gift me my money back... But this will be a warning to others that she has not changed in the slightest. July 3, 2014: (Also added her other name to the title) On June 18, 2014 We have come to a slight agreement. The person is supposedly going to refund me on July 3rd as stated herself and I allowed it with the exception of three conditions; it is all the money I paid for which includes the fees, one of her names is on there so I know, and a message that has saying that she is unable to complete the service that she was paid for and is refunding my money back. I included that she can contact me here or on Furaffinity( as I unblocked her for this reason) that if she wants to make sure the paypal e-mail is correct that I can tell her/give it if anything. http://i.imgur.com/9fkv5xB.png Dead-line I have yet to receive any kind of payment... I will wait until it hits 12 a.m before updating this regarding if it is done or not like said. If it does not happen, I am not going to listen to any more excuses as I have lost patience with this person. July 4, 2014: It is forty past mid-night and have not received anything. She could not even hold up to her own deadline, not a surprise at all. This will stay unresolved until further notice... http://i.imgur.com/WC9tXFE.png No payment received.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/772831.html WHO: FA - SugarFactory / StarFruitStudios / Kahuna. / gummifruit DA - aloharilakkuma Tumblr - sugargalaxy Twitter - kahunaotter WHAT: 5 Yards of Black DF Fur for $85 WHEN: (September 6th, 2013) September 7th, 2013 to PRESENT PROOF: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0tqg6k20tdhk3xr/AADvRCIJd3E8TEwq1VVTNWnYa EXPLAIN: On September 5th, 2013 at 06:14 AM SugarFactory posted a picture of A LOT of fursuit making material that was for sale. https://www.dropbox.com/s/db9fyjett0j36yr/Picture of Stuff.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/1yyi6xxt4xlici6/original post.png I was pretty excited about this because it's a lot less than retail so I jumped on the chance to purchase 5 yards of black DF fur. Letter H as seen above. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6pwg2bff6ubp8d6/initial contact.png So on September 7th, Contact for payment and shipment. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ltmvmsqmg4mooc0/Contact for shipping and payment.png I have blocked out personal information. Proof of payment: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4ksluuao32af4g/Proof of Payment.png So after this Sugar posts a journal saying that she has a delay in shipping because it's been raining and now her car is in the shop... I decide to note her to find out how long the delay would be. https://www.dropbox.com/s/l984c25zot9hi48/First delay in shipping.png The note was ignored.. So I decided to wait a bit and then note her again. https://www.dropbox.com/s/kpxvz0z8ooap7e1/Second Looking for shipment.png I'm trying to be as nice as possible, I'm a really understanding person..if you don't lie to me. I still didn't get a response. Getting frustrated, I send a third note. https://www.dropbox.com/s/vk1f8fvj9r5ogxo/3rd loking for merch.png Unfortunately, I'm a softy..and saw a journal she posted about dealing with depression, which I really understand a little too well..so I didn't follow through on that Nov 1st thing. I really should have. However, this note did warrant a response. https://www.dropbox.com/s/x381vxb6le3m1oe/Finally a response to 3rd request.png I blocked out the part where I poured my guts out to try and show her that she wasn't alone with mental disorders, and that she can contact me at any time if she just needed to talk. Sorry, but yall don't need to know my mental health status. Some time after that she posts a journal saying she was in the hospital, and posted a picture for proof..pneumonia, and stomach issues. Ok. That's bad stuff to deal with..I decide to give her a break. She disappears again for 3 months. I happened to see a post from ErisValgen on twitter stating that she was sad that Sugar was going by a different name on a different account. She linked me the account via PM, but I had seen I wasn't the only one who found it. (This is the Kahuna account.) This is also when I learn she's really darn close to getting an AutumnFallings suit. Those are really expensive. An Artist Beware is posted, and she returns to her SugarFactory account and talks about how she regrets what she's done, feels terrible, etc. She also states in the journal that her parents paid for the suit of Kahuna.. Though, about two months ago, she went through and wiped her journals! https://www.dropbox.com/s/q5lbpn8l9ex4kv3/gap in journals.png You can see the gap from 8 months to 2 months... That was where the apology journal was. I sent the initial note (and it sat and was ignored) before she posted the apology journal...her response came 2 days after the apology journal was posted. https://www.dropbox.com/s/s9qg124dzjnzdce/I think we're ok now.png I didn't follow up on March 1st...I should have, but I got busy and forgot. My bad. First promise of a refund: https://www.dropbox.com/s/75539z51qucd1or/A