I disagree Mermaid Momo I looked on there Instagram some of there basic tails are beautiful I mean yeah he as some problems but he does a pretty a paint job and the scales look okay to me for what I'll be looking for swimming in
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You can disagree if you like Dylan, but facts are facts. If you have Matty on facebook or even his fan page, you can very easily double check dates by simply looking at his announcements on the matter and their time stamps. And your tail as you say, several years old now- a lot has changed since then. I am not bashing Matty, simply putting forth I believe mertailor has improved and I may have more experience than others in order to make that opinion. I think there's a lot of information that gets past around about the two of them, and it's easier than just taking someone's word for it, to look it up to see the actual facts in the matter. If you're happy with your merrowfins purchase I am very happy for you
that would be nice but since Matty continues to make claims about mertailor, use mertailors photos, and seemingly takes a lot of "inspiration" from him, people are still going to talk about the comparisons. This is a "thoughts on merrowfins" thread, perhaps there needs to be a specific merrowfins thread like there are for other tail makers. But as people are observing these behaviours, they're going to have thoughts.
And to your question why, I was replying to a comment comparing the two.
I think everyone has made form valid points in stating their opinions on the matter. But that perhaps it is best Dylan to agree to disagree and walk away. It is no longer contributing anything helpful to the discussion to continue to beat-a-dead-seahorse. At this point it is becoming redundant, tedious, and tiresome to read and feels like you are trying to drown out others opinions and thoughts which is what this thread was about.
However, in the spirit of the thread. I can see both sides on the quality debate. I stopped focusing as much when it appeared that Matty was spending great amounts of energy focusing on showcasing his previous work with Mertailor and not on showing exciting new designs or plans for his company. I was in the market for a tailmaker and as personal preference I like people who are moving forward not dwelling. Yes, he has every right to say "look at the cool things I have created" but it started to feel like he was clinging to the past.
In regards to his newer sculpts, I had high hopes to see what he was going to next. I have seen some very pretty paint jobs and tails from Merrowfins and I have seen some that in my opinion looked half-thought through. They may have been exactly what the client wanted and I wouldn't know that because I am not the mer who was lucky enough to get that particular dream tail made so I don't want to judge individual tails. Each one is someones dream. However, I will say that in personal preference I find his signature scales to look a bit sloppy and "unfinished" and tend to notice that in recent months there seem to be more and more anxious mers who seem to be concerned about their tails in production. That is a bit of a red-flag to me personally. Also while he has some beautiful pieces showcased on his social media, i can't help but notice that there seems to be a focus on the same 5 or 6 tails with a random new one thrown in. I would like to see him work on new tails for his personal marketing team to show his new and improved techniques as he develops his craft and grows as opposed to the same couple of tails he made right at the start of his company.
**Disclaimer: These are simply my opinions and thoughts. My intention is not to make anyone feel personally attacked or to take away from a tail that was made to any mers dream specification by Merrowfins that incorporates any elements I have referenced in my post.
Sometimes Life Just Needs a Bit of Magic
This is a very ironic thread for me to stumble upon as I'm looking to make a large order (bulk) from Merrow Fins and I keep being quoted a ridiculous price for shipping ($125) for a single basic tail. I've shipped things worth $1,000, insured, all over the world and I've never had to pay more than $65 for a single tail.
I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt but this experience alone is making me really uneasy and not wanting to work with Merrow Fins. According to past customers he likes to 'make up prices' for shipping costs too.
Raina,Originally Posted by AniaR
You can disagree if you like Dylan, but facts are facts. If you have Matty on facebook or even his fan page, you can very easily double check dates by simply looking at his announcements on the matter and their time stamps. And your tail as you say, several years old now- a lot has changed since then. I am not bashing Matty, simply putting forth I believe mertailor has improved and I may have more experience than others in order to make that opinion. I think there's a lot of information that gets past around about the two of them, and it's easier than just taking someone's word for it, to look it up to see the actual facts in the matter. If you're happy with your merrowfins purchase I am very happy for you
I have a tiny critique. I got my tail two or three years ago, maybe four, from the Mertailor. I had a pretty big struggle to finally get a tail with quality. I have spent at least 2 or 3 years working on trying to get something of quality. I ended up just paying for a new tail because the Mertailor tail was unfixable after less than 2 years. I just know Merrowfins has been very helpful as far as customer service goes. I think going to Matt ended up being better for me than sticking with a mertailor tail. The funny thing is that I thought the Mertailor might have improved 3 or 4 years after the last issue was mentioned on here. I trusted him in a lot of ways with how my tail would look and etc. I honestly thought the Mertailor improved. And as you can see in this picture:
picture.
I was not unhappy to finally have a tail from the Mertailor. It's just that my mertailor tail was not the quality I hoped for. And it's because of how things progressed with my Mertailor tail that I would suggest caution after 3 or 4 years of improvement. I went to the Mertailor knowing he had issues in the past, but I thought that 3 or 4 years was long enough for those problems to be history.
As time went on, I ended up needing to get a new body of my tail made because of it was stretching out and staying stretched out while I lost weight.
That's when Matt showed me how the patterns did not line up. The Mertailor was going to charge me to fix the body which is why I went to Matt the year after anyways. After sending it back to the mertailor one or two time with very very little time in the water, the fact that I would have to pay more money to fix it made me decide to go to Matt. Also, the reason the pattern didn't line up was because the Mertailor resized it while neglecting to do anything with the pattern that was messed up because of the resizing.
And finally after less than two years of struggling with the mertailor tail. I was happy to have a new body for my tail. The monofin in this picture was from the old mertailor tail.
