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BUYERS BEWARE!!! I can finally make this post as the bank closed the cases in my favor... AVOID THE MAKER SPLOOTSUITS! I commissioned them for a head and bodysuit at MFF last year, in the amount of $1340. They only communicated once every few months, and would never provide any WIPs or actual updates to progress! Finally, they tried saying they would deliver the head in person through an unnamed 'friend' at AC, on July 8th, nearly 8 MONTHS later! Still, they would not send any updates, and when the suit never arrived, they made excuses to get out of any blame. Finally, after trying to resolve with them (to no response), I had to go through my bank, a nearly 2 month process of not knowing whether my hard earned money would come back. SO PLEASE do not commission or buy from @ Splootsuits. They will more than likely do the same to you. I hate having to make a post like this, but I feel like it is necessary. Above is the post I made onto my Twitter account, sharing this information before I learned of this website. I have attached a couple screenshots for this case. The two telegram screenshots are of the last few messages I sent to the seller. In addition is part of their excuse, their last message to me before their final loss of contact. In total, out of 8 months of waiting, I was only in contact for a total of 4 to 6 days interspersed within that timeframe. Finally, the last image is from my bank, showing the completed credits back to my account after all of these issues. These credits were officially added back today (Sept. 8th), as they were provisional during the time of the investigation.

Jun. 12th, 2012 at 4:37 AM pyeklet WHO: Akemi/Flarveon/Poppy Pandacoon WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/flarveon/ WHAT: I asked her to make a tail for me and paid $30 in cash, this commission was taken in person so I have no digital proof of the transaction. WHEN: In around March last year I asked Akemi to make me a tail at a local coffee meet and paid her in cash. I told her the details and showed references from my FA page. I asked if it could be done by FurDU, a convention on the Gold Coast in Australia, which was at the end of April. She agreed that she could have it done by that time. I didn't ask her about it for some time even after the deadline passed, nor did I have any contact from her about it, I'm quite a patient person. I was the first to initiate contact again via PM in May of last year at which time she stated she had received the wrong fur and offered me a refund, which I accepted. She said it would be in my account the following Wednesday but then sent a PM almost a week later saying that she couldn't pay. I said that it was fine and I understood. There was no further contact on this matter until November last year when I again asked about my refund, this time over FA notes. She said she couldn't pay me because she had to put it towards bond and only gets paid fortnightly but would pay me the next time she was paid. I said I would contact her in a week but I didn't feel comfortable, I was following her journals at the time about her moving and I felt that if I contacted her again I would just get another run around. Finally in March this year I told her not to worry about the refund, I had seen her journals about needing surgery so I thought it might help her out and I didn't feel like flogging a dead horse any longer. PROOF: EXPLAIN: I did resolve this issue I suppose, by giving up (never got a note back after that final one btw although it was read). It was annoying that she owed me money but was taking commissions, selling suits, working and BUYING commissions (and a new Artslave suit recently?) but didn't have $30 to pay me.

So initially I commissioned them in April for a head base to be finished. It needed a nose, eyes, ears, and fur. We moved to telegram from here on and that’s when problems began to arise. They didn’t contact me at all until June when I asked about ventilation Bc of my health issues. I had to initiate the conversation. She promised me Tomu would be done in time for megaplex since she had since April. And it was a Premade base. Little did I know I was a ‘weekend’ project. Which I wasn’t told until I looked at their Trello. I began to text more frequently since, as you can see, I got little to no communication until July. And they hadn’t done a thing. This was when I realized Tomu would not be done. And I would have to wait. So eventually I decided to ask about a refund. Little did I know their financial issues were of their own doing. They used my commission money for non-commission related things. So In the span of 4 months all she had for me was a nose. They told me they didn’t even have the fur for my fursuit. Which I don’t understand as I paid them in April and this is in August. So where did my money go? I got rather upset when I saw her posting about me. So I finally set my foot down. After six months of torturous waiting and run around. I They began to ‘warn’ people about me. And that’s when I blocked and moved on when I got my money back. I got $700 out of the $800 I paid. Anyway we came to somewhat of an agreement. Until I finally began reading people who are to this day still awaiting refunds. Years of waiting. So I did a chargeback.