doggone excuse.png Still no refund: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ojlpat9r9kcsvm4/Oh I thought I already refunded you lol.png Some time after that she posted a journal saying her bank account was compromised: https://www.dropbox.com/s/40hugnuqqatogc9/bankaccount compromised.png Blocked out people's usernames for their protection. Then she posts a journal saying that she's going to a convention! Her bank account is fine now... https://www.dropbox.com/s/g82thhxtwlpgvvp/So you can go to a con%2C but can't refund me.png I decide that I'm done being nice. I lay down my expectations. It's now 6/1 and here's my A_B post, as promised. https://www.dropbox.com/s/gl258dyq6vweitg/More unhappy people.png This also shows that there are other people unhappy with the situation. I blocked out all but tentacleluvgdss since she just made an A_B about Sugar as well. The last note I sent her still remains unread from a month ago. https://www.dropbox.com/s/srj5bdo8cvn0h8h/Unread note.png I've also emailed Dragoneer about this, because more people need to come forth. Some people are still being very nice and waiting patiently, but some of us are sick of it. EDIT: Immediately after submitting this post the second time (had to make a few edits) I had left a comment on her page stating I was making an A_B post she noted me, and sent me my refund of $85. I told her I would make this edit as soon as it was poste, but I would not remove the entry as she still owes so many people money.

I originally reached out to Kilwinz through Telegram in July 2022, for a quote on a custom Kigumari commission, that they were advertising for on a Telegram group chat. I gave them my fursona's ref sheet, and they responded with a quote of $370, including $20 for a floor dragger tail, which I agreed to. I saved up for this commission during the next few months, and then in early October 2022, I reached out again, ready to start the process. I had enough saved up to pay in full, which I did. I asked for a deadline- December 10th, which is my birthday- and since they had stated prior that their queue was one and a half months-two months long, I figured it would be a tight squeeze. However, they agreed to fit me in, and that they would "try my best" to get it done on time. At first, the correspondence, which occurred solely through Telegram, was clear and steady. They asked me for measurements and they shopped for fabrics, asking me for my preferences in color matching- which was very appreciated- and started patterning. Around mid-November, almost all correspondence had to be initiated by me. I sold them a pin of my fursona- the character they were making a kigu of- and they finished patterning for the floor dragger tail. It was becoming clear that the original deadline was not going to be met. On December 9th, 2022, I received a set of photos from Kilwinz of them modeling the kigu for me. They stated that it needed to be washed, the tail would be stitched onto the back, and it would be shipped out the next day- the deadline. Even if I didn't receive it for my birthday, it would be something I could wear for Christmas. I was planning on wearing it to Motor City Fur Con in March 2023. All communication with Kilwinz ceased after December 9th. The kigu was never sent out, they never replied to me on Telegram. I tried messaging them on Telegram, Twitter, Tiktok, and Discord (the discord message has been wiped) throughout the past 6 months, to be met with silence. It is now past the window for PayPal to issue a refund for this commission. As of June 7, 2023, I have not received my completed commission, a refund, or any response from Kilwinz. I sent out an email on June 7, voicing my frustrations towards this experience and the lack of communication. I will let the mods know if this issue has any updates or is resolved. Twitter: TikTok: Email:

In April 2022 I met Kittbites at a party at my college. She said she was open to doing my commission after she took care of some things. I commissioned her because she said she would be able to finish my suit in time for Megaplex 2022, in early August. I took a little while to think about it, and then confirmed that I wanted to buy from her on May 15th. Three days later the invoice was paid. The total price was a fursuit head for $800, handpaws for $200 and a tail for $200. (I should first mention that this post is going to be very long. Kitt strung me along for almost an entire year while holding onto over a thousand dollars, and after finding out she has an extensive history of scamming, I just managed to get under half of that back, as well as a barely finished product, under the threat of legal action.) At first things were fine. But within a couple of weeks Kitt's responses began to become more and more sparse. This would set the precedent for the rest of our interactions, and it only got worse from there. It should be noted that Kitt was up front about some personal issues that she was going through at the time, which I have tried as best I can to leave out of this post. The problem is that over time it became clear she was using these problems as an excuse to not work on my commission. I know this because I was later able to find other examples of her work that were completed around this time. I will do my best to leave these issues out of this post regardless. I was a little upset that she left for two whole weeks at this point, but she eventually got back to me with correspondence. The suit was progressing along pretty well at this point, and Kitt was still responding in a semi-timely manner. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the fur was lost by Fedex. I'm fully aware this isn't Kitt's fault, and I'm including this to give her the benefit of the doubt that she could have gotten my suit finished by August. (Also I hate Fedex) Eventually August rolled around. It became clear Kitt probably wouldn't have the entire suit finished in time. I remained hopeful. On August 1st Kitt gave me this update. "I have most of the fur sewn." This implies that she barely did any work on the suit from this point onwards. Shortly after this Kitt had some stuff happen in her personal life, and wasn't able to finish ANY of the suit on time. A few days later, Kitt completely dissapeared. August 8th was the last I'd heard from her, and I didn't hear from her again until September 12th. Due to the rules of this website I am not allowed to disclose where she went, but suffice it to say that she left the internet for the time. She gave me no warning that this could or might happen, and when she came back she gave a half-hearted apology. At this point I was beginning to get suspicious of her, but I had no recourse in the event that she take my money and run, so I was forced to smile and feign forgiveness. Unfortunately she immediately left again for another two weeks. The upper texts of the first image here are from September 15th. Then another week. Kitt then showed some more progress with the suit, including a fully furred head, but she got sick immediately after. However, she promised she would be able to have the suit delivered by November. I won't provide the screenshot of this mainly because it almost exclusively consists of cities and events Kitt and I are local to. However, I can show that she ghosted me again throughout the month of November: Kitt then promised she would have the suit done by Christmas. After leaving for another 2 weeks, some more "stuff" happened. At this point I was fully convinced that she was making things up, and was about ready to confront her about her making me wait almost seven months at this point. It was 4 days before Christmas and she sent me a picture of the "finished" head. I honestly really didn't like it but at this point I just wanted to get it over with so I said it looked fine. I had a separate friend who edited fursuits and I was planning on just having them finish any changes I didn't like. Kitt then decided to cancel half the order, deciding to refund me less than the original $200 I paid for both the handpaws and tail. Christmas came and went without any kind of correspondence, and I finally put my foot down. On January 7th I brought up the prospect of legal action. Kitt did not address this in any way. Through some investigation I also discovered that she had a commission manager this entire time that she neglected to tell me about. I messaged them and they immediately got her to send the unfinished fursuit head. This was about the best outcome I could have hoped for and at this point I wanted this all to be over with so I didn't contest it. This was also the last straw, and I gave her a final deadline of March 15th, 2023 to BOTH send me the suit and give me a refund of 500 dollars that I could use to pay my other friend, who would finish the suit. Kitt's manager responded much quickly, and was able to almost immediately get Kitt to send me what she had finished. The package arrived a few days later. Here was Kitt's finished product: This all but confirmed my suspicions that Kitt had barely even been working on my fursuit since August-November, and only found time to work on it with repeated pestering. Even at the time that I told her to stop and send me an unfinished version instead, she had over a month to continue from being "almost done." In any case, I now had her legal name and number on the shipping box, and was fully intending to report her in for what technically constituted as a felony. Kitt stopped texting me for almost an entire month before the deadline, but on March 13th, she finally got me my refund. I genuinely wasn't expecting her to. In conclusion, Kitt almost stole $1,200 from me, led me on for almost an entire year by taking advantage of my sympathy, and in the end somehow did the bare minimum in delivering an UNFINISHED product. It took the threat of police action to get her to do anything. Please for the love of god do not commission her. She has a history of this and I only happened to be lucky enough to be local to her and able to contact local authorities. In addition, she has dropped her commission manager and there is now no way of contacting her in a way that will get a reliable response back. Good night.

