I've ordered costumes from two different places, and had a lot of problems with both. The first time I ordered a costume was from Limebarb. I sent the money, told them what I wanted and so forth. And then they seemingly disappeared. They wouldn't reply to e-mails. Or if they did it was only to say the costume would be 'late', or make it sound like they were working on it.
A full
year late, they finally replied to me when I told them I'd reported them to the BBB because they took my money, never gave me a product and didn't answer my e-mails. They responded quite quickly after that and offered to make me a second costume that was as much or less than the one I'd ordered for free.
The Tsukasa (.hack//sign) costume was good enough. The second costume was ok (Wolfram, Kyou Kara Maou. A much simpler costume). It was still a year's worth of waiting, and who knows if they would have responded if I didn't tell them I was reporting them.
The second place I ordered a costume from was Fanplus Friends. The main reason I'm posting this rant is because a friend showed me a picture they'd put up of the costume they made me. It'll become more obvious why in a bit.
First I asked for a quote because a friend recommended them. I wanted a costume of Kurt Howell from Silver Chaos. Some pieces of this costume are complicated.
Subject: Re: Custom Costume Quote
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 04:38:00 -0600
X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000
Priority: normal
HI, thanks alot for your contacting for commission. It's much pleasure to discuss details with you.
There is the items we could provide for this Costume below.
Evaluated cost:$199.99
The UPS Express shipping cost is $26 to US/Canada, $33 to Europe and Other countries, or $20 to Asia.
* The order would be arranged to making within 24 hours after payment.
Making time is 2 weeks,delivery time is 3- 4 days.
May you send us clear picture of the sash please?
About the size,may you choose the sizes you prefer here:
http://store.prostores.com/fanplusfriend/ebay/standardsize.htm
Please choose the correct BODY size above. Please do NOT leave extra space, there is enough spaces left for comfortable wearing. Or for perfect fitting, you may provide your persional sizes, the costumes could be made as Custom measurements. (No extra cost.) Please view a while the instruction here:
http://store.prostores.com/fanplusfriend/size/measurement_info.htm
There are several payment methods we accept,Paypal, Credit Cards, Western Union Transfer or Bank Transfer.
If you prefer send payment via Paypal, please send it directly to
bookdense@gmail.com
Other payment methods, please check:
http://www.fanplusfriend.com/service/payment.htm
Thanks for your time.
Please email us freely if there is any other questions.
Greetings,
Jonathan Dong
Customer Supporter
As you can see, all seems well. I ordered and asked what pieces it included, just in case.
Subject: Re: Custom Costume Quote
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 01:53:02 -0600
X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000
Priority: normal
Hello,thanks alot for contacting.It's much pleasure to help.
This costume could be made in cotton or cotton blended,including dress, sash, hat and belt.
Please choose the fabric and color you prefer below.
http://www.fanplusfriend.com/ebay/fabrics.htm
Thanks for your time.
Have a good day.
Please email us freely if there is any other questions.
Greetings,
Jonathan Dong
Customer Supporter
All goes smoothly for awhile. They want some more pictures, I tell them that I've provided all existing pictures (pretty much, and the others that exist don't show any more), they make a design/pattern, I approve it. Then I receive the costume and realize something is terribly wrong. Now, I'm not deathly picky, but the character's costume is dark green, and the costume they sent was light blue.
Which leads me to what caused me to start writing this rant.
Their picture. My scan.
As you can see, there's a huge difference between what they're showing on their site and what I got. The colors on their picture are tweaked to look close to the original. What I got was very far from the original.
Anyway, I reply to them telling them about the problem. And this is where I start to feel like bashing my head on a wall. I'm not sure I need too much commentary for this part.
My costume arrived, but I have a couple problems.
The main problem is the color of the belt. The color is very, very far off the original belt.
I've attached a picture as an example.
Also, I never received a hat. (I've sent a scan of a small portion of a hat my friend made for me, to show an example of the color).
I provided copies of the original information I was given.
I'm also providing copies of the original sample I gave.
The design and size is fine (except the belt may be a little too wide). The sash is fine and I can use the robe. But going as a bright blue Kurt would be similar to going as a hot pink Alucard.
~Emeryl
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I e-mailed with a couple problems, but I haven't gotten any response yet. So I'll send it again.
(copied and pasted e-mail was here)
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HI, it's pleasure to send you an exchange sash in dark blue.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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The belt is suppose to be dark green.
The sash is fine.
Also, what about the hat?
~Emeryl
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HI, Your hat is pretty.
I rechecked your commission emails. From the first ones we mentioned this outfit in commission did not include the hat.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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At this point I forwarded the second e-mail to them that you can see on this page, that quite clearly has the hat listed.
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Hi, We are very sorry for the misunderstanding. We cannot provide you a hat.
In the first email i got from you, i remembered you wrote you already have a hat, and need a quote for this costume only. So i left a message to Jonathan Dong with evaluated cost. This our fault since he metioned this outfit included a hat accidentally. Once the evaluated cost provided, it should not be changed, that is why we voluntarily drew an extra CG for print, no any extra cost. Although the clear pictures were supposed to be provided by clients.
We are sorry about this, this transaction was based on a mistake.
If you prefer to cancel this transaction, it's pleasure to arrange refund after received the returned product with tags.
Please ship the unsatisfying product back to address below. We know the international courier cost is very high, please ship the returned product black by cheap method, such as postal air package.