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.

I decided to write this review of my experience with Furfancy costumes, after my paypal case has finally closed. I feel it's important to share my experience so other people might not end up in my situation, and I hope that Furfancy will learn from their mistakes and improve on their customer service and communication skills in the future. A little background information that goes before the situation that in the end led to a Paypal chargeback of 373$. I have previously commissioned Furfancy for 2 of her big cat expanding foam bases. These two bases were commissioned 10/10 2017 and 14/1 2018. Both bases were in perfect condition upon arrival and I was very happy with the quality and looks of these bases. However, I did have some communication issues with Furfancy during this time (lack of updates, slow to no responses) and it took about 1 month before the bases were shipped out. I have described this more in detail in the overview timeline I’m posting after this section. At the time I didn’t think too much about it but it did worry me a bit, but since I in the end did get my product and I was happy about it I wanted to commission them again when they offered more bases for sale through Twitter summer 2018, and this is where things went terribly wrong. Furfancy foam base issue timeline 10/10 2017 - Ordering 1 foam base 23/10 2017 - Asking for updates (no response) 2/11 2017 - Asking for updates (no response) 3/11 2017 - Gets answer from Furfancy 10/11 2017 - Contacts to confirm shipping 11/11 2017 - Shipping confirmed 23/11 2017 - Base arrives 14/1 2018 - Ordering second foam base 1/2 2018 - Asking if the base has been shipped 3/2 2018 - Get a picture of the base in a box 5/2 2018 - Base gets shipped 13/2 2018 - Base arrives 19/7 2018 - Ordering 2 foam bases 31/7 2018 - Contacting to ask if they have received payment. It gets confirmed its recieved. 6/9 2018 - Asking for update and ordering an extra additional base. Also pay more shipping for all 3 bases to be shipped together 19/11 2019 - Asking for update (no response) 20/11 2018 - Asking for update again (no response) 29/11 2018 - Asking for refund (no response) 3/12 2018 - Asking for refund again. Tries to work out a private payment plan with first payment in January. 5/1 2019 - Contact seller asking for status of refund (no response) 6/1 2019 - Contacting again because no response (still no response) 8/1 2019 - Doing a PayPal dispute and first here do I get an reaction 11/1 2019 - Pushes for a PayPal claim due to no response on the dispute 21/1 2019 - Paypal closes the case, ruling in my favour due to Furancy failing to respond or provide additional proof regarding the transaction. Now, I am terrible sorry this had to go this way, but I am very unhappy with how this business transaction has been treated. I have attached the entire conversation which took place on Telegram as proof of my statements. Sadly I have friends who had similar experience as me, although they either didn't get their items all together or they arrived damaged. While it's not my place to speak their case, their experiences combined and my own I felt I had to speak up about this issue. The only reason I pushed the Paypal case was because my 180 days buyer protection was running out. It was around 170 days past when I made the dispute and with failing communication or any sign of a refund I decided to go through with it while I still had a chance to get my money back. Furfancy has a super adorable style, I love their suits and I admire the craftsmanship. But as a professional I had expected more and better communication and customer service. I felt I was often left in the dark and felt forced to ask for any updates (both product wise and shipping wise) and that should be communicated better from Furfancy. This is not an attack on their person (I don’t know them) but it's a critique of their lacking professionalism as a business. Pictures of the conversation below. Please note the dates.

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.

