Dollfie Dream commission issues?

Hi Guys,

 

I'm looking for some advice/reassurance here. I'm not 100% sure what category this would best fit into so I apologise if it's in the wrong place.

 

I sent half payment to someone for a dress commission on 8th July and instructed them to begin work. By the 9th August, I had never heard another word from them so I started worrying. I sent a message and was advised that they were hoping to have it done soon if all goes well. This put my mind at ease so I was ok for a while.

 

By 18th September, again I had not heard anything from the seamstress so I sent an email again. This time they said they were hoping to have it done in the next week. So again I waited and again, I have not heard anything from them since.

 

So far I've parted with $60. I asked for images of previous commissions and information and she obliged. Communication was superb, right up until I sent money, then I just don't hear from them any more.

 

At this point in time I don't expect to ever see my dress, it's put me off the doll I was commissioning it for in the first place and is just generally making me miserable.

 

I don't know if I should name drop the person, so I haven't yet, I don't like publicly singling people out, but if people want to know, I can post, or you can pm me.

 

I just don't know what to do

I have never commission anything before so dunno what acceptable timeframe would be, but did the seamstress give you a date on when work would be complete? Does she provide you with any photos when you ask her for progress reports?

 

How did you pay, was it through Paypal? I think they have a 45 day window but may still be able to dispute it through them if decide to go that route.

 

May want to tell the person like to see photos of work done so far (if not giving any yet) and let her know that been patiently waiting but if you don't get a satisfactory response soon that you will want a refund. Maybe let them know pursue it through Paypal if needed.

I commissioned a dress in the past.

The seamstress was slow, but prompt in replying to my emails.

My advice is simple: "stalk" your seamstress to get some info and pics, etc.

i feel sorry that this has happened and hope the problem gets solved soon

You definitely have to track her down for pictures as much as possible at this point!

You can always play the "I can get my refund via Paypal investigation" card. >___<

It's happened to me before but with a cosplay commission. The seamstress had 6 months to get the costume ready and not so much as one bit of progress was reported, after the deadline, I hunted her down for the next couple of months until I got my money back. Then I found out her record wasn't as pristine as she claimed.

 

Right now it's happening again but with a plushie doll I requested. I just gave up, so I don't like to deal with commissions anymore unless it's someone I trust and with a lot of research done beforehand or the one I'm commissioning is living in the same area as me. In this case, in Songtan.

 

 

I would suggest asking for progress pictures and the status of the dress and don't feel bad about it, it's your money that's on the line. There's too many flakers out there and whoever this seamstress is needs to prove she isn't a flake, and if they don't like that, I say "TS", because its your money >>

I am actually in the same boat so I am not sure if we are talking about the same person. I sent payment at the end of August and was told on her thread that it will take 2-4 weeks to complete the outfit, with progress shots along the way. Everything was good up until I sent payment and did not hear from her. I sent her a message last week and she said she will have process photo up by Wednesday... I have a feeling that won't be happening.

 

I am coming up to my 45 day protection with paypal. The thing is, she wanted full payment of $130+ up front. I find that unfair because obviously she haven't started on my outfit yet and she filling up her commission list for September and October.

 

If I still don't get any information from her I am e-mailing her again and opening a dispute on the 44th day.

What's the feedback like on this seamstress anyway?

Looks like straight up scam, dont know if I could have waited that long without communication, progress, dress or money. Clearly this person is willing to get away with it , waiting for you to lose interest and give up... Give the name or site, we can all help to hunt he or she down till you get your money back

I'm sorry to hear you all are having issues and I hope things will get resolved soon!

It's been over 45 days, so I cannot dispute the payment now, so I guess thats $60 I'll never see again

 

I was trying to be kind and patient, but looks like now I've shot myself in the foot. I'm going to try and be brave and write another message to them and request pictures. If she can provide pictures I guess its not too bad, but if they don't send me pictures, I don't know what I can do.

Bad feedback on forums - like this one and DoA, ffm, flickr etc - can be very convincing.

If she wants to sell anything in the future, she may have to start from scratch under another name...

Ask her, if this is what she wants?

It's been over 45 days, so I cannot dispute the payment now, so I guess thats $60 I'll never see again

 

I was trying to be kind and patient, but looks like now I've shot myself in the foot. I'm going to try and be brave and write another message to them and request pictures. If she can provide pictures I guess its not too bad, but if they don't send me pictures, I don't know what I can do.

