stress from waiting for first custom tail

[MermaidCecelia]

now this isnt a post made to bash mertailor personally, but from my expierance, with ordering a silicone neoprene tail. it makes me feel like hes unapprechiative of the people who order tails that arnt as expensive as the full silicone (3000+ dollars) or the partical silicone.

i have a friend who got her partial silicone within a month and a half, and it looks beautiful lemme tell you. her buying from mertailor was what inspired me to choose getting a silicone neoprene tail

i had seen bad reviews but also good reviews , so i went ahead with the purchase anyways as long as i made the right measurements.

so far its been 4-5 weeks. and its nerve wrecking to see that other tails are being boosted about on his facebook or instagram with happy customers cheering that they will get the tails soon. while im sitting here, still waiting. i know i shouldnt be complaining sense its only been a little over a month. but being the first time ive EVER spent 500+ dollars on a tail , its getting me on edge. i ordered the tail may and im just fearful it will take most of summer to get here. living in maine i dont get much of a season to swim before the overall temperture is too uncomfortable

3-4 weeks after ordering i emailed asked for an update, i wish he would of discussed with me about my question of " is my tail being made at all right now?" in stead of saying " we dont discuss untill we start painting it , best wishes"

do you ever feel like tail makers just take on too much orders? i feel like sellers should regulate HOW many orders they can take within a certain period. i know every bussiness owner wants to be very sussessful and make alot from it. and i understand that the silicone tails may be more priority, i just wish i actually knew its current status. like, sorry i guess for not having the money for the highest priced tail ?
anyone else feeling this way ? :confused: idk

[Meilyn]

I know some limit their orders and personally, yes I do feel they take on to much sometimes and should limit orders until things are caught up.

Typically though, it takes 3-9 months to get a tail. A month is extremely short unless you've had it rush ordered I believe.

But I'm just a person passing by waiting on my tail as well :) from another tail maker though.

[AniaR]

Honestly most tail makers aren't in a position to constantly send updates and unless a tail is premade or used it is pretty unheard of to get it at 3-4 weeks. I know there's a few tail makers left who try to send more updates but I personally believe that'll change as their companies continue to grow.

Its normal to be nervous but I wouldn't worry quite yet

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Mermaid Sirenia]

Totally normal to be nervous! As I was of mine, but mine will be in my hands next week or the week after! It took mine around 6 months! So it might take yours quite some time, so don't worry!


~Mermaid Sirenia~

[Blaze]

Did you ask what your delivery date would be before ordering it? I wouldn't start worrying until it got closer to when it was supposed to ship. Just because your friend got hers in a specific time frame doesn't mean his workload was the same when you ordered. :)

As someone who books out for costumes months and even years in some cases in advance & have had clients complain about seeing other work done before seeing progress on theirs I remind them that I didn't show them my list of clients in front of them when they ordered. ;)

[MermaidCecelia]

thanks guys! i feel a bit more at ease now

[MermaidBonnie]

It's normal to feel this way. I was inspired by Christomer to collect tails from other tail makers to expand my collection and looked at ordering from Finfolk until I saw their waiting time was at least 6 months, and I called, texted, and emailed Raven and got no response, which is fine, she just must be that busy. Apparently 6 months is the average waiting time for a tail I learned by asking clients of these tail makers. I went to Mertailor with my timeline and he made mine within 3 months to help me out bc my body is changing rapidly with my pregnancy and I still had a few aquarium/festival gigs to fulfill. He's making me another one now that I need within 2 weeks for my Mexico dive bc my body outgrew my tail again (I'm almost 7 months pregnant now). But, he advised this would happen back in February and I paid in advance for that tail in case I needed it. I'm really thankful I listened to him. I know he's super busy, and I've found myself watching his page asking, is that my tail yet? In being a long time client, now getting tail #4 from him, I can tell you that if you work out a timeline in advance with him, that he does honor it. Out of curiosity though, if you got a neoprene/silicone tail, with the tutorials out there, why didn't you make one since you don't have much time to swim where you live? I've made them for friends within a week and they cost about $300 in supplies.

[Theta]

I have a silicone/neoprene (well, slightly different materials, but same basic style tail) made by Mertailor several years ago, and I remember it taking 7-8 weeks to get shipped to me, if that gives you any idea of what the timeline is.

[MermaidCecelia]

@theta where do u live? Cause that seems rather long to get a tail, unless you live out of country

[MermaidCecelia]

By get the tail I mean get it shipped

[Blaze]

@theta where do u live? Cause that seems rather long to get a tail, unless you live out of country

Mine took at least that long as well plus I had to ship it back & wait all over again since it was too short for me in the back (my butts fault, not Mertailors lol). I live in Texas FYI.

Also I just checked and it says right on the silicone/neoprene tail page: "This item is made to order and will take 5-10 weeks."

[Chrissy]

I just sent my measurements off yesterday and was told by Mernation that it will take about 8 weeks!!! Since it is very humid and I know silicone doesn't cure that well in wet conditions, I wouldn't be surprised if they said it may take longer. I know Eric is in Florida too and the weather has been very muggy!! His site does say 5-10 weeks

[Meilyn]

I got a message saying that my tail should be started this or next week from Finfolk. It's been almost 5 months since I've placed an order and I don't think the wait list for anyone at this point, is less than 4 months out. It's summer after all.

I can hardly wait though :)

[Mermaid Crystal Shimmer]

I'm also waiting almost 5 months for Finfolk to get started. They are working on it now and will contact me when painting will start. ^_^
Everyone is always excited for their tails, and waiting can be hard, but in the end it will be worth it =)

[Theta]

@theta where do u live? Cause that seems rather long to get a tail, unless you live out of country

I live in the NYC area, although I was living upstate when I got both of my tails. My wait time was not abnormal for either of them, though, when you factor in curing time, painting time, and other orders the tailmaker might be working on. My Merbellas tail took even longer because of the colors I chose, for instance. But for an Alex type tail, 5-8 weeks is not unusual.

[MermaidCecelia]

I live in the NYC area, although I was living upstate when I got both of my tails. My wait time was not abnormal for either of them, though, when you factor in curing time, painting time, and other orders the tailmaker might be working on. My Merbellas tail took even longer because of the colors I chose, for instance. But for an Alex type tail, 5-8 weeks is not unusual.
Did u mean the whole wait time total ?or were u talking bout shipping time?

[MerMatt]

When I ordered my tail from Jesse at Mermaid Creations, my production slot wasn't for 8 months following my initial deposit. Unfortunately it took another three months following that to finally have the tail completed. It wasn't his fault, the weather was really crappy this winter and things slowed down. From initial order to finally receiving it was almost exactly 11 months. Was I stressed no. I knew that he made tails on the side of his regular day job so the long waiting periods are pretty normal. The 11 months also included 10 days for shipping. It will be worth the wait once you put it on and swim in it for the first time.

[Theta]

Did u mean the whole wait time total ?or were u talking bout shipping time?

Whole tail time from start to finish. I think it took three or four days to ship by UPS ground.

[MermaidCecelia]

Whole tail time from start to finish. I think it took three or four days to ship by UPS ground.
Oh okay you scared me for a second I thought you said it was all that time just to get to shipped to you! Haha