Dec. 19th, 2011 at 5:57 PM lichdog WHO: 2chaotic WHERE: IndyFurCon 2011, WHAT: a custom tail of my personal character WHEN: It was the Sunday of that con, on August 14th. PROOF: Business was done in person at the Dealer's room. EXPLAIN: So I was scouting the dealer's room that Sunday to make some last minute shopping when the artist in question approached me with the pickup line "You need a tail". I figured why not, and began talking to him. We flex the details out and he asks me for the payment of $40. So I run to the ATM, grab the cash and pay him promptly. I ask for contact info and give him mine, since it was definitely going to be homework. So 10 days later on FA, I send him this note: I checked my notebox for a few days, nothing. Waited a little more, saw he read it, but hadn't responded to it. About 2 weeks later I send this: I could sympathize with what he had to say and told him in return, "Ahh okay! Thanks for lettin' me know! If you could, please shoot me a note when ya get to work on mine, if ya can!". So I went back to playing the waiting game. Decided to poke him again at the beginning of November: Same tune, different instrument. He read that final note, but never sent me back anything in regards to my commission specifically. A few weeks later, he posts this journal (I screencapped it in case he deletes it). At that point I was pretty peeved, Notice how he has other outstanding commissioners also wondering about their commissions. I held off for a bit before posting this entry, was hoping he'd respond to my comment, maybe even in notes, but nothing came of it. ? so I shot him a note earlier asking for a refund. Which may have been a jerk move considering it's the holiday season, but I'm really sick of this lack of professionalism. ?

Nov. 9th, 2011 at 7:14 PM seaweed_fma WHO: Tailbiteryena WHERE: This is the link to the head she was offering: http://fursuitauctions.livejournal.com/2218735.html WHAT: Fursuit head and tail, an Oshawott like character. WHEN: The "auction" began and ended on October 24th, 2011. PROOF: http://fursuitauctions.livejournal.com/2218735.html (same link as above) that is the post where she offered the head. I was the first one to take her up on the offer, so she closed the auction. That link included a post I made almost a week ago asking about a tracking number. I have sent her several private messages over LJ and have not gotten anything back. Some screenshots: That was the first message I sent them the first night they offered the head This is the one response I had from them and my response with my address (blocked out of course) Three messages I sent, 2 weeks ago, 1 week ago, and then tonight, trying to get some information on the head. The paypal screen that shows that I sent the 70 bucks, 50 for the head and tail and 20 for shipping (which I thought was way too much but I wasn't about to argue too much about it) EXPLAIN: Honestly there isn't too much to say. I spoke with the person the night that they offered the head, but I have not heard from them afterwards. I know they said that they were moving and that was why they wanted to money that night, so I sent them the money that night, because they wanted to send it before they moved. This is the first time I have posted here, so I hope that everything is correct here. I am not here to badmouth this person, I just want my head that I paid for, that is all...