 

If you are doing this via DoA (I'm actually really curious who the person is, more so cause I've been approached for a commission as well.) I would recommend contacting her and asking for a estimated time or simply setting a date that this item must be finished on, you also of course ask for pictures. Don't give her a lot of time now. You've waited pretty long even for a custom made item. If she can not meet these then open a paging thread on DoA. Generally, that will get their attention. It is pretty hard to miss the giant "YOU ARE BEING PAGED" on the top of DoA.

 

I'm being harsh, but you've already passed the 45 day mark for paypal, and if someone can't even supply simple proof that they are doing the work then it is worth the suspicion. Anyone taking any sort of commission should always be prepared to show proof that they are working on it, unless you are on a list and it isn't your turn. (Then you shouldn't be charged till they start anyways.)

 

I'm sorry to hear this is happening, and I hope this gets resolved. I really recommend the paging thread though. It has worked in the past for many, many people.

 

@Kumi

And for places like DoA, if you want to start a new you have to send yourself a invite and hope that DoA doesn't notice that you've got a second account. They'll ban both instantly as they make a point of never allowing that. They've become excessively strict, but this is to keep scammers out, mostly cause they'll send themselves one right as they get paged or something obvious so the mods can just quickly get rid of them both in one move.

I've sent the following message to the person:

 

Hiya,

 

Just writing to you again with regard to my commission. I was hoping that you could give me a detailed progress report.

 

I would really appreciate it if you could provide me with the following:

 

*progress pictures

*detail on what is completed

*detail on what is left to do

*a firm eta date of completion

 

I don’t mean to nag but I’m just getting conscious of the time this has taken because I sent my money a couple months ago now. I’d really appreciate some firm information, especially as we’re getting close to Christmas now and obviously there are other things I need to be spending money on, as well of this so I need to be aware of what money is going where.

 

Thanks for your cooperation.

 

Hopefully this comes back with some reassuring information. I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for the support so far, it really encouraged me to man up (can a woman 'man up'???) and write to them a bit more firmly then my previous communications.

i've bought commissioned outfits many times before and all i can say is do your research (check the seamstress' feedback on multiple sites if possible) and make sure she stays in communication with you.

 

it sounds like you may have been scammed, please don't let this experience put you off, we are all naiive about this stuff at some point and there are some wonderful seamstresses out there who do custom work. i mostly have only commissioned stuff for my ABJDs so the only DD-specific seamstress i can think of recommending is Amy Lilley - she is on Etsy, Flickr and Facebook - i know she has a DD and while her commission she did for me was not for a DD she is both trustworthy and will probably be happy to do a custom outfit if possible, though i don't want to speak for her as she is just an acquaintance of mine. she lives in the UK.

 

the other seamstress who just completed a commission for me has a store called "Neko & Kao" on Etsy (**i had to book the commission several months in advance**) and is on Flickr too... she is in France, her communication is good, she sent me updates and was accurate (early) to complete the outfit in the requested timeframe. i don't know if she can sew for DDs as she is an ABJD collector but it won't hurt to ask her - i really recommend her too.

 

i'm sorry this happened to you, so i thought i'd just throw my 2cents in about the seamstresses that come to mind whom i know for sure i can trust.

*edit* final tidbit - if you don't have one, get a Den of Angels acct, after you have marketplace access there is an entire seamstress/commission section, and as DDs are on topic you may find a DD seamstress there. DoA is extremely strict about regulating scammers and all buyers and sellers are pretty much required to have feedback threads. if you don't have an acct and want an invite send me a PM.

I've never commissioned anything doll related yet. I got someone to make me a plushie that I wanted to give as a gift. This particular person I found via, of all places, the English translator of some manga that I was reading. He had commissioned some plushies from a lady to make characters of a comic he'd written. I loved the pics of his plushies and he had rave reviews of the lady. I also noticed she had great feedback from others on Etsy, so I went to her for my plushie project. She actually finished it in less time than she quoted me, in only a month, when she thought she might need longer thanks to some college thesis she was working on. She did ask for the entire amount upfront, so I would've been in trouble if she had cheated me, but she didn't and I was happy with her work.

 

I don't know who this seamstress is that you used, but I'd always suggest to try to go for people who you know are good (reviews from other people) and you like what you see in samples of their previous work. That's what worked for me.

I am sorry that you have had a bad experience and I hope it gets resolved for you.

 

I have done a lot of buying on various doll forums over the years and have been burned very very very few times. The few times, however, taught me valuable lessons. 1) Pay the PP fees and never send things personal. Even if it is in 45 days, you cannot claim. (happened to me recently) 2) Stay away from forums that do not allow feedback. (had a flickr transaction problem right during the time they stopped allowing 'selling') 3) Don't be so kind-hearted and trust your gut. I accepted too many excuses because I wanted to believe the seller and wound up losing a good deal of money because I was too nice. They simply stopped responding and opened another account. 4) Be sure to get the seller's usernames from other forums/sites because name people do not use the same name. The person I dealt with does this so they go on selling everywhere as we speak.

