Artist's Beware: Duchess/Pudgical/Lapai Glas (goes by multiple names)
WHO: Duchess/Pudgical/Lapai Glas (goes by multiple names)
After-dark twitter: @kittennpaaws
WHAT: It was a fullsuit fursuit commission to be completed in 4/5 months for a convention called Eirtakon that I was to attend.
WHEN: First payment for my fursuit was made on July 7th 2016 (700 euro) and the second payment was made on August 4th 2016, when I got my paycheck to afford it (400 euro). The commission was 100% paid, and conversation between her began to dwindle almost instantly. I was told to stop messaging her because she gets uncomfortable talking to those she doesn’t know very well, and that I was to message her girlfriend and customer service rep Blue instead. I did this, and after choppy back and forth communication about fur colours, communication dropped. It took weeks of pleading and messaging to get any replies out of her, and it was very difficult to get any WIP photos out of her, as most times, she would simply promise that the commission would be completed for Eirtakon. I left her to her own devices and only messaged occasionally due to her social anxiety, as I did not want to stress her, but I never received satisfactory replies when she did actually reply.
EXPLAIN: In summary, I commissioned a fursuit from a local maker I knew personally, to be completed for a convention I was attending in several months time. I was explicitly promised that it would be done for the convention, and this promise was restated multiple times by both her and her “customer service rep”, Blue, whom she is dating. What went wrong is that she didn’t make it, refused communication with me, and would not provide WIP photos when requested. She only asked what kind of handpaws I wanted a week before the convention was due, and I had to remind her that I wanted five-finger handpaws, not four, which I had already informed her was a big part of my sona. I did attempt to fix the issue by talking to her customer service rep instead of her to alleviate the stress of talking online due to her social anxiety, but the suit was still not created for the required date. When the date came and went, I requested a refund as the contract was broken, upon which she stated I would only get 70% back due to her terms and conditions stating that the 30% deposit was non-refundable. I am currently studying law, and I know that I was not bound to terms and conditions I had never seen, as I couldn’t have agreed to them. These terms and conditions are not up on any site she is on, despite her claiming they were, and to this date (29th December 2016) they are not on any of them. If they are, they are hidden so well that I was not able to find them. She then attempted to claim I did not have a valid contract as it was not in writing, but again this is legally incorrect as oral contracts are upheld in law. I was not going to accept a partial refund (70%) as I knew legally if I did, I would not be able to recover the other 30% at a later date. I was threatened on the phone in a 30 minute phone call with her “independent mediator” GerMANshep, the self-appointed CEO of Irish Furries. He was not an independent mediator but a biased fourth party, as he is dating Blue, the customer service rep of my maker, Duchess.
In a phone call with GerMANshep, I was requested for proof of my claims that I was entitled to a 100% refund and that I was not bound to these terms and conditions, which I gave. He did not accept these and told me to bring Duchess, my maker, to court if I wished to recover the funds. I contacted a FLAC (Free Legal Advice Center) and was told that if I was to bring it to court, I was entitled to a 100% refund, and possibly damages too as I required the fursuit for a certain date and did not get it. I initiated a refund through Paypal which was uncontested and she has since essentially ignored me. I received 100% of my 1100 euro back through paypal.
