(no subject)

[shadowpelt.livejournal.com]

 Okay I copied this from my own journal. I want to warn you all about a suiter that goes by the name of Kime Requiem. Seriously probably the worst suiter I have ever know. Sadly this all happened so long ago, but the fact that she is still scamming people makes me want to share my story so no one else has to deal with her. Here, let me tell you about her.


Around March of last year, I contacted Kime about a fursuit. Everything was all fine and hunky dorey at first. I informed her ahead of time that I wanted my fursuit done by October 7th, so I could have it by Halloween. She told me that having it done by Halloween would be no problem.

So April rolls around and I scrapped together a few bucks and managed to send her some. Things continued smoothly until I was $175 in (my partial was $300 but I was only required to send her 30% and the rest due upon finishing). By this time, a few months had passed and I heard nothing about my suit.

So I started to note her about my suit. Time after time she ignored me. Sometimes I would get a note back saying she was going to start on it soon. By now it's August (well Aug. 31st) and she just bought the fur:


"Wondering how it goes again :3"

"Well, it goes. The black and white fur are on their way to me for your stuff. Which just leaves the green to get on its way."


Well... It's September, the suits due in a month and she doesn't even have the fur? Now it's almost 2 weeks later and she just received my white and black fur. On top of this she just bought the green. If it took the white and the black 2 weeks to arive, I'm assuming the green wouldn't be there til the end of the month. Great.

After waiting almost a month for some sort of proof, I decided to send her another note.


"Also I was wondering if you would still be able to be done by oct 7th. If not we could talk about a better date :3"

"And the 7th might be hard unfortunatly. :/ The stupid wolf head Im working on is holding me up. I just want it done x_x;; Feh, anyway.."

I contacted Kime 7 ahead of time. Instead of using the $175 I sent her to buy my fur and foam for my head, she spent it else where. And now she had taken on another suit. A suit mind you that she had just taken on, even though I purchased mine more than half a year ago.

By this time I'm pretty angry and totally regretting choosing Kime as my suiter. It is now October 4th and she has yet to even touch my suit. So I decided to contact her again.


"Kime I really need to talk to you about all this :<"

"I honestly would love to do your head. It's a fun and interesting design. But at the same time, it IS starting to become a squeeze to get everything done by
Halloween, I won't lie. In the end however, it's up to you. I would hate to take extra money and not come thru, ya know?"


Sadly, I wont be getting my suit by Halloween like I intended. Great, what a waste of almost 8 months. I could have had my suit from Janko or Azure by now. At least I'm getting a refund right? ....No. Very very wrong. Instead of fighting for a refund I simply asked for all the fur and foam she supposedly bought and have the rest of the money paypaled to me. Supposedly my fur and foam came out to $100. But what ever, I just want it sent to me at this point. Apparently this is so hard to do. I noted her day after day after day with no reply. I had yet to receive my foam or fur, nor my remaining $75 in paypal. After about a month of fighting, I get her to send out my fur and foam. On top of her throwing a fit, she used MY money she owed me to ship out my fur and foam. So instead of the $75 I was promised, I received $45.

Almost a month later, I receive Kime's package. What a piece of shit. The box she sent it in was nothing more than pieces of cardboard taped together. And, to my horror, the box contained no said foam and pre used fabric, well only 4 of the 5 colors I paid for. It looked as if huge chunks had been cut out from the fur she sent me. Well at least the orange and green. She never sent me my purple, oh and the black and white... Joann's fabric. Shitty ass faux fur. Not even a yard mind you. But not only that, she said the fur cost her $20 each. Guys... I live a 3 minute walk from Joann's (we were just there actually).... Half a yard of their shittiest fur does NOT cost $20.

So let me recap for you:

I noted Kime in March (early Feb but I gave her the info in March) about having a suit done in October. Kime said this was fine and she'd start asap.
I paid $175 by the end of June. Kime had yet to start.
It's September. She still hasn't bought my fur.
End of Sep. She can't have it done by Halloween.
Oct. 4th, I asked for a refund. A refund was to hard so I asked to have the materials and remaining money sent to me.
Month later and still no supplies or money.
Kime finally sent my package with my money. Received package.
She promised me foam and 5 different furs. I received 2 used furs and 1/2 yards of pure shit.
Kime refuses to compensate me.


Please never never commission her. She uses low quality fur, ignores notes, spends her money on everything but the suit, and is completely rude. I was jipped out of $130 and have nothing but a few pieces of fur to show for it.