 

Most of this is covered in the "tips" area of the marketplace and most if shopping common sense. But many of us will tend to talk ourselves into something, thinking it will be okay. Just follow your instincts.

 

I sure hope that this turns out well for you. Maybe it is one of those rare cases of "life happens" and things just got backed up for the seller. Best wishes to you.

Have you heard back yet? If not you should def put bad feedback for that person at all related forums!

 

I'm sorry that you've had to deal with this

This is definitely not normal, and I think it's ok to disclose the name of the person now so that other buyers can be aware of the scam. I take commission work sometimes, there should be a definite deadline to finish up a work and pics should be provided as the work progresses. I hope they get back to you about the outfit or at least give you a refund!!!

As tacky as it sounds, stalk her resources for information. And, find a way to make it public. Word it that you are worried she is okay, that you just want help contacting her. Escalate it slowly and calmly to bring into focus that the seamstress was the one to disappear and be unprofessional.

 

Also, is there a thread here that is sort of a bad sellers thread?

I've already comissioned a lot of clothes and I'm a customizer for face-ups myself.

 

I've already witnessed everything, from epic dresses that were finished in two weeks and simple stuff that took a person three month.

I also had that with stuff I made myself, sometimes you lack any muse, you are not satisfied etc. and it might take longer than expected.

Most people are actually very understanding as long as you make sure to keep up communication.

That's a very, very important part. People should have the feeling that you are indeed not running away with their money/doll.

And in this case I'm not seeing that at all.

 

Keep pestering her.

Start writing her every three days, then every day.

Tell her that if she won't start communicating/give you back your money/etc., you will post about it online and warn others about her.

 

I wish you lots of luck with your commission

After the lest message I sent last week (which you can see a few posts back) I received a reply stating that they had issues with a non-doll related deadline and they apologised for being so poor with communication. Apparently the project is almost complete and instead of coming back to me with progress shots, they were really hoping to give me the finished product, but the non-doll related deadline had impacted their progress and ability to do so. Again they apologised for this.

 

They said that they would contact me in a week’s time with an update, regardless of where she was with progress; I would have a proper update.

 

I have had a pm from them today as promised, without having to contact or prompt them beforehand which was nice. They have said “I’ll have the update done by the end of the weekend. Thanks for your patience; I do want to make it worth it!

 

At the moment, I’m still trying not to get my hopes up, based on the issues I’ve had so far, but it does look promising. Hopefully they stay true to their word and I will have my dress sooner, rather then later.

Hi Guys,

 

I'm looking for some advice/reassurance here. I'm not 100% sure what category this would best fit into so I apologise if it's in the wrong place.

 

I sent half payment to someone for a dress commission on 8th July and instructed them to begin work. By the 9th August, I had never heard another word from them so I started worrying. I sent a message and was advised that they were hoping to have it done soon if all goes well. This put my mind at ease so I was ok for a while.

 

By 18th September, again I had not heard anything from the seamstress so I sent an email again. This time they said they were hoping to have it done in the next week. So again I waited and again, I have not heard anything from them since.

 

So far I've parted with $60. I asked for images of previous commissions and information and she obliged. Communication was superb, right up until I sent money, then I just don't hear from them any more.

 

At this point in time I don't expect to ever see my dress, it's put me off the doll I was commissioning it for in the first place and is just generally making me miserable.

 

I don't know if I should name drop the person, so I haven't yet, I don't like publicly singling people out, but if people want to know, I can post, or you can pm me.

 

I just don't know what to do

 

This is horrible!

I hate it when this sort of thing happens!

It makes the Rest of us who make things for people look bad and people don't trust others as a result.

Personally If you paid through PayPal I would open a dispute.

She looks as if shes not going to reply.

 

I'm sorry is has happened to you, don't let it put you off getting a commission, they can take a lot of time, but in the end it's worth it.

 

J

Well the last message was promising, but it seems I was right to not get my hopes up. The end of the weekend has been and gone. A new weekend is soon upon us and I have not had the update that was promised.

 

I've sent another chaser, if they come back this time without any proof, then I'm going to suggest a refund and see what happens.

 

Urgh!

ouch. :\ That sucks a lot especially since they said that they're almost done with the outfit too. Giving false hope indeed.