It was not much longer than a year that the mertailor monofin fell apart piece by piece. The above pictures are comparisons between what my tail was to what it became.
I have only recently had a chance to swim in the finished tail. After the first swim, it was amazing. So far, I have not had any serious problems with my tail.
If I do have a problem, I will share it in this thread.
So, I have had an exhausting struggle with my tail, and I have not had very many chances to swim with it. My tail has been a work in progress starting with when I got it. If there is anything I am upset with the Mertailor over is that I paid them over 1000 dollars for something that did not last as long as expected. I can be rough with things, but I did not have many very chances to swim with my tail and it literally fell apart in pieces. I adamantly support Matt because he fixed what the Mertailor gave me even though I ended up getting a brand new tail after things were send in done. This new tail was like paying for the Mertailor tail twice.
I feel like this post adequately explains why I support matt and why I like Merrowfins over Mertailor. We do not have to agree, but this is more than just an opinion this is my experience.
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Last edited by Merman Dylan Zalrian; 10-10-2017 at 07:52 PM.
I wonder why the prices are the way they are. I know from the classes I took to get my Finacial Operations Certificates that prices don't come out of thin air. Did you ask him about it? I'm actually curious about learning more about this.
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He said he has to pay these prices as UPS has never been reliable in pricing, but I've talked to others who have ordered and returned orders from/to him and they said they paid only $40 for an insured package for a basic silicone tail. I've reiterated that I've shipped items all over the world and have never had to pay more than $65 for shipping a tail, and he was pretty evasive.
I know that the US economy is facing an issue of inflation because the circumstances are not good for more economic growth. So, prices are getting forced up especially with the rise in interest rates. It's possible that economiclly prices are going up. I mean, I've known that prices were headed upward for a while now which is why I'm focusing on bringing my debt down.
Have you PMed Matt. I read through this thread, and I believe a moment of communication with Merrowfins could be helpful. UPS also has a calculator for the cost of these things.
I think the negativity I noticed started as far back as the Lorelei issue.
Raina, I am extremely sorry about my attitude as I now know you have been replying to keep the peace.
https://www.ups.com/mobile/ratetnthome?loc=en_JP
This link is a calculator.
I hope it helps.
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I think the most simple way to reply to this as it seems to be a repeat in this thread.
I would say that you can agree to disagree just like I can. Not everyone has to like it. I'm not saying they have to. But, someone who jumps to support Matt has as much a right to voice their opinions as you do. Reading the replies to older post. You seem to be the one that is very quick to denounce someone that supports Matt as someone trying to say everyone needs to feel that way when those words were never written by the person you reply too. I may be quick to disagree, but it is not because I think we can't disagree.
Mermaid Momo,
One thing we disagree on is the scales. I love the unique design because every other tailmaker has done the redundant elegant design. I have never felt like the scales are less streamline in the functional sense. I also love how they look rough and rugged. As a MerMAN, it gives it a more masculine look in my opinion. It just looks tougher and stronger. If our preferences vary, that's okay. You say rushed, and I say Awesome! The important thing is that you don't put words in my mouth by assuming that my frequent replies were to put down someone else's view. As proof of this, I have deleted my posts to reduce clutter and condense them into one post.
Mermaid Kane,
I have to give you a lot of credit. Your words have probably done a better job at diffusing a tense situation than what I tried to do. You helped me get my head back on track, and I'm still trying to figure out the right balance for posting and commenting. I'm a work in progress.
Raina,
I want to apologize again for my attitude. I mistook you for something that you weren't.
To everyone else,
In my opinion, even if Matt doesn't have the right to his sculpts, we can all agree that the way the Mertailor didn't give credit to things ten years ago wasn't nice. Just because something isn't legally something does not make it wrong. I'd imagine that if anyone here made a significant contribution to a business, but that business did not give credit because legally they did not have to you would be upset. Legally or not, I think it's only right that Matt gets recognized for his part to play in the Mertailor Design. I would like to think that we can all agree that if anyone used us for our designs or sculpts or whatever and did not give us credit because of something as simple as they legally did not have to. We all might be a little upset. Especially if people generated a large sum of money and success off those creations while paying you below what was livable. And this, this is where I think this thread went from relaxed and respectful to just arguing and frustration. I got involved here because of the rift that formed.
Last edited by Merman Dylan Zalrian; 10-10-2017 at 08:11 PM.
so was it 2 years ago or 4??? either way, matty worked there.
It's great you've had a good experience, I am happy for you. But some advice, you can't debate every single person who raises a concern. you'll drive yourself crazy
I agree. I'm actually trying not to debate if I can help it. Trying to understand my own behavior is enough to make my own mind spin.
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Then just drop it. It's in your hands.
I wouldn't even bother replying to me.
How do I stop following a thread? If I keep getting notifications I might have trouble walking away.
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I'll just jump in here for a bit. I like all you guys but I think we all need a break from this thread. Go and have a walk or a swim
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Guys I'm on month 8, almost 9 of wait time for my BASIC silicone tail from Matt. Any advice on how to not lose my mind? I'm honestly getting furious at this point..
Any news from any mers who have had a tail made by him recently? I was curious if his customer service or quality control had fluctuated any and hadn't heard anything. I was looking at some of his current work and he has a betta fish style that is just rocking, but his reviews on facebook are still a little all over the place and there's not photos there to kinda see what other people's tails are looking like. Any new experiences good or bad to tell about?
I got my tail recently, like 2 months ago. The 9 month wait with no communication for a basic tail is not worth it.
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Well it sounds like his customer service is still shot... How is the quality? I know some other mers have shown some pretty poor seams and such.
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