Nov. 7th, 2011 at 9:21 AM crssafox WHO: FuziBuni WHERE: http://fursuitauctions.livejournal.com/2166964.html (original post is screen capped in case of deletion or editing) WHAT: A large remnant of golden coyote faux fur - when received, it had a very heavy distinctly animal smell to it. WHEN: Early October (currently ongoing) PROOF: I got no reply after this email, so I posted a comment in the original LJ post, since I'd seen she'd been active on LJ and FA, hoping she'd get that. I still got no response, so I sent another e-mail. EXPLAIN: I bought a large remnant of faux fur from close to retail price from FuziBuni earlier in October, with the intent of using it to make tails for sale. October is usually incredibly busy for me sales-wise, and I'm always getting asked for wolf tails, so when I saw FuziBuni was selling some fabric I had been eyeballing over at I'm Stuffed, I decided to help her clear out her closet and make a little extra cash. When I received the box, immediately upon opening there was a heavy animal odor. Upon inspection, the odor was coming from the fabric itself. I let the fabric sit outside on my patio table for a while to air out, and later asked both my husband and my roommate if they could detect the odor as well, since I sometimes have a sensitive nose and I wanted to be sure it wasn't something that just I could smell. They agreed there was definitely an animal scent, so I made attempts at cleaning the fur, including washing in a side-loading washing machine (twice), dousing with Nature's Miracle cat formula, air-drying in the dryer, and letting it hang outdoors to try and air out there. It still maintains the smell. I e-mailed FuziBuni after all of my attempts to remove the odor, but didn't receive a reply. The next day I posted a comment in the original fursuit_auctions thread to notify her that I'd sent her an e-mail, and still got no reply. Finally, I sent her a second e-mail and told her that if I heard nothing back, I would be opening a PayPal dispute, and finally heard back from her. She claimed to have no idea how the scent could have gotten onto the fabric, and suggested it may have been sprayed by a cat while in transit. (I had her ship it to my public address, at a shipping store that receives packages for me so they don't sit outside, so unless a cat got into a postal warehouse or onto a truck, I don't see how this would have been possible.) I replied to let her know that, because of the odor, I feel the fabric is not usable for me, since my intent had been to create new-for-sale items with it. I told her I was open to various options to work this out, including sending it back if she'd refund the $40 (the total less what she paid for shipping) so she could try re-selling it, or perhaps a partial refund in which I would keep the fabric but use it on something else that would not be sold, most likely a dog pillow. Truth be told, the fur itself is in nice condition despite the smell, so if someone were to use it on a personal project or for something not being sold as a brand new item, it might be okay. So while I would have preferred the $40 refund, I would have worked something else out, too. In response, I was told that she didn't have the money to do any kind of a refund, and that she would have to sell other items in order to send me any money. She also wondered if the smell could have been from the plastic aging funny. I let her know that the odor was distinctly animal, and that I needed some kind of resolution by November 4 or I would have to open a PayPal dispute due to the time constraints. I never heard from FuziBuni again after that, despite her continuing to be active online. Finally, on the evening of the 4th, I opened a PayPal dispute under the premise that the item received was not as described - there had been no disclosure of the heavy animal smell in the original listing. As of yet, she has not replied via PayPal's resolution center, nor has she sent any e-mails. It would appear my requests for resolution are just being ignored. At this point, the only resolution I want is a full refund, including what I initially paid for shipping, and to return the fabric to FuziBuni for her to deal with as she sees fit. I not only wasted my time during my busiest month in an effort to salvage the fabric, I've also lost revenue I could have earned had I just bought the fabric brand new in the first place, as my biggest window for selling the wolf tails I'd planned to make has passed since Halloween has come and gone. I understand that there was a minor risk involved when buying fur second-hand from someone that states they own animals. However, not only do I own animals, but I've also purchased from others that own animals before, and have never had this kind of a problem. "I own animals" doesn't necessarily mean that the fabric is going to contain an odor - had it been disclosed from the beginning that this fabric had an animal smell to it, I never would have purchased it, most certainly not for the like-new price. I feel I did my best to work things out with her at this point, but I really can't afford to donate money to someone in exchange for a large piece of fabric I can't even use. Edit: As of 2:28, FuziBuni has initiated a refund via PayPal and it is set to clear on the 14th. Once it clears I will send the fur back to her, and edit this post as well as notify the mods of resolution. Edit 11/17/11: The refund cleared via PayPal on Monday. I boxed the fur back up to return to FuziBuni, and it was sent out via postal service with delivery confirmation yesterday morning. Edit 11/22/11: My delivery confirmation reflects that the box was delivered yesterday, so the return is complete and I'm considering this matter to be resolved. I would urge others to use caution when dealing with Fuzibuni; I had absolutely zero direct communication from her from the time that I initiated the dispute, to the time the refund was sent and cleared, save for the comment she made immediately after this post went through. I'm glad that other folks have received furs from her in good condition - I really wish that she'd been open and communicated with me instead of ignoring attempts to work things out outside of a dispute.

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.

