FR Beware

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We've Moved!

Since we're having some problems with the tagging system, we've decided to try moving to a new location.  If you're following this blog, we ask that you please hop over here and follow this one as well.  We'll keep this blog up for a week or so before deleting it.

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Positive Review-- Phantomlegions #41278

Who: Phantonlegions

What: Nest Renting

Why: Quick replies, good communication, overall pleasant experience

When: January 11th, 2014

Explain: After finding the perfect project dragon and finally getting enough space for the hatchlings, all I needed was a Fireflight nest.  I used nika's nest rental listings to look for a free renter and found phantomlegions.  I PMed them and got a prompt reply back confirming that they had a nest open.  I sent them my dragons and five days later I got them and two hatchlings back.  The process was quick and painless and should I need fire eyes again I will definitely be going back.

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Submissions Needed

FR-Beware is still open to submissions, of which there are, unfortunately, very few.  If you would like to submit a review, whether it be positive or negative, please do.  Submissions are the lifeblood of the blog, and so far we only have the three posted.

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Positive Review-- Xairathan #33178

Who: Xairathan #33178

What: Other (discount shop)

Why: Prompt replies, good communication, and professional conduct

When: October 23rd

Explain: After saving up for weeks, I finally had enough to buy a gembond scroll at full discount price.  At the time that this happened, Ice was holding dominance, and I wanted to find a discount shop that was both reliable and offered full discounts.  I found Xairathan's thread and saw that they'd fulfilled many orders already, so I decided to entrust my money with them and asked for a gembond scroll.  The terms of the arrangement were very clearly stated on the first post: send half the money as a down payment, then the rest after receiving the item.  After making sure that they were online by way of pinging (to which they replied back very promptly), I sent them 90k in treasure.  No more than five minutes later, I get a message that has both my gembond scroll and a full "receipt" of the order, which showed the total cost, the amount paid, and the amount owed.  I was extremely satisfied with the speed and professionalism of the service, so needless to say, I gave a generous tip.  Should I need another scroll come the next time that Ice has dominance, I will no doubt go straight to Xairathan for all my discount orders.

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Negative Review-- lunusdragoness #17407

Who: Lunusdragoness

What: Nest Rental

Why: Poor communication, failure to return a loaned dragon, and exalting said dragon without permission.

When: October 11th-17th

Explain:  I offer free nest rentals and every time I offer compensation so people know I'm not stealing their dragons.  It also clears up some lair space for the hatchlings when they hatch.  On October 11th I was contacted by lunusdragoness, asking about a nest rental: http://oi39.tinypic.com/a0gor6.jpg

At the time I was slightly short on lair space, but was very close to being able to afford an expansion, so I offered a solution: they hold one of my hatchlings to make room for their dragons.  A boon was not offered, so the incubation period would have been more than enough time for me to expand.  The exact PM conversation from my first reply to her agreeing to hold one of my dragons:

My response: http://oi40.tinypic.com/2utm8eo.jpg

Lunusdragoness: http://oi42.tinypic.com/2hmezxz.jpg

My response: http://oi40.tinypic.com/n2fo76.jpg

Lunusdragoness: http://oi39.tinypic.com/awrm08.jpg

I then sent over an unnamed spiral hatchling on Oct. 11th to be held-- said hatchling being a freebie from the breeder, who I knew well.  I also sent over enough insects to feed my dragons through the incubation period: http://oi39.tinypic.com/1g540i.jpg

Her response was to ask for meat instead (as an additional note, the 60pts of insects was not returned with the request).  Gifting food is a common practice for me, so I didn't hesitate to send over meat for her own dragons: http://oi41.tinypic.com/1zz5l60.jpg  http://oi40.tinypic.com/dlhm5w.jpg

The next day I was greeted with two PMs from lunusdragoness, one being a reply (http://oi43.tinypic.com/2mmfthc.jpg), the other stating that she needed to send the hatchling back when one of her nests was ready to hatch: http://oi40.tinypic.com/2ni0dqa.jpg

Again, I expected the pair to be sent over.  I was very close to a lair expansion, so I assumed that once I got the breeding pair and bred them, I would be able to see how much extra space I would have for the hatchlings afterwords.  Considering that I would gain five extra spots, the odds were that I would have room for the hatchlings and room to take back my own dragon.  http://oi39.tinypic.com/wrizy1.jpg

A day passes.  While it struck me as odd that the pair had not been sent over yet, I gave them the benefit of a doubt and chalked it up to being busy.  Then another day passes.  By this time it is the 14th, three days after initial contact, and I start to become a bit concerned.  I go to their lair and check to see that my dragon is still there, and she is, though now fully grown.  I decided to contact lunusdragoness in case they'd forgotten about our arrangement: http://oi43.tinypic.com/2qdq2xd.jpg

She responded almost immediately: http://oi40.tinypic.com/352lxuf.jpg

Three more days pass.  My concern had reached its peak, as I had not been contacted by lunusdragoness in the entire time.  On Oct. 17th I went to check on my spiral once again.  It was gone.

First I tried to contact her in case something had happened.  I didn't know if she'd given it to a friend for holding as her own nest hatched, or if she'd sold it, so I wanted to hear from her why my spiral was missing: http://oi39.tinypic.com/2ih5rtj.jpg

I then tried searching the auction house in case it had been put up (though looking back that didn't really make much sense if the dragon was already gone from her lair).  Thinking that it must've been sold, I went to the lair of the breeder who I got the spiral from in the first place and checked the father's page.  There were three dragons under offspring, so I checked all of them, because for some reason all of them were named when I specifically remember sending over an unnamed hatchling.

I then found that my spiral had not only been named, but exalted by a plagueflight member: http://oi42.tinypic.com/slhb39.jpg .  As a side note, I also went to check the thread that kept track of which exalt bonuses were on what days: http://oi43.tinypic.com/2q8x76b.jpg

If lunusdragoness hadn't exalted "Soulcatcher", she had given it to another plague member and they had exalted it.  It was doubtful that it was an accident, seeing how my dragon had been named before being exalted, but either way, I was not contacted at all during the time that this would have happened.  Lunusdragoness never PMed me to ask whether or not I could take the dragon back, whether it was okay to give it to someone else for holding, or even apologize for exalting it.  After finding this out, I sent a PM voicing my disapproval, which was also never replied to.  I've since been waiting for an explanation as to what exactly happened.

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Positive Review-- clockworkMoose #8668

Who: clockworkMoose #8668

What: Nest rental

Why: Excellent communication and service

When: October 14th

Explain: I wanted to rent a Fire nest and found clockworkMoose listed in the nest rental thread. I sent them a PM asking whether they had space and available nests, and also stated I would provide a boon for the pair; I heard back from them the next day; they had the space and the nests, so I could just set up the Crossroads.

I first sent them a PM with the boon before I set up the Crossroads, albeit a bit hesitantly--the female of the pair was a triple-gened x/x/y, and belonging to someone else (we'd previously worked out the studding details and they were fine with me sending off both dragons to another user's nest). It's bad enough scammed out of your own dragon, to be scammed out of someone else's on your watch? Yeah, not fun. 

It took a few hours before the Crossroads trades were accepted, and immediately after I received a PM from them telling me both dragons had been safely received, bred, and they now had two eggs. Before I even had time to respond to them, I had four new Crossroads trades, with both the parents and the hatchlings, and right after that a new PM popped up in my inbox, asking me if the trades went through.

I accepted the trades, sent a hatchling and the female back to the owner, and let clockworkMoose know everything had gone smoothly. 

In summary, they delivered a swift service and great communication, keeping me up to date on every step of the way. I can heartily recommend them!