Tailmaker Issues, Help?

[MerDragon Arie]

Are there any Mermaids perferabbly tailmakers that would be willing to message me and help me out with something. Long story short my tailmaker from last year is refusing to give me some money back for the tail that I was paying off. I told her she could keep the deposit of $1250 for the mats and labor she did on the tail and was only asking for $300 which is the amount I started to pay off after the deposit. The tail isn't what I wanted and asked her to fix things during the process and was just told that she couldn't do it. I tried to be nice at first and now she is giving me problems. PayPal wont do a dang thing apparently since the transactions were from last year. She told me that if I don't come up with a payment plan for the remander of the tail plus $300 for shipping in two weeks then the whole deal is voided along with my money. I'm really p-off and would like some advice on what I can do. I don't have the tail she still has it with her.

[Mermaid Wesley]

Well what kind of agreement or policy does this tailmaker have about refunds? It sounds like a new/ inexperienced tailmaker since they started your tail before you paid it off. Did you sign off on some sort of agreement?


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[AniaR]

Lots of tail makers take deposits to start the tail though. it's pretty standard that deposits are non refundable once the tail is started because that deposit is used to purchase materials. Most don't offer refunds only very rarely.

[Tracy f]

The tail in question has been done for a year and not payed off. I offered to give back more than the asked for 300$ if it could be sold. however as it was sculpted from scratch at her direction it will be difficult. Instead of talking She went to pay pal and tried to claim the charges were fraudulent essentially attempting to steal from me via pay pal. I too am pissed off and am no longer willing to wait for the money I am owed. All that had to be offered was say 50$ a month payment plan till it is payed off and we could still be having a civil private conversation. As for the tail not being what was expected. well I changed the colour when asked due to bad colour rendering on the photo given and otherwise the messages have been hearts and :) so I cant fix what I dont know about. Sorry you bought something you couldn't afford but your lack of planning is not my problem.

[Mermaid Momo]

So the problem with the tail is color? Or is there more? Was this problem brought up in conversation before or was a paypal claim filed without any communication at all? Amd are you demanding the tail and a refund or refund only and the maker keeps the tail?

As a costume commissioner i similarly void transactions where a customer wishes to backout late in the game and has only paid the deposit which is nonrefundable. If only the deposit is paid then there is no money to be refunded and the customer voids their claim to the item unless the rest of the bill is paid.

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[Mermaid Momo]

Also looks like you'll be shipping the tail in from canada? I hear $300 is around the going price for shipping things as heavy as a tail across borders.

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[AniaR]

oh wow now that I know it's Traci I gotta say like 400 people can vouche for her quality- all at mermania. Her tails were a huge hit. And I have decided to work with her on beta testing a new tail design. She's one of the most reasonable people I know.

[Mermaid Momo]

Okay a little bit of a post here so bear with me. I started a transaction with her last year for a custom made tail. The whole time she was making my tail she didn't communicate or check with me on the design and colors. My friend drew me a picture of my tail design and I sent it to her, she said it wouldn't be a problem and of course I agreed to the extra cost of the custom scales and fluke design. She showed me a couple of pictures of her making it and the design and even during that process I asked her to fix things because they were wrong. She told me she would fix it and didn't update me on pictures until the painting process. She made the tail hot pink which it was supposed to be deep purple and the green was off too. She told me she would fix those colors, she just painted over them with a light purple and the hot pink still bleeds through the purple and the green was still wrong. I also asked her to fix up the fluke because I don't know why she just goes off a design picture but she had white lines that aren't supposed to be there and she said she couldn't fix the fluke colors at all cause the "colors would run together". She finished the tail and showed me pictures, STILL WRONG. She refused to fix it. It's messed up, not even and floppy looking. She used my tail in a photo shoot and one of the pictures was her SITTING ON TOP of my tail that was just flopped on the ground with other tails.

Okay because most of us will need photos to understand. These are the photos of the tail from the maker's Facebook along with what I'm assuming is the photoshoot you mentioned and the original design from your first thread.

From the drawing i can understand mistaking the purple for pink as i also thought it was pink. I can also see the white on the fluke in the design too. The main difference i see is the dragon/snake belly scales do not go all the way down like the original design. Did you tell her to leave out the white and that it was to be purple when you sent the drawing? Or was that only after she had painted it incorrectly that it was pointed out?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170608/43dd1d10b86997eef12c6e4be482a909.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170608/f1eb0a354b49716707ab4f5818a5aede.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170608/472b43591f46b989b4511c3d3678e5c1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170608/c788bfb2a8f6d831779ac3ff4beb10da.jpg

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[MerDragon Arie]

There were more issues then what have been said and I have tried to talk to you about things Tracy. Now I am forced to take legal action because what you are doing is basically stealing. I had to have surgery and things have been rough and I told you about those things and why I wasn't able to pay any of the tail. I can't control things like getting sick and having surgery, I almost died for crying out loud. As for the PayPal they were the ones that advised me what to do and what actions to take and have screenshots of all the conversations from them. You should have communicated with me on the coloring and for the whole tail in general in the first place, I asked you to fix things and you said you couldn't fix them when I know and other tailmakers have told me that it was simple fixing. I told Tracy that she could keep the deposit of $1250 and only asked for $300 which was the payments that I was able to do at the time. I'm over it and her bad communication and I will be taking legal actions FYI. For the rest of you I would be very careful on who you trust to do tails with! Have a nice day, I will not be commenting any further per advice from my lawyer.