Oct. 4th, 2011 at 7:28 PM amandajo567 WHO: Thunderwolfcat on LJ ; http://www.furaffinity.net/user/lightningvampirewolf/ WHERE: http://fursuitauctions.livejournal.com/ WHAT: http://i53.tinypic.com/soo1w7.jpg She posted a post exactly like this around the same time to the Fursuit Auctions community. I couldn't find the original post however. For a $25 shipped Husky Tail. WHEN: I paid her towards the middle of Febuary, and by April I started to get concerned. It's been pulling teeth trying to get any pictures or shipping information since. PROOF: Proof of transaction would just have to be acknowledging that she owes me a tail I paid for. =3= I did not think to screenshot any of that at the time. >: EXPLAIN: First up is the conversation of me even asking if she had an FA, since I wanted some reassurance there were other ways of contacting her. These have how many weeks ago they were sent, how long I've been waiting. This was not long after the transaction. http://i54.tinypic.com/2ecdgk3.png & http://i55.tinypic.com/2w5ro75.png So then I watch her on there, and feel a little better. She has some older photos of completed works, everything seems good so far. Then I get this message: http://oi51.tinypic.com/25pq0bq.jpg Okay thats fine, package got returned no big deal. We can just try to send it again. At this point Im sure the tail must be complete because she is already talking about having sent it. So then I wait. Continuing conversation: http://i54.tinypic.com/25yxiz6.png Now Im getting really panicy. Am I ever going to get this thing? http://i52.tinypic.com/bgy82s.png That goes unreplyed. Now during this time I join a community on LJ called Pmkncollectors. >_> It's there I learn that this person has had negative feedback there. Makes me extremely nervous. Last conversation I could find before contacting her today: http://i52.tinypic.com/316neih.png An so I waited. And waited. And waited. Meanwhile commissions open on her FA :'D. Anyway I sent her this today and this is the respond I recieved: http://i51.tinypic.com/2hod5le.png Honestly I dont even want the tail anymore =3= Im more embarassed that I gave some one money and have been waiting since Febuary. I should've done something earlier. Although I have high doubts I will be so relieved if I actually get this tail. And I know in my messages I threatened posting about this somewhere, but after thinking about how much time I've had to wait and such I can at least post this as a warning later to people if I do get the tail that this user takes quite a while for her products to reach consumers. I apologize if the set up for this post isn't correct. EDIT: November 2nd, 2011 She just contacted me saying that she wants to start over on a clean slate and send my tail. She even offered to remake the first one from an old pattern to a newer pattern- or some free ears. ? Im very hopeful that this will happen and I can mark this resolved.

