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Back in July 2017 I applied for Dubmutt’s fursuit opening for a slot on their January-May 2018 queue. I wanted a fursuit head of my character Loki, he was to have magnetic eyelids, septum, and plugs. Everything seemed to be going well, I received an email accepting my commission and we moved forward from there. My suit was to be $920 with a $276 down payment. July 14th, 2017 I received the invoice and July 24th I made the down payment of $276. On December 26th 2017 I finished paying the invoice, and was told swatches would be sent out soon and I’d get an update when work was started. I reach out on February 2018 to see when swatches would be sent out as I was originally told beginning of December. I also wanted to see where I was at on the queue. Dubmutt told me swatches would be sent a month or so before starting and that I was scheduled for beginning of March. March 7th Dub reaches out to let me know they may need to cancel a few commissions while they focus on their health and that I will be updated. April 19th I reach out to dub out of curiosity of if my project was to be cancelled or completed. I was told mine was still scheduled. A few months go by so I message Dub on August 15th, 2018 to see if there’s been any updates. I am told they are finishing up two other suits and they were hoping to get to mine soon. January 8th, 2019 I reach out again to see if there was any progress. January 12th Dub replies to say they are finishing 3 suits and mine will be next, and to contact them through twitter from now on. August 31st I message Dub on twitter since it’s been quite a while, I ask if there are any updates or even an estimate on when my suit would even be started. September 9th Dub posts a PSA to twitter stating that they will be leaving the fandom, but owed commissions will be done. I haven’t heard from Dub since January 2019. At this point in time, I have received no word about my suit even being started. Update: 09/20/19

In July of 2017 I attempted to purchase a fursuit from Lucky Gum Fursuits (see originalpurchase1edited.png and originalpurchase2edited.png). After a few years of waiting I asked for the refund that was promised in their terms of service. The buyer agreed to the refund and promised to pay me back every month until I got $1515 promised to me (see promisedrefund1edited.png and promisedrefund2edited.png). However I have not received any of the payments. I have made several attempts to contact the buyer again to work with them personally on how to best resolve the issue (see twittercommunication.png and attemptedfurthercommunicationyahooedited.png) but they have yet to contact me back.

Explanation: Commissioned a fursuit tail, commission completed but never shipped??? Lack of contact/lying from maker. Proof of deadline agreement: Proof of payment: Commission was completed 12/03/2020: Communication starts to wane: I never received the tracking number or any proof of postage. Most of the responses from here on out were very short and lacked explanation of any kind. At this point I was starting to get a bit nervous and proposed a refund. They used my tail in another commission opening post on twitter and Instagram. When I looked into their Instagram I found a few comments from commissioners complaining about not receiving their commissions. (I cannot make any statements on these peoples behalf's and have no proof of their transactions. These screenshots are only provided to explain my motivation for filing a Paypal dispute.) [Proxy removed by staff. Submissions may only mention your transaction, and not others] I eventually decided to go through with the chargeback which closed in my favor on Jan 31st 2020. Was a really hard decision for me this time since they had actually completed the tail. I did say that I would be willing to send the money straight back to them if I received a tracking number or proof of postage. But unfortunately I haven't received any messages since.

In October 2017, I commissioned Juicysuits for a full plantigrade suit (suit's name is Terror) for $2200. When I did, I was given a soft deadline of around 2-3 months. I paid via down payment, and sort payment plan. I sent my DTD, and the process started, or so I thought. At this point, there were around 8 partial suits in front of me. Over the next few months, I asked about the deadlines, and it kept getting pushed back. Here's some examples from 2019, and she still hadn't started my suit. Note: The "3 suits needing to be done ASAP was untrue. There were still 6 suits ahead of me. The queue was NEVER cleared. She promised me that she'd start making smaller parts of my suit. Never happened. The only thing I got was a 3d printed bas that was used for all big cat suits. It could've been for anyone else, however. I also want to note that she spent my fursuit money on other things. There's two ways I know this. One, she, in the middle of a long queue already, posted this on her twitter for more money: Finally, after THREE YEARS, I threw in the towel. No progress at all, and she was finishing suits at a speed of two partials per year. At this rate, I'd be 23 or so by the time Terror would be done (I was 18 when I ordered, I'm 21 now). She told me that there could be a payment plan, but I got my lawyer Aunt involved, and I got all my money back. So beware of Juicysuits. DO NOT commission her, she will spend all of your money and then finish your suit in 6 years or so. I recommend you commission her when her business practices improve, which I hope is after she completes the remaining suits in her queue. She was as nice as she could be, but her business practices are extremely lacking. I never got Terror, nothing at all. I'm almost too scared to commission anyone else out of fear of repeating the same process.

Quote request sent on December 1st, 2015. Artist/Fursuit Maker, Stormy, Replied March 22nd, 2016 with final price broken down for each part. First payment sent via PayPal and received by Stormy on March 23rd, 2016. Payments completed via PayPal. Final payment completed on September 15th, 2016 . Work was delayed on June 11th, 2016 due to an animal with an illness. Her entire queue received a message with estimated completion dates on April 26th, 2016, which was supposed to be the upcoming Anthrocon. Work was again delayed on October 6th, 2016 due to a wedding. Contact was requested on January 18th, 2017 and a response was sent from Stormy to me on January 19th, 2017. Update on her personal life was sent to her clients [including myself] on January 20th, 2017. In this email she put what she has done on each project in order of what is done and where everyone is in her queue. Mine, Soleil, had not been casted. On April 13th, 2017 we all received an email saying she is selling premades for completion in July 2017. She also noted Soleil will be completed by the end of April 2017. Email was sent to her clients to join an Angels Nest Fursuits telegram chat on April 23rd, 2017, with the link provided. Shortly after it sent, it no longer worked. I emailed her on July 19th, 2017 to see a WIP or any progress to see if materials had even been purchased. I received a reply the same day, stating she is still working on her first two clients, and working on purchasing/replenishing materials. On July 20th, 2017, I sent Stormy a formal request for a full refund as she had broken her own ToS which I was respectful and professional. The same day, she sent me a reply. She stopped replying to my emails, so I contacted her on Instagram on August 21st, 2017, since I noticed she was active. She claimed she was “warned” about me and was very unprofessional in a lengthy conversation via chat on Instagram. Explanation in depth: In an effort to gain some understanding, I attempted to fix the issue by contacting her regularly to keep with updates, yet she refused to work with me at all. Once I noticed a pattern of similar life updates, but not any fursuit or art related updates, and the removal of her Trello and the Telegram chat, I grew increasingly concerned. I also noticed how she had posted she would be making premades to sell at Anthrocon and MFF. I also grew increasingly concerned since she told us all about her declining mental health and physical health, but after a time of over one year, nothing had changed. I tried to reach out to her as a friend and client but was later met with hostility as I emailed her regularly. I also noticed she obtained two new dogs after her puppy had passed away. I sent her my deepest condolences and gave her time to heal. She also posted on her Instagram how she will now dedicate her time to making a dog training channel on YouTube. After I saw this post, I was very upset. She has clients who have paid her a lot of money to work on custom fursuits/partials. In a series of messages via Instagram, she said some very hateful words and I never once went into all caps, never once did I throw an insult nor a curse word. I even praised her for taking care of herself. Yet all I was met with was hatred and insults and swearing. Since that day, not much has been done and I have not heard a peep. As far as we know, no one has received anything from Stormy/Angels Nest Fursuits. I am both shocked and gravely concerned for all parties involved.

Back in March 2016 i commissoned Mitha for a full digitigrade lynx fursuit. I paid 50% upfront, 1250$ with paypal. Suit should be finished january 2017. I never wanted to post a beware like this and it took me about an year to make this decision but i don't want to waste more time on this person. I have always been polite, tried to be patient and helpfull to resolve this issue as you will see but i got nothing but worries, anger and lies! Mitha please just sent this money back i want to be done with this and you finally, get back to me again and stop running away from your mistakes! FA note about claiming the slot Payment poof I contacted her several times but didn’t get real updates for my suit, sadly i’m not able to provide the full conversations since this ist he only chat that is completly gone but i made a few screenshots at the time i got the messages because i was really excited about getting a fursuit. I asked about the timeframe to get my suit before and i sent secondlife screenshoots of the character design, i think,we talked from time to time but nothing related to my suit i asked about her jaw sculpting and showed her a suithead i build meanwhile. Before my paypal protection ended she messaged me to send my DTD including shoes i should buy for the feetpaws. I did and was waiting again until she noted me that she got my DTD, that it was well made and my body would be the next she is working on. A couple of weeks later she contacted me on FA, because of the pawpads and nose color of my suit, she said skype is not working, could have been around my birthday within the first 2 weeks of november because i had been on holiday at this time. After this i tried again to get in touch with her on skype but i got no reply. We decided to keep in touch in telegram from now. I asked about any updates, she told me she is sorry that she is slow with this an that she is behind, my suit would be finished 2-3 month later. I was ok with that at this time, early december 2016. Since she was answering i didn't worry about getting nothing... I asked again for updates in febuary 2017 without a reply, in march i asked again because she posted some stuff on Twitter, i might have gotten wrong, but i still didn‘t get any info about my suit. I started to get afraid to get nothing from her since she didn't reply and was posting this on twitter. After she told me pretty rough that i should contact her on twitter i noted in the end of april because she didn’t got back to me. Got no reply so i tried again in may with what i am thinking about all this and got a reply a couple of days later. She told me about the situation and agreed to a full refund on 04.05.217. This wasn't an easy thing to me i really liked her stuff and i don't wanted to get her in trouble i offerd a payment plan even. I was waiting abou 2 month without any contact, refund or info about the timeframe of the paymentplan i contacted her again first time without a reply, about a week later she answered. Her excuse was the gender thing on twitter she did. And there was no refund but silence again, i contacted her several time before i got a reply. I suggested a paymentplan again with rates and dates... Since she wasn't pretty activ on twitter during this time i asked her where to find her now. I was sending my bankstuff to her emailadress and several emails where i asked her about the refund but i didn't get a reply so i started to get back on her on twitter. Sadly i can't provide screenshots of this emails they are gone out of the sent objects because its too long ago ? For sure i didn't get emails on the other email adress too because she never send them ? She got back to me with excuses she had to make and save this money first, wait who was stating on twitter that is is always easy to refund 2k? Mitha! There was silence after this for 3 weeks, then she got back to me with blablabla excuses and of course she lost our whole conversation and memory about what happened before... Of course she wasn't able to show me a thing but wanted to send a refund again, but suprise she didn't and suddelny the paypal option was gone too. At this point i opened up a etsy shop with an offer for her to buyout to refund me but she ignored this option and me, i sent another message 5 days later and provided the info again but nothing happened. Weeks later she noted me she is able to do the banktransfer now and offerd a free mask to me but guess what, i got nothing xD She got back to me again with excuses, i offerd the esty thing again and got ignored, then i asked for the otter partial instead of money but it was gone. a few weeks later she announced that she is closing up her shop and that there will be no more premades. I worried about our agreement to choose one of the upcoming premades because she said she won't do premades anymore and asked her about. I explained why i wanted the partial instead of money and that i take money when there are no more partials available and she agreed again and wanted to get back to me when she is able to afford the refund. She really got back to me but again i got nothing ? After this i haven't heard from her until i commented below her actual IG posts where she was trying to sell a fullsuit and a head, she blocked me after our conversation in IG and i'm still waiting for my refund.

