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This thread is just in time. I'm starting up a painting service (local) and it's good to read not what to do. Although, I don't plan on taking on a new commission until the other is almost out the door. Seems like overbooking and not having enough staff to finish projects could be a huge hassle. Especially if the project runs into snags.

I'm really sorry to hear that other folks other then me are suffering from a similar situation.

I think going forward, my poor experience here will prevent me from investing in other painting studios that have less of a professional track record of delivered work when compared to BTP or GMM. I hope these outfits realise the consequences of their unprofessional behavior.

It is not fair to us (consumers) that we are made to wallow in grief and frustration even after handing over our hard earned monies.

P.S. Still waiting for a reply from NG Art Studios. At this point, I'm tempted to just move on and leave them to the Chaos Gods.

Here are some tips

1) The Better Business Bureau is worthless on every level. They are an advertising company that trades on the assumption that they are a government agency.

2) Depending on to whom you sent money, you can shaft them. If they are shafting you, chances are that they are not declaring the income on their federal income tax returns. They may also be in violation of state statutes. regarding buisness operations

3) depending on where they are located, it may be cheap and easy to sue. Small claims court filings generally cost 5 dollars and will cover claims up to 1500 dollars.

4) Send a certified letter requesting a full refund and return of the models. Getting documentation is always good.

5) Contact the local law enforcement body and ask about filing charges. If you are lucky, the amount of money (cash + unreturned models) may push it into felony range and give you easy leverage.

If he is overbooked you might not see your items for a LONG moment, it would be a good choice to ask for full refund and return of your models.

Happy to report on my own end that both contacted me today, both with updates in hand... I am back to being a happy camper, but will be more stringent about sticking to update promises, but flexible about when the updates are planned for before commiting.

I am however glad this thread and others prompted me to give them a kick in the butt, though they are both nice guys and very talented. So thanks to the OP for helping me out 2nd hand!

That's fantastic news!

Hope mine revert soon with details too.

lol me too man, hope it works out!

Don't be too quick to celebrate. They are about 7 months overdue with some stuff for me, contact has been lost, and I am getting ready to file for mail fraud. I think this post and my own might be enough to make a pettern of behavior. Not to mention the merchandise I paid for the service added to the merchandice I sent to have painted make a very substantial amount of $$$.

Could you LMK how they contacted you? I have sent emails and messages just about every way I can so far.

overkill76 wrote:I'm really sorry to hear that other folks other then me are suffering from a similar situation.

I think going forward, my poor experience here will prevent me from investing in other painting studios that have less of a professional track record of delivered work when compared to BTP or GMM. I hope these outfits realise the consequences of their unprofessional behavior.

It is not fair to us (consumers) that we are made to wallow in grief and frustration even after handing over our hard earned monies.

P.S. Still waiting for a reply from NG Art Studios. At this point, I'm tempted to just move on and leave them to the Chaos Gods.

The only problem with that mindset is that the new painters or the ones trying to break into the business never get a chance to prove themselves. (Like me for example) I would say this, before you commit to a painting service fully, start with a very small commission to test the waters, nothing more than a squad in size. That way you are not committing to a huge outlay of money so even if the guy flakes on you, you are not out a ton of money, also the small job should have a short completion time as well. Definitely within the 45 day paypal time frame, so that you can dispute the charge if they flake.

That said, I'm sorry that you are having so much trouble with your painters and hope that they make it right for you.

edit: Also, a small job will let you see first hand how well they paint, since photos can be deceiving.

Falling behind is exactly why I stopped doing commission work.

Back in the days of 2nd edition the locals would all commission me to paint their stuff. It was very hard to keep up sometimes. If I fell behind I would just be honest and upfront about it, I wouldn't run and hide. They would get on me about it, but they were in the right to do so in my opinion. There would have been great feelings of animosity towards me if I had become reclusive and no one knew what was going on with their stuff.

That doesn't really help the original poster, but if a studio or free-lance painter reads it... The words ring truth, don't hide from your customers.

Commissar Molotov wrote:Yup, contact PayPal as well. Here's the web address for the Better Business Bureau:

http://www.bbb.org/

It's not a government organization, but it's got a good amount of clout. Sorry you've had such a headache with these guys!

Uhm no. The BBB has ZERO cloat and no enforcementg. Its a waste of time. How many complaints did New Wave get to them and it did nothing.....


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Le Grognard wrote:This thread is just in time. I'm starting up a painting service (local) and it's good to read not what to do. Although, I don't plan on taking on a new commission until the other is almost out the door. Seems like overbooking and not having enough staff to finish projects could be a huge hassle. Especially if the project runs into snags.

Com,munication, with any time of business is key. Even if its an update to say its moving along and nothings changed yet, it at least gives people peace of mind to know you havent forgotten them. When they hear nothing for long long periods of time, they worry.

Just to be clear, the guys I heard from were nothing to do with the studio that the original poster was referring to, and more importantly, they were nowhere near as delinquent as these guys seem to be, not even in the same league, my situation was unrelated, I merely took note of the good advice in this thread in order to help me assess my situation in relation to other job specific cases...

Just wrote this because someone had pm'd me asking about the studio guys... I wish my situation could be shared but unfortunately I can't spread my good fortune around in this case :(

Again, best of luck to you guys getting sorted out!

MajorTom:

Then you should probably go back and edit that post, if you haven't already, and clarify what you were talking about.
Talking about how you "finally spoke to them" in a thread about a particular painting service makes it appear as if you're referring to THAT painting service and not some other, who the thread isn't even about.

Eric