The wait, the long long long wait for my neoprene tail from Siren's Calling

[PhaylennMurúch]

I didn't want to post this at all, I've been worried that if I complain publically then I won't see my tail or my money. But quite a few mers who know the situation suggested that I post.


So I ordered a neoprene Harley Quinn tail from Siren's Calling (mermaid Morticia). My final payment was sent March 12th with the general 6-8 weeks till shipment. At first communication was really good.
On May 8th she said that the tail would be finished by the end of the month and ready for shipping. Then she had some personal stuff happen and I didn't hear from her for two months despite weekly emails from me.
July 2 I hear from her and she said that the tail was painted and she was starting on the hip fins
July 20, just needed to finish the details, touch ups and finish the fins
August 14, she said that the tail should be ready to go by the end of 'next week'
September 2, she said she wasn't happy with the hip fins and was re-doing them
September 13, was doing the final coat on the black fin and then all she had to do was attach them
October 4, she had more personal issues but the tail would be finished by next weekend
I haven't heard from her since October 4th. so we're coming up on the third weekend after "next weekend"



I know that life can get in the way of a lot of stuff but am I wrong in thinking that it shouldn't take nearly 30 weeks (as of today) to finish a neoprene tail? Especially since I was told 3 times that it was ready.

[MermaidAine]

That does seem like an awfully long time. Has she sent you any pictures along the way or anything? I hope it turns out good and that the tail is so beautiful that it was worth the wait.

[PhaylennMurúch]

Three pictures
June 13
33700
June 17
33701
September 13
33702

[Starfrit]

A similar situation came up with my tail-- It took about 11 months from full payment in early May 2014 to when it arrived on my doorstep in mid April 2015. There were a few instances where she said she'd have it done by a certain date (6-8 weeks was my initial estimate, too), and then each deadline passed, but she always stayed in contact with me and let me know what was going on; she was originally going to airbrush my tail, but the airbrush machine broke, so she had to paint my entire tail by hand. Then she ended up moving, which took some time to get her settled in, she was sick for a little while at one point, things like that. Things also got a little behind at one point because the heat gun she needed to set the paint on my tail (I think that's what it was?) went missing somewhere in the move. There were lots of little things.

Personally, it never really bothered me because my tail was a lot of firsts for her-- first to get a sewn dorsal fin and hip fins, which she'd never done before and spent a lot of time trying to figure out how best to put them together; first tail with entirely different designs on the front and back, for example. I knew she had a lot of kinks she was trying to iron out with how best to do my tail, so I gave her as much time as she needed to get things right. I figured I'd let her go at her own pace and get better quality than try to pressure her and end up with a rushed tail that might not look/hold together as great. It worked out great for me in the end, especially since this was my first-ever tail.

THAT SAID, a lot of the reason I felt totally cool with how long my tail took (besides the construction-related reasons I listed above) was because Morticia kept in contact with me throughout the whole thing, gave me updates, and then let me know whenever my tail was put on hold. I think if I lost contact with her for long periods like you did, I would have been really nervous about it and potentially seen it as a red flag. So I definitely don't blame you for posting here about it (or even your reasons for hesitating in the first place).

The best advice I can give is to be patient; honestly, it just seems like slow-going is kind of her thing. It's not ideal, obviously, and it would definitely be a lot easier on her customers if she were better at being upfront with how long her tails can take. I could understand my tail taking as long as it did because it was a highly experimental tail; I'm not so sure how I feel about it being a regular thing with all of her tails.

But at least in my experience, the wait paid off and I was absolutely in love with the end result. Hopefully everything works out and you'll love your tail, too.

Have you tried messaging her Mermaid Morticia (https://www.facebook.com/mermaid.morticia?fref=ts) or Siren's Calling (https://www.facebook.com/SirensCallingTails?fref=ts) Facebook accounts? When my tail was being made all of our communication was through Facebook PMs with her Siren's Calling page. You might have better luck keeping in contact with her there; she was always really fast to reply to me any time I messaged her there, so it's possible she checks FB a lot more frequently than her email.


Also, on a side note... How many orders does she have right now, anyway? Not long after I ordered mine, someone mentioned here on MN that they'd just put in an order from her for a lionfish tail, too. I never did hear anything about how that went, or if the tail was ever even finished. It's a little worrisome, now that I actually think about it...

[PhaylennMurúch]

The one time I was able to get a hold of her on FB was when mermaid Elodea was possibly driving by and we wanted to know (being that she'd already said that the tail was just about done) if she could swing by to pick it up.