latiro Dec. 1st, 2011 12:06 pm (local) WhiteMantis once again, praising her 1. WhiteMantis 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/whitemantis/ 3. pic completed 11/27 4. the sketch page came out nicely, though it took her a while to complete it http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6949719/ latiro Dec. 1st, 2011 12:12 pm (local) VeraMundis 1. VeraMundis 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/veramundis/ 3. pic completed on 11/14 4. even though it took them a while to complete it, the pic is fantastic and looks almost like a sculpture http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6857863/ killercacti Dec. 1st, 2011 12:13 pm (local) pensive 1. Name of the person/company you recommend: Pensive/P3nsive/Andy 2. Link to their website or art page: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/pensive/ 3. I commissioned her on November 27th. Badge was completed two days later! 4. Link to artwork: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6938238 I posted a journal asking for a couple quick badge commissions. Pensive responded saying she could do a badge for me. I paid her that day and the badge was done just a couple days later! I was super impressed by her speed and the quality of work given the short time frame. :) mrst4nkr Dec. 1st, 2011 12:17 pm (local) Artist: Snowhawk 1. Snowhawk 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/snowhawk/ 3. I've bought several pixel ponies from her recently, but her turn around time is usually less than a week. 4. The price, for once thing, is really out of this world for what you get. The turn-around is quick. She offers a join.me where you can watch her work on your artwork. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6809828/ http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6885890/ I think I've bought 6 from her, so far. Every transaction is smooth, and pretty much awesome. :) Highly recommend! skulldog Dec. 1st, 2011 12:42 pm (local) 1. Painteddog 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/painteddog/ 3. 2 months ago, + Current commission awaiting mailing. 4. PD opened for 'pudgie charms' and I jumped in, received excellent communication from step one, and photos of the final necklace within the same week. Sculpt was above and beyond what I expected, very thrilled with it. Photo: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6635931/ Second commission is for a two character Globe style ornament, once again, communication is toptier, friendly and was shown WIP shots along the way. I can't wait to get this one in the mail soon. Anyone looking for 3D art, give her a look, prices are very fair, and you can't beat the turnaround/communication. toxicfossils Dec. 1st, 2011 05:01 pm (local) Seconding PaintedDog, I too got a pudgie charm from her and communication and progress was fantastic, as is the outcome! duster Dec. 1st, 2011 07:12 pm (local) Third Painteddog. My mother commissioned her a while back and was very happy with the results and communication. hollso Dec. 1st, 2011 12:53 pm (local) Sigil 1. Sigil 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/sigil/ 3. Stream sketch, 11th or 12th Nov, completed that evening! 4. I caught one of Sigil's streams and commissioned her for some rudey-nudey art. Communication was obviously very prompt and I love the final piece! She's a star! tech_rex Dec. 1st, 2011 01:31 pm (local) Re: Sigil Seconding Sigil! thistlewolf Dec. 1st, 2011 12:55 pm (local) Bassclarineko 1. Bassclarineko 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bassclarineko/ 3. Pic streamed and completed on 11/29/11. 4. He's just starting out with commissions, but his professionalism, approachability, and quality of work are wonderful, especially for someone new to the business. He streamed my picture live, asking for feedback several times, describing the music he was playing for inspiration, and providing a generally friendly and receptive atmosphere to his viewers. The base price for his first commissions is unbelievable, as well (I couldn't bring myself to not give him more). Full color, full body Livestream pic. Edited at 2011-12-01 01:26 pm (local) thistlewolf Dec. 1st, 2011 01:12 pm (local) Disidi / Gasmask 1. Disidi / Gasmask 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/gasmask 3. late September 2011 to mid November 2011 4. Disidi has gorgeous art and a great sense of customer service. Though I consider her a friend, she treated me with the same professionalism / businesslike air as any other customer (a boon IMO!). She's also extremely honest about wait times as well as being very open about progress and providing a more than fair amount of WIPs. Not to mention the final product is astounding. Full color, full body one character. thistlewolf Dec. 1st, 2011 01:25 pm (local) Lingrimm 1. Lingrimm 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lingrimm/ 3. late October to late November 4. Lingrimm provide amazing communication (especially considering a language barrier!) and product. They consistently produce lovely color and characterization and are extremely approachable and prompt in their responses. Full color, two character bust. celestinaketzia Dec. 1st, 2011 03:12 pm (local) Re: Lingrimm Seconding Lingrimm. I LOVE my commissions from them. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6876896 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6640262/ latiro Dec. 18th, 2011 05:40 pm (local) Re: Lingrimm thirding http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7027733/ skittlewolf Dec. 1st, 2011 04:44 pm (local) Taasla/Necro 1. Taasla/Necro 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/taasla / http://www.furaffinity.net/user/necro 3. ~1 month (Commissioned end of October, received end of November) 4. Extremely friendly, kept me up to date on everything going on, including delays. Very fast once the commission was started and very prompt e-mail responses. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6925839 (Warning: Gore) celestinaketzia Dec. 1st, 2011 11:13 pm (local) Re: Taasla/Necro <3 Thank you, Skittle. I am so flattered. anarchicq Dec. 1st, 2011 04:46 pm (local) DripRat (NSFW) 1. Name of the person/company you recommend. DripRat 2. Link to their website or art page. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/driprat, http://pholph.com, his webcomic JACK which is very NSFW. 3. Approximate time period of when you did business with them. Began a month ago, concluded 9 days ago. 4. Details (Here's where you tell us why they are so awesome! What made the transaction go so well? Perhaps link to the art or suit you bought/sold if you feel like sharing. Please mark NSFW if the subject matter is adult!!) DripRat was doing 20 dollar commissions just to make ends meet and I had a little bit of disposable income so I ordered an image of my interpretation of Anubis. He accepted and I was added to his queue. I got to watch him work on it on Livestream and he was in constant communication. While waiting in his queue my laptop power cord died so I emailed him to let him know I might not be around and my payment might be late. Luckily the stars aligned and I got a new cord before the commission was complete. My commission: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6896398 squirrelly_kaku Dec. 1st, 2011 05:01 pm (local) Artist: Mosa 1. Mosa 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/mosa 3. Around September/October 4. Commissioned Mosa for an inked picture of one of my characters. She's always been fast and easy to work with, and really knows how to bring my ideas to life! Highly recommend! Link to picture: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6597930/ (NSFW) scottmale24 Dec. 8th, 2011 04:20 pm (local) Re: Artist: Mosa Seconded like, a thousand million times. chainerprime Dec. 1st, 2011 05:38 pm (local) 1. Tanginello 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tanginello/ 3. 6 months ago 4. I asked for this picture. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5836008/ and it was completed within a week or two after payment, which I thought was a very good price for the amount of detail and multiple characters. She was very polite in the e-mail that were exchanged. duster Dec. 1st, 2011 07:16 pm (local) Novelteeth/Ciderfox 1. Novelteeth (Ciderfox on LJ) 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/novelteeth/ 3. Two weeks ago 4. This was the first thing I ever commissioned with USD and I'm more than happy with the result. I commissioned a bug-eye icon (see my icon) and despite the offbeat request (including the tarantula) she did a wonderful job and made it super cute! Very fast and friendly, would for sure recommend her. scenceable Dec. 1st, 2011 07:30 pm (local) 1. R. Wake/ Sovae/ Indigo-ocean 2. http://indigo-ocean.deviantart.com/ 3. June 2011 4. I commissioned a sculpture from them. Not only is she an amazing sculptor, but is really friendly, worked on my commission quickly, and was professional throughout. The sculpture arrived with a cracked tail and she handled the issue really well. Highly, HIGHLY recommend if you are looking for a sculpture. She also sells blank resin casts for pretty cheap. scenceable Dec. 1st, 2011 07:33 pm (local) 1. Magweno/ Carn-Dearg 2. http://carn-dearg.deviantart.com/ or http://www.magweno.com/ 3. Earlier this year, and again this month 4. I commissioned an art doll from her a few months ago. Everything went so well. She had great communication throughout, showed me WIP photos, and was super friendly. The doll was very very well made and exactly what I asked for. I commissioned her again recently, I don't have the doll in hand yet but so far the transaction has been perfect. She currently has a long waiting list but I'd very much recommend either trying to get a commission or purchasing a doll from her on ebay or etsy in the future. (Deleted comment) (re: Gravewalker) stormslegacy Dec. 2nd, 2011 11:37 pm (local) Re: Gravewalker I've had awesome experience with Gravewalker as well, made this icon for me ^_^ lackoflollies Dec. 1st, 2011 07:40 pm (local) 1. Pac 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/pac/ http://pac.qrow.com/commissions/ 3. Nov-26 4. I noticed she was open for commissions, and went to her website and e-mailed her for a basic $10 icon. She replied within 24 hours, which I paid, and 48 hours later I see this in my inbox: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6946897 . I basically squealed out-loud when I saw it. She went above and beyond what I expected, and did exactly what I asked for. The backround is beautiful and she captured my character in a beautiful way, and I am definitely coming back to commission her again, for likely something much more then $10. theflamecrow Dec. 1st, 2011 09:08 pm (local) 1. GraveRobber/CuddlyDeadKitten 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/graverobber/ 3. Last week? XD 4. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6927315 NSFW, well worth the monies I paid. :D Good communication and friendly. summerlioness Dec. 1st, 2011 09:35 pm (local) Artist:Paint 1. Paint 2. Their FA page where I found them: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/paint/ 3. November 25-26 4. I commissioned a $5 grab bag slot they were offering among their black Friday sales and pretty much the next day got my art fast and it was totally worth every dollar! They seem very friendly and I will definitely be getting art in the future from her :3 (NSFW:Nudity) http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6925158/ skirtandzy Dec. 1st, 2011 11:50 pm (local) Reaux 1. Reaux 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/reaux 3. Starting at the beginning of this year, through tonight 4. I've made the joke that if furry art were like Fursquare, Reaux would be the mayor of my badge box. I first met her at one of the local events, and proceeded to watch her on FA. I really liked her work, so I decided to commission her. I can not say that I am anything short of impressed. She has a great turn-over rate, is wonderful to work with, and very agreeable pricing. She also preformed some minor fursuit work, namely the eyes, which I am also very happy with. Work: Standard badge: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5165351/ Fursuit badge: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5862121/ AC Theme Badge: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5946932/ flarveon Dec. 2nd, 2011 03:57 am (local) 1. FireFeathers 2. www.furaffinity.net/user/firefeathers 3. Dangly badges! I ordered 30/11, and got previews today (2/12) - http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i141/Raydart/flarveon-poppy.png - http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i141/Raydart/Flarveon-akemi.png 4. Only paid $15 and $17 + postage. I expected it to take up to a month, but they said only a week or so, and 3 days later, I got the proofs to check over! While this commission is not completed, I have been told to expect the finished product the next day <3 starcharmer Dec. 2nd, 2011 06:09 pm (local) 1. R_Jinx1 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rjinx1/ 3. Ongoing. He first commissioned me around a month ago [Oct 28th, this commission was completed] and has since commissioned a second picture [in sketch stage] and purchased a character from me. 4. Jinx is prompt with payment and to give feedback. He's super polite, super generous and definitely values the artist and artwork highly. He's always been respectful and just...made me feel really good when I completed that first commission, he was so happy with it. :) It's made me want to go above and beyond in my work with him. If he ever approaches you for a commission, you'll have a good time. Absolutely no complaints. clockworkshadow Dec. 5th, 2011 03:51 am (local) Seconding R_Jinx1 he's an absolutely wonderful commissioner. cremate Dec. 6th, 2011 11:41 pm (local) thirding this. I've had a wonderful time working with rjinx1 copper_curls Dec. 3rd, 2011 02:57 am (local) TAASLA celestinaketzia Taasla on FurAffinity http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5568562/ (April 2011) http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6717661/ (October 2011) - NSFW http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6800753/ (November 2011) - NSFW Taasla was the very first artist I commissioned work from - the first piece in the list, and as I was quite nervous and new to the whole process, she was patient, explained her business process and why and in general made my first experience of receiving paid-for art a thoroughly painless experience. I'm also happy to say that the subsequent pieces I've commissioned from her have been an equally delightful experience. The second piece is a prime example of where she applied her experience as an artist to achieve the feeling I wanted for a piece; she took the rather generic pose idea I had and turned it into something much, much more than I had envisoned. I recommend her highly! sigilgoat Dec. 3rd, 2011 10:52 pm (local) PeachesMcGee 1. PeachesMcGee 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/peachesmcgee/ 3. I believe it was about a month from purchase to completion 4. Peaches worked with what I gave her and gave me a product I was super happy with! Her stuff is very unique and beautiful and I am so satisfied with what I got! G rated! - http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6970408/ copper_curls Dec. 4th, 2011 01:59 pm (local) Demona Demona on FurAffinity Rhiannon reference sheet, NSFW Sh'sthress shaded sketch, NSFW The reference sheet was about three weeks from payment to completion, and Demona kept me informed at every stage of the work, showing me sketch, then lines, then colours for review and approval. The sketch was a join.me stream commission and she was kind enough to let me pay the day after she did it. I'm so pleased with how she handled both my characters, and the strongest recommendation I can give her is that I very much want her to do a reference sheet for my lizard-girl as well, and have booked a spot in her February commission list. iciewolf Dec. 4th, 2011 03:41 pm (local) CatInYourCloset/Caticus 1. CatInYorCloset/ Caticus 2.https://www.furaffinity.net/user/catinyourcloset/ 3. November 14th 4.https://www.furaffinity.net/view/6773730, https://www.furaffinity.net/view/6719922/ She is super awesome and so amazingly sweet. She has a pretty big fanbase now but I thought she'd deserved a little more attention because she has been so nice to me over the past year(s)? She is even holding a raffle for 10 free icon commissions! She is just honestly great all around, she even made a tutorial to help me with using oekaki. Go show her some love for Christmas and maybe get a commission or two. :D inkstainedrat Dec. 6th, 2011 07:22 pm (local) 1. Coonkun 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/coonkun 3. August to Dec 1 4. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6962912 Coonkun wasn't really taking commissions at the time, but I think he made an exception because it was a gift to celebrate my graduation from basic training. My husband gave him a couple pictures to work with, and Coonkun provided a piece that FAR exceeded all expectations. He warned us about his busy schedule ahead of time and maintained excellent communication throughout. He always had progress updates and was readily available the entire time. He was quick to make edits, and worked very hard to ensure the details were all correct. In short, he was a dream to work with. spartanwerewolf Dec. 9th, 2011 06:00 am (local) Excess-o I'm so late, but: 1: Excess-o on FA 2: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/excess-0/ 3: Sept 28-Oct21 and again in November. 4: http://www.furaffinity.net/full/6713726/ Pinged her at the end of Sept for a portrait of my badger character (my first time as a commissioner), and she exceeded all my expectations. She was friendly, responsive, and does amazing work, particularly if you like creepy/unsettling/gory work (I do). Her portraits (I'm using the one she did for me as my icon) are like $5, which is a stupendous price for the high quality you receive. I've already commissioned another portrait, and plan on getting a larger commission at sometime in the new year. Edited at 2011-12-09 06:01 am (local) pouncewhisper Dec. 10th, 2011 12:09 am (local) Iceheartt 1. Iceheartt 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/iceheartt/ 3. Ive done business with him a lot of different times so it's hard to choose one. He's become my go-to artist 4.Iceheartt has always been very prompt and VERY polite and customer oriented. He does his best to make sure you're 100 percent happy with what he does. As I said I've gotten several pieces done by him. A few of them are http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6907227 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6886014 http://www.furaffinity.net/view/6885989 latiro Dec. 19th, 2011 08:06 pm (local) Tete 1. Tete 2. http://www.furaffinity.net/user/tete/ 3. pic completed on 12/19 4. very professional; pleasant to work with; makes great art http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7063127/