Oh btw, I am not the only person she's scammed. Almost 2 years ago my friend Red the mewtwo sent her $350 for a new suit. But first, this wasn't his first suit from her. The first suit he bought from her wasn't even done with his correct measurements or with quality fur. His first suit was too tight on him and made with low quality fur. And I just got done talking to him.

Apparently Kime got back to him after Dragoneer had notified her. This is the lovely message she sent him:


"Whatever made you come to this decision is completely your end and up to you. I can hardly force you to be part of my commissions list. Unfortunately, your $350 is effectively spent on work and supplies. If you wish for a refund then you will get exactly that, i.e. I will pack up everything of yours and ship it to you in whatever state of completion it's in. Just confirm your address, and I'll find a box and get in the mail by Friday."

Basically she said she spent all his money on supplies and she would only send him what she bought. That's bs. Kairi, Keitel, and I currently got into the suiting business and let me tell you, it does not cost $350 for just supplies, let alone Joann's fabric.


She was "kicked out" of her house and since then has ignored all of Red's notes to her (and she's been active). She's nothing but a scam artist and should be removed from the suiting community.


Just bad juju D:<

Comments

[phoenixsrequiem.livejournal.com]

Just to assure anyone, because we share a sorta same name,
This is NOT me!
I have never even heard of this person and it's people like this that make me want to change my username sometimes >.>

Sucks about all of this, I really hate people like that.

[silverfalln.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I know who this girl is, she's an ex of a friend, and she was local to me before I moved. You are not local to my former address, so even though I don't know you, I can back you up in that you are not her. :)

... Honestly, I have to say I'm not surprised about this entry.

[phoenixsrequiem.livejournal.com]

Phew! Thanks for vouching for me :)

[skulldog.livejournal.com]

I can understand shipping costs coming out of the money from a refund on a canceled commission. That cost was not part of the original agreement I have to side with the artist on the $75 verses $45 part ( I would have taken shipping costs out of the refund myself), but seriously..

The fact that she took 8 months, had nothing to show at that point, AND used part of your fur that she sent, is really not cool. If you spend $20 on materials for a suit, you send $20 worth of untouched supplies, or refund for the portion you USED.

I'm sympathetic toward beginning fursuiters that underestimate the time needed for a partial, but 8 months? That's half a year, they should have been able to do something, anything, to show you somewhere around the 6 month mark. If they couldn't have done that, they should have at least kept you more up to date on the work and notified you fair sooner that it wouldn't be done in time.

Sorry you had to deal with that, and thanks for the head's up.

[jakejynx.livejournal.com]

How is it 8 months? The deposit was paid at the end of June, and she asked for a refund at the beginning of October. That's 3.5 months at best.

[skulldog.livejournal.com]

Ah you would be correct, for some reason I picked up the $175 as being paid in March, not June.

[armaina.livejournal.com]

It's confusing, but it turns out the deposit was paid in April, and continual payments being made for the total amount came up to 175$ in June. So, more like 5-6 months.

[spiffystuff.livejournal.com]

I don't agree with taking shipping out of a canceled commission if it's canceled because the maker couldn't make a totally reasonable, and mutually agreed upon deadline. That's the artist's fault and they should have to pay for it.

[2cuxi.livejournal.com]

That is AWFUL. I am so sorry :( It really sucks when such mooks run with your money. It's like "Hey dude, that was a payment, not a DONATION." >:(

Thanks for the warning. I was in the market for a bodysuit, and I know who I WON'T be asking.

[shadowpelt.livejournal.com]

It's okay, I mean I made a new friend and awesome suiter in Janko cause of all of this, just I feel bad for the other people she's scamming.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I'm confused why your friend would commission her a second time if the first experience was so bad though... and why you commissioned her yourself after knowing someone who had first hand experience of her awful business practices?

[uozlulu.livejournal.com]

This is what I was going to ask too because it makes things sound kind of weird on the OP's part.

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I was also confused by this

"So April rolls around and I scrapped together a few bucks and managed to send her some. Things continued smoothly until I was $175 in (my partial was $300 but I was only required to send her 30% and the rest due upon finishing)."

But in the recap
"I paid $175 by the end of June. Kime had yet to start."

Two completely different months mentioned regarding when payment was made. Confusing.

[shadowpelt.livejournal.com]

Sorry. Might be a bit jumbly cause I wrote this in a fit of rage XD

But I had the 30% paid in April (over $90) but $175 in June. Sorry for the mix up)

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

Ah okay that makes a bit more sense :)

I suggest you add caps of your communications with her also, and proof of the condition of the things she sent you. Not saying you're lying, but it is always a good thing to produce evidence backing up a Beware. As you said yourself it's a little jumbled and I'm not the only person who got mixed up by certain details so adding these things in would help.

