I never do call out posts or bewares usually. I try to give every chance I can for things to be fixed or completed, however in this case, I no longer feel like I have any other choice. This is going to detail the last year+ that I have been dealing with Artworktee. Please read.
I had begun supporting a couple of their charity campaigns, namely the calendar, and the Pocari campaign. Not long after, I saw their post about a custom plush campaign and I was ecstatic for it. I had always wanted a plush of my fox and I decided to go for it.
I expressed my interest and was given a ref sheet to fill out. Since I am not artistic at all, they also offered to have one of their artists fill it out for me. I accepted and my ref sheet was sent off to her.
A long while passed and I was still waiting on the finished sheet with the deadline for entry fast approaching. I reached out to the artist and had been informed that she had severed her employment with artworktee, but kindly promised to finish the ref. I thanked her and waited.
Another bit of time passed, and the finished ref appeared in my inbox, and i could not quit smiling. It was the most adorable thing I had ever seen and I was excited. I sent it in and was told it was received.
It was at this point that I noticed that a lot of the items I was waiting on from the other campaigns still hadn't arrived after shipping on the 20th of August, 2019. It was now the 31st. I checked the tracking and noticed it wasn't updating.
I sent their staff an email to inquire about what was going on and was told that it would be reshipped as it appeared to have been lost in the mail. I thanked them and asked about the items for the pocari campaign and when they would ship, as well as some information on the plush
I inquired about the 10 sponsored plushes and was informed that they had been selected. I told them I would pay for mine to be made and was quoted 150 dollars. I told them I would have the payment by the deadline, and paid it a few days later
A few days later, my missing calendar campaign items arrived. However, 2 pieces were missing: the t-shirt and the 5 dog tags I purchased as an extra for 25 dollars, in addition to my initial contribution. I was told they would be reshipped, and that my plush payment was received
The missing shirt arrived a few days later, however the dog tags were not updating. I emailed and let them know, thinking that maybe it was the fault of the post office. I was told they would be reshipped and would arrive within a few days.
20 days later, they still had not arrived. I messaged again to ask about it, but did not receive a response. Around this time, a different callout post was circulating on twitter. I messaged again, this time through twitter. My other email was answered a bit later as well.
By this point, I had been missing my plush, the entire Pocari campaign item set, and my dog tags. The total was a little over 300 dollars worth of missing stuff. I was then told it would be handled personally, and bit by bit we went through each of the issues.
Talks continued, again with things getting sorted out bit by bit in that moment. I was also given the contact for the maker handling my plush. At the time, I was not aware that the supplier was a company in China.
When it came to the dog tag bundle, I was informed that they had run out, but more were being made. I was offered the option to refund it, or to wait. I chose to wait as the money went to a charity, and I thought it was only about 5 dollars. The Pocari bundle also got addressed.
I was informed that the items were finally on a truck and heading to their new warehouse, after they changed location. I also expressed interest in their furry and proud campaign and gave them a suggestion, as I had been struggling with my identity at the time-
-and felt that this was where I fit. I thought that representation might help others find where they fit, too and felt secure in taking steps to maybe accept it a little more at the time. Anyway, back to the conversations at hand. I waited a while longer and some items arrived.
I had still been missing some items and decided to check on them on December 13th. I was told they were shipped separately. I also inquired about the status of the dog tags being resupplied, but did not receive a response to that.
On January 7th, I messaged the plush maker to check on the status. I was told that the plush was finished, and I needed to pay an extra 60 dollars to have it shipped to me. This was not in the original agreement. I was also sent photos of the finished plush.
I looked at the pictures, and felt my heart sink. I was devastated and severely disappointed by what I was seeing as the finished product, compared to the ref. I did not express my disappointment, as I did not want to make the maker feel bad after they took the time to make him.
I messaged artworktee again on twitter and asked about the shipping issue. I had already paid the 150 and was not going to pay 60 more outside of that. I did not know what to do, and I was worried about the plush being left over there or resold, since he is my character.
I sent several messages over the next couple days with no response. I was scared and worried. I eventually got a reply on my email and was told it would be forwarded to the person handling their twitter.
I informed the company that I was talking with Artworktee about the issue, and was told that the company was taking a long holiday from the 17th of January 2020 to February 2nd.
I was told to pay the shipping cost and that I would be reimbursed. I agreed, thinking I could just do a paypal transaction. I was also told that the refund for the cost of shipping would go through to their account department.
I agreed and messaged the supplier. I was then informed that they would only take Western Union to their Hong Kong bank, or an invoice through a site I'd never heard of called Alibaba. I was not comfortable with either option. I messaged artworktee and told them this.
I apologized after I was told it would be handled on their end. I messaged 16 days later on February 25th after receiving no response. Then again on March 2nd and March 6th asking for updates. I got no response to those emails. This thread will continue in a new post
Part 2 continues here: https://mobile.twitter.com/Kensei_Kitsune/status/1298244944013004802
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