BEWARE: RaikaDeLaNoche, RawrCreations

[kamilamutt.livejournal.com]

WHO: RaikaDeLaNoche / RawrCreations / AlmaAurora on FA, animaltshirts.eu

WHAT: A fursuit mask I didn't receive.

WHEN: Contacted her and paid on march. Still waiting on a full refund.

PROOF + EXPLAIN: [Note: The RawrCreations fursuit studio is handled by two people; Raika and someone else, but because this was entirely handled by Raika, I've decided not to include the other person.]
RawrCreations opened for new projects in march, so I messaged them asking for a quote. [Proof]
We agreed to the transaction, I sent $250 and I was supposed to send the rest of the payment next month. Their website (listed on the RawrCreations profile page) is now down, but when it was online, it showed some fursuit examples and a ToS that specified that, if paying in increments, they would send an invoice next month, and it was expected for the buyer to pay when it was due (April, in my case). [Proof]

It's after I sent the first payment that communication completely stopped.
April passed and I didn't get any updates or the invoice. I tried to be patient so I waited until May to contact them again, but my message was ignored. I messaged them again through on June asking for a reply, again, no answer. [Proof]
On July 23 I was now tired of waiting and sent Raika a message on FA, asking for a refund. The message was read, but I got no reply, and her favourites kept being updated, showing that she was indeed ignoring me. (I also sent a message to the other fursuit studio maker, the messages are still unread.)

She finally replied to me on July 30, the reason cited for the lack of updates was personal reasons/not wanting to talk, but assured me I'd get photo updates in about a week. I was excited about getting the item again and understood that life sometime gets in the way, so I told her it was completely okay and to take her time, only thing I asked for was updates.
[Proof for both messages]

Yet August was passing again without not even once being contacted by Raika, so I left a shout on her profile asking for a refund, completely fed up with waiting. [Proof] I was silently 'refunded' a week later.

The thing is, because Raika sent this as Payment instead of Gift or Refund, I only received $236 from the $250 I originally paid her. I understand not all countries can send as Gift (mine can't), and it was past the wait period to send as Refund, but I would have expected her to cover the fees so I would have received a full refund. [Proof]

I left a shout on her profile asking for the full amount on September 1st, which is still being ignored, even though her account shows activity. There are also other people on her shouts asking for refunds and updates, so I know I'm not the only one. [Proof]

So, in short, I paid for a fursuit head, was ignored for six months (and still am), then not refunded in fully, even though I didn't receive anything.

Comments

[bonesmirk.livejournal.com]

Looking at the shouts on her page, even from non-commissioners, it looks like communication is an issue with her. Such a shame because she does have nice work.

I sympathize with her situation, but you were more than reasonable with your patience and request for communication which should be a given when working with someone. :/

I'm glad you received most of your money back, here's hoping you get the last bit of it!

[frostfoot.livejournal.com]

I can empathize with the feeling of just not wanting to talk to people for one reason or another, but when you are running a business, with people relying and depending on you for a product, it's in your best interest to communicate with them , even IF no updates are present. To ignore you is a huge red flag, and I'm glad you asked for a refund in the long run.

Paypal fees can be rough, I do hope you get your final bit of payment back.

[kamilamutt.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I totally agree with you. I do commissions fulltime and I can get highly anxious when responding, but they've trust me with their money and I agreed to provide a service. There's no excuse to ignore a customer.

Thank you!

[torch-tiger.livejournal.com]

Looks like all but her twitter have been pretty much dead for the last 5 months. Hopefully she won't just disappear like so many others have, and will give you the rest of your refund, and start actually responding to customers. Good luck to you.

[totschrei.livejournal.com]

RaikaDeLaNoche faved a picture 2 days ago.
Meaning there is some activity.

[torch-tiger.livejournal.com]

Your right, I checked the favs on the other accounts, guess I missed her main one.

[lemon jaguar (from livejournal.com)]

So, somewhat original sender forgot to tell us end of the story - she got refunded whole in the end.

It is unfortunate what happened, I will not defend myself anymore. I regret what happened, but it happened :)

Everyone gets into rough situation sometimes and now I know that it won't happen anymore.