Jul. 31st, 2011 at 9:00 PM nightfell WHO: Baroo/Doctori-Lightning WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/doctori-lightning/ http://myfur.net/profile/Baroo PROOF: http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/nightfell/Art Micellaneous/Baroo_ABpost.jpg?t=1312159399 http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r279/nightfell/Art Micellaneous/BarooFA_ABpost.jpg?t=1312159437 EXPLAIN: After putting down non-refundable deposit on a fursuit head commission, Baroo can't decide if he wants to proceed with the order or not. He has cancelled and un-cancelled with me multiple times during this entire transaction and finally sent me a note saying I was " not being slightest bit understanding about this. If you are going to make me wait almost a year for a fursuit head then at least lower the final price or purchase materials to show you are serious about providing your client with the most satisfying service as soon as you are able to." I'm honestly baffled and very disappointed that this had to happen. I've done hundreds of art commissions and over 10 suit commissions never had anyone lash out so negatively. The MyFur message and FA note screen caps pretty much explain the entire situation, but it gets a little messy/hard to read since there are a lot of one-liners. May12- I was first contacted by Baroo on MyFur for a fursuit head commission. I provide a quote after being given a reference sheet May 26- I receive a 20% deposit of $90 via PayPal and confirm that he has been scheduled for October 2011 completion in time for Halloween. July11-Baroo contacts me that he might have another head commission opportunity for a cheaper price and asks if the deposit is refundable. I tell him unfortunately not but to let me know of his final decision before the end of the week so I can reschedule my Fall 2011 work queue if needed. July 13- Baroo officially backs out of the commission and asks for a refund, despite the fact I had already informed him that the deposit was non-refundable. However I told him I was willing to work out an art/fursuit part exchange that totaled $90. He expresses interest and asks for a list of prices which I give him a link for. I take him off the work queue and schedule in another commissioner who wanted fursuit parts from me. July 14- Baroo changes his mind and decides to get the head commission but wants to pay “ just pay very VERY slowly”. I tell him no problem, I can reschedule him for January 2012 which works well for his budget and since I only deliver completed suits when they have been paid in full. July 14- Same day, Baroo sends me a My Fur message asking how much I charged for handpaws and for illustration art combos. I’m rather confused at this point since he cancelled with me, wanted the commission again, and now wants to go through with the trade/exchange? I roll with it and tell him to choose what he wants and I’ll give him confirm the price. July 25- Baroo sends me a FA note saying he wants the fursuit head commission. I tell him fine, but I have to rescind the exception I made regarding the art/fursuit for deposit trade if he decides to cancel with me again. July 27- Baroo contacts me regarding a conbadge commission. This is somewhat not relevant to the A_B post, since the transaction took place with no problem and the art was delivered. July 30- Baroo asks if the commission can be done earlier if he pays me more money. I remind him that Oct is already taken and if his financial situation hasn’t changed, I didn’t suggest changing the Jan 2012 deadline. July 31- I get this note. I recap the situation and inform him to reconsider what his note means and request for him to be patient. He sends me this response and an hour later he says he sends another note saying he still wants the fursuit head. In my reply, I tell him that I did not want to do business with him and will be refunding his $90 deposit and posting on A_B. Fellow artists, please be careful when dealing with this individual.

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

May. 23rd, 2011 at 4:22 PM jakejynx It's ridiculous that I have to make this post over something so simple, but this person has stopped responding to my emails, and has ignored the Paypal claim that I filed. On May 5, I posted a journal asking if anyone had some sparkle furs on hand that they would be willing to sell. Evilalcarne responded saying she could sell me some lime green fur. I paid $10 for the half yard of fur and $10 for shipping on May 7. She responded the same day, saying the fur would be shipped out on Monday. On Tuesday, May 10, I sent an email asking for the tracking number. She told me that she had stopped by the post office that day, but that her mother had the tracking number, since she was the one who went to the post office. On May 13, I sent an email asking for the tracking number again so that I could be home to receive the package. I received no response. On Monday, May 16, I sent another email telling her I was getting worried. Shipping from FL to GA takes two days at most. Even parcel post is a quick ship. I once again asked for the tracking number. She responded with "it's around here somewhere." And that was the last message I received from her. I sent a final stern email on Friday, May 20 telling her that I expected either the tracking number or a refund by the end of the day on Saturday, or I would be filing a Paypal claim. I received no response. A Paypal claim was filed late Saturday night, and it was not responded to. Today I escalated it to a claim, and I'm fairly confident that I will receive a refund, given that she is apparently unable to show proof that the fur was shipped. Please avoid transactions with this person. Communication is spotty, and she apparently can't be bothered to give you the tracking code on packages. Update: The fur actually arrived today via UPS. However, according to the tracking number on the package, it wasn't mailed off until May 20. That's 10 days after she claimed it had been mailed. Though I sincerely doubt it was $10 to ship, considering it weighs only 11 ounces, the UPS shipping calculator is apparently down right now, so I'm unable to get a price estimate. As if that weren't bad enough, when I opened the box, I quickly realized that it was not the half yard that I had bought. She sent me an 18x18 piece of fur (a half yard would have been an 18x65" piece). That's something like 1/8 of a yard, not 1/2. I know it was not a misunderstanding, since she included a note in the box saying "here is the 1/2 yard of fur." I can't help but think that she purposely sent me ~1/8 yard, and just assumed I wouldn't know what 1/2 a yard looks like. ? Fur 1 Fur 2 And this may be nitpicky, but on her site she has a picture posted of her dog lying in the exact same fur that she sent to me. Though I'm not allergic to dogs, the fur was going to be used on tails that could be sold to people who are allergic. I don't use furs that have been used as animal beds. Also forgot to add her contact/site information: Furaffinity (Gallery deleted) Deviantart Website Livejournal

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.