May 29, 2014 https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/770411.html Who/Where: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bluewolfcheetah/ http://kaylaskritterz.com/ What: $300 of faux fur with cigarette smoke smell When: May 12 onwards Proof/Explain: BlueWolfCheetah posted some images up on their FurAffinity gallery selling off their stock of faux fur (those have since been deleted since all the fur was sold, so I wasn't able to get screen shots of those). In total, I ended up buying $300 worth of fur from them. Emails one, two, and three detail what I bought initially ($255 invoice and payment). I bought an additional $55 worth of fur slightly later on their submission on FA (invoice and payment). Their user page said that they had pets, which wasn't an issue as I also have pets. I received the fur a few days later, the second smaller shipment arriving shortly after. When I opened the fur however, I noticed all of it smelled like cigarette smoke more than a little bit. When I asked the seller if the furs came from a smoking household (which is something I've seen sellers warn about before out of courtesy), she said it did but the smoker's room was on the other side of the house and shouldn't be noticeable. Communication up to that point was fairly quick, I'd get a response within hours if not minutes of my messages. After that response it took multiple emails from me and closer to a day/a day and a half to get a reply. When I told them that yes, there was a definite smoke smell to the fur and it was going to be unusable, all they said was to repeat that it shouldn't be noticeable, and maybe I should try to febreeze it or hang it up. I replied back saying that I had tried that with no effect, and had to completely saturate the fur in baking soda and vinegar multiple times to get rid of the smell and wasn't happy with having to spend money on things that I had bought to fix a problem that I was not told about, and received no reply back. I sent another email asking for a small refund to help cover the cost of the cleaning supplies I had to buy, and have yet to receive a reply. Edit: resolved, partial refund recieved

May 29, 2014 https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/770057.html WHO: FA - SugarFactory / StarFruitStudios / Kahuna. / gummifruit DA - aloharilakkuma Tumblr - sugargalaxy Twitter - kahunaotter WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sugarfactory http://www.furaffinity.net/user/starfruitstudios/ WHAT: Premade Design Partial Suit - Wish the Husky for $180 WHEN: July 13, 2013 to Present Day PROOF: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mhxc1wlsuia9im5/AADLQqaaARtci-vgZPS61yg0a EXPLAIN: In July, I contacted StarFruitStudios about a pre-designed 'to be made' partial fursuit called Wish the Husky (Seen here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11072710/). Wish was to be started when she returned from Vegas (July 26th) and estimated to be completed within 1-2 weeks. There was one other suit in her queue that was to be completed by July 18th. I set a tentative deadline in August for a con I was hoping to wear him to. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/vw1r2ylhvla4k0e/initial_contact.jpg) I sent a $50 downpayment, and the remaining $130 the following Thursday (July 18th). (https://www.dropbox.com/s/r7i1cqcm5xnrp1v/payments.jpg) Measurements were sent the same day. Contact waned after this, but I saw she was working on several art commissions and the other fursuit commission in queue, so I wasn't too concerned. I checked in a couple times, and received updates regarding the status of fur and other supply ordering. I didn't receive any updates after October 5, 2013. In November, SugarFactory posted she lost her job. In December, she posted she was sick and would soon issue refunds. I attempted to contact her in December and January, but received no responses. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9zcq79oo8grhufa/WIP_contact.jpg) In January, I noticed her friends leaving shouts on her page that sounded like she was still working on artwork. One of them I noticed was a collab, so I noted this other artist in hopes they would know more about sugarfactory's whereabouts. They said she was sick, and that she wasn't directly working with them. They suggested to be patient and continue attempts to note her. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/swahspy6s02s9q9/collab_contact.jpg) In late February, after an AB post was made (http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/742656.html), sugarfactory posted a journal apologizing and asking everyone to send in notes regarding refunds. She also stated that she would no longer take commissions. That journal has since been deleted. (It is worth noting that on April 10, 2014, sugarfactory started using the 'gummifruit' account to take plush and bandana commissions.) I sent her multiple notes after this (about 1-2 a month), which either received no response, or a promise that it would be refunded soon (within a few days). At the end of April, she posted that her bank account was compromised for fraud, and refunds would be delayed again. (http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5716269/) I sent another note and posted a shout on kahuna. on May 21st, and received a response saying I would be refunded in 24 hours. Over Memorial Day weekend (May 23-25), sugarfactory attended Comicpalooza in Houston. The journal posted shows others still awaiting refunds as well: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5738187/ As of May 27, 2014, I still have not received a refund. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5g0tdxj10882zv/refund.jpg) All shouts and/or public mentions of refunds owed have been quickly deleted. EDIT: I was contacted by sugarfactory on 6/1/2014 and notified that she will be mailing out a money order for the amount owed on Monday, 6/2/2014. I will update this entry again once I have received it! EDIT2: Money Order was received on 6/5/14 for the full amount owed. Case can now be considered resolved.

MOD NOTE: This has been downgraded to a caution during archiving, as the situation was resolved. Originally posted on May. 31st, 2013 by marmalade0997 WHO: https://www.furaffinity.net/user/bambiboo3/ WHAT: a tail in exchange for ~$60 of blind bag MLP figurines and some fur to use for the tail WHEN: August 2012 ongoing EXPLAIN: In August 2012, bambiboo3 posted a journal wanting to trade MLP merchandise for fursuit parts. I had a lot of blindbag ponies, so I decided to take her up (journal asking for trades) After I had gone over all the ponies I had available, we worked out how much the ponies were worth, how much her tails were worth, what I wanted my tail to look like (black and white with some spotty brown fur I would provide), and she said that the trade would be good I got her address, and the next day after verifying her address I shipped the ponies and fur off, with her telling me she'd let me know when everything arrived I didn't hear anything from her for a week, so I double checked she got everything safely with no response (I had done 2-3 day shipping) A few days after that note, I got a response asking what my tail looked like specifically, and I responded Towards the end of September she posted a journal saying that she was packing stuff up and moving, so I figured it would take her a bit to finish and ship my tail In the beginning of December, I shot her a note asking about my tail since I hadn't heard anything from her in a while A week later, I got a note saying it was finished and just needed to be stuffed, and that she would have it out in the next week so I gave her my address (the first time she said she would ship it) I still hadn't received it by the beginning of January, so I sent her a note seeing if she had shipped it A week later I still hadn't heard anything, so I sent her my address again in case something had happened, and got a reply back that she didn't get the first note asking about it, but would ship the tail out that week (the second time she said she would ship it) About two weeks after that note towards the end of January, I sent her another one seeing if she had sent it. She said she would send it out Monday or Tuesday (the third time she said she would ship it) and included a picture of the finished tail (far right) Towards the middle of February I saw she posted a journal saying she had shipped more things (didn't manage to snag a screen cap of it), and asked again if my tail had been shipped, two weeks later I got a reply saying she had sent it out but it got returned, and I sent her my address a third time with her saying she's send it again with tracking this time (the fourth time she said she would ship it) End of March, I still hadn't received anything, so I sent her another note seeing if it got shipped A week later with no response and getting irritated with the lack of communication and saying she had shipped things when she didn't, I sent her yet another note A week later in the beginning of April I sent her another note, irritated with my notes being read but not responded to, and still not having my half of the trade, this time getting a response saying she didn't see my last note, but had shipped it off that day (the fifth time she said she would ship it) When I asked for a tracking number, she said she didn't have one but would find me the receipt ID as proof A week later with no tail and no receipt ID as proof, I sent her another note A few days after that note, I got a reply saying that she wasn't able to get a tracking number because of how it was shipped (shipped through the USPS), and that it would take 2-4 weeks to get to me because of her being in Hawaii Going off of her latest ship date of April 3, it has been more than 8 weeks, plenty of time for it to get to me. I left a shout on her FA page asking what was going on, but she is currently on hiatus. The shout did help me get in contact with another customer of hers though who is having similar issues I don't know what to do about this any more. She has said she's shipped off my half of the trade five times with no proof or anything being received. I see she has a few bewares up here already about her issues with shipping, and this just seems to follow the pattern. Edit: Feel free to mark this as resolved, I received the tail today.

