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Do NOT commission this girl

Last year in March, I commissioned a member on FA by the name of hollenheist http://www.furaffinity.net/user/hollenheist to make me a partial. After I had paid her in full, She had told me That the suit would be done by AC. This was last year.
[and yes I DO have ALL the logs of Every conversation we've had]

Ok, AC comes, and it wasn't finished. Things happened. All right, I understand, I'm not happy, but I really do understand. Besides she did have Some things done, like the leggings, the arms, and the tail... well Mostly done...But hey, it's progress right? Apparently her father threw the head away by accident.

So, I tell her, to have it done by Furfright. ok, maybe that was harsh, telling her when to have it done by...but it gave plenty of time...and she said she would.

Furfright comes, It's not done, hell It wasn't even there. Ok... So something happened, the head was a melted pile of goo of resin because she had to bring her father to the hospital. Even thought I was not happy about it, I understood. Things happen.

So....She tells me it will be one by the Beginning of Feb. Well....Of Course that didn't happen, She apprently fell out of bed and hurt her arm. After weeks of not being able to get a hold of her, I finally do, and she was all panicked thinking that the con was that weekend and she was gonna overnight it to the hotel. She was relived that there was 2 weeks still to go, so i tell her since it's done just mail it to me.

She says she will. And then i can't get a hold of her again...not until last Thursday. Where she then informs me that she had really messed up her arm, and had surgery on it. That she could show me pictures of it and the get well cards.. [But she can't show me pictures of the suit? Of which I've been asking for since furfright?]

She tells me then that she will overnight the package, that I will have my suit by Monday, or Tuesday at the latest. She never sent it. I checked ups and fedex and there's No packages coming to where i live, not even in the same apt complex.

Also, this whole time, this whole Year, it's been next to impossible to ever get a hold of her. But, when my boyfriend got a hold of her 2 weeks ago, she answered the call [she didn't know his number, it was a new one.] and Now, Every call she doesn't answer regardless of the time. We both have called, emailed, noted her on fa, immed her on both msn and aim, I'd write except I dont' have her address. We've exhausted every means possible to contact her.

We let her know that we will take legal action for at the very least my money back. I warned her that I would be writing about this on Artist Beware.

Customer communication lacking.
Meeting deadlines she sets herself, horrible.

I strongly suggest not to commission her for anything. At least not until she can get herself sorted out. Either she's extremely flaky, or she's one hell of a con artist.
The worst of it is, I DO like her, well did, she IS nice, but I cannot believe a single word she says.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get my money back? Legal action I will take if I must, I just would rather not go that route.

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How much money was involved? I've seen newbie fursuit makers undersell themselves and then get in a sticky situation of having to spend their own money to finish and then just not wanting to finish...

I'm sorry that happened to you, though. /: It's not cool to just drop contact with people... especially people who are giving you hundreds.

Actually It wasn't to terribly much when you compare prices. the whole thing was 600.00 which I paid in full. [It was told to me after the fact I shouldn't have done that.]

Now, to be Very fair, I'm totally flip flopping about her. Cause if she just wanted to take the money and run? She could have said that it never came...But she didn't. She told me as soon as i asked her.

But this whole lack of communication thing, is what's really bugging me. Ok, even though I don't like excuse after excuse....things Do happen...but is it Really that hard to call someone? or drop a line?

Is it that hard to have some one possibly mail a package? [She apparently was a little held up in something personal.] Couldn't she have asked her brother to mail the package? Although, I can understand why not.

You see, I'm in a bind, on the one hand, i could sit here and be the irate annoyed pissed off customer....but on the other hand, i could see where she's coming from. So a part of me doesn't want to be angry.. But I am. If for no other reason than the fact i'm left in the dark and as such, it's making it very hard for me to trust what is going on.

Does this person even have any examples of their work anywhere? There are no fursuits in their gallery or mention of them working on fursuits (beyond the blurb in the FA info place). I would have never given this person my money, to be honest. Even if they're nice, there is no proof that they are even capable of turning out a commission as far as I can tell.

No, that she doesn't. You see, I was going to be her first customer, [someone is bound to be ^^] And I was quite happy with that. I tried to make things as simple as I could, such as the way I wanted the suit. Also, I'm a noob at this too. As this was my first suit.

And you're right....It was rather naive of me.. but then again? perhaps of us both.

I know the girl personally, and I had seen her sewing your paws at AC 08-- They were lovely. <3 ( This was because I was rooming with her, of course. )

I don't know about anything other than the paws.. but I did see them. They really are existent! :c

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. I've never actually seen any of her suits before, and didn't even know she could do them.

She wouldn't con you.

I think she's being flaky, and busy, and a good person-- with not the best business practices. IDK.

I want to be a neutral as I can on this topic, so eh-heh.. sorry if you get offended or anything.

oh believe me I DO understand, and no I'm not offended by any means. ANd yes I do remember the paws and the leggings and the arms, and I loved them. They were lovely.

It's just, well when someone cannot even keep to thier own deadlines time and time again, who cannot even offer any more proof, and makes promises they cannot keep, and doesn't even bother attempting to contact you at all? One tends to think the worse.

I really don't want to think the worst of her by any means..but...there is a limit here. And sadly the limit has been more than reached.