[uozlulu.livejournal.com]

And percentages of the amount paid.

[shadowpelt.livejournal.com]

Actually I didn't find out he was having issues with her until I had already had all the issues with her.

[skanrashke.livejournal.com]

You say you commissioned her, but didn't send her the money right away? Around when did you send her the 30% down payment? Because if she just got the down payment in april, then I wouldn't be surprised if she has a queue that she hasn't gotten to ordering your materials until now. Lots of folks order materials up front, but if she's got a queue to work through, then she can't start your suit til she finishes other stuff.

When did you contact her about commissioning her(And her agreeing on an october deadline?) If you agreed on an october deadline, like april, and she got the 30% by april, then yea its not a great time, but if you agreed on an october deadline last year sometime, and only got her the money like 9 months later..? And still expect a deadline if she's taken other commissions? Then sorry, but welcome to the world of commissions :3

I couldn't really follow your story step-by-step so sorry if I took it wrong, just sayin what I see

[jakejynx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. She contacted the maker in March but didn't pay until the end of June. Then at the beginning of October, ended up asking for a refund. A deposit is expected before work begins, since it's used to buy materials, so I can understand her having trouble finishing everything in time. Chances are she took on other commissions before you paid for yours. That's just how it works sometimes.

As for the quality of the materials, I can't say. You could very easily be exaggerating. We have no way of knowing.

[shadowpelt.livejournal.com]

Ask Janko (suit maker), she was there when I gave her my fur to make a proper suit. The green, fine, the orange, extremely abused and cut up, white/black = Joann's, falls apart as you sew.

[skanrashke.livejournal.com]

Wait.. I'm really sorry if this sounds insulting- is english not your first language? I'm having a very difficult time understanding you, the way you're putting your sentences together. Are you saying you gave her your fur, and that it was of negotiable quality? *Scratches head* Or you gave her NEW fur because the stuff she bought was of negotiable quality? Again, sorry. For some reason I'm just having a terrible time this.

[skanrashke.livejournal.com]

*at this

[ichigoneko33.livejournal.com]

I think they mean they took the fur to another suit maker, since they still wanted to have a suit done.

[skanrashke.livejournal.com]

Also, this very very much.

I've had people who ask for quotes 2 or 3 months before they actually make a down payment for materials, and then get upset when I tell them the due date has changed when they're all excited that they'll MYSTICALLY get a suit in 2 weeks. Not quite how it works.

Now, if she DIDNT tell you her expected due date for YOUR suit had changed for taking on other commissions, then yes that would be a bad business practise- but an unfortunately common mistake many new businesspeople make. They assume the customer would make that assumption- that they had business other than the customers during X timeframe between the quote and the actual downpayment.

I don't know. Suddenly alot of TL:DR appeared on this when I came back to check it this morning. :/

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've had that too (I make jewelry, not fursuits). Some people seem to think that they can delay and delay and yet the maker will still miraculously manage to make the original deadline! which was agreed to assuming that the client was not into delaying.

For me, all delaying delays the finish time by that amount.

And, I do not add anything to my queue until I have the non-refundable deposit. So, if someone needs something in 3 months, and they wait 2 months to pay me- they'll get it in 3 months from the payment. Otherwise things get stupid and crazy, in that they expect ME to pay extra for expedited delivery because THEY delayed paying. Not happening.

I am pretty firmly first in, first out- meaning that once I have your deposit, you're in the queue, and your piece will be done after those of the people in front of you and before those behind you.

But: until I have a deposit, no one is in the queue.

[shadowpelt.livejournal.com]

No that's when I got the total to her (with the rest being held thank god) And I was told I was the only person on her queue and she promised to have it done by my date requested.

Annnnd I first contacted her in February. Just checked my notes to be sure.`She said she was fine with the date in October, I made sure she was okay with me paying in installments, and as of April, when I paid my 30% plus, she was still okay with the dead line and she informed me I was the only suit on her list.

Also I am familiar with the world of commissions. I get quite a few myself and my partners and I make fursuits. If we can get 2 partials done in a few weeks, she should be able to start on my commission in more than half a year. Also, she put 2 other people ahead of me. Not good business.

[skanrashke.livejournal.com]

Ok, just finished reading all the tl;dr crap. Yea, thats pretty shitty. I would tell her you're going to send the box back and you want your money back in cash. Unfortunately in the world of suiting theres not much to be done except word-of-mouth.

