LBfromtheblock

I have shipped these two for 6 freaking years.

DON’T TOUCH ME I’M FRAGILE

them: what about rey and kylo

@epilexi (Instagram)

@gooberkak (Vine)

[email protected]

Character name(s): Liro, Lily

This person commissioned me for a fullsuit to be completed in late May of 2016.

 During the course of the commission, the person exhibited several behaviors that caused me some concern.

 I started work on the head in late January/early February 2016 as I received the foam base made by a friend of theirs (@Furzoid on Instagram/Vine) and things seemed to be going smoothly. I posted several WIP photos of my edits to the base and asked for approval before continuing. She gave it, and so I continued work on the head until it was nearly complete. Here is a link to a video of some of WIP photos I posted. This is not even all of them, I only included enough to see the process:

 Video of base construction/WIP photos

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBqCmfvsHGX/?taken-by=fluvvcostumes

 Now, once her head was almost done  I shelved her project to work on others that had close deadlines (Again, hers wasn’t due until May) Contact fell off for the next few months, as is customary with most makers when they’re not working on your project steadily.

She began to contact me frequently for updates, and I had to explain several times I had none as her suit wasn’t being worked on yet.

 When I finally did get around to stuffing the DTD she sent I quickly realized it was very poorly done, and it split a few hours after I stuffed it, to the point where I wasn’t comfortable using it to make the bodysuit for fear it would not fit. So I asked her to send a new one. At this point, it was almost mid-April, and I explained calmly that I needed it done soon or I wouldn’t be able to keep her deadline and may not be done with it for another few weeks after. I also explained some issues I had with my pattern (which was still fairly new and I was still working on editing with each suit I did) I gave her options to go forward with.

She responded negatively to hearing her deadline may not be met and got her mother involved. They both threatened me with legal action if I did not meet her original deadline. I had all this time been under the impression this customer was 18+ as her quote form had stated. I was understandably upset since I require all 18 and under customers to show my TOS to an adult and have them agree to it before I start an order. I explained the situation to the mother and got them to agree to redo the DTD.

 Then, another customer who I was also having issues with, received her suit and wasn’t happy with it,  also due to DTD issues, despite all my efforts to try and negotiate with her. She accused me of being a scammer and blasted me everywhere, including here.  ( a brief summary of her story is included in the email album)

This other customer heard this and out of nowhere demanded a refund for the bodysuit I hadn’t started yet, simply based on the rumors. I had honestly had enough by this point and decided to cater to her request just to be done with her. We agreed I’d finish a partial suit and refund the rest as my invoices stipulated in small payments when I could afford them.

 I hurried to finish her partial as soon as possible since the whole situation made me very uncomfortable and I felt I was dealing with a ticking time bomb. I posted the following WIP photos and finish photos before shipping everything out.

Paw WIPs

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE9EcnHMHFy/?taken-by=fluvvcostumes

Feet WIPS

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFCwb0dMHHD/?taken-by=fluvvcostumes

Head Final photos:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFHhBINsHLg/?taken-by=fluvvcostumes

Had 2 other people try on the head, none of them used to wearing fursuits (both were wearing one for the very first time). ALL of them confirmed they could see well, and breathe well, and the fit was comfortable.  Everyone agreed the head was very cute, etc. and as a maker I thought it was my work done to the best of MY ability and neatest work to date. I did my best on the entire partial to try and prove this customer wrong and turn around a sour situation with exemplary work. Not long after seeing the WIP photos of the partial the customer TOOK BACK her statement and now wanted to go ahead with the bodysuit order, most likely due to pleasure with the partial pieces. I graciously agreed to do so as I very much needed the money to save up for a move in the fall. She requested I not post WIP photos to social media this time, and I agreed, explaining that WIP photos would be more infrequent as I found they took far too much time away from working.  I also stated I had projects due by AC I needed to work on more urgently but that I’d definitely have the bodysuit out by end of July sometime. She agreed and seemed to understand this. We’re now into the first two weeks of June.  I have heard nothing from her about the partial, and so I assumed she was satisfied with it and there were no issues. I plan to start her DTD near the end of June when I have room to stuff it, as due to limited space I could only stuff one at a time and I was working on an AC-due suit at the time. She apparently sees these suit pics on Instagram and starts demanding WIP photos of her suit again. She emails me again asking for them. I send her my revised TOS about my new policy in regards to WIP photos and she had already been told not to expect any until mid-late June. I’ve had enough by now and pre-emptively block her on all social media so she is forced only to communicate with me via email so I can record her responses in case things get ugly. I CC her mother so she sees what I’m doing but get no response. A few days after this I get a DM from a follower on Instagram that she has apparently posted photo and videos of herself and her friend @furzoid (the maker of the foam base I used) tearing and cutting the head I’d made apart.

At first I thought it was none of my business, it was her head, she’d bought it, she could do what she wanted with it. She paid me and that was the end of it. I would have liked to have been at least notified or asked first, but things happen and I obviously wasn’t dealing with a mature adult. But then when I viewed the videos, I knew this was childish, malicious, cruel behavior done in spite of my hard work to try and hurt me AND tarnish my reputation. I have plenty of proof of this in the IMGUR album provided. 

She claims it was all not meant in harm but “fun” And any fursuit maker would tell you this is a lie. For any maker out there to see their work defaced and destroyed and treated the way my work was, ANYONE would be upset, and understandably so. This. Was. personal.

I decided this was the last straw. I notified her I no longer intended to make her anything else and terminated her order for the bodysuit, and sent back the DTD with terms for refund I chose to give out of the goodness of my heart and for my reputation’s sake at this point rather than any understanding for what she’d done. Because contrary to popular belief I am NOT a scammer.

 She threw a regular ole’ tantrum and is now slandering my name everywhere she can, claiming I scammed HER, and am OVERRREACTING about the situation.

 Well, I wanted to just keep quiet and let this blow over but this is frankly horrifying behavior to me and deserving of a place on this blog. Makers/artists should STEER CLEAR and NEVER work with this person.

You can think what you want about me, but I’ve never EVER done ANYTHING this cruel, malicious or degrading to ANYONE in my life.

Link to IMGUR Album of ALL email evidence and photo evidence with context captions/titles