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-- I AM ON MY WIFE'S ACCOUNT! THIS IS A DIF USER, XDISSY! --

I can third. This girl is VERY sweet and HARDLY a con artist. She really does have some serious real life issues but I understand, this doesn't make up for the time it's been taking. She actually has been trying to work on your head and stuff. She's been panicky about it, actually.

I'll call her-- she's one of my best friends and I'll let her know that the sooner the better OR you wish your money back. I won't take action unless you wish me too though so feel free to respond. :)

[I must be exhausted, I'm not sure if it's going to the right person. Remind me never to post as soon as i get home from a con >,<]

Calling her would be Great. However, at this point I don't' want to push the envelope to far. After all there is a limit...I don't want to cross over to being harassing.

If you can, that would be great, but... [oi this is proving to be harder that i could ever have thought.]

At this point, i would LOVE to have the suit...and i would Love to believe she's been working on it. Hell i was excited every time she'd tell me a bit about it...but so much so i would have Loved to have seen some form of progress pictures.

But, that is in the past, now I would just really like to know, what is going to happen at this point. What can we do to overcome this bit of an obstacle?
I hope it can be resolved soon.

[and yes, now that I'm back from the con, and not having to deal with fursuit envy ^^ I can look at this much more objectively. ]

I recall when you told me about getting the partial started.

If she's a good sweet girl, then she would have after constantly letting this person down - refunded them the money for the suit, not ignored all attempts at communication, sent progress shots (well generally just keep the lines of communication O-P-E-N) and/or used those of you defending her as a way (if possible) to keep people informed of her condition and issues.

Mistakes and serious life issues are to be had, sure. I suppose. Can't get around that - but if the issues were getting in the way of business (and it seems they have) she should have herself been the one to approach the subject of refunding the money for the suit.

That's how I see it.

Edited 2009-03-21 06:05 (UTC)

IDK. "Good, sweet, girl" doesn't always indicate "great at business and customer communication" to me.

I don't disagree that the situation could have been handled better. It's always easier to deal with life before people waiting on things from you.

Sometimes " This person paid x dollars for this, and I should get it done by x " doesn't always press into your mind when you're going to lose your apartment, losing a job, having family issues, etc.

If she doesn't get the suit within the week, I think it would be a good idea for her to get the money back.

It's the suit or it's the money. Not both, I think.

(deleted comment)

This.

You're saying she has major stuff going on right? I understand - that HAPPENS. But I think you're misreading how I'm using the word used (amongst other things, no where did I claim she was a con artist. 'Personality' should mean little here. Work ethic/reliability do, and she's shown herself to lack in the latter to a degree).

I'm not saying she's using you to be her White Knights.

I'm saying she could have used you like 'big emergency - might fall off face of earth - can you do me a BIG favor and let everyone/this person know [insert message]?'. I've been through the last two serious S.California firestorms, one of which ALMOST claimed my house, but took out 'net/land line phones and power for me at varying times each 'storm'. But before that all happened, I used what friends I could to pass along word of my current situation to anyone who asked and if I DID fall off the face of the earth, they wouldn't have to panic (too badly) for however long it took me to get onto my feet again.

Now. One more time.

I know shit happens (I pointed this out). Life hits us hard. Sometimes you will be distracted by other more personal things - but when someone is doing their god damn hardest to get in CONTACT WITH YOU (i.e: phone, instant message, fa notes, etc?) about something, its good practice to answer them best you can in a timely manner (i.e: she's on AIM but away, poster leaves a message, she could have sent one back upon returning?) before they lose good faith in you (*points at the original complaint post*).

That's. That.

(deleted comment)

No, it's not picking up the phone when certain numbers are calling when you know it's a customer wanting an update that's bad form.

(deleted comment)

I just don't give people my phone number. Partially because of time zones and I don't need someone calling me at 4 am to ask about the status of their fapping material.
If they find it anyway and call I'll tell them to take it to e-mail. But then, I don't ignore e-mails, so people don't need to go out of their way to try and contact me. The calling from multiple numbers sounds like an act of desperation to me.
That said, I've had people try to weasel my personal data out of me because they thought I was totally "yiffy" or some shit, so I do know what you mean. Ew.

I will admit, it was a bit desparate sounding...and any time it was suggested to me that I call her? I'd say No. Because I didn't want to be a creepy icky pest ^^

Towards the end, when it was told to me that I would have it by Monday or Tuesday and it wasn't there. When it got to the grind, yes I called.

She's Not going to get any more calls from me at this point at this point really, the ball is in her court. It's her that needs to respond. [Sheesh is this how bill collectors feel? Ick!]

And I agree, giving out the number is Not the best of ideas [especially in This fandom o,O]But in the way of business, it is a good idea to share the number with someone who's not being creepy fanboi ish and if there's issue with other ways of communications.

only 2 different numbers. One being mine and one being my mate's Not because i want to harass her. God no...but because we simply did it at different times. I didn't know when he called.

Please understand, I Don't want to put a black mark on her by any means, and god knows I understand life can really knock someone for a loop. And yes, I was [and still am] quite upset. I'm sure something at some point Can be resolved. But right now? I have nothing to go on except someone's word that is rather shaky at best.

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Do NOT commission this girl

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different phone numbers.