Oh well, at least theres always this community, which is good for that :3

Sorry things turned sour on your end, I'm really not surprised(My total lack of faith in people just starting out with their own business will never wane, it seems, as I've never seen evidence to the contrary)

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

=\ man sounds like you got well and truely ripped off. I know fur isn't cheap but even with the money she had of yours the cut's should be pretty much straight and not look like "chunks".....Unless the place she get's it from is hella dodgey with cutting material.

[onesteptwo.livejournal.com]

I was thinking more that she had used pieces of that fur for another fursuit.

[kairielision.livejournal.com]

We aren't really sure WTH was going on with the orange.
It not only was the wrong color, but it looked as if she had used a large portion of it for another suit or project. It was all jagged with clearly cut out pieces.

The white and black were such bad quality too. She had stated she paid like $25-$30 per yard each color, but it was Joann's fur. I've bought fur from there, it is crap. It falls apart almost instantly. Shredding at the seams. And you can see through it.

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

another possibility. Either way I hope karma does it's job.

[lacy.livejournal.com]

Not sure why people with one completed suit decide they should take commissions. It would be like doing one drawing then deciding you can draw pretty good, so skip the whole practice step, jump right into taking the $$$. :)

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

maybe they think because they finished one they can handle more? I don't really understand it myself...Either that or they are under the impression that it's easy.

[borderdog.livejournal.com]

They decide it's easy money and since all their friends commission them they must already be 'super awesome fursuit makers!!!'

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

ERG.......I haven't seen many fur suit artists, but from what I have seen I think Beetlecat is my fav :)...But how is making something like a fur suit easy? o_O;...That's like saying scanlations are easy...On the other hand if you are making a simple patchwork machined quilt, that's easy.

[borderdog.livejournal.com]

lol it's not easy. although it is pretty easy to take people's money and be all excited at first, and then just not really feel motivated to make anything (plus you've spent the money so why bother?) so you put it off for months/years until a post like this shows up! yay.

i've never made a quilt before. i wouldn't want that job. haha :P

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

LOL pretty much, I can see maybe the body being the easiest of the whole thing depending on what type of markings and design; though some of the bodies I've seen in photos OMG!....(XD lol true, but it's a horrible way to do business XD)

lol just careful planning is all :D

[stormslegacy.livejournal.com]

I dunno...quilting is like knitting, even the simplest parts of the craft that take time, like bucket and bucket-loads. I wonder if it's the same reason so many people go to craft-fairs with the attitude of "Oh, I know how that's made, I could make it myself IT'S WORTHLESS" without actually considering the time it takes to do it. Hell, even with years of practice I fall into the trap of "Oh, it's just a simple repaint" forgetting the amount of coats it takes to get something white because "well, it's JUST painting" >_<

I think it's easy for people to misjudge the effort even if they've done it before--and the whole working for oneself = labor of love, working for others = hell.

[frazzled-niya.livejournal.com]

Oh it def takes time, which is why I still only have squares and no quilt XD;. Really though it all depends on the complexity of the design you have. But it you are like what my Nanna used to be, then MY GOD. She used to hand stitch all of her quilts x_X (size of a double bed quilt.)

True it is easy to misjudge, it takes time and effort to do crafts. I dunno working for others makes things very easy, might be mundane. But you don't have to worry about taxes and all the other crap that goes along with running a business x_X;

[louveg.livejournal.com]

This. I've had friends (and friends of friends) ask me for suits a dozen times but I refuse. I have only 7 suits under my belt and does NOT consider it enough to warranty the quality that would be expected out of the price I would need to charge to make it worthwhile to me.

[paradedemon.livejournal.com]

Woo! Replying 2 years later because I'm going through old AB posts.

I agree here. I took my first commission for a Fursuit related piece only recently and I think it was after my sixth Fursuit head I had made, and the commission was simply for the foam base.

I don't feel comfortable selling things I haven't made a lot of yet because I would be unable to guarantee a specific quality if I haven't had enough practice.

[rmoorcat.livejournal.com]

I know nothing of her suitmaking, but I at least have had good fast response when I got some art from her.

[growly.livejournal.com]

I dunno if anyone's addressed this yet but are you sure the fun fur isn't actually fox fur? Sometimes, with the black especially, it comes all frizzy and gross looking even though it's decent quality fur. That could be why it supposedly cost $20.

IN RESPONSE

[kime-requiem.livejournal.com]

http://community.livejournal.com/artists_beware/381876.html?#cutid1

The other side of the story.