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View Full Version : My Dissapointment with MerBerry



Mermaid Citrine
12-05-2012, 01:34 AM
Late October, I emailed Amanda of MerBerry tails to ask a few questions about her tails.
She confirmed that they take 4 weeks to complete and she was accepting orders. She also told me she had begun using
slip cast latex instead of Alex as well as a higher quality neoprene which I was happy about.
I asked if she gives receipts. She said no but
she could email me when she got my payment. I said yes please do.

Oct. 25, 2012 I paypaled her in full and sent my design and measurements.
Several days later, no response so I emailed her to make sure she got my payment and specs.
She said "yes got payment"

About a week later, I emailed to double-check the completion date and asked if she would send a photo
where she planned to cut the monofin (if she hadn't done it already) so I could make sure it was like the design
I wanted and not too much cut off of it.
No reply

Another week went by with no reply confirming the completion date of the original 4 weeks as promised.
I emailed again asking for the completion date as I was planning to use my new tail for upcoming shoots in specific locations
I would be traveling to.
No reply

I emailed again saying that if she could not guarantee the completion date, I would like a refund so I can purchase elsewhere or make it myself because I needed it in time for events.
Then finally mid November, Chaz emailed me saying "sorry, everything is fine with your tail, we started on it and it will come in time, maybe just right after thanksgiving Nov. 26 due to the holiday shipping" Amanda also emailed me saying she would "send pics soon" and apologized that she was 'swamped with orders' and also worked a full time job aside from making tails so doesn't have much time for tail making.

Several days went by and no pics were sent so I emailed again, saying if they started my tail and monofin, could they please send me pics.
Several days later, Amanda emailed me this time saying "the truth is we are having problems with materials and the neoprene won't be in until next week"

Now its late november, I emailed back upset that I was obviously lied to "if you don't have the neoprene how could you have started on my tail, Chaz said everything was fine and you started on it weeks ago ? "

Then I decided to make a claim with Paypal for never recieving my product in time as promised.
After contacting paypal, Amanda refunded me and apologized again.

I don't want to be nasty. I know these things take time and perhaps some of the things were true but obviously not all of these claims were. I don't like being lied to. Had I known weeks ago that they didn't even have neoprene to start it and had NOT started my tail and it would NOT be completed in the 4 weeks I was promised, I would have canceled and demanded a refund earlier so I could make it myself or try to order from someone else.

This wasted my time lying to me telling me it was started and would only be 1 day late, etc.

Now its December and I don't have my tail. I should have had it for a trip I went on last week and didn't and I'm going on another trip Dec. 17th and am pretty sure now that I have to order supplies with such late notice, I won't finish it in time.

Overall I'm very dissapointed. I told Amanda and everyone should know that don't make promises you can't keep and definitely don't lie to customers if you don't have their product or it won't be ready by a date you promised. Its bad business.

From what I gather, it seems if you want a great tail you either need to be buddy-buddy with one of the tail makers or just make it yourself,

In a related note, if anyone has experience/tips to give on making a latex tail with slip cast latex not Alex, please share. I've scoured the tutorials but they all seem to be the old ones referring to working with Alex and I've heard the slip casting is different...if there a tutorial out there for using the slip cast latex ?

Thanks everyone,

Mermaid Citrine

Usagi
12-05-2012, 03:20 AM
Well I don't know what slip cast is..is it the same as the RD-407 used for mask-making? Mermaid Star has a whole thread about how she went about making her tail with videos and that's the latex she used. It's from MonsterMakers. It's pretty pricey, though. I started totaling up how much it would cost to make a tail the way she did, and I'm already at like $400 and the list isn't even complete. She said it cost her around $600 to make hers. Everything's so expensive. It stinks/:

Winged Mermaid
12-05-2012, 03:49 AM
I'm so sorry about your experience :( Very disappointing to hear. I was going to wait, but let me post something for you. I hope this helps you.
(http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3838)Also check the Tailmaking Reference Index (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?2633-%E2%98%86%E2%9A%A0TAILMAKING-REFERENCE-INDEX%E2%9A%A0%E2%98%86-Look-here-BEFORE-you-post-any-questions!). Even though most people use ALEX you can use a lot of the same techniques for slip casting latex.