Apr. 16th, 2011 at 12:59 AM eonisalpha WHO: Lionel “Solion” of Lion of the Sun WHERE: http://www.lionofthesun.com/index.php WHAT: A fursuit head of my dragon character Eonis, done ‘realistically.’ Emails showing exactly what I ordered here: http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/ http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/bigorderemailchaincensoredpart1.jpg http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/bigorderemailchaincensoredpart2.jpg WHEN: January 6th, 2009: Contacted Solion about getting a fursuit head. January 7th – January 14th, 2009: Sent info, discussed options for the head. January 14th, 2009: Sent payment. May 24th, 2010: Contacted him asking for status of head. June 4th, 2010: Attempted to continue previous conversation, in a different medium June 24th, 2010: Talked to him at Anthrocon September 27th, 2010: Contacted him again, asking for WIP shots December 7th, 2010: Contacted him, asking for a refund, was promised one. February 18th, 2011: Disappeared when I attempted to talk to him. PROOF: Screenshot from paypal payment: http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/paypalinfocensored.jpg EXPLAIN: On January 6th 2009, a friend of mine got me in contact with Solion while he was on their teamspeak server. After discussion that I wanted a fursuit head, he told me to send him an email with exactly what I wanted, so he could have it on file. He told me in the voice chat that he realistically wouldn’t have time to work on it until October of that year, and told me to send him half of the payment to start work on the head, and half when it was completed. The emails linked previously then occurred, payment was sent. I then did not hear for a while. October came and went with no contact from him. On May 24th 2010, I emailed him, he responded on the 25th, mostly wanting to know what was going on, and why it was so late, seen here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/secondemailchainconfirmingpayment.jpg . He did not respond to that last email, and I believed he was having email problems, so I attempted to contact him on second life, on June 4th, he responded on the sixth, seen here. http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/thirdchainsecondlife.jpg I then saw him at AC 2010, where I confronted him in person about it. He told me his email was acting up, and said that he sent me a few other emails, which I never received. He then promised me he would find a way to email me work in progress pictures of my head, to prove he was still working on it. On September 27th 2010 I emailed him again, asking for the work in progress pictures, got one response with no pictures, then he went silent again, email here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/postACquestionchain.jpg Finally, in December, I had enough. I emailed him on the 7th asking for a refund, he responded on the 9th promising he would send me a check for the money I owed him. IF he ever mailed one, I never received it. Email here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/Finalemailchain.jpg On February 18th, 2011, I was on second life, I saw that Solion logged on. I attempted to talk to him, and he disappeared quickly, log here http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff373/Eonisalpha/finalmessagelog.jpg At this point, I just want the money back. It’s gotten completely ridiculous, it’s been…over two years now, with nothing to show for it. ************** Update 4/18/2011 ****************** Well, took some suggestions from you guys, because you're all awesome...started gathering docs for small claims court, sent him an email saying I posted here, and I got this! https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/B8LEuY1D9_Tg5RkwDYeSMidk50KKAWkhe8CCeTw3TaU?feat=directlink (Hosted by my mate because I fail at photobucket) While I doubt it's going to lead to anything more than the last promise, I'm hoping >.> Thanks for all the support and advice, guys!

