Maker Communication The contact time from the maker could vary anywhere from 1-2 days to 3 months.
Many times it would feel like I was completely ignored and ghosted whilst being left on read after asking a question, whilst I understand this is a business when you’re told “I’ll have an update for you by X” and then days roll by. It’s natural to get anxious.
When commissioning them in December I was told a 3-4 month turnaround time with a “Deposit upfront, and the rest upon completion” something I should've noticed for myself, was that the maker did not have a TOS.
After paying the maker in Dec 13th 2023, I was told that they would order the furs “today or tomorrow” with all the furs currently being in stock. And that they would keep me updated. I had no updates on furs until I asked on the 29th of Feb 2024 (the same day I asked for the final invoice). To which i got a response of “They have some furs on hand already, but they still need to order some more but have limited space so they cant” – the rest of the Furs weren’t ordered until late september. This level of communication as a maker or otherwise is unacceptable on any level. It shows a complete disregard for someone who has just spent a lot of their hard earned money and put a lot of trust in you.
I would occasionally receive updates on their personal situation in terms of “my assistant has quit” which would slow down production. In September the maker said that they were dealing with a client that had missed payments for multiple months and as such had to build multiple premade’s to cover bills (Likely pushing my suit further and further back.)
I had paid 70% upfront in Dec 2023, and the rest in March 1st 2024 – Upon Completion of the fursuit in October 2024 (10 months), the maker asked me to pay the remaining amount again, This leads me to believe that they had treated me as an unpaid client the entire time and pushed me behind other suits.
Delivery to MFF was originally supposed to happen, but a 3rd party could not attend. After this, the maker did not respond for multiple days at all (MFF was an arranged hard deadline) I suggested shipping the suit multiple times, whilst being left on read with no response, no update, no indication of anything moving, just silence. At the time my partner reached out to them on twitter to ask them to politely to respond, Of which the maker then lashed out at me, suggesting it had been one day from last communications (when it had been 4 days in total) as well as suggesting i need to work around their timeframes (of which i was doing, as every message sent from my end, was scheduled for either 10AM or 6PM Canadian time)
After this, the suit was then shipped – I asked for the suit to be declared at full value for customs, but upon arrival at customs the suit was not declared at the full value.
After then experiencing issues with my suit both upon arrival and after wearing for a few hours, as previously said i was told “these things happen” which just shouldn’t be the case.
Overall Project Quality Overall I’m unsatisfied with the quality of the fursuit, but happy with how the suit looks visually.
The suit absolutely should not have this many defects within the first few hours of wear, nor should they be brushed off as they have been, Multiple times completely seemingly lacking empathy or seeming manipulative.
I do not believe this fursuit is worth what I paid purely on the basis of how the suit has broken in multiple places under normal wear and tear. (walking and taking pictures at conventions), I feel like my commission was rushed and steps were clearly cut in its production.
As such im having to pay fursuit makers to repair part of the fursuit already (new lining), or commission entirely new parts.
The fact that the fursuit doesn’t accommodate glasses when specifically requested really upsets me, as I have difficulty wearing contact lenses. Which means i either have to have limited vision, or just have painful eyes.
The feet breaking within 13 hours has also left me dissatisfied as a commissioner more so with the lack of acknowledgement of this being an issue.
The suit does however look visually nice, and i do enjoy wearing them despite these issues, as they are my character.
To add further to this;
I unpacked my fur suit after storage for the first time since posting this, and discovered the spots on the hand paws had come unsewn, this is something I hadn’t noticed when doing my initial review, but after finding them thought I should add as a comment, The suit has had no further time worn since the review.