Blondie
12-05-2012, 03:55 AM
I'm sorry for your experience :( I am very glad to hear you got your money back though. I feel like this needs to go into the reviews. This story rubs me the wrong way...

Sammi Ray
12-05-2012, 04:17 AM
I'm sorry to hear that, I've not been successful of getting hold of any body yet which is probably down to the holiday season so i will most likely be making my own. I saw the videos on youtube of morning stars latex tail which was very helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mUQp1eJYD8 That's part one :) Hope this helps :)

AniaR
12-05-2012, 08:28 AM
I'm sorry to hear that. I was also under the impression they were still using Alex because some photos of mers in their tails that I saw online (and shared in another thread) were starting to turn white.

MerEmma
12-05-2012, 09:08 AM
I'm so sorry about that. I was considering ordering from Merberry until I decided just to save further for a silicone tail. It really sucks when something doesn't happen/is completed in time. =\

Prince Calypso
12-05-2012, 01:05 PM
oh wow. I am so sorry to hear you had to go through all that.
Merberry tails was on my list of tailmakers for a new tail since i haven't heard from FishButts in weeks
but i'm sure they are busy. anyway i hope everything works out sweetheart.

Ashe
12-05-2012, 01:12 PM
Sorry about your experience with Merberry :( Hopefully you can get your tail soon!

SeaGlass Siren
12-05-2012, 01:33 PM
I had Merberry reply to me, i'm going through the same thing as well, but i'm not in desperate need of it. Sorry to hear though .__.

Mermaid Citrine
12-05-2012, 03:49 PM
Thanks everyone. Yeah, the main thing is I wish people wouldn't promise a time they can't do and then if weeks go by and they haven't even STARTED on it yet, they need to be honest with their customer who keeps asking them about the completion date and let them know it hasn't even been started and then give them a new guaranteed completion date even if its several months. It just wasted a whole month of me waiting when I could have done it myself...which I will do now with everyones' help especially Winged Mermaid's slip cast tutorial she just put up !! Thanks so much !! To clarify I am planning to use the layered method with the latex and not make any molds. I don't want it to be too heavy/bulky just enough latex to get a raised scale texture. What really bugged me about this too, is after my experience and just the other day, Merberry posted on their facebook "Get your orders in by monday for christmas delivery" I commented on the status "how are people going to get tails by christmas just ordering in the beginning of December when I ordered my tail in late October and am not getting it by Christmas time ? " I don't know if my comment is still there, but that didn't make sense to me. Even after she said she was having trouble with materials, I asked for a new updated completion date (if beyond the original 4 weeks out) and never got a reply as to an updated completion date...which just made me feel like I might never get it so that's why I went for the refund through paypal. Okay now to order supplies...

Lois
12-05-2012, 04:53 PM
Sorry to be negative but now you've had a full refund I doubt that they will bother fullfilling the order :(

BlueMermaid
12-06-2012, 10:39 AM
She did the same thing to me! Took my money and then did not answer my messages for weeks. I finally filed a claim with paypal to get my money back. 2 weeks after that, she messages me that she's sorry and has refunded my money.

Mermaid Star
12-06-2012, 01:36 PM
I just want to let you know that Slip cast latex is very watery. RD-407 is a slip cast latex. Slip casting is like slush casting. You really need a mould for it is really look nice. You might be able to do it if you coat the neoprene in the latex to make a barrier (so it doesn't continue to soak through the neoprene) and then build up from there, but this will be difficult to use the same Alex style with slip cast latex. But, please, if you manage to make it work, be sure to document and put up a thread on how you did it! :)

SeaGlass Siren
12-06-2012, 03:14 PM
That's odd ._. Really blue? She said she just started painting mine

Mermaid Citrine
12-06-2012, 03:56 PM
to Lois:
Ha ha..that's not negative! No, no I wasn't expecting to still recieve it after getting a refund but I can see how I may have made it sound that way. To clarify before asking for the refund and filing a claim with paypal, I asked repeatedly for an updated completion date and never got one so it just bugged me to see her guranteeing a date (Christmas) on facebook because I thought it unlikely based on my experience that people ordering now would get their tail by the time promised (Christmas) Before filing the claim I gave her many chances to give me an updated completion date, even though I would not have had in time for my trips, I was still considering keeping my order but with no response and no expected time given I felt it was too risky and something shady was up