original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/655276.html EDIT 2/19: I got this note and I replied today: http://i48.tinypic.com/b8pb43.png (Fixed Link to hide my Address) I'm just really sick of excuses that may or may not be true and want my stuff sent. WHO: PuddingCup88 WHERE: PuddingCup88.deviantart.com WHAT: A Trade for a Fursuit Head and Tail (From Me) For A Keyblade prop, Tail, Feet Base, and some fur. (From Her) WHEN October 14th, 2012 - Maybe January when I started having trouble. PROOF: http://oi50.tinypic.com/2it2791.jpg http://oi47.tinypic.com/24pky75.jpg http://oi49.tinypic.com/2zqalcm.jpg http://oi47.tinypic.com/1pckmx.jpg EXPLAIN: So, I saw her work in a group, and really loved her feetpaws, so I sent over a note asking about them. That's what her first comment replies to. We struck up a kind of friendship during this. This was my first trade, and I was new to the business world. I really loved a keyblade she had made as well, which became one of the items in the trade. All went well, easy contact and exchanging necessary information. I do believe -- this should have been a red flag for me -- My biggest mistake was to agree to send it in time for Halloween. I sent out the package, and I asked about her sending the keyblade. I should've taken "My Mom Sent it" as another red flag at that point. I'm thinking I missed some Notes here (Went through all my notes) or the messages were through skype, as she had failed to tell me that Pakko arrived, and I only knew because of shipping. I had posted an advice post around now about this, as the keyblade was taking longer to arrive than it should have. Luckily it arrived around a week after that. Contact seemed to have died after she got Pakko. She decided to sell him after Halloween ( http://oi48.tinypic.com/13z5u15.jpg ) which I wouldn't really have minded much if it was not for the fact I had only ONE of the items she needed to send me. So, I proceeded to send her a note in November or December for updates. Come January and still nothing, despite her stating she's going to send everything out. By now I had gotten more experience dealing in business, and simply was quite angered at this, and wanted to get it over with and get my stuff. Now it's February. I've completed 1 complete head, 1 almost complete head, and 2 head bases in this time, so I have gained more experience in buying and selling and simply do not comprehend how she is not done and shipping things to me. I'm just really annoyed, and decided it's finally time to make a Beware on her.

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.