Apr. 20th, 2011 at 6:25 PM viothefoxbird This is my first time posting here, and fatkraken expressed interest in there being a general Avsun post, and having other customers post their experiences in the comments, whether they be good or bad experiences. If this is not allowed, I'm sorry :C The OTHER Avsun post: artists-beware.livejournal.com/447483.html WHO: Avsun Mascots WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/avsun WHAT: A body suit for an existing partial of my character. Concept art: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4856848/ WHEN: I first contacted Avsun for a quote late November, 2010. Contact was fairly consistent at first, and they were extremely friendly. I was quoted at $665 for a bodysuit, and sent the downpayment of 30% in early December. A duct tape dummy was made and sent out as well. The last actual email I received from them was 4 days after I sent the payment. In the beginning of February, I got a mass email sent out to their customers explaining they were sick. I've sent them several emails since, asking if they've received my duct tape dummy, and asking other simple questions. I have not received a response since mid December. PROOF: The first contact email: Payment sent: Last personal contact I had with them: Mass explanation email from Avsun: Email sent today from Avsun, undoubtedly after seeing these a_b posts: If any additional proof is needed let me know. EXPLAIN: Usually, for me, this situation would not yet be bad enough to make a post here about it. However, after seeing the previous post about them HERE I became very worried. Fatkraken wanted to have one big post where other people can post their stories about Avsun, good, bad, or ugly. After seeing the other post, I really don't think I will be seeing my $200 or suit from them. I don't quite know what to do. Like I said at the top, I've never posted to artists_beware before, so I apologize if something is off or wrong ? EDIT: Here is their pathetic excuse for a twitter, looks like it was made the same time the other post about them was made here on artists_beware. I think its a coverup saying LOOK WE ARE DOING WORK. But there are no pictures or evidence of any kind that anything is actually being done. http://twitter.com/#!/Avsun_Studios EDIT 2: Added the most recent email to the screenshots and fixed the blurring.

Apr. 23rd, 2011 at 7:50 PM demons_haven101 Who: Avsun Mascots Where: http://avsun.livejournal.com/ http://avsun.deviantart.com/ http://www.furaffinity.net/user/avsun/ What: Foam head base of a toothless look-alike (without the newt features). My side of the story: I had sent a question e-mail about a foam head base on September 14th, got it worked out and a quote for 125$ on the 15th. I sent them a down payment on September 15th 2010, they had confirmed that I had a spot on the list. On September 17th 2010, I sent them the rest of the payment seeing as how communication was still good. They said they would have it done "around next month." So I assume that meant by the end of October to mid November some time, perfectly fine by me. On the 18th, I got a mass e-mail about a new paypal address to send money to, but had already sent my money to the first. They said in the e-mail this would be fine. I heard nothing from them until October 3rd. This was another mass e-mail, only this time about mass e-mails and how we are not to reply to those. I hadn’t heard anything from them until I sent an e-mail asking them about the status on November 8th. Got reply on the 9th with a picture of the head concept and saying they moved on with the project anyhow. They had mentioned getting glass eyes, which would in turn have me send them more money. Turns out this fell through and I did not send them more money, so they were going to stick with the regular toony eyes I opted for in the first place. A few e-mails went back and forth and communication was fair until December 21st, which was only them replying to the LJ comments I posted on one of their posts. This was them giving me their phone number, yet again. I waited patiently, attempted to call them once or twice without being able to connect through. I sent them another e-mail on February 5th 2011, asking them about my commission, it being far past due. I got no reply. I send them another e-mail on March 1st, asking yet again. I have yet to hear from them. I never got any e-mails explaining the delays that others have gotten, so I have been left entirely in the dark. I have filed a dispute through paypal, though it is indeed too late. It still gives them record that this person is not providing product for payment. I also called paypal, asking them what could be done. They have told me that there is an “internal investigation” going on for this person, seeing as others have filed as well. Seeing as others have filed, the gentleman on the phone had told me that it MAY be possible to get my money back due to their track record. I honestly doubt I have much of a chance to get my money back in any way, but I will certainly be trying. Proof: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62066370@N02/ Edit: I broke up the paragraphs to maybe make it easier to read for some people.