Star: thanks for the tips...I've just had a very hard time finding latex thickener. I'm going to post a detailed thing about what I just ordered on Iona's new tutorial for 'slip cast latex' Thanks

Morticia Mermaid
12-06-2012, 04:59 PM
For those going to make your own tails with the slip casting... You wont have to worry about latex soaking through the neoprene because actual neoprene is basically a sheet of rubber with a thin fabric on one or both sides... if it does not have a layer of rubber (it will be black) then what you have is neoprin (spacer), which is a VERY cheap alternative to neoprene. Neoprin does not hold up well and continues to stretch and stretch.

If you'd like, I made a thread comparing the two. You can find it here (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?3374-Neoprene-Vs-Neoprin)

AniaR
12-06-2012, 05:11 PM
You wont have to worry about latex soaking through the neoprene because actual neoprene is basically a sheet of rubber with a thin fabric on one or both sides...
But Star is speaking from actual experience making a tail with real latex + neoprene. She's got videos of it :p all documented in her thread.

To the whole Merberry thing, I'm always careful when people ask me about tail makers I've never ordered from. Everyone wants to know in my opinion are they a good choice etc. I get asked a lot about Merberry and all I can say is I have never ordered from them, they use alex plus so buyer beware, and that I've seen some of the alex plus issues already on FB

SeaGlass Siren
12-06-2012, 05:19 PM
Raina, I think she upgraded to urethane. She posted a few images on another thread. Could you verify that it's urethrane?

AniaR
12-06-2012, 06:40 PM
Raina, I think she upgraded to urethane. She posted a few images on another thread. Could you verify that it's urethrane?
I don't know how I'm supposed to verify that? I know she was posting asking questions about using urethane here but no one has really dabbled in it on the forum. I can only verify alex plus because that's what she's publicly said, and what I've seen. If she's changed materials, you'd have to hear that from her.

SeaGlass Siren
12-06-2012, 06:57 PM
here's the thread with a bunch of images

http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?1831-Merberry-Making-a-Urethane-Tail&highlight=merberry

Spindrift
12-06-2012, 07:13 PM
Those images are just of test swatches. That doesn't mean she's selling urethane tails now.

Spindrift
12-06-2012, 07:16 PM
Yeah her Facebook just says latex for now. Also, there's other posts on there with people saying they haven't heard from her in a while.

SeaGlass Siren
12-06-2012, 07:25 PM
Hence, why i said "i think." i'm not worrying about it though.

ashleyematthews
01-10-2013, 07:36 AM
Hi everyone, I own a merberry tail.
I thought i'd share my experience here as well since I can't find a reviews page- just so everyone gets all the info possible on Amanda and her tail ordering process :-)
It did take me quite some time to get my tail (a little over two months), but honestly I was in no rush at all for one, so I didn't mind waiting.
I'm a very patient person when it comes to projects like this, knowing Amanda is working mostly by herself with little assistance and working a full time job (she has mutual friends of mine, so i know she isn't using it as an excuse)
My tail was delayed due to material shortages as noted with others, but she was always able to keep me updated. I could tell during the process she was swamped, just by reading her FB page regarding orders and the language/frequency of the e-mails I sent her. I kind of decided to back off and let her do her thing, the last thing i wanted to do was rush her which could have resulted in a tail I wasn't happy with.
I gave her obsessive measurements, and some color examples- knowing her paint jobs are so beautiful I told her she had a lot of creative freedom...just make my tail a beautiful pink/gold dream! haha she was always extremely responsive to my e-mails. customer service was fine.
she posted a photo of my finished tail on FB and I couldn't have been more excited. perfect!
This is where a kind of problem came in:
Amanda and I live very close to one another- we had agreed in initial emails to meet up in person for the tail delivery to save costs and energy of shipping. I got a call from my family in orange county (one of the addresses I have listed in my paypal account) that I had a package waiting for me at the house from Merberry. I thought maybe she had sent it by mistake, no biggie. I went to go pick it up, upon opening i noticed something right away. the tail that was neatly packaged in the box (with an adorable little 'gift box' included with sea shells, business cards and free soap samples) was red. not the baby pink i saw on FB. after pulling it out i realized that this tail was another tail she had posted on FB earlier in the week, a red and gold one. it was stunning, just not mine. to be honest i wasn't upset about not getting my tail- i was more concerned that someone else was missing their tail.
Amanda was out of town as stated on FB so i knew it would be hard to contact her about it, but i left her several emails and messages to let her know I had someone's red and copper tail safely stored in my home and that I'd be more than willing to swap them out in person.
She emailed me back a couple days later apologizing for the mix-up- hey these things happen right? I wasn't upset. we set a date for the switch, but unfortunately both of us have crazy hectic schedules (i'm a full time performer and bounce from gig to gig) and kept having to reschedule until Amanda finally asked if i could just ship it back to her- and unfortunately I was out of town for the next month or so that wasn't going to happen. i felt awful for the client who was waiting for her tail, but hey, there was nothing either of us could have done. I feel like i was being very patient and understanding in the situation- i only hope the other client was as well.
A few weeks ago Amanda and I finally managed to meet up- she hand delivered my tail to my apartment. she was very apologetic and I was very impressed that she made the effort to deliver the tail in person to apologize. it was in perfect condition, and fit like a glove. I love it and everyone i show it too is thoroughly impressed with the workmanship. I have yet to take it in the water, so I can't vouch for swimming or wet-feel, but for a dry reference- it's wonderful.
8883