original: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/647764.html WHO: dreamsandnightmares Dreamsandnightmares (FA). WHERE: www.furaffinity.net/user/dreamsandnightmares WHAT: Rave Fluffles (Feetpaws with leg warmers, giving the illusion of digigrade legs) http://i50.tinypic.com/2psrura.png First contact WHEN: Around beginning of july. As seen above. List of emails sent: http://i48.tinypic.com/vhyp0w.png http://i45.tinypic.com/2m5m3kp.png http://i45.tinypic.com/2dui6ja.png PROOF: http://i46.tinypic.com/2z750dx.png Payments and partial refund (Before the product arrived in it's horrid state) EXPLAIN: I just received my rave fluffies from dreamsandnightmares which should look like this :http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7514152/ but pure black and with paws. I mean they kinda look like that, but looks like they were just thrown together This is the image they sent me http://www.iaza.com/work/121231C/iaza18601984269100.jpg In this picture they do not look too bad, so I thought they were alright, so I agreed to finally have them shipped to me. Upon getting them I noticed the following: The soles of the shoes are already falling apart, so is the foam inside of the arch. They are extremely itchy due to all of the lose fur that is collected on them (which I understand happens, but minor clean up could of solved this.) Glue is very visible on them, as well is a gap where the fur wasn't glued to the shoe. I was very excited to receive them after 5 months, but am very displeased with the condition they are in for how long they have had them (more than double the time given to me). They look as if they were just carelessly put together. They did give me a pair of foam with fur on them (ears) and a pewter wolf necklace along with a partial refund before shipment due to how long it took to have them and the continuous missed deadlines. I Sent them an email explaining my displeasment about the said items and what I have found wrong so far. I have only gotten this morning (20 mins ago, as of Jan 4th) and I am already in tears, and not good ones. :(( http://www.iaza.com/work/121231C/iaza18601984269100.jpg <--- Images of said product These are the sheet shots of some of the most important converstations, if you need more just ask. Agreement to buy: http://i49.tinypic.com/a464n5.png Time line of when they'd be done: http://i45.tinypic.com/1zvsed.png Terms of how I wanted them to look : http://i49.tinypic.com/dzut1u.png Missed Deadline: http://i45.tinypic.com/n20nbm.png Bad communication and missed deadline2: http://i46.tinypic.com/xaxbsy.png Shipment: http://i48.tinypic.com/261yzpx.png Displeasement: http://i47.tinypic.com/14jxpb5.png Issues I found with the items: http://i48.tinypic.com/zjggnb.png Excuses: http://i50.tinypic.com/kccxlg.png Excuses 2 and bad treatment: http://i48.tinypic.com/2e1afd3.png Back peddling and not sure what to do: http://i45.tinypic.com/11vnw94.jpg Proof of payment: http://i46.tinypic.com/2z750dx.jpg and http://i50.tinypic.com/175ybr.png

This beware is about Calima, aka. Storm Shy Arts. I initiated the commission transaction in October 2020 (see attachments; all edited for names, email addresses, or any personal/private information) for a 2-character commission. Details were worked out and payment was sent via Paypal. 2 months later in December 2020 I sent a message to the artist on Fur Affinity asking for an update, but did not receive a reply. I sent another message in January 2021 for an update and again received no reply. I again sent a message on FA in March asking for an update with a notification that I would be filing a complaint on Artists Beware, and received no reply. [Note: I was also sending a copy of the January and March messages to the email associated with the Paypal payment, but that turned out to be an address the artist only ever used for Paypal, not correspondence.] In May 2021 I started the action of filing a complaint on Artists Beware. The moderator was able to find me a valid email address for the artist, so the complaint was put on hold as I reestablished contact. The artist did quickly reply to my email (see attachments), and we got the ball rolling to continue with the commission. Over the next several days and weeks we exchanged several emails that cleared up some details and some WIP updates were sent to me. The last WIP I received was 5-30-21. On 6-13-21 the artist said she was going to "play with the background a bit more" and said it would be ready by July 10th. On 7-23-21 I wrote again asking for an update. The artist replied on 7-31-21 that her laptop had died, and as the replacement was soon to arrive she would have my piece finished very quickly. On 9-29-221 I wrote again asking for an update. The artist replied the same day with the excuse that there were technical problems and they were moving, but she would "aim to finish the five details of this background this week". I never received anything. On 12-30-21 I wrote again asking for an update. The artist replied the same day with health reasons as the excuse for no progress, and promised to send an updated version soon. I wrote back and said I was willing to work around complications and that I just wanted to know the commission hadn't been abandoned. Since then I have never received any update or any other contact from the artist. Calima finally returned to Fur Affinity a few days ago after being away for so long, but when I tried to reply to a journal I found I'd been blocked. That's when I knew it was time to post something here.