[AniaR]

this is weird I can't see Arie's post that you're quoting momo

Honestly, the tail to me looks exactly like the drawings, but I understand sometimes things like colors can be subjective, it sounds like maybe you didn't have the most accurate expectations going into it which can happen if you've never commissioned a custom tail before. And each tail maker has their own method, so asking one if it can be "fixed" is also really subjective as well. Silicone has a green period for curing, once you're past that it's really difficult to change the colors. In fact. Merbella's is the only one I know of who can consistently do it and it's a trade secret. Others have had their new paint peel off. Your tails looks super super custom to me like so much custom sculpting.

There's not really any legal action you can take. I actually was 100% scammed back in the day by mertailor (we've resolved things since then) and I went through the whole process of talking to a lawyer and really I was in a worse off situation than you are and couldn't do anything legally. I should warn you, threatening legal action when you can't take any is actually called legal bullying. And it's illegal.

I'm sorry the tail isn't to your expectations, and as someone who is seriously ill myself I am sorry to hear about your health situations. But you can't just cancel out on a tail because expenses come up. Most of the tail makers don't allow that and the ones that do will only do it on a discretionary bases.

My suggestion is to work out a payment plan and pay the rest of it off. If you get it and still don't like it; sell it to make your money back. If you have money for a lawyer you should have money to finish up the tail payments- lawyers are expensive! Plenty of mers would love a tail if you sold it I think. And then you can take your money and try again with someone else. Good luck

[Tracy f]

Ok well where to start. I sent lots of pictures while I was sculpting things for you. Things I did not actually charge you for. I charged you only the normal rate I charge for extra pieces on a tail not my normal 500$ for sculpting and molding because I thought it was a fun design. So that I suppose is my bad wont trust people in the future. Your picture is hot pink and has white around the edges and I painted it purple when you asked. As I told you at the time if you mix green and pink it does make kind of a brown colour so to avoid that I left the while as it was in the picture. If you look close at that picture I am not sitting on your tail and it is on a piece of paper. I have been keeping it here for a year storing it for you so I though as it is taking up space in my workshop I should at least get some promo out of it considering you are a year delinquent on actually paying me. Since you have asked for money back you have not directly spoken to me in private instead choosing to involve pay pal and the public. I have been understanding of your medical issues for a year, I run a business not a charity and there are limits. My offer to give you back more than the 300$ you asked for if I could sell the tail was very reasonable and instead you have chosen to try and commit fraud against me through pay pal and slander my business reputation. Not only do you have no grounds to come after me but in fact I can sue you for the remaining balance on the tail and if this continues slander. I don’t really plan to do this but I would like you to stop trying to bully me with this threat. It is interesting how your story has changed from “ Your an amazing artist” to this. It seems to me that you are mad that you can’t afford the tail and are trying to convince yourself and others that it was a bad product. You are still welcome to the tail if you pay me soon, otherwise it is a year over due and forfeit. No other business would allow you to keep or have an item you have not payed for. If you stop making car payments they take the car with no refund.

[TheSaltySiren]

Wow..I cannot believe this. I am about to venture into the tail making business and this is just crazy. You cannot slander someone and threaten legal action because you can no longer pay for a custom tail that they made for you.

I think Tracy's tails are amazing and she has been more than helpful at giving me advice and tips for my new business. I hate to see someone bully you because of their own problems. Sorry you have to deal with this Tracey, Mer Hugs

[Mermaid Vee]

From a outsiders perspective who knows non of the parties involved and jut looking at the images i would say that the tail looks almost identical to the concept sketches (some of the colors are not identical but thats a good thing). Also if you haven't paid for the tail in full it is not officially yours yet and so she should have the right to take images of it as it is her work ( creative license and right now her property as the agreed term of the sale have not been finalized). I would be careful like Raina stated as this threading of legal action is a offense while the seller has not committed any.

[Mermaid Lilija]

I agree on everyone here. The tail is identical, she was so nice to not charge you more, of course there can be moments you don't have enough money to pay but that's why you need to save up first a bit so you won't end up in this situation... (in my opinion). Also agree with the thing about that she can also sue you now. And as Raina said... If you can pay that lawyer of yours you can also pay for your tail.

Off topic here but you really did an amazing job Tracy! :jawdrop: I've seen this tail on your Instagram and was like damn looks like a lot of crafting! If I had enough money I would definitely get a second silicone tail from you :D