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https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/856045.html WHO: Rubbertex Raccoon, Rubbertex Cooper WHERE: FurAffinity. He has a website as well but it doesn't seem to be operational. WHAT: Partial Fursuit. When I last heard from him back in January neither of us could find the initial Skype conversation hashing out specific details, but we both remember the price was $750 and that sending smaller payments was already, as such I had sent about $100 every couple of weeks when I was paid. There was also a $41 comic but that was resolved in April after waiting several years on that as well. Most of that follows the same story as the fursuit. WHEN: The original conversation I remember was held in October before Midwest Furfest 2012. The first payment/deposit was sent on October 31st, with the rest of the payments following when I could afford to make a payment, which was originally agreed upon that several smaller payments would be alright. I first started to become uneasy when I was told that he would have the fursuit done by Further Confusion '14 (roughly a year and change after he first agreed to take it) and getting a hold of him to ask if the fursuit would be done in time was becoming an issue. Due to flying to California, if I could take the fursuit home as a carry on bag rather than shipping it, I would have preferred that to save us both the shipping costs. PROOF: As mentioned before, neither of us can seem to find the chat log from when we first agreed to it. I've got logs from before October and after October, but none during that month and I'm not entirely sure why. I've got screenshots of afterwards, but this is the closest I've got to an agreement on the suit http://i.gyazo.com/9e0299d70cd46ceb647ac6d2c5230953.png For the comic: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/x69zsz5l26we5tw/9360d0db4dc965cb5386435c8d72d13e.png?dl=0 EXPLAIN: Rubbertex and I were chatting on Skype, and the conversation has drifted towards me being dissatisfied with my current suit. He mentioned that he built suits himself, and showed me some examples. If I recall correctly, he then offered to make me a partial for "the friend discount" of $750 which I agreed and we started talking about payment and specifics. The original date that I was told was that he would have it done by MWFF, which I thought that, while impressive, wouldn't happen, but he assured me he could have it done by then. By November 1st he apparently already had the head and feet foamed, and he already had black and white fur and just needed to order the brown. He said he would have it by the 16th but ended up getting sick for a few weeks and by the time MWFF rolled around I didn't have the suit. I wasn't too bothered since I had only paid him the deposit at that time, and didn't expect it to be done so soon anyways. Fast forward about a year, I hadn't been saying much and sending him payments when my income could afford the breathing room, which was about $100 every month or so. Due to not hearing anything about it being finished or near finished since the note linked above, I admittedly wasn't in too much of a hurry to get it paid off. I had been monitoring his journals and he had a Google Drive spreadsheet with progress on all his commissions set up. It hadn't been updated in a while, but it was listed as being "Currently going through final sewing up. Need approval on toony or follow me eyes for the suit head." for a while, so I got into contact with him, I believe through AIM, and told him about the eyes since I hadn't heard anything from him about it. For a while, I had been contacting him through Twitter DMs whenever I had sent a payment, then as it got closer to being paid off I started sending him emails to give him more details about things like shipping address and dates. The "last" payment was on November 13, 2013, just before Midwest Furfest again, but I had no plans of going so I didn't ask for any other updates. When I had concrete plans made for going to Further Confusion 2014, I started emailing him asking about if it would be completed on time. On December 5th I was told he would have it done in time. About a month of not hearing any sort of updates aside from occasional journals filled with bad news and I was trying to find out if it would be complete or not cause the day that I left for FC was fast approaching. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/k6c0renm70ka7ht/ac729cc3a9da620c09e416d6e9a21621.png?dl=0 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/66dcxtw4kind73n/9f6fa591d23922573a47d7eb10364c49.png?dl=0 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/3kwc46xnlm3uhng/e7c6365bf7c5c34b1e14cfdea865c097.png?dl=0 At FC when I ran into him, he had told me that the suit wasn't able to be finished because he ran out of black/white fur. I found that excuse highly unlikely, but I was there to have fun with friends so I just bit my tongue and let it go. Keep in mind that up to this point, I have still not seen a single photo of anything regarding my suit, so I was going off of the faith that the Google Doc that hadn't been updated in months was still current, along with him having several cases of getting sick, a car accident, his bank account being compromised a couple of times, and general stress and anxiety making him unable to work. I had tried to remain patient and understanding about all of this, but my sympathy was running low when it seemed to be one excuse after another about general lack of communication or why work wasn't being done. After the con I had sent several emails, and only got a response to two in the next 4 months. For a period of time, he had his FA page disabled, which had me more than a little worried, so I continued to try and contact him via email. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/5ul8xkiwxsc0fdv/fefcbd7984badc5348ea4abc9a0bc441.png It turned out that he had the FA note system on the wrong tab or something? I find that hard to believe since it would still notify you of new notes until they were read, but again, I bit my tongue and didn't raise a fuss. Another 6 months pass, no response to several emails/notes/FA Shouts/Comments/etc any form of contact I could think of that was more than commenting on a random journal which didn't seem to have much luck most of the time anyway. He posted another life update journal and I thought there was a general tone of him taking on new commissions, so I spoke up and said something, cause at this point I still hadn't received any recent updates and was also still waiting on the comic commission which he had posted several times before that it was completed and just needed to be emailed out. That prompted this conversation. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ub40cqmdhwut6m6/08f62da4d8990a3205ad3403683e9cea.png?dl=0 I had been in contact with him for the last year and a half, and he claimed he was trying to use an entirely different email than the one I had been using the entire time prior to this conversation. Again, I found that extremely hard to believe, but bit my tongue. He also told me again, that he would have them done by FC 2015 which was about 2 months away. A couple weeks later, he started to take stream commissions, while he still had his entire backlog from May of 2012 to work through that from what I had gathered from contacting a couple of other people in that same backlog, they were in the same boat. A couple of people commented on the streaming journals asking about their work that was in the backlog, but he ignored the comments and deleted the journals. A couple weeks after that comment, I decided that I was done waiting and to give him a final chance. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/a2x2j48n3umupjs/13e9f9f9e0d3c9f372e107bea70c5257.png?dl=0 I had sent several emails to him asking for updates in the time between that one and FC asking for some sort of update. Around early December/January he started to use Twitter again after being on hiatus from there for a while. The couple weeks prior to FC he mentioned working on a "puppy" and a "beagle" and one of my friends who was in a stream of his told me that he saw Rubbertex working on my suit. When I tried to reply to his tweets asking if the suit in question was mine, I never got a reply, nor to the email asking if he even saw those tweets. FC comes around, and I still haven't heard anything. I ran into him several times due to us having several of the same social circles, but he was actively avoiding me, and since I didn't want to make a scene I didn't confront him about it. I sent him a few Twitter messages, since I saw him actively posting on there and responding to people, so I figured that would get a response, but they went ignored. After I got home, I waited a few days for a response to any of the messages I had sent him. Afterwards I decided to give him one last final chance, and sent this email. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/rw2l8xf8sx836a7/Email.png?dl=0 Shortly after sending it, I went to Paypal Support to ask how I would go about getting a refund on something I had paid for that was well beyond their usual Buyer Protection date. I was informed that if I wanted a refund for this all, assuming that he wouldn't cooperate, that I would need to go through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which is a branch of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). I informed Rubbertex of what I was told to do via Twitter DMs, and that finally prompted the response from the email. I haven't heard a response from in to any emails I've sent since that last one 4 months ago. The only contact I've gotten out of him was when I went into one of his streams and he showed me the comic that he was finally working on, and posted in April '15. Other than that, I haven't heard a word from him about any sort of progress on my suit, but he's still active on FA. I know that stress, anxiety, and depression can all suck big time, but it has been two and a half years since he agreed to do a partial fursuit, and it took me threatening legal action to even get photos from him that he had something started on it. I'm not entirely thrilled that I'll only get a %50 refund considering that his main excuse for it not being done on time has been that he's ran out of materials, so I don't really buy that he's spent all $300 of that on materials for my suit. At the same time, I'm doubting that the suit will be completed in the foreseeable future. UPDATE: Sent an email on July 4th saying I was done waiting. Recieved a response on the following Monday that he would refund, but he's also got other refunds to do first. Also in posting a link to this, word reached other people in his queue, and from the ones who responded, they all said they're in pretty much the same boat. Waiting several years, months of no contact, excuse after excuse, etc. A few are heavily contemplating legal action. UPDATE 2: Still waiting on a refund, I was told on September 3rd that I was next in his refund queue, and upon sending an email a month later about the refund, because I had been going on the assumption that I was only getting half, was told that I would be getting a full refund. There were other things mentioned, but that starts to get off topic of the refund.