(Deleted Addresses)
Sorry again for the trouble brought.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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My main problems right now are that the belt is a bright blue (even though he's green) and the ends of his sleeves are, for some reason, blue again, when there's no blue on his costume anywhere. It's really a bit odd. The sleeves were cut off and there was white fabric attached to the tan fabric, which was then dyed bright blue. But the original costume the sleeves are entirely tan and the ends are dyed a gray-ish color with white only at the very tip.
These are just the kind of changes I would have liked to know about beforehand so that there wouldn't have been mistakes. If the fabric that was being used to make the main robes isn't good for dye-ing, I could have been informed of that so that we could have worked something else out. But I didn't know any of this was going to happen, and there's no reason I would have expected it.
I'd rather have the costume fixed up so that it's the right colors. This costume is very important to me; I plan on improving it and adding more to it over time. But I need a suitable base to start with.
I do have a hat, but I wasn't planning on using it with this costume. That's because the color I have on the hat and the color you use for the outfit were very unlikely to be the exact same color and fabric. I figured it'd be easier to just get a new hat then try to match them up exactly.
How much would a hat cost?
~Emeryl
(I had to send this e-mail twice, too)
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HI,
We cannot make you hat.
It's pleasure to send you exchange sash. It would be shipped shortly within 1 week.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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A remake of the belt would work.
Please change the bright blue to a dark green.
~Emeryl
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Has the sash/belt piece been re-made dark green yet?
~Emeryl
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HI, Sorry let you wait. We had no dark blue silk fabrics, and make a restock, the exchange sash would be shipped on Monday.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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It's not blue, it's dark green O.o There's no blue on his outfit anywhere.
~Emeryl
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Just to note, I've said it was dark green several times. Here's some copies of the e-mails
So please make it green, not blue.
~Emeryl
(Several e-mails were attached)
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Sorry, i meant dark green, just because we had made a wrong color in dark blue here, i'm too afraid to mistake it again, so typed it wrong again.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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Ok, good. I was worried there for a minute. It'd be awful to have the same mistake happen twice.
~Emeryl
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sorry.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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It's fine, as long as it's the right color.
~Emeryl
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Did the belt get mailed yet?
~Emeryl
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I haven't gotten a reply yet, so I was wondering if the belt was shipped yet or not. The convention is coming up pretty soon.
I think everything else is set.
~Emeryl
(Three weeks before the convention)
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I haven't received a reply or anything in the mail, so I'm going to ask again because the convention is coming up in less than 2 weeks. How is the belt coming along?
~Emeryl
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We stocked the satin in dark blue, which caused time. And it's would be shipped this week via UPS express.
--
Greetings,
Bo. Hai
Customer Supporter
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It's green, right?
~Emeryl
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Sorry, i meant green, T_T
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You give me a panic attack everytime @.@
~Emeryl
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I know, but not intentionally.. Sorry.
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Hi, thanks alot for your buy. Your order has been shipped by UPS Express, it should arrive in 3 days.
Tracking number: H6782375775
(Within 24 hours, you may follow the shipping process at www.ups.com )
--
Greetings,
Lisa Zhang
Customer supporter
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But the convention is in 2 days now.
~Emeryl
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I'm sorry to do this but this is quite frustrating. I received an e-mail last week that this would be shipped "this week" (which would have been last week).
Instead, it's apparently shipped to arrive in "3 days" when the convention I need it for is in 2 days.
One of the rights as a consumer is that when you buy something you have the right to assume you'll be able to use it for the purpose you bought it for.
I first began this order in January (and asked questions about it in December).
4/27/2007 I confirmed that a re-make of the belt would be acceptable due to problems with the original belt.
During the next month I continued to send e-mails reminding you about the belt and also continuously repeating that it was supposed to be green.
6/5/2007 I questioned whether the belt had been mailed yet, because I had been told on 5/26/2007 that it would be mailed within 1 week.
6/10/2007 I e-mailed again asking about the belt.
6/19/2007 I e-mailed again about the belt, also informing you that the convention was in two weeks. The same day I was told it would be shipped within the week.
6/28/2007 I NOW get an e-mail stating that the belt has finally been sent, to arrive AFTER the convention that it was intended for.
So it took a full two months and isn't likely to arrive in time. Because I have every right to expect to be able to use what I ordered, and I probably won't get it in time to be able to use it (despite being told otherwise several times), it's perfectly acceptable to expect a partial refund. I was never unclear about what I wanted; I didn't ignore this order, and I constantly kept up with you and received false information (and being told that it was going to be shipped by a certain time, more than once, wasn't even the first time I received false information during this order.) Twice I was told that it would be mailed "that week" so I would expect it to arrive on time, and now I'm being given a due date that it'll arrive after the convention, and I have no time to even have the option of ordering or making a replacement for it anymore.
I think I've been quite reasonable during this entire transaction. I let go that I was misinformed of what pieces I would be receiving. Even though two pieces were sent in the (completely) wrong color, I only asked for one to be re-done. It's not unreasonable to expect to get one piece before two months has passed.
I keep records of everything and can prove everything I've stated here, so if the belt doesn't arrive in time for me to use it for its intended purpose, I would like a partial refund.
~Emeryl
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After that I haven't heard from them. Because I did get a product I wouldn't ask for a full refund, but I would ask for something like 10% because it was wrong of them to delay mailing it for so long that it arrived after when I could use it.
Who would think asking for dark green would be so difficult?