Now my situation was obviously unique, and I am a uniquely patient person. I know most people maybe would've taken the situation a little differently and maybe would've been disappointed or upset with Amanda's services and probably would have reacted a lot more negatively than I....and that would have been totally understandable. I wouldn't have judged anyone for doing so- but I personally was never upset, i trusted Amanda and wanted to give her a chance as a new promising tail maker.
But my experience wasn't awful- if i had needed the tail ASAP for something i probably would have gotten a little more upset...but to be honest, I have my tail now, I love it, the workmanship and detail are wonderful (which maybe wouldn't be the case if it was rushed) and can now use it for gigs regularly.I would recommend Amanda to anyone needing a tail- just maybe not if they have a time constraint :-)

AniaR
01-10-2013, 01:22 PM
you actually just start a new thread for your own review here --> http://mernetwork.com/index/forumdisplay.php?25-All-Others

Mermaid Crystal Shimmer
01-10-2013, 02:13 PM
Hi all! I'm new here. I'm from the Netherlands and just found out about this network. I ordered the tail Ashleyematthews got. I ordered my tail in August, and got the note it was shipped in September.. After not hearing from her for a while I finally got the awnser that my tail got mixed with someone else's. Since the mixup she responded fast on all the messages I send her. Communication was quite good. She did an amazing job on the paintjob. (I finally received my tail today!) Although it fits well, the seems at the top on one side is loose (about 3" is loose) and worst thing, the monofin used doesn't fit. My feet are too big for them (I have shoe size 9). It actually hurts trying to get my feet in them. =( I messaged her right away, so I'm waiting for a reply now. I'm really new to this whole mermaid thing so any tips are welcome. =)
But not to be all negative, because I love my tail! I ordered a belt from Merbella's so as soon as that arrives I will have an underwater fotoshoot with it. (after the monofin thing is fixed).

ashleyematthews
01-10-2013, 04:57 PM
you actually just start a new thread for your own review here --> http://mernetwork.com/index/forumdisplay.php?25-All-Others
Thanks!
i wasn't sure if there was an established Merberry one yet and didn't want to create a duplicate just in case!

Mahi Mermaid
01-17-2013, 08:45 PM
Forget all the tail makers--looks like you ended up making a gorgeous tail of your own. Plus it's more fun, right?

LittleTreasure
01-28-2013, 07:03 PM
Hi, I thought I'd just add something in here:
I have been interested in ordering one of Merberry's tails and decided to inquire about her choice of materials. She said she does use ALEX in her tails. She also isn't selling any type of urethane tail yet from what I can find. I do wish she did though, as I'd be much more inclined to buy a urethane tail... her paint jobs and fluke texture on her tails look so pretty!