PearlJeremyJam
New Member
If RPF member Shane Brennen (samurai169) tries to sell you on a commission, good luck on getting it. Shane reached out to me about my request for prop fabrication for the assembly of a Bucky (Winter Soldier) costume after posting on a Winter Soldier discussion thread. I had acquired a mask and ordered the jacket and pants. I needed someone to make the chest harness, belt and gun/knife holsters, knee pads, glove, and arm. Shane indicated he was ready and willing. We agreed to pricing which was very reasonable, and he promised to make a metal arm fashioned out of aluminum. I paid for half the commission which included everything but the arm (he later disputed that we discussed the glove but this was discussed earlier in the conversation).
Shane promised quick turnaround (a matter of days), and kept me apprised of the process every step of the way. Days unfortunately turned into weeks which turned into months as Shane continued to maintain the appearance that he was nearing completion of the costume and delays resulted from him always "improving the design" (It will be done in a few more days! Definitely by next week!). The deadline was Dragon*Con at the end of August/late September. He missed that deadline. I gave him a second deadline of Geek Media Expo towards the end of October. Just days before GMX, he simply stopped communicating with me despite promising for the hundredth time it would DEFINITELY be ready. He had also revealed he had other commissions in front of mine...which he never mentioned previously. That's fine, but when you say a commission is going to be ready by X date, have it ready by X date. Delays happen, but when you promise something will be done in June and it's still not available as of October, that's YOUR problem. On top of everything else, he had attempted to sell me on a Cap Shield commission. So if he had time to add that to the mix, why could he still not finish my commissions which were supposed to only take a matter of days? Shane had plenty of time to finish HIS Bucky cosplay and debut it at a con (and he had said he was working on mine concurrently with his, so it should have been finished). If he's not an outright con artist, he is terrible with time management and customer service. Honestly, I wonder if he even ever had intentions to work on this project. If you have the time and nothing better to do, I welcome you to sift through our ongoing months of correspondence regarding the commission (link below). Everyone else came through on their parts (Thanks, Ding Don! You rock! Thanks Gelly!). Shane fell off the face of the Earth until today when he became active again on the RPF. Fortunately, I was able to get my money back after opening a claim with Paypal and forwarding the correspondence. Paypal ruled in my favor clearly seeing that Shane was in breech of the agreement.
So if samurai169 offers to sell you on a commission, buyer beware. I had intended to showcase his work at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Stan Lee's Comikaze in L.A., and for an overseas photo shoot in Germany. Instead, I'm posting on the RPF advising not to work with this guy based on this experience. The take home lesson is don't promise what you can't deliver. I've also received a message from another client reporting a very similar experience. So it's not just me.
For those playing at home, the below link will direct you to the entire chat history and supporting documentation/screen caps concerning the commission. I'm sharing this for the sake of transparency. This isn't a case of an unsubstantiated claim. The history speaks for itself.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B69C3D_ESxEoWDFKWWhCTTE3cEE/view?usp=sharing (Microsoft Word doc - you might need to download it to view)
Giving credit where credit IS due - Check out the amazing work of Mr. Ding Don in China. DIng should be working in Hollywood. His Winter Soldier mask is one of the best I've seen and his Batman and Iron Man suits are screen-worthy.
https://www.facebook.com/MrDingOffice
Shane promised quick turnaround (a matter of days), and kept me apprised of the process every step of the way. Days unfortunately turned into weeks which turned into months as Shane continued to maintain the appearance that he was nearing completion of the costume and delays resulted from him always "improving the design" (It will be done in a few more days! Definitely by next week!). The deadline was Dragon*Con at the end of August/late September. He missed that deadline. I gave him a second deadline of Geek Media Expo towards the end of October. Just days before GMX, he simply stopped communicating with me despite promising for the hundredth time it would DEFINITELY be ready. He had also revealed he had other commissions in front of mine...which he never mentioned previously. That's fine, but when you say a commission is going to be ready by X date, have it ready by X date. Delays happen, but when you promise something will be done in June and it's still not available as of October, that's YOUR problem. On top of everything else, he had attempted to sell me on a Cap Shield commission. So if he had time to add that to the mix, why could he still not finish my commissions which were supposed to only take a matter of days? Shane had plenty of time to finish HIS Bucky cosplay and debut it at a con (and he had said he was working on mine concurrently with his, so it should have been finished). If he's not an outright con artist, he is terrible with time management and customer service. Honestly, I wonder if he even ever had intentions to work on this project. If you have the time and nothing better to do, I welcome you to sift through our ongoing months of correspondence regarding the commission (link below). Everyone else came through on their parts (Thanks, Ding Don! You rock! Thanks Gelly!). Shane fell off the face of the Earth until today when he became active again on the RPF. Fortunately, I was able to get my money back after opening a claim with Paypal and forwarding the correspondence. Paypal ruled in my favor clearly seeing that Shane was in breech of the agreement.
So if samurai169 offers to sell you on a commission, buyer beware. I had intended to showcase his work at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Stan Lee's Comikaze in L.A., and for an overseas photo shoot in Germany. Instead, I'm posting on the RPF advising not to work with this guy based on this experience. The take home lesson is don't promise what you can't deliver. I've also received a message from another client reporting a very similar experience. So it's not just me.
For those playing at home, the below link will direct you to the entire chat history and supporting documentation/screen caps concerning the commission. I'm sharing this for the sake of transparency. This isn't a case of an unsubstantiated claim. The history speaks for itself.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B69C3D_ESxEoWDFKWWhCTTE3cEE/view?usp=sharing (Microsoft Word doc - you might need to download it to view)
Giving credit where credit IS due - Check out the amazing work of Mr. Ding Don in China. DIng should be working in Hollywood. His Winter Soldier mask is one of the best I've seen and his Batman and Iron Man suits are screen-worthy.
https://www.facebook.com/MrDingOffice