I contacted Deermoonstudios on Etsy for a fursuit head for $750 (which totalled $804 with taxes). This was paid in full immediately, followed by them stating they had just ordered fur colors needed for the suit after my approval. All on the same day. I waited a little over a month before asking them about progress, to which they said the fur had just arrived and they were waiting on more pieces to arrive in the mail. In Sep I asked for another update, no response, I asked again on the 20th and got told a day later that the head was ready for taping and sorry for the delay. On Nov 2nd 2021 I asked again for a picture, since I never got one. No response, I sent another message on the 14th asking if they saw the previous message, no response. In Dec, I got a little upset and messages them again asking for a picture, still no response. After this I looked for their Twitter, to see if they were busy with life or something. I learned they were pretty active on Twitter and I created an account to message them. Still no response, but they did post a tweet about how they have a hard time responding to messages and complaining that people need to stop guilt tripping them. I'm unsure if this was directed at me, but I took note of it and messaged them on etsy one last time to apologize if I had ever made them uncomfortable, and that I would no longer message them. I've given up and am assuming I'll never get the product I paid for. They had finished one (provable here) fursuit head in the meantime, fairly quickly. As of right now (Jan 6 2022), I still have gotten no response from them. They do not accept refunds on their products. They were polite in messages but have seemingly ghosted me.

I contacted Mawbyte on Twitter after seeing an ad on their Twitter for page dolls. The page dolls were $30. I messaged them with my reference sheet asking if I could get one and they sent me a message saying they would take me but needed to add a $20 complexity fee. I found this a bit strange since my character is pretty simple but agreed anyways. Here is a picture of the reference sheet: (Image is much larger but keeps getting shrunk on here) The initial conversation for the transaction: An invoice was sent for $50. I added a $10 tip for the artist and was given the link to the Trello where I could track my commission. I was told I could contact them if I wanted any changes to be made or if I wanted anything added or removed. Invoice: Conversation about the invoice, what to do if I wanted edits and the trello information given: Me asking for clarification on what the complexity fee was for: I heard nothing from them again until 12/14/2021. Upon opening my commission I realized that even though it is a very clear reference sheet my character was missing half of their markings. Additionally the quality of the lines did not match anything of their other work and the work appeared extremely rushed. I contacted them back and asked if the markings could be added. Being charged a complexity fee those markings should have been added. Quality of chibis advertised: Message sent with my file: The file: I did not hear back from them. I contacted them again on the 15th and still heard nothing. Then I contacted them again on the 17th and finally heard back late in the evening. I was told they had deleted the file and that there was nothing they could do about it. I asked them about getting a refund for the complexity fee since my character’s markings were not actually completed. I was told they don’t do refunds and that they simplify the markings for the smaller page dolls anyways so they were sorry but they didn’t know what to do. Proof of asking for changes: There were several chibis done that were a lot more complicated than my character. I had never been told about potentially simplifying the character and that does not mean leaving entire markings out. I mentioned writing a beware and then was told I didn’t communicate well enough about what was important for my character. The reference sheet I sent is very thorough and answered any potential questions the artist might have had. They also could have messaged me at any point to ask me the questions but they did not. Excuses given for why it couldn't be changed: They finally painted the markings onto the image and said they were blacklisting me. I was asking simply for what I paid for. The rest of the interaction: The final changes I received: There are still several details incorrect on the character. The line quality is horrific especially in the feet and tail. The line making up the claw on the foot is not even closed. The line for the right ear can be seen through the horn. There are several areas such as the arms that are not colored all the way. The elbow being laughed into has a bit of fur colored in as the scales on his arms. I was charged an extra fee for complexity and then when I asked to have things corrected got blamed for the mistakes and then blacklisted. I want to make people aware of the bad conduct, communication and final product of this artist.