https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/833310.html WHO: RubbertexRaccoon WHERE: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/rubbertexraccoon WHAT: 3-page comic ($120). An inflatable suit and a matching inflatable toy ($2400 for both to be paid in three installments: $800 down to pay for materials, $800 on completion of prototype, $800 on delivery - $1,600 paid to date.) WHEN: Comic commissioned March 2013, the inflatable suit and toy commissioned in April, 2013. PROOF: Journal showing comic pages paid: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/4396795/ Original Agreement for the inflatable suit and toy: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/07imdps245l9xw2/Original Agreement PM.jpg?dl=0 Project delivery date showing target date of Midwest Furfest 2013: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/dpe9cpb507dp24a/Project Delivery Date PM.jpg?dl=0 First payment made on April 15, after timeline agreed upon for MFF. Second payment made in 2013 after initial concept sketch was finished: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/wjbr3sh4acsepl1/Payment proof email.jpg?dl=0 EXPLAIN: I commissioned Rubbertex Raccoon for art, an inflatable Maximus Ursus muscle bear suit and a matching life-size inflatable muscle bear toy, all in 2013. All of the products were to be completed in 2013, but the only thing I have received thus far is the pencil drawing concept sketch of the suit. Rubbertex said in a PM he received the materials to build my suit and toy, but I have seen no evidence to support the claim. He said he would mail a swatch of the latex for my approval of the thickness and color, but that never happened. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/cxg2bza1fbjrsnf/Swatches 12-2013.jpg?dl=0 He mentioned in later updates he is finished with the foam body so I could approve the size and shape of the muscles, but no photos were ever sent. He has also mentioned numerous times that his emails are often undelivered as spam because of the “rubber” part of his name, but I’ve never had any problems receiving emails from anyone. He has told this to numerous commissioners, including my mate, TonkaWolf, to whom he also owes an inflatable suit. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ha54nx05dehqvag/Email issues 06-2014.png?dl=0 Here is the update from May 19, 2013 talking about receiving the materials: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/yr1rnswlgwi9shj/05-2013 Update.jpg?dl=0 And an update in February 2014 saying he is waiting for tools to arrive to finish the foam dummy for approval, as well as not yet having done the comic: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/3na64moglubvrlz/02-2014 Update.jpg?dl=0 An update in May 2014 saying he is still struggling with completing projects and is having financial issues (none of which should have affected my commissions, since the materials were supposedly already purchased a year ago). https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ddqugvunlbr1m87/05-2014 Update.jpg?dl=0 After several PMs and emails later, I told Rubbertex that although I would be disappointed with not getting the suit and toy, I would accept a refund of the $1,600 paid if the projects were not completed by December 31, 2014. I can’t find any documentation where we talked about the drop dead date, so it might have been via texts or something. I have had it posted on my FA profile since October 2014: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/cgea1f13qu72wqs/FA Profile.jpg?dl=0 It is now March 8, 2015 and the projects still are not completed. Neither have the comic pages been completed, although Rubbertex has been doing LiveStreams fairly regularly since January, taking on all new work and completing that during the streams or shortly thereafter. Rubbertex is now avoiding the problem by not reading PMs on FA, such as this one I sent 10 days ago (02-27) asking for an update on the refunds for Tonka and me: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/mu2ybdt3pa6upnq/Unanswered PM 03-08-2015.jpg?dl=0 Even though he is still doing sketching live streams (this one is from 03-07): https://dl.dropbox.com/s/feg8woe1ww0pe10/Sketch Stream 03-07-2015.jpg?dl=0 He is also looking at FA as he responded to one of Oz Kangaroo’s journals on 03-01. https://dl.dropbox.com/s/xnppxkrjoe7yjed/Rubbertex journal post 03-01-2015.jpg?dl=0 I know Rubbertex is under a lot of stress and pressure and I honestly just want a refund of all of the money I’ve paid to this point: $1720. I would love to still get the items, but as far as I know, there are still at least 6 suits and toys in the queue before mine, so I don’t think it’s realistic that my projects will ever be done. *****UPDATE: 07-15-2015***** I received a PM from Rubbertex on FA, apologizing for not having the work done and saying he will give me a refund "within a reasonable time frame". I replied to him that I would still rather have the suit and toy, since he says "I'm taking a huge financial hit on the materials and labor", but I have not yet seen any evidence that the materials have even been purchased. I have tried to help him over the past few years to get his life and diet in order to reduce his anxiety, but it is up to him to change. our exchange is here: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/i2t648eszcs6ath/Rubbertex Refund PM on FA 07-11-2015.jpg?dl=0 The suit/toy building queue I mention is here: https://dl.dropbox.com/s/r6v2umlhnmd2slb/Rubbertex queue.png?dl=0