Oct. 28th, 2011 at 9:34 AM nnoitorah This is further to my advice post here: http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/530250.html WHO: Bambiboo3 / Happy Tails WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/bambiboo3/ WHAT: Premade fursuit head and tail, as seen here: http://www.furbuy.com/auctions/1026446.html WHEN: Auction ended on 12th October 2011. PROOF: Here's a screencap of my communications with Bambiboo3 from winning the auction. A little explanation first though: I do not live in the USA. I had asked Bambiboo3 prior to bidding if she would ship internationally and she said no. Thus I asked if she would ship this to my very good friend of many years who lives in NC, she agreed, and I placed a bid. My intention from there was to either take a trip over soon and collect the partial or arrange for it to be delivered myself, either way, I made clear to Bambiboo3 that the final part of the delivery would be entirely my responsibility. This isn't really relevant to the beware at all but it might clear up any confusion. Here are photos of the package: NB: anything linking to address details has been edited out, as has Bambiboo3's surname as I have not seen this posted publicly. EXPLAIN: On October 12th I won Bambiboo3's auction for a premade fursuit head and tail over on Furbuy. I emailed her asking for a quote on shipping, which she told me would be $35, for a total of $435. I Paypal'd over $435. She replies to me stating that: "you forgot to add the paypal charges so it came in $17.27 short. If you dont mind sending that last bit that would be great" I was a little taken aback as nowhere on the auction had it mentioned a Paypal fee, and I knew this to be against Paypal rules. I also was taken aback that it was implied I'd "forgotten" it, as if I should have known to add this, or she'd told me to add it. I replied to her stating as much and her response was basically that she asked for $435, but that's not what she ended up with after the fee - thus I should make up the rest. At this point I admit my communications (seen above) got a little irate and not as well phrased as they could have been, I was feeling unwell at the time and was not expecting these difficulties. I asked a number of friends online what I should do (I really did want the head and she was saying she'd relist it) or whether it was fair, to which they said it was not. One of them told me it was against Furbuy policy so I contacted them too, asking about that. They responded that it was definitely not acceptable, and thus I replied telling Bambiboo3 so, and she decided to drop the charge. So some days pass and the head arrives with my friend on October 26th. She immediately contacts me by IM to let me know and unpacks it to check everything is in order. The head, I am told, is just fine and is nice quality. She did say to me though, "how much did you say you paid for shipping again?"...to which I replied $35. She advised me it was stickered with $10.74 and a 70 cent Delivery Confirmation - making my bill over $20 higher than the actual shipping cost. I was also told it was packaged in an old blender box and packed with wadded up grocery bags, and you can see that in the photos above, meaning that none of that was spent on packaging, either. Again annoyed, I emailed Bambiboo3 asking about this discrepancy. That was over 24 hours ago, and with all other emails being answered promptly and seeing as she's been faving things on FA, I assume she doesn't have a good simple answer for this. I may be jumping the gun but at this point I can only recommend against dealing with her. I know this head didn't go for as much as she would like - she was looking at around $700 for head and tail before putting it on Furbuy - but my impression is that she just tries to frisk the customer for anything she can get. EDIT - seeing that Bambiboo has been faving art and posting FA journals, I decided to send her another email: Hey again, I see you have been active on FurAffinity so I guess you either did not receive or are ignoring my last email outright. At this point I want to make you aware that I posted about our transaction to "artists_beware" because I am really not impressed with this. - Sarah I feel like I'm probably not going to get anything back at this point, but I think her (most likely) ignoring my last email is really the icing on the cake here. EDIT 2 - Bambiboo3 has replied to my last email quickly. The conversation is as follows (screencaps available if needed, but it's quicker this way for now): I havent recieved an email O.o when did you send it? My response: The email was sent on the 27th just after midnight your time. Here's a copypaste: -last email as shown above- Bambiboo: Wow im sorry , no the first one didnt come through. So the package was shipped parcel? >.< Oh jeaz i apologize it was supposed to be sent express because i wanted to get it out to you as soon as possible since i was a couple days late getting it out. I dont have a drivers license myself so i have someone send the packages out for me they must have mixed up the packages i gave them that day. If you give me your paypal address ill refund that right away. Me: If you would like to refund I suggest you go to your Paypal and open up our transaction, from there you have an option to issue a partial refund. I would prefer it refunded in this way for my records if you could. It would be much appreciated and I will edit the LJ post to reflect this. Thanks, Sarah She has now issued me a refund. I honestly can't say I am convinced by the excuses but I am happy to have a refund and consider the postage part of the beware resolved.

vera_snep (vera_snep) wrote in artists_beware, @ 2018-12-16 05:38 Advice: Lost Contact with CanineKuroki (Please pardon my formatting and such, this is my first time posting) EDIT: Not long after making this post (a couple weeks), CanineKuroki contacted me, apologized, and provided a full refund. Due to personal issues I will not get into detail about, she was unable to finish. She also sent me what she had made for the price of shipping. It's unfortunate that she wasn't able to complete the commission, but I give her some serious props for providing a full refund and sending what she had made. WHO: Canine Kuroki/Kuroki Yami/HoneyspydeR WHERE: https://www.facebook.com/CanineKuroki/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kurokiyami/ https://www.deviantart.com/honeyspyder WHAT: Fursuit partial WHEN: Initial contact: July 16th, 2016 First Payment: July 24th, 2016 First Loss of Contact: September 16th, 2016 Second Loss of Contact: December 21st, 2016 EXPLAIN: So, I contacted Yami through Facebook in July to ask for a quote. She responded pretty quickly and all conversation until September was quick, taking no more than a week for replies. She would send occasional WIP photos and I was happy [1]. My first payment via PayPal was on July 24th and the second one was on September 6th [2]. She was fine with how the payment plan was and there were no disputes whatsoever. ( Read more... ) But then, she just seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. I’d contact her about once a month to try and see what was going on [3]. Her Facebook page never updated and I had no other ways of contacting her. So, I sent a dispute into PayPal in December for both of my payments. She then responded to them fairly quickly, apologizing for her lack of communication. She then offered to give a partial refund, promised to improve her communication, and promised some extra goodies when I got the suit (Unfortunately, I do not have any screenshots of our conversation through PayPal, though I have tried to get them recently). I accepted and she sent a refund [4]. She also recommended I use her email, which she gave me, in order to contact her more efficiently. Unfortunately, I was naïve and dropped both cases, saying they were resolved (because at the time I thought they were). She sent one last set of WIP photos within a week, then disappeared again afterwards [5]. To this day, I’ve contacted her about once a month to try and get her back. I have contacted her through every form of media I could find, including FA and DA. I have threatened, though not followed through with demanding a refund and taking legal action. To be honest, I don’t know how I would go about doing all that, I just wanted to get her attention. I honestly just want my fursuit. I’m hoping that someone out there can help. 1: FB First WIP 3 (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe) 2: InkedPayPal Payment 1_LI and InkedPayPal Payment 2_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4) 3: Everything in the Facebook folder titled “Lost Contact” (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe) 4: InkedPayPal Refund_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4) 5: InkedEmail Sent 12_17_16 - 12_21_16_LI (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16_NkSjpftzPa0etb1Sh2o6YmmF20XKM_) PROOF: PayPal: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lo0tY1x5KwHZ2lMfTKs1tvpOSe5LMUV4 Emails: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16_NkSjpftzPa0etb1Sh2o6YmmF20XKM_ FurAffinity: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L8BUFSDmPU8W7CeEsKYiaw561QNEkdde Facebook: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Rqi1veWRSJZwXyHUa7aaRphusWzxVfe DeviantArt: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aza_Pfcm-wV6f2DnOw2rpNcVFi-ldddx

Apr. 3rd, 2011 at 9:32 PM synchra WHO: Aliases: SophieCabra, Waji "Company": SurfCatCostumes WHERE: http://surfcatcostumes.com/ WHAT: Costume of my character Tokkebi Kesaki done in the same style as Luskwood (with permission from Luskwood. SophieCabra used to work for Luskwood so she had confirmed she could achieve this quality. It was promised to be the same quality.) Art: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/1745-1/tokkebikesakicharactersheet.jpg Product: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7306-1/IMG_5509.jpg (in depth pictures and descriptions of everything below) Screenshots of initial e-mails confirming these facts: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10055-1/Screenshot-AB-1.png (Note: She mentions a non-refundable deposit of $495 but never mentions what it is for. In talking with other makers this is always accepted as a cancellation fee, I never canceled the product while it was in process. The promised product with the promised quality and features was just never delivered so I asked for a refund because it was offered to me.) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10057-1/Screenshot-AB-2.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10059-1/Screenshot-AB-3.png (I never received guidelines or a real contract or a ToS so all agreements were made through e-mail in this fashion.) WHEN: Initial Costume invoice was sent 6/18/09. First Payment of $520 was sent out via paypal Jun. 7, 2009 Second Payment of $545 was sent out via paypal Sep 1, 2009 Final Payment of $600 was sent out via paypal Sep. 2, 2009 Product promised to be done and received by: Halloween 2009, if artist could not get it done in time then sometime in January 2010. Total of all payments as well as price of costume: $1665 Costume received: Feb 6, 2010 Promised refund: Feb 6, 2010 (Promised refund by: August 1st, 2010) Costume confirmed to have been received: Mar 18, 2010 Partial refund of $1,081, $1050 after fees was sent to me via paypal Apr 18, 2010 Current payment owed: $584 Asked for rest of payment initially: 4/19/10 (never got a response) Gave artist a time line to pay me back again on: Feb 15, 2011 (end of march) Artist failed to pay me back by: 03/31/11 (never got a response) Demand Letter to be sent: 4/4/11 Court date if Demand Letter is not responded to: TBA PROOF: Here is a review of the costume I wrote which includes all proof needed of the quality of the product received including pictures, videos and e-mails sent and received throughout the process. http://community.livejournal.com/fursuitreviews/31415.html (I figure it's better to just post that part here as a link because it's just as good as copy-pasting and putting it behind a cut, please tell me if you'd rather have me go about this another way.) Here are some e-mails in which the refund is mentioned: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10077-1/Screenshot-AB-refundmention-4.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10075-1/Screenshot-AB-refundmention-5.png (promising refund for suit.) I can provide screenshots of anything asked for if needed. Here are the paypal transactions: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10061-1/Screenshot-AB-5-1stPayment.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10063-1/Screenshot-AB-5-2ndPayment.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10065-1/Screenshot-AB-5-3rdPayment.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10067-1/Screenshot-AB-5-refund.png Note: She mentions that it's $1050 even after fees and isn't including the initial 30% even though I never canceled on her and she had promised me a full refund. However $1665 - $1050 = $615 which was not even the down payment. The down payment was $495 so even if there is some reason that I am not owed the original 30% (which I still have yet to clear up since she has never responded to me about this) she still owes me $120 by her own standards. With fee money included $1665 - $1081 = $584. Which is what I am currently asking for. However if her statement that I do not owe the 30% is true then: $584 - $495 = $89 So, she would still owe me $89. http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10055-1/Screenshot-AB-1.png I was told to cover paypal fees (which is apparently against Paypal's TOS https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/terms-outside ) so I sent her $520 with the first payment to make it even/easier to track how much I still owed. I also paid for her to ship it to me. The receipt she scanned for me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/10072-1/Receipt-AB-6-shipping.png (I blurred out most of my address, the address of another person she mailed something to, and her card info.) And I paid a lot more than that to ship it back to her with tracking and confirmation which was something she failed to do herself. EXPLAIN: Once again, here is a review of the costume I wrote which includes all proof needed of the quality of the product received including pictures, video and e-mails sent and received throughout the process as of March 23rd. http://community.livejournal.com/fursuitreviews/31415.html Also copy pasted here: ----REVIEW START---- I have given this maker an entire year to come clean and fix the problems with this transaction and they haven't, so unfortunately, this is not a positive review. As a DISCLAIMER, this person may have changed their ways since my commission and I have never seen the produce work of this low quality before or after my commission was made. Name of Artist: Surf Cat Costumes/SophieCabra Website: http://surfcatcostumes.com/ Character/species commissioned (link to photo/concept art): Tokkebi Kesaki, a ghost Korean Jindo dog. Here is the concept art: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/1745-1/tokkebikesakicharactersheet.jpg I also included some snapshots of my SL avatar of her (my by my friend, Luper): http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6484-2/Snapshot_003.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6472-2/Snapshot_001.png http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6480-2/Snapshot_002.png (I have more, but you get the idea.) Links to picture(s) of your commissioned item: Currently I have absolutely nothing, and I am down -$584, but this is what I got in the mail last year in February: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7306-1/IMG_5509.jpg Because there is a lot to be said about every other picture I have of it, I'll put them in the appropriate places throughout the review after all the other information has been said. Is the item old or new (if old, how long have you had it/when was it made?) This was made sometime at the end of 2009 but I did not receive it until February 2010. (again this will all be explained below.) --Grade each below aspect on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best)-- Visual Aspect (does it match the concept art? Is it consistent with other items the maker has produced? Is it visually pleasing overall?): 1 Okay first, let me say, this wasn't my first fursuit commission, this was my 5th or 6th fursuit commission so I had had a lot of experience with this at this point. The product did not match the concept art to the degree I had hoped for (to me it doesn't match at all other than colors really), it's not consistent with the other items this person has made, and it came out looking pretty bad overall. Why? I was promised something I did not receive. This commission was originally going to be made by Luskwood and when they stopped taking commissions and I saw Sophie, who used to work for Luskwood had parted off and started her own company I approached her asking if she could do that quality of work for me. I had seen the work she did at Luskwood and it looked good and I had seen the suits she had made on her own at that point and I thought they looked pretty nice! She promised me this quality, she promised me leg padding, eyes that light up, glowing fur, and that she would match my concept art... you know what? here is that part of the original e-mail, no better way of putting it: First E-mail: Ooh. Awesome character. I can totally play around with some glow in the dark effects. I could hopefully even find some transparent glow airbrush paints I could highlight the fur with. The problem would be finding one that went on completely transparent. But I would love to play around with that and experiment beforehand and to see if I could get it to work for your fur. ? Anyhoo, before Luskwood disbanded, I worked with Arito, so I can do the same leg/foot padding system and whatnot. I think for the whole thing (supplies, labor, shipping) I'm going to say $1650." I was excited to hear that she liked the character because usually that means the maker will make a better product when they like the character as well! I was also excited that she promised me all of these things and that she was going to do the glow in the dark stuff as well! Sounded like a dream right? The price was the highest I had ever had at the time but I was willing to pay that much for the promised quality. (All my previous commissions at this time were a lot cheaper, were much higher quality when received and were from big names like B3/Joecifur, JillCostumes, Midori, and Rose Quoll.) Here is my initial response: "Awe, thank you so much. ? I wouldn't really need the fur to glow, but actually it does on the SL avatar my friend made for me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/2228-1/Snapshot_483.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/2232-1/Snapshot_480.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/2222-1/Snapshot_485.jpg Hahaha, so that would be really freaking awesome if you could figure it out. I know that paint from that kotaku link is really good for stuff like that, but I can't remember what it's called. I know Beetlecat used it once on some claws. I can do the 30% paypal deposit. Man, thanks for responding so fast, I asked for quotes from a couple other people and it's been months and no one has responded! Then you finished that Roo head recently and I was like OH DUH everything you made with Arito and the stuff you've made alone seemed to be the best work that came out of Luskwood/in the style I want! I was all emo there for a week about loosing my quote. I got a good price on it, but I don't mind paying more if I am still going to get the same quality. (It wasn't THAT far off from yours. :P) I wouldn't "need" the suit until FC 2010 so anywhere you want to put me in is fine, I am patient. XD Just tell me where to send the money and I'll snag my space! ? Thank you so much!" Well pretty much none of these promised things came out right. The bodysuit didn't fit at all (we made a duct tape dummy), most of the claws on the feet had fallen off, I couldn't see out of the head and it flopped around, it didn't look right, the "glow in the dark" fur was yellow, uneven, and atrocious. There was absolutely no body padding, the eyes didn't glow (there is more on this though, I'll explain this in the service section), there were no teeth, there was black eyebrows on it (character does not have eyebrows), the mouth and nose were uneven, the ears were uneven. There was pretty much flaws with every part of the suit. More on this in the workmanship section with pictures. Service Aspect (Deadlines. Communication. Little extras.):0 I have actually been afraid to post this part because it DID start off wonderful and she was a pleasure to talk to for months of this transaction! Everything seemed to be going great but then several major flaws we're made towards the end. She is also a well known person in the furry fandom and has a lot of friends so saying anything negative about her seemed "awful".. but these are facts, and this is what happened to me. This is long, so I am going to put it under a cut. Most of this was typed last year in April as well. Communication/Deadlines/Shipping: The suit was originally supposed to be done for Halloween or in October. I asked to have WIP photos because I am very particular with how my characters are represented and I never got any WIP pictures, then suddenly I got finished pictures of the suit the week of Halloween but it just didn't look right in the picture and the eyes looked awful to me. It looked wall-eyed and she had worn the bodysuit. I had sent her a duct tape dummy so that the suit would fit me and I was aware Sophie is bigger than me, so it made me kind of irked to see that she had worn the suit because she said it was hard to get into and I was hoping she hadn't stretched it or something like that. Here are those photos: http://www.surfcatcostumes.com/v/costumes/kesaki/ I didn't really like the head shapes and some other nit picky things from the photos but the eyes were the main turn off so I asked her to change the eyes because I was thinking maybe the other stuff looked better in person. I remembered from experiences in the past that some fursuits look like shit in photos, but in person they look really nice. I'd rather have a nice suit, than have it by Halloween! She took 2 months to change the eyes and they still didn't look right. She sent me this picture on December 3rd: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7856-1/eyes1.jpg I asked to see them with the lights on in them since it was the point of them and she sent me this: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7858-1/eyes2.jpg Which looked just as wall-eyed as the last pictures. Also.. why not ever show me the whole head at once? ? She told me she'd change them again, maybe the light effect was just not working out right and she'd replace them with glow in the dark painted blue eyes. She also promised me the suit had body padding and that the whole thing "lit up like a light bulb" before I got it. She finally replaced the eyes again by December 31st and sent me blurry cell phone pictures of it after I requested to see photos instead of her just sending it to me. http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/6943-1/s1.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7239-1/s2.JPG I was tired of dealing with it and I wanted the suit by FC so I asked her to send me the suit because maybe they looked better in person, who knows. She told me she sent it and I waited. On January 11th I realized the suit really should have been there at that point so I asked her if she had tracking info. She evaded the question and said the post office said it would be there by Wednesday. I waited. I e-mailed her on the 14th saying it still wasn't here. She said she'd call the post office on the 15th if it still wasn't there. I told her on the 15th it still wasn't there. She never responded so I waited some more. On the 20th I e-mailed her asking if she had ever contacted the post office. She said: "I called them, got the run around, was told to email them with the receipt number. There's not record of damage, insufficient postage costs, etc. They gave me some BS about being slow after the holidays and this past federal holiday weekend, blah blah blah. I'm calling them again. They filed it as missing as transit, so from what I hear that puts a fire in their asses if it's just sitting around in some office somewhere. It really should be there today. God, I hope. If it is lost, I'd say we allow until the end of Feb to come back and after that I can either remake the costume or begin issuing you a full refund. I am terribly sorry and infuriated this is happening. Let me know if I can do anything else." I said thanks for calling and everything she had done and continued to wait for it.. Throughout all these e-mails I had asked her multiple times if she gotten insurance and tracking info on it and she kept evading my question. On the 25th I still did not have the suit so I sent her this: "Yeah I think it's gone. ? I hope you got a large amount of money claimed for insurance on that. ? I'd feel bad getting a full refund now if you didn't, but I think now I need the money more than a suit. I lost my job on the 15th. X.x GUhhhhh stupid mail!!!! I swear this character is bad luck. The badge that ****** made of her got lost too! >.<" I censored out that artist's name just in case! Yes, a badge of this character got lost as well. We both had been completely friendly with each other up to this point and there had been no problems with each other. I already didn't completely like the suit she had made just from the pictures in the first place so getting her to remake it again seemed pointless (I would've rather just had the money at this point and commissioned the suit from another maker at a later date, especially because I had also just lost my job, and on top of that someone had stolen my identity so I couldn't get my unemployment money either.) She responded: "Went to the post office today with my delivery confirmation and receipt and in person they told me that as far as their records say, it's been delivered. o.o What the post man says he believes this means is that either one of your housemates (if any) accepted the package and never told you, or got a package notice (due to you not being home or it being too big to deliver) in the mail and forgot to give it to you, or the package notice may have gotten lost. Their advice was to have you check with anyone in your house, as well as head to your local post office ASAP. If it's been been sitting in the local USPS for a while, then that's why it's just been lost in transit without response. After a few weeks they will sent it back to me, which the post man told me can take quite a while. If you can check any roommates as well as your local post office as soon as you can, that would be the next best course of action. Please let me know!" I sent back this: "Hi ----, I don't have any housemates and nothing has ever gotten lost in the mail here at all in the past. ? I have received numerous LARGE boxes in the past, too. I just live with my boyfriend and we would've seen it if it got here. I will check the post office tomorrow I guess... ? We haven't gotten any notices. You sent it to *****ADDRESSS****** Right? I'll let you know ASAP what I hear from my post office." I wanted to double check my address because people spell it wrong all the time. Sophie responded: "Yeah, I didn't know if you had any, so I was just passing along info. Anyhoo, try the post office and see. That is the address I sent it to, so hopefully the post office was just being stupid and it's sitting with them." This is when I went to the post office on the 29th of January and e-mailed her this: "The post office says they didn't receive anything at all for me. I had them look all over in the back. Are you sure it was confirmed received?? Was it at a different post office? If you got insurance on the package, you should have a tracking number (according to the person at my post office.) I have a feeling it's lost or... at a different post office? My post office definitely doesn't have it. x.x I don't know why it would be confirmed received if it wasn't in ******." I spent a lot of time down there and they had nothing... This is also where I found out that she DID NOT get insurance or tracking on the suit. On the 30th I was upset so I sent her an e-mail explaining to her why I'd rather have the money than another suit because it seemed to me that it was definitely lost. I spilled my guts, I was stupid, I TOLD HER EVERYTHING that had happened to me up to that point because I was stressing out and so that she wouldn't think I was BSing about wanting the full refund that she had promised instead of another suit. I also asked her if she had actually sent it because it was just too weird that the post office had absolutely no record of it and that I was upset with her for not getting insurance and tracking. I was nice about everything I said in the e-mail. I asked to see the receipt so that if there was any tracking at all I could find it from the receipt. I got back an angry e-mail from her... in which she refused to refund me, but she scanned the receipt. She accused me of receiving the package and not telling her. We both basically got unreasonably mad at each other about the stupid USPS losing the package of the suit I was promised was of good quality. These e-mails are really long and tl;dr so I will leave them out and just put these summaries here. x.x I told her that I would wait 2 months for it to show up, but if it didn't I would still expect a refund to be an option if I didn't want her to remake the suit. On the 31st she e-mailed me back and said she could do the refund.. I'll just copy paste that e-mail, I can't summarize it well. "I firstly want to apologize for accusing you of lying. I was on the defense for being accused as well of something I would never do to a customer. I believe we are both just running a bit of a temper due to a regretful situation that is out of our hands. We both don't know each other personally, so it's easy to assume. It's stressful, but I think we both got any suspicions under the bridge and we can work to fix it. I do think you misunderstood me about the refund. Perhaps I worded it poorly, but I meant that I could not offer you a full refund right this minute. Firstly I really believe that we should wait the two months, and I am grateful you agree. But also I meant that I could not offer the full refund all at once. It would have to be paid back in installments, much like how I accept payment for costumes. As for it showing up in the hopeful case it will, I said in my previous email that I would be glad to change the design a bit so you could sell it without selling your character. I have no problem with offering you that at all. I encourage you, should it come to that, to allow me to do so, since I know my own work more than anyone else would. If it's truly just the head that's the problem, I can remake the head if the costume resurfaces. I still believe that I followed the concept to the best of my ability. But I also understand that the way we all see and interpret art can vary. I don't know if this would be a solution for you, but one thing I've done with previous customers is to sketch their character in my own style and render it out as such. It has been a very successful exercise in the past and I think it might work for you. Basically I would email you a bunch of sketches and you can pick and choose what you'd like. Anyways, I believe patience is our biggest ally right now and all we can do is hope it shows up. I am still going to be hawking around on the USPS phonelines until I've gotten an answer. Despite not having on-site tracking, USPS does track all packages in their own system, all I have to do is find someone on the phone that is willing to let me know what their systems are saying. I do not know why they would have told me it's delivered if it was not, but I know that I can find out somehow. It's a government agency and it is a bureaucratic mess to navigate. I will get answers, however, and I will pass them along to you as soon as I have some. Hope you are well and at ease at least a little bit," I explained to her all the things I would want changed if she wanted to remake the suit head (this was before I knew of the actual quality I would receive in the mail.) I thought only the head was a problem at this point, so it all seemed reasonable. Lots of time passed. On February 6th the suit miraculously shows up. The suit was the most terribly crafted suit I have ever had in my own possession. NONE of those things I was promised were on it. The whole suit was crammed into a huge box with no packing material at all as well... I told her my honest opinion on everything including pictures like I have posted here. Her response: "All right, send it back to me. Once I get it in hand I'll start issuing a refund in installments to be completed by Aug 1st. I will sell the costume off myself." On top of this I was told she was writing snarky posts about me on her LJ this whole time! I did not see them myself but people told had me about them. ? I never had any "buyer's remorse" for the suit I EXPECTED to get, the product I received was just NOT WHAT I BOUGHT AT ALL. There was no body padding, the eyes didn't glow, it didn't match my art, it was not Luskwood quality..etc.etc.etc. I'd be perfectly happy if I had gotten what I had commissioned. Anyways, you can see why I was not pleased with the amount of money I paid. Manda did not cost anywhere near that much and is MUCH MUCH higher quality..and she fits me, I also never sent Joe a duct tape dummy either, he just did it right with nothing but measurements and she still fit me. Licorice and Cricket were even cheaper and are just as high of a quality as Manda. Pierah was cheap as hell and much better quality, my "secret" suit is obviously higher quality and extremely cheap, same goes for Sync and none of them cost anywhere near this much. I was expecting the quality I had gotten in the past from other makers but with everything promised. I sent it back to her as soon as I could after getting back and asked her to tell me when she got it. I paid an extra $65 total to ship it and to get tracking and insurance on it (I will never get that back, but I knew that!) I just wanted to send it back to her right. It got back in a timely manor. I expected installments of payment like I was promised because she had said she didn't have the money so I agreed to have it by August 1st. I sent this to her on March 2nd because she hadn't told me she got it yet: "Hi, ----! I am just checking in, did you receive the suit yet? I sent it with insurance and tracking on the 18th, but the USPS website is giving me errors when I put the tracking number in. (Can anything with them ever work right?) Anyways, if you didn't get it yet, I am going to go down to the post office and figure out if they messed up their system or something. Thanks!" She never responded to it. So I sent this on March 18th. "Hey, just checking again since I never got a response back before. I just want to make sure everything gets there. Thanks," She responded: "Hey, I got your box. No worries." I never got any payment installments as promised but I randomly got most of it back on April 18th. This suit or.. lack there of.. THIS EXPERIENCE cost me: $584 + the money I spent to send it back to her.. and whatever I paid to send her a duct tape dummy which I doubt she used. I e-mailed her about this remaining money and she never responded. I e-mailed her again last month giving her an ultimatum, she sends the money back but the end of March or I go to court. I am hoping I won't have to go to court, but what's done is done. TL;DR: She didn't meet the deadline, the eyes never looked right, she promised me she could do something she obviously couldn't (make glowing eyes like my art), it got lost in the mail, she didn't put tracking on it, I asked for a refund when I got a bad product, she refused, she finally paid me back most of it, she still owes me money a year later and has about a week to pay me back before I go to small claims court. Workmanship Aspect (Is the sewing neat? Are things that should be sewn glued or vise versa? Does it fit? Has anything fallen off yet that shouldn’t have):1 Now to explain everything individually... First off, not fitting. I sent her a duct tape dummy so you'd think it fit? I don't know how she made it on it but it seemed to fit her pretty well: http://surfcatcostumes.com/v/costumes/kesaki/IMG_0915.JPG.html Here it is on me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7306-1/IMG_5509.jpg (ignore my hair popping out.) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7280-1/IMG_5522.jpg (There was no leg padding.) Here it is with a pair of pants on top to show just how baggy it was on me: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7898-2/IMG_5594.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7882-2/IMG_5592.JPG It had some strange crotch bunching thing going on in the front: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7296-1/IMG_5514.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7290-1/IMG_5517.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7890-2/IMG_5596.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7886-2/IMG_5595.JPG The fur was full of weird stuff that had collected in it: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7870-2/IMG_5591.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7926-2/IMG_5576.JPG (oh look foam!) And loose threads all over on the inside, this is the hole the tail was supposed to go through: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7878-2/IMG_5588.JPG With the belt as tight as possible, this is how the tail help up: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7288-1/IMG_5520.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7286-1/IMG_5519.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7282-1/IMG_5521.jpg Oh yeah.. and for some reason you could see my divesuit through the fur? It must've had thin backing or something I remember it being scratchy, I don't know where it was from though. The glow in the dark paint glowed, not blue, nor white, and it was splattered on unevenly and looked gross glowing, I have a video of this but I am unsure of where to upload it.. (I don't want it on youtube.) Okay so second, not looking right. Why didn't I do something about this before? Well It looked "okay" in the pictures on her. I was "eh" about the eyebrows and some facial shape things but it's white and white never photographs well so I figured I wanted to see it with my own eyes before forming a solid opinion on asking for anymore changes (also, I had already had her replace the eyes 2 times when she showed me the pictures of it all together and it took her and extra 2 or 3 months to change the eyes.) So here are those things, first off the feet: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7308-1/IMG_5510.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7304-1/IMG_5512.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7302-1/IMG_5511.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7298-1/IMG_5513.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7270-1/IMG_5531.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7958-2/IMG_5571.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7966-2/IMG_5569.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7994-2/IMG_5568.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8006-2/IMG_5554.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8014-2/IMG_5553.JPG (mysterious shoe) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8010-2/IMG_5555.JPG (strange holes in the bottom?) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8018-2/IMG_5551.JPG (scale, next to a DS Lite, they were huge, I couldn't barely fit through the door wearing them actually.) A lot of the claws had fallen off in the mail, they were painted blue and left unfinished so there was fur, foam and dirt/dust stuck all over them, they were also shaped very elephant like, and not dog like at all. There claws that were left attached were loose and the ones that weren't, I found loose in the box but there was one I never found.. which means it fell off before the suit was sent? I know my concept art has chunky legs but she still has a foot in it and this is definitely not how I imagined, I was thinking more like this suit made by Luskwood (quality I was promised and paid for once again): http://luskwood.org/costume/gallery/canines/nataliecevichelimahusky/1 http://luskwood.org/costume/gallery/canines/keovi/2 http://luskwood.org/gallery/costumes/canines/keovi/keovi3.jpg I already mentioned the claws issues so here are some more pictures of that and the hand paws: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7950-2/IMG_5573.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7962-2/IMG_5572.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7970-2/IMG_5570.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8038-2/IMG_5556.JPG The Nose: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7284-1/IMG_5523.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7274-1/IMG_5525.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7998-2/IMG_5565.JPG (loose hot glue on the felt) http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7978-2/IMG_5564.JPG It was very flat and had an outline around it which is something I personally just don't really like the look of on most suits. Does not look like the art. The Eyes: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7278-1/IMG_5526.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7990-2/IMG_5567.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8002-2/IMG_5566.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8030-2/IMG_5560.JPG Slapped on, falling off at parts, covered in scratches and at this point I had thought they were just glow in the dark (not EL wire anymore like originally promised because the first couple attempts at this had come out looking very wrong), but they weren't even glow in the dark and I could actually look through them because of how the head fit on my head. I had to look through the mouth. The Mouth being un-even and the lack of teeth: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7974-2/IMG_5563.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7986-2/IMG_5562.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7982-2/IMG_5561.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8026-2/IMG_5559.JPG http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7276-1/IMG_5524.jpg http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/7268-1/IMG_5527.jpg The Tail back: http://www.synchrastudios.com/gallery/d/8042-2/IMG_5557.JPG This was just messy, and strange for what it was supposed to be. I feel like I am leaving things out. I don't know, anyone who was at my house when this thing was received knows this was just NOT a top quality suit, it was somehow worse in person. (A lot of friends were over when this came in the mail, my excitement quickly died when I opened the box.) Describe your Experience. Pros, Cons, Comments: Well I pretty much described it all already. This was an extremely negative experience for me. I have waited almost an entire year for this thing to be resolved and she has made no attempt to refund me the remaining money, next month it'd be a year, and I am tired of waiting in silence. By law, because I have absolutely NO PRODUCT, and I DID NOT cancel on her while she was in process, she owes me ALL of my money. On top of this, I have not seen her resell the suit.. so I assume it's still at her house or.. possibly in the trash? I don't know. I have put off posting anything "publicly" about this because I didn't want to start a bunch of e-drama and because I was hoping keeping it out of the light would help to keep a nice neutral relationship between me and Sophie so that we could solve things in a calm and fair fashion but now that she isn't responding to me at all, it's public. Final Grade (out of 5): 0 EDIT: Figured out how to upload videos to youtube so that they can only be seen when linked or something! So, I hope these work. These were filmed last year in February right after getting the suit. This is the "glow". Impossible to photograph, hard to video tape, but this is as good as it gets to convey the issues with it. Show media This one speaks for itself. ----REVIEW END---- An update on what has happened since then: I have received no response whatsoever from her and am in the process of settling this legally now. She has failed to respond to me in any way through all the conventional methods I have tried. Yesterday I noticed she had been active on Furaffinity so I attempted to contact her through the website (which I had never tried before) and received the response that I had been blocked. The fact that she has blocked me on a website where I have never once been rude to her or attempted to contact her before on leads me to believe that she is refusing to cooperate with me instead of just neglecting to check her e-mail addresses. I had a "demand letter" written up which is being sent on Monday. (I waited until Monday because April 1st is well.. April 1st and I wanted this to be taken seriously.) I have been researching and talking to people for the last month or two about small claims suits and finding out everything I need to do. I have asked her to explain her side of the story with no response. If there is something I missed, or am doing wrong, I want to hear it because I will admit my faults if there is some valid reason or something I missed. With nothing work off of on her end, I can only go with what I know and have on my own end. I saved every e-mail and record of transaction with her and have all the evidence I need for court however. Once again, I was never given ToS so I cannot share that with you either, I can just go on what I know.

Nov. 30th, 2012 at 7:44 PM WHO: She goes by Vanyabear http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vanyabear/ Dymitry http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dymitri and her old name was Shwee http://www.furaffinity.net/user/shwee WHERE: I commissioned her on fa through her vanyabear account http://www.furaffinity.net/user/vanyabear/ WHAT: I bought two badges off of her when she was having a sale, they were traditional badges laminated with clip. She started deleting all of her submissions after I bought them though so no screencap. WHEN: I paid for the badges August 29th 2012. PROOF: Paypal payment http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyapaypal.jpg EXPLAIN: I contacted vanya on one of her submissions during a sale for badges she was having and paid for the badges August 29th later that night. She posted on my page pictures to the badges the next day. Aug 30th. http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyascreenshot.png Shortly after she posted them to my page she deleted them from her gallery. The pictures were of two finished, laminated badges of my characters though. Two and a half weeks went by and I sent her a simple and friendly shout asking if she had shipped the badges. She replied with this http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyascreenshot2.png Sept 19th The journal she is talking about she deleted less than two days later. The end of the month came and went, and a month after the last shout I sent her another asking again if she had sent the badges yet. She replied on October 18th http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyascreenshot3.png saying that she would have them out the NEXT DAY. I didn't get the badges in the mail so I asked her again this time I was getting impatient because I wanted the badges for a convention on November 3rd. October 26th http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyascreenshot3.png She told me to read the journal she posted, which said that she just had a minor surgery and was in the hospital for a couple days. Now I understand that she wasn't feeling well but at this point I had already waited 2 months for these badges and she had no excuse for the previous delays. At this point she had explained in her surgery journal that she was too broke+busy+sick to do anything. She then posted this journal begging money and commissions for a dildo from bad dragon Oct 30th http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyadildo.png I felt I had to ask her again when my badges would be shipped. She was already taking on new commissions but she didn't have the time to ship out one envelope. I then threatened to post her here on Artists Beware. She said she was shipping the badges with a refund as soon as she could make it to the post office. Another month had come and gone and I never received anything from Vanya. Then on Nov 27th she posts this http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyagoodbye.png She took the time to go through and delete all of her submissions, journals, shouts and favorites and all out abandoned her account. On the Journal two other people beside myself commented asking "what about our refunds?" So I started talking to other people who had commissioned her. She left every single one of us without a way to contact her and never refunded anyone. The next day Nov 28th the account that she had "given" to her "friend" posted a shout http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/dymitripost.png I won't lie, I don't believe for an instant that she gave away her character and her brand new fursuit to anyone. I sent her "friend" a note asking if there was anyways to contact her. http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/dymitriexplain.png They tell me that Vanya is without internet and that is why she is no longer online. Yet I still see her posting updates on facebook http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyafbshot.png There are also no posts at all about her having a surgery on facebook and it's pretty obvious that she is still the owner of her Demitri character. All I can say is stay as far away from this person as possible. She owes money to so many people and I am surprised she has never been posted on here before. I never received my badges or any sort of refund or even an apology. UPDATE: She did send me a refund for the badges on the 11th of December but today(Dec 14th)she sent me an email calling me a stalker http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyaemail_zpsadc17d72.png even though all these screen caps were all directed at me or were posted publicly. I had hope for her when I saw that she posted her suit up for sale to pay back all the money she owes, but then a friend linked me this http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k305/Wahaneta/vanyafurbuylie_zps6f5e147a.png Apparently she plans on spending all the money for refunds on a new $800 suit when she is only selling hers for $700. Needless to say after the whole experience with her I hope to never hear from her again and I wish the best for the other people she owes money to.

Nov. 4th, 2012 at 4:06 PM I never thought I'd find myself posting here, it's a really disappointing feeling. WHO: Eccentricpaw WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/eccentricpaw/ WHAT: Trade. I did a digital piece in exchange for a perler bead badge. WHEN: 3 months ago was when the trade was completed. PROOF: EXPLAIN: I saw Eccentricpaw doing these really cute perler bead badges, so I approached him asking if he would do an art trade for one, you can see this in the comments here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8373278/ We agreed, and so the trade was set up. They completed their half 24 days after the agreed date, their finished half can be seen here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8563657/ Four days after they post their half, mine is finished and posted, and can be viewed here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8591153/ Shipping was discussed shortly afterward, Eccentricpaw asked me for $2 to cover shipping, and so I sent that their way. The paypal screenshot can be seen at the bottom of the "proof" picture. Then all the problems came. Excuses, claims of a lost package, etc were made. I'm not sure if they forgot I had paid them for the shipping in the first place or not, because in that last message they said they didn't have the money to get it sent out, despite me paying for it. I was going to wait and see if the package would arrive after that last note, but at this point I am just so angry and bitter about the situation that I just went ahead and created a beware. I understand Eccentric was having trouble finding a home and had financial issues on their plate, however to my knowledge they had a month or two to get my half sent out before that occurred. Handing me the badge at MFF? I'd be furious! I paid for you to send it to me, not wait over four months to have it in my hands. They're starting a new fursuit business from what I heard, I really hope they give better customer service to those who plan to commission them than how they dealt with my badge. I am extremely unhappy, disappointed and stressed out with how this whole event unfolded.

Oct. 16th, 2012 at 5:58 PM violet_foxx WHO: lightningvampirewolf WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lightningvampirewolf/ WHAT: a pair of fursuit ears WHEN: August 22nd initial contact and money sent EXPLAIN: Never received items or any proof they were worked on or shipped. Initial contact: August 22nd (Highlighted my words in blue, her words in pink.) Agreement on how much will be paid: August 22nd Proof of payment: August 22nd I asked when they will be completed: August 24th. They said Tuesday which would be August 28th. August 29th, asking for an update. September 3rd, asking for another update. September 13th, after FA came back up, I ask for proof or a refund. No response for a while, but I get this. September 30th, still haven't received anything. September 30th, still no pictures. October 9th, ask for refund, still no real proof. I got pictures of some foamed ears but they also conveniently had another pair of foamed ears just lying around, so I highly suspect the foamed ears are just the ones "lying around". No contact has been made since then, I've never received a tracking number or any pictures, and I've opened a dispute, with no contact back from the seller. I'm going to escalate it to a claim. I wouldn't advise commissioning this person for anything. Edit: 10/22/12 still haven't received anything in the mail, no tracking number, no pictures, no contact. Edit: 10/29/12 PayPal resolved the dispute in my favor and I have been refunded the full $38. Edit: 5/5/14 screenshot of LightningVampireWolf offering art as compensation on 12/6/12, after the refund. I declined, and no art was received.

In 2018, I approached Sparkles about getting a fursuit commission from her. For various reasons, this fell through, but I did ask if she made custom plushes instead. She seemed to be excited at the idea and we quickly set to work planning it out. On May 5th, 2018, satisfied that what we'd planned was something we were both happy with, I sent Sparkles £200 to cover the entire cost of the commission. I was told I would get regular updates on the commission progress, but that it would take a few months to finish. Over the course of the next year, I would ask about the progress of the plush, and was told she'd had difficulties finding materials, and that she had a lot of commissions to work throigh and was working through her backlog slowly. We didn't only discuss the commission, as we were friends, and at this point in time I wasn't particularly concerned. On March 19th, I finally heard back from her in regards to the plush - I was next in line to be finished after another she was working on. I was told work would begin in the next month or so. I heard practically nothing about the plush after this, until I reached out between August 31st 2019 and October 10th 2019. She finally responded on October 28th to apologise for the delay. I offered the possibility of a partial refund, but she seemed to prefer trying to finish the plush, though she didn't rule a refund out. In January of 2020, my housing situation took a turn and I ended up having to ask Sparkles if she could refund me asap to help me out in the interrim. She agreed, and said she'd get it together in the next few weeks - but I never received anything. By April, my housing situation was a lot better, and I let her know the refund was no longer as urgent. However, I continued to ask her about the status of getring the funds together. For a while, she left my messages unread, including an FA note, though she finally responded on July 6th 2020, apologised and told me she'd lost my messages in the midst of her telegram being busy. I wss told the refund would be sorted out in the next few weeks. As of writing, this was the last day I received any correspondece from Sparkles. I continued messaging her about the refund, and shd has left my messages unread since then. in the end, I told her that all I wanted was closure - that I figured I would not see this money again, and that I just wanted to have her tell me as much. I have heard nothing back from her.

This happened back in 2017. I only recently learned that this website exists, so I decided to share my story. But first, a brief trip 2 years earlier, to 2015. Back in 2015, I ordered a hoodie from Dalmy for $80, and it was delivered a few months later at Anthrocon 2015 with no issues. Fantastic. 2 years later, in 2017, I placed an order for a second hoodie from him, but the price had jumped to $200. Okay, no problem. I paid him in person at his Dealer Table at Anthro New England 2017 and was told verbally that the lead time would be 2-3 weeks. Here is the line item from American Express’s website and the email receipt from Square: On February 6, 2018, I sent a note via the form at http://www.dalmydodatcreations.com/contact/ inquiring about current status of hoodie. I have no record of receiving a reply. On March 1st, 2017, I emailed a note to [email protected] asking about the hoodie. 3 days later, I got a bounce back: On March 9th, 2017, I pinged Dalmy on Telegram with my measurements, did not receive a response. I do not believe the Telegram name is public, so I probably should not share a screenshot as per this website’s guidelines. On March 11th, 2017, I checked his Twitter feed and saw that he posted a video on February 21st, 2017 that he would be shutting down. I replied to his tweet inquiring about my commission, and he assured me that my commission would still be completed: Source: https://archive.vn/DcR1j The refund form referenced was here: http://archive.is/nvm9Q This was the followup email I also sent on March 11th, 2017: I did not get a reply. Strangely enough, 5 months later on July 26th 2017, he posted that he was taking a fursuit commission for a minimum of $1600: Source: http://archive.is/RmLAS He then went on to say that it would be his “final commission” “for the foreseeable future”, which contradicts his previous statement to me that my commission would be completed: Source: http://archive.is/etfFJ On September 24th, 2017, I sent him a DM in inquiring about a refund and on October 25th, 2017 he replied asking for the "SquareCash information” so he could refund me. I replied on the same day with the email address the statement had been sent to. 1 month later on November 26th, I followed up again, asking about the refund. No answer was received. Screenshot of that conversation: I originally paid in person with my AmEx, the window in which to file a chargeback is approximately 60 days from when the charge appears on my statement, so we were well past that point. I have written off the $200 as a loss.

I have never written a Beware before. I didn’t even want to make this one, but this is completely unacceptable and future buyers should be aware. This is a small time fursuit maker by the name of Majeste. Back on June 23rd 2020, I purchased a custom set of puffy paws with claws after having talked details of the design and other pertinent information. I was quoted $190 and paid the full $190. Remember that price was QUOTED TO ME, because it will be relevant later on. Majeste, at first, I had no issues with. The paws were going to take a little while and that was fine, that had already been established up front. The design of the paws was reviewed and I picked out my fur and minky fabrics that would be used to make these paws. I was under the impression that the fabrics that I chose WITH Majeste’s help would be the exact furs ordered and used on my paws. I don’t get any updates for a couple weeks, which again, is fine, I was aware of the time frame for paws turnaround. However, the issue comes in when Majeste sends me a WIP photo. I could see the backing of the pink minky looked strange, textured, but I don’t sew, I don’t work with materials, so I didn’t know. I wasn’t concerned at this point. I had no reason to believe the fabric was not the fabric I chose. The next photo I received was of one finished paw. This is where the major issue comes into play: the minky on the paws was NOT the minky I had chosen/agreed upon when the order for the paws was placed. I had been given no prior indication of this change. At first, I sort of glossed over it. It was devastated, but I didn’t want to become a nightmare customer or cause issues. I assumed Majeste would have a solution in mind. Majeste did not at all offer to fix the problem up front, she did not even address it until I did first. As if it was no issue. I still wanted my paws, but I was extremely unhappy. I paid for a service and product, and neither was delivered as promised/agreed upon. I paid $190 for paws the way they had been discussed, not with a change in minky. I will admit, I became more agitated and less willing to accept this work as the conversation went on. At this point, I did not want to prolong the wait time, and I did not want to be treated as an inconvenience. I suggested upgraded shipping as a fair means of coming to a resolution. Majeste would have to make no refund, no alterations - simply mail the paws with an upgraded shipping method. This is where she becomes extremely aggressive with me. She tries to have me pay MORE to even FIX the paws in the first place, otherwise they won’t be fixed. She tells ME that MY behavior is unacceptable and tells me I’m scamming her. Scamming her after I had already paid the $190 for my paws. Right. She continues, saying she already discounted my paws (I never asked for any discount, Majeste herself quoted me the price of $190 from the get go, as mentioned earlier) and if I want things to be “fair”, I’ll pay the difference of her “usual” paw price and she’ll fix them. Needless to say, I was extremely upset by this interaction. As a paying customer, I felt completely sidelined and overall unhappy with the finished result of my custom made product. Now, I’m going to have to have these fixed myself. In the end, Majeste did ship them and provide a tracking number to me. I do not have the paws in my hands as of writing this, but I would like to update based on the quality of the paws I do receive. There are LOTS of screenshots, as this is the entire conversation as it took place on Amino. Please. Proceed with extreme caution if you are considering working with Maj-Mania749. Attached are all the screenshots of every interaction I had with Majeste. I included everything, even the conversation bits, so there’s nothing lost and all context is there. Hopefully it’s all in order!

In April of 2015 a brand of designer underwear with a hole for allowing a tail as to be worn with a fursuit was advertised. This brand was called Fursace. It seemed pretty legit at the time and so I pre-ordered a pair. Things were looking good, as an email announcing the beginning of shipping came about a month later. I looked forward to receiving my undergarments soon after. At this time they requested an additional $10 for shipping, which I thought was strange but I was okay with it at the time. Unfortunately a couple of months passed, no underwear, and then finally I received an email about delays with a bunch of excuses. I was sympathetic though, and decided to give them a chance, believing they would come through in the end. A few more months went by, no underwear. In mid December, I received yet another email with even more excuses and apologies, and a plea for people to not file PayPal disputes because they were DEFINITELY going to send out their product if people have them a chance because their PayPal account had been rendered unusable. Again I gave them the benefit of the doubt, something I now regret doing. They promised to work on getting orders out and that they would be waiving the $10 shipping fee (which I had already paid), but I never even got a refund on that. About a month passed and there was no word, and so I sent a DM through twitter. It went completely ignored. Then I made some tweets about the issue a couple years later and finally got a response in DM. We had a discussion and Dalmy said that they were rebranding and would be issuing refunds for Fursace once they finished with releasing the new line of apparel, now called Maul Apparel. I wasn't happy with this, but they wouldn't budge, so I just had to wait. I waited 5 months and sent another DM, which was completely ignored, and all current attempts to contact them about this issue in any way has been ignored. I really just want my refund, and for everyone else who never got their products to be refunded. But if I could get mine